The End of Sport

The End of Sport

Become a Paid Subscriber for EARLY access to episodes and EXTRA content: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/endofsport/subscribe In The End of Sport, academics Derek Silva, Johanna Mellis, and Nathan Kalman-Lamb provide critical commentary, analysis, and interviews on sport and society. The End of Sport Podcast raises questions about the role of sport in our daily lives and whether or not we can reimagine sport and sporting cultures in the future.

Episodes

January 13, 2025 53 mins

In this episode, Nathan has the distinct pleasure of talking to Jesse Mez of the Boston University CTE Center about his team's recent study on the prevalence of CTE among hockey players, developments in the diagnosis of the disease, and the ethical and public health implications of both violent sport and research studying head trauma, among other things.

Jesse Mez is Co-Director of Clinical Research at the Boston University CTE Cen...

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In this episode, Nathan is joined by Max Jordan Nguemeni to discuss all the ways in which college athletes are denied the academic experience they are promised as a wage in exchange for their campus athletic work. We work through the themes explored in the chapter on this topic in Nathan and Derek's new book The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game, drawing on Max's experiences tutoring athletes at Geo...

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We present this recording of the talks that comprised a panel discussion on challenges to Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting's claims to womanhood hosted by the UNB Faculty of Kinesiology on Friday, November 29th.

The Olympic boxing match in the welterweight category between Italy’s Angela Carini and Algeria’s Imane Khelif lasted less than one minute. This match sparked a firestorm, leading to misinformation and erroneous commentary rega...

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In this episode, Nathan is joined by trans participation in sport scholar and authority Anna Posbergh to discuss the abusive treatment of an athlete on the San Jose State women's volleyball team, what it says about the current state of inclusion with respect to trans participation in sport, and also how it figures into broader trends of political transphobia. We also delve into some of the actual science and why it has no relation ...

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November 5, 2024 80 mins

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 Azeb (UC Santa Cruz), Charlotte Phillip...

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October 3, 2024 58 mins
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 literally endangered Black and queer player...
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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 numerous team records, and Oakland...
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September 19, 2024 66 mins
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 LGBTQ community) and an assistant profe...
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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 Boys To Play about the history of ...
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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 Khelif and everything else in between. D...
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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 here. For Stephen and Nathan's lett...
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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 treatment of Caster Semanya. We then move o...
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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 higher education. His work has centere...
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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 Politics & Government at Pacific Univ...
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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 enact its policies when considering...
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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.   The End of Sport Podcast is a p...
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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.   The End of Sport Podcast is a p...
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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 Network, your left podcast community...
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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 member of the Palestinian Women’s N...
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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 also a Professor of Law at the Univers...
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