High School Linebacker Gives a Beautiful Lesson in Sportsmanship
By Ken Reed
A week ago, Chatfield High School was playing Erie High School in a barnburner of a Colorado Class 4A state football championship game.
Erie sophomore quarterback Blake Barnett had rallied his team from a 34-20 deficit with two touchdowns in the 4th quarter. During those scoring drives, Barnett had made some dazzling individual plays. With 1:54 to go in the game the title tilt was knotted up at 34.
Chatfield answered with an impressive 80-yard drive to go ahead 41-34. But Barnett wasn’t giving up just yet. However, on the last play of the game, his long pass was batted down in the Chatfield end zone.
That set off a wild celebration for Chatfield’s players, coaches and fans. The victorious players were running around on the field hugging, high-fiving, and chest-bumping teammates. But before celebrating, Chatfield senior linebacker Caden Logan ran straight to Barnett to console the Erie quarterback who was kneeling despondently on the turf in defeat.
Logan put his arm around Barnett and said, “Keep your head up. You’re going to do great things.”
Asked later why he chose to console Barnett before celebrating with his teammates, Logan said:
“They worked just as hard as we did. They’re a great team. I can only imagine the feeling of heartache that he must’ve been going through. I hate that. So, from brother to brother … “
How awesome is that?
If only the rest of us could have that kind of class and decide to play the game of life with that type of respect, empathy and grace.
It sure would be a much nicer country to live in than the angry, divided place we currently call home.
Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #33 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Ken Reed Announces His Retirement and Chats With League of Fans Founder Ralph Nader – Ken and Ralph talk about the history of League of Fans and the reasons it was created. They then move into a discussion of a variety of contemporary sports issues that League of Fans has been working on in recent years. Ken and Ralph end by talking about the need for sports fans, athletes, and other sports stakeholders to get involved in the sports reform movement and be activists and change agents on issues important to them, whether that be at the local, state, or national level.
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Episode #32 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Prolific Author Joe Posnanski Joins the Show – Posnanski is one of America’s best sportswriters and has twice been named the best sports columnist in America by the Associated Press Sports Editors. We chat about his new book, “Why We Love Baseball,” his new Substack newsletter called Joe Blogs.
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 and why some teams are still hesitant to put up protective netting in some minor league and college baseball parks.
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.
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
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