by Dave Zirin

Pity the poor soul that sets to write a great sports novel. It can feel like trying to train a goldfish to fetch. Sisyphus might find pushing that rock up the hill a more fruitful task. What makes penning a sports novel such a perilous pursuit?

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

(Note to Reader: Over the last decade, Jason Whitlock has been one of the most prominent African American sports columnists in the United States. He writes for the Kansas City Star and AOL Sports. For reasons unclear, he often refers to himself as "Big Sexy")

Dear Jason,

I start with long overdue thanks. Thanks for inspiring me to be a sportswriter. Thanks for showing all of us that the sports page could be more than blather and box scores. For that you have my sincere gratitude.

As reported by Neil deMause of Field of schemes, "The British bank Barclays has tied the New York Mets' record $20 million a year naming rights deal [with Citigroup] with a reported 20-year, $400 million contract to dub the new Brooklyn Nets arena the Barclays Center."

Writing for The Brooklyn Paper, Gersh Kuntzman and Dana Rubinstein outline Barklays' rap sheet, which includes being founded on the slave trade, collaborating with the Nazis, doing business with South Africa's apartheid government, and fueling the civil war in the Congo.

Leading up to the Super Bowl, an Online Journal commentary by Jason Miller compares the NFL to U.S. domestic and foreign policy -- and thereby football fans to the U.S. population -- in a challenge to the masses. He writes: "Arising from the same fetid bogs of spiritual decay that spawned the American Way, the NFL reeks with the stench of corporate tyranny, patriarchy, racism, superficiality, greed, competitiveness, and materialism."

Gale Courey Toensing writes a nice summary for Indian Country Today on activities in 2006 regarding the American Indian mascot issue.

In a column for the Huffington Post, writer Leanne Shear makes an impassioned argument as to the benefits of Title IX and defends the civil rights law from critics who say it helps women to the detriment of men. She includes a discussion with women's rights activist and tennis legend Billie Jean King as to what Title IX has accomplished and why it is still under attack. Following is an excerpt:

As the debate rages over whether or not Chief Illiniwek should remain the University of Illinois mascot, Darla M. Wiese of Quad-Cities Online (IL) writes a thoughtful piece on the American Indian mascot issue. Please note that an excellent reader discussion follows her article, under "comments."

Sarah Moses of Indian Country Today reports that a joint petition with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was filed on August 11, 2006 for the cancellation of the Washington Redskins trademarked term, "Redskins." The petition was filed by six American Indian young people from across the country ranging in age from 18 to 24.

William Rhoden of the New York Times -- one of our favorite sports columnists for his consistently provocative social commentary on the sports community and for his refusal to cheerlead (contrary to many in the sports pages) for the sports powers-that-be when undeserved -- is out with a new book that's sure to upset the sports establishment: Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete.

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."

It's a tough environment in the macho sports world for anyone who happens to be gay. Back in September, 2003, Boston Herald sportswriter Ed Gray wrote a column appearing on the front page of the sports section declaring that he is gay, explaining:

In his July 11 column, "Let the Guys Win One," John Tierney suggests that women do not deserve equal opportunity in athletics because, academically, women are outperforming men on college campuses.

Dave Zirin pieces together circumstantial evidence and historical context in his latest column in defense of French soccer star and national hero Zinedine Zidane (or Zissou as he is known) after his violent head-butt to the chest of Italy's Marco Materazzi resulted in Zidane's red card ejection from the World Cup Final. France went on to lose the game, without Zidane, in a penalty shootout. Zirin explains: