The last four years have seen an explosion of athletes using the platform available to them in an effort to promote social change.
The year was 2012, the subject was a hunger-striking football player, and the author was Sports Illustrated’s Gary Smith — the best magazine writer in the country.
And for 8,500 words, Smith profiled University of Virginia walk-on Joseph Williams, whose self starvation in the name of unfair labor wages had garnered national attention.
It was a riveting feature, but it didn’t make a statement so much as it asked a question. The title of the piece?