By Ken Reed
A new study in the journal Neurology concluded that former NFL players died from degenerative brain disease at a rate three times higher than the general U.S. population. The new study is just the latest of multiple studies in recent years linking football with brain disease.
The study’s authors said “these […]
Continue Reading →: Another Study Highlights the Dangers of Football For the Brain
By Ken Reed
We’ve been told for years that exercising more will make us healthier, thinner, and probably allow us to live longer. Yet, the amount we exercise doesn’t change. That fact has been stumping exercise advocates and researchers for a long time.
Michelle L. Segar, a research investigator at the Institute for Research on […]
In Praise of Participation
By Lance Tapley
The Anti-Fan Blogger
Here’s the solution America has been waiting for and that I’ve promised in my previous blog: a solution to one of the most dramatic crises the country has ever suffered, a crisis far more threatening and harmful than, say, terrorism.
Here’s a remedy […]
In an op-ed column in the Chicago Tribune today, I called for high school football to be banned. I’m not happy about it. I truly enjoy watching football games at all levels. Moreover, I think there are a lot of positives involved with playing football. But there’s a huge negative that I feel overrides […]
By Ken Reed
The National Football League is three-fourths through its preseason (read: exhibition) schedule, which means NFL fans are three-fourths through the latest version of one of the greatest fan scams in sports history.
Season-ticket holders — pro football’s most loyal fans — across the country continue to be forced (extorted would actually be […]
Continue Reading →: NFL Preseason Games the Epitome of Fan Abuse
By Ken Reed
Nike is expected to release a new LeBron James shoe this fall with a price tag of approximately $300. In doing so, they will be exploiting the sports hero worship mindset of millions of young Americans, including poor inner city youth. (Who else is the target for these shoes? It certainly isn’t […]
Continue Reading →: New $300 Nike LeBron James Shoe Is Absurd and Unethical
By Ken Reed
Hypocites.
Augusta National has long been driven by hypocrisy.
Augusta’s chairmen — from Clifford Roberts, to Hootie Johnson, to Billy Payne — have consistently said that what they do at Augusta National is a private matter.
But they’ve never had any problem completely opening up their club, via television, to the general […]
Continue Reading →: Even When They Do the Right Thing, Augusta National’s Leaders Remain Hypocrites
By Ken Reed
Title IX’s 40th anniversary was celebrated earlier this summer. The landmark law has been a godsend for females in terms of participation in athletics, but the impact for female coaches and administrators has been less than stellar.
Sports participation numbers for girls and women were extremely low in 1972, at both the […]
Continue Reading →: Title IX: Great For Female Athletes But Not Coaches
By Ken Reed
The London 2012 Olympics have wrapped up. In retrospect, from an athletic competition standpoint, the Games were a huge success. There was plenty of athletic drama, exciting finishes, and world-record performances. But as I wrote during the Olympics, there were several disturbing stories too.
The extreme commercialization was nauseating, and the […]
Continue Reading →: Olympic Performances Thrilling But Back Stories Often Depressing
By Ken Reed
A couple recent articles caught my eye because their subjects were great athletes without egos. One featured track legend Roger Bannister and the other baseball hall-of-famer Sandy Koufax.
Bannister was the first human being to break what was supposed to be an unbreakable barrier, the 4:00 mile, when he ran 3:59.4 in […]
Continue Reading →: Some Sports Legends Aren’t Defined By On-Field Accomplishments