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?

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

Two recent articles from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times examine the big business of college football and question the tax-breaks and non-profit status enjoyed by athletic departments involved in an arms race of spending on stadiums and coaches.

As the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts Jr. continue, League of Fans would like to note Roberts' record on Title IX (a law League of Fans supports and has fought to protect) and consider the possible implications if he were confirmed to a lifetime seat.

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.

The Honorable Anthony A. Williams
Mayor, District of Columbia

Dear Mayor Williams:

On Sunday, June 26, the Washington Post featured the Eastern Senior High School baseball team in a moving story that, once again, demonstrated your penchant for peculiar priorities. While assembling the Eastern players for a political photo op at RFK Stadium in March, you promised to attend their first game. A nice gesture, indeed, and one that would have meant so much to these youngsters. But as the Post’s David Nakamura reported, not only did you fail to show for Eastern’s first game, but you never even bothered to attend any of their games. How quickly they were forgotten. You do attend often, however, the Nationals games, in part, to show your commitment to the half-billion-dollar stadium giveaway to Major League Baseball.

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.

(Ralph Nader and the sports reform project League of Fans sent a letter to federal health and safety officials arguing that their agencies "have been collectively deficient in research, preservation of data, recommendations and overall recognition of the public health magnitude of sports injuries."

The letter was sent to Michael Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services; Julie Louise Gerberding, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Ileana Arias, Acting Director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control; and Hal Stratton, Chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Enclosed with the letter are recommendations urging the establishment of a task force to formulate sports injury policy and implement "a pro-active national program regarding health and safety in sports, at all levels and age groups, with the goal of minimizing the risk of injury to participants in informal and organized sports, recreation and exercise." The letter and recommendations follow.)

When: Washington Nationals' Opening Day, Thursday, April 14 at 6:00 pm.
Where: RFK Stadium, Main Entrance on East Capitol St., SE

The "Millions for Stadiums, Peanuts for Schools" rally will send the message that a city flush with revenue, and spending at least $581 million on a new stadium, should not cut the DC Public School’s capital budget by 44 percent over the next two years as proposed in Mayor Anthony Williams’ budget. The FY 2006 budget includes no additional funding for athletic programs in DC Public Schools.