League of Fans

By Ken Reed

Another college football player has died. And it was another preventable death.

Following an Associated Press investigation, we now know that Garden City Community College (KS) football player Braedon Bradforth died from exertional heatstroke last August after running 36 50-yard sprints in afternoon heat and humidity, passing out, and […]

By Ken Reed

I love baseball. But the ego-based false machismo that is the foundation of the Stone Age “Unwritten Rules of Baseball” (aka “The Code”) drives me nuts.

The latest example comes from a minor league game between the Hartford Yard Goats and the Trenton Thunder. Hartford had a combined no-hitter (between […]

By Ken Reed

At League of Fans, part of our mission statement is “to encourage safety … in sports industry and culture.”

As such, I would be negligent if I didn’t address the recent incident in Major League Baseball (MLB) in which a 4-year-old girl was struck and injured by a […]

By Ken Reed

College athletes are young, impressionistic and vulnerable to physical and emotional abuse from coaches and trainers.

Unlike their professional peers, college athletes don’t have a union representing them and looking out for their best interests. They also aren’t paid, apart from their scholarships. Thus, many college athletes — especially those […]

By Ken Reed

Well, if you’re reading this, you’ve survived another Memorial Day weekend.

Along with good times with friends and family, you probably sat around a lot and “pigged out” at a BBQ or two. And a lot of what you ate can be easily classified as “junk food.”

I […]

By Ken Reed

I’ve always admired the work of Bryant Gumbel and the crew at HBO that puts together the show Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. They often do in-depth work on important sports issues of the day. They also will have compelling human interest stories on occasion. The show is blessed with several […]

Happy, Healthy and Talented Young Athletes Having Fun

By Ken Reed

Too often, youth sports in the United States are tainted by adults who are driven by win-at-all-costs (WAAC) and profit-at-all-costs (PAAC) ethos. The result is a lot of kids who don’t even start a sport, kids that burn out and quit at […]

By Ken Reed

In about three weeks, the best female soccer players in the world will gather in Paris for the 2019 Women’s World Cup.

The Americans will be one of the favorites in the competition. Their games will be big draws back in the States. In the 2015 World Cup, the women’s national team […]

By Ken Reed

While speaking at an event in Washington DC, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he’d like to see half of all new referees be women. He also said he’d like to see more women hired as coaches in the NBA.

“It’s an area, frankly, where I’ve acknowledged that I’m not […]