Join us in Washington, D.C. Wednesday, July 28th @ 6:30pm for the book release party of BAD SPORTS: How Owners Are Ruining The Games We Love by Dave Zirin. The event brought to you by Sports Fans Coalition and Busboys & Poets offers free food and a talk by sports writer and SFC board member Dave Zirin.

Here are all the details:

EVENT: BAD SPORTS Book Release Party

DATE: 7/28/10

TIME: 6:30pm

LOCATION: Busboys & Poets

ADDRESS: 14th & V St. NW DC (2021 14th St NW)

WHAT: Free Food, Conversation, and Entertainment

WEB: www.busboysandpoets.com/events.php

FACEBOOK: Event Page

EMAIL: Jeremiah@SportsFansCoalition.org

PHONE: 202-674-0775

MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE BOOK:

Hailed as the “conscience of American sports writing” (The Washington Post), Dave Zirin  has written an explosive call-to-arms that details the increasing power and influence of professional sports and the dictatorial team owners who keep fans, and hometowns, at their mercy. BAD SPORTS (on sale from Scribner on July 20) is a hard-hitting and trenchant look at the politics of sports, from an astute and thought-provoking young sportswriter. Join Dave Zirin as he discusses the new book, and hear why he already has so many fans cheering.

“Zirin puts the politics back in sports and makes good sport of the politics. Even if you don’t know the difference between March Madness and Spring Break, read this book: it’s an original and scathing look at how America works.”

—Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine

“The only thing I like better than pitchers who throw hard, are writers who do the same. In Bad Sports, Dave Zirin does exactly that. No curve balls, no changeups, just fastball after fastball under the chins of owners who say they love sports but make decisions based on profits for profit, the hell with the fans or the quality of the game. Bad Sports doesn’t ask for accountability, it demands it.”

—Howard Bryant, author of The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron

“Every owners nightmare just came to life. Bad Sports is the book that all owners, general managers, presidents and CEO’s of professional sports franchises prayed would never be written. Brilliantly blatant, Dave Zirin separates scandal and innuendo from truth and moral ineptness. Bad Sports proves that although wealthy men in suits may own franchises, they don’t own the game.

—Scoop Jackson, ESPN

“Hard-hitting, fun, ironic and informative, Dave Zirin’s Bad Sports is a riveting look at sports ownership in our time. Zirin takes on the owners in a way only he can and makes you think about sports in a way you never have. This book makes you laugh and it makes you cry, sometimes in the same paragraph.”

—Christine Brennan, USA Today sports columnist, author of Inside Edge and Best Seat in the House

“The smartest and gutsiest sportswriter in America has just written the smartest and gutsiest book about sports – and about America.”

—Robert Lipsyte

“Dave Zirin is Bringing The Noise once more with his expose on the modern day tyranny that has turned athletic entertainment into ‘Gross’ National Product. Dave Z is irreplaceable. He’s the sports world Geiger counter, exposing the truth and protecting the fan from first, second, and third degree burns.”

—Chuck D, Public Enemy

“This book is a critical account of how rapacious owners are leaching the fun out of sports and how we, the beleaguered fans, can take back the games we love.”
—Katrina vanden Heuvel; Editor, The Nation

“As Dave Zirin says to fans of corporatized sports teams—“There is a time to cheer and a time to seethe.” Zirin seethes and sometimes applauds with facts and true stories. It’s more exciting reading Bad Sports than 95% of the games I’ve watched.”

—Ralph Nader

One of the most powerful people in sports, DeMaurice Smith, joined SFC board member Dave Zirin in studio on his Sirius XM Radio show for a conversation about what’s in store for NFL fans come 2011. It was not an optimistic response delivered by the NFL Players Association Executive Director when Zirin asked if the owners are willing to make concessions in order to negotiate a new CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement).

A telling moment occurred when Dave Zirin’s co-host, NBA center Etan Thomas, asked Smith how he is handling the misinformation campaign which suggests that the players will strike rather than the reality that NFL owners are on the verge of deciding to lock out players from participating in the games they want to play.

Note: The owners stand to make $4 billion from their TV contract even without actual games on the field. This kind of hijinx is awfully reminiscent of the BCS payouts for bit players milking the cash cow, but I digress.

The truth is that the players are willing to negotiate while the owners only care about the fans to the extent that they want to keep secure the revenue streams already established from ticket sales, parking, merchandise, and concessions. It’s nice to know that a man of DeMaurice Smith’s stature recognizes that the fans are important.

Enough of the analysis of the conversation. Listen to it here.

SFC board member Dave Zirin writes about Martin Luther King Jr.’s connection with social activism by athletes in a piece today in Sports Illustrated. 

It serves as a reminder that anytime someone in a position of power claims that an issue is not worth the American public’s time and energy because it is too trivial, we must ask what lies beneath. 

And for all those issues that seem too big to tackle, there is strength in numbers and the organized uprising of underdogs yields progress.

If we don’t question authority and raise concerns over those who seek to grab more power while marginalizing sports fans, we will no longer be able to afford to bring the family to the ballpark.  We will no longer be able to flip the channel to the game as we are blacked out.  We will be shocked by our monthly TV bill as the charges skyrocket.  We will get hit up for more cash come tax time to pay for brand new stadiums that supposedly generate ‘economic development’.  Concessions and parking costs will continue to climb out of the range of affordability.

From the sports fan’s perspective, if you keep quiet, your team loses.  If we raise a ruckus, we have a better shot at winning some battles and taking the power back from those who would oppress us. 

While the significance of Martin Luther King’s civil rights battle dwarfs our own in overcoming institutional racism, bigotry, and violence, we nonetheless, feel energized by his will to overcome, his efforts to unify people for a common cause, and his belief in the underdog.

2009 was a tremendous year and Sports Fans Coaltion would like to take a moment to thank you for becoming a fan of SFC on Facebook, for following us on twitter, and most importantly, for joining SFC’s fight for Sports Fans rights as consumers represented in Congress and in every city across the country.

On this New Year’s Day, you’re welcome to sit back and listen to a very frank discussion on Intercollegiate Athletics in the 4th Annual Shirley Povich Symposium at the Phillip Merrill School of Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park. 

Edge of Sports Radio – Segment 1 – George Solomon

Edge of Sports Radio – Segment 2 – Kevin Blackistone

Edge of Sports Radio – Segment 3 – Symposium Part 1

Edge of Sports Radio – Segment 4 – Symposium Part 2

Edge of Sports Radio – Segment 5 – Stephen Heyer

Edge of Sports Radio – Segment 6 – Scott van Pelt

The symposium was broadcast as a special on SFC board member Dave Zirin’s Sirius XM Radio show Edge of Sports featuring Michael Wilbon, Stephen Heyer, Debbie Yow, Gary Williams, Kevin Blackistone, Scott van Pelt, and hosted by Connie Chung and Maury Povich.

Listen particularly closely to the debate on the Bowl Championship Series in which Michael Wilbon references the organization as a ‘cartel’.  Some excellent points from intelligent people on issues that affect sports fans. 

We look forward to a year of many possibilities for BIG issues to fall in favor of the sports fan.  The bigger we get, the more we can throw our weight around and get some traction on the issues before us. 

Join us today to start the year off on the right foot.

Happy New Year from SFC!