http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/sports/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3863/a_peoples_historian_of_sports/ It's easy to see sports today as nothing more than an escapist distraction, an uncomfortable marriage of commercialism and entertainment. But progressive journalist and rabid sports fan Dave Zirin has a different take. Sports, he shows us, can be, and always have been a stage of social conflict, too. Zirin "tackles" the notion shared by many left-wingers like author Noam Chomsky, who once observed that "sports keeps people from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about." But Chomsky, Zirin counters, fails to understand "how the very passion we invest in sports can transform it from a kind of mindless escape into a site of resistance. Sports can become an… sports books social justice Rachel Jefferson