Edge of Sports

As college basketball fans descend into March Madness, Edge of Sports offers a wake-up call from Dr. Harry Edwards, renowned sports sociologist and author of the seminal text “The Revolt of the Black Athlete.” Dr. Edwards prescribes a stringent tonic for the NCAA’s ills: a complete dissolution and ground-up reformation focused on academics and athlete equity. Our host Dave Zirin also offers his ’C...

This is one of those dream shows for us at Edge of Sports. We’ve spoken to Kareem. We’ve spoken to Martina. Now we talk to Mick, as in pro wrestling legend Mick Foley. The hardcore legend is also a militant anti-sexist, a Tori Amos fan, and a national spokesperson for RAINN – the Rape Abuse Incest National Network. We in addition get him to answer whether Pro Wrestling deserves some of the blame f...

We have a show this week that fills me with pride and anger. The pride comes from the fact that we interview two NFL Hall of Fame players who grew up in the Jim Crow south, went to Historically Black Colleges, and played in the 1960s: Willie Lanier and Ken Houston. We hear their stories and it is – to put it mildly - powerful stuff. The anger comes with our opening topic: my thoughts on the cancel...

This week on Edge of Sports, we have two sports/politics legends of 1968 and we speak to them in front of 500 people in a packed Oakland auditorium. They are DR. JOHN CARLOS, who raised his fist on the medal stand in Mexico City along with Tommie Smith, and the great WYOMIA TYUS, the first person to ever win back-to-back 100 meter gold at the Olympic games in 1964 and 1968. Ms. Tyus also stood in...

Edge of Sports welcomes Martina Navratilova, one of the greatest tennis players ever and one of host Dave Zirin’s political-athlete heroes. Martina made history not just with her utter on-court dominance of the 1980s, but through a remarkable journey away from her family in totalitarian Czechoslovakia, and to a life where she lives today as a political, open LGBT American. This week’s column read...

In the aftermath of Super Bowl 50, we look at two figures who personify "Unapologetic Blackness." First, we discuss the indomitable of Cam Newton with former NFL pro, Harvard Business School grad and columnist Domonique Foxworth. Next, we get in ‘formation’ for Beyoncé with Dr. Brittney Cooper AKA Professor Crunk, who schools us on the rich symbolism of Beyoncé’s latest cultural touchstone...

The Edge of Sports Super Bowl Blockbuster Special features radical linguistic theorist Noam Chomsky giving his first-ever sports interview. Today, the MIT professor drops knowledge on the gladiatorial spectacle capturing the world's attention, but far from a sports-grinch, you'll also hear Chomsky re-live his early love affair with baseball. He assesses the phenomena of Bernie Sanders and...

Today, the video of Dave Zirin's interview with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is available on TheNation.com, EdgeOfSportsPodcast.com, and YouTube. You'll hear and see aspects of this experience that had to be cut out of the podcast. Short clip: https://youtu.be/hP5aTGcXMwgFull interview: https://youtu.be/9xtI8c0Dg8QIn honor of this release, we're bringing back our conversation with Kareem in its...

Lawrence Phillips was a phenomenal football talent, a back-to-back National Champion at the University of Nebraska and a top NFL draft pick in 1996. But a childhood marred by trauma and violence undercut Phillips’ promise of a fruitful life. Despite his obvious athletic gifts, a pattern of disturbing off-field behavior pushed Phillips out of the league and into legal trouble. In 2008, Lawrence Phi...

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the consummate renaissance man of basketball. The all-time leading scorer in NBA history is also an author, historian, and now, a cultural commentator on the most hot-button political topics of the day. Dave Zirin traveled across the country and spoke with Kareem for the full hour, discussing his deep history of activism, scholarship and steadfast self-discovery. We’ll be re...

This week, Edge of Sports is traveling to LA to interview Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Instead of taking the week off, Dave Zirin is dropping into your podcast feed to call for questions and give listeners a window into his thought process going into this once-in-a-lifetime interview. Dave also reads his current column from The Nation about Lebron James and the competing opinions about his lack of comment...

“Life moves pretty fast…if you don’t stop and look around once in a while…you could miss it.” Wise words from Ferris Bueller animate the year’s final episode, where we revisit our favorite Edge of Sports guests of 2015. You’ll hear from musicians Chuck D and John Legend, Orioles owner John Angelos, NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith, journalist Jeanne Marie Laskas and NBA Champion Samaki Walker, the first...

