The End of Sport

In one of our most important episodes to date, we present a keynote panel called " Can there be sport at a time of Genocide? Solidarity, Community, and Palestinian liberation"  held at the annual meeting of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) on November 1st, 2024. The panel was organized by Chen Chen and co-moderated by Derek and Nathan.  Panelists included Dr. Sophia Az...

Nathan is joined again by Frankie de la Cretaz, one of our favs, to dig into the impact of Caitlin Clark on the WNBA. We begin with a discussion of the economic and cultural landscape of the league pre-CC before delving into what it means to suggest that she has 'saved' the league and all of the many controversies that have accompanied her first season, principally the way in which it has literall...

Derek and Nathan are joined by former NFL player Chris Kluwe to delve into his heterodox perspectives on football, including his positions on gay rights and inclusion in the sport, athlete activism, and the inherent dangers of football as a sport, especially for young people. Chris Kluwe is a former NFL punter who played for the Seattle Seahawks, eight years with the Minnesota Vikings where he set...

Derek and Nathan speak to Dr. Steven Thrasher about his activism against the genocide in Gaza and the McCarthyist repression he has been subjected to in response by both the state and his employer. We also delve into his work on Covid and his newest book project. Steven Thrasher is the inaugural Daniel H. Renberg Chair of social justice in reporting (with an emphasis on issues relevant to the LGBT...

In this episode, Nathan is joined by John 'Jabo' Burrow and Kathleen Bachynski to talk about the horrific run of football-related deaths at US schools. Nathan explains what has transpired before jumping in with Jabo to discuss his reactions and how they relate to his own experiences in and observations of football. Then Kathleen joins to help relate the current issue to her research in No Game For...

Dave Zirin and Jules Boykoff return to the show to discuss the experience of covering one of the most eventful Olympics ever. We discuss their most lasting takeaways from the Games, things you had to be there to understand, how these Olympics compared to past experiences, and all of the other newsworthy stories you might imagine, from questions of Palestine solidarity to the triumph of Imane Kheli...

Stephen Casper joins Derek and Nathan to explore the history of concussion and interrogate the various conflicts of interest and ethical permutations that allow a particular form of health harm that has been largely understood for a century to nevertheless continuously be framed as uncertain.   Check out this New Yorker story drawing on Stephen's research about the history of head injury in sport...

In this emergency episode, Nathan is joined by friend and colleague Celeste Orr (in person!) to deconstruct the rightwing meltdown over the defeat of Italian welterweight boxer Angela Carini by Algerian Imane Khelif. The discussion situates the controversy by tracing the history of gender verification, delving into the science of sex, gender, and sport, and recounting the similarly racist treatmen...

Dr. Wayne Black joins Derek and Nathan to discuss his research program studying college athletics and debate key questions around coercion, agency, and how to move beyond the current system of exploitation and harm. Dr. Wayne Black is an Assistant Professor of Sport Administration at the University of Cincinnati. His research centers on understanding athletics' role and meaning in United States hi...

Jules Boykoff joins Derek and Nathan to discuss his new book What Are the Olympics For? The conversation delves into both the fundamental problems that beset the quadrennial athletic spectacle and the forms of resistance and protest that it is spawned, as well as how all of these issues manifest specifically in the context of the upcoming Paris Games. Jules Boykoff is Professor and Chair of Politi...

In this episode, Derek is joined by Leyla Hamed, a sports journalist and Editor in Chief at the The Athletic FC. As one of the very few pro-Palestinian advocates in sports media, I can’t think of many folks better than Leyla to talk about media complicity in this ongoing genocide and the role that sports media should be taking in putting pressure on sporting organizations like the IOC and FIFA to...

Former Vanderbilt offensive lineman John "Jabo" Burrow joins Nathan to candidly discuss how his experiences in college football connect to the themes of Nathan and Derek's forthcoming book The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game. This one's a banger.   You can preorder The End of College Football from UNC Press here and can receive 30% off using promo code 01SOCIAL30...

