I wrote From a Left Wing from December 2007 until July 2013. For much of that time, I averaged one post a week+ADs some years I wrote more than that. In that time my interests have changed, and much as I love From a Left Wing as a writing-space and as a community of readers, I decided to retire this … [Read more...]
Brazil Rejects the Pure Spectacle
The people taking to the streets in Brazil are demonstrating the only right and true response to the militarized boondoggle of international sports festivals like FIFA's World Cup and the Olympics.+ACY-nbsp+ADs-These are serial spectacles - a rotating cast and set acting out the same story over and over … [Read more...]
Are the Doncaster Belles being punished for their history? Or for the history of women’s football?
Moira Lovell, +ACI-John and Precious+ACI from Stand Your GroundDoncaster Rover Belles players and their coachThe unfairness of discrimination can be so lacerating, so outrageous that you hesitate to speak directly to the experience of it. Once you start, you are sucked into a tornado of totally justified … [Read more...]
The Runner’s Runner
I've long wanted to write about Justina Cassavell. My sister has been the cross-country coach at Voorhees High School in New Jersey since the mid 1990s. She is also the head track coach (boys and girls). She announced her resignation yesterday - within minutes it seemed, the story was posted on … [Read more...]
Brittney Griner, Jason Collins and the Sex of a Story
The (not-homophobic side of the) sports world has invested a lot of magic in the currently-professional-and-playing-out-gay-male-athlete. It's no wonder, given how elusive that athlete has been.Jason Collins comes out decades after Stonewall, he comes out long after Ellen DeGeneres came out while … [Read more...]
Jason Collins Comes Out (and Leans In)
NBA center+ACY-nbsp+ADs-Jason Collins came out in this week's issue of+ACY-nbsp+ADs-Sports Illustrated. People are celebrating him as the first man in a +ACI-major sport+ACI to come out as gay. That is true only if we limit our examples to the US.Justin Fashanu was the first athlete to come out as gay while still playing … [Read more...]
The Vulnerable Spectacle: Notes on the Bombing of a Marathon
The bombing at the Boston Marathon - what is there to say about such a thing? Already, barely a day into the story the story is on repeat. Terror, heroism, terror, heroism. How many are dead? Wounds and more wounds. Women +ACY-amp+ADs children. Look out for a dark skinned man in a hoodie. It's an awful … [Read more...]
Big Money Sports Provides Training in Bullying and Harassment!: Notes on Rutgers Basketball
Rutgers's+ACY-nbsp+ADs-biggest problem is not Mike Rice. It's politicians digging into the university's infrastructure - taking the ongoing dismantling of affordable public education to the next level (first attack affordability, then attack the scene of education by taking away its working infrastructure, … [Read more...]
Blame Patriarchy: Thoughts on Steubenville rape case and “Jock Culture”
In a recent polemic Dave Zirin asks if +ACI-jock culture+ACI is to be blamed for the+ACY-nbsp+ADs-Steubenville case.Responding to evidence that adults around these football players conspired to cover up the shame and the crime of it all, Zirin tackles the social structure framing the story.+ACY-nbsp+ADsAIg-Steubenville,+ACI- … [Read more...]
She’s a Forward and She’s Really Awesome (Sam Gordan Video)
I wrote about Sam Gordon the other week for Salon. Love. Her. … [Read more...]