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Tag: Sports

  • Greed and the European Super League

    Suffocating the grassroots.  Mocking the working class origins of the game.  World football, and primarily European club football, has long done away with loyalties in favour of cash and contract.  The professionalization of the game has seen a difficult relationship between fan, spectator and sporting management, none better exemplified than the price of tickets, the role of branding and sponsorship.

    The apotheosis of this has arrived in the form of a proposed breakaway European Super League.  Like a mafia-styled cartel, twelve of Europe’s elite football clubs have banded together to create their own, sealed competition.  The English contribution will be Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal.  Juventus, AC Milan and Inter provide the Italian contingent; Barcelona, Real Madrid and Athletico Bilbao supply the Spanish element.  To these will be added three as yet unconfirmed founding members and five annual qualification spots. The competition itself will feature two small leagues of ten clubs each, with the highest finishers facing each other in an elimination phase to eventually reach a deciding final in May.

    The decision reeks of smoky, backroom secrecy, and promises to supplant the UEFA Champions League.  Initial infrastructure payments between the clubs will be 3.5 billion euros, followed by 10 billion euros for an initial period of commitment.  As with any such decisions made in the stratosphere of corrupt, gold crazed management, the foot soldiers, front line workers and fans are merely incidental.  In some cases, not even coaches were consulted.  Liverpool’s Jürgen Klopp was left dumbfounded. “I heard for the first time about it yesterday,” he told Sky Sports.  “We are not involved in any process, not me or the players.”

    For Klopp, accepting the proposal was tantamount to rigging the competition, creating a closed shop where the relegation and admission of clubs would be impossible.  “I like the fact that West Ham might play Champions League next year.  I don’t want them to, because I want us to be there, but I like that they have the chance.”  For Klopp, “the Champions League is the Super League, in which you do not always end up playing against the same teams.”  His nightmare: a perennial bout of competition between the same football clubs, a franchise model, in other words, commonly accepted in US sports.  (Consider Major League Soccer, NBA basketball and NFL gridiron football.)  “Why should we create a system where Liverpool faces Real Madrid for 10 straight years?”  Klopp’s observations impressed former Manchester United footballer turned commentator Gary Neville.  “He’s destroyed his owners on national television.”

    Traditional football officialdom is also furious at the move.  UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin cast a withering eye over the idea, focusing his ire on Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli and Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward.  Woodward, the furious president claimed, had expressed his satisfaction with the existing stable of UEFA reforms in a phone call.  But it was obvious that “he had already signed something else.”  Agnelli, however, took the crown, being “the biggest disappointment of all.  I have never seen a person that would lie so many times, so persistently as he did – it is unbelievable.”

    On April 18, UEFA, the English Football Association and the Premier League, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and LaLiga, and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Lega Serie A issued a joint statement of condemnation.  Were the Super League to be established, the various bodies, including FIFA, would “remain united in our efforts to stop this cynical project,” one “founded on the self-interest of a few clubs at a time when society needs solidarity more than ever.”  Judicial and sporting measures were promised.  Bans on the clubs will be implemented, affecting playing at all levels: domestic, European or global.  Participating players will not be able to represent their country.

    With some of these governing bodies, virtue has been a difficult thing.  FIFA has a lengthy record of diddling finances, resorting to bribery and greasing backdoor deals.  Over the years, multinational investigations have been conducted into various executive members of the organisation and associated bodies, including former chief Sepp Blatter.  But on the matter of the Super League, the righteous were proving noisy, with the organisation keen to “clarify that it stands firm in favour of solidarity in football and an equitable redistribution model which can help football as a sport, particularly at the global level”.

    Attempts to punish the renegades may not be as fruitful as detractors of the Super League think.  Memories seem to have been rinsed on that score, but the English Premier League itself broke away from the English Football League in 1992.  Officialdom, as it was bound to be, was enraged, as were the fans.

    The Super League proposal is drawing attention to an already decaying structure, one that sees little by way of revenue returning to the lower leagues and clubs that were already struggling prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.  With that in mind, it is hard to take the views of Prince William, who is president of England’s Football Association, too seriously.  Well it is that “we must protect the entire football community – from the top level to the grassroots – and the values of competition and fairness,” but that project is hardly flourishing as things stand.

    Astronomical transfer fees already keep the top clubs in the clouds, meaning that the Champions League already resembles, on some level, Klopp’s nightmare of repetitive competition.  What the franchise Super League model proposes to do is take it that one step further, creating a closed shop.

