Shows featuring Dave Zirin

  • Sportswriter Dave Zirin: Prayers For the People in Boston, Baghdad and Mogadishu

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    Sports editor Dave Zirin of The Nation magazine responds to the Boston Marathon bombings and discusses the race’s historic significance. "First, prayers for the people in Boston, Baghdad and Mogadishu who are suffering today," Zirin said. "Second, I think people have to realize that an attack on the Boston...
    April 16, 2013 | Story

  • "The Tony Soprano of the Cycling World": Dave Zirin on Lance Armstrong’s Doping Confession

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    For the first time, cycling legend Lance Armstrong publicly admitted to doping last night, saying he won all seven of his record Tour de France championships with the help of performance-enhancing drugs. Speaking to Oprah Winfrey, the cyclist recounted how he abused banned substances to ensure his victories despite zealously...
    January 18, 2013 | Story

  • Notre Dame Football Faulted for Covering Up Manti Te’o Hoax While Refusing to Probe Rape Scandal

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    Notre Dame’s star linebacker and team leader Manti Te’o is in the media limelight after reports have emerged that his girlfriend may never have existed — a girlfriend who allegedly died of leukemia and inspired him to become a top football player in her memory. While Notre Dame has launched a probe into the...
    January 18, 2013 | Story

  • Botched NFL Call Sparks Wide Support for Unionized Refs & Outrage at Owners’ "Corporate Arrogance"

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    A labor dispute between the National Football League and the union representing its referees reached a fever pitch Monday night during a game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers when substitute referees failed to call pass interference before a last-second touchdown. The play ended the game in favor of the...
    September 26, 2012 | Story

  • Penn State Students Bear Brunt of NCAA Sanctions for Sandusky Cover-Up as Trustees Emerge Unscathed

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    The governing body of U.S. college sports Monday announced a series of unprecedented sanctions against Penn State University following an independent investigation into the widespread cover-up of child sexual abuse by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. The NCAA leveled penalties including a fine of $60 million, a...
    July 24, 2012 | Story

  • Penn State Cover-Up of Child Rape, Coach Paterno Fired in "Greatest Fall from Grace in U.S. Sports"

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    Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, one of the most legendary coaches in U.S. sports history, was fired on Wednesday for his role in allegedly covering up the child sexual abuse of the football team’s former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky. Penn State president Graham Spanier was also fired. In 2002, Paterno reportedly...
    November 11, 2011 | Story

  • Part 2: John Carlos, 1968 U.S. Olympic Medalist, On the Response to His Iconic Black Power Salute
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    In part two of our interview with 1968 Olympic medalist and international civil rights icon, John Carlos, he talks about the shocked response of the audience in the stadium when he raised his fist in the now iconic Black Power salute, and much more. [includes rush transcript]
    October 12, 2011 | Blog Post

  • John Carlos, 1968 Olympic U.S. Medalist, on the Revolutionary Sports Moment that Changed the World

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    Almost half a century after his famous raised-fist salute at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, John Carlos has authored a new memoir with sportswriter Dave Zirin, "The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment that Changed the World." Olympic medal winners in the 200 meter race, John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised their...
    October 12, 2011 | Story

  • Civil Rights Pioneer, Olympic Medalist John Carlos & Sportswriter Dave Zirin at Occupy Wall Street

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    In 1968, Olympic medal winner John Carlos became an international icon when he and Tommie Smith raised their fists in the Black Power salute during the national anthem at the Olympic prize ceremony as a protest against racism in the United States. The photo of the men has become one of the most iconic images of our time. Carlos...
    October 11, 2011 | Story

  • Dave Zirin on NFL Players’ "Remarkable" Labor Victory and How the Bank Bailout Slam-Dunked the NBA

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    Professional football is back in action after the resolution of a labor standoff that brought the National Football League to a halt for 18 weeks. The NFL players’ union has voted to unanimously approve an agreement with team owners that makes several changes to promote player health and safety, including limiting of on-field...
    July 27, 2011 | Story

  • Dave Zirin on "Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love"

