Progressive Jocks??

Since the Brooklyn Dodgers moved from Ebbetts Field, I lost interest in following sports on a regular basis, but one can't help wanting to read what insights one can gather from folks like Freep writer Mitch Albom. Mitch transcends the sports scene much-like crossover singers can show their stuff in more than one genre.

But I just discovered there is a newer sportswriter on the scene who has been making a buzz at Air America Radio, among other places and he hails from PG County, Maryland, the place where I got my start as the young editor of the Bowie News-Express. His name is David Zirin and he has a book out that sounds intiguing and one I will get to when some of the other things on my plate get gobbled up. Yes, we can scratch off the boat for now. But Zirin's book, "What's My Name, Fool?" could very well change the way some of us think about sports.

If you remember the 1968 Olympics and the two black athletes who stood with their fists raised while the national anthem proclaimed their victories, you wil be somewhat familiar with the fact that not all athletes are concerned with becoming millionaires and partying until their 40's. Zirin does a marvelous job of describing that historic event and the price those two ahtletes paid for their dissent. Remember Kanye West, the popular rapper who commented that George Bush doesn't care about black people? I wonder if he will suffer the same fate.

But I digress. Zirin has his own web site too that includes his interview on Democracy Now. You might want to check that out too. It's called The Edge of Sports.