3-01-05, 1:05 pm

Hallelujah! Cheney is finally being called out for the thug that he is. The media, after years of letting him coast, has Cheney in a vice-like grip, sparing him no quarter and calling for his ouster. Columnists coast-to-coast are arguing in no uncertain terms that he must finally be held accountable for the violence he's unleashed. Unfortunately, the media's got more than the wrong spelling. They've got the wrong Ch[a]ney. Clarity is king here because it is argued that the roots of sporting violence lie in the corrupting values of competition or some sort of male [or more specifically, African-American male] predisposition toward aggression. Such theories should be buried for good alongside exorcisms, phrenology, and witch-burnings. The violence in sports – the violence that caused Chaney to anoint a 'goon' to do harm to another young player – stems from both the win-at-all-costs nature of sports and the broader violence that festers in our society like the constant buzz of hornets in our very walls. This unhealthy atmosphere is fed by a culture of sports commentary that feeds off the drama of big hits, sharp elbows and bloody brawls. I am as guilty of this as the yipping seals on ESPN radio. In a column last year – and three basketball lifetimes ago – on Ron Artest, I praised his ability on defense, writing that it was 'like fighting Mike Tyson in a phone booth.' Since then Artest has given us a more vivid perspective on what being in a phone booth with Mike Tyson is really like. I am embarrassed by what I wrote, because there is enough beauty and virtue in sports to fill columns from now until doomsday. Glorifying play that causes people physical harm is just pathetic and has nothing to do with the kind of sports I want to see.

There is beauty in the very practice of sports, we just need to know where to look. Sports produce two strains that have the capacity to shine in vivid fashion. There is the sportsmanship, brotherhood, and sisterhood, people learning how to operate on a team, learning how to break down walls of race, nationality, and even increasingly sexual orientation. Anyone who has ever played on an interracial team in a segregated city or school system knows exactly what I am talking about. Anyone who has ever coached young women's sports and seen the growth of confidence that can grow out of that also knows how fantastic and positive sports can be. Even the demonstration of St. Joe's players wearing armbands with John Bryant's number and Nehemiah Gordon's heartfelt regret demonstrate what is possible. But violence shrouds and haunts these same games.

We have every right – at every level of sports – to demand better: more sportsmanship, more fair play, and more of the kind of competition that results in the building of character instead of the breaking of arms. But as long as billions are tied to so-called amateur athletics, with jobs and athletic budgets in the balance, don't expect it to change. Also don't expect sports to be less violent as long as villages can be torn to bits, with thousands of lives lost, all in the name of freedom. If everyone aghast at Chaney's actions – from the media to the sports radio audiences – are that concerned about the rising level of violence in our world, then here is a news-flash: you are taking on the wrong Chaney.



--Dave Zirin's new book 'What's My Name Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States will be in stores in June 2005. You can receive his column Edge of Sports, every week by e-mailing edgeofsports-subscribe@zirin.com. Contact him at editor@pgpost.com.

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