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    The world of professional sports is certainly not immune to the heated debates over Arizona’s anti-immigration legislation and the growing calls for a nationwide boycott of Arizona. In New York, a rally is planned tonight outside Citi Field in Queens, where baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks will play the New York Mets....
    July 30, 2010 | Story

  • From Basketball to Baseball, Professional Athletes Speak Out in Opposition to AZ Immigration Law

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    Opposition to Arizona’s new anti-immigrant law has extended into the world of sports. Over the past week, numerous professional athletes have publicly criticized the law and even threatened to boycott games in Arizona. We speak with sportswriter Dave Zirin. [includes rush transcript]
    May 06, 2010 | Story

  • Pro-Choice Advocates Criticize CBS for Accepting Anti-Abortion Super Bowl Ad

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    With the Super Bowl just two days away, the game’s broadcaster CBS is coming under criticism for accepting an anti-abortion ad paid for by Focus on the Family. For years, CBS and other networks have rejected advocacy ads during the Super Bowl. We get reaction from Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood and sportswriter Dave...
    February 05, 2010 | Story

  • Dave Zirin on Super Bowl Fever in New Orleans and the Militarization of Sport’s Biggest Spectacle

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    Sportswriter Dave Zirin, author of A People’s History of Sports in the United States, says the New Orleans Saints’ Super Bowl appearance — at least for the moment — is boosting spirits in New Orleans on a level unseen since Hurricane Katrina. Zirin also discusses pro athletes who have stood up for gay...
    February 05, 2010 | Story

  • Sportswriter Dave Zirin on Obama’s Olympic Error

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    As President Obama lobbies the International Olympic Committee to choose Chicago for the site of the 2016 Summer Olympics, Dave Zirin looks at why Chicago may not want to be the host city. Zirin argues Olympic Games have economically hurt cities in the past. And he writes, "To greater or lesser degrees, the Olympics bring...
    October 02, 2009 | Story

  • Will Obama Presidency Ease Barriers to Politically Outspoken Black Athletes?

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    Professional athletes, especially African American athletes, have long been rebuked for speaking out on political issues. Could the Obama presidency herald a change? We speak to sportswriter David Zirin, author of A People’s History of Sports in the United States. [includes rush transcript]
    November 10, 2008 | Story

  • "This is the Olympics the West Wanted"–Dave Zirin on US Corporations Entering China, Athletes Speaking Out and the Games from ’68 to Today

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    As the 2008 Summer Olympic Games open in Beijing, we speak with sportswriter Dave Zirin. "This is the Olympics the West wanted: games where the grandest prize is not a gold medal but a glittering entree to China’s seemingly endless army of potential consumers," writes Zirin. "This is the reason that George W. Bush will attend the opening ceremonies, the first U.S. President...
    August 08, 2008 | Story

  • Maryland State Police Spied on Peace, Anti-Death Penalty Groups

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    The American Civil Liberties Union released documents Thursday showing that undercover officers from the Maryland State Police spied on peace groups and anti-death penalty protesters for over a year in 2005 and 2006. The police summaries and intelligence logs reveal that covert agents infiltrated groups like the antiwar Baltimore Pledge of Resistance, the Baltimore Coalition Against the Death Penalty,...
    July 21, 2008 | Story

  • Baseball’s Hall of Shame: MLB Report Finds Widespread Steroid Use, Warns About Influence Pros Have on Young Athletes

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    Thursday is being described by some as "one of the darkest days in baseball history," following the publication of an official Major League Baseball report on the widespread use of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs in the sport. Former Senator George Mitchell, who headed the twenty-month investigation, estimated hundreds of thousands of high school students currently use steroids....
    December 14, 2007 | Story

  • National Cancer Institute Urges Mammograms
    The Federal government this past week officially recommended
    that beginning at age 40 women undergo an annual breast
    screening procedure known as a mammogram. Reversing its
    previous position, the National Cancer Institute joined with
    other large cancer groups saying that the screening of younger
    women can reduce the death rate from breast cancer.

    In 1997, more than 180,000 women will be diagnosed...

    April 02, 1997 | Story