Going Deep: Sports in the 21st Century

Going Deep: Sports in the 21st Century speak with Meghann Burke, executive director of the National Women's Soccer League Player's Association

Going Deep: Sports in the 21st Century

It's our annual Super Bowl episode - but this one comes in stages. The day after John and our show's producer recorded it, former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL alleging racial discrimination, sham interviews for coaching positions, and more. We recorded a second time to include that in the show, plus we also feature part of an earlier Going Deep episode where John and Marcia explained why coaching in the pros is far more difficult than in college.

In this episode of Going Deep, our hosts go back to an issue they've spent much of their recent years discussing - concussions in contact sports. They catch up with two engineers - Eric Nauman and Tom Talavadge - whom they first met while John was coaching at Purdue University. They've talked with Eric and Tom before about their work on microconcussions, and they get the latest on what the pair have discovered in their research, and how it can be applied to sports like football.

This episode of Going Deep goes deep into our archives for two conversations that are just as topical now as they were when they were recorded in 2018 - Origin Stories Part 1 & Part 2 , and The Coaching Rollercoaster . (Music featured includes Darn That Weasel and Fern And Andy by Blue Dot Sessions and Warm Morning by Ketsa)

This episode is not really about Jon Gruden, whom John Shoop worked for with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004. It isn't really about Bruce Allen either, who was the general manager of that team. It isn't about the email exchanges between Gruden and Allen that were recently revealed that led to Gruden's resignation as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders on October 11th, 2021. They're all just actors in the play. This episode of Going Deep is really about the characteristics of white supremacy culture , as defined by Tema Okun. (Music featured includes Morning Colorwheel by Blue Dot Sessions and Angle Of Light by David Hilowitz)

In their last episode , John and Marcia only scratched the surface about mental health in sports. They go deeper in this show, and they bring in an expert to help - sports social worker Natalie Graves of Chicago. (Music featured includes Steppin' In by Podington Bear)

In this episode of Going Deep, our hosts take some time to slow down and dive into two topics in the sports world which are getting varying degrees of news coverage - athlete mental health (a lot) and race-norming in the NFL (very little). (Music featured includes Brain by Lobo Loco)

Our hosts tackle a topic they've long wanted to in this episode - youth sports - and in particular, the trend toward having teens specialize in one sport at younger and younger ages. Their guests include Jon Solomon of the Aspen Institute, which will release a 'children's bill of rights in sports' on August 12th. Three members of the city of Asheville's parks and recreation department also join the program to discuss what's happening locally. (Music featured includes Don't Listen To The Words They Say and Summer Pride by Loyalty Freak Music)

On July 23rd, the 2020 Summer Olympics get underway a year late in Tokyo. Because of COVID-19, these games are already unlike any other in the history of the Olympics. To get ready for the games, our hosts showcase plenty of stories and facts from Olympic history - some well-known, and many not. Their guest is David Wallechinsky, who wrote the definitive history of the Olympics The Complete Book of the Olympics , and served as president of the International Society of Olympic Historians from 2012 to 2020. (Music featured includes Lonely Punk by Joika, Calm by Borrtex, and Secret Latch by Yan Terrien)

On July 1st, six states will see 'name, image, and likeness' bills go onto the books - allowing collegiate players for the first time to make money during their college careers. Will others follow suit, or will the NCAA be able to hold off the changes as it has since the verdict in the Ed O'Bannon case? John and Marcia speak with Micahel McCann. He's a professor at the University of New Hampshire, and a writer for Sportico . (Music featured includes Hip Hop Instrumental 1 and Hip Hop Instrumental 2 by Ketsa)

In this episode of Going Deep, we mark the beginning of the minor league baseball season this week with an episode that looks at the growing differences between the minors and college baseball. Our guests include the manager of the Asheville Tourists Nate Shaver, and the head baseball coach at UNC Asheville Scott Friedholm. And for the first time, we take questions from our listeners! (Music featured includes I'm Fat by Blanket Music and Elmore Heights by Blue Dot Sessions)

Rusell Dinkins ran track at Princeton. He knows firsthand how the sport can help Black athletes get into college. That's why he's made it his mission to stop universities from around the country from cutting track & field and cross country programs - like at Brown , William & Mary, and Minnesota. Dinkins joins our hosts to talk about his latest fight - to save track & field at Clemson #SaveClemsonXCTF (Music featured includes Skip Street by Chad Crouch)

In February of 2020, Alex Gary was announced as the new athletic director at Western Carolina University. By the time the former Catamount baseball player started the job a few months later, the whole world had changed. Gary recounts his first year as AD in this episode with John and Marcia, and what it was like to address all the challenges that arose. He's the first Black athletic director at both Western Carolina and the Southern Conference. (Music featured includes Le Vrai by Brakhage and Limelight by Podington Bear)

