“The best young sportswriter in America.”
Yep, he’s down with us.
By Ben Osborne
With nothing remotely inspired to say about the Spurzzzzzzz today (has any franchise, in any sport, played more predictable games then them?), I wanted to take this opportunity to plug our man Dave Zirin’s recently released book, Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports. If you are a regular reader of SLAM, you should be familiar with Dave, as he writes the “Louder Than a Bomb” column every issue. However, because not all SLAM readers visit our site and not all Slamonline readers buy the magazine, there is still a chance you don’t know who Dave is. I’m hoping to change that.
In short, its my opinion that Dave Zirin combines sports analysis with political and social insights better than any writer I’ve ever read. I feel confident I know as much about sports as Dave does, and maybe close to as much about the world we live in, but I could never combine my thoughts as eloquently as Dave does. Whether its his writing skill, his breadth of research, his sense of humor or even just having the self-confidence to state his true feelings in a public forum, Dave is a master of making a point and hammering it home with knowledge and wit. And I’m not the only one who thinks he’s great—the quote above comes from renowned author and New York Times contributor Robert Lipsyte, whose opinion you might consider more valid than mine. I will concede that Dave’s brand of politics might not agree with everyone on this website (some seemed to take fault with Ryan going there yesterday), but I still can’t imagine anyone who likes sports not respecting what Dave does.
Dave probably deserved a shout out like this when he started writing for SLAM almost two years ago, but it was made clearer to me in the last month when I twice got to see Dave do his thing in person, which is even more powerful than reading one of his columns. A couple of Sundays ago, Dave served as the guest host of Chuck D’s Air America show, On the Real, (Chuck and Dave have known each other for a few years now, and Chuck wrote the forward in the new book…yet another reason for y’all to read it). Dave had me on the show from live in the studio, and it was awesome to see him run the show. Before he had me on, Dave’s guests included Etan Thomas, former SLAM editor Scoop Jackson and Baltimore-based MC Son of Nun, who ripped up the studio with his politically charged verses. Dave did a great job engaging with the guests, asking interesting questions but also letting them speak. Etan and Dave discussed the Black Athlete Forum at Morehouse College, while Scoop was mostly breaking down the dramatics of Floyd Mayweather’s life. He saved the Playoff talk for yours truly, giving me the chance to pick the Spurs to win it all…nothing to be proud of since I’d been so positive about the Mavs in print.
Then, last week Dave and Chuck spoke at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. As I have quickly learned is typical of Dave, the topics he addressed ran the gamut, from the book-cover New Orleans Superdome (”packed with people after Hurricane Katrina who couldn’t have afforded a ticket to get in there for a Saints game”) to Pat Tillman (”used by the NFL and the US Government to sell the war,”), while Chuck addressed his childhood as a sports fan and how he learned a lot about the world as a teen while listening to the “thinly veiled racists who called in to New York sports radio shows.”
Whether it’s in person, on the radio or in print, Dave brilliantly takes sports and puts them in a larger context. By no means do I think this should be done by everyone in the sports media, or all the time (I work for SLAM, where we celebrate the game, so obviously I’d be a hypocrite if I thought those who focus merely on the game were wrong). But by the same token, how many people do we need pushing the same drivel about last night’s game, or worse, columnists and commentators who get off on negative analysts of the otherworldly athletes in our midst, as if they could ever do better? There’s enough injustice in this world for their to be a thousand Dave Zirins. At the moment, there’s only one, and I’m at least glad he’s down with us.
63 Responses to ““The best young sportswriter in America.””
May.23 at 5:51 pm
Lang Whitaker says:
first!
May.23 at 6:03 pm
Redrum says:
I like Zirin a lot. But in true Slam fashion the title should have been “The best young sportswriter in America you never heard off”
May.23 at 6:04 pm
Redrum says:
obviously I mean “heard of”….
May.23 at 6:05 pm
Ben Osborne says:
Redrum=another writer better than me. Great point.
May.23 at 6:22 pm
Reggie Evans says:
I love the description “thinly veiled racists”.
May.23 at 9:00 pm
O'Neezy says:
He does a weekly segment on a local sports show in Canada where he is interviewed via satellite about various topics. It is pretty amazing. Just throw something out there and he will skillfully address the issue without sounding pretentious or a fool (the former description may depend on whether or not you enjoy his writing).
