In Part 6 of our series, Basketball Butterfly Effect, Arya Shirazi joins the show again to discuss the 2009 NBA draft and the Knicks coming close to getting Davidson sharpshooter Steph Curry, the most revolutionary player of his generation. You don’t want to miss this episode!

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In Part 5 of our series, Basketball Butterfly Effect, Arya Shirazi joins the show again to discuss the 1993 NBA draft and a crucial trade that takes place that changes the course of 90s basketball. You don’t want to miss this episode!

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Inclusion for trans athletes in sports has become a flashpoint in the culture war that extends from schools to international competitions. Katie Barnes joins Edge of Sports to discuss their new book, Fair Play: How Sports Shape the Gender Debates, which offers one of the most comprehensive views yet on how the struggle for inclusion in the realm of sports has much wider social and political consequences. Dave Zirin also has Choice Words about why the public financing of stadiums is little more than corporate theft writ large. And on Ask a Sports Scholar we have Prof. Tracie Canada to speak about her cutting edge work about the racial economy of college football. Plus, we have a new segment called Ask Dave!

Katie Barnes

Twitter: katie_barnes3

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250276636/fairplay

Tracie Canada

Twitter: tracie_canada

https://www.traciecanada.com/

Zirin, Congressional Support for a Cease-Fire Isn’t Too Much to Ask

https://www.thenation.com/article/world/jamie-raskin-gaza-ceasefire/

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This week on the pod, we speak to Jean Jacques Taylor author of the new book Coach Prime. With near total access to Deion Sanders program at Jackson State and explains what makes Deion Deion. Also we speak to best selling author Adam Mansbach about his incredible book The Golem of Brooklyn. We also have some ‘Choice Words’ for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the NAIA.

Jean-Jacques Taylor

Twitter: JJT_Journalist

https://www.jjtmediagroup.com/?r_done=1

Adam Mansbach

Twitter: @adammansbach

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/737057/the-golem-of-brooklyn-by-adam-mansbach/

Zirin, How DeSantis Is Using Sports to Hijack a Florida College

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/new-college-sarasota-florida-desantis/

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This week on the pod, we welcome back Arya Shirazi to discuss another basketball butterfly effect: what if the NBA had handled the death of Len bias differently? How is that of affected that generation of 1980s players?

Zirin, How DeSantis Is Using Sports to Hijack a Florida College

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/new-college-sarasota-florida-desantis/

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In the early 90s, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf had a promising career ahead of him in the NBA as an up-and-coming star. That all changed in 1996 when he refused to stand for the US National Anthem and called the US flag a symbol of oppression. The NBA retaliated by suspending him, and Abdul-Rauf spent the next two decades playing exclusively for international leagues. 

On this episode of Edge of Sports, Abdul-Rauf looks back on his protest and how engaging the literature of revolutionary icons like Malcolm X influenced his decision. Elsewhere in the episode, Dave Zirin takes aim at Ron DeSantis’s use of sports to stage a political takeover at the New College of Florida, and Dr. Ron Bishop joins the show to discuss how sports media covers mental health.

Zirin, Will the UAW Picket Trump’s Rally in Detroit?

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-rally-uaw-detroit/

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Officially, hazing is illegal and unwelcome just about everywhere you turn—but it continues as an open secret in far too many fraternities, sports teams, and other institutions. The latest revelations from Northwestern University's football team are a stark reminder that we have a long way to go to uproot the culture of hazing for good. Anti-gender violence activist and documentarian Byron Hurt joins Edge of Sports for a timely discussion on the harm hazing does and how we can stop it. Dr. Neftalie Williams joins us in our Ask A Sports Scholar segment to discuss the uniqueness and global influence of skateboarding.

Zirin, September 11, 1973, Was a Warning: Democracy Can Die in a Day

https://www.thenation.com/article/world/chile-september-11-coup-anniversary/

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Chamique Holdsclaw's legendary status was apparent from the moment she entered professional sports. After helping the US National Team win the Gold Medal in the 1998 Berlin Olympics, Holdsclaw was named Rookie of the Year in her first WNBA season. Her talent on the court and success in the WNBA projected an image of stability, but away from the cameras, Holdsclaw struggled with her mental health. 

