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Privilege Meets Protest at Duke
Privilege Meets Protest at Duke

April 18, 2006

On Bonds: You're Damn Right Race Matters
On Bonds: You're Damn Right Race Matters

March 31, 2006
Is Barry Bonds the object of a racist witch-hunt? Over the last week I have had to publicly argue this issue against some of the finest minds of my generation (all right, John Rocker and Jose Canseco). In addition, I have duked it out on talk radio, sports radio, email chats, and various blogs. The dominant argument I hear repeatedly, whether from Mr. Rocker or Mr. Liberal Blogger, is that I am an idiot if I think that the Bonds steroid-mania is all about bigotry run amok. Unfortunately that is not my argument.

Big League Identity Crisis
Big League Identity Crisis

March 17, 2006
The World Baseball Classic, March

Burying Barry: Bonds and The Chain of Command
Burying Barry: Bonds and The Chain of Command

March 9, 2006

Tillman's Parents Deserve the Truth
Tillman's Parents Deserve the Truth

March 7, 2006

White Blindness: The Winter Olympics and Defending Bryant Gumbel
White Blindness: The Winter Olympics and Defending Bryant Gumbel

February 25, 2006
The right-wing media hordes, in a mad dash to deflect attention from Dick Cheney's shooting spree, may have found their target of mass distraction: Bryant Gumbel.

The Value of a Number
The Value of a Number

February 15, 2006
A new push is taking place to honor another legend in a similar way. An appeal has been made by Hispanics Across America (HAA) to retire the number 21of Pittsburgh Pirate Roberto Clemente. the effort to honor Clemente has met resistance from a surprising source: Jackie Robinson's daughter Sharon. In January, she said, "To my understanding, the purpose of retiring my father's number is that what he did changed all of baseball, not only for African-Americans but also for Latinos, so I think that purpose has been met. When you start retiring numbers across the board, for all different groups, you're kind of diluting the original purpose."

Detroit: Super Bowl City on the Brink
Detroit: Super Bowl City on the Brink

February 7, 2006
"A celebration of concentrated wealth." That's what Washington Post sportswriter Tony Kornheiser called the National Football League's two-week long pre-Super Bowl party binge. Every Super Bowl Sunday, corporate executives and politicians exchange besotted, sodden backslaps, amidst an atmosphere that would shame Jack Abramoff. Only this year the bacchanalia -- complete with ice sculptures peeing Grey Goose vodka and two tons of frozen lobster flown directly to the stadium -- is happening in the United States' most impoverished, ravaged city: Detroit.

The Slave Side of Sunday
The Slave Side of Sunday

February 1, 2006
NFL veteran Anthony Prior contends that the NFL is rife with a racism that is both deeply institutionalized and largely unchallenged. "I was frustrated by not seeing the truth in print," Prior told me in a recent interview. "And I believe that if you want to see it, you should write it."

The Xs and O's of Social Change
The Xs and O's of Social Change

January 23, 2006
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.