    Commentary abounds on whether this play is part of a negotiating tactic to better improve the financial standing of the twelve clubs.  With so much football already being played, a mid-week Super League fixture seems like exhausting surfeit.  But for those keeping an eye on football politics, the idea of a reformed European league has been on the table for some years.  In October 2020, the notion of a European Premier League, sponsored by JP Morgan and comprising 18 clubs, was already being mooted.  Alarm was sounded by the words of Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu, who claimed in his resignation statement that the club had “accepted a proposal to participate in a future European Super League”.

    Were this league’s establishment culminate in savage retributions – bans, relegations, prohibitions – as promised by the authorities, a standalone creation, hoovering up sponsorships and broadcasting revenues, may well be the default outcome.  Little wonder that the finance wonks suggest keeping the selfish twelve within the tent rather than letting them scamper off.

    This article was posted on Tuesday, April 20th, 2021 at 12:07am and is filed under Europe, Football, Sports.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Safe Ballpark?  SF Giants Demanded “Release of Liability” for COVID Infection from Food Service Workers

    The San Francisco Giants Opening Day was Friday, April 9.  The Giants had been doing a full court press (sorry to mix in basketball metaphors) for days on end about how safe the stadium would be for the fans’ first game back to the stadium since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

    But, on Wednesday evening, the Giants’ food service subcontractor Bon Appetit emailed food service concession workers a directive to “Please be sure that you complete this 2021 Release of Liability before arriving at Oracle Park.”

    Some choice words from this release:

    …I agree that, on behalf of myself and my personal representatives, heirs, spouse, guardians, executors, administrators, successors, assigns and next of kin, I and they hereby waive, release, discharge, hold harmless and agree not to sue the released parties noted below with respect to any claim, liability or demand of whatever kind or nature, either in law or in equity (including, without limitation, for personal injuries or wrongful death) that may arise in connection with, or relate in any way to, exposure to or contraction of COVID-19 following my use of a credential, during the providing of my services, or during my participation in any related activities arranged, promoted and/or sponsored by the released parties, including, without limitation, those claims that arise as a result of: (I) the negligence of any of the released parties, and/or (II) the inherent risks associated with visiting any venue during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Whew.

    That was written in ALL CAPS, just in case somebody might not have gotten the point that food concession workers — and all their friends, families and acquaintances – would be on their own if they came down with COVID-19 from working at the ballpark.

    And who are the “released parties?”

    • The office of the Commissioner of Baseball.
    • Each of the Major League Baseball (MLB) Clubs.
    • Every director, officer, owner, stockholder, trustee, partner, employee, agent, independent contractor and consultant of the above.
    • The owners and operators of the venues in which games in 2021 will be played, and all of their sponsors, contractors, vendors, operators, agencies and advertisers.
    • Licensees and retail, concession, broadcast and media partners of MLB parties.
    • Press and other media.
    • Vendors that may provide testing or medical services.
    • Entities and individuals providing accommodation and transportation to or from baseball venues.
    • Other entities and individuals who enter baseball venues.
    • The parent, subsidiary, affiliated and related companies and officers, directors, employees, agents, licensees, contractors, sub-contractors, insurers, representatives, successors, assigns of each of the foregoing entities and persons.

    About the only entity not covered by this release would be little green men landing on the field in a space ship in the middle of a game.

    And by the way, the signers of this release were expected to acknowledge that there may be issues that they do “not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release,” but that’s just the way it goes.

    Oh, sure, no problem, right?

    That’s not the way the leadership of UNITE HERE Local 2, the union which represents most ballpark food concession workers, saw it. On Thursday, the day after workers got this release and the day before Opening Day, Mike Casey, the former President of Local 2 and  current President of the San Francisco Labor Council, made some calls to Giants and Bon Appetit biggies, letting them know that their demand for this release of liability was about to become a very public issue.

    Ballpark workers, after all, are working under a contract with Bon Appetit that is supposed to protect them from the “negligence” of their bosses. All these workers were being asked to do was to throw their contract in the trash can when it came to anything to do with protecting them from disease and death.

    Can you imagine how it would go over if the Giants demanded that fans attending the game had to sign such a release?

    Fortunately, Casey was able to convince the powers-that-be that this was a fight they did not want, and that the wise course of action was to dump the release, stop asking workers to sign it, and to trash any releases that had already been signed.

    Case closed? Not really. This attempt to try to slip a fast one over on us only demonstrates the utter disrespect that Major League Baseball, the Giants and our bosses too often show to their workers.