Super Bowl 55 takes place Sunday in Tampa, Florida. It closes a season like no other in the NFL - something just about everyone can say for themselves too. Our hosts in their annual Super Bowl episode talk how the league responded to the pandemic, plus how the results of the NFL's call for more diverse head coaches remain lackluster - a discussion that pivots to the language white people use when talking about race. (Music featured includes FAWM9 by Damon Boucher and Cherry by nctrnm)

For Going Deep's first episode of 2021, John and Marcia delve deeper into the focus of their show - how sports in the U.S. mirrors American society. Just a few hours after we taped their discussion - which mostly focused on college sports - the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol only underscored our hosts' message further. (Music featured includes Atmosphere and We Are Saved by Borrtex)

For this episode of Going Deep: Sports in the 21st Century, we dip into our archives for a previously two-part show where John and Marcia tell us the story of the greatest quarterback you never knew. (Music featured includes Left The Building by Joika and Partisan by Yshwa)

In this episode of Going Deep, John and Marcia talk with Daniel Libit and Luke Cyphers the founders of The Intercollegiate . It's an online media outlet that focuses on investigative college sports journalism and analysis. (Music featured includes Pre-Game Warmup by Audiobinger)

The stature of athletes has always been apparent. But how much power do they actually have in achieving social change? Bomani Jones examined this in an August 2020 article in Vanity Fair. The ESPN host and podcaster joins John & Marcia to talk about the power of athletes in this episode. (Music featured includes The Author Never Dies by Nihilore)

As a rookie linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers in 2014, Chris Borland registered 107 tackles, even though he didn't start until Week 7. He was even NFL Rookie of the Week that year. With a seemingly long and successful career in the league in front of him, Borland retired after his rookie season over concerns about long-term brain trauma. He joins John & Marcia discuss why he stepped away from football, plus his-post NFL life of preaching the benefits of meditation and his internship with former president Jimmy Carter's foundation. (Music featured includes Let's Be Serious A Second by Loyalty Freak Music)

Two of the 'Power 5' NCAA conferences - the Big 10 and Pac 12 - have already postponed their football seasons due to the pandemic. The three others - the ACC, Big 12, and SEC - are forging ahead...for now. Should there be a season? Dr. Victoria Jackson says asking that glosses over so much of what ails college athletics and the athletes themselves. She's a professor of sports history and religious studies at Arizona State University, and former college athlete herself at UNC Chapel Hill. She and the Shoops discuss her column published earlier this summer in the Boston Globe. (Music featured includes Running Away and Impulsing by Borrtex)

We at Going Deep had to take some time off due to the pandemic, but we're back with a new show in a newly-expanded time slot. The twin pandemics affecting the U.S. - racial injustice and the coronavirus - intersect with sports in so many ways. The Shoops examined that in an op-ed for the News & Observer this summer. In this episode, John and Marcia discuss those intersections with Dr. Deb Stroman, a professor at UNC Chapel Hill and former college basketball player at the University of Virginia. She wrote a piece for Medium called "The Ultimate Guide to Selecting an Historically White College and University for the Elite Black Athlete." (Music featured includes Sane by Monplaisir and Main Theme by Borrtex)

A fundamental question - not just in sports but life - is 'what is fair?' Our hosts are going to start looking for answers. John begins by looking at 'what is fair' in baseball, a sport that has to be asking that question now given the Houston Astros cheating scandal, which seems to produce new revelations each day. His guest is former MLB manager Clint Hurdle. (Music featured includes Gizmo by Podington Bear)

This is our third annual Super Bowl episode of Going Deep. One topic in these shows has been constant - race. Ahead of Super Bowl 54, we look at the NFL's Rooney Rule, and how the number of minority head coaches in the NFL has decreased over the last decade. We also examine gender roles in football. (Music featured includes Enchanted Forest by Audiobinger and Atmosphere by Borrtex)

This episode of Going Deep picks up where the last one left off, with Olympic hopeful and NCAA Division III steeplechase record holder Annie Rodenfels commenting on the Alberto Salazar scandal. She and our hosts discuss the unfortunate significance of body types in women's running, and the rigors of training at an elite level. (Music featured includes Coin Op by Chad Crouch)

The world is learning more about women's elite running. Unfortunately, that's due in part to the Alberto Salazar scandal, but there is far more to the sport than that. And in this episode, our hosts delve into the world of women's elite running with NCAA Champion, NCAA Division III steeplechase record holder and Olympic hopeful Annie Rodenfels. She shares how she got into running, and how training, coaching, and inner will pushed her to records during her time at Center College. While at the school, she broke running records that were once held by our co-host Marcia Mount Shoop. (Music featured includes Amoeba by Head Vs. Wall)