Today, women’s basketball great Chamique Holdsclaw joins us to discuss the recent comments of Gilbert Arenas, and her own fascinating history in the game. For years, the #1 WNBA draft pick waged a silent battle for mental wellness, but she eventually chose to go public, becoming a powerful advocate and role model. Her journey is chronicled in the film ‘Mind Game.’ Then, we visit with Sporting News...

“This is the conversation America keeps not having…” Today, we have that conversation on head injuries in football with Jeanne Marie Laskas, whose reporting on Dr. Bennet Omalu serves as the basis for the upcoming Will Smith film ‘Concussion.’ Laskas has strong words for the NFL and calls for all fans to re-examine their complicity in this $10 billion-a-year industry. Laskas is the author of the b...

Today, we learn what it’s like to be blackballed from your job for speaking your mind, and what it means to play pro ball…in Syria. Craig Hodges was a three-point specialist during the dawn of the Jordan-era Bulls, who won their first of six titles in 1991. As the team visited the White House for its obligatory photo-op, Hodges donned a Dashiki to highlight his African heritage and hand-delivered...

Orioles Owner John Angelos Gets Real, Son of Nun Raps In-Studio In April, protests in Baltimore over the police murder of Freddie Gray reached the gates of Camden Yards during a game. In response, Orioles front office chief John Angelos refused to vilify the protesters, instead offering a nuanced history of public policies that sapped cities like Baltimore of their well-paying jobs, tax base and w...

“Intellectual and material walls are not the way to progress.” The words of today’s guest, George Atallah from the NFLPA, in response to knee-jerk bigotry against refugees after attacks in Paris and Beirut. Atallah’s own family fled Lebanon’s civil war for the United States decades ago and he denounces passionately, as Aaron Rogers did on Sunday, the prejudicial ideologies which lead to hardened h...

Oscar and Grammy winner John Legend joins Edge of Sports to laud the Missouri Tigers football team, who made history by joining with protesting students and refusing to play until University president Tim Wolfe resigned. We’re also privileged to have an insider’s perspective from Paul Hewitt, who coached Georgia Tech to the NCAA finals in basketball a decade ago. Finally, we welcome back Howard Un...

The all-new Edge of Sports podcast is here, and our host Dave Zirin calls on the Hard Rhymer himself, the legendary Chuck D of Public Enemy, to bless the first show. As it turns out, this activist lion of hip-hop actually had boyhood dreams of becoming a sportscaster. Chuck tells the story of Public Enemy’s national breakthrough on Soul Train, revels in the greatness of Ali, praises LeBron James a...

Episode 271: BOOM! Dave delves into his trip to San Antonio with Dr. John Carlos to speak to the Gregg Popovich and the Spurs about the 1968 Olympics. Dave was impressed by the intensity with which battle-tested champions practiced and how much the entire organization has bought into what the coaching staff is selling them. Dave and Coach discuss the recent media spat between Stephen A. Smith and...

Episode 270: BOOM! We have a fantastic show for you this week. Hear Coach Kevin McNutt and D.C. Dan Baker prepare Dave for his trip to San Antonio with Dr. John Carlos...to speak with Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs! Dave and Coach dissect the Jonathan Papelbon and Bryce Harper scuffle in a way you haven’t heard yet. Dr. Richard Lapchick, the great human rights activist and long-time frie...

Episode 269: BOOM! We have one heck of a show for you this week! Coach looks back on what it was like to play against Moses Malone, who unfortunately passed away last week. Dave regales Coach and Mark of how how Malone “sent Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] to summer camp.” Plus, it’s never too soon to go back on our NFL season predictions. Dr. Ben Carrington, Sociology Professor at the University of Texas-A...

Episode 268: BOOM! It’s our NFL Season Preview, but first Dave discusses the great Williams’ sisters after their recent U.S. Open Quarterfinal matchup and the NYPD mistakenly handcuffing former #4-ranked player, James Blake. Dave goes through his “10 Things I Think I Think While I Drink” and Mark tells him if his predictions will come true or not. Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper preview without...

Episode 267: BOOM! We have a fantastic show for you this week as Dave, Coach, and Mark take a look at the dominance of Serena Williams and what she’s faced in becoming the best to ever play tennis. Amy K. Nelson of The Daily Beast checks in from New Orleans on the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and explains how the city has changed since then. “Mean” Mark previews the season for his beloved...

Episode 266: BOOM! Dave gets right into the nitty gritty this week as he discusses neoliberalism in sports. How Northwestern University football players were denied the right to organize while college football coaches can clear $5 or $7 million in salary and how in the heck the billionaire owners of the Milwaukee Bucks can use public funds instead of their own money to meet the $250 million needed...