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MILITARY

Former US Attorney General Testifies for Plowshares Activists Ramsey Clark supports WA anti-nuke movement Ground Zero Center (Nov 28, 2010)

HEALTH

Hunger Up 36% in Washington State from Children's Alliance, cartoon by John Ambrosavage (Nov 28, 2010)

POLITICS

The Progressive Tea Party? Maybe when it comes to surveillance issues Doug Collins, cartoon by Dan McConnell (Nov 28, 2010)
Obama Wooing 'Economic Royalists' FDR was way gutsier Norman Solomon, cartoon by David Logan (Nov 28, 2010)

SUBSTANCES

The Dirty Secret Behind 'Demon Tobacco' Regulation doesn't cover cigarette additives Doug Collins, cartoons by John Jonik (Nov 28, 2010)

EDUCATION

America’s Education Gender Gap Bill Costello, cartoon by John Ambrosavage (Nov 28, 2010)

ELECTIONS

Washington State Votes Against Change Janice Van Cleve, cartoon by Dan McConnell (Nov 28, 2010)

FOLLOW FILE updates

DeCourseys v. Real Estate Giant; Amazon Prevails in Customer Privacy Doug Collins, cartoon by John Ambrosavage (Nov 28, 2010)

ENVIRONMENT

Poll: Southwest WA Supports Conservation Climate Solutions, cartoon by John Jonik (Nov 28, 2010)

CULTURE

What Color Is Your Santa? holiday cartoons by John Ambrosavage (Nov 28, 2010)

MEDICINE

WA Doctors Tell McKenna: Put Patients Before Politics Doctors for America (Oct 25, 2010)

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No, Higher Consciousness Won’t Save Us Charles Reich got his second book right Norman Solomon (Oct 23, 2010)

LAW

Modern-Day Debtors’ Prisons in WA ACLU of WA, with cartoon by John Jonik (Oct 23, 2010)

RIGHTS

Report: Racial Profiling Pervasive Across America OneAmerica (Oct 23, 2010)

WORLD

Port Townsend Food Co-op Rejects Israel Boycott Jefferson County BDS, cartoon by George Jartos (Oct 23, 2010)

HISTORY

A Bellhop in the Swingin' Seventies Overly detailed resume plus cartoon by John Ambrosavage (Oct 20, 2010)
Johnny Horizon's Draft Physical Can he avoid Vietnam? John Merriam (Oct 20, 2010)

AROUND WASHINGTON

Gregoire passes the hatchet; Bears love garbage; Where does the PUD travel to? featuring cartoons by Dan McConnell (Oct 20, 2010)

ECONOMY

Now's the Time to Expand Social Security Good for both Americans and American companies Steven Hill (Sept 9, 2010)

WAR

Obama's Speech for Endless War Normon Solomon, cartoon by Dan McConnell (Sept 9, 2010)

ENERGY

Yellowstone: The #1 National Security Threat Unless we turn Wyoming into a new energy Mecca Martin Nix (Sept 9, 2010)

TECHNOLOGY

Biodefense, Biolabs and Bugs Seattle City Council takes an important first step to safety Labwatch.org (Aug 9, 2010)

WORKPLACE

Teenage Microsoft Sweatshop 15-hour shifts under poor conditions at Chinese factory from the National Labor Committee (May 16, 2010)

IMMIGRATION

Why US Immigration Policy Needs Tweaking Bill Costello, cartoon by David Logan (May 16, 2010)
Arizona Immigration Brouhaha Various opinions from near and far, cartoons by Logan and McConnell (May 2, 2010)

TRANSPORTATION

The Coming Microcar Revolution Martin Nix (May 16, 2010)

POETRY

A Poetic Look at Tacoma Glass Art Museum; a limer-ICK Gerald McBreen (Mar 28, 2010)
Fall Is For Falling Out Of Love, etc. three poems Bob Markey (Mar 29, 2010)

BUSINESS

Who Rules America? Corporate conglomeration is leading to neofeudalism Don Monkerud, cartoon by John Jonik (Mar 27, 2010)

TRUTH

Architects and Engineers Ask for New Look at 9/11 Doug Collins (Feb 20, 2010)

MEDIA

Is Olympic Coverage Sexist? Media coverage rarely gives women equal treatment Univ. of Alberta (Jan 24, 2010)

