Vin Scully: Greatness Minus Ego
By Ken Reed
The sports world took a couple major hits this week with the passing of Bill Russell and Vin Scully.
Two giants in SportsWorld. And two people who positively impacted the world in ways beyond their sports role.
To many, including thousands who never met him and only knew him through their radio, Scully was a great friend, someone they could count on being in their lives for seemingly forever (in reality, it just seemed like forever; Scully was a baseball broadcaster for 67 years).
“I like people to think of me as a friend,” Scully once said.
“The nicest thing I’ve had people say to me is, ‘You know, when I hear your voice I think of some nights with my mom and dad barbecuing in the backyard,’ or ‘I remember a summer vacation.’”
Vin Scully was the GOAT in his field, yet he never appeared to have an ego.
As Tom Verducci beautifully put it, “He was an eloquent and humorous reminder that we are strongest with humility and empathy.”
Scully was a role model in the truest sense. He showed us what a human being driven by his soul, not his ego, looks like.
“We each have two voices in our heads: the soul and ego,” said author Karen Casey . “Our challenge is to live driven by the soul, not the ego. Every day. The ego is always wrong. The choice, however, is ours”
It seems like Scully chose the soul every day.
Although Scully has passed at age 94, I hope his words and actions continue to be a guidepost for what sport — make that humanity — can be at its best.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

Sports Forum Podcast
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 long-time member of The Drake Group, a college sports reform think tank.
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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.”
Episode #25 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Physical Education Should Be a Critical Component of K-12 School Design – Michael Horn is co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.
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