    It also reminds us that the Giants tried to fire us during the pandemic, only to be beaten back and forced to apologize. It also calls to mind how sports team owners made billions during the pandemic, while doing next to diddly-squat for their laid off workers.

    Clearly there are struggles ahead, especially as we try to negotiate a new ballpark contract in the coming months.

    Not to mention the upcoming reopening of the Warrior’s Chase Center, where Bon Appetit also runs the food service concessions, and where workers have yet to achieve a first contract.

    Play ball.

    • First published by 48 Hills.

    Marc Norton has worked as a cashier at the Giants ballpark since 2013. He worked as a hot dog cook at Candlestick Park in the 1980s. He has been a dishwasher, a steward, a cook and a bellman. His website is Marc Norton online. Read other articles by Marc.

    This article was posted on Friday, April 16th, 2021 at 8:59am and is filed under COVID-19, Labor, Sports.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Attacks On The Rights Of Transgender People Are Rising; Fight Back

    A growing and coordinated attack on the rights of transgender people is taking place through state legislation and sadly it is receiving support from people across the political spectrum. The attack is successful because its proponents are using myths about transgender people to cloak their efforts under a veneer of feminism and concerns about children’s health. In reality, this attack is anti-feminist and threatens the well-being and lives of not only the transgender community, particularly the youth, which is one of the most vulnerable communities in our society, but also of all of us.

    It is necessary to understand where this attack is coming from and the facts that dispel these myths so we can all take action to protect the rights of transgender people. The media is largely silent about what is happening. We need to raise awareness and halt these bills. Solidarity is critical to stop the assault and protect us from being divided against each other at a time when we need to struggle together for our People(s)-Centered Human Rights.

    This week, I interviewed Chase Strangio, a lawyer with the ACLU who is a national leader in the fight for the rights of transgender people, on Clearing the FOG (available Monday night). We discussed the state bills, the impact they will have if they are made into law and how to stop them.

    Anatoliy Cherkasov/SOPA Images/Getty.

    A coordinated attack on transgender rights in the states

    The number of states that have introduced bills restricting the rights of transgender people has increased from 20 states in 2020 to 26 states so far in 2021. The bills range from those that prevent transgender people from participating in sports, using gender-appropriate facilities or obtaining identification documents to ones that make providing health care to transgender youth a felony and allow religious discrimination. You will find a list of the states, the bills and their current status here.

    One bill that is imminent in Alabama would make it a felony punishable by up to ten years in prison and up to a $15,000 fine for health professionals who provide hormone therapy, hormone blockers or surgery to transgender youth. The bill also requires school staff to inform parents if a student has the “perception that his or her gender is inconsistent with his or her sex.” A version of the bill recently passed in both the Alabama House and the Senate. Sixteen other states have introduced similar legislation.

    Both of these measures put transgender youth at a serious risk of lifetime harm or suicide if they are not able to receive appropriate medical therapy during puberty or are outed to parents who may not support them. A study from 2018 finds that suicide, the second leading cause of death in teenagers, and self-harm rates are higher in transgender adolescents than cisgender teens. In the Minnesota study of teens aged 11 to 19, nearly a third of transgender girls and more than half of transgender boys had attempted suicide, two-thirds had suicidal thoughts and more than half had injured themselves. The National Center for Transgender Equality finds that of the 1.6 million homeless youth in the United States, 20 to 40% of them are transgender youth while transgender people are less than 1% of the overall population. They face family rejection, denial of access to spaces in homeless shelters that are consistent with their gender and discrimination when they seek to rent or buy a home.

    The bills also run counter to standard medical practice. After more than 100 years of work to provide gender-affirming health care to transgender youth and adults, this area of medicine is well-documented and supported by major institutions such as the American Association of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American Medical Association, the Endocrine Society and the American Psychological Association. At a time when the medical establishment is working to improve care for transgender people in all settings, these state bills would be a huge impediment to that progress.

    Another major set of bills currently present in 26 states would prohibit transgender students from participating in school sports on the same teams as their cisgender peers. As the ACLU writes, these bills are less about sports and more about “erasing and excluding trans people from participation in all aspects of public life.” The fight to exclude trans people from restrooms that are consistent with their gender failed, so this is the new tool to attack their rights.