May.23 at 10:57 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Great stuff, Ben, you know how proud I am to have Zirin on board. My only concern is that, after reading this, that dude JJ who got all mad at me for going political on my LeBron post might actually cancel his subscription TWICE. Then we’re in real trouble…
May.23 at 10:58 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Also: People should buy this book. Thank you.
May.23 at 10:59 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Also: http://edgeofsports.com/
May.24 at 12:39 am
1hush D says:
I wonder if Dave is down with your Navy and Marine adverisements? I bet he has an opinion on that. Glad you have “Louder” in SLAM and when you dump the military ads, I’ll be even happier.
May.24 at 12:53 am
thesubwayconnection says:
I love Dave’s writing, honestly, I’m reading for him and Jake at the moment. No offense to everyone else, but I like their writing the most. Scoop’s the GOAT at SLAM, though.
May.24 at 2:37 am
Ikemob22 says:
So how young are we talking?… hummmm .. a chick is single! lol sike naw I gotta check the book out tho!
May.24 at 3:11 am
brad m says:
1hush d is right, if people want to join the military they can, but slam is the last place i’d expect to find US army pro-iraq bs propaganda. and i don’t live in america, so what does that ad do for me? seriously guys, its ahoops magazine. the old simpsons evan the nioj thing comes in here, US using all types of methods to get young’uns into the army. disappointing, slam
May.24 at 4:24 am
bja says:
I hate the US’s idiotic foreign policy as much as the next guy but I don’t think slam should turn away the US military’s advertising. And not just because the bills need to be paid. They should be allowed to present their arguments like everybody else. Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to look at their best propaganda and realise how specious it is.
May.24 at 5:40 am
Boing Dynasty says:
O’neezy, that show on The Score with Zirin is great. If you can put up with listening to Jim Traber yack about bullshit in between.
May.24 at 8:29 am
Ryan Jones says:
I’ll beat Ben to the punch here: We (as in the SLAM editorial staff) have absolutely no input on which ads do and do not run in the magazine (or, for that matter, the website). Those decisions are made by our publishing/advertising staff, and those decisions are motivated pretty much entirely by financial concerns. Sadly but surely, SLAM is just like the NBA — a business before anything else — and the people who own and operate it do so to make money above all else. There have been plenty of ads over the years that have offended us (the SLAM editorial staff) for a variety of reasons, and we have occasionally complained about them, with varying results. There are too, thankfully, some things we won’t run ads for, like cigarettes and booze. But until one of us gets rich enough to buy the magazine ourselves (like, if all of you went out and bought 18 copies each of my LeBron book right now, the one where I explain how he’s more like Magic than Michael…) and determine the ad content, or until one of us starts an AdBusters-like anti-consumerist SLAM spinoff (which would be great if we could afford it), this is the capitalist tool you’re stuck with. I personally whole-heartedly agree with brad, hushd and everyone else who’s brought this up, but short of the above-mentioned and unlikely scenarios, you’ll just have to keep being tempted by exciting and not-at-all dangerous career opporunities with the Army of One.
May.24 at 8:59 am
1hush D says:
Thanks RJ. I just wanted to make the link that while Zirin is “down with us” in the end SLAM is a whore just like the rest of the media. And I support the whore by coming back for more………………… And just for an additional note, it is not my own personal temptation by the military ads I am concerned with but the impressionable young ballers looking for a way out when the ball is not going to take them out. Shout out to A.W.O.L., the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors and all counter recruiters out there. I am sure Zirin is down with you.
May.24 at 9:15 am
Ryan Jones says:
Whores we are. It’s either dropping out of the system entirely or trying to operate from within, and hopefully SLAM does at least a little bit of the latter. And based on what you’ve already posted, hush, I didn’t actually think YOU were being tempted to join up and serve.
I do feel compelled to add: My 82-year-old, World War II-veteran grandfather had a pacemaker put in the other day, and while I’m certainly no hawk and not particularly sentimental, that and the upcoming holiday have me feeling a little… something. War is bad, but at least for his generation it was sort of something you felt like you had to do, and for something resembling a good reason. For the kids today who see an Iraq tour as their best career opportunity, well, I don’t even like to dwell on what that says about the Greatest Country in the World.
But what am I going on about? Love it or leave it! I love this game!
May.24 at 9:53 am
caputo says:
Guy’s book is pretty dope.
