Sports
Necessary Roughness
A century ago, football was in big trouble. History has a way of repeating. It was a sunny November Saturday at California Field and the stands brimmed with 20,000 boisterous fans. Banners waved, blue-and-gold streamers unfurled, and the usual cheers of “Oski Wow Wow! Whiskey Wee Wee!” went up as players took the field. Until […]
Locker Room Talk with the Boys of the Berkeley Gazette
Once upon a time, Berkeley had its own daily newspaper, the Berkeley Gazette, and for a brief, semi-glorious moment, it had two sports-reporting brothers.
Tri as They Might…Do Triathletes Need the NCAA?
This weekend, the NCAA’s newest “Emerging Sport for Women,” varsity triathlon, will be holding the Women’s Collegiate National Championships in Tempe, Arizona. But the 75 women racing the sprint triathlon aren’t NCAA athletes. And triathlon isn’t an NCAA sport—at least not yet.
Always a Maverick: Cynthia Marshall Made Her Mark Before Dallas
In February, Cynthia Marshall took over as CEO of the Dallas Mavericks—becoming the first African-American female CEO in the NBA. She also inherited an organization in crisis, after a Sports Illustrated story revealed rampant sexual harassment, incidents of domestic abuse, and a toxic culture. But Marshall, a lifelong pioneer, is familiar with navigating difficult situations. […]
A Diamond In The Rough: Ray Weschler’s Weekly Ballgame
On a cloudy Sunday in mid-May, Raymond Weschler chose Jim McGuire (Cal professor of biology) as his opposing captain, and teams were drawn up. Ray’s booming voice announced the lineup as chatting players finished stretching and headed out to the field. On the diamond at Berkeley’s magnificent Codornices Park, players are surrounded by towering oak […]
Sports Sociologist Harry Edwards on NFL “Plantation Mentality”
Now that a few days have passed, the decision by National Football League owners to fine teams with players who do not “stand and show respect to the flag and the [national] anthem” hardly seems Solomonic; rather than ameliorating tensions, it almost assures another football season marked by player protests, discord both inside and outside […]
WATCH: The Play
Saturday’s Big Game marks the 35th anniversary of the five-lateral kickoff return so legendary that it’s simply known as The Play.
Kapp Redux: Revisiting Joe Kapp v. NFL in Light of the Kaepernick Case
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s lawsuit against NFL owners for colluding to keep him out of football because he launched the “take-a-knee” protests against racial injustice evokes an earlier landmark sports case, one involving another player whose surname shares a phonetically identical initial syllable with Kaepernick’s. Way back in 1971, Boston Patriots, and […]
Steady Crawl: The Life of an Elite Swimmer Mom After the Olympics
In the afternoons, Dana Vollmer, 7-time Olympic medalist, takes her kid to the playground near their house in Danville. Sometimes people recognize them. But not usually. “It’s always the moms,” she says, who recognize her. Or more accurately recognize her and her 19-month-old son, Arlen, together. Swimmers don’t typically get spotted in public; they look […]
Who Gets to be a Woman in the Olympics?
The debate raging about testosterone tests in track and field will come to an ugly climax in Rio, and reasonable people on both sides agree it is unfair that the ugliness has landed squarely on the shoulders of women like South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya. Semenya, who first came to international attention after she […]
Olympics Preview: Cal Athletes Aim to Make a Splash and Score in Rio Games
With so many world-class athletes, UC Berkeley is always well represented at the Olympics. The joke in 2012 was that if Cal were its own country (and isn’t it, in its own way?), it would have tied for sixth in the world for the number of gold medals won. That number was 11, by the way.
Victory Vantage: Ex-Cal Star Shares New Life on Warriors Coaching Staff
It is April 12, one day before the Golden State Warriors will barge into NBA history with their 73rd victory of the season, and practice is winding down at the team’s downtown Oakland headquarters. Stephen Curry lofts majestic three-point shots at one basket, as usual. Klay Thompson sharpens his silky-smooth release nearby. And on an […]
