Overview

Part play-by-play, part op-ed, The Game Is Not a Game is an illuminating and unflinching examination of the good and evil in the sports industry. Liberating and provocative, with sharp wit and generous humor, Jackson's essays explore the role that sports plays in American society and the hypocritical standards by which the athletes are often judged. The Game Is Not a Game is distinctly intended to challenge accepted ideology and to push the boundaries of mainstream sports media beyond the comfort zone. Chapters expose ""Our Miseducation of LeBron James,"" ""#ThemToo: The UnRespected Worth of the Woman Athlete,"" the duplicity of the NFL in its treatment of Colin Kaepernick and the anthem protests, the cultural bias of analytics, and the power of social activism versus the power and politics of professional sports ownership-all from the sharp, savvy, and self-critical perspective of one of the leading voices for social justice in sports media.

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9781642590968

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Reviews

Jackson's work is not about scores; rather, he stresses that sports are a self-contained microcosm of society at large. A thought-provoking, unfailingly insightful book. -Booklist Only the legendary sports writer Robert Scoop Jackson could write The Game is Not a Game - a book that bristles with bracing and brutal insights that take no tea for the fever and offer no discount on truth or justice. Because he is a master of deep theory (who else could translate Michele Foucault's notion that power doesn't just hibernate in places of legitimacy but breaks out everywhere between all folk and situations), because he flings street vernacular like a grammatical drug dealer, because he is a savant of the history of sports in America, this book is an instant classic that reckons with the factors that make sports possible, and at the same time wrestles with the forces that make protest in sports necessary. The Game is Not a Game is intersectional cultural analysis at its best! -Michael Eric Dyson Candid, riveting, informative - yet not surprising at all. This is Scoop Jackson we're talking about, so I expected nothing less. If you care about the sports industry........if you value a true, authentic, perspective on the world of sports - and about its participants - you've come to the right place. This is a treat for anyone who loves sports. -Stephen A. Smith To do this work of...talking candidly about race and sports, you have to realize that it's supposed to get a little messy. In a conversation with the author, journalist Jemele Hill hits on just the thing that makes The Game Is Not A Game so special: Scoop Jackson is never afraid to get messy. Jackson doesn't avoid the static, he steps into it, pushing even the most woke minds to dig deeper into and think more honestly about issues of race, gender and politics. From the NCAA to LeBron James, Serena Williams to Colin Kaepernick, Jackson uses the biggest headlines of our day to reveal that the power of sports to change the world can only be realized if the powers that run sports allow it. -Sarah Spain, ESPN I've long said that Scoop Jackson is the Coltrane of the sports page. With The Game is Not a Game he takes his skillset to a level few sportswriters - or any writers - can match. Scoop is that rarest of commodities: an original voice. -Dave Zirin, The Nation This is the book we've been expecting from Scoop Jackson, one of the most insightful sports journalists of our generation. With humor and brutal honesty, Scoop pulls the covers off the sports industry and the blinders off those who enable its hypocrisy. -William C. Rhoden. The Undefeated, author, Forty Million Dollar Slaves Scoop's contribution to sports journalism in the last three decades is unparalleled, and incomparable. This leap into critical literature is not only welcomed, but crucial ... -Bobbito Garcia, author/filmmaker

Only the legendary sports writer Robert Scoop Jackson could write The Game is Not a Game - a book that bristles with bracing and brutal insights that take no tea for the fever and offer no discount on truth or justice. Because he is a master of deep theory (who else could translate Michele Foucault's notion that power doesn't just hibernate in places of legitimacy but breaks out everywhere between all folk and situations), because he flings street vernacular like a grammatical drug dealer, because he is a savant of the history of sports in America, this book is an instant classic that reckons with the factors that make sports possible, and at the same time wrestles with the forces that make protest in sports necessary. The Game is Not a Game is intersectional cultural analysis at its best! -Michael Eric Dyson Candid, riveting, informative - yet not surprising at all. This is Scoop Jackson we're talking about, so I expected nothing less. If you care about the sports industry........if you value a true, authentic, perspective on the world of sports - and about its participants - you've come to the right place. This is a treat for anyone who loves sports. -Stephen A. Smith To do this work of...talking candidly about race and sports, you have to realize that it's supposed to get a little messy. In a conversation with the author, journalist Jemele Hill hits on just the thing that makes The Game Is Not A Game so special: Scoop Jackson is never afraid to get messy. Jackson doesn't avoid the static, he steps into it, pushing even the most woke minds to dig deeper into and think more honestly about issues of race, gender and politics. From the NCAA to LeBron James, Serena Williams to Colin Kaepernick, Jackson uses the biggest headlines of our day to reveal that the power of sports to change the world can only be realized if the powers that run sports allow it. -Sarah Spain, ESPN I've long said that Scoop Jackson is the Coltrane of the sports page. With The Game is Not a Game he takes his skillset to a level few sportswriters - or any writers - can match. Scoop is that rarest of commodities: an original voice. -Dave Zirin, The Nation This is the book we've been expecting from Scoop Jackson, one of the most insightful sports journalists of our generation. With humor and brutal honesty, Scoop pulls the covers off the sports industry and the blinders off those who enable its hypocrisy. -William C. Rhoden. The Undefeated, author, Forty Million Dollar Slaves Scoop's contribution to sports journalism in the last three decades is unparalleled, and incomparable. This leap into critical literature is not only welcomed, but crucial ... -Bobbito Garcia, author/filmmaker

Scoop's contribution to sports journalism in the last three decades is unparalleled, and incomparable. This leap into critical literature is not only welcomed, but crucial ... -Bobbito Garcia, author/filmmaker

Author Information

Scoop Jackson is a National Senior Writer For ESPN. He has covered issues of race, culture, politics and sports for various publications for over twenty five years. He is the former executive editor of XXL and Slam and former publisher of The Agenda.

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