May.24 at 10:29 am
Froggiestyle says:
Thanks for the info. I just checked out a couple of DZ links (don’t remember him from before - sorry) and those last 2 book titles looked too good to pass up - I amazoned em both and they should arrive here in the S of France straight outta UK in a week. Don’t forget to read kiddies ;0) Feed ya head.
May.24 at 10:29 am
Slobodan Chutzpah says:
Much to my chagrin, I wasn’t too aware of Zirin before, but I’ve been catching up on his past articles on his web site (which Ryan linked to - ta), and they are indeed excellent. So mission accomplished, Ben - here’s at least one convert. Terrordome seems extremely interesting, and I’ll be trying to get my mitts on it some time soon. Here’s one quote from Zirin I especially enjoyed (on Whitlock): “Blaming hip-hop for our current state is like blaming the pan-flute and zither for the crusades.” There’s probably not a more concise way of putting it.
May.24 at 10:34 am
Ryan Jones says:
The pan flute is pure f*cking evil.
May.24 at 11:20 am
mark says:
we are complaining about the war ads in a basketball magazine ? This site has more and more politics on it every day. Count on Slam to throw out the bogus race card at least once a day. Count on Slam to bring a leftist liberal agenda — Am I reading Rosie’s blog here or a bball magazine ?
May.24 at 11:36 am
Ryan Jones says:
I don’t think Rosie likes the pan flute, mark, if you know what I’m saying.
May.24 at 12:09 pm
Bryant Reeves says:
I always assumed that Zirin was Etan Thomas’ pen name.
May.24 at 12:44 pm
Slobodan Chutzpah says:
And what’s wrong with being brave enough to incorporate a bit of a political or social viewpoint in discussions about basketball? Basketball, along with everything else, doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and shying away from its obvious political, cultural or social aspects would be nothing short of blinkered and stupid - especially in a cultural climate in which ignorance is a virtue and “intellectual” a four-letter word. This shit is exactly what keeps me coming back. Also, “bogus race card”? Spoken like a true bigot, Marky Mark, my man……… The only thing more evil than the pan flute is… no, actually, scratch that: there is nothing more evil than the pan flute. (Expect, perhaps, Michael Flatley.)
May.24 at 12:49 pm
Ben Osborne says:
Ads for the military and mega-corporations like Wal-Mart and Nike (out of our editorial control) combatted with Dave Zirin writing in the mag and Etan Thomas on our website (in our editorial control). I’d say we’re as even handed as can be. The only requirement is a simple one: love basketball.
May.24 at 1:15 pm
Redrum says:
Ben Osborne says:
Redrum=another writer better than me. Great point. Gimme a job!
May.24 at 1:16 pm
Redrum says:
“Ben Osborne says:
Redrum=another writer better than me. Great point” Gimme a Job!
May.24 at 1:17 pm
Redrum says:
oh… double post… have I just blew my chance???
May.24 at 1:24 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Redrum is fired. Pre-emptively.
May.24 at 1:45 pm
Boing Dynasty says:
I like you, but i really like your damn chain.
May.24 at 1:45 pm
Redrum says:
Damn!!! *looks for excuse*… erm.. the mouse key got stuck… I thought it did not look pretty the first time… it was for the readers to understand clearly my references… DAmn!!! still nothing good… what if I make a NBA and Lost parallelism?
Erm… OK!!! OK!!! GOT IT!!! I will give you the title for the next issue!!! “The best pointguards in the world you never heard of”!!! yeah! thats it! oh.. the cover should be Theodoros Papaloukas (6-7 pointguard, all-time assists leader in Euroleague, 2006 Final 4 MVP, 14 assists against Team USA last year in the worlds) and Dimitris Diamantidis (6-7 point guard, 6-11 wingspan, 2007 Euroleague MVP, 2007 Final 4 MVP, 3rd in assists in Euroleague, 3 consecutive times Euroleague Defensive player of the Year). Both Greek, both ready to kick arse in Euro 2007 in Spain, as part of maybe the best backcourt in the world
May.24 at 3:04 pm
mark says:
I know what you mean Ryan - and I agree on that point. Slobodan - wow — you can label me a bigot just like that ? You are good - nice piece of slander. Actually I come here to read basketball - read about players all over the world - perhaps get some interesting insight into some dude I have never heard of that can flat out play. I don’t come here to read about political idiotology. The country …and the world for that matter is divided enough along party lines and or agendas. Al Gore spewing nonsense to promote a book…. Rosie calling American troops terrorists….Jerry Falwell saying God took actions on this or that person…Michael Moore violating federal law taking people to Cuba for medical care that Fidel won’t even get — he goes to Spain for his medical care… Bush overspending - not protecting our borders — a war that is being waged in Iraq by politicians who are more concerned with their power and agenda than with winning or wiping out terrorism… HIllary - Obama - Mitt - Guliiani - I mean if I want this stuff — I will go to CNN or FOXNEWS - maybe economist — not slamonline - and if it does have to be here - can’t it be impartial or at least a little balanced ? Does it always have to be the extreme left ? Do people always have to resort to name calling — throwing bigot around ? Hate to disagree with you though - basketball has no political aspect at all for me. IT is a politics free zone. I play and that is all I am concerned with - winning that game. Making that jumper - coming up with a stop.
