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Guest Column
By Gerry Chidiac
In times of crisis, true leaders step forward. While effective political leadership has largely been absent, professional athletes, primarily players in the National Basketball Association and Women’s National Basketball Association, have demonstrated that celebrity status, when embraced with a sense of responsibility, can be a catalyst for global change.
Quite […]
League of Fans’ founder Ralph Nader’s op-ed column on college athletes practicing on college campuses across the country during a surging pandemic was published by USA Today today (“Ralph Nader: Pandemic Can’t Stop the Greed of College Athletic Programs, But Congress Can”). Here’s an excerpt:
Today, we are watching much of the college sports […]
Guest Column
By Gerry Chidiac
One of the most important qualities of a good leader is the ability to listen. It is very easy to jump on a bandwagon and it is easy to jump to conclusions. It takes true courage to hear another person’s point of view, admit we were wrong, shift our beliefs […]
By Ken Reed
America is clearly broken.
We’ve struggled from the beginning of this nation to live up to our ideals.
From our Pledge of Allegiance: “… with liberty and justice for all …”
From our Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal …”
[…]
League of Fans founder Ralph Nader recently wrote a compelling column about heroes. He took a look at the disproportionate attention sports stars receive in relation to the heroes who fight for justice and are effectively addressing important socio-cultural issues, as well as the everyday heroes who are stepping up during the COVID-19 pandemic. We […]
By Ken Reed
Many parts of our society have been hit hard by Covid-19. One area that’s received scant attention is youth sports.
During this pandemic, youth sports leagues have been cancelled, athletic facilities have been shutdown, various youth sports programs — public (community recreation centers) and private (e.g., club sports organizations) — have screeched […]
Fans, players and the game deserve a stronger punishment for this blatant disregard of basic fair play and sportsmanship
Originally published by Troy Media
To Robert D. Manfred Jr., Major League Baseball Commissioner
Dear Mr. Manfred:
With Major League Baseball on hiatus due to the coronavirus, you have time to revisit the Houston Astros […]
By Ken Reed
I was walking off the tennis court last Sunday checking my messages when I saw several texts saying Kobe Bryant had been killed in a helicopter crash.
My first reaction was disbelief. Then shock. Then sadness.
As I got in my car, I wasn’t sure why I was so sad. While I […]
Guest Column
By Gerry Chidiac
The word competition often draws to mind hard-nosed athletes and coaches who will do anything to win. We imagine the tough business executive who will eliminate all adversaries to make the greatest profit.
But in fact, the win-at-all-costs attitude brings only short-term success. In order to win in the long […]
“Hats off to the World Series Champions, the Washington Nationals. Unmatched in baseball history were their comebacks. Five times in the Playoffs they faced extinction. Five times they won those games. In their final must win seventh game, they were being shut out with only one hit into the 7th inning, behind 2-0, and they […]
Sports Forum Podcast
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, and has a long involvement with the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sport (now called the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition). We discuss the state of college athletics today, given the pressures of NIL, the transfer portal, sports gambling and huge media contracts. McMillen then provides great perspective on the poor state of physical fitness our young people are experiencing today.
Listen on Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Anchor and others.
Follow on Facebook: @SportsForumPodcast
More Episodes on Apple Podcasts; Spotify; Google Podcasts; PocketCasts; & Anchor
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.
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.
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