    Transgender girls and boys and women and men already compete in sports all over the world and their participation is supported by major institutions such as the Women’s Sports Foundation, the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education and the National Women’s Law Center. Nearly two dozen organizations signed onto a letter supporting the full inclusion of transgender people in athletics. Depriving transgender youth of the right to participate in sports harms their physical, social and emotional well-being. Transgender youth already face obstacles to being accepted in society and not being allowed into sports worsens that while preventing them from crucial areas of their development such as being part of a team and discovering their physical capabilities.

    Creating barriers to participation in sports harms everyone, but especially women who as a group already face discrimination over their gender and attempts to control their bodies. In order to exclude transgender people from sports, all participants will be required to ‘prove’ their gender. As the National Women’s Law Center states, “The law allows anyone, for any reason, to question whether a student athlete is a woman or girl, and then the student has to ‘verify’ her gender by undergoing invasive testing.” They add that by “allowing coaches, administrators, and other athletes to become the arbiters of who ‘looks like’ a girl or a woman,” the  laws “will rely on and perpetuate racist and sexist stereotypes.”

    Chase Strangio and Gabriel Arkles dispel four of the common myths about transgender athletes. They point out that the effort to exclude transgender women from sports is being done in a way that “reinforces stereotypes that women are weak and in need of protection. Politicians have used the ‘protection’ trope time and time again, including in 2016 when they tried banning trans people from public restrooms by creating the debunked ‘bathroom predator‘ myth.” These myths are being spread widely, so it is critical that we understand the facts so we can stop them.

    Katherine Jones / Idaho Statesman via Getty Images file.

    The groups behind the attacks on the rights of transgender people

    There are a host of right-wing and conservative groups behind the attacks on transgender people. The major players involved in the state legislative efforts are the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Heritage Foundation and ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council). The Alliance Defending Freedom is a conservative Christian group formed in 1994 that does legal advocacy against women’s right to an abortion and for discrimination against lesbian, gay and transgender people. It is a well-funded ($35 million budget) and powerful group that trains “future legislators, judges, prosecutors, attorneys general, and other government lawyers.” It is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its support for the criminalization of same sex marriage, sterilization of transgender people and bigoted beliefs.

    One way that conservative groups have gained credibility with liberals is by portraying their work as in the interest of women’s rights. They project a zero sum view that somehow advocacy for the rights of transgender women takes away from the long struggle for ciswomen’s rights, as if transgender women and men have not struggled for recognition and for their rights for a long time too. They falsely argue that transgender women spent part of their life as ‘privileged’ males and so they either cannot understand what women have experienced or they are bringing patriarchal views into women’s spaces. This view conflicts with the reality that transgender women experience greater discrimination and violence than cisgender women. They are hardly a privileged group. Similarly, they falsely portray transgender men as ‘victims of patriarchy.’

    This bigotry has entered some radical feminist spaces that actively exclude transgender woman and portray them as threats to their safety. Left Voice provides a history of the rise of what is called “Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists” or TERFs,” their violence against transgender women and their alliances with the alt-right. Katelyn Burns explains who some of these groups are and their attempts to dominate political space in the United Kingdom. Fortunately there is not much support for them in the United States, but it does exist.

    Trans-exclusionary groups use fear as a weapon against transgender women by portraying them as threats to the physical safety of cisgender girls and women without solid evidence to back this claim. The National Resource Center on Domestic Violence finds that around half of transgender and nonbinary people have been sexually assaulted and more than half have experienced domestic partner violence. This is far less than the 18% of cisgender women who are victims of sexual violence. This use of a concocted threat of violence to discriminate against transgender women is similar to that used to justify repression against Muslims, immigrants and Black people.

    Penelope Barritt/Rex/Shutterstock.

    Building an inclusive society

    The increasing attacks on the rights of transgender people in the United States needs to be a concern to all of us. We cannot create an inclusive society that supports the healthy development and rights of all people if we remain silent as the most vulnerable among us are targeted with damaging and deadly discrimination. We cannot teach our children tolerance if they see their friends being prohibited from basic childhood activities such as participation in sports. We cannot deny people the right to determine who they are and to live in ways that support them. Transgender people are our neighbors, our friends and our family members.

    Chase Strangio describes five specific ways we can take action to end discrimination against transgender people and to affirm them as members of our communities. There is something for everyone to do no matter where you are. We can all strive to point out and correct bigotry where we see it, work to educate people around us and donate to groups doing this work that are led by transgender people. If you live in a state where these bills are introduced, contact your state lawmaker and let them know of your opposition to them. You can also join local groups to advocate for the rights of transgender people.

    Let’s stop the attack on transgender people in the United States before it is allowed to escalate further.

