Dave Zirin: Ass. Kicker.

When it comes to book-jacket blurbs, Dave Zirin is the king.

I thought this well before I knew him, when I looked at the cover of his book, Welcome to the Terrordome, and saw this splashed across the top:

“Dave Zirin is the best young sportswriter in America.” — Robert Lipsyte

That’s pretty hard to top, but Dave’s latest book, a blistering/brilliant examination of professional sports owners titled Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games We Love, gives us this—also across the top:

“Not since Hunter S. Thompson has a sportswriter shopwn the right snarl for the job.” — Naomi Klein

Admittedly, I’d never actually heard of Naomi Klein until, well, right now. But it matters not—Zirin is the king of blurbs. Mine have been OK and fine and occasionally excellent. But this guy rules.

Which is cool. Because:

A. Zirin truly is an excellent writer, stuffed to the brim with piss and vinegar and the sort of left-wing anger I absolutely love.

B. Zirin is good people.

C. Zirin’s new book is terrific. Seriously, if you’re sick and tired of rich corporate anuses corrupting professional sports; if you’re tired of paying a couple of thousand dollars for the right to then buy a seat; if you’re tired of hearing the Yankees being applauded for building a new stadium … that nobody making less than $100K annually can afford to visit; if you’re tired of $15 beers and $8 Cokes and jerseys that top out at $250, well. Dave’s book is for you.

He gets especially high points for his absolute demolition of Daniel Snyder, the Redskins owner and a man in his own class of dickheadedness.

Great reporting, great read, great book.

Or, in other words:

“Dave Zirin is to writing what God is to everything.” — Jeff Pearlman