By Ken Reed
It reveals bad sportsmanship, a lack of professionalism and a complete misunderstanding of the essence of sports
An anonymous National Basketball Association coach, whose team made the playoffs this season, recently said complaints from players about referee calls are ”out of control.”
I […]
By Ken Reed
I’m a basketball fan, but I’m not a big NBA fan. I prefer college and high school basketball. I like the passion and intensity levels at the college and high school levels. Plus, in the high school and college games there isn’t the constant complaining and moaning to officials after nearly […]
By Ken Reed
I have long believed that in the United States there is too much adult in youth sports.
The youth sports model in the U.S. is driven by the ego-based desires of adults (e.g., Win-At-All-Costs, and Profit-At-All-Costs). Coaches and parents focus on winning championships, All-Star recognition, travel teams and college scholarships, […]
By Ken Reed
I am increasingly led to believe that the NCAA headquarters building is filled with automatons: robot-like contraptions lacking a brain or a heart.
Here’s the latest example: Football player Brock Hoffman transferred from Coastal Carolina to Virginia Tech in order to be closer to his ailing mom, who is recovering […]
By Ken Reed
The NCAA slapped little ol’ Cal Poly — a university known much more for its academic prowess than for any success in its athletic department — with heavy sanctions last week for unintentionally overpaying stipends to athletes for textbooks.
Cal Poly officials caught the administrative error and self-reported it […]
By Ken Reed
On March 8th, the women’s national soccer team filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against U.S. Soccer. They are fighting for equal treatment in pay and working conditions relative to the men’s national soccer team. The suit was filed three months before they play the World Cup in France.
The 28 […]
By Ken Reed
On April 15, 1947, The Brooklyn Dodgers’ Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier. It was a huge moment in baseball history and a landmark civil rights event for the United States.
Major League Baseball (MLB) celebrates the momentous occasion every April 15th. All MLB players wear the number […]
By Ken Reed
On Monday of this week, The Player’s Tribune published a compelling piece from Utah Jazz forward Kyle Korver entitled “Privileged.”
Korver’s article was sparked by a recent incident at a Jazz home game. The Jazz were playing against the Oklahoma City Thunder. During the game, the Thunder’s Russell Westbrook […]
By Ken Reed
Last week I wrote about a new study that concluded that exercise is more important than diet for maintaining weight loss.
I received some feedback saying I placed too much emphasis on exercise and not enough on a healthy diet; if the goal is not only maintaining weight loss, […]
By Ken Reed
In a 2017 survey of 17,000 sports officials (referees) across all sports, 57 percent said sportsmanship was getting worse, while only 16 percent said it was getting better. The numbers were worse in basketball specifically, in which 65 percent of officials said sportsmanship is on the decline.
It’s not […]
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.
Listen on Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and others.
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More Episodes on Apple Podcasts; Spotify and others.
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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