May.24 at 3:39 pm
Ryan Jones says:
I obviously don’t agree with your politics, mark, but I appreciate you making an effort to be decent about it. To your points:
* You’ll never read political stuff on this site INSTEAD of basketball coverage — it’s not like I was gonna write a detailed column about Utah’s perimeter defense today but changed my mind at the last second to rant about the immorality of the Iraq war. That happens IN ADDITION TO our hoops coverage. For whatever that’s worth.
* As for whether or not we SHOULD be dicussing politics (or music, or TV, or movies, or inbreeding) on a basketball site, why not? I mean, I see where you’re coming from, but to me, basketball isn’t a distraction from my real life, it’s part of it — as is family, work, soccer, food, beer, the bikini-clad college girls who hang out on the lawn outside my office window on nice days like this, and, yes, politics. It’s the whole world, and I think there’s room for all of it on here. My opinions (and yours) are as valid as anyone else’s, assuming you’ve made an effort to educate yourself. If you don’t want to read or partipcate in the political/social debates, I can respect that. But there are political and social issues related to basketball, and beyond that, as a human being with a conscience, I’m gonna feel compelled to say what’s on my mind — and knowing I’ve got an audience, I’ll often say it here. That’s not likely to change.
*As for the primarly leftist slant among slamonline columnists, and many of our readers, that’s not by any sort of, um, intelligent design — it’s just how it’s happened. I can promise you no one asked about my politics when I started at SLAM, but it turns out that, probably like most 20 or 30-somethings who chose to live in a place like NYC these days (which I did for 7 years, until pretty recently), my mindset is pretty progressive. The same can be said of most, if not all, the rest of the SLAM staff, and it was true before any of us worked there. Zirin, obviously, is an exception in that we sought him out because of his unique and (in most of our opinions) intelligent take social issues in sports, basketball in particular. As stated, we (Ben Osborne and I especially) are incredibly proud to have him as part of the SLAM family.
Anyway, my guess, which you’ve sort of confirmed here, is that if most of us leaned right instead of left, the political talk on here probably wouldn’t bother you. I respect that, too — I’d probably stop reading SLAM if it was populated with Ann Coulter groupies — but I do ask that you be honest about it.
May.24 at 3:39 pm
Ryan Jones says:
*whew*
May.24 at 3:47 pm
O'Neezy says:
Boing… Jim Traber is the “fair and balanced” part of the show on the score. I must admit I actually like him (almost solely for his laughable comments). He always creates segues for Dave Zirin to blaze him.
May.24 at 3:48 pm
Ryan Jones says:
“I got an ant farm. Those fellas didn’t grow sh*t.”
“I haven’t slept for 10 days… because that would be too long.”
“Last week I helped my friend stay put. It’s a lot easier than helping someone move. I just went over to his house and made sure he did not load sh*t into a truck.”
The Mitch Hedburg CD just came up on my iTunes. Thought that might lighten the mood a bit…
May.24 at 3:51 pm
Exile says:
BALLIN
May.24 at 3:57 pm
Ryan Jones says:
“I’m against picketing, but I don’t know how to show it.” My man was FUNNY.
May.24 at 10:29 pm
mark says:
Ryan - I am cool with the political aspect - my issue is - why do my comments get censored?
May.24 at 10:33 pm
mark says:
that is two posts i have made in reply to yours ryan — both censored.
May.24 at 11:13 pm
Ben Osborne says:
Mark,
If you put in a link, it’s being “censored” to stop spamming and will go up once the webmaster (sam) goes through all the comments. If you had a non-linking post, please elaborate on how you were censored.
