Edge of Sports

This week we speak to longtime labor organizer, writer, and former head of TransAfrica Bill Fletcher about why the time is now for minor league baseball players to form a union. We also have ‘Choice Words’ about the collision of the #blacklivesmatter movement and basketball in Sacramento, a ‘Just Stand Up’ and ‘Sit Yo Ass Down’ award to the Notre Dame Women’s Basketball team and NCAA President Mar...

NBA All-Stars Kevin Love & Demar DeRozan recently went public with their mental health challenges. Here, former NBA player Royce White speaks about the NBA’s approach to mental health, and the gap between the league’s supportive rhetoric and existing reality. Also, we have “Choice Words” about student unrest at Sweet 16 darling Loyola. We also got our weekly “Just Stand Up” and “Sit Down” awar...

On this week’s pod, we speak to 10 year NBA veteran Etan Thomas about his new book "We Matter: Athletes and Activism,” where he speaks to sports figures ranging from Bill Russell to Russell Westbrook. Also, I have choice words about Michael Bennett's departure from Seattle, a Just Stand Up and Just Sit Your Ass Down award for an NBA pioneer on mental health and NFL owners respectively, our...

This week we got a dope show. We talk to sportswriter and friend of the program Patrick Hruby in-depth about the political economy of revenue sports and it’s racialized superstructure, why athletes deserve a piece of the income pie, and the FBI investigation into professional agents and their relationship with schools and collegiate athletes. We also have some Choice Words about the courage and pe...

This week we got a special episode. We go full-length in conversation with  sports broadcaster and former Georgetown basketball captain Monica McNutt about the recent scandals plaguing the NCAA, sexual harassment inside the Dallas Mavericks organization, the movie Black Panther, and the trials faced by black women in sports journalism. It's a hell of a conversation that you don't want to m...

This week, we talk all things NFL -- plus a new twist on the Lebron-Jordan debate -- with Andrew Brandt, columnist for The MMQB and The Athletic and the host of "Business of Sports" podcast. Brandt details his time as an executive with the Green Bay Packers and dishes on whether or not the NFL is blackballing Colin Kaepernick. Dave has some Choice Words for how LeBron James has, once again...

This week, we give a preview of the Winter Olympics with Jules Boykoff, co-author of Power Games: A Political History of the Olympics. We also talk about the geopolitics surrounding the games, the destruction of sacred spaces in South Korea brought on by the Olympics, and whether we can expect athlete protests this year. During Choice Words, we’ll examine comments made by recent Super Bowl champio...

This week, we recap the Super Bowl with Melissa Jacobs from The Football Girl and host of The Football Girl Podcast. The Philadelphia Eagles sure didn't consider social justice a distraction en route to the Super Bowl. What's next for both the Eagles and the New England Patriots? During Choice Words, we examine how the Eagles used their platform to speak out for others and still came out o...

This week, we speak to Jessica Luther, author of Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape, about Michigan State, USA gymnastics and what justice could look like for the gymnasts abused by Larry Nassar. Get ready for a surprising Choice Words segment where we make a progressive case for rooting on the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl...seriously. We keep your attenti...

As Baltimore schools became refrigerators this month, former NFL linebacker turned Art teacher Aaron Maybin went viral with a video detailing their conditions. Aaron is also the author of a book called Art-Activism: The Revolutionary Art, Poetry, & Reflections of Aaron Maybin. We speak to him about his own personal journey as well as issues of race, class, and education facing Baltimore. Also,...

This week we talk to Hani Ali from the Black Visions Collective and Veronica Mendez-Moore from the Centro De Trabajadores Unidos En Lucha, both in the Twin Cities, about organizing a ten day resistance to ramped up police presence, the attacks on workers, and the corporate bacchanalia leading up to the Super Bowl Sunday. Also, we speak about the shockingly overlooked news that Serena Williams - on...

This week, we speak to author Sean Deveney about his new book Fun City, which chronicles New York City in the 1960's -- an era of Broadway Joe Namath, the Amazin' Mets and some very interesting politics. Also, we have some choice words about the morality of watching professional football.  We've got a classroom-warming Just Stand Up Award for former NFL linebacker, Aaron Maybin, and US...

