Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports

If you're tired of reading the same type of takes on sports - the rambles full of pop culture references that pretend to stand for real commentary, the reactionary critiques of the sports villain of the week, read Welcome to the Terrordome. You'll most likely spend half your time laughing and the other half amazed that Mr. Zirin has been reading your mind. It doesn't take much experience reading sports columnists, or listening to them talk on TV, to come away with a pretty grim view of the sports world. The profession seems to attract a sort of bitter, fatalist heckler who wants to forget that it's not just a game. Well, it isn't just a game - it's an industry, one that sometimes gets to write its own rules but more often has to live in the same world we all do - the one with pain, politics and promise. Dave Zirin has the perspective and vision to put these pieces together, to see how the sports world meshes and collides with the real world. And when he heckles - which he does often, and with panache - it's cutting but not cruel. There's a strong current of humanity in Dave's writing. This isn't a lunkhead screaming from the cheap seats, it's someone who wants to see excellence and fairness at all levels of sport - the field, the office, the media. With all the time and money we spend on it, that's the least we can ask.

As someone who has, for almost fifteen years now, wincingly watched the tragic devolution of the craft of sports jounralism into a corporatized, prepackaged (rife with apolitical additives and white supremacist preservatives), four letter word (spelled E-S-P-N), there thankfully lies a voice in the proverbial wilderness---reminding us from the cover photo on, as forwarder Chuck D did, some twenty years ago,that "Armageddon, has been in effect...go and get a late pass!!!"---in Dave Zirin, verbal assassain. What Noam Chomsky does for politics, Dave Zirin does for sports journalism; with laser like acuity, "Welcome to the Terrodome: The Pain, Politics and Promise of Sports" displays that the whole truth about and in sport in this place called America lies behind, in between, and beyond the box scores, play by play, and drivel passing as color commentary, providing virtually every dimension of details, in search of a higher, more truthful ground. A welcome reprieve from the offal churned out on a daily/nightly/weekly basis, Zirin's latest cris de coeur allows those with the unmitigated temerity to tackle all that is good, bad and ugly in sports an opportunity to read a rich, nuanced, and above all, whole representation of the relationship between sports industry and society. Whether it is laying bare the white racial hostility and hypocrisy behind the campaign to destroy Barry Bonds as he approaches the inevitable, illustrating the historical relationship between futbol/soccer and anti-imperialism, championing Rutgers' Women's Coach Vivian Stringer's courageous stand against mainstream media and its l'enfant terrible du jour, poignantly revealing the hardcore political activism of Roberto Clemente Major League Baseball would rather nobody know (let alone "celebrate"), or simply allowing athletes the opportunity to be heard, simply in their own words, "Welcome..." should force any true blue, dyed in the wool fan of sports, truth and/or humanity at large take a long hard look at the portrayal and projection of athletes/sports industry and scream, if not from the rooftops at least to Sportscenter with the zeal of (Howard) Beale, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!!!"

If you've ever asked the question "what's the point of sports?" aside from gladiatorial competition meant to pacify and distract from the monotonous struggle that occupies the time of most people, Dave Zirin provides the answer. Zirin does for sports what Howard Zinn does for history by placing it in the real world context in which it belongs, instead of the corporate smoke and mirrors that simultaneously make sports larger than life while divorcing it of social relevancy. As a political hip hop artist I can appreciate Dave's work, not only because Chuck D of Public Enemy, the original political hip hop group, wrote the intro - which never hurts when you use their album title for your book - but because he stands in that independent socially conscious tradition. He's Public Enemy and Democracy Now! not Young Jeezy and CNN.

Why are athletes repeatedly told, through radio shows like Mike and Mike and various other venues, to "just shut up!" about issues that directly affect themselves, their community, and country? Sports, unfortunately, are too often cast as apolitical cultural wallpaper. Latrell Sprewell's 68-game suspension nearly a decade ago was a consequence of his uncontrollable demeanor--period. Barry Bonds (steroids or not) is just an irascible baby--period. The NBA instituted a minimum age because David Stern and company care about their players' education and maturity--period. You can believe the press conference sound bites if you like, but there is a lot more historical and political weight surrounding these issues than the popular press often admits or cares to discuss. What would happen if the NHL or WTA implemented age minimums? Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it. Though the media is saturated with discussions on all facets of sports, it is still not totally OK to talk in a pointed or more than passing (and often seemingly obligatory) manner about how sports reflect, reinforce, and have the ability to challenge discourses surrounding race, gender, sexuality, class, age, nationhood, etc. Indeed, doing so publicly is likely to get a "just shut up!" response. It's as if Jackie Robinson solved racism and Billie Jean King conquered gender inequities--their contributions are unyieldingly praised without a commitment to continuing their larger political projects. For those of us who do not unquestioningly take what information we are given by the mainstream sports media industry, it's nice to know that someone like Dave Zirin is out there providing an alternative--and extremely important--perspective. Zirin's new book, Welcome to the Terrordome, which takes its title from a Public Enemy song (and which includes and introduction by Chuck D), extends and enriches several of the discussions he has been writing about for years on his well-regarded website, [...], through his 2005 book What's My Name Fool?, and in various other venues. Zirin's insightful, clear, and often humorous essays, like Chuck D's brutally honest lyrics, "rope a dope the evil with righteous," welcoming readers to the "terrordome" that is the contemporary American political landscape and clearly showing sports' various roles in these circumstances--covering topics ranging from Barry Bonds to the NBA's anxiety over Hip Hop. However, it is also important to note Zirin's subtitle: "The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports." Zirin sincerely believes in sports and their ability to challenge political circumstances. For instance, the Superdome, featured on Welcome to the Terrordome's cover and slyly referenced by its title, illustrates this pain, politics, and promise. It's publicly-funded sporting structure that, during Katrina, served as a harbor/tomb for many people who could never afford to enter the building under different circumstances. The Superdome's role in Katrina, along

Here is nuance and complexity, sophistication and depth captured in magnificent similes and metaphors that will knock your socks off! Dave Zirin writes with a passion and reverence for sport and for athletes brave enough to speak out against political injustice and to incur the wrath of a coliseum culture. He invites the whole world into the sports world. Bravo to his heroes, and bravo to Dave Zirin!