    This article was posted on Tuesday, March 9th, 2021 at 10:27am and is filed under Children/Youth, Discrimination, Sports, Transgender.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Morons, Vaccines and Tennis: Booing at the Australian Open

    It was a fittingly poor conclusion to a tournament that risked being cancelled, run to ground, or even rendered stillborn.  The tennis world number one, Novak Djokovic, had captured his eighteenth grand slam against would be usurper Daniil Medvedev, whose winning streak of twenty matches was conclusively blotted.  The victory was achieved before a crowd filled with vocal Serbian supporters, flags fluttering, a number sporting the šubara, a rather odd thing to wear given the warm temperature (symbolism will resist climate) and the šajkača cap with insignia associated with the Chetnik irregulars who fought in the Second World War under the monarchist banner.

    With sport, history, and battle motifs entangled, supporters awaited, impatiently, for their hero to take the cup.  The necessary formalities had to be settled.  Tennis Australia president Jayne Hrdlicka gave an unremarkable speech, and felt it necessary to mention the difficulties that had come with staging the tournament.  “It’s been a time of heartfelt challenge.  It’s been a time of deep loss and extraordinary sacrifice for everyone.”  But there was some reason to cheer. “With vaccinations on the way, rolling out in many countries around the world, it’s now a time for optimism and hope for the future.”

    Boos, hissing and jeering followed.  These were also repeated when thanks was offered to the Victorian government.  Having endured a 112-day hard lockdown with strict limits on movement last year, and a snap five day lockdown that also ate into the tournament schedule, many of the spectators were weary and disgruntled.  Hrdlicka was diplomatic.  “You are a very opinionated group of people.”

    Novak’s own reaction was one of ginger caution, tiptoeing through a potential minefield.  The AO, he concluded in his speech, was a tournament of various feelings coloured by the quarantine experience of players, their training facilities (or lack of), and the mental adjustments of playing to empty stands.  “There are a lot of mixed feelings about what happened in the last month or so, with tennis players coming to Australia.”

    He had to concede, despite initial reservations, that the report card of the organisers merited a high grade.  “But I think when we draw the line in the end it was a successful tournament for organisers … it wasn’t easy, it was very challenging on many different levels, but they should be proud.”

    As a cipher of sentiment among tennis players, and a nationalist symbol for his country, Djokovic’s words and actions receive extra magnification.  Good intentions can be misconstrued; heartfelt notions are mocked for their cock-eyed naiveté.  Supporters await cues on what sort of conduct to emulate: What changes to his diet will be made, and which foods will he endorse or condemn?  His politics is scrutinised, his world view deconstructed and interpreted.

    With 72 players being placed in hard quarantine on arriving in Australia prior to the tournament, Djokovic was derided for listing six demands made by players to make conditions less stringent.  These included reduced periods of isolation, improved food and the movement of players to private housing with appropriate tennis courts.  “Djokovic,” tweeted the reliably temperamental Nick Kyrgios, ranked 47 in the world, “is a tool.”  The brats had spoken, and the Serbian player took the fall.

    The case with vaccines was particularly salient.  Djokovic’s reported opposition to vaccinations has become something of a millstone.  In a nightmarish year which saw his efforts to keep the pulse of tennis going during a pandemic with the Adria tour in the Balkans, Djokovic became a figure to be admired and reviled in the coronavirus wars.  The tennis event held in Serbia and Croatia in June saw Djokovic, other players and staff, contract COVID-19.  Social distancing measures were ignored.  As a consequence, the tournament was abandoned.  As he explained in the aftermath of the disaster, the tournament had been organised “with the right intentions.”  There were “steps that could have been done differently, but am I going to be then forever blamed for doing a mistake?”

    As for vaccines, Djokovic attempted to shuffle his position for the New York Times in August last year.  His opposition to jabs had been “taken out of context a little bit”.  The issue he had was with “someone forcing me to put something in my body.  That I don’t want.  For me that’s unacceptable.” Djokovic professed to not being “against vaccination of any kind, because who am I to speak about vaccines when there are people that have been in the field of medicine and saving lives around the world?”

    The reaction from the tennis punditry and press corps to the irate spectators proved savage. Stuart Fraser of The Times was impressed by the successful conclusion of the Australian Open.  “But between players giving tournament director Craig Tiley ‘significant abuse’ and spectators booing the mention of vaccines at the trophy ceremony, it really has brought out some morons.”  George Bellshaw of Metro called it “bonkers” while Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times kept his reaction raw: “It was a weird-ass five weeks in Australia, tennis.”

