The unbearable weight of sports politics

October 5, 2008 7:54 PM

Sports activism is dead?- so asks Andy Kroll in his review of Dave Zirin's new book, A People's History of Sports in the United States.

"And since the ‘80s, the money, TV time, and narcissism have only increased. Most professional athletes could care less — that is, if they even know at all — that their sponsors’ shoes and jerseys are made in squalid conditions in third world countries."

Author Zirin argues that “[w]e can pretend sports isn’t political just as well as we can pretend there is no such thing as gravity if we fall out of an airplane.”

Kroll calls Michael Phelps 'corporate posterboy' and blasts the Olympic athletes.

" ... Miami Heat and USA Basketball star Dwayne Wade. On the eve of the Games, Wade said of China’s human rights problems: “I’m not even into it that much … I really don’t know what’s going on over there.”

Maybe it isn't 'apathy' -- maybe sports activism isn't completely gone in America - - could it be that it is just relegated to 'product placement'?
Phelps in HUMV and military regalia in his hometown celebration. (Simultaneously, other Olympic heros are celebrated -- Jamaicans dance with their heroes.)

posted by Surfurrus (38 comments total)

The author's name is Zirin, not Zinn. For a second there, I wondered if Howard Zinn had a son that also wrote books.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 8:27 PM on October 5, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

"Republicans buy sneakers too."
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:38 PM on October 5, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Most professional athletes could care less....
I'm glad they could conjure up some level of care, otherwise they'd seem rather careless.
posted by Floydd at 8:44 PM on October 5, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

typo, CPB! (And I edited and edited, sigh) zirin zirin zirin zirin ....
posted by Surfurrus at 8:49 PM on October 5, 2008

Sports activism is dead?

Was it ever really alive? In a significant way, at least? (There was that "black power" salute from the Olympics decades ago, but that was as exceptional an act back then as it would be now.)
posted by bardic at 9:02 PM on October 5, 2008

Reminds of something Joe Strummer (I think) said back in the 80s. He was sick and tired of being labeled a "political" artist while the likes of Duran Duran snorted cocaine, hung out with models and got away unbothered. "They're as political as I am. They're just on the other side." (or words to that effect)
posted by philip-random at 9:06 PM on October 5, 2008 [4 favorites has favorites]

Sports are political? That's news to me. Seriously, sports is just about competition and money. Most athletes come off as anti-intellectual as best and shallow meatheads at worst.
posted by damn dirty ape at 9:13 PM on October 5, 2008

Most straight professional athletes could care less. I'd argue that gay professional athletes still have a lot of homophobia to overcome.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:16 PM on October 5, 2008

Not everything needs to be a vehicle for political advertising.
posted by sien at 9:27 PM on October 5, 2008

There's always Sócrates, genius on the field and as much a braniac as his Greek namesake off it; got his medical doctorate while still playing, then a PhD in philosophy and led the Corinthians Democracy Movement against the junta.
posted by Abiezer at 9:35 PM on October 5, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Sports is political the way everything is political, which is that that if you place a political lens over something, you are sure to find an ever expanding web of political considerations that can be tied into the thing.
posted by Falconetti at 9:45 PM on October 5, 2008

The Chinese government would also like to point out that political sports activism is healthy there.

Also, the UK government having doubled or whatever their medal haul at the last Olympics would like to concur.
posted by sien at 10:00 PM on October 5, 2008

Sports can heal political rifts, or send a larger political message. We often see it at the Olympics. A recent example being when Georgian Nino Salukvadze embraced Russian Natalia Paderina, saying, "If the world were to draw any lessons from what I did there would never be any wars.", all while their nations were locked in combat. NBA athletes received rockstar attention and goodwill in Beijing, riding the coattails of homegrown favorite Yao Ming. Jordan Farmar brings together Jewish and Palestinian children through soccer, hoping to foster understanding and peace. Lots of athletes help out in the lands they came from after finding fame and fortune here and elsewhere.

