League of Fans

By Ken Reed

I saw the new Will Smith movie, Concussion, last night.

It was better than I expected. For one, Will Smith is terrific in the role of Dr. Bennett Omalu, the pathologist who first discovered chronic traumatic encephalopathy in the brain of former Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro Mike Webster. (Heavyweights Alec Baldwin and Albert […]

Ralph Nader interviewed League of Fans Sports Policy Director Ken Reed about the important new movie Concussion. The film stars Will Smith and opened on Christmas Day.

Reed believes that the national discussion needs to now move from NFL players to the 3 million youth and high school football players in this country […]

By Ken Reed

You know things are trending downward for youth and high school football when one of the game’s classic tough guys recommends that kids play golf instead of football.

Legendary NFL player and coach Mike Ditka recently said young athletes would be better off playing golf than football due to safety issues. […]

By Ken Reed

College coaches are seeking commitments from high school athletes — and sometimes middle school athletes — at earlier and earlier ages, in some cases as early as seventh and eighth grade.

It’s yet another aspect of the win-at-all-costs (WAAC) mentality that increasingly drives college sports. Coaches, particularly in women’s sports such as […]

By Ken Reed

Very few people realize that the wages of minor league baseball players often fall below those of most fast-food restaurant workers.

News from this baseball off-season has focused on the numerous $100 million and $200 million contracts Major League Baseball stars have signed.

The flip side is that the approximately 6,000 non-unionized […]

By Ken Reed

Dr. Bennet Omalu is the forensic neuropathologist that brought chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and its potentially dire consequences, to the nation’s attention.

Omalu is played by Will Smith in the upcoming movie Concussion. He is the doctor who took on the NFL and won.

When it comes to CTE, the […]

By Ken Reed

Last week, I wrote about the upcoming Will Smith movie Concussion. The movie is about the NFL’s attempt to cover-up research and statistics regarding concussions, along with the league’s effort to discredit a highly credible whistleblower, Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist who discovered the first case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy […]

By Ken Reed

It was refreshing to read this week about two highly successful high school football coaches promoting the positives of multi-sport participation on the part of their athletes and how they detest the recent trend toward one-sport specialization at the youth and high school levels.

Rod Sherman of Valor Christian High School […]