    The Daily Mail Australia thought it could offer a deeper insight.  “Rowdy Australian fans were not booing the coronavirus vaccine rollout, but were instead protesting Melbourne’s three lockdowns.”  The Mail can never be accused of being anthropologically sharp and did not disappoint with its observation that the “boos” were “few” and “were eventually drowned out by cheers and applause.”  Federal Senator Matt Canavan thought it traditional that Australians at sporting tournaments “boo politicians”.  It only took a few for others to “join in and that is mob behaviour”.  Those in the crowd were “just having a bit of fun.”  So much for the profound analysis.

    At stake here is a more complex picture for Australian authorities at both the state and federal level.  Ill-tempered views and suspicions about vaccination exist, though these are impossible to measure with certainty.  Within the patchwork multi-ethnic country, sceptics and rumours circulate, questioning government intentions and competence.  Protests against the impending vaccine rollout have taken place.  A greater challenge than hosting a successful international tennis tournament awaits.

    This article was posted on Monday, February 22nd, 2021 at 6:39pm and is filed under Australia, Lockdown, Sports, Vaccines.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Super Bowl for Sports Team Billionaires: SF Giants owner rakes in $815 million during the pandemic

    Oracle Park

    The assets of Charles Johnson, the controversial chief owner of the San Francisco Giants, increased by $815 million during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, his net worth was a mere $4.2 billion dollars. By January 2021 he commanded a fortune of $5.015 billion, an increase just short of 20%.

    Workers at Oracle Park, where the Giants play, have been taking it on the chin during the pandemic, but the pandemic apparently hasn’t taken any skin off Johnson’s nose.

    These numbers come from a February 2021 report by the Institute for Policy Studies (ITEP), aptly titled Pandemic Super Bowl 2021: Billionaires Win, We Lose.

    The ITEP report states that “No matter who wins Super Bowl LV, the big winners in our COVID-ravaged economy include dozens of billionaire sports-team owners.”

    Sixty-four sports billionaires, the owners of 68 professional sports teams, “have seen their wealth increase by over $98.5 billion, or 30 percent, over the last 10 months,” based on data from Forbes Magazine.

    If that isn’t shocking enough, the report drives the point home even further:

    The wealth increases of billionaire sports-team owners is just part of the dominance of a national dynasty of 661 U.S. billionaires whose wealth has grown by $1.2 trillion, or 40 percent, during the pandemic, climbing from $2.9 trillion… to $4.13 trillion.

    The old adage about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer has never been more true.

    Johnson’s wealth has ballooned even though he donated FIVE TIMES as much as any other single sports team owner to the Republicans during the 2016-2020 election cycle, almost $11 million dollars, giving aid and comfort to some very crazy Republicans, as well as to “Dark Ages” Donald Trump as he was preparing to send his fascist mob into the halls of Congress.

    Back home in San Francisco, the last time food concession workers like myself had a raise at the Giants ballpark was March 2018, nearly three years ago. Our UNITE HERE Local 2 contract expired in March 2019, a year before the pandemic shut the place down. Of course, almost everybody has been laid off for the last year, and your guess is as good as mine as to when we will be going back to work, and how many of us might get that opportunity.

    The Giants, in their magnanimity, granted us $500 checks back in April 2020. I hope that didn’t put out Mr. Johnson too much.

    In August, Local 2 held a couple of well-attended demonstrations at the ballpark, demanding that the Giants do something more for their laid-off workers, many of whom have worked at the ballpark, and Candlestick Park before that, for decades. The San Francisco Labor Council also sponsored a Labor Day march and rally that ended up at the ballpark.

    Despite all, the Giants refused to even talk to Local 2. Perhaps Johnson was too busy counting his ever-growing pile of dough.

    The Giants are building a massive development project just south of the ballpark, on what used to be the main parking lot. They are expected to make umpteen millions from new office buildings and homes there.

    A few days ago the Giants announced, as part of their media blitz around Black History Month, that they are going to name a couple of streets in this new development after Black folks. One of these streets will be named for Maya Angelou, the famous writer, poet and civil rights activist. The other will be named for Toni Stone, who played in the Negro Leagues and was the first woman to play on a professional men’s baseball team.

    Naming streets after Black leaders is great, but it won’t put any food in the mouths of the many laid-off Black workers at the ballpark.

    Mr. Johnson, can you spare a dime?

    • This article was first published by 48 Hills.

