We've been brought up to believe that sports and politics don't mix - that games are games and athletes should just "shut up and play". In the view of iconoclastic sportswriter Dave Zirin, this mentality cheapens both. Zirin shows that far from providing merely escapist entertainment, sports have also reflected, and at times played a role in shaping, the political tensions and social struggles at the heart of American society. The film takes an uncompromising look at how sports culture has glamorized militarism, commercialism, racism, sexism, and homophobia. But it also excavates a largely forgotten tradition of rebel athletes and sports writers to show how American sports culture, at its best, has modeled forms of courage, resistance, and perseverance that have enriched American life.

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