Posts by: League of Fans
By Ken Reed
This is my last column for League of Fans – at least in an official capacity as Sports Policy Director.
I’m “retiring,” although I plan to still be involved in sports in multiple capacities moving forward.
I truly love sports. After family, sports have been the central passion in […]
League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast
[Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and others]
Ken Reed starts off this episode by announcing that he is retiring from League of Fans after 13 and 1/2 years serving as Sports Policy Director.
In this episode, Ken is joined by League of Fans Founder Ralph Nader. […]
By Ken Reed
A new blood test which has the potential to quickly diagnose concussions at sporting events and elsewhere has gained FDA approval.
The new blood test is designed to detect two proteins released into the blood when someone suffers a concussion. Of note, it can rule out a concussion 95.6% of […]
By Ken Reed
Through the years, League of Fans has written a lot about how sports participation benefits young people physically, mentally, emotionally, and academically. On a global level, sport is also a valuable tool for protecting children’s safety, advocating for children’s rights, and creating young change agents.
Swiss organization Terre des hommes […]
By Ken Reed
There have been a couple news stories recently that have people excited about new technologies that could potentially significantly reduce the number of sports concussions.
Unfortunately, stories like these might actually do more harm than good. More on that in a bit. First, let’s do a quick recap of the […]
By Ken Reed
As a society, we keep finding new ways to avoid physical movement. And it’s slowly killing us.
A sedentary lifestyle (dubbed by some health experts as Sedentary Death Syndrome) is equivalent to having a major disease. The cure? Not an expensive pharmaceutical. But inexpensive cardiovascular exercise. The research is straightforward: […]
By Ken Reed
We’re continuing to move to an endpoint of two super conferences in big-time college football, similar to the AFC and NFC in the NFL. Basically, we will have professional football on Saturdays and Sundays.
The latest College Football Playoff (CFP) deal reveals that two conferences now control college sports at […]
The quest for immediate victory in baseball is jeopardizing long-term athlete health
By Ken Reed
Originally published by Troy Media
As with virtually every contemporary sports issue, win-at-all-costs (WAAC) and profit-at-all-costs (PAAC) mentalities are at the foundation of the numerous pitching injuries we’re seeing in baseball.
The American Sports Medicine […]
By Ken Reed
All for one, and one for all.
That old phrase popularized by The Three Musketeers is pretty well known. On the other hand, the concept mudita isn’t well known at all, but it has a similar meaning.
Mudita is a Buddhist philosophy that basically means taking vicarious joy in […]
Guest Column
By Gerry Chidiac
This month marks 30 years since the start of the Rwandan Genocide. I still feel great embarrassment when I teach my students about this topic because one of the main reasons why nearly a million people died was because there was almost complete apathy in the powerful countries of […]
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
Books
