Sports and politics have long been intertwined- historical figures like Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ash, and Billie Jean King have played a huge role in advancing the cause of human rights both in the United States and around the world. Modern figures like Colin Kapernick, Megan Rapinoe, Enes Kanter Freedom, and many many others […]
Enes Kanter has reemerged on the political stage. The eleven year NBA veteran made waves after wearing a pair of speakers expressing support for Tibetan independence. The game between Kanter’s Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks was being broadcast around the world, until the feed was abruptly cut off for Chinese consumers by […]
Astronomical amounts of money are being spent on soccer (football) transfers. These days, no one is shocked at news of multi-million dollar signings.
With each passing day it seemed another story crossed my desk that I wanted to write about. Now I have so many tabs open on my computer that it is slowing things down considerably. So without further ado, a roundup of stories that have caught my eye in recent days and weeks with brief commentary […]
Seven spots are up for grabs this weekend in the penultimate phase of African qualifying for next year’s World Cup in Brazil. Ten teams will fight for five remaining spots in knockout playoffs next month. Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian provides a good overview of the state of play, which includes a number of squads […]
Give the people sports and they will forget all about politics. Such a maxim could be attributed to all manner of political figures from Commodus to Machiavelli. We can now add Kim Jong Un to that list after the North Korean leader welcomed former NBA weirdo Dennis Rodman to Pyongyang for a basketball game between […]
Over the course of the last two weeks the African Cup of Nations football tournament has been playing out its myriad dramas across the host nation of South Africa. Historically played every in even numbered years, The Confederation of African Football (CAF) decided to switch to an odd-numbered-year format in no small part so as […]
With August coming to a close here’s something short and inspiring to remind us that unconventional approaches make a difference. Skateboards and Afghanistan sound like an unlikely combination but reality is proving otherwise. Skateistan is an international non-profit charity providing skateboarding and educational programming in Afghanistan (as well as Cambodia and Pakistan). It was set […]
The opening of the 2012 Olympics in London on Friday were definitely a spectacle to behold. Perhaps the show was enough to divert attention from the gaffes and muddles reported by the media, such as the South Korean flag being displayed as the North Korean women’s football team were about to take to the field.
It is perhaps not surprising that South African rugby included the highest number of black Springboks in match rosters during former coach Peter de Villiers’ tenure. The recently released de Villiers was, after all, the first non-white Springbok coach (and yes, I hate defining him against what he was not, but that’s the history […]
South Africa will be hosting the African Cup of Nations, the biennial African football competition that will be changing from even to odd-numbered years in 2013. In many ways this is probably good news — South Africa has the best infrastructure in terms of stadiums and roads, it has the media facilities and the wherewithal […]
As the Indian government strives to elevate people out of poverty, it should realize that good athletes can serve as more than a way to equal China’s Olympic might.
In exactly a year India will host one of the biggest international sports event in its history. The 19th Commonwealth Games will be held in New Delhi from Oct 3-14, 2010. A total of 71 countries are expected to participate in 17 different events. Not only are the Games a matter of pride for India, […]