ESPN asked Jemele Hill to ‘discuss sports topics, news, culture, and social issues’ and to tweet on ‘a current issue impacting sports’ – then suspended her for doing exactly thatMore than a week into her suspension for some highly anodyne tweets related to the Take the Knee protest, it feels long overdue to devote space to the ESPN anchor Jemele Hill. Still, I vaguely heard we were listening to women for a minute, and wondered if a black woman could catch a little of that entitlement to be heard. The traditional answer to that has been “No, I’m afraid she can’t” – which accounts for the nagging sense among many women of colour that sisterliness only stretches so far. Its...
State broadcaster’s deal to show more than 100 hours of live cricket each summer from 2020 is well merited and long overdue, according to a former director of BBC SportIt is unalloyed good news that live cricket is coming back to BBC television. One of the great national sports is reunited with the one broadcaster that can make big events bigger – and get the whole of the country talking about what they watch. The story of the falling-out between the England and Wales Cricket Board and the BBC feels, happily, to be in the far distant past.It was two decades ago that live test cricket moved from the corporation to Channel 4 – which, by common consent, did an...
Is the supposed leftward shift in sports reporting the product of vast liberal conspiracy – or what happens when the myth of sports as escapism is dispelled?There has been a lot of buzz lately about sportswriting’s shift to the left. Last month, Bryan Curtis wrote in the Ringer: “There was a time when filling your column with liberal ideas on race, class, gender, and labor policy got you dubbed a sociologist. These days, such views are more likely to get you a job.” Not only have liberal ideas found a foothold in sportswriting, Curtis claims, “now, there’s at least a social price to pay for being a conservative.” Related: Colin Kaepernick is unsigned because NFL coaches still play not to...
The broadcaster takes over the television coverage in 2017 – but mostly on ITV4, no one’s first port of call unless they are really obsessed with Ironside and MinderI expect to spend both Monday and Tuesday afternoon with a group of old sporting friends. Most of them I will never see again. The following week another crowd will be there instead – and they will not be spending time paying tribute to their predecessors. Related: Disqualified jockey James McDonald released from Godolphin contract Continue reading...
There has been plenty of attention on the NFL’s struggles to attract viewers this year. But figures are down for a European upstart tooOn Sunday, Arsenal and Tottenham played out a draw in a North London derby that could prove to have serious repercussions for the Premier League title race. But American fans had to get up early or find means to record the match and watch it in a spoiler-proofed room. Kickoff, after all, was at noon in London – 7am in New York and 4am in Los Angeles. Ideally for American fans, the match would have aired live on the NBC Sports Network early Saturday or Sunday afternoon in the United States, but the NBC Sports Network has...