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How Politics Played a Major Role in the Signing of Jackie Robinson

Chris Lamb The Conversation
Branch Rickey certainly deserves credit for confronting his fellow owners and their racist attitudes by signing Jackie Robinson and, in doing so, advancing the cause of civil rights. However, there is more to this story than Rickey and Robinson. In fact, the desegregation of baseball came after a decade-long campaign by black and left wing journalists and activists.

Movie: Concussion

Will Smith portrays Dr. Bennett Omalu, a medical doctor (and immigrant) who confronts the power of the NFL when he investigates and publishes proof of the systematic brain damage and dementia among professional football players.  

Friday Nite Videos -- November 20, 2015

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Start Getting Used to Saying President Trump. Grateful Dead 50: Ripple. Mexican Donald Trump Hosts Mexican Saturday Night Live. Daily Fantasy Sports. Bernie Sanders: How I See Democratic Socialism.

Daily Fantasy Sports

Daily fantasy sports sites claim they are not gambling enterprises, but they seem awfully…gamblish. If only their ads were more truthful.

Challenging Major League Baseball's New Managerial Color Line

Dave Zirin The Nation
With zero African-American managers and only one Latino manager, baseball needs an affirmative-action policy with actual teeth. And now we are all the way back to where we started. It's time for change: a change many thought had already been achieved. Rob Manfred: You're up.

books

Dusty and Jimi

Charles Bethea The New Yorker
Pro baseball player and coach Dusty Baker was a teenage rock and roller. His new memoir details those years, centered on the legendary Monterey Pop Festival, where Jimi Hendrix played his way to stardom. Charles Bethea profiles Baker in advance of his memoir of those year of hanging out with a host of legendary musicians and learning how rock and roll is like baseball.

7 Things We Learned from Thabo Sefolosha's Trial

Dave Zirin The Nation
After the NYPD broke his leg and charged him with resisting arrest, NBA star Thabo Sefolosha cleared his name in court. Here's what we learned. The NYPD has a racism problem that was just proven in open court. One of the least covered aspects in this trial was the surveillance footage of the initial approach by police. They passed Thabo's white teammate Pero Antic and making a beeline for Thabo. He was in their sights. He was their target. His skin was a bull's-eye.

High School Football Inc.

Jere Longman New York Times
What happens when corporate America appropriates high school football . . .

Tidbits - September 10, 2015 - GOP, Trump and Appeal to Reaction; No Union Mines in Kentucky; Black Panther Party film; Alabama's Black Communists and #BLM; New Resource: Black Lives Matter Syllabus; and more...

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Reader Comments: The GOP, Trump and the Appeal to Reaction; No Union Mines in Kentucky; Black Panther Party film; Lessons from Alabama's Black Communists and the #BLM; Indigenous People's History of the United States; Serena Williams; Climate Change and Workers; New Resource: Black Lives Matter Syllabus; Livestream Sept. 18: Unions, Workers, and the Democratic Party

The Trailer for `Concussion' Should Give Roger Goodell Night Sweats

Dave Zirin The Nation
The forthcoming film Concussion, starring Will Smith, is coming for the NFL. If Concussion came out now, it would get less coverage than the Washington quarterback controversy. But tragically, we know that by December, another season of injuries, another season of tragedies will be winding down and the film will amplify all of those renewed concerns.
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