Game Over

October 22, 2012
In his enlightening essay collection, Nation columnist and author Zirin (Welcome to the Terrordome) employs common sense and research to show that politics and sports are entangled, whether it’s members of the Green Bay Packers supporting the collective bargaining rights of Wisconsin’s public workers or the Phoenix Suns donning “Los Suns” uniforms to protest Arizona’s controversial, immigrant-obsessed law, SB 1070. Sports also provides material that highlights class and gender issues: massive stadiums funded with the tax dollars of citizens who can’t afford the tickets, the expectation that female athletes be competitive and feminine, and cities using the World Cup and Olympics as justification to displace low-income residents in the name of looking good for the world. Sports, Zirin writes, is a “common language,” that encompasses far more than wins and losses: “Our sports culture shapes societal attitudes, norms, and power arrangements.” Zirin steadfastly demonstrates how the games we watch are not just an escape from the everyday: they are a reflection that provides a perfect opportunity for protest and change.

November 1, 2012
A well-told tale about the seamy mess that politics has brought to big-time sports. Zirin (Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love, 2010, etc.), an alternative sportswriter and columnist for the Nation, SLAM and SI.com, charts important episodes and themes that, during the past 30 years, have transformed the "athletic-industrial complex...into a trillion-dollar, global entity," where branding is the name of the game and the "modern jock should never sacrifice commercial concerns for political principles." But if that is the context, Zirin has dozens of stories of athletes, even entire teams, taking action in the face of reactionary behavior on the part of the front office or the mayor's office. The author plays his progressive political hand coolly, because there is no need for him to hyperventilate, so egregious are the acts of racism and sexism, of the misuse of public funds or the NCAA's greed. He examines how the great international sporting events, such as the Olympics, wreak social and financial havoc on the host countries to the benefit of a few or how such horrible things could happen at Penn State: "Protect the brand above all. In a company town, your first responsibility is to protect the company." Zirin highlights many moments when athletes stepped to higher ground--e.g., the Phoenix Suns coming out as a team against the state's anti-immigration bill or the national soccer teams of Egypt and Bahrain doing their part for fighting tyranny. There are also incidents when sport's corporate worldview has put stadiums over public libraries and youth clubs and collegiate athletic complexes over classroom instruction. A damning indictment of all that is corrupting sports and a song of praise for athletes standing up for human rights and decency.

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December 1, 2012
Short of wearing out the subject of politics in sports (Bad Sports, 2010, and A People's History of Sports in the United States, 2008), sports analyst Zirin focuses here on the pushback by athletes and fans around the globe against injustices they see, whether in sports alone or on the larger political stage. For example, the NBA's Phoenix Suns changed their name to Los Suns for their 2010 Cinco de Mayo game versus the San Antonio Spurs to express their solidarity with Arizona's Hispanics over the state's tough anti-immigration laws. The NFL Players Association stood against Wisconsin governor Scott Walker's efforts to strip collective bargaining rights from public workers there. And there was worldwide support of South African runner Caster Semenya, who won silver in the women's 800-meter event at the 2012 London Games, over questions regarding the legitimacy of her stated gender. Other subjects include the Penn State scandal, the public reaction to Linsanity, and the continued objectification of women in sports. Readers who have responded to Zirin's other highly engaging books will find more of the same here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)