My bias is real. When it comes to tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams, they have never been just athletes to me, but people. I have felt an imperative to defend them against detractors, know-nothings and dime-store bigots.
The reasons are obvious: they were once two Black teenagers from the public courts of Compton, treated with contempt 鈥 of both a race and class variety 鈥 by their sport. They not only survived but thrived.
It is a remarkable 鈥 and remarkably unexpected 鈥 thing to write, but female athletes are now leading both the United States鈥 labour movement and the women鈥檚 movement for pay equity.
The situation for Palestinian and Arab football (soccer) players in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza has, for some time, been dire.
On one side of Israel鈥檚 Apartheid Wall, within the formal borders of Israel, segregated youth teams, racist abuse, and heckling 鈥 including charming chants such as 鈥Death to the Arabs鈥 鈥 are frequent. On the other, in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967,聽聽have become regular features of what is supposed to be the people鈥檚 game.
Given the powerful role that football plays as a point of community cohesion in the West Bank and Gaza, this everyday violence feels like a full-frontal attack on civil society, normalcy and hope.
鈥淣ow we鈥檙e judging people by their religion 鈥 trying to keep Muslims out,鈥 said Stan Van Gundy, head coach of the US National Basketball Association (NBA) team Detroit Piston in response to President Donald Trump鈥檚 executive order banning immigration and refugees from seven predominantly Muslim nations.
鈥淲e鈥檙e getting back to the days of putting the Japanese in relocation camps, of Hitler registering the Jews. That鈥檚 where we鈥檙e heading.鈥
The New England Patriots won the NFL Super Bowl 34鈥28, in the most gobsmacking, unfathomable comeback in Super Bowl history. Down 28鈥3 against the Atlanta Falcons, they came all the back to win in overtime in Houston, Texas on February 5.
That will mean joy in the White House 鈥 as Donald Trump鈥檚 favourite American Football team is victorious. It is also joy for Patriots player Martellus Bennett, who won鈥檛 be joining the team upon their inevitable White House visit, in protest against the man inhabiting that space.
Imagine hearing that your favourite athlete had drowned after being stuffed in the hull of a ship in order to avoid authorities and cross a treacherous body of water. Their goal in this alternative universe was to flee violence as well as earn enough to support their families.
That is exactly what happened to the goalkeeper for the Gambian national women鈥檚 football team, Fatim Jawara.
On September 11 in the United States, a small group of National Football League players risked their careers, their endorsements and their livelihoods. They did so through the simple act of refusal.
鈥淚 am absolutely convinced that history will talk of the Rio de Janeiro before the Games and the much better Rio de Janeiro after the Olympic Games,鈥 said Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee.
There is joy in Olympic Rio, make no mistake about it. Maybe it takes two hours to travel 25 miles across the city; and maybe only 15% of the Olympic decorations were delivered; and maybe there are more soldiers on the ground, per capita, than the United States had in Iraq at the height of Bush鈥檚 war; but there is joy.
When the 2016 Olympic Games began on August 5, it was the culmination of a harrowing, exhausting decade-long battle between the people of Brazil and the demands of those utterly unaccountable, scandal-plagued sports bodies, FIFA and the IOC.
Hosting the 2014 World Cup and then the Olympics back to back with one city, Rio, as the epicentre for both events, has never been done in history 鈥 let alone in the post-9/11 world. It would be a challenge for any country. Putting these mega-events in Brazil, for those in the West, must seem like madness.
England lose to Iceland and 鈥淏rexit鈥 from Euro2016, June 27.
What a time to be in London. My family's long-planned vacation has given us a ringside seat for the greatest humiliations suffered by Britain since boxer Frank Bruno tried to take down a young Mike Tyson.