    Marc Norton has worked as a cashier at the Giants ballpark since 2013. He worked as a hot dog cook at Candlestick Park in the 1980s. He has been a dishwasher, a steward, a cook and a bellman. His website is Marc Norton online. Read other articles by Marc.

    This article was posted on Monday, February 15th, 2021 at 6:06pm and is filed under COVID-19, Pandemics, Sports.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Immortal Wins: India Defeats Fortress Australia

    It was never meant to be like this.  After the Indian cricketing team met misery and disaster in the first test match at Adelaide, registering a paltry 36 in its second innings, little hope was had for the touring side.  Australia threatened rout and massacre.  The Border-Gavaskar trophy seemed within the home side’s grasp.

    And the home side had every reason to feel insufferably confident.   India’s talismanic wonder and leader, not to mention most threatening batsman, Virat Kohli, was heading home to be with his heavily pregnant wife.  But his absence was the first in what would become a series of seemingly denuding events.  One Indian player after another suffered injury.  What transpired was an astonishing display of courage, raw, convinced, and dedicated.  India’s cricket team realised that to triumph in Australia requires Spartan discipline and manic conviction.  They were not, as former Australian batsman Andrew Symonds declared about Indian cricketers in general, a lazy bunch.  Here was a breed of street fighting Indian cricketer determined to shock the hosts in their fortress.

    In the second test match in Melbourne, India retaliated with polish and control, dismissing Australia cheaply and winning by eight wickets in what head coach Ravi Shastri described as “one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the game.”  The replacement captain, Ajinkya Rahane, scored a defining century.  India won by eight wickets.  In the third test match in Sydney, India’s front line was stripped of its star performers through injury, surviving with a fifth day draw in a heroic rear guard action on an uneven pitch.  The Australian skipper, Tim Paine, proved injudicious, taunting Ravichandran Ashwin with a promise to “See you at the Gabba”.  The ill-tempered atmosphere seeped into the stands as well.  Jasprit Bumrah and the newly arrived Mohammed Siraj subsequently made complaints to match officials for racial abuse from the crowd.

    It was all set for the final test match in Brisbane at a ground dauntingly known through the cricket world as the Gabbatoir. Touring sides often go there to perish, and have been doing so for 33 years, when Australia last lost a test against the fabled West Indies.  There was nothing to suggest that India had a chance to win the match, though their performance at Sydney was grounds to think they might salvage a noble, bruising draw.  Their first string team had been ravaged by injury: first choice spinners Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja and fast bowler Bumra, their favoured strike weapon.

    On both occasions when India came in to bat, the Australians sniffed weakness and potential collapse.  India countered by blunting the bowling attack, then gathering rewards.  On the fifth day, it took the delightful audacity of the young opening batsman Shubman Gill to put India on the way of a solid run chase, his method all wristy grace and fine timing.  But the odds were against getting the 328 runs required on a last day Gabba pitch famed for wearing.

    The Australian bowlers, however, could not consistently capitalise, though they proved, at times, brutal.  The imperturbable Cheteshwar Pujara was pummelled by an assortment of body blows by Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, but remained frustratingly stoic.  The slow bowling art of Nathan Lyon, playing his 100th test match, failed to beguile and bamboozle.  The traditionally spearing deliveries of left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc refused to find their mark.  In contrast, India managed to bowl out Australia twice, with their salad green attack steadied by the freshly youthful Mohammed Siraj.

    Despite being generally untested, the figures of this Indian cricket side have been shot into the pantheon within a matter of a few games: gangly Washington Sundar; indomitable Shardul Thakur; the ferociously brave Rishabh Pant. Their names will be sung for years on India’s maidans and cricket tracks.

    Washington was remarkable and nothing like his namesake, in so far as George Washington had been a less than accomplished figure on the battlefield during the American War of Independence.  It was fortunate for the American colonists that Britain had, at her disposal, Charles Cornwallis, a figure even more incompetent and ill-fated.  Sundar, however, was all poise, unflappable before a bowling attack he incorrigibly teased.  He stroked delicately, drove deliciously.  Thakur was also more than a match: effective bowling and a stunning 123 run partnership with Sundar for the seventh wicket in the first innings in Brisbane.

    Pant, by way of contrast, wielded his bat like an axe, cutting through the bowling attack and splitting the field with forensic ruthlessness.   As always, he did so with almost suicidal disdain, managing to hit the winning runs in Brisbane with a scorching boundary.