We continue the conversation from our last episode on the October 29th, 2019 decision by the NCAA's top governing board to allow college athletes the opportunity to 'benefit' from the name, image, and likeness while in school. After John and Marcia finish scrutinizing the bullet points the NCAA put out after its decision, they focus on two factors that play into the collegiate sports model - race and geography. (Music featured includes Kumaon Foothills by Scanglobe)

On October 29, 2019, the NCAA's top governing board voted unanimously to allow college athletes 'the opportunity to benefit' from their name, image, and likeness while they're in school. That sentence - plus the bullet points that follow it in the NCAA release - have John and Marcia skeptical...very skeptical. They express that skepticism and why they have it in the first of two episodes on the topic. (Music featured includes Clusticus The Mistaken by Doctor Turtle)

California's Senate Bill 206 - which allows college athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness while in school - could be the legislation that breaks the NCAA prohibition on player compensation. It passed both chambers of the California State Legislature unanimously in September, before being signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom. Given their history in fighting for player's rights, both of our hosts are quite excited by this. In this episode, John and Marcia talk with Ramogi Huma, a former UCLA football player who is the executive director of the National College Players Association (NCPA). He helped push the California bill into law. (Music featured includes Orange Eventide by Brevyn)

This episode is Going Deep's 50th show! Well...at least this version of the show. John and Marcia started Going Deep when they were in West Lafayette, Indiana. In this episode, we trace how they made their way to Asheville, and look back at the guests and issues that have really stuck with them since Going Deep started coming out of Blue Ridge Public Radio's studios. (Music featured includes P Flunked Fun by Podington Bear)

The 2019 NFL season starts without one of the league's star players. Two weeks before the season was set to begin, Andrew Luck announced his retirement from the game after just seven seasons. The 29-year-old Indianapolis Colts quarterback's decision stunned the sport and fans. This episode sifts through the reaction - including booing from fans - to look at the physical and mental toll the sport takes on NFL players, before concluding with a beatifully thought-provoking response from Marcia to the question 'What is a fan owed?" (Music featured includes In Pursuit Of Silence by Daniel Birch)

In this episode, our hosts continue their conversation with Dr. Joseph Cooper, author of the book From Exploitation Back To Empowerment: Black Male Holistic (Under)Development Through Sport And (Mis)Education. They focus on 'special admissions' that universities use to admit athletes - and how that really hurts and not helps the people who get them. (Music featured includes Broken Soul Blues by Squire Tuck)

The Shoops welcome Dr. Joseph Cooper to the show in this episode, which focuses on his book From Exploitation Back To Empowerment: Black Male Holistic (Under)Development Through Sport And (Mis)Education. Their conversation is so in-depth and engrossing that we've split it into two episodes. In the first, Dr. Cooper talks about his upbringing and how it led him to write a book about how major revenue college sports exploit African-American males in particular. (Music featured includes Aim by Nctrnm)

On July 7th, 2019, the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team won its second consecutive World Cup title. Their dominant run in the tournament sparked some controversy, but even that only underscored what a cultural force the team has become, not just in the U.S. but globally. In this episode we examine how that came be, and how a very well-known law helped women's soccer in the U.S. (Music featured includes Skip Street by Chad Crouch)

John Beilein is the latest big name college coach to jump from the NCAA to the NBA, moving from the University of Michigan to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The college to pros pipeline has always seen a lot of action for the NFL and NBA. But which level is more challenging to coach at - college or the pros? One of our hosts has done both, and he shares his answer. (Music featured includes You Wasted My Time When I Was Timewasting by Podington Bear)

With the month of June over, that means all four major North American sports leagues have conducted their annual player drafts. With that fresh in our minds, John & Marcia sat down with BPR's Matt Bush to figure which of the four drafts is most fair to players, and which one they would want to enter if they had the choice. (Music featured includes Vienna Jazz by Dee Yan-Key)

With the month of June over, that means all four major North American sports leagues have conducted their annual player drafts. With that fresh in our minds, John & Marcia sat down with BPR's Matt Bush to figure which of the four drafts is most fair to players, and which one they would want to enter if they had the choice. (Music featured includes Vienna Jazz by Dee Yan-Key)

With the month of June over, that means all four major North American sports leagues have conducted their annual player drafts. With that fresh in our minds, John & Marcia sat down with BPR's Matt Bush to figure which of the four drafts is most fair to players, and which one they would want to enter if they had the choice. (Music featured includes Vienna Jazz by Dee Yan-Key)

The 2019 NFL Draft takes place from April 25th to the 27th. This episode doesn't focus on who's going to get picked and where. Instead, it examines the language used to evaluate players - and John's chilling realization about one aspect of the draft combine process that resembles the darkest chapters of American history. (Music featured includes Light Blue by Alan Spiljak)

