Field of Schemes

Sonics co-owner: We wanted OKC all along - wait, are you writing this down?
August 14, 2007

"Throw another move threat on the fire: Yesterday, Seattle Sonics minority owner (and billionaire natural gas mogul) Aubrey McClendon told the Oklahoma City Journal Record that he was 'under a self-imposed gag order' regarding operations of the team - then yammered at length about it, including the statement: 'We didn't buy the team to keep it in Seattle; we hoped to come here. We know it's a little more difficult financially here in Oklahoma City, but we think it's great for the community and if we could break even we'd be thrilled.'" . . . | more

By Dave Zirin

Barry Bonds should be basking in the moment. The San Francisco Giants outfielder has just passed Hank Aaron to become the all-time home-run king of Major League Baseball. With 756 home runs, seven most-valuable-player awards and eight gold gloves, he should be trotting into the twilight of his career in a hail of hosannas as the finest ballplayer of his generation. But expect no laurels, parades or calls from President Bush.

In the Public Interest
by Ralph Nader

Anybody who played schoolboy sandlot baseball in Winsted, Connecticut with David Halberstam back in the nineteen forties would not have been very surprised to observe his spectacular journalistic career that took him to the civil rights struggles in the South, the war torn African and Asian continents, and the writing of some 20 books which required aggressive reporting.

The loss of David Halberstam in a traffic collision in Menlo Park, California, deprived our country of a great reporter and a great man. His journalistic sweep, manifested through original writings in articles, books and interviews, came with a knowledge of historical roots to contemporary events.

Memo to Imus: You're Fired
Dave Zirin
Edge of Sports
April 12, 2007

Time for Jackson, Sharpton to Step Down
Jason Whitlock
AOL Sports
April 13, 2007

UPDATE

Outrageous Words, Outrageous Deeds
Ralph Nader
In the Public Interest
April 16, 2007

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.

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."

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."

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.

Jay Weiner of the Minneapolis Star Tribune interviews the wonderful Donna Lopiano, whose work on behalf of girl's and women's sports and fitness -- and in defense of Title IX -- is exemplary:

A report (pdf) called the "2006 Racial and Gender Report Card of the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE)" was recently released by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida. The report, commissioned by APSE, covers the racial and gender breakdown of sport staffs of more than 300 Associated Press newspapers.

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.