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By Ken Reed

Sweet Sixteen.

The NCAA hoops tourney is one of my favorite entertainment extravaganzas of the year. But when the NCAA pooh-bahs start talking about the educational experience of “our student athletes,” my stomach begins to turn.

The only education taking place is a lesson in exploitation and hypocrisy. The NCAA is masterful […]

By Ken Reed

I try very hard to resist the urge to call articles “must read” because when I use that term I want people to take it seriously. “Must read” is a descriptor that can be easily abused.
That said, I think Dave Zirin’s recent piece on the Chris Borland decision in […]

By Ken Reed

A new coalition of professors, from universities across the country, has formed to fight for economic justice for big-time college athletes.

The College Athletes Rights & Empowerment Faculty Coalition is a grassroots campaign designed to convince legislators, college administrators, members of the media, and the general public that football and basketball […]

By Ken Reed

I wrote the other day about San Francisco 49’ers linebacker Chris Borland’s decision to retire from football at age 24, following a very good rookie season. I touched on how it took a lot of courage for Borland to face all the research about football and brain trauma. Many others — […]

By Ken Reed

Chris Borland has walked away from the NFL after an excellent rookie season with the San Francisco 49’ers. The reason? Concerns about brain trauma.

He wasn’t the first. Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Sydney Rice and offensive lineman Jacob Bell of the Cincinnati Bengals walked away from the game prematurely, citing concerns about […]

by Ken Reed

There’s an anti-fan trend in the NBA that is unfortunately escalating.

It was started by the San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich. Basically, Popovich picks multiple games every season when he decides to not compete by resting several of his top players. The idea, presumably, is to keep his veteran stars fresh for […]

by Ken Reed

As we’ve outlined in this blog, in an op-ed column, and in a position paper, there are numerous reasons why allowing public schools to use taxpayer dollars to sponsor an activity like football, which clearly causes brain damage, is illogical and irresponsible.

We can add another one: People who’ve […]

By Ken Reed

Why do people who are anti-gay continue to use the “lifestyle” reason as the basis for their stance? As in “I disapprove of their lifestyle.”

The New York Mets’ Daniel Murphy played the “lifestyle” card recently after Billy Bean, a gay former Major League Baseball (MLB) player who is now MLB’s […]

By Ken Reed

Adults, parents, coaches and club sports administrators continue to push young athletes into one sport on a year-round basis, despite research highlighting the negatives of this specialization trend.

According to a Journal of Sports Sciences study, young athletes who competed in three sports at ages 11, 13 and 15 were significantly […]

By Ken Reed

Following a childish on-court tirade, in which he dropped “f-bombs” in a rapid fire manner and threatened to kill one of his own players, Vanderbilt men’s basketball coach Kevin Stallings said the player that was the target of his rant, Wade Baldwin, needs to “grow up.”

After watching Stallings’ behavior, I […]