Sports Cavemen on Full Display This Week
By Ken Reed
There were a couple new lows in SportsWorld this week.
Here’s the quick synopsis:
Kirby Smart Disallows Transfers to Miami
Mark Richt is now the head football coach at the University of Miami. He formerly was the head coach at Georgia. Kirby Smart left a coordinator position at Alabama to take the head job at Georgia. In one of his first major moves, Smart banned any of his players from transferring to Miami to play for their old coach.
Smart is allowed to do this do under existing NCAA rules. So, basically, the NCAA says Smart can leave Alabama for a greener pay day at Georgia but he can refuse to let his players leave the Georgia plantation.
“Kirby Smart may never speak to me again and I don’t care,” said ESPN talk show host Mike Greenberg.
“This is a disgrace, an absolute disgrace. If a kid decides for whatever reason to go from one school to another, he should be allowed to no matter what. You (Smart) got to take whatever job you want and get paid millions of dollars.”
USA Today college football writer, Dan Wolken, pointed out that despite NCAA rules allowing the transfer ban, not all coaches choose to use it. “Mark Richt last year at SEC spring meetings on why he doesn’t restrict transfers: ‘Life’s too short.’ Pretty much a perfect quote.”
Let’s update the scoreboard on transfer policies: Richt 1 Smart 0.
Jerry Jones Says Trying to Link Football and CTE is ‘Absurd’
A little more than a week after the NFL’s top health expert, Jeff Miller, said there “certainly” was a link between the brain disease CTE and playing the game, Jerry Jones said there is no such established link and that to say there was is “absurd.”
Miller said his conclusion was based partly on the work of Boston University neuropathologist Ann McKee, who has diagnosed CTE in the brains of 90 of 94 NFL players.
“It cannot be rare,” says McKee. “In fact, I think we are going to be surprised at how common it is” in football players, says McKee.
Dr. Julian Bailes, a former Pittsburgh Steelers doctor and co-director of the NorthShore Neurological Institute said he thinks its dangerous for the NFL to continue to cast doubts on established CTE research.
“We can’t let these scientific discussions be hijacked by people creating doubts about causation,” said Bailes. “The only known cause we have thus far is repetitive cranial impact.”
The absurdity known as Jerry Jones continues …
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #31 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Foul Ball Safety Is Still an Important Issue at Ballparks – Our guests are Jordan Skopp, founder of FoulBallSafety.com and Greg Wilkowski, a Chicago based attorney. We discuss the historical problem of foul balls injuring fans, why some teams are still hesitant to put up protective netting in some minor league and college baseball parks, and the fact the vast majority of players are for more protective netting in stadiums.
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Episode #30 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The State of College Athletics with Dr. David Ridpath: Problems and Potential Solutions – Ridpath is a sports administration professor at Ohio University and a member of The Drake Group, a college sports reform think tank.
Episode #29 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The Honorable Tom McMillen Visits League of Fans’ Sports Forum – McMillen is a former All-American basketball player, Olympian, Rhodes Scholar and U.S. Congressman. We discuss the state of college athletics today.
Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world. We discuss problems in youth sports today.
Episode #27 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Kids’ Sports: How We Can Take Back the Game and Restore Quality Family Time In the Process – Linda Flanagan is author of “Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports and Why It Matters.” We discuss how commercialized and professionalized youth sports are hurting kids and their families.
Episode #26 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: How Can We Fix Youth Sports? – John O’Sullivan is Founder and CEO of Changing the Game Project and author of “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids.”
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- Reed Appears on Ralph Nader Radio Hour League of Fans’ sports policy director, Ken Reed, Ralph Nader and the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner discussed a variety of sports issues on Nader’s radio show as well as Reed’s updated book, How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan. Reed's book was released in paperback in February, and has a new introduction and several updated sections.
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
Books