League of Fans

Allstate is the new title sponsor (for at least the next four years at an undisclosed “seven figure” cost) of the Sugar Bowl, played at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana on January 3, 2007. But many are left wondering how Allstate can market themselves on everything involving the largest annual sporting event in New Orleans, yet deny liability and living expenses to so many customers who suffered losses in the region due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

In his Edge of Sports column, Dave Zirin recognizes the significance of Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts and Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears “shattering one of sports’ most formidable glass ceilings.” For the first time, the head coaches of both teams in the Super Bowl are black.

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.”

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.

In the Public Interest
by Ralph Nader

As we settle-in to cheer on our favorite college football teams this bowl season, it’s important to remember that an undisputed consolidation of power and money — the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) — controls which schools play in the major bowl games and National Championship game.

[*UPDATE* NBA Commissioner David Stern has announced that the old-style basketballs will return January 1, 2007 and be used through the remainder of the season. “Our players’ response to this particular composite ball has been consistently negative, and we are acting accordingly,” Stern said in a brief statement.]

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:

To help baseball and softball coaches administer first aid and prevent injuries that may happen on the field, the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) makes available a handbook called “Prevention and Emergency Management of Youth Baseball and Softball Injuries.”

Who’s at Fault in the Stadium Standoff

Letter to the Editor: Washington Post – Wednesday, January 11, 2006; Page A20

In his Jan. 3 op-ed, “Why the Stadium Deal Isn’t Done,” Major League Baseball President Bob DuPuy wrote as though baseball were performing a humanitarian service against its interest by relocating the Montreal Expos to Washington.

The D.C. area’s huge population and media share, the Washington Nationals’ financial success in 2005, and the league’s anticipation of $450 million in franchise sale proceeds show that the District is the only choice for the Nats.