What if Muhammad Ali Had Received a Draft Deferment?

What if Muhammad Ali Had Received a Draft Deferment?

What if Muhammad Ali Had Received a Draft Deferment?

Writer Mike Pesca stops by to talk about his new book about the greatest “what-ifs” in sports history.

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

This week we speak to Mike Pesca from The Gist podcast about his new book, Upon Further Review: The Greatest What-Ifs In Sports History. This was a really fun conversation, and we talk about topics ranging from what if Muhammad Ali had received a draft deferment and Len Bias in a Celtics uniform, to the reaction of Peter Norman had he raised his fist alongside John Carlos and Tommie Smith at the 1968 Olympics. You gotta check this one out!

Also we have Choice Words about Dawuane “D.J.” Smoot’s challenge to NFL leadership over its anthem policy. Our Just Stand Up and Just Sit Down awards go to the brave truth-tellers, Anne Kursinski and Susan Lomenzo Langer, equestrians who came forward to report their legendary coach Jimmy Williams of sexual abuse, and the top brass at the NFL. Our Kaepernick Watch contains news on his collusion case and we got a Patreon shoutout!

Mike Pesca
Twitter: @pescami
Upon Further Review: The Greatest What-Ifs in Sports History

Zirin
Dawuane Smoot and the Subterranean Fire in the NFL

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x