May.24 at 11:19 pm
mutoni says:
mark, i think when you use profanity comments get censored. it’s happened to me, too. Damn you, Sam. i want to swear!!! (as for Zirin, much like Hedberg, he is the balls. that’s a good thing)
May.24 at 11:29 pm
Ben Osborne says:
Oh yeah, curses AND links. It’s all to stop spamming…thanks, Mutoni. Mark, please re-post with @$@%#$ instead of actual curse words…
May.24 at 11:58 pm
mark says:
lets discuss — I had no links and I assure you I had no profanity. I posted a reply to Ryans comments - hit submit and the comment did not post. I re-typed the comment hit submit — did not post. I shortened the comments to the reply you see above and it posted. Again - no profanity - no links .I would think censorship would be just about the last thing going on at Slam…journalism and all….
May.24 at 11:59 pm
mark says:
if you wish for me to validate - you have my email and you can hit me with an email and i will send the comments directtly to you. I tried to post again and was denied.
May.25 at 12:59 am
Jerry pritikin says:
Dave Zirin is a one man army for justice in and out of sports.
I like his style, informative and openen minded, with a heart of gold and pen to match! He reminds me of what IKE said in the 1950’s…taking a political position in the middle of the road opens you up to the extremes of both sides of an issue. Taking a political position in sports is no different…Dave, Thanks for being there!… The Bleacher Preacher
May.25 at 1:19 am
Ryan Jones says:
Honestly, I think the site is having technical difficulties, mark. No kidding — I’ve had a bunch of comments that didn’t pop up in the past day or two. I think it’s because we’ve got a cheap website. I’m really not joking.
May.25 at 8:17 am
Sam Rubenstein says:
I have given Mark Ryan’s email address so they can continue their discussion in private. There are certain words that are easy targets for splogs and spammers, and if your comment includes them it should get deleted automatically.
May.25 at 8:36 am
Ryan Jones says:
Thanks Sam. Did you do that before or after you misspelled Adrienne Goodson’s first name?
May.25 at 8:39 am
Sam Rubenstein says:
I appreciate you blaming me for something you have no idea whether I did or not. It must be the “cheap website.”
May.25 at 8:41 am
Ryan Jones says:
I love you, Sam.
May.25 at 8:57 am
Russ Bengtson says:
I think “splogs” should be one of those words.
May.25 at 10:04 am
mark says:
okay - yeah i did a test and i think i found some of the words — most of the ones I listed were dealing with or related to male enhancement. Perhpas you coudl put a key on the comments page or make folks log in
May.25 at 10:25 am
Sam Rubenstein says:
You do log-in the first time you leave a comment. Your computer remembers it.
The bad words include every male helper drug you can think of, games that are played in Las Vegas, some prominent female celebrities, sites that have pictures of people without clothing, and so on. I can’t say any of those words because they are blocked. It’s working though, because every comment you see here is written by a person not a computer program.
May.25 at 10:28 am
1hush D says:
First he is against politics in ball, now he is for it. FLIP FLOPPER! No, really, I wish Muhammad Ali would not bring those politics to my boxing match. Every move we make has a political implication. It cannot be avoided. My wishlisht for a SLAM future includes and independent publishing/advertising so that the Military Industrial Complex cannot convince kids to bring their sneakers with them to Iraq. Perhaps I should initiate a startup. Are there no progressive publishers that love the dollar bill and roll progressive. I know, I ask for a great deal. But we do care don’t we?
May.25 at 3:18 pm
mark says:
no I never said I was for it hush — I said if it has to be then don’t censor the other side.
May.27 at 4:35 am
Rosie O'Jonesell says:
george bush ain’t doin his job right. We all know that even the conserv repubs of us. But why is Ryan Jones writing so m any responses to sumn Ben Osborne wrote about Dave Zirin? Ryan Jones u need a jumpoff
May.27 at 4:36 am
Rosie O'Jonesell says:
stupid people and politix dont mix
May.28 at 11:02 am
1hush D says:
Americans get the government they deserve
May.29 at 8:27 am
Ryan Jones says:
My bad, Rosie. Please send me a list of circumstances in which it’s appropriate for me to post comments on this website. Thank you.
And hush, where are you from again?
May.30 at 4:57 pm
Mark says:
he is obviously from Europe and no matter where Hush is from — it is an inferior country to the USA