(Editor’s Note: Frank Deford, one of the country’s best sportswriters, died on May 28th. League of Fans founder, Ralph Nader, shared his thoughts on Deford’s passing in the following statement.)
Frank Deford rose far above the conventional image of a sports writer.
A beautiful writer with a beautiful mind for decades enlightened the sports […]
By Ken Reed
The Huffington Post
June 2, 2017
Frank Deford’s biggest contribution to the world of sports was that he took sports seriously. To the scholarly Deford, who died earlier this week at the age of 78, sport was much more than journalism’s toy department. It was an important and impactful […]
Continue Reading →: Deford Highlighted the Humanity of Sports
By Ken Reed
Recently, there have been a couple fights in Major League baseball games due to somebody breaking a childish unwritten rule of baseball (sometimes known as “The Code”).
Let’s start with the case of Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly.
Mattingly and the Marlins are off to a horrendous start. Thus, Mattingly might be […]
Continue Reading →: Unwritten Baseball Rules Are Silly and Need to Go
By Ken Reed
Concussions and brain trauma in youth and high school sports has become such a big issue that the National Athletic Trainers Association recently devoted an entire issue of Journal of Athletic Training to sport-related concussions.
The trainers’ survey found that 94% of adults said head injuries and concussions in sports are […]
By Ken Reed
We’re all aware of some of the outlandish things that President Donald Trump has said — or tweeted — this past year. Some of his thoughts and beliefs are interesting, to say the least.
But until I saw a recent Washington Post article, I didn’t know what his beliefs were on […]
Continue Reading →: Trump’s Crazy Talk Extends to Exercise World
By Ken Reed
It’s heartening to know that mainstream media outlets are increasingly highlighting the gross economic inequities in big-time college sports. For years, popular sports media outlets either ignored the issue altogether or defended the status quo of “amateurism” when it came to the topic of fairly compensating the athletes that bring in multi-millions […]
By Ken Reed
The Huffington Post
May 18, 2017
I recently had a conversation with a bitter long-time San Diego Chargers season-ticket holder. He was upset about the Chargers’ move to Los Angeles. He, and members of his family, had been going to Chargers games for 51 years. He now says he […]
Continue Reading →: Ownership Right-of-First-Refusal Needed for Pro Sports Cities
By Ken Reed
Sometimes the best way to explain injustices in the world is through real life stories instead of via numbers and dry factual statements.
That seems to be the case when looking at the economic inequities in big-time college sports today.
Take the cases of Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and former USC […]
By Mehdi Manseur
A guest submission to League of Fans
When many people think about professional sports, they think “it’s just a game”. They do not think too much about the organization of our largest leagues and likely would not consider anything to be wrong with the economies of pro sports in America. To most, […]
Continue Reading →: Reforming American Professional Sports: A Proposal
A League of Fans Special Feature
Kara Goucher
Q’s & A’s with Leading Sports Reformers
Kara Goucher is one of the most popular female long distance runners in American history. She is a two-time Olympian and was the bronze medalist at the 2007 World Track & Field Championships. (Note: Elvan Abeylegesse, the Turkish runner who […]