Maybe the best way to get more people vaccinated is to trade all of them to the Yankees?
Anyway, here’s everything from Undrafted this month:
A look at the athletic fates of Aaron Rodgers, Novak Djokovic, and Kyrie Irving since they refused to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
Why isn’t Freddie Freeman on the Braves this season? Because the owners didn’t want to pay him, and under capitalism, owners are essentially all-powerful. This is, I think, bad.
Why are the Nationals considering trading Juan Soto? Because the owners don’t want to pay him, and under capitalism, owners are essentially all-powerful. This is, I think, bad.
There’s this desire to present athletes as “moguls” and business tycoons and, potentially, billionaires. The media likes this idea because it offers plenty of inspiring rags-to-riches stories. The athletes like it because it makes them seem like more than just Dumb Jocks who are rich because they are good at games. And owners like it because it makes wealth seem attainable through hard work and talent.
But this idea is bullshit. For one, it is just not true, as I outlined in Parts I and II. Worse, though, is how this idea obscures the real way that wealth is created under capitalism, which is through the exploitation of workers by owners.
Special thanks to Dave Zirin for joining us for this one! This newsletter was in some ways inspired by Zirin, who’s proven you can write compelling, interesting stuff about the connection between sports and radical politics, so it was a real treat to have him on the podcast. Especially so since the subject—the protests Colin Kaepernick inspired after taking a knee in 2016—was such an important one. Check out Dave’s latest book The Kaepernick Effect if you haven’t already!