Is it political? Is it not? I think anything that involves organized interaction, especially internationally and between differing ethnicities and faiths, is political by its very nature, whatever the motivations of the participants are. It can work against us or for us. I'd like to see a little more of sports subbing for war, and bridges built between nations and factions in the spirit of, "I understand you because we compete, I respect you, now I'm gonna kick your ass on the field."
posted by SaintCynr at 10:06 PM on October 5, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]

How about Joey Cheek, Olympic speedskater and a founder of Team Darfur? Chinese authorities revoked his visa just before he was to leave for Beijing to support his Team Darfur athletes.
posted by grounded at 10:51 PM on October 5, 2008

Oh cool, I've been waiting for this book for awhile (I knew Dave a bit back in my activist days). Check out his columns at The Nation.
posted by scody at 11:11 PM on October 5, 2008

By the way, Zirin is speaking today (Monday 10/6) at the University of Illinois, Urbana, at 7pm in 317 Gregg Hall.
posted by washburn at 11:16 PM on October 5, 2008

Dave's a great speaker -- incredibly knowledgeable and engaging. I really encourage anyone who's so inclined to go see him.
posted by scody at 11:24 PM on October 5, 2008

Was it ever really alive? In a significant way, at least?

The 1936 Olympics was political, but that's probably not the way you intended. Graham Mourie refused to tour South Africa with the All Blacks, and an earlier tour was almost called off because the South Africans didn't want any Polynesian players.

The 1981 South African rugby tour of New Zealand was a political event, pitching a right-wing government, using the tour and a repudiation of the Gleneagles Agreement (itself a piece of activism) to win an election (the previous '76 tour had provoked African boycotts of the Olympics).

The modern Olympics had a political agenda - the conversion into national teams and professional athletes are pretty much the opposite of the original intent.

Sports is political the way everything is political, which is that that if you place a political lens over something, you are sure to find an ever expanding web of political considerations that can be tied into the thing.

People talking out their arse on Metafilter in complete ignorance of the topic at hand remain, of course, a constant. If you disagree, feel free to explain how the 1980, 1984, and 1936 Olympics weren't dominated by political considerations, or why the 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand wasn't a political event.
posted by rodgerd at 12:12 AM on October 6, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

There's overt politics in sports which is usually hard to miss. Then there's the more intrinsic kind where the athlete merely wears a brand which is so common place most of us don't even think of it as political.

This is why I'm a fan of Nascar. At least you get to see all the brands destroy each other occasionally.
posted by philip-random at 12:31 AM on October 6, 2008

Interestingly enough I heard an interview with Zirin recently, and he didn't really go so far as to say that sports activism was dead, just that it's a difficult environment for the politically inclined to be heard in.

There are quite a few sports figures I can think of who are well known for going above and beyond for causes they believe in. Just off the top of my head (with some backup from wikipedia)

David Robinson started an elementary school. Which makes him the 2nd coolest guy ever...

Right behind the Dikembe Motumbo. In 1997, Mutombo began plans to open a $29 million, 300-bed hospital on the outskirts of his hometown, the Congolese capital of Kinshasa. On August 14, 2006, Dikembe donated $15 million to the completion of the hospital. The hospital was by then named Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital, named for his late mother, who died of a stroke in 1997. When it opened in February 2007, the $29 million facility became the first modern medical facility to be built in that area in nearly 40 years.

When the Chicago Bulls visited the White House after winning the 1992 NBA Championship, Craig Hodges dressed in a dashiki and delivered a hand-written letter addressed to then President George H. W. Bush, expressing his discontent at the administration's treatment of poor and minorities. Hodges also criticized his Bulls teammate Michael Jordan for not using his fame to draw attention to social and political issues, and said Jordan was "bailing out" for not being politically outspoken. In 1996, Hodges filed a $40 million lawsuit against the NBA and its then 29 teams, claiming they blackballed him for his association with Louis Farrakhan and criticism of "African-American professional athletes who failed to use their considerable wealth and influence to assist the poor and disenfranchised.

