Dave Zirin on Gustav

Once again, the best sports writer in the game, Dave Zirin, breaks down the issue, in this case, Hurricane Gustav and the politics of New Orleans. He says:

“New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin said over the weekend, “Anybody who’s caught looting in the city of New Orleans will go directly to Angola [Louisiana State Penitentiary]. You will not have a temporary stay in the city. You go directly to the big house, in general population.”

Considering that many of the so called looters after Katrina, were fighting for their lives, and considering that the media had color-coded looters, with white residents classified as heroes, the implications of Nagin’s dictate is chilling. It’s horrifying to think that they could be laying their head in the former slave plantation known as Angola.”

I lived and worked in New Orleans for a time, and there is a magic in the people and the culture there that is indescribable. At the same time, I’ve never seen such rampant political corruption. I’m glad to hear that as of now there were no deaths related to Gustav, and my heart goes out to the people there not only for dealing with the threat of natural disaster time and time again, but for also having to deal with the the dangers and effects of corrupt institutional bureaucracy for so long.

Zirin Brings the China Olympics Home

Dave Zirin’s latest Edge of Sports entry was fire as usual, this time refocusing the ongoing controversy surrounding the Olympic games in China and reminding Westerners that critiquing the Chinese government does not automatically excuse US atrocities. I was really feeling this one because at first, I was all about the “Free Tibet” protesting, but as it has gone on, I’ve become uncomfortable with all of the anti-China rhetoric. I definitely respect the movement for a free Tibet, and I think the Chinese government’s treatment of the Tibetan people has been awful. At the same time though, all of this anti-China sentiment in response to the Olympic games has, like I said, made me uncomfortable, because of largely what Zirin talks about in his article, saying:

“…Blaming China for the ills of the world ignores the stubborn fact that there is a reason the games are in Beijing. Western complicity in China’s crimes isn’t challenged by bashing China. It’s only covered up.”

Word. DZ is just a smart, smart, smart guy. Can they please hurry up and release A People’s History of Sports?

Dave Zirin Writes About Oakland

Dave Zirin isn’t just my favorite sports writer, he’s one of my favorite writers period. I love the way his work shows how sports cannot ever be separated from the political context that they operate in.

His latest article talks about the Oakland Warriors and the city they play in, the city I call home. He says:

“The Golden State Warriors just finished the finest season in history… by a team that failed to make the playoffs. In the epic Western Conference, G-State’s 48-34 record was only good enough for a ninth best. But the team did see Monta Ellis emerge as perhaps the fastest, most dynamic person to step on a court since Johan Kriek. It saw Stephen Jackson improbably become a second tier MVP candidate (the team went 0-6 without him at the season’s beginning) and an NBA universe weeping that the high octane crew from Oaktown won’t be pulling off any playoff miracles this season.

While it’s nice to see basketball matter again in the Bay Area, I had an entirely different kind of feeling last month when Warriors stars Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, Ellis and the now-retired Chris Webber appeared at a “Silence the Violence” rally in their backyard at Oakland Tech.

Jackson, who’s had his share of off-the-court troubles, said, “I’ve seen a lot of violence in my life, and it could have stopped me from being where I’m at today. If I can give some kids some knowledge that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be, then I’m willing to do that.”

Oakland is a place where there are too many funerals–too many parents burying too many teenagers. As longtime community activist Todd Chretien said to me, “In the last five years around 700 people have been murdered in Oakland, out of a population of less than 400,000. About half of these murders have taken place within a two-mile radius of the fields and floors where the Oakland Raiders, the Oakland As and the Golden State Warriors play ball.

“What’s wrong? Poverty and racism,” he said. “Unemployment for young black and Latino men hovers between one-third and one-half. The cost of living is the highest in the country. The schools are underfunded and under attack from Bush’s No Child Left Behind. In the last thirty years the ruling elite in Oakland have de-industrialized and taken their jobs elsewhere (and now they’re taking the As with them).”‘

Go here to read the rest.

Dave Zirin is a Boss

“Honestly fellas, my heroes are anybody who allows themselves to be political in this horribly apolitical society that we live in. I think we’re raised thinking that politics is just what people with the bad hair cuts do on Capitol Hill. But actually politics are the food we eat, the hea lthcare we have or don’t have, the air we breathe and the sports we play. Politics infuses all of these things and the people who don’t let those parts of their lives to be separate, the people who allow politics to run freely and without alienation through their daily lives … I mean that’s who my heroes are, because that’s a very hard thing to do in this country.”

~ Dave Zirin

Slept On Magazine has done a great spotlight on the best sportswriter in the game,  Dave Zirin. Gotta love that he talks about a memorable experience speaking to kids at Oakland Juvenile Hall, says the one athlete he would want to talk to is Barry Bonds, and listens to Blue Scholars.