Edge of Sports with Dave Zirin

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 Donald T...

Today, the video of Dave Zirin's interview with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is available on http://TheNation.com, http://EdgeOfSportsPodcast.com, and YouTube. You'll hear and see aspects of this experience that were cut out of the podcast for clarity and time. TheNation: http://thenation.com/article/kareem-abdul-jabbar-sports-taught-america-that-bigotry-is-not-a-cool-thing/ Short clip: https://youtu.be/hP...

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 basketball renaissance man. The all-time leading scorer in NBA history is also an author, historian, and now cultural commentator on the most hot-button political topics of the day. Here, Dave Zirin sits with Kareem for the full hour to discuss his deep history of activism, scholarship and steadfast self-discovery. We’ll be releasing video of this interview at...

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 Lebrun 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 Edge of Sports 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 S...

“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...

Today, we bring you into the inner sanctum of DeMaurice Smith, head of the NFL Players Association. Dave Zirin and the Union boss pull no punches in discussing football’s top issues: the upcoming Will Smith film ‘Concussion,’ the NFL’s crusade against Tom Brady, and the thankless job of defending Greg Hardy. Here’s an improbable yet true statement: Kobe Bryant sent shockwaves through the sports wo...

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 working-class opportunities. As Baltimore braces for the accused...

“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 called on his friend, 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 dreams long ago of becoming a sportscaster. Chuck tells the story of Public Enemy’s breakthrough on Soul Train, revels in the greatness of Ali, praises LeBron Ja...