A sobering, carefully written assessment of ongoing inequalities dotted with small victories.
One of our most prolific sportswriters examines race and racism in sports.
Black players are prevalent in many areas of professional and college sports. Of the front office and the coaching staff, writes Feinstein, the representation is more skewed. One of the subjects of this fine book is George Raveling, the pioneering Black coach who took the helm of Washington State’s basketball program in 1972 and led it to two NCAA tournaments. “Where I grew up,” he tells Feinstein, “if you were Black, there wasn’t much chance to dream. It was all about survival.” Nonetheless, during his time at Villanova, Raveling played alongside 10 other Black students, all of whom were exemplary: All graduated in four years, half have doctorates, one earned a gold medal in the Olympics, another headed a major corporation. Given equal opportunities, executive performance by Black and White coaches is, yes, equal. However, as Feinstein notes, only one NFL coach has ever been fired after a 10-6 season, and that one was Lovie Smith, who is Black—even though he had led the Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl and three playoff berths and been named Coach of the Year. Protests sometimes make a mark, but mostly not. Even with the famed case of Colin Kaepernick and the spread of his custom of taking a knee, the result has been mostly White rage. One Sunday soon after Kaepernick’s first protest, Feinstein notes, “more than two hundred NFL players either knelt or stayed in the locker room during the playing of the anthem. The issue came roaring back—which may have been what Trump wanted: make white America angry at Black America.” Racial tension is endemic and at every level of the game. As Feinstein writes near the end, only a few analysts and sportswriters are Black, and no matter what the race, all “are under what amounts to a gag order on air,” forbidden to raise thorny issues.
A sobering, carefully written assessment of ongoing inequalities dotted with small victories.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-316-54093-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2021
Everything about Sabathia is larger than life, yet he tells his story with honesty and humility.
One of the best pitchers of his generation—and often the only Black man on his team—shares an extraordinary life in baseball.
A high school star in several sports, Sabathia was being furiously recruited by both colleges and professional teams when the death of his grandmother, whose Social Security checks supported the family, meant that he couldn't go to college even with a full scholarship. He recounts how he learned he had been drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the first round over the PA system at his high school. In 2001, after three seasons in the minor leagues, Sabathia became the youngest player in MLB (age 20). His career took off from there, and in 2008, he signed with the New York Yankees for seven years and $161 million, at the time the largest contract ever for a pitcher. With the help of Vanity Fair contributor Smith, Sabathia tells the entertaining story of his 19 seasons on and off the field. The first 14 ran in tandem with a poorly hidden alcohol problem and a propensity for destructive bar brawls. His high school sweetheart, Amber, who became his wife and the mother of his children, did her best to help him manage his repressed fury and grief about the deaths of two beloved cousins and his father, but Sabathia pursued drinking with the same "till the end" mentality as everything else. Finally, a series of disasters led to a month of rehab in 2015. Leading a sober life was necessary, but it did not tame Sabathia's trademark feistiness. He continued to fiercely rile his opponents and foment the fighting spirit in his teammates until debilitating injuries to his knees and pitching arm led to his retirement in 2019. This book represents an excellent launching point for Jay-Z’s new imprint, Roc Lit 101.
Everything about Sabathia is larger than life, yet he tells his story with honesty and humility.Pub Date: July 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-13375-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Roc Lit 101
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.
Known for her often contentious perspectives, New York Times opinion writer Weiss battles societal Jewish intolerance through lucid prose and a linear playbook of remedies.
While she was vividly aware of anti-Semitism throughout her life, the reality of the problem hit home when an active shooter stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue where her family regularly met for morning services and where she became a bat mitzvah years earlier. The massacre that ensued there further spurred her outrage and passionate activism. She writes that European Jews face a three-pronged threat in contemporary society, where physical, moral, and political fears of mounting violence are putting their general safety in jeopardy. She believes that Americans live in an era when “the lunatic fringe has gone mainstream” and Jews have been forced to become “a people apart.” With palpable frustration, she adroitly assesses the origins of anti-Semitism and how its prevalence is increasing through more discreet portals such as internet self-radicalization. Furthermore, the erosion of civility and tolerance and the demonization of minorities continue via the “casual racism” of political figures like Donald Trump. Following densely political discourses on Zionism and radical Islam, the author offers a list of bullet-point solutions focused on using behavioral and personal action items—individual accountability, active involvement, building community, loving neighbors, etc.—to help stem the tide of anti-Semitism. Weiss sounds a clarion call to Jewish readers who share her growing angst as well as non-Jewish Americans who wish to arm themselves with the knowledge and intellectual tools to combat marginalization and defuse and disavow trends of dehumanizing behavior. “Call it out,” she writes. “Especially when it’s hard.” At the core of the text is the author’s concern for the health and safety of American citizens, and she encourages anyone “who loves freedom and seeks to protect it” to join with her in vigorous activism.
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-593-13605-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2019
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