On this episode of Edge of Sports, Holdsclaw speaks frankly about her struggles with depression, bipolar disorder, and fame. Elsewhere in the episode, Dave rails against the "anti-woke" Trumpist response to the US Women's National Soccer Team's loss at the FIFA World Cup, and Dr. Abdullah Al Arian joins "Ask a Sports Scholar" to talk about soccer in the Middle East.

Zirin, Bill Walton Was Once a Trailblazing Radical

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/bill-walton-activism/

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This week on the Edge of Sports Podcast, part three of our discussion with basketball savant Arya Shirazi about basketball butterfly effects. This time we're talking what would have happened if Michael Jordan, on draft night in 1984, had not been drafted by the Chicago Bulls and had instead been selected by the Portland Trail Blazers. Also we have words about the controversy surrounding Michael Oher and the Blind Side. 

Zirin, A Soccer Triumph—Despite the Toxic Men

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/spain-world-cup-hermoso/

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This week on the Edge of Sports Podcast, part two of our discussion with basketball savant Arya Shirazi about basketball butterfly effects. This time, we're talking about what would have happened if Kobe Bryant, on draft night 1996, had not been traded to the Los Angeles Lakers and had instead been kept by the Charlotte Hornets.

Also, we have words about the controversy surrounding Michael Oher and the Blind Side. 

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This week we speak to basketball savant Arya Shirazi about what could have happened if the Detroit Pistons had drafted Carmelo Anthony instead of Darko Milicic in 2003. It would have been a profound basketball butterfly effect. I also speak about the USWNT getting bounced from the World Cup.

Zirin, Why the Right Wanted the USWNT to Lose

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/reactionary-defeatism-uswnt-world-cup-rapinoe/

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As two-time defending champions, the US is the team to beat in this year's FIFA Women's World Cup. Long considered one of the best soccer teams in the world, the US Women's National Team hasn't always been given its dues. Former captain Julie Foudy joins Edge of Sports for a look back on the evolution of women's soccer.

Zirin, Carli Lloyd’s Attacks on the USWNT Are Personal—and Political

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/carli-lloyds-attacks-on-the-uswnt-are-personal-and-political/

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The growth of the Black Lives Matter movement through the 2010s catalyzed a resurgence of Black activism in professional sports that had its climax in 2020 with the athletes' boycott following the shooting of Jacob Blake. Just a few years later, this energy seems to have dissipated. What happened, and how can we comprehend these recent events in the longer arc of Black activism in sports? Sports journalist and author Howard Bryant joins the Edge of Sports for a look at the build-up to 2020 and how many athletes' politics were co-opted in the aftermath.

Later in the show, we have Choice Words about the social cost of smartphone sports gambling becoming the economic lifeblood of sports.

And in our segment, Ask a Sports Scholar, we speak with Hofstra University Professor Brenda Elsey, whose research focuses on the development of women’s soccer internationally, as the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament approaches.

Howard Bryant is the author of ten books, including the forthcoming Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America. He has been a senior writer for ESPN since 2007 and has served as the sports correspondent for NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday since 2006.

Dr. Brenda Elsey is a professor of history at Hofstra University, where she focuses on the history of popular culture and politics in twentieth century Latin America, in addition to gender, social theory, sports, and Pan-Americanism. She is the author of Futbolera: Women and Sport in Latin America.

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The central place of sports in American life lends immense influence to athletes to shift the culture of the country—and for more than 150 years, Black athletes have done just that. Few scholars are as attuned to the intricacies of this history as renowned sociologist Dr. Harry Edwards. From his role in shaping the events of the 1968 Olympics to the politics of Colin Kaepernick, Edwards is just as much a participant in this history as a student and teacher of it. Now 80 years old, Dr. Harry Edwards joins Edge of Sports as he embarks on his "Last Lectures," a final project to close his long career as a public intellectual.

Dr. Harry Edwards is a renowned sociologist whose work examines the relationship between race, sports, and politics. He is the author of The Revolt of the Black Athlete.

