Dave Zirin

Early life and education

Zirin was born to a Jewish family in New York City. He graduated from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Career

Zirin was the host of the Edge of Sports Podcast, hosted by the Slate/Panoply network. He also co-hosted "The Collision: Where Sports and Politics Collide on Pacifica Radio" with former NBA player Etan Thomas. Zirin is a contributor to The Nation, and has been a columnist for SLAM Magazine, and The Progressive. He has been a 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 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?”, 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.

Zirin is the co-author with John Carlos of The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World (Haymarket Books, 2011).

He writes a blog named Edge of Sports: the weekly sports column by Dave Zirin.

Controversies

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

Call for boycott of Arizona

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 expressed support during the 2010 NBA Playoffs for the Phoenix Suns, who went by "Los Suns" as a statement against the Arizona immigration law.

Support of boycotts of Israel

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.

Criticism of Hank Williams, Jr.

On October 6, 2011, during a live interview conducted on the sports cable television network, ESPN, Zirin referred to Hank Williams, Jr. as 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.

Defense of Barry Bonds

Zirin maintains the opinion that the aggressive hatred toward Barry Bonds is in large degree due to racism. In 2004 Zirin wrote “The greatest case for reasonable doubt lies in Bonds' very late career success. His unparalleled middle-aged majesty screams his innocence.” However, in an undated interview, Zirin claims “I never wrote that I "believe Bonds has never done steroids."” He continues: “unlike oh so many others, the man never actually failed a steroids test. Is there a ton of circumstantial evidence that the man juiced? Absolutely. But he is still the best player I've ever seen. The best player of what will go down as the anabolic era.” Zirin claims that, rather than steroid use, “much of the reaction to Bonds is simply bad old-fashioned racism”.

Some of his articles and interviews defending Bonds include: