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The Xs and O's of Social Change

Opening blurb: THE NEW Disney film "Glory Road" tells the story of a basketball game that put sports in the middle of the civil rights movement. But it also recalls a time when the ordinary actions of coaches could unwittingly transcend sports and make a mark on history.

Crossroads: Race and Coaching in the NFL

Currently there is an opportunity for NFL owners to make a serious dent in the apartheid feng shui that defines the coaching quarters in the NFL. The stats are staggering. In the 16 years since Art Shell became the NFL

Over the Edge: The Year in Sports 2005

This past year that "hermetically sealed divide" has gone well beyond the fraying stage. The delicate division between sports and politics was ripped apart like it was trying to block Dwight Freeney. Discussing the "politics of sports" became in 2005 as popular as sports itself - for better and worse.

Bray of Pigs

Instead of honoring the diversity that has changed baseball forever, Bush played vendetta politics with Cuba's national baseball team.

The Silencing of Carlos Delgado

Sometimes sports mirrors politics with such morbid accuracy you don't know whether to laugh, cry or hide in the basement. Just as the Bush Administration shows its commitment to democracy by operating secret offshore gulags and buying favorable news coverage in Iraq, the New York Mets have made it clear to new player Carlos Delgado that freedom of speech stops once the blue and orange uniform--their brand--is affixed to his body.

The Fight to Save Stan Tookie Williams

Jim Brown: NFL hall of famer actor activist. He has mediated truces between the toughest gangs in Los Angeles and fought racism from South Central to Soweto. But today he is involved in a different kind of fight: the race to save Stan Tookie Williams, who now awaits execution on California's death row. Williams is due to be executed December 13, and Brown has linked arms with a motley crew of activists from Archbishop Desmond Tutu to hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg demanding that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spare his life. Schwarzenegger, who has set a clemency hearing for December 8, recently told reporters he is "dreading" the decision he is about to make.

The Champ Meets the Chump

When George W. Bush met Muhammad Ali at the White House last week, the Champ had one last rope-a-dope up his sleeve. You don't have to guess who won this match.

The Soccer Star and the President

If there were a Mount Rushmore of international soccer, Diego Maradona

Sheryl Swoopes - Out of the Closet And Onto The Court

What

How Major League Baseball Strip-mines the Dominican Republic

This piece is in the November 14, 2005 issue of the Nation magazine with the title 'Say It Ain't So, Big Leagues.'