Zirin, The End of the New York Times Sports Page Is a Tragedy

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/new-york-times-sports-page/

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From 1979 to 1991, the Los Angeles Lakers would become a dominant force in the world of professional basketball and in American culture more broadly. Led by coach Pat Riley and star players Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the “Showtime” era of the Lakers is still, in many ways, the standard by which other sports dynasties are measured today. On the court, in the locker room, and beyond, the legendary Lakers franchise was both a reflection and a driver of a culture, a sport, and a country undergoing seismic changes, and the HBO dramatized series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty tells the story of the larger-than-life personalities and politics that defined the Showtime era.

This week on Edge of Sports, host Dave Zirin speaks with actor Solomon Hughes about Winning Time, which is debuting its second season on August 6, and about stepping into the role of playing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar himself. Later in this episode, Zirin shares some choice words on the Oakland A’s and Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred; then, in “Ask a Sports Scholar,” we talk with Amira Rose Davis, assistant professor in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas-Austin, about her forthcoming book “Can’t Eat a Medal”: The Lives and Labors of Black Women Athletes in the Age of Jim Crow.

Michael Lee

Twitter: @MiraRose88

https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/michael-lee/

Zirin, The Megan Rapinoe Era Only Ends When We Stop Fighting Back

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/megan-rapinoe-retirement/

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Body: The year 1968 was a time of rebellion across the US and the wider world. Tremendous demonstrations and rebellions shook American cities in opposition to the Vietnam War, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and the arrest of Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party. Amidst this tumult, two athletes, John Carlos and Tommie Smith, captured the spirit of the times by raising their fists at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics after placing first and third in the 200-meter dash. 45 years later, Dr. John Carlos is still with us—but many of his contemporaries have passed on. Dr. John Carlos joins Edge of Sports for a look back on the lives of Jimmy Hines, Ralph Boston, Herb Douglas, Harry Belafonte, Tina Turner, and Jim Brown.

Elsewhere in this episode of Edge of Sports, Dr. Maria Veri, co-author of Gridiron Gourmet: Gender and Food at the Football Tailgate, joins to discuss the gender politics of tailgating culture. Dave Zirin also dives into the recently leaked details of a Professional Golfers' Association merger with the Saudi Arabian LIV Golf tour.

Zirin, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” by Frederick Douglass

https://www.thenation.com/authors/dave-zirin/

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After four years as a professional linebacker for football teams in the U.S. and Canada, Aaron Maybin put down his helmet and picked up a range of new hats off the gridiron. As a public school teacher, artist, and activist, Maybin's best days are still yet to come. Aaron Maybin joins Edge of Sports for a wide-ranging conversation on the boxes athletes get placed in, racism within the NFL, and his life after football.

Zirin, “I Write Things I Cannot Play”: The Secret of Liz Phair

https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/liz-phair-interview/

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In this episode of Edge of Sports, host Dave Zirin highlights two takes on the gender politics of sports culture. Dr. Cheryl Cooky joins the Ask a Sports Scholar segment to discuss the history of sports and gender equality, as well as her book, No Slam Dunk: Gender, Sport, and the Unevenness of Social Change. Finally, W. Kamau Bell climbs aboard for a special interview looking back on his career as a media personality, from the early days of Totally Biased to United Shades of America.

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This week we look with the great Washington Post journalist Michael Lee at what makes the Denver Nuggets and their star player Nikola Jokic so special. Also, I have a lot of “Choice Words” about the passing of Jim Brown. 

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On this week's episode of the Edge of Sports podcast, we talk to Prof. Louis Moore, author of "We Will Win The Day," about Lamar Jackson's new contract, the NFL Draft, and what both say about the state of the Black Q.B. in the NFL.

I have some Choice Words about France on the precipice of both the Olympics and social chaos. We've got a Just Stand Up award for Miami Heat legend, Dwyane Wade, for his courage in the face of the anti-trans bigotry his family has been facing, which caused them to leave the state of Florida. We also have and Just Sit Down awards for the cowardly silence from some of the biggest stars in the Florida sports community.

Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe. 

Lou Moore

Twitter: @loumoore12

https://www.profloumoore.com/

Zirin, The Protests in France Are About to Collide With the 2024 Paris Olympics

https://www.thenation.com/article/world/paris-france-olympics-protests/

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