Dave Zirin

  • Soccer fans rise up once again

    In Egypt and now Turkey, the revolt of the intense and usually apolitical "ultra" soccer fan clubs has been an important factor.

  • Time to decriminalize baseball

    I love baseball, so here's my own humble advice about a different way to handle the performance-enhancing drug scandal.

  • Rahm and the zombie pigs

    The same mayor who rammed through the closure of 50 schools wants to hand out $100 million for a new basketball arena.

  • Worth more than a Giant zero

    Concession workers at AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, have voted to strike after three years without a raise.

  • The problem with youth sports

    Youth sports are tragically lacking in the very quality that they are supposed to promote: good sportsmanship. But why?

  • RGIII and Muhammad Ali

    NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III recently spent an electrifying day at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Ky.

  • A day for celebration

    NBA player Jason Collins is the first active male athlete in North American professional sports to come out of the closet.

  • Rewarded after a rape cover-up

    Steubenville High School officials awarded their rape apologist football coach with a two-year contract extension.

  • Protecting Boston's marathon

    In honor of those determined to run and not live in fear, we shouldn't easily surrender what made the Boston Marathon so mighty.

  • Mourning and celebrating the Marathon

    If this week's bombing will always be a part of the Boston Marathon, then so is the story of Kathrine Switzer.

  • Hockey's historic step forward

    In a first for a major sports organization, the National Hockey League is taking a stand against anti-LGBT bigotry.

  • A lousy T-shirt

    The first impulse of the NCAA and Adidas was to try to turn a college basketball player's grisly leg injury into dollars.

  • The obligation to act

    Pro sports leagues need to be educating young men about the need to stand up to rape and violence against women.

  • The verdict on Big Red football

    The hero worship of Steubenville High School's star football players led to violent sexism and a sense of entitlement.

  • What caused Steubenville?

    A young woman is being protected by armed guards as the rape trial of two high school football players gets underway in Ohio.

  • Misogyny and murder

    The murder case against Oscar Pistorius in South Africa is connected to a global epidemic of violence against women.

  • A Rocket with a cause

    An NBA rookie has been on the sidelines most of the season in protest over his team's handling of his mental health issues.

  • The clock runs out on racism

    Whatever NFL commissioner Roger Goodell may think, the Washington Redskins' name is a source of shame, not pride.

  • Quoth the Ravens: "What's my name?"

    It was moving that Baltimore Ravens Coach John Harbaugh chose a moment of triumph to honor the great Muhammad Ali.

  • The meaning of the blackout

    The 34-minute blackout at this year's Super Bowl is a symbol of everything wrong with neoliberal America.

  • A new world at the Super Bowl

    It's a testament to a shift in public sentiment that the two teams in the Super Bowl have reputations as supporters of LGBT rights.

  • A discordant redemption song

    More daunting than any mountain climb is Lance Armstrong's attempt to ride Oprah's couch back into the public's good graces.

  • When rape gets ignored

    How do we explain the vastly different levels of attention paid to crimes of violence and power at Penn State and Notre Dame?

  • Kicking racism in the teeth

    Soccer star Kevin-Prince Boateng raged against fan racism during a recent match, but what came next was more inspiring.

  • The year our sports broke

    Sports self-destructed in 2012, under the weight of greed and a bloated sports media conditioned to look the other way.