RIGHT BRAIN

Why I Don't Come at Christmas Anymore not-so-jolly Saint Nick (Dec 18, 2009) Santa Gets Political art by Ambrosavage, Lande, and Dees (Dec 17, 2009)

SPORTS

A People's History of Sports BOOK REVIEW Doreen McGrath (posted July 24, 2009)

CLIMATE

Cashing In On Earth's Cycles: Part 3 Alan Cheetham & Richard Kirby (posted July 24, 2009)
Obama: How Serious About Climate Change? Doug Collins (posted July 24, 2009)


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posted July 24, 2009

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book review

A People’s History of Sports in the United States (David Zirin)

review by Doreen McGrath 

This article originally appeared in the Freedom Socialist newspaper (Seattle), April-May 2009.


Dave Zirin’s new book, A People’s History of Sports in the United States, is a home run. A part of the People’s History Series inspired by historian Howard Zinn, it spans quite a stretch of time and knocks out a comprehensive view of why we love and hate sports. At the same time, it blasts the adage that sports and politics don’t mix. 

Sweep of history  

Dave Zirin’s book covers US history from the time the first Anglos hit the eastern shore to the present, from the Native Americans’ furious game of lacrosse, through the urban game of “rat baiting,” to the founding of professional sports leagues and player associations. Through it all he views the history not from society’s upper crust, but from the bottom up. Always he salutes those who stood up to abuse and discrimination, and defends the legitimacy of activist athletes.  

“This volume... stands proudly with the tradition of progressive dissenters in sports, people who have attempted to use the world of sports as a platform to advance ideas of resistance. These are people who have not allowed the politics of modern sport in the United States to be the province of those who financially control it.”  

Zirin’s love of baseball shines through, covering all aspects of the game’s history and its working-class and African American roots. Early players’ unions had the slogan “Fire the boss!” Yet they excluded African Americans. Segregated in the Negro Leagues, Blacks were paid far less and worked in rough conditions.  

But Zirin also notes, “There is another reading of the Negro Leagues at this time: an independent locus of power and a source of pride and support, much like the historically black colleges.” 

Throughout the book, Zirin stays on track with both Black history and the women’s movement. The Civil War, women suffragists, Great Depression, world wars, Jim Crow segregation and the rights movements of the ‘60s and ‘70s are seen through boxing, football, basketball, the Olympics, tennis, golf and more.  

The explosive story of Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists for Black Power at the 1968 Olympics is stirring, as is the tale of tennis great Arthur Ashe’s steadfast political leadership against South African apartheid and for HIV-infected Haitian refugees. 

Women’s early basketball “was a very rough-and-tumble operation. Freed from their corsets, they let their elbows fly freely as well.” Babe Didrikson won three gold medals at the 1932 Olympics on the track but also played golf and football. Asked by a reporter, “Is there anything you don’t play?” she responded with, “Yeah, dolls.” Of all Zirin’s books, this one does the best job of integrating women’s issues into the stories he tells. 

 

Too few pages

In less than 300 pages, Zirin relates vignettes, short stories, and snippets covering everything from the Communist Party’s sports writer Red Rodney, to the entry of Latino players into major league baseball, to the exploding popularity of the Gay Games. He conveys not just his passion for sports but for building a better world in which we can play and watch them. The book is a treat to read. 

What’s missing is more—about Native American, Asian American and Latino athletes in US history. Missing too is more about sportswomen of color (where did Black women play baseball during World War II?) I’d like to see an exposé of the impact on sports from devastating funding cuts at urban public schools. 

I found it frustrating that Zirin tiptoes around the issue of class. He is dead right in saying that sports and politics are inseparable. But the biggest reason why is that we are living in a capitalist world where profit defines all. Zirin shows this repeatedly, but doesn’t explicitly express the logical conclusion—capitalism sucks for poor and working athletes, and the public that pays for those stadiums! 

Lefties of the political sort will enjoy this book whether or not they are sports fans. As anyone trying to change the world knows, you can’t leave out any sector of rebels. That surely includes the wide world of sports. 

Zirin makes a point of inviting us to jump in. “If we challenge sports to be as good as they can be,” he finishes, “they can propel us toward a better world, a world worth playing in—and worth fighting for.”   

 

Doreen McGrath is a computer programmer, political radical, and staunch fan of the Storm, Seattle’s women’s basketball team.

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