The Game Is Not a Game: The Power, Protest, and Politics of American Sports

A study of “the hypocrisy of the game, capitalism, activism (a la Kaepernick), disrespect to female athletes, and who benefits from sports the most” (Electric Lit).
 
Part play-by-play, part op-ed, The Game Is Not a Game is an illuminating and unflinching examination of the good and evil in the sports industry. Liberating and provocative, with sharp wit and generous humor, Jackson’s essays explore the role that sports plays in American society and the hypocritical standards by which the athletes are often judged. The Game Is Not a Game is distinctly intended to challenge accepted ideology and to push the boundaries of mainstream sports media beyond the comfort zone. Chapters expose “Our Miseducation of LeBron James,” “#ThemToo: The UnRespected Worth of the Woman Athlete,” the duplicity of the NFL in its treatment of Colin Kaepernick and the anthem protests, the cultural bias of analytics, and the power of social activism versus the power and politics of professional sports ownership—all from the sharp, savvy, and self-critical perspective of one of the leading voices for social justice in sports media.
 
“Bristles with bracing and brutal insights that take no tea for the fever and offer no discount on truth or justice . . . an instant classic that reckons with the factors that make sports possible, and at the same time wrestles with the forces that make protest in sports necessary. The Game Is Not a Game is intersectional cultural analysis at its best!” —Michael Eric Dyson, New York Times bestselling author
 
“Jackson’s work is not about scores; rather, he stresses that sports are a self-contained microcosm of society at large. A thought-provoking, unfailingly insightful book.” —Booklist

1130974065
The Game Is Not a Game: The Power, Protest, and Politics of American Sports

A study of “the hypocrisy of the game, capitalism, activism (a la Kaepernick), disrespect to female athletes, and who benefits from sports the most” (Electric Lit).
 
Part play-by-play, part op-ed, The Game Is Not a Game is an illuminating and unflinching examination of the good and evil in the sports industry. Liberating and provocative, with sharp wit and generous humor, Jackson’s essays explore the role that sports plays in American society and the hypocritical standards by which the athletes are often judged. The Game Is Not a Game is distinctly intended to challenge accepted ideology and to push the boundaries of mainstream sports media beyond the comfort zone. Chapters expose “Our Miseducation of LeBron James,” “#ThemToo: The UnRespected Worth of the Woman Athlete,” the duplicity of the NFL in its treatment of Colin Kaepernick and the anthem protests, the cultural bias of analytics, and the power of social activism versus the power and politics of professional sports ownership—all from the sharp, savvy, and self-critical perspective of one of the leading voices for social justice in sports media.
 
“Bristles with bracing and brutal insights that take no tea for the fever and offer no discount on truth or justice . . . an instant classic that reckons with the factors that make sports possible, and at the same time wrestles with the forces that make protest in sports necessary. The Game Is Not a Game is intersectional cultural analysis at its best!” —Michael Eric Dyson, New York Times bestselling author
 
“Jackson’s work is not about scores; rather, he stresses that sports are a self-contained microcosm of society at large. A thought-provoking, unfailingly insightful book.” —Booklist

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The Game Is Not a Game: The Power, Protest, and Politics of American Sports

The Game Is Not a Game: The Power, Protest, and Politics of American Sports

by Robert Scoop Jackson
The Game Is Not a Game: The Power, Protest, and Politics of American Sports

The Game Is Not a Game: The Power, Protest, and Politics of American Sports

by Robert Scoop Jackson

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Overview

A study of “the hypocrisy of the game, capitalism, activism (a la Kaepernick), disrespect to female athletes, and who benefits from sports the most” (Electric Lit).
 
Part play-by-play, part op-ed, The Game Is Not a Game is an illuminating and unflinching examination of the good and evil in the sports industry. Liberating and provocative, with sharp wit and generous humor, Jackson’s essays explore the role that sports plays in American society and the hypocritical standards by which the athletes are often judged. The Game Is Not a Game is distinctly intended to challenge accepted ideology and to push the boundaries of mainstream sports media beyond the comfort zone. Chapters expose “Our Miseducation of LeBron James,” “#ThemToo: The UnRespected Worth of the Woman Athlete,” the duplicity of the NFL in its treatment of Colin Kaepernick and the anthem protests, the cultural bias of analytics, and the power of social activism versus the power and politics of professional sports ownership—all from the sharp, savvy, and self-critical perspective of one of the leading voices for social justice in sports media.
 
“Bristles with bracing and brutal insights that take no tea for the fever and offer no discount on truth or justice . . . an instant classic that reckons with the factors that make sports possible, and at the same time wrestles with the forces that make protest in sports necessary. The Game Is Not a Game is intersectional cultural analysis at its best!” —Michael Eric Dyson, New York Times bestselling author
 
“Jackson’s work is not about scores; rather, he stresses that sports are a self-contained microcosm of society at large. A thought-provoking, unfailingly insightful book.” —Booklist


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781642590951
Publisher: Haymarket Books
Publication date: 11/04/2020
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 228
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Scoop Jackson is a National Senior Writer For ESPN. He has covered issues of race, culture, politics and sports for various publications for over twenty five years. He is the former executive editor of XXL and Slam and former publisher of The Agenda.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

The "Race" to the Finish

NFL 9

The American Hypocrisy

#THEMTOO 21

The UnRespected Worth of the Woman Athlete

White and Woke 37

The Quiet, Not-So-Risky, but So Necessary Politics of Gregg Popovich and Steve Kerr (An Abstract Myth)

Colin Kaepernick 53

The Symbol versus the Shield versus the US versus Us

Bali or Fall 67

The Re-Characterization of LaVar Ball

Their Eyes Were Watching a God 75

Our Miseducation of LeBron James

Buoyancy Matters 95

Formation 101

An Interview with Jemele Hill

Illmatic 117

The NCAA's Fraud Perfection (A Novella)

#BaseballSoWhite

Making a Curious, Theoretical, Disturbing, Outrageous Case for Jackie Bradley Jr.

Fake News 151

The Tricknology of the Great American Sports Argument

The "Numb" in Numbers 175

How Analytics Is Becoming the NBA's New Jim Crow

I (Still) Can't Breathe 193

Players versus Ownership versus Community and the Politics of Social Activism in American Professional Athletics

Epilogue 205

Eddie

Sources 207

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