Dave Zirin

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Dave Zirin bigraphy, stories - American sports journalist

Dave Zirin : biography

Dave Zirin is an American political sportswriter who is the sports editor for The Nation, a weekly published progressive magazine dedicated to politics and culture.

Controversies

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

On April 27, 2010, writing for The Guardian, 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 did however express tremendous enthusiasm and support during the 2010 NBA Playoffs for the Phoenix Suns, who went by "Los Suns" as a statement against the Arizona immigration law.

On June 2, 2010, writing for The Nation, Zirin justified the decision of the Turkish U-19 soccer team to boycott a match against Israel. He described the Gaza flotilla raid as an act of state terror committed by the Israeli government and proposed a boycott of Israel. Others countered that the Turkish state, aware that a confrontation would occur, played a prominent role in supporting the flotilla, and thus could be held responsible.

On October 6, 2011, during a live interview conducted on the sports cable television network, ESPN, Zirin referred to Hank Williams, Jr. as a racist and proslavery after Williams ‒ the writer and singer of ESPN’s then-Monday Night Football theme song ‒ made a political statement in which he seemingly compared multiracial US President Barack Obama to former German national socialist leader, Adolf Hitler. Ultimately, ESPN canceled Williams’ long-running theme song ‒ a reworking of his 1984 hit, All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight; while Williams stated that he had actually "quit" the network before ESPN’s decision had been made.

Career

Zirin’s column, Edge of Sports, appears on Sports Illustrated’s website and he is the host of XM satellite’s weekly show, Edge of Sports Radio. Zirin is a frequent contributor to The Nation, a columnist for SLAM Magazine, and The Progressive, as well as being a frequent guest on ESPN’s Outside The Lines and Democracy Now. His first book, What’s My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States (Haymarket Books) has entered its third printing.

Zirin has also 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’s A People’s History of the United States series for The New Press. In addition to “What’s My Name, Fool?” for Haymarket Books, 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.

He is also the co-author with John Carlos of The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World (Haymarket Books, 2011). Additionally, Zirin is a feminist and a socialist and has written articles for SocialistWorker.org.http://socialistworker.org/department/Books-and-Entertainment/Dave-Zirinhttp://www.jaclynfriedman.com/archives/884