AFRICA IS A COUNTRY

ESPN

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

NBA player Serge Ibaka has no country

Last year we pointed to the fact that sports commentators, statisticians and journalists can’t distinguish the Democratic Republic of Congo (the DRC) from its neighbor the Republic of Congo every time they talk about NBA basketball player Serge Ibaka. He was born in Brazzaville, in the Republic of Congo, normally referred to as Congo-Brazzaville, not

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

Magnificent

Earlier this week ESPN won seven Sports Emmy Awards, including one for music during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, like the video–played at the start of broadcasts and during breaks from the studio in South...

Friday, November 19th, 2010

What’s “a native African”

Even if you don’t care about boxing. On sports network ESPN’s their “analysts” Chris Broussard and Skip Bayless discusses comments by former boxer Bernard Hopkins that Manny Pacquiao does not want to fight African American fighters. Broussard...

Sunday, September 26th, 2010

Sunday Ephemera No. 4

Sean Jacobs This is worth remembering. In 2004 the Liberian footballer George Weah was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the Espys. (For those who don’t care: that’s sports channel ESPN’s versions of the Oscars.) This...

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

ESPN observes Youth Day

I went to ESPN’s website to check WC scores and was surprised to find two short videos on its soccer homepage commemorating the June 16, 1976 student uprising in Soweto. A day which is now recognized as...

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

‘Symbols of Liberia’s Struggle’*

Rapper Nas narrates a short insert on ESPN’s “E:60″ on the Liberian national amputee team made up of men, often former enemies, who lost the use of their legs or arms in Liberia’s very recent civil war. ...