Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down

Description

Legendary sportscaster Howard Cosell dubbed it rule number one of the jockocracy': sports and politics just don't mix. But as the celebrated alt-sportswriter Dave Zirin shows, politics has entered the modern sports arena with a vengeance. This timely and hard-hitting new book reveals the many ways that sports have become the third rail of world politics, offering insight into the efforts of gay and lesbian athletes to gain acceptance, female athletes' fights to be more than sex symbols and collective bargaining among athletes.'

One of the UTNE Reader's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World," Dave Zirin is a columnist for The Nation, SLAM magazine, and SI.com. He is the host of Sirius XM's popular weekly show Edge of Sports Radio and a regular guest on ESPN's Outside the Lines and on MSNBC. His previous books include A People's History of Sports in the United States and Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love (both available from The New Press). He lives near Washington, D.C.

"A damning indictment of all that is corrupting sports and a song of praise for athletes standing up for human rights and decency." Kirkus "In his enlightening essay collection, Nation columnist and author Zirin (Welcome to the Terrordome) employs common sense and research to show that politics and sports are entangled, whether it's members of the Green Bay Packers supporting the collective bargaining rights of Wisconsin's public workers or the Phoenix Suns donning 'Los Suns' uniforms to protest Arizona's controversial, immigrant-obsessed law, SB 1070. . . . Zirin steadfastly demonstrates how the games we watch are not just an escape from the everyday: they are a reflection that provides a perfect opportunity for protest and change." Publishers Weekly