Former Vanderbilt offensive lineman John "Jabo" Burrow joins Nathan to candidly discuss how his experiences in college football connect to the themes of Nathan and Derek's forthcoming book The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game. This one's a banger.   You can preorder The End of College Football from UNC Press here and can receive 30% off using promo code 01SOCIAL30...

Slate columnist and award-winning Slow Burn host Joel Anderson joins to discuss the massive explosion of sports gambling, recent scandals involving Shohei Ohtani and Jontay Porter, and all the attendant harms. Check out his prescient recent column here: https://slate.com/business/2024/02/sports-betting-huge-rise-whats-coming.html. The End of Sport Podcast is a proud member of the Harbinger Media N...

In this episode, Nathan and Derek sit down with Palestinian National Soccer Team member Charlotte Phillips to talk about what it is like to represent Palestine during the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, the student protest movement, and the role that athletes can (and must) take in the fight for Palestinian liberation. Charlotte Phillips is a goalkeeper for the York University Lions and...

Michael McCann joins Derek and Nathan to examine how the law is shaping the landscape of college sports today. We discuss the recent settlement agreement that will reshape questions around compensation, NLRB developments with respect to employee status, and the role of Congress and the Supreme Court in it all. Michael McCann is a Legal Analyst and Senior Sports Legal Reporter at Sportico. He is al...

In this episode, Derek and Nathan are joined by University of Michigan soccer player Uriel Zeitz to discuss the role of campus athletic workers in the anti-genocide encampment movement. Uriel breaks down the encampment politics at Michigan, conversations he's had with other athletes at the university and beyond, and how he is organizing for athletes to contribute to the movement moving forward.  ...

In this episode, Derek and Nathan are immensely privileged to be joined by UCLA historian Robin D. G. Kelley for a discussion of the remarkable and obscene events that took place at the UCLA anti-genocide encampment and an assessment of the encampment movement in the context of the neoliberal university and racial capitalism more broadly. We also talk about the role of sport in protest politics. R...

In this special non-sports episode, Nathan speaks to Columbia University graduate student Jon Ben-Menachem about the Columbia University student anti-genocide encampment. The conversation offers a primer for those less familiar with the encampment movement and an insider perspective for those who already are. Jon Ben-Menachem is a PhD candidate in Sociology at Columbia University who researches an...

David Berri joins all three hosts to unpack a subject that is perhaps as or more relevant than any other in the world of sport right now and also one we have not yet adequately explored on the show: the political economy of women’s sport. We discuss how value is produced and distributed in women’s sport, including the issue of fandom (the market of consumers) as well as questions of labor and expl...

In this episode, Derek and Nathan chat with Dr. Madeleine Orr about why any conversation about justice, harm, and sport needs to account for the unfolding climate catastrophe. Dr. Madeleine Orr is an assistant professor of sport ecology in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education at the University of Toronto focused on the intersection of sport and climate change. Dr. Orr's most recent...

Nathan is joined by Colleen English and Daniel Sailofsky to dig deep into the concepts of hegemonic and inclusive masculinities and unpack which of these concepts offers a more persuasive and accurate theoretical frame for grappling with gender in critical sports studies. Colleen English is Associate Professor and Chair of Kinesiology at Penn State Berks, where she studies the philosophy and histo...

**This episode contains discussions of sexual violence**   In this episode, Johanna offers an initial analysis of how cisgender, white, and heterosexual sexual assault and predators and sport contribute to the anti-trans movement. Where do we see this happening most clearly? Swimming, which you may have guessed if you’re familiar with the work of Frankie de la Cretaz in this article for the Nation...

This episode is an interview that friend and repeat guest of the podcast, Karleigh Chardonnay Webb, did with Johanna in August 2023. Karleigh is an Outsports contributor and co-host of the Transition Defense podcast. She interviewed Johanna to analyze Hungary's sportswashing in light of Budapest hosting the World Athletics Championship last August and the announcement that World Aquatics is moving...

**Our apologies for the audio quality of this episode; we had some technical difficulties**   Nathan sits down with the incomparable Raewyn Connell to discuss a career shaping the academic study of masculinities. They explore the concept of hegemonic masculinity, its role in sport studies, and how it has changed over time; developments in the world of women's sport; trans exclusion policies; threa...