On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss

Kelsey Davis, Episocpal priest and co-founder of Christian Athlete Circles, joins the show to discuss her work to provide an inclusive and non-proselytizing resource for college athletes. A former collegiate, national team, and professional soccer player, Davis says "being an athlete is a great gift and a great challenge. In a world centered around the commodification of bodies, high-pressure...

Our resident soccer expert Ricky Thrash guest hosts this episode with Vanderbilt women’s soccer coach Darren Ambrose. They discuss the meaning of soccer in Darren’s life, the rise of the women’s soccer program at Vanderbilt, and the state of the global game.

Filmmaker Michael Husain joins the show to talk about his incredible documentary, The Waiting Game. The film tells the little-known story of a renegade basketball league that inspired today's NBA – and the mostly Black players who have had to fight for decades for fair compensation and recognition. The ABA innovated pro basketball with the 3-point shot and slam dunk contest, and embraced Blac...

Author Danny Funt and Vanderbilt professor Eric VanEpps join the show to discuss the high societal costs of sports betting. Funt is the author of the highly acclaimed new book, “Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling.” The book looks at addiction, predatory marketing tactics, massive lobbying efforts, and the 180-degree shift by sports leagues in their embrace of sports b...

Janelly Farias, an Emmy Award-winning soccer commentator, came to Vanderbilt to speak to the women’s soccer team and the ‘Fútbol-Soccer: Culture, Gender, and Diaspora’ course taught by Prof. Celso Castilho. A former professional soccer player and Mexican National Team member Janelly is the author of a new memoir, “Surviving Women’s Soccer.” She writes candidly about lifelong mental health struggle...

Charles Waters and Irene Latham join the show to discuss the new book of sports poems they have compiled in “For the Win: Poems Celebrating Phenomenal Athletes.” Aimed at children ages 7-11, the poems, written by a diverse group of poets, feature 20 contemporary athletes who have overcome obstacles, broken records, and inspired fans around the globe.

Author Adam Henig joins the show to discuss his new book, ‘Baseball’s Outcast: The Story of Ron LeFlore.’” When twenty-three-year-old Ron LeFlore played his first organized baseball game, it was in a yard at the State Prison of Southern Michigan where he was serving five to fifteen years for armed robbery. An extraordinary athlete, the Detroit native had luck on his side: his coach, a convicted fe...

Bestselling author Keith O’Brien joins the show to discuss his new book, “Heartland: A Forgotten Place, An Impossible Dream, and the Miracle of Larry Bird.” The book focuses on the period between 1973-79 when Bird leaves tiny French Lick, Indiana to play for Bobby Knight’s Hoosiers; departs IU after just a few weeks; nearly quits college basketball altogether; and leads underdog Indiana State to t...

Dr. Pavel Brunssen, a research associate and lecturer at Heidelberg University in Germany, joins the show to discuss his book, “The Making of ‘Jew Clubs’: Performing Jewishness and Antisemitism in European Soccer and Fan Cultures.” Why do non-Jewish football fans chant "Yid Army" or wave "Super Jews" banners—especially in support of clubs that are not Jewish? The Making of &quo...

Emma May-Bradley and Erin Ryder are experienced sports media and marketing professionals who co-founded Playmakers Nashville, a non-profit supporting women working in, or aspiring to work in, sports. Emma and Erin joined the show to talk about the purpose of their organization, the state of women’s sports nationally, and the opportunities for women in a growing field.

In Panel 3 of our third annual Sports & Activism online symposium, Kevin Blackistone of the University of Maryland leads a discussion on the state of sportswashing with three experts on the topic: Jules Boykoff (Pacific University), Minky Worden (Human Rights Watch), and Sarath Ganji (Autocracy and Global Sports Project). The symposium is a collaboration between the Vanderbilt Sports & Soc...

In Panel 1 of our third annual Sports & Activism online symposium, Michael Fletcher of ESPN interviews legendary sports sociologist Dr. Harry Edwards about founding the field of study, the 1968 Olympic protest, and the state of sports activism. Olympian John Carlos also makes an impromptu appearance during the recording. The symposium is a collaboration between the Vanderbilt Sports & Soci...

In Panel 2 of our third annual Sports & Activism online symposium, Carl Suddler of Emory University leads a discussion with Lou Moore (Michigan State), Ajah Hawley-Alexander (Iona), and Tracie Canada (Duke), on the economics of college sports in the age of NIL, particularly as it relates to race and gender. The symposium is a collaboration between the Vanderbilt Sports & Society Initiative...

Michael Butterworth, Director of the Center for Sports Communication & Media at The University of Texas, discusses the Center’s fifth annual Politics in Sports Media report featuring survey results and case studies. As the report states, “in these interesting times, understanding the relationship between politics and sports remains as complicated and vital as ever.” View report at politicsinsp...

Braden Brown, director of mental health at BYU Athletics, joins the show to discuss the immense value of mindfulness for athletes. "Based on the Lochbaum et al., 2022 systematic review of 30 meta-analyses across 40 years of sport psychology research. Mindfulness wasn’t just effective—it was THE most effective variable in the entire dataset. In a world obsessed with confidence, self-talk, and...

Vanderbilt women’s lacrosse coach Beth Hewitt joins the show to discuss the state of the sport and of her program as it celebrates its 30th anniversary on campus.

Bestselling authors and sports scholars Randy Roberts (Purdue University) and Johnny Smith (Georgia Tech) discuss their acclaimed new book, “The Fight of His Life: Joe Louis’s Battle for Freedom During World War II.”

Bestselling author Scott Ellsworth stopped by our Kirkland Hall studio while on campus to discuss his new book, “Midnight On the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America.” Ellsworth is also the author of the PEN/ESPN award-winning book, “The Secret Game: A Wartime Story of Courage, Change, and Basketball's Lost Triumph."

Former collegiate (San Francisco, Duke) and international pro baseball player Sam Granoff joins the show to discuss his life in and out of the sport. A Fulbright Fellow and literary review founder with a passion for music, movies, books, and writing, Granoff is now teaching at the University of Tennessee and writing a novel partly inspired by his love of baseball.

Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post joins the show to discuss an interactive feature he put together on the top 10 greatest sports theme songs of all time. From the Monday Night Football theme to John Tesh’s “Roundball Rock” to John Williams’ classic Olympic them, Dave breaks down what makes each song an unforgettable piece of sports culture. A music major as a Vanderbilt student, Sheinin’s intere...

Dr. Alex Diamond, Vanderbilt Athletics team physician and founder of the Vanderbilt Youth Sports Health Center, joins the show to discuss everything parents, coaches, and young athletes should know about the state of sports medicine for kids.

Tennis pro and journalist Gabriel Allen joins the show to discuss his new book, “Tennis Tensions: Class, Race, and Gender in The Evolution of The Sport." Former Vanderbilt women's tennis coach Geoff Macdonald joins as co-host to add some tennis expertise to the questions! 

James and Lauren Osborne are the founders of the Exchange Running Collective in East Nashville, a running store that brings the community together through ‘running culture, art, and social change.’ Their inclusive approach demonstrates the power of sports to create a better world. 

Legendary sportswriter and bestselling author Jane Leavy joins the show to discuss her acclaimed new book: “Make Me Commissioner: I Know What’s Wrong With Baseball and How to Fix It. 

Britt Hunter was the consensus National Player of the Year in high school and the first woman to compete in the Slam Dunk contest at the McDonald’s All-American Game. After suffering a potentially career-ending injury at Duke and spiraling into a life-threatening depression, she faced new pressures rehabbing from her injury after transferring to UConn. After college, she struggled to find her iden...