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf stirred up troublewhen he refused to stand for "The Star-Spangled Banner" before games, stating that the flag was a "symbol of oppression" and that the United States had a long "history of tyranny". He said that standing to the national anthem would therefore conflict with his Islamic beliefs. On March 12, 1996, the NBA suspended Abdul-Rauf for his refusal to stand, but the suspension lasted only one game. Two days later, the league was able to work out a compromise with him, whereby he would stand during the playing of the national anthem but could close his eyes and look downward. He usually silently recited a Muslim prayer during this time.

Manute Bol was very active in charitable causes throughout his career, and lost much of the money he made during a 10-year NBA career supporting various causes related to his war-ravaged nation of birth, Sudan.

My childhood hero, NFL hall of fame reciever Steve Largent, after retirement became a US congressman, part of the republican class of '94, when the Republicans took control of the House for the first time in 40 years. Much to my chagrin, not only was he a die-hard member of the christian right, but even other conservatives found him to be a bit extreme in his views.
posted by billyfleetwood at 12:39 AM on October 6, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Sports are political? That's news to me. Seriously, sports is just about competition and money.

Are you suggesting, in October of 2008, that competition and money are not political?
posted by stammer at 12:46 AM on October 6, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, now there's a name I haven't thought about in a long time!

I have always had mass respect for Hakeem Olajuwon and his opting to have a much, much cheaper signature sneaker made by Spalding rather than Nike back in the nineties. To quote the big man: "How can a poor working mother with three boys buy Nikes or Reeboks that cost $120?" he asks. "She can't. So kids steal these shoes from stores and from other kids. Sometimes they kill for them."
posted by nudar at 3:15 AM on October 6, 2008

My dad played against the Springboks in 1971.
He played against them in Melbourne, as part of the state team in an exhibition game. He said it was pretty tough playing rugby while:

A) 5,000 protesters fought with 650 police outside the grounds,
B) being pelted by everything from flares to nails to oranges raining over the fence,
c) protesters and police, including mounted police, running around on the ground during the game...

He described it as a surreal experience. All he wanted to do was test himself against some of the top players of his era. The protesters by and large ruined that experience for him. I don't think he ever forgave them for that
posted by nudar at 3:52 AM on October 6, 2008

Most straight professional athletes could care less. I'd argue that gay professional athletes still have a lot of homophobia to overcome. posted by Blazecock Pileon

So true. As do lesbian and gay high school and college athletes. Check out Pat Griffin's lgbt sports blog, "It Takes A Team."
posted by Carol Anne at 6:00 AM on October 6, 2008

Interesting previous Mefi thread on Stephon Marbury's attempt to buck the overpriced sneaker trend among his NBA peers.

And not that it'll likely matter, but I'll add my voice to the ones calling bullshit on the idea that sports are only made political by opportunists working off the field. Athletes frequently compete while literally draped in the flags of their countries. The construction of expensive sports arenas is frequently used as a cornerstone of urban rejuvenation efforts. As the linked article notes, you'd have to be wilfully ignorant to argue that Jackie Robinson and Muhammed Ali weren't key figures in the civil rights movement. And as one more data point, there's a nifty chapter in Mondo Canuck that argues - I'd say accurately, based on my own childhood worship of Vladislav Tretiak - that a significant part of the legacy of the '72 Summit Series was that Canadians were ultimately incapable of fully buying into Reagan-era commie baiting because we could never entirely dehumanize a nation that good at hockey.

Point being sports may not be "political" in the sense of endorsing candidates or particular policies or platforms, but it is intrinsically political, in the way that there is a political dimension to any activity that engages a significant segment of the body politic and involves issues of race and gender relations, class divisions (see for example the magnificent Hoop Dreams) and national identity.
posted by gompa at 6:38 AM on October 6, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

[fixed FPP typo]
posted by jessamyn at 6:46 AM on October 6, 2008

Why in the name of Christ should an athlete care? What is this belief that if you give a person with a certain talent (music, art, athletic, eating a lot of hot dogs) a shit load of money and exposure that suddenly they need to give a crap about everybody's pet issue? If you shined a spotlight on 85% of the people that do regular cube jobs and gave them 2 million dollars a year, do you think they'd suddenly be caring about where their shoes came from? If you care, you care, regardless of how much money you make. If you don't, money ain't gonna change it.
posted by spicynuts at 6:49 AM on October 6, 2008

