A Very Special All Olympics Wind Sprints

The Olympics are fraught with both political overtones and incredible sports moments. As such, they tend to bring out the best in some of our progressive sports writers. Let's see what they've had to say.

1) What if every sport were photographed like beach volleyball? I've really been enjoying the beach volleyball tournament, and I can't deny that the bikinis have something to do with that. Still, it's disappointing that the sport and the athletes are reduced to butts, regardless of how tight said butts are. On a related note, Andrew Sullivan talks about sex appeal at the Olympics. This is one of the hard parts of being progressive; sex is pretty cool, everyone ought to have the right to look and feel sexy. But where does that end and treating someone as a sex object begin? I don't have a good answer here.

2) Poynter has an interesting round-up of the coverage of the Olympics, including some more on NBC's broadcasting shenanigans.

3) Will Leitch points out that NBC's Olympic coverage seems so bad to us die-hard sports fans because it's not for us- it's for the casual fans. I think that's okay; I'd prefer something more for us, but, clearly, we die-hards can figure out other ways to enjoy the games.

4) Science's continued impact on sports continues to blow my mind. Empirical data FTW.

5) Nancy Hogshead-Makar- who has retweeted a previous LFL post for the masses- talks about the end of her Olympic career. I'm constantly astounded at the idea of top tier athletes having to hang it up and rejoin the rest of us.

6) This is stupid, but within our wheelhouse. Listen, there's nothing wrong with loving your country- and frankly, love for your country isn't any dumber than any other reason to root for one sports team over another. This is why they hate us, so I'm calling it out. Here's a couple more- and better- pieces on Olympics and Nationalism.

7) It's easy to forget this because we spend so much time following true celebrities like Michael Phelps, or teenagers like Missy Franklin, but a lot of Olympians, when the Games end, have to work for a living. And our country's abysmal health care system doesn't make that any easier. 2014 can't get here fast enough.

8) On that note, the hit pieces on Lolo Jones are getting pretty obnoxious. Listen, the sport requires hustling to get financial support to pursue the Gold. Jones, being pretty and funny, is good at hustling. I get that it's annoying that she's better at that than she is at hurdling (though with a near miss in Beijing and a fourth-place finish this year, she's clearly not THAT much better), but for the media to now turn around and flame Jones for playing its game (complete with "Lolo Jones? You're talking about Lolo Jones, right? Say more mean things about Lolo Jones!" toadying from Michelle Beadle) is just gross.

9) Given that Pistorius didn't even make the finals, I really find it hard to believe that he's got such a tremendous advantage.

10) I defy anyone to watch the U.S.-Canada women's soccer game from the other day without being riveted. It's a shame that these athletes don't have a home league to return to. I've been fed a line of bullshit about how the free market "proves" that we shouldn't have women's sports, but frankly, if the free market can't sell Hope Solo and Alex Morgan (yes, I picked the conventionally attractive ones on purpose), that's textbook market failure.

11) Athlete defection has consistently been an undercurrent in the Olympics. Looks like this year is no different.

12) Gabby Douglas is already going down as one of the most memorable Olympians in recent history. Dave Zirin talks about her socio-political impact. For my part, I'm astounded by how self-possessed she is. She's completely aware that she's a black woman, and that that means something, but carries it pretty effortlessly.

13) I think I'll talk about this more later, but these Olympics really have been a triumph of Title IX and the Women in Sports movement.

14) Relive some classic London Olympics at Talking Points Memo.

15) Quite a bit has been made about the fact that Jessica Ennis, the undisputed star of Team GB, is multiracial. As with a lot of things, Billy Bragg put it best:

"Tonight, our society was wonderfully represented by a ginger bloke, an immigrant named Mohammed and a mixed race woman.#proudtobeBritish"

I'm gonna be sad when the Olympics end. But hey, only four years until Rio!

WIND SPRINTS FOR 7/19

Here's some stuff better writers than me put together so I don't have to.

