Olympic host Rio is somewhere between hell and hyperbole

q's sports culture panel thinks beyond the play-by-play to weigh in on the societal impact of sports stories. Not a fan? Not a problem. Our panel watches much more than the scoreboard. 

Shad checks in with journalists Dave Zirin, Morgan Campbell, and Stacey May Fowles. Today:  

• Following the shooting deaths of Alton Sterling in Louisiana, and Philando Castile in Minnesota, and breaking news of a shootout in Texas this morning, many black athletes are speaking out about tensions between police and the black community. 

  Ziren expressed his frustration with the media's focus on black athletes and the lack of white athletes speaking out. "If we're upset about what's taking place and if we think that athletes should be able to use their platform to say something about the world, then it's ridiculous to me that we should segregate our questions," says Ziren.

  Campbell observed that most athletes speaking out are either in sports that with a black majority or currently in their off-season right now. "We haven't heard from baseball players and we haven't heard from athletes are not black," says Campbell
   
• We're hearing tons of stories about incomplete sports facilities and major challenges in Rio — but that's a familiar theme in the lead-up to the Olympics. So, is it really "hell" in Brazil, as a recent police protest suggested, or are the fears hyperbolic? 
  
  Fowles points out one case in which the danger is real. She argues that the media frenzy over Zika has overshadowed the health threat in Rio's water. "Basically, they're finding drug resistant super-bacteria in rowing sites, sailing, [where] triathletes will have to swim through ...This is is meningitis, this is urinary tract infections ... the risk of fatality exists," she says. 
   
• Kevin Durant has officially signed with the Golden State Warriors leaving some Oklahoma City fans predictably furious — posting videos of themselves burning their Durant jerseys and branding the superstar as a traitor. Having a marquee player like Durant switching to a championship-winning team is nothing new in the NBA (just look at LeBron). But Ziren says the city needs to calm down. "Look if any fanbase should be forgiving of somebody leaving for greener pastures, it's the Oklahoma City Thunder, which is a stolen team from the city of Seattle...They should be thankful they had nine seconds let alone nine years of Kevin Durant," says Ziren.
   
• Joey Chestnut ate 70 hot dogs in 10 minutes at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island. It was a spectacle, no doubt — but can we call it an actual sport?