Seattle Sports

From national championships to intra-communal play and the elimination of racial, ethnic, and gender barriers, the essays in Seattle Sports explore the vast and varied history of sports in this city where diversity and social progress are reflected in, and reinforced by, play. The work gathered here covers highly visible professional sports along with lesser-known leagues, individuals, and moments. Fresh, nuanced takes on the Seattle Mariners, Supersonics, and Seahawks are joined with stories on gay softball leagues, city court basketball, the centrality of athletics to the development of local Japanese American communities in the interwar years, ultimate, the fierce women of roller derby, and much more. Seattle fans are portrayed, too, in the many ways they support their teams--often in rain, sometimes with seismic activity, and doing no less than checking the country's implicit racial bias in rallying behind outspoken, local, sporting heroes. Seattle Sports will delight and inform readers with these authentic voices, examples of perseverance, and previously veiled stories.