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sports



  • The Dodgers Were Right to Honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

    by Lily Lucas Hodges

    Catholic groups charged that the LGBTQ group mocked their faith with their appropriation of nuns' dress. But the group more importantly defied Catholic teaching to promote life-saving health care and education about sexuality at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. 



  • Lady Vols Country

    by Jessica Wilkerson

    The author remembers Pat Summitt's championship women's basketball teams at the University of Tennessee as a demonstration of how sports "encompass a battleground for determining how gender manifests in the world, how women and girls can use their bodies, and who can access self-determination."



  • FBI Releases Bill Russell's File, Which Includes Allegation of Betting Against Own Team

    The Bureau's file on the late NBA star demonstrates their suspicion of the civil rights movement and disdain for politically engaged Black athletes. It also contains a memo alleging Russell placed a significant wager against the Celtics as player-coach, although many known facts and lack of follow-up make that allegation doubtful. 



  • The NBA Embraced Blackness in the 1970s—Moral Panic Ensued

    Theresa Runstedtler looks at the NBA's key transitional decade as a time when Black players didn't simply change the style of play but demanded fair treatment for the value created by their skilled labor, following the ethos of civil rights and Black Power. 



  • The Qatar World Cup is History

    by Laurent Dubois

    The World Cup, more than any previous version, symbolizes the contradictions of the joy of play being entangled with nationalism, global capitalism, and repressive theocratic autocracy. 



  • Is Messi the Avatar of a Post-Macho Argentina?

    by Brenda Elsey

    Lionel Messi's tenure at the top of the soccer world has coincided with an upsurge of feminism in Argentina and its sports culture, changes Messi has quietly supported. 


  • Kyrie Irving Just the Latest Outspoken Athlete to Go Rogue

    by Greg Kaliss

    It's entirely fair for the Nets' guard to face criticism for his boosting of an antisemitic film, but the uproar carries the risk of silencing athletes who might otherwise use their public platforms for political advocacy. 



  • Despite Defeat, Iran's Footballers Won

    by Golnar Nikpour

    Iranian players' show of solidarity with protesters facing government repression has been more important than the results on the pitch. 



  • Eastern Europe Brought Soccer Into the Modern Age. Why is it a Wasteland Now?

    A legacy of innovation spurred by Hungarian clubs in the 1930s and 1950s sustained high quality soccer in eastern Europe through the fall of communism, but changing economic and social currents have diminished the competitiveness of former eastern bloc countries in today's big-money game. 



  • "Misogynoir" Exemplified in the Degradation of Black Women Athletes

    by Donald Earl Collins

    The treatment of basketball star Brittney Griner by Russian authorities (and the indifference to her case by many Americans) shows that Black women athletes still have to navigate a world of racism and sexism that diminishes their achievements and their security.