by Dave Zirin

"You can't throw money at the problem." As a former public school teacher in Washington, I heard this cliche from countless bureaucrats. It was code for "Stop whining about ancient textbooks and prehistoric classroom materials, because there is no money." Imagine my shock when the city announced it would be spending more than $500 million on a new baseball stadium. Clearly when it comes to the needs of billionaire sports owners, there always seems to be money available to be thrown.

By Dave Zirin

There are more books about Muhammad Ali than Abe Lincoln: 300 titles in the children's section alone. You can also purchase The Muhammad Ali Reader, the Tao of Muhammad Ali, or the $10,000 G.O.A.T. - a massive coffee table book about all things Ali that is slightly larger than a typical coffee table. His is a history that has been repeatedly regurgitated for popular consumption. Despite - or maybe because of - this crisis of Ali overproduction, I felt compelled to write The Muhammad Ali Handbook.

By Dave Zirin

There are those in the world of sports who view ESPN as some sort of diabolical genetic splicing of the Illuminati, George Bush and something scraped from Chris Berman's loofah. (I personally believe that, not unlike the Bush family, ESPN's power, while disturbing, is vastly overestimated.) This view is being reasserted with the news that former NBA player John Amaechi has loudly and proudly let the world know that he is gay.

The NFL has said it has had to inform some churches, theaters, schools, museums, casinos, hotels and other organizations of copyright limits placed on Super Bowl viewing parties. Yet sports bars and other businesses that televise sports as part of their everyday operations are exempt.

The NFL caught the attention of the media and drew nationwide resentment when they sent a letter to an Indianapolis church prior to Super Bowl XLI, demanding the cancellation of the church's party. The ramifications of such an organizational crackdown could be far reaching. Many churches across the country ended their Super Bowl party plans upon hearing the news from Indianapolis.

After the first "Faith Day," the Atlanta Braves have asked promoters Third Coast Sports to not include Focus on the Family in the Braves' two other Faith Day events.

Major League Baseball is experimenting for the first time this year with "Faith Days at the Park." These religious promotions leverage a market of evangelical Christians who are accustomed to mass worship in stadiums. The Atlanta Braves have scheduled three "Faith Days" this season, the Arizona Diamondbacks one, and the Florida Marlins have scheduled one "Faith Night."

In the weekly "Edge of Sports" column, Dave Zirin and John Cox address racism in international soccer and the possibility that it could rear its ugly head in a violent way at the 2006 World Cup now underway in Germany. There has been a disturbing pattern of "football racism" that "has been aggravated by the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe that has of course become de rigueur in the United States as well." Zirn and Cox add:

Have the Colorado Rockies become a faith-based organization? According to a May 31 USA Today article by Bob Nightengale, it appears so:

"... Behind the scenes, [the Rockies] quietly have become an organization guided by Christianity -- open to other religious beliefs but embracing a Christian-based code of conduct they believe will bring them focus and success. From ownership on down, it's an approach the Rockies are proud of -- and something they are wary about publicizing. 'We're nervous, to be honest with you,' Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd says. 'It's the first time we ever talked about these issues publicly. The last thing we want to do is offend anyone because of our beliefs.'"

In the Public Interest
By Ralph Nader

Moving into bookstores across the country is a fresh historical account of American progressive resistance and political struggle. Focusing on the United States over the last century, the book connects past struggles with contemporary injustices, and calls on readers to challenge the militarism, homophobia, racism and sexism, the greed, myths, freeloading, cover-ups, censorships, and consumer and taxpayer gouging that continue to tarnish our country. And believe it or not, this is a book about sports.

By Dave Zirin (on why he wrote "What's My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States")

In High School, I was a 5' 10" inch center for the fearsome Friends Seminary Quakers in New York City. It wasn't pretty, but I lived for it and didn't care if the opposing center could spit on my head. I just loved sports. My walls were shrines to Magic Johnson, Lawrence Taylor, and Keith Hernandez. Every stat, every record, and every rule existed only to be memorized. Weekends were for playing ball until sunset.