Talking about race and sports almost always leads to trouble. Rush Limbaugh's stint as an NFL commentator came to an abrupt end when he made off-handed comments about black quarterback Donovan McNabb. Cincinnati Reds' owner Marge Schott and CBS commentator Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder also landed in hot water for public remarks that most people construed as racist. Ask a simple question along these lines--"Why do African Americans dominate the NBA?"--and watch the sparks fly. It is precisely this flashpoint that Amy Bass seeks to explore. Sports wield a tremendous amount of cultural power in the United States and around the world, and often influence our ideas about race. In the Game is a collection of essays by top thinkers on race that survey this treacherous terrain. They engage topics like boxer Joe Louis's iconic status during the Jim Crow era, how blacks shaped the NFL in the 1970s, American Indian sports team mascots, and soccer in Argentina.

"No Compromise with Slavery! No Union with Slaveholders," or, Who Was the Last Team to Intergrate?: An Introduction--Amy Bass * Part I: Heroes * "Richie" Allen, Whitey's Ways, and Me: A Political Education in the 1960s: Matthew Frye Jacobson * In Sports the Best Man Wins: How Joe Louis Whupped Jim Crow--Theresa E. Runstedtler * Part II: Fans * Race and Silence in Argentine Football--Grant Farred * Reading and Rereading the Game: Reflections on West Indies Cricket--Jennifer Scanlon and Michael Arthur * Wa a o, wa ba ski na me ska ta!: "Indian" Mascots and the Pathology of Anti-Indigenous Racism--David Anthony Tyeeme Clark * Part III: Aesthetics * Backfield in Motion: The Transformation of NFL Football by Black Culture--Joel Dinerstein * The Harmonizing Nation: Mexico and the 1968 Olympics--Eric Zolov * Part IV: Futures * Courtside: Race and Basketball in the Works of John Edgar Wideman--Tracie Church Guzzio * The Stepping Stone: Larry Holmes, Gerry Cooney, and Rocky--Carlo Rotella