Playing Through Pain - by Daniel Sailofsky

About the Book

"For many fans and casual observers, professional sports and violence are deeply connected. Violence on the field has real consequences for players, notably in the form of life-altering injuries from concussions. Off the field, in the last several decades, scores of athletes have committed violent acts, from domestic abuse and sexual assault to animal abuse and murder. Beyond athletes, sport also serves as a site of political and structural violence, from the displacement and hyperpolicing of everyday people for mega-events to the 'sportswashing' of environmentally harmful industries. Daniel Sailofsky examines the endemic violence in professional sports and argues that--while related to masculinity, misogyny, and individual factors like alcohol consumption and gambling--it is most intimately tied to capitalism and to capitalist modes of consumption and profit. Sailofsky explains how capitalism creates the conditions for violence to thrive and uncovers how sports leaders--coaches, league officials, and team owners--obfuscate these relationships to avoid accountability. From minor league baseball exploitation to spectator hooliganism, Sailofsky shows the connections between the business of sports and violence, but also, more importantly, he imagines new forms of sport that are not places of harm"--

Book Synopsis

For many fans and casual observers, professional sports and violence are deeply connected. Violence on the field has real consequences for players, notably in the form of life-altering injuries from concussions. Off the field, in the last several decades, scores of athletes have committed violent acts, from domestic abuse and sexual assault to animal abuse and murder. Beyond athletes, sport also serves as a site of political and structural violence, from the displacement and hyperpolicing of everyday people for mega-events to the "sportswashing" of environmentally harmful industries.

Daniel Sailofsky examines the endemic violence in professional sports and argues that--while related to masculinity, misogyny, and individual factors like alcohol consumption and gambling--it is most intimately tied to capitalism and to capitalist modes of consumption and profit. Sailofsky explains how capitalism creates the conditions for violence to thrive and uncovers how sports leaders--coaches, league officials, and team owners--obfuscate these relationships to avoid accountability.

From minor league baseball exploitation to spectator hooliganism, Sailofsky shows the connections between the business of sports and violence, but also, more importantly, he imagines new forms of sport that are not places of harm.

Review Quotes

"Daniel Sailofsky's Playing through Pain packs a mighty wallop, giving us all a new way of understanding the physical and mental costs of sports. But it's not just about athletes who push their bodies and minds to the limits. It's about the ways that sports, in a society that puts profits before people, savages and damages our lives and communities. There will be a mass reclamation of sports at some point. When it happens, I'm convinced that its leadership will have this book in their hands."--Dave Zirin, Sports Editor of The Nation

"Sailofsky examines the intersections of capitalism, violence, and professional and elite sports, placing capitalism as the culprit in creating violence and injury on the field and contributing to off-the-field domestic and sexual violence. Broadly appealing to many disciplines, Playing through Pain is an engaging study of how capitalism sours sports."--Billy Hawkins, University of Houston

"Sailofsky's work is an encyclopedic catalogue of all the real human costs we pay for the sports we love. His view on the underlying cause of these problems is different than what critical sports fans will find almost anywhere else, and he provides valuable food for thought on how to improve the games that play an important role in our society."--Daniel Murphy, author of Start By Believing

About the Author

Daniel Sailofsky is assistant professor of kinesiology and physical education at the University of Toronto.