Legendary sportscaster Howard Cosell dubbed it "rule number one of the jockocracy": sports and politics just don't mix. But as the celebrated alt-sportswriter Dave Zirin shows, politics has entered the modern sports arena with a vengeance. This timely and hard-hitting new book reveals the many ways that sports have become the third rail of world politics, offering insight into the efforts of gay and lesbian athletes to gain acceptance, female athletes' fights to be more than sex symbols and collective bargaining among athletes.