Dave Zirin, the politics of sports
Relax and enjoy Dave Zirin and McChesney talk about the politics of sports during this newly recorded program. Named of the UTNE Reader's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World", Dave Zirin writes about the politics of sports for the Nation Magazine. He is their first sports writer in 150 years of existence. Zirin is also the host of Sirius XM Radio's popular weekly show, Edge of Sports Radio. He has been called "the best sportswriter in the United States," by Robert Lipsyte.
Zirin is, in addition, a columnist for SLAM Magazine and the Progressive. His most recent book is Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games We Love (Scribner). Shock Doctrine author Naomi Klein called Bad Sports "an original and scathing look at how America works." Zirin is also the author of A People's History of Sports in the United States, part of Howard Zinn's People's History Series for the New Press. A People's History of Sports forms the basis of a documentary co-written and narrated by Zirin called Not Just A Game: Power, Politics and American Sports, produced by the Media Education Foundation.
In addition he has written Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports (Haymarket Books), with a foreword by Chuck D. Sports Illustrated wrote that Terrordome is "a provocative, sometimes chilling, look at sports and society right now." His first book, What's My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States (Haymarket Books) has entered its third printing. Zirin has brought his blend of sports and politics to multiple television programs including NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly, ESPN's Outside the Lines, MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, ESPN Classic, MSNBC's Morning Joe, CNN, MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, Comcast Sports Network's Washington Post Live, C-SPAN's BookTV, and Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman. He has also been on numerous national radio programs including National Public Radio's Tell Me More, Talk of the Nation, and All Things Considered.
Zirin has debated FOX Sports president Ed Goren on college football's Bowl Championship Series for National Public Radio, Bridgestone Firestone President Dan Adomitis in the pages of the Los Angeles Times on whether his company should be the "official tire of the Super Bowl" while in court for using child labor in Liberia, and the issue of steroids in sports with Jose Canseco and John Rocker.
His writing has also appeared in Vibe Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the New York Daily News, New York Newsday, the Baltimore Sun, the Pittsburgh Courier, The Source, and numerous other publications. He loves the Mets, Jets, Wizards, and Mystics. His newest book, in collaboration with John Carlos, is The John Carlos Story, forthcoming from Haymarket Books in September 2011. After reading the book, DeMaurice Smith, the director of the NFL Players Association, commented, "History tells us iconic moments in sport are always enveloped in personal stories of sacrifice, courage, and angst.
The lasting images that we see occur in a flash contain enriching back stories that are typically even more significant and tragic than the moment itself. John Carlos and Dave Zirin have combined to tell such a story. The moment that two men stood on the world platform to take a stand after they had become the best in the world is rich, complicated but most importantly as relevant today as it was in Mexico City. Dave brings a beautiful and passionate voice of truth to his listeners and achieves the same in this book about a man who became a legend."