This is a good one. We speak to ESPN the Magazine's Howard Bryant about his forthcoming book "The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism." Bryant explores the development of the black athlete over the last 75 years, including the changing social and political dynamics. We also have a Choice Words segment that looks back at the year that was in sport...

On this episode of the podcast, we take a look at a culture jam that occurred earlier this week, targeting the Washington football team and its racist team mascot. Jacqueline Keeler joins the show again to talk about how this culture jam came into being as well as the larger issue of using indigenous people as mascots, and the impact of living near uranium mines on the health of native communities...

This week, we try and understand the splits in the players coalition that has been negotiating with the NFL over the anti-racist protests taking place during the national anthem. We speak with Tamishia Moats, wife of former NFL player Ryan Moats, whose experiences with police violence became national news in 2009.And what a week it was, we have THREE Just Stand Up award winners including an NFL pl...

We speak to a WNBA MVP and one of the greatest hoopsters to ever live: Maya Moore. We talk about her recent efforts to raise awareness about prosecutorial misconduct and mass incarceration. Later on the show, we have some Choice Words about Amazon's sleazy search for a new corporate home and how stadium scams paved the way for this kind of graft. We also have Just Stand Up and Just Sit Down aw...

This week, we talk to Hall of Fame NBA journalist Jack McCallum about his new book Golden Days: West's Lakers, Steph's Warriors, and the California Dreamers Who Reinvented Basketball. McCallum details the influence Jerry West had on two golden eras of basketball in California and he tells you what teams have the best shot to dethrone the Warriors in the years to come. We have some Choice W...

This week, we speak to Rory Fanning, who served in the Army Rangers with former NFL player Pat Tillman. Fanning would later become a member of Veterans for Peace and a critic of U.S. foreign policy. We discuss nationalism, militarism, and the NFL's role in promoting these virtues. We also have 'Choice Words' about the NFL's handling of Veteran's Day this past Sunday, and we rea...

Fresh off his Netflix Special, America Is The Greatest Country in the United States, Judah Friedlander takes a stab at defining American exceptionalism through humor. Friedlaner, a major soccer fan, also explains how and why the USA didn't qualify for the 2018 World Cup. I've got some Choice Words about the importance of Kaepernick to fighters for Social Justice. Lastly, we listen to the w...

We speak to three-time gold medalist and civil rights attorney Nancy Hogshead-Makar about how the #MeToo movement is shaping the world of sports as well as her own work in shedding light on sexual abuse in the field of athletics over the years. We look at the big picture of sexual violence in sports while also getting into the legal weeds. I cannot imagine a more important topic for this moment or...

This week, three generations of activist athletes take the stage at Wake Forest University. It's me your Edge of Sports host Dave Zirin, interviewing 1968 Olympic legend John Carlos, former NBA player - who knows something about being "blackballed" - Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, and Olympian Ibtihaj Muhammad. If only there was something to talk about in the world of sports and politics. Also, I...

This week, we speak to NBL MVP and former NBA player Royce White about mental health and what collusion looks like, in light of the recent news about Colin Kaepernick's NFL lawsuit. Also, we have Just Stand Up and Just Sit Your Ass Down awards, a Kaepernick Watch that explores the politics of collusion, and a brilliant poem about sports, politics, and race written and read by Tariq Toure. Royc...

This week we talk face-to-face with Michael Lee, senior writer at The Vertical for Yahoo! Sports, about the prospect of players protesting during the anthem in the NBA and how NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will handle it. Also, we speak to Lindsay Gibbs, sports correspondent for ThinkProgress, about Cam Newton's sexist comments to a female reporter and how racism against Cam became part of the...

We discuss the explosive weekend of anthem protests with former San Francisco 49er Chris Borland, who famously walked away from the league after his stellar rookie season. We also go through everything that happened in the last week, a period that could be called a maelstrom of sports, politics and resistance. Finally, we ask the question: Is the original message of why players are taking a knee g...

This week we speak to Joe Ehrmann, former NFL Player and founder of Inside Out Coaching: How Sports Can Change Lives. Also, I speak about the solidarity statement we organized to support Seattle Seahawk Michael Bennett, in his efforts to challenge the violence and racial profiling of the Las Vegas police; a solidarity statement that brought together people from Angela Davis to Colin Kaepernick. We...