- 'An End to the Southern Strategy, But No Post-Racial America' says David Love
- "A Question of Place": The power of community and Philadelphia's casino battle
- Just Equally Speaking….
- Eagles owe Philadelphia the 8 million it needs to keep libraries open
- who would like to see Verizon offer cable TV in Phila?
- Council Committee Passed the Freeze
- Carol Campbell Passes Away
- My first trip to the public library
- Fight digital exclusion
- What if half of Philadelphia didn't have roads?
An untapped progressive base: sports
Submitted by BradyDale on Wed, 09/06/2006 - 10:18pm.
Do you play sports on a league in Philadelphia? Ultimate Frisbee? Soccer? Softball? Touch football? Something?
For years I have thought Sports Leagues could be a really strong base to organize around progressive issues, especially city services like parks and recreation, which leads to issues like greenspace and conservation.
No one has ever tapped this tremendous base. If I had some compatriot allies, we might be able to figure out a path to make it happen.
I'm sure there's some skeptical people out there about this idea, even fellow athletes. Sports leagues right now are pretty apolitical, and if you approached them straight up I'm sure they would say they wanted to stay that way. Good organizers can turn those attitudes around. No doubt, lots of people rolled their eyes at Alinsky when he started organizing churches.
Any organized group can be activated with the right relational work and some focus on their self-interest. Sports Leagues have a huge self-interest in a functional city, but I have never really seen them use it.
Any fellow travelers on here interested in talking with me more about this idea? I JUST joined PADA here, but I've played Ultimate for years.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
I agree
Ulitimate leagues, softball leagues. How about South Philly dodge ball?
EXCELLENT Idea
And if you don't wear uniform shirts for all of your games, you can reach people in a low-key manner by wearing one of these "Brand Democrat" shirts that list a few great things Dems are responsible for in this country (clean water, safe food, voting rights, Social Security, etc) and then it says "We're just getting warmed up").
(In case you're wondering, I am *NOT* making any profit from that.) One of the things I like about those shirts is that they won't expire after this year... I can't bear to wear my Kerry-Edwards shirt anymore, for example.
I'm all for dodge ball
I sort of want to play South Philly Dodgeball. Didn't know it existed. ...that was such a great movie...
Seriously, any team that plays outside I see has having a progressive self-interest. Are there basketball leagues? There must be. I'm sure they use rec centers. It would be awesome to get to them, too.
So how about it? Any players out there?? Just let me know via email and I'll start watching for an opportunity to organize around.
A good start might be just getting some fellow players to show up at Council hearings on Recreation Dept budgets for example. Begin small and build. I'm sure the Department would be surprised and appreciative (which might show up in better fields scheduling and etc.)
feel free to email me bradydale@thistoowillpass.com
---
BradyDale OnLine
Here's one opportunity
...For runners, not dodgeball players.
http://www.dashfordemocracy.org/