Table of Contents
Praise for Dave Zirin and Whats My Name, Fool?
Dave Zirin is an angry young man, and hes not bashful about telling you whyno quarter asked, no holds barred. In his new book, Whats My Name, Fool? , he calls out the many inequities he sees on the level playing fields. Its good to read such an impassioned critic taking sport to task in a manner we havent heard in some time.
Frank Deford, Sports Illustrated , National Public Radios
Morning Edition , and HBOs Real Sports
The sports industry has long needed an alternative voice, someone to rage away at issues of money, race, and celebrity. Dave Zirin is that voice.
Lester Munson, Sports Illustrated
I am a baseball fan, and I love this book. It is so refreshing to have a spor tswriter who writes with such verve and intelligence, who also has a social conscience, and who refuses to keep those parts of his life separate. This is a rare contribution to social history, something I have been looking for, a sports history that understands how the issues of race and class are inextricable from the world of sports.
Howard Zinn, third baseman, switch hitter, historian
Out from the greed, myths, freeloading, cover-ups, censor-ships, and gouging of big time commercial sports comes the clear voice, honest pen, and vigilant eyes of David Zirin. Put this book down only to pray, eat, and sleep.
Ralph Nader
Dave Zirin is that rarest of commodities in spor tswriting: an original voice. His writing reveals the ever present but ignored bridge between sports and struggle. Whats My Name, Fool? will be loved by both athletes who hate politics and activists who hate sports. As for progressives who are closet sports fans, finally here is a book for you.
Mary Ratcliff, editor, San Francisco Bay View
Dave Zirin approaches sport and its integral role in society with a keen political eye. He is perceptive, forceful, and analytically on target. This guy throws strikes.
Michael James, Athletes United for Peace
In Whats My Name, Fool? Dave Zirin proves that he is the only spor tswriter working who can stand tall where athletes and ideas meet and deliver a knockout.
Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Light Heavyweight champion
and founder, J.A.B. boxing union
Dave Zirin is one of the brightest, most audacious voices I can remember on the spor tswriting scene, and my memory goes back to the 1920s.
Lester Rodney, Daily Worker sports editor 1936-58
Dave Zirin has an amazing talent for covering the sports and politics beat. Ranging like a great shor tstop, he scoops up everything! He profiles the courageous and inspiring athletes who are standing up for peace and civil liberties in this repressive age. A must read!
Matthew Rothschild, editor, The Progressive
Dave Zirins inspiring account of sports nonconformists, from race rebels to antiwar athletes, is a halftime speech for radicals. This book is a left uppercut to the solar plexus of the sports-industrial complex.
Andrew Hsiao, former sports editor, Village Voice
Dave Zirin is that rare thinga writer who combines a passion for sport, deep knowledge of its history, and a fearlessly radical critique of the role the rich and powerful play in it.
Mike Marqusee, author, Redemption Song: Muhammad
Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties
At BlackSpor tsNetwork.com, we had been looking for writers who could deliver sharp and insightful stories that speak first and foremost to African American sports fans. Dave has continually delivered thought provoking ideas that offer a unique difference from the mainstream sports landscape. A rare talent indeed!
David Cole, CEO and publisher, Black Sports Network
Dave Zirins Whats My Name, Fool? is an absolute treasure. Agree or disagree (and I often disagree) you always walk away thinking about what you readand how many sports colum- nists can you say that about?
Bill McCaffrey, Inside Sports , Maryland Public Television
Dave Zirin is Americas best spor tswriter.
Lee Ballinger, Rock and Rap Confidential
Dave Zirin has unique wit, vast sports knowledge, and delightful candor. It is refreshing to see someone who can cut through the fluff and get to the heart of any sports issue. You want sports with an edge? You picked the right book.
Ed DeMayo, CEO, Basketball.com
Zirin doesnt get bogged down in heavy theorizing. He writes with compassion, humor, and a saber-like sharpness that deftly shreds owners and mainstream spor tswriters alike.
Jeffrey St. Clair, co-editor, CounterPunch
Dave Zirin is one of the few spor tswriters who is both original and real. Zirin goes beyond the front page and the overdone and instead delivers to his readers interesting stories with a unique perspective.
Mario Scalise, Chicago Sports Review
Dave Zirin shows us not only that sports can be a window through which we can examine the complex workings of race and class in this twisted, commercialized culture, but that it can also be a site of resistance. If I was a religious believer, Id say that Dave Zirin is the second coming of Lester Rodney, but Im not, and, besides, theyre both Jewish. But I have no doubt that Rodneys spirit fills Zirins soul. Lucky us!
Peter Rachleff, author, Hard-Pressed in the Heartland
Zirin with a pen in his hands is as graceful and potent as Tiger with a golf club or Bonds with a bat. He hits hard, and he hits with meaning and purpose. In the train wreck that is contemporary sports commentary, Dave Zirin is the ambulance that arrives to clean up the mess.
A. Lamont Germany, Producer & Host, SportsRap , WEAA
88.9FM Baltimore, MD
Sports in the U.S. today is big business, and no one exposes the powerful interests who use it for profit and propaganda better than Dave Zirin. He identifies with and gives voice to those athletes and players who have become symbols of resistance.
Phil Gasper, contributor to International Socialist Review
and CounterPunch
Dave Zirin loves the essence of sports, but he hates the corporate stench. He explains both with a clear, concise, caring, and wise style that is well worth reading.
Michael Albert, ZNet
In the tradition of Lester Rodney and Ralph Wiley, Dave Zirin bridges the gap between social issues and pop culture with a smooth blend of radical passion and street smart prose. Hes the thinking mans sports fan and the sports fans thinking man.
Mickey Z., author, The Seven Deadly Spins: Exposing the
Lies Behind War Propaganda
With unusual flair and acuity Zirin trains his eye on the political dimensions of sport, beautifully illustrating its potential to transform culture. When it comes to the intersection of sports and politics, Dave Zirin is the wittiest and most engaging essayist writing today. This book belongs on the shelves of all sports-lovers who believe that athletes are people, too.
Bryan Sacks, publisher, Breakaway Monthly
Dave Zirin is the rare writer who treats athletes as citizens, not as spectacles. Worldly but not cynical, political but not preachy, never sentimental and frequently hilarious, Zirins columns show a side of sports that the owners and the marketing execs do not want you to see.
Chris Toensing, editor, Middle East Report
When it comes to the politics of sports, Id read this book first. With passion, insight, and incredible humor, he cheers ath- letes struggling to make sports democratic and fair, and makes clear which owners and institutions need to be benched.