    The cricket doctors will be out and about pondering why India did so well.  There will be speculation about global cricket’s centre of gravity shifting to the subcontinent, a fact that is finally translating into results on the ground.  Forbes weighed in, describing India as “cricket’s goliath” running “the sport through their governing body’s stranglehold.”  The crowning achievement of that stranglehold is the well-moneyed Indian Premier League, a competition that has attracted some of the planet’s finest cricketers.

    In the assessment of former Australian cricket captain Ian Chappell, such successes can be traced “a bit back to the IPL, where they’re playing against a lot of international players and a lot of good international players on a regular basis.”  For a captain most familiar with intimidating his opponents, Chappell was convinced that fear had ceased to bite the Indian team. “I think the intimidation factor that was there in the past isn’t there any longer.”

    By the end of the series, Kohli might have worried about resuming the captaincy, his crown restless.  Rahane, noble, stunning in leadership, devoid of histrionics and tenaciously calm of character; his young team, devoted, convinced.  Such a spoil of riches can only be an advantage to Indian cricket.  We can only hope that the administrators continue their wise streak and permit the youthful minnows to become masters.

    This article was posted on Friday, January 22nd, 2021 at 9:52pm and is filed under Australia, Cricket, India, Sports.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Diego Maradona: Comrade of the Global South

    The world mourns today following the passing of Diego Maradona, the soccer God and revolutionary from Argentina whose play inspired all manner of poetry and prose. The best description of Maradona’s abilities came from the late Eduardo Galeano who wrote of Maradona in his book Soccer in Sun and Shadow,

    No one can predict the devilish tricks this inventor of surprises will dream up for the simple joy of throwing the computers off track, tricks he never repeats. He’s not quick, more like a short-legged bull, but he carries the ball sewn to his foot and he’s got eyes all over his body. His acrobatics light up the field….In the frigid soccer of the end of the century, which detests defeat and forbids all fun, that man was one of the few who proved that fantasy can be efficient.

    That Maradona died of a heart attack at the too young age of 60 seems preordained for multiple reasons. He lived a life of excess and addiction; of cocaine and massive weight fluctuations that undoubtedly placed a mammoth stress on his heart. He also lived a life of passionate, rebel intensity, always standing against imperialism; always standing for self-determination for Latin America and the Global South, always speaking for the children growing up in similar conditions to the abject poverty of his own upbringing in the Villa Fiorito barrio of Buenos Aires. He was the fifth of eight children, living without running water or electricity and never forgot it for a moment. His heart may have simply been too big for his chest. Diego Maradona took political stances throughout his life that were never easy. A Catholic, he met with Pope John Paul II and told the press afterwards, “I was in the Vatican and I saw all these golden ceilings and afterwards I heard the Pope say the Church was worried about the welfare of poor kids. Sell your ceiling then, amigo, do something!”He tried to form a union of professional soccer players for years, saying in 1995, “The idea of the association came to me as a way of showing my solidarity with the many players who need the help of those who are more famous… We don’t intend to fight anyone unless they want a fight.” Maradona always stood with the oppressed, particularly with the people of Palestine. He made sure they were not forgotten, saying in 2018, “In my heart, I’m Palestinian.” He was a critic of Israeli violence against Gaza and it was even rumored that he would coach the Palestinian national team during the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

    Maradona had tattoos of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, likening himself to Guevara, calling him his hero. Maradona credited the Cuban medical system with saving his life, when he arrived there, addicted and dangerously overweight, only to emerge looking like he could still take on the next generation of competition. He supported Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, at a time when Chavez was undertaking radical plans to redistribute income and education to the country’s poor. He was a steadfast opponent of the Bush regime and the Iraq war and sported t-shirts proclaiming Bush as a war criminal. He once said, “I hate everything that comes from the United States. I hate it with all my strength.” That sentiment made him a hero to the billions who live under this country’s boot.

    Many will surely write about Maradona’s prowess on the pitch; his legendary World Cup runs, his “hand of God” goal against England, his ability to go the length of the field with the ball “sewn to his foot” Others will dwell over his torments, his pain, and his demons. But let’s take a moment and raise a glass to Diego Maradona, comrade, friend, and fierce advocate for all trying to eke out survival in a world defined by savage inequalities. Many are writing today that Diego Maradona is now resting in the “hand of God.” I prefer to believe that he is hard at work organizing the angels. Diego Maradona: PRESENTE!

    This article was posted on Friday, November 27th, 2020 at 4:15pm and is filed under Obituary, Socialism, Sports.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.