League of Fans

Dave Zirin and Derek Tyner reveal in a column for The Nation that Major League Baseball is finally starting to hear the cries of worker’s rights activists.

Back in 2004, in response to reports of poor labor practices in factories that produce “official” Major League Baseball licensed goods, Ralph Nader and League of Fans sent a letter to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and Players Association Executive Director Donald Fehr asking that they adopt internationally recognized worker rights standards as a condition governing all of their product sourcing and licensing agreements. The response was lukewarm.

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:

From Neil deMause of Field of Schemes:

“In a move that significantly ups the ante over the team’s arena demands, the Seattle Sonics and Storm were sold today for $350 million to Oklahoma businessman Clayton Bennett, the leader of an investment group put together to acquire an NBA franchise for Oklahoma City.

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.

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.

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.

Council of The District of Columbia

Dear Councilmembers:

Major League Baseball has reportedly altered the stadium lease, effectively eliminating the stadium cap on city spending for the “hard and soft costs” of construction. Though the Council unforgivably approved the one-sided lease last month, it did so with the intent of limiting the city’s cost for the project, and with the intent — as I was told by District CFO Natwar Gandhi — that Major League Baseball, Mayor Williams and the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission sign the lease by March 6, 2006, “without any reservation.” Therefore, the DC Council has no choice but to reject the altered stadium lease that again leaves the District ultimately responsible for all cost overruns.

The Washington Post reports that several civil rights and women’s organizations are supporting African American and women tennis umpires in their lawsuit against the U.S. Tennis Association alleging racial, sex and age discrimination:

The Honorable Anthony A. Williams
Mayor, District of Columbia

Dear Mayor Williams:

Your Administration can no longer ignore the significant environmental hazards that exist at the construction site for the proposed new baseball stadium. On June 8, 2006 the Washington Post reported a major discovery of 53 tanks of oil under the soil at the stadium site that has caused $2.9 million extra to be spent on environmental cleanup. This troubling level of contamination is only the beginning and I renew my request, with increased urgency, for you to call for a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) at the stadium site.

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: