Dave Zirin, born 1974, is an American political sportswriter. He is the sports editor for ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'', a weekly progressive magazine dedicated to politics and culture, and writes a blog named ''Edge of Sports: the weekly sports column by Dave Zirin''. As of January 2022, he has authored eleven books.

Early life and education

Zirin was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

.Bleacher Report: "The B/R Interview: Dave Zirin" by Max Tcheyan"
November 4, 2008 He is of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

descent. He graduated from

Macalester College Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S te ...

in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Career

Zirin was the host of th
''Edge of Sports Podcast,''
hosted by the Slate/ Panoply network. He also co-hosted "The Collision: Where Sports and Politics Collide on Pacifica Radio" with former NBA player Etan Thomas. Zirin is a contributor to ''

'', and has been a columnist for ''

SLAM Magazine ''Slam'' is an American basketball magazine in circulation since 1994. History ''Slam'' was launched in 1994 as a basketball magazine that combined the sport with hip hop culture at a time when the genre was becoming increasingly popular. It w ...

'', and ''

The Progressive ''The Progressive'' is a left-leaning American magazine and website covering politics and culture. Founded in 1909 by U.S. senator Robert M. La Follette Sr. and co-edited with his wife Belle Case La Follette, it was originally called ''La Follett ...

''. He has been a guest on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

's '' Outside The Lines'' and ''

Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...

''. His first book, ''What’s My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States'' (

Haymarket Books Haymarket Books is a left-wing non-profit, independent book publisher based in Chicago. History Haymarket Books was founded in 2001 by Anthony Arnove, Ahmed Shawki and Julie Fain, all of whom had previously worked at the '' International Sociali ...

) has entered its third printing. Zirin has 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 Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922January 27, 2010) was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist thinker and World War II veteran. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a politica ...

's '' A People's History of the United States'' series for

The New Press The New Press is an independent non-profit public-interest book publisher established in 1992 by André Schiffrin In addition to “What’s My Name, Fool?”, 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). "A People's History of Sports" forms the basis of a documentary co-written and narrated by Zirin called ''Not Just A Game: Power, Politics and American Sports'', produced by the

Media Education Foundation The Media Education Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1992 that produces and distributes documentary films about the impact of American mass media. Their films focus on topics such as gender, race and representation, health, cla ...

. Zirin is the co-author with John Carlos of ''The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World'' (

, 2011). He writes a blog named ''Edge of Sports: the weekly sports column by Dave Zirin''.

Controversies

Zirin has repeatedly called for sports boycotts of certain teams, states, or nations for political reasons.

Call for boycott of Arizona

On April 27, 2010, writing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Zirin called for a boycott against sports teams from Arizona, in particular the Diamondbacks, to protest the Arizona SB 1070, the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act. He expressed support during the 2010 NBA Playoffs for the Phoenix Suns, who went by "Los Suns" as a statement against the Arizona immigration law.

Support of boycotts of Israel

On June 2, 2010, writing for ''

'', Zirin justified the decision of the Turkish U-19 soccer team to boycott a match against Israel. He described the

Gaza flotilla raid The Gaza flotilla raid was a military operation by Israel against six civilian ships of the " Gaza Freedom Flotilla" on 31 May 2010 in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea. Nine activists and no Israelis were killed on one ship dur ...

as an act of state terror committed by the Israeli government and proposed a boycott of Israel.

Criticism of Hank Williams, Jr.

On October 6, 2011, during a live interview conducted on the sports cable television network,

, Zirin referred to Hank Williams, Jr. as racist and

proslavery Proslavery is a support for slavery. It is found in the Bible, in the thought of ancient philosophers, in British writings and in American writings especially before the American Civil War but also later through 20th century. Arguments in favor o ...

after Williams, the writer and singer of ESPN's then-

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...

theme song, made a political statement in which he compared multiracial US President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

to former German

national socialist Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

leader,

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

Defense of Barry Bonds

In an undated interview, Zirin claims “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”. Some of his articles and interviews defending Bonds include:
The Juice and the Noose
(November/December 2006)

Edge of Sports (June 19, 2007)

Edge of Sports (August 9, 2007)

Edge of Sports (November 15, 2007)

Edge of Sports (May 12, 2008)
No Softballs: Dave Zirin
(undated interview)

Bibliography

*''What's My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States'', Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2005. , *''Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports'', Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2007. , *''Muhammad Ali Handbook'', Chicago: MB Press, 2007. , *''A People's History of Sports In The United States", The New Press, 2008. , *''Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love'', New York: Scribner Books, 2010. , *''The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World'', Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2011. , *''Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down'', The New Press. 2013. , *''Brazil's Dance with the Devil: The World Cup, the Olympics, and the Fight for Democracy'', Haymarket Books. 2014. *''Things That Make White People Uncomfortable'' Hardcover – Apr 13 2018 *''Jim Brown: Last Man Standing'' Hardcover – May 15, 2018 *''The Kaepernick Effect: Taking a Knee, Changing the World''—September 14, 2021 - Hardcover

Movies in DVD format

* ''Not Just a Game – Power, Politics & American Sports'', Media Education Foundation, 62-minutes, 2011 , * ''Race, Power & American Sports'', Featuring Dave Zirin, Media Education Foundation, 45-minutes, 2013 ,

References

External links

The Edge of Sports
*
People’s History Commemoration of Howard Zinn’s 100th Anniversary
co-MC’d by Dave Zirin, hosted by the Zinn Education Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Zirin, Dave 1974 births Living people American columnists American feminists 20th-century American Jews Members of the International Socialist Organization American sportswriters Male feminists Socialist feminists The Nation (U.S. magazine) people CNN people Jewish anti-Zionism in the United States Macalester College alumni Journalists from New York City 21st-century American Jews