Of course, he doesn't really feel that sports should become more political, per se. He means that athletes should be more assertive in taking positions he agrees with. I doubt he'd be doing cartwheels if Michael Phelps used his press conference to voice support for China's human rights record, or to explain how the only thing more important to him than swimming is his pro-life advocacy.
posted by pardonyou? at 6:51 AM on October 6, 2008

spicynuts, I think the point is that politics is not simply a sum of all the pet causes and trendy campaigns endorsed by famous people. If you are, for example, a dirt-poor black kid from a permanent underclass living in an urban ghetto, and you are handed tens of millions of dollars at the age of twenty to fill the seats and up the advertising rates on the broadcasts of your team's games while wearing certain corporate logos, there is a political implication to your work whether you acknowledge it or not.

You - and others like you - are the reason why sweatshop-made shoes can be retailed for $150 a pair. You are the poster boy when some developer goes to City Hall looking for for approval for the land grab and a big subsidy to underwrite the new arena. If you win the championship, the president will call and thank you because it makes him look like a friend of the common sports fan. You can pretend the only thing that matters is your free throw percentage, but that don't make it so.
posted by gompa at 7:02 AM on October 6, 2008

You can pretend the only thing that matters is your free throw percentage, but that don't make it so.

It also don't make it that you are suddenly required to give a shit. Granted, I would like it if people like this DID give a shit - the world would be a nicer place. However, there is no rule that says just because one's actions have a political impact, that one must care. Expecting everyone in this situation to become politically aware, despite their many diverse backgrounds/educations/personalities is ludicrous.
posted by spicynuts at 7:51 AM on October 6, 2008

The current FC Barcelona jersey.
posted by Zambrano at 9:34 AM on October 6, 2008

It also don't make it that you are suddenly required to give a shit.

The point of the article is not to 'suddenly require' political awareness -- it is being allowed (expected) to voice your views without repercussions. That seems to not be possible with the 'corporatization' of sports (not to mention the political climate that chills anyone speaking out). Consider the example of the athlete who would not stand for the national anthem - very rare, universally scorned, very dangerous to his career.

Now ... riding in a HUMV in military garb -- *that* is not political, eh?
posted by Surfurrus at 9:47 AM on October 6, 2008

Maybe they're all pro-sweatshop.
posted by Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America at 10:10 AM on October 6, 2008

He means that athletes should be more assertive in taking positions he agrees with. I doubt he'd be doing cartwheels if Michael Phelps used his press conference to voice support for China's human rights record, or to explain how the only thing more important to him than swimming is his pro-life advocacy.
The contemporary footballers with a public political stance that sprang most readily to mind were assorted fascists or fellow travellers in Italy. There was Buffon's 88 shirt and fash slogan T-shirts, Di Canio and his "Roman salutes" to the Ultras and now of course Christian Abbiati not even feeling a need to be coy about it.
posted by Abiezer at 11:26 AM on October 6, 2008

He was on THIS IS HELL Saturday morning. link to the mp3 is behind the XML button on the archive page.
posted by hortense at 12:35 PM on October 6, 2008

S’why I like being an amateur.
posted by Smedleyman at 1:21 PM on October 6, 2008

Jock the Vote: NBA Players Raise Their Voices

Gilbert Arenas is a fool.

However, some players still refuse to get excited about the election. "People get sour-faced when you talk about politics and voting," said Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas, adding that he doesn't plan to vote.

Arenas, who is slated to earn $14.5 million this season after signing a six-year, $111 million contract this past summer to remain with the Wizards, said he is fearful that both candidates will raise his taxes.

Fearful? Shut up, ya Giblet.
posted by cashman at 11:36 AM on October 26, 2008

Sport activism decline is to be seen not only in the US, but in most wealthy countries too. There are and there always will be exceptions, but professional athletes usually don't want to take part in something other than training, competitions, and publicity. We can't blame them though, this is part of being "model professional".
posted by john-hammond at 10:41 AM on November 5, 2008