League of Fans' Sports Forum

My guest in this episode is Dr. David Ridpath, a sports business professor at Ohio University.  He teaches classes with a focus on Governance, Ethics, Leadership and Intercollegiate Athletics.  He is also a member, and past president, of the Drake Group, whose mission is to defend academic integrity in higher education from the corrosive aspects of commercialized college sports. Our conv...

This might be one of the most important Sports Forum podcasts we've done, or will ever do.  Our guest is, Ann McKee, M.D., a true superstar in the field of neuropathology and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).  Dr. McKee has been named by TIME magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World and one of the 50 Most Influential People in Healthcare.  She is an expe...

In this episode we chat with SHAPE America board member Clayton Ellis.  Clayton is a former national physical education teacher of the year.  He's one of our nation's leading advocates for getting our young people to be more physically active so they can enjoy the physical, mental, behavioral and academic benefits.  Clayton and I talk about the physical inactivity epidemic plaguing...

Jim Thompson started Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) in 1998 to help create a movement to transform the culture of youth sports from "win-at-all-costs" to a positive, character-building experience.  PCA conducts thousands of workshops every year for youth sports leaders, coaches, parents and athletes.  Thompson is the author of numerous books on youth sports, including Positive Coaching...

In this episode of League of Fans' Sports Forum podcast we talk with Patrick Hruby, a journalist who has done extensive research and in-depth writing on the topic of brain trauma in sports, most notably football.  Patrick believes brain trauma is our country's most important contemporary sports issue.  We touch on brain injuries and CTE at the NFL and college levels, however, the focus o...

In this episode we talk coaching styles with veteran sports sociologist Jay Coakley.  Jay is a former college basketball player who went on to earn a Ph. D. in Sociology from Notre Dame.  He then became one of the nation's preeminent sports sociologists.  He is the author of the leading sports sociology text, "Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies," now in its 13th edition.

In this episode, we chat with John Gerdy, a former college athlete and NCAA and SEC administrator who became a sports reformer later in his career.  We talk about the current situation in college athletics amidst a pandemic; compensation for college athletes; big-time Power Five college sports vs. Division II and Division III athletics; how college athletes might gain a stronger voice on poli...

Title IX, the landmark law that was created in 1972 to prohibit educational programs that receive federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of sex, has been a great success in terms of creating athletics opportunities for girls and young women in high schools and colleges across the country.  That said, the gap in athletics opportunities and athletics funding between males...