Column Archive

“Why I Support the National Equality March”: NFL’s Scott Fujita Speaks Out for Gay Rights

Scott Fujita is a star linebacker for the unbeaten New Orleans Saints. He is also a 2001 graduate from the University of California at Berkeley with a BA in political science.  In addition to playing for the Saints, he is also is someone proudly raising his family in post-Katrina New Orleans. In the following interview, Scott speaks out about why he is supporting the October 11th National Equality March for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender rights in Washington DC.

Can the NFL Tackle Homophobia?

In the recent past, LGBT issues were only part of the NFL landscape when players held press conferences to assure fans that despite the rumors, they are not gay (without even adding the requisite "not that there's anything wrong with that").But as a direct result of the movement for marriage equality, there are green shoots for social justice becoming visible in the locker room.

Victory/Agony: Chicago Loses the Olympics

I am absolutely reeling with shock that Chicago was knocked out in the first round and the 2016 Olympics are going to Rio de Janeiro. Some quick thoughts about Victoria Brasilia and the Chicago/Daley/Obama humiliation.

Obama's Olympic Error UPDATED

President Barack Obama is now en route to Copenhagen in an effort to sell Chicago as the site of the 2016 Summer Olympics. In the process, he may be selling Chicago down the river. Obama is joined arm-in-arm with his wife Michelle on one side and Mayor Richard Daley's Chicago political machine on the other.  Michelle Obama says, "My father was disabled, and I think what it would have meant for him to see someone in his shoes compete. Kids need to see that and that needs to be celebrated just as much, if not more." This seems more like an argument to support the Paralympics (a tremendous event) but that's beside the point. Michelle Obama should perhaps realize that if the Olympics had come to Chicago when she was a young girl on Chicago's working class south side, her home may have been torn down to make way for an Olympic facility. No word on how being out of house and home would have helped her disabled father.

Sports and the Uncivil Society

The idea that we are all just a bunch of uncivil goons sounds like common sense especially when you toss in the worst of reality television and anything done by Kanye West. But this conventional wisdom is not only wrong-headed, it's downright dangerous. 

Double Standard for Serena Williams

A top-ranked tennis player in a moment of rage cursed out a judge and shocked the world, headlining every sports and news program from ESPN to MSNBC. Meanwhile, another champion tennis player hurled expletives at a judge and the media barely yawned. While the tennis world still reels from Serena Williams's f-bomb-laced tirade against a line judge on September 12, the "classy" Roger Federer pulled a similar tantrum two days later and didn't get half as much coverage. The behavior of Federer and Williams in these matches are examples of bad sportsmanship at its worst. But the double standard is enough to make you want to swallow your tennis ball.

Stop the Savage Sex Scare in Sports

The salacious sports media and the puritanical zealots that run international track and field have joined forces to hit a new low. Someone in the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) leaked to the press that Caster Semenya, the 18-year-old 800-meter track champion from South Africa, is, in the words of Oren Yaniv in the New York Daily News, both "a woman... and a man!" After being subjected to a battery of "gender tests," which included invasive exams by a gynecologist, an endocrinologist and a psychologist, Semenya's private business is now presented for public consumption.

Exclusive: Kermit Washington's Advice to LeGarrette Blount

When Kermit Washington saw highlights of Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount punching Boise State linebacker Byron Hout following the Ducks' 19-8 loss to the Broncos last Thursday, his heart sank. If anyone could understand what Blount would face, it's Washington.

LeGarrette Blount and the Politics of the Punch

With one punch, LeGarrette Blount has irrevocably altered his future. But there is far more to this story than the tale of one player's loss of control.

President Obama: Jack Johnson Punched Back

At a town meeting, Republican Rep. Lynn Jenkins called for a "great white hope" to emerge from the Republican Party to defeat Barack Obama’s agenda. Jenkins has since said she was “unaware of any negative connotation” and is sorry if anyone was offended. One thing is certain: if she did know the actual, unvarnished history of the phrase “great white hope,” Jenkins may have chosen her words carefully. "Great white hopes” tend to get knocked into next week.