By Ken Reed
Former Atlanta Falcons safety Ray Easterling killed himself in April. Late last month his widow, and the rest of us, learned that there were clear signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in his brain, a progressive brain disease linked directly to repetitive blows to the head.
“It was consistent with what […]
Continue Reading →: Another NFL Suicide Linked Directly to Brain Trauma
A League of Fans Special Feature
Allen Sack
Dr. Allen Sack is a professor of sports management at the University of New Haven. He’s also the current president of the Drake Group, a college faculty consortium whose mission is to defend academic integrity in the face of the burgeoning college sports industry. Sack began his […]
Continue Reading →: Q’s & A’s with Leading Sports Reformers: Allen Sack
By Ken Reed
The issue of whether or not to pay college athletes has been a hot one for a long time. Moreover, even if you think college athletes should be paid, the question is what would paying college athletes actually look like? What about Title IX considerations? What would happen to non-revenue college sports […]
Continue Reading →: Hruby’s Model for Compensating College Athletes Deserves Serious Look
By Ken Reed
What are we to make of the Olympic Games? Do they represent humanity at its finest? Its worst? Or both?
A fair assessment would have to conclude it’s both.
The modern Olympics were established in 1896 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin to bring the world’s athletes together in the “spirit of unity, […]
Continue Reading →: Olympics: A Battle Between the Spirit of Competition and Crass Commercialization
By Ken Reed
Allen Sack, director of the Institute for Sport Management at the University of New Haven and president of the Drake Group, a faculty consortium fighting for academic integrity in the face of big-time college sports, said Penn State, while deserving severe punishment, is a scapegoat for a college sports system that’s […]
Continue Reading →: Professor Calls Penn State Scandal a Symptom of Deeper Problem
By Ken Reed
College football’s Bowl Championship Series (BCS) is dead. That’s a good thing. The cartel system never crowned a true national champion and was unpopular with players and fans.
Unfortunately, in its place we now have an ill-conceived four-team playoff scheme that will provide an expected $500 million windfall for college football’s power […]
Continue Reading →: College Football Power Brokers Miss the Boat — Again
By Lance Tapley
The Anti-Fan Blogger
The solution is social, not individual
In this blog I want to head toward a highly specific, practical suggestion to revolutionize fitness, sports, and health in America. It is both an old and very new suggestion. But first I need to set the philosophic stage.
In 1994 the […]
By Ken Reed
Let the debates begin regarding the NCAA’s punitive action against Penn State for the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Too tough? Not tough enough? Should the NCAA even have gotten involved, or was this clearly a matter that should have been left solely to our judicial system?
To me, it was an egregious example […]
Continue Reading →: $60 Million Penn State Fine Symbolic of Out-of-Control College Athletics
NFL chooses to keep coercive, anti-fan blackouts
by Shawn McCarthy
Guest Analyst for League of Fans
All Hail the National Football League for its merciful generosity during a time of massive economic struggle and high unemployment. Headlines regarding a recent adjustment to the NFL’s blackout policy include: “New NFL blackout rule good for fans”; […]
By Ken Reed
Nick Symmonds is an obscure 800-meter runner. His big chance at track and field glory will come in the London Olympics. He also realizes that the earning potential associated with his Olympic performance has a small window. Therefore, he decided to auction […]