Column Archive

Can Soccer Stop the Violence?

Horrific violence in South Africa continues against immigrants from Zimbabwe and Mozambique and some high profile soccer players are taking a stand to end the violence. But this issue gets more complicated when we consider how the World Cup is coming to South Africa in 2010, and the effect that’s having on the very communities where the violence runs the most hot.

'Like He Died Twice': Mary Tillman's Lonesome Road

Here is our interview with the late Pat Tillman’s mother, Mary. Please read. Hers is a voice that demands to be heard.

Tiger, Tiger, Burning Blight

Tiger Woods’ father had dreams that his son would transcend sports and change the world. But Tiger’s foundation has entered into a new partnership with Chevron which makes a mockery of these dreams. Woods’ foundation, which claims to “stand for children”, won’t confront or even comment, on the horrific nature of Chevron’s human rights record.

What I want to Ask Mary Tillman

This Friday, I will have the privilege to interview Mary Tillman, the mother of the late Pat Tillman: former NFL player turned Army Ranger, turned casualty of a criminal war. Mary Tillman has written a book along with Narda Zacchino called Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman. It's a heart-ripping account of one family's lonely search for justice, and how, even aided by public outcry and heavy hitters in Congress, the truth about what actually happened to Mary's son remains at arm's length.

Boss's Boycott: The Bonds Vanishes

Boss’s Boycott: The Bonds Vanishes: Can a man who led baseball in on base percentage, walks, and was third in home runs per at-bats, really be denied a job? He can if his name is Barry Bonds. The historical echoes would make a 20th century genocide artists very proud.

Blogged Down: The Seduction of Buzz Bissinger

When Buzz Bissinger went after Will Leitch on Costas Now, he revealed a darker insecurity lurking in the heart of the modern sports writer: irrelevancy.

There's No Place Like Home: Refocusing Olympic Protest

Olympic officials are trying to make sure that athletes are seen, but not heard, in Beijing. But, in the tradition of Olympics protest past, the focus of activist-athletes should hit a lot closer to home.

The NFL Draft: From Fantasy to Farce

For fans, the pigskin meat market is mindless fun, but for young players, their lives picked apart and judged by people – both the experts on television and the soothsayers in the GM suites – the experience is somewhat less than a fantasy.

Can the Warriors Help Save Oakland?

The Golden State Warriors are part of a program called Silence the Violence in Oakland High Schools. But they shouldn’t do this work in high schools alone.

Shedding Light on the Torch

China and it’s cronies in the International Olympic Committee are bemoaning the way the running of the Olympic torch has turned into a site for international protest. But anyone who knows the tradition of the Olympic torch, would find protests all too appropriate.