1) Deadspin's got a new piece on goalline technology for soccer, a sport in desperate need of more objective measurements. Next, maybe the refs can carry stopwatches!

I keep promising something on soccer corruption; I'll get there someday. In the meantime, note how Deadspin very smartly points out that the new technology won't really solve the issue; scummy refs are gonna keep on scumming until we stop them.

(Also, Deadspin, for all its dick-and-fart joke glory, has definitely been on a more progressive bend lately. See here and here.)

2) Alyssa Rosenberg is one of my favorite bloggers- and now she's added a dedicated sports columnist. Check out Travis Waldron's piece on Oscar Pistorius. Are we really going to argue that not having legs is an unfair advantage?

3) NBC is putting out a new App for it's Olympic coverage, and since I spend so much time bitching about access to sports, it's nearly all I could want. Tethering it to specific cable services is a drag, though.

4) The NFL is softening it's blackout policy. Careful readers with nothing better to do will note that a very early post focused on this, so, y'know, we win.

5) I got some very nice comments to my Derek Boorgaard piece from Paul Busch, proprietor of It's Not Part of the Game. So, I checked out, and so should you. It's a pretty useful in-depth look at fighting in hockey- a subject that is actually huge, but that I just can't devote that much time to. But someone should, so I'm glad it's out there.

WIND SPRINTS 5/20

Here's a bunch of fun sports bullshit that I found.

1) Must be nice to just fire any adjudicator who gives you decisions you don't like. Tell us, Major League Baseball, is it nice?

2) Bryan Curtis over at Grantland gives us an examination of our two most conspicuous Sports-Fans-In-Chief. For whatever this is worth, I'm sure that both men were/are sincere in their love of sports, but pay attention to Curtis' notes on how this helps them politically, too.

3) I kinda love stories of emerging sports, so check out this tale of Organized (I hesitate to call it "professional") Quidditch. There's a lot to unpack here, so it may generate some more posts later.

4) Soccer is fascinatingly filthy. We need to talk about that a lot more. '

5) MLB is thinking about getting rid of the third-to-first pick-off move. That's small potatoes, but it's really incredibly hard to make any rule change in baseball, so it's going to be interesting to see this develop.

6) Cubs' reliever Kerry Wood has retired. What fascinates me here is how little of his career really ended up being under his control. Think about it- if Dusty Baker hadn't relentlessly overworked him, Wood could be wrapping up a Hall of Fame career. But one nagging injury, incurred as the result of a poor- but by no means insane- team strategy, and here we are.

Finally, a programming note- I'm going on vacation, assholes! I'll be gone two weeks, and will not be posting during that time (Will Mecha-Mothra Mike fill in? WHO KNOWS!?!) But I'll be back at the start of June, where we'll be thinking about a site redesign, as well as filling in some blanks on Junior Seau, corruption in global soccer, that Quidditch league listed above, the NHL's R&D department, and some thoughts on who, exactly, has the right to control fandom (hint: it's just you and me, baby). Oh, and I guess we can talk about the NBA playoffs and NHL Stanley Cup Final, if you want (Go Pacers, Go Kings).

Until then, adios!

WIND SPRINTS FOR 4/6/12

In honor of Baseball's Opening...Um, Week?...we're doing an All-Baseball Wind Sprints today. DEAL WITH IT.

1) Michael Kazin tells us that baseball is pretty much the most progressive major sport in America right now. I think he's got a point, but it's kind of a "tallest midget" contest.

2) Of course, the counterpoint is the minor leagues. Lily Rothman tells us about it.

3) Is the "retro" ballpark movement over? Mark Byrnes makes the case. I hope it's not "over", but I sure do hope every team no longer feels the need to build such a park. Architectural variety, FTW.

4) In my opinion, MLB has done the best job of adapting to new technology. Here's how they did it, by Chuck Salter. The more ways there are to watch the games, the better for fans.

