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 #24 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Mental Health and Athletes: Ending the Stigma – Nathan Braaten and Taylor Ricci are the founders of Dam Worth It, a non-profit created to end the stigma around mental health at colleges and universities through sport, storytelling, and community creation.
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Episode #23 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Olympian Benita Fitzgerald Mosley Talks Title IX, Youth Sports and the Olympics.
Episode #22 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Rethinking Sports Fandom with Author Craig Calcaterra – We discuss Calcaterra’s new book “Rethinking Fandom: How to Beat the Sports-Industrial Complex at Its Own Game” and explore new ways to be a fan.
Episode #21 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Chatting About a Broken Game With Baseball Writer Pedro Moura – Moura is a national baseball writer for Fox Sports. We discuss how and why the game of baseball is broken, what factors caused it, and offer a few thoughts on how to “fix” a great game.
Episode #20 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Coaching Youth and High School Sports Based On What’s Best for the Athlete’s Holistic Development – We chat with long-time youth, high school and college basketball coach Jim Huber.
Episode #19 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Capturing the Spirit of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League with Anika Orrock – We discuss the hoops AAGPFL women had to jump through to play the game they loved as well as the long-term impact and legacy they have in advancing sports opportunities for girls and women.
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.
- League of Fans Sports Policy Director Ken Reed quoted in Washington Post column titled "What happened to P.E.? It’s losing ground in our push for academic improvement," by Jay Mathews
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.
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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