Dave Zirin

Dave Zirin
Occupation	Sports journalism
Notable credit(s)	A People's History of Sports in the United States Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports
Website	http://edgeofsports.com/

Dave Zirin is an American sportswriter. He champions athletes and issues which might be overlooked by corporate sports media and addresses the tendency of the media to objectify and employ athletes as pawns in money-making efforts.

Career

Zirin's column, Edge of Sports, appears on Sports Illustrated’s website and he is the host of XM satellite’s weekly show, Edge of Sports Radio. Zirin is a frequent contributor to The Nation, a columnist for SLAM Magazine, and The Progressive. He was named one of Utne Reader's 50 Visionaries who are Changing Your World for 2009.

His first book, What’s My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States (Haymarket Books) has entered its third printing.

Zirin has taken his blend of sports and politics to ESPN's Outside the Lines, the Rachel Maddow Show, CNBC’s The Big Idea with Donny Deutch where he discussed steroid use in baseball with John Rocker and José Canseco; C-SPAN’s Book TV, and the WNBC Morning News in New York City, and MSNBC's Morning Joe.

He has also been on numerous radio programs including Air America Radio's On the Real with Chuck D and Gia'na Garel, The Laura Flanders Show, Radio Nation, ESPN Radio, Stars and Stripes Radio, WOL’s The Joe Madison Show, Pacifica Radio’s Hard Knock Radio and Democracy Now, among others. He is also the Thursday morning sports host on WBAI’s “Wake Up Call with Deepa Fernandes”.

Eventually Zirin created his own radio show, Edge of Sports Radio - "Where sports and politics collide". Digressing from the standard tropes of sports shows (and political shows) Edge of Sports Radio runs live at noon on Fridays on Sirius 122 and XM 143.

Zirin has also published Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports, and “A People’s History of Sports in the United States,” a sports-related volume in the manner of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States series for The New Press. In addition to “What’s My Name, Fool?” for Haymarket Books, he has also published “The Muhammad Ali Handbook” for MQ Publications. Zirin is also the published children’s book author of “My Name is Erica Montoya de la Cruz” (RC Owen). In addition, he is working on a sports documentary with Barbara Kopple’s Cabin Creek films on sports and social movements in the United States.

Zirin’s writing has been printed by the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, CBSNEWS.com, New York Newsday, Pittsburgh Courier, The Source, Latinosports.com, Common Dreams, The College Sporting News, basketball.com, Alternet, The Black Sports Network, Counterpunch, Dodgers Dugout, San Francisco Bay View, Z net, International Socialist Review, War-Times, and The Afro-American.

Controversies

In Defense of Barry Bonds

Zirin maintains the opinion that the aggressive hatred toward the use of steroids by Barry Bonds is due to racist whites not wanting Bonds to surpass Babe Ruth. In 2004, Zirin wrote, “The greatest case for reasonable doubt lies in Bonds' very late career success. His unparalleled middle-aged majesty screams his innocence.” However, in an undated interview, Zirin backtracks: “I never wrote that I "believe Bonds has never done steroids."” He continues: “unlike oh so many others, the man never actually failed a steroids test. Is there a ton of circumstantial evidence that the man juiced? Absolutely. But he is still the best player I've ever seen. The best player of what will go down as the anabolic era.” Zirin claims that, rather than steroid use, “much of the reaction to Bonds is simply bad old-fashioned racism"

Articles and interviews concerning Bonds

• Reasonable Doubt: Why Barry Bonds in Not on Steroids (March 27/28, 2004)
• The Juice and the Noose (November/December 2006)
• The Unforgiven: Jack Johnson and Barry Bonds (June 19, 2007)
• Barry Bonds: Steroids, Scapegoats and Sweet Satisfaction (August 9, 2007)
• Indicted!: Barry Bonds Busted by a Broken System (November 15, 2007)
• Bosses’ Boycott: The Bonds Vanishes (May 12, 2008)
• No Softballs: Dave Zirin (undated interview)

Gender

Zirin argues that the controversy surrounding South African runner Caster Semenya is fueled by an inaccurately narrow conception of gender. Along with co-author LGBT activist Sherry Wolf, Zirin argues of physical differences between men and women that "it is largely our culture and not biology that gives them their meaning".

On Oct. 13, 2009, Rush Limbaugh denied saying what Zirin, and others, had quoted him saying: "Slavery built the South. I'm not saying we should bring it back; I'm just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark."

Limbaugh, who had hopes of buying a football team, demanded a retraction. and Zirin immediately took down the offending quote and wrote on his site, "Rush insists he did not say it. We will take him at his word until we get hard evidence to the contrary."

calls for political boycott

Zirin has repeatedly called for sports boycotts on certain players, teams, states, or nations for non sports related, political reasons.

On April 27, 2010, writing for the Guardian, Zirin called for a boycott against sports teams from Arizona, in particular the Diamondbacks, to protest the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act aka the arizona immigration bill.[1]. On May 17, he wrote for the Huffington Post, calling for a boycott against the Los Angeles Lakers after their coach Phil Jackson expressed his support for said bill.

On June 2, 2010, writing for the Nation, Zirin justified the decision of the Turkish U-19 soccer team to boycott a match against Israel. He went on describing the Gaza flotilla raid as an act of state terror committed by the Israeli government. He concluded his article with the question "why more teams don’t" boycott Israel. [2].

Bibliography

• What's My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States, Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2005. | ISBN 978-1931859202
• Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports, Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2007. | ISBN 978-1931859417
• Muhammad Ali Handbook , Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2007. | ISBN 978-1846011559
• A People's History of Sports: From Bull-Baiting to Barry Bonds, Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2008. | ISBN 978-1595581006

External links

• The Edge of Sports