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Showing posts from March, 2017

Playing for Positives: How Pro Sport and Good Causes Can Work Together

LeBron James, marking the death of Eric Garner, in 2014. Pic Credit: The New Yorker Interesting read from The New Yorker on the authority and power invested in professional athletes, in relation to influencing the progress of social justice. The focus here is on American sports, but the theme can be easily extended to other sports, worldwide. It's perhaps no surprise perhaps that the rise of pro sports as a massive industry in its own right, with the parallel gains for individuals in money and celebrity terms, that more athletes don't speak out about important issues. There's clearly a lot at stake, and a lot to lose for those who step off the tightly managed corporate line running through most large sports organisations and clubs. But, the fact that a large percentage of today's professional athletes come from simple backgrounds, if not from situations of outright poverty and/or abuse, begs the question of why don't more speak up about the circumstances