5) Last year's series of commercials with Alec Baldwin and John Krasinski were big hits in the LFL Global Headquarters. If anything, spots with Ron Swanson and Chicago can only be better.

What's on deck for you guys?

WIND SPRINTS FOR 3/30/12

Here's a collection of articles that might be smart, might be funny, might be both, might be neither, but definitely haven't given me enough gristle to write a whole post about.

1) Somewhere swirling around in my head is a post about "who owns fandom"- things like chants, nicknames, rituals, etc. I'm not there yet, so for now, read about how Jeremy Lin is trying to trademark "Linsanity". In a move that is equally timely, I'm going to invest in DVD players.

2) At least Tebow, as a former college athlete, is used to faceless behemoths arguing with each other over who gets to profit off of his name without really consulting him. Also, too: moneychanges, temple? Does any of that ring a bell?

3) We all agree that video game covers have supplanted the Wheaties box, right? Here's a list of all that pratfalls that creates.

4) Not that I've ranked too many of these, but clearly, the ATP has the best 404 error message page.

5) Probably be some more on this at a later date, but for now, rest assured that I have a Google Alert set for every time "Don Cherry" and "Wrong" are used in the same sentence. The substantive point here is that we don't really know how various rule changes will affect the "excitement" of the game.

6) As we approach the Stanley Cup Playoffs, you're going to need a quick, easy-to-read reference guide to who's won the Cup when. So, here.

WIND SPRINTS FOR 2/24/12

Your collection of smart people bein' all smart about sports for this fine Friday afternoon.

1) Oh, look, Rob Neyer agrees with Federally Mandated Contraception Blogger Mike.

2) We do not cover MMA very much on this blog, so thank god for fans like Pinkstononfilm. He brings us an article on the MMA's own issues with player safety.

3)  Albert Pujols does not like the Angels referring to him as "El Homre". Dude, did you never go to junior high? Objecting to a nickname is the best way to make it stick.

4) I think I'm on solid ground in saying that, outside of the catcher position, baseball is the least physically threatening major sport. So, the fact that we can still see a number of big name players struggle to recover from injuries ought to show us that no sport gets to take it easy.

5) A bunch of my favorite baseball writers have a Kickstarter for a book about second tier baseball players- the guys who you loved as a kid, but realized as an adult weren't HoFers. If you've got some scratch, contribute.

What games are you watching this weekend?

WIND SPRINTS FOR 2/21/12

New blog feature- every few days or so- basically, however long it takes us to collect enough links- we'll post a bunch of links to other thoughtful, progressive sports writing out there. Stuff that really interested us, but may not inspire a full blog post. Here's the first one.

1) Barry Petchesky at Deadspin has a pretty thorough frisking of Bruce Bochy's decision to not let Buster Posey block the plate. Lot of good stuff in there. All I'd add is what Imposter Blogger Mike said after my post on fighting in the NHL- even if this doesn't really solve the problem, any move toward player safety should be welcomed. Perfect isn't the enemy of good, and all that.

2) In honor of The Simpsons' 500th episode, two different reflections on "Homer at the Bat", my father's favorite Simpsons episode. One from Erik Malinowski at Deadspin, the other from Larry Granillo at Baseball Prospectus.

3) A preview of this Sunday's "Real Sports" segment on the KHL tragedy from over the summer. We'll spend a lot of time talking about how the major sports leagues treat their players like chattel, but honestly, these small, international leagues- which often don't even have the money to protect their players- are a huge part of the problem.

4) The St. Louis Cardinal hipster. I imagine you could write this post about every team in baseball. Everyone tries to give no-names and has-beens one more shot. That's okay. It's good for the players and great for the fans.

5) There's apparently a growing subculture of geeks and hockey. I support and endorse this alliance.

6) If Rick Santorum keeps talking about 1970s relievers, he just might win my vote.

What do you guys have?