The 2019 NFL Draft takes place from April 25th to the 27th. This episode doesn't focus on who's going to get picked and where. Instead, it examines the language used to evaluate players - and John's chilling realization about one aspect of the draft combine process that resembles the darkest chapters of American history. (Music featured includes Light Blue by Alan Spiljak)

The 2019 NFL Draft takes place from April 25th to the 27th. This episode doesn't focus on who's going to get picked and where. Instead, it examines the language used to evaluate players - and John's chilling realization about one aspect of the draft combine process that resembles the darkest chapters of American history. (Music featured includes Light Blue by Alan Spiljak)

Where does all the revenue go? Marcia asked that at the end of our previous episode , and we start our second annual Final Four show by answering that question. Later on we get Machiavellian, and ask whether the end justified the means about the head coaches of two schools appearing in the 2019 men's Final Four. (Music featured includes No Noise Nose by Macchiato Funky)

Where does all the revenue go? Marcia asked that at the end of our previous episode , and we start our second annual Final Four show by answering that question. Later on we get Machiavellian, and ask whether the end justified the means about the head coaches of two schools appearing in the 2019 men's Final Four. (Music featured includes No Noise Nose by Macchiato Funky)

Where does all the revenue go? Marcia asked that at the end of our previous episode , and we start our second annual Final Four show by answering that question. Later on we get Machiavellian, and ask whether the end justified the means about the head coaches of two schools appearing in the 2019 men's Final Four. (Music featured includes No Noise Nose by Macchiato Funky)

The 2019 NCAA Men's basketball tournament will undoubtedly be remembered for many things. One of them happened early on the first full day of the tournament. As Michigan State struggled to put away underdog Bradley, Spartans head coach Tom Izzo started yelling at freshman star Aaron Henry as he approached the bench during a timeout. Izzo became so heated as he yelled that Spartan players had to restrain him. The controversy it sparked may have been predictable, bouncing between those who felt it was just old-fashioned hard coaching, and others who saw it as bullying. Our hosts at the start of this episode seek to put the incident in a greater context and perspective - not just in coaching and college athletics, but our society as a whole. (Music featured includes Safe As Houses by Daniel Birch)

The 2019 NCAA Men's basketball tournament will undoubtedly be remembered for many things. One of them happened early on the first full day of the tournament. As Michigan State struggled to put away underdog Bradley, Spartans head coach Tom Izzo started yelling at freshman star Aaron Henry as he approached the bench during a timeout. Izzo became so heated as he yelled that Spartan players had to restrain him. The controversy it sparked may have been predictable, bouncing between those who felt it was just old-fashioned hard coaching, and others who saw it as bullying. Our hosts at the start of this episode seek to put the incident in a greater context and perspective - not just in coaching and college athletics, but our society as a whole. (Music featured includes Safe As Houses by Daniel Birch)

The 2019 NCAA Men’s basketball tournament will undoubtedly be remembered for many things. One of them happened early on the first full day of the tournament. As Michigan State struggled to put away underdog Bradley, Spartans head coach Tom Izzo started yelling at freshman star Aaron Henry as he approached the bench during a timeout. Izzo became so heated as he yelled that Spartan players had to restrain him. The controversy it sparked may have been predictable, bouncing between those who felt it was just old-fashioned hard coaching, and others who saw it as bullying. Our hosts at the start of this episode seek to put the incident in a greater context and perspective – not just in coaching and college athletics, but our society as a whole. (Music featured includes Safe As Houses by Daniel Birch)

In February 2019, Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid reached a financial settlement with the NFL over their grievances following the 'Take A Knee' protests that garnered so much attention and controversy. What message does the settlement send? John and Marcia decided to bring that up with the man they first talked to about the 'Take A Knee' protests on the show, Washington Post columnist and ESPN contributor Kevin Blackistone. (Music featured Please Wake Up by Meydan and Princess Cheese Burger by Komiku)

In the second part of their conversation with Maurice Clarett, John and Marcia examine what happened to the star running back after he was kicked out of Ohio State University. Clarett was selected in the NFL Draft but cut a short time later after not making an impact on the field. He wound up in prison in 2006, but jail was far from the final chapter in his life. This episode finishes with Maurice offering a piece of advice to all young athletes - advice that caught our hosts off-guard in the best way possible. (Music featured includes The Upper Room and Memories by Audiobinger)

When attending the premiere of the HBO documentary 'Student Athlete' last year, John & Marcia met someone who's a familiar name to even the most casual college football fan - Maurice Clarett. While many know who he is, few know his real story. Maurice certainly does, and he shares it with our hosts. This episode examines his his recruitment to Ohio State University and leading the Buckeyes to the 2002 national championship in his freshman year. Clarett was kicked out the school a year later because of NCAA violations, which he also details on the show. (Music featured includes Cabin Fever by Audiobinger)