Nation Topics - Sports | The Nation

We should be cheering at sports events and screaming at politicians. But these
days, it's vice versa. Now that ESPN's Screamin' Stephen A. Smith is
acting like a pundit, things could change.

New York Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury is getting props with a $14.98 sneaker designed to appeal to low-income kids. But the criticism he's endured over
sweatshop labor shows it's hard to do good.

There's something unnerving about USA Basketball's motivational tactics
for the 2006 world championship--encouraging players to spend time with
wounded Iraq veterans, in hopes of enhancing teamwork and patriotism.

Major League Baseball's new "Faith Days" campaign is about more than family-friendly Christian entertainment with a twist of commerce.

After pressure from the local newspaper and the City Council
questioning the use of sweatshop labor to create Pittsburgh Pirates regalia, Major League Baseball seems willing to listen to activists' complaints.

If there is any message to be gleaned from the World Cup, it is
that soccer has finally shed its freight of machismo and anguish,
attracting a global audience of fans who simply want to have fun.

Soccer's not for wimps, but Team America and its fans have brought a
decidedly militarist mindset to the World Cup.

The Colorado Rockies recruit Christian players and claim God is at work on their game. Major League Baseball woos evangelicals with special "Faith Days at the Park." Something's going on here, but it has nothing to do with God.

Former Heisman trophy winner and ganja-smoking peacenik Ricky Williams is
contemplating the sweet life in the Canadian Football League. Here's
hoping he finds it.

To World Cup aficionados, soccer is a beautiful game, but to ideologues in the United States and Europe, it's a convenient political weapon against Iran's nuclear ambitions. Talk about spoilsports.