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Rain, Risk Takers, Racists, and Rancor: Demonstrating Against the D-Backs

On Sunday in DC, I attended the seventeenth ballpark protest of the Arizona Diamondbacks during the 2011 baseball season. As in the other actions—in cities from Houston to San Francisco to Milwaukee—people chanted a loud and clear message to Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig: move the 2011 All-Star Game out of Arizona and make the state pay a price for enacting legislation that sacrifices immigrant families at the altar of election-year politics. But this demonstration was also deeply different from the sixteen others. It was a day of rain, risk-takers, racists and rancor. And it couldn’t have been more terrific.

This Sunday: The Arizona Diamondbacks Come to DC…and They’re Not Alone

All summer demonstrations have followed Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks in protest of the state's flurry of anti-immigrant laws. But this Sunday, the D-backs will also be supported in a rally organizined by an organization flagged by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In Honor of the Isiah Rehire: A Tribute to James Dolan, the Muse of Bad Sports

I was inspired to write Bad Sports because of one person and one person only. It wasn’t a mentor, friend, or family member. It was James Dolan, owner of the New York Knicks.

DeVos-ed From Reality: Why I Was Booted From the Pat Williams Show

To my shock and surprise, I had been invited onto the radio program of Orlando Magic executive Pat Williams to discuss my book Bad Sports, in which I'm sharply critical of his boss, Dick DeVos. To my disappointment, the invitation was predictably rescinded.

What Owners Owe Us

I once had a coach who could spit tobacco hard enough to break a window. He smelled like an old hamper, and only wore pants that came with an elastic waist. Still, every last one of us loved the guy. He always said, "Sports is like a hammer, gents. And you can use a hammer for all kinds of things. You can use it to build a house, or you can use it to bash somebody's head. Choose wisely." In the twenty-first century, the heads of far too many sports fans have been bashed by far too many hammers.

Bad Sports on The Rachel Maddow Show

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The Rachel Maddow Show Appearance

DZ on The Rachel Maddow Show

Protests at the Park: The Precedent and the Promise

All summer, people have been protesting at baseball stadiums against the Arizona Diamonbacks and their state's anti-immigrant laws. These 'protests at the park" are not without precedent and not without the promise of victory.

George Steinbrenner: The Death of 'the Bridge'

George Steinbrenner was both the last... and first of a breed.

All-Star Speak-Out: Baseball Players Pledge to Boycott Arizona All Star Game

Several Major League Baseball All Stars said they would boycott the 2011 All-Star game if it takes place in Arizona. It's time for Major League Commissioner Bud Selig to wake up.