The NBA has successfully branded itself as the professional sports league that embraces progressive politics and the individual freedoms of its players—the “woke” counterpoint to the NFL. You don’t have to be very cynical to see the intentionality behind this.

Trailblazer and trendsetter George Taliaferro, the first African-American player to be drafted by the NFL, died Monday. He was 91 years old.

Before we get going here, I’d like to be very, very clear: I’m in no way clowning Lil’Jordan Humphrey by calling his name (his first name) the Blackest Name Ever. In fact, I find this to be a compliment and culturally significant. We’ll get back to that.

In 1958, Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Some 60 years later, the NFL has shown that the moral compass guiding it is bending on an arc toward a potential unjust blackballing of Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid for protesting against systemic…

2017 and 2018 have been years of exploration and discovery for me so far. I’ve taken time to examine a lot about my identity as a black biracial dude and started to look into family dynamics and how they relate to that identity politic.

Former Dolphins offensive lineman Jonathan Martin, who had been bullied by now former teammate Richie Incognito, was arrested Friday after authorities say he posted a disturbing Instagram story that included showing a shotgun, shotgun shells and the names of former teammates and his former high school.

If you know like I know, bow your heads.

A man named “Lee Dragna” filed a lawsuit against the New Orleans Saints in which he claimed that the protests during the national anthem upset him and his family so much that he was unable to enjoy the games. I am not completely convinced that this lawsuit is a real thing—or even that “Lee Dragna” is a real name—but…

In eighth grade, I was a starting wideout and cornerback for my middle school football team, the St. Bartholomew Bruins. Our team that year went undefeated and won the Pittsburgh Diocese, and our only close game that season came during the championship, which we won on a last-second touchdown caught by yours truly—a…

As a professional observer, curator, interpreter, documentarian and even occasional appreciator of blatant and reckless acts of shameless whiteness, I’ve seen and read about enough types of aggressively white behavior now to last five lifetimes. Particularly in regard to racism (anti-blackness, specifically). I’m like…

Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman Michael Bennett says the issue of Colin Kaepernick’s unemployment needs to be addressed before players and the league can move forward with talks on how to work together on social causes.

As the NFL protests continue and teams and the association at large continue to argue about how to deal with players kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and black oppression, school football players—across high schools and colleges alike—are also showing their solidarity and their own…

On Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017, I engaged in a lighthearted game of two-on-two touch football with a couple of my closest friends and the 11-year-old son of one of them. We played to a tie (we were playing to 2). One of my friends is in phenomenal shape; he’s contemplating competing in USA Track & Field events. My other…

Perry Traditional Academy is a predominantly black high school, located on Pittsburgh’s North Side and a five- to seven-minute drive away from my house. My brother-in-law graduated from there last year. (He was also a first-team All-City basketball player. He can’t beat me yet, but he is pretty good.)

After watching a clip of an ESPN fantasy football bit where a group of white men “buy” black players from an (also white) auctioneer, I couldn’t help but ask: If this was the idea that received the go-ahead to produce, what the fuck else was on that producers’ meeting whiteboard?