This week, we recap the Super Bowl with Melissa Jacobs from The Football Girl and host of The Football Girl Podcast. The Philadelphia Eagles sure didn’t consider social justice a distraction en route to the Super Bowl. What’s next for both the Eagles and the New England Patriots?

During Choice Words, we examine how the Eagles used their platform to speak out for others and still came out on top – yes, you can do both. The City of Brotherly Love is where you’ll find our Just Stand Up Award and as for Dodge, what were you thinking misusing Martin Luther King’s words? Sit Your Ass Down! As always, we’ve got a Kaepernick watch and more on this week’s show!

Melissa Jacobs, Founder of TheFootballGirl.com and host of The Football Girl Podcast
Follow on Twitter @thefootballgirl

Dave Zirin, The Eagles’ Super Bowl Win Shows That Having a Conscience Does Not Distract From Winning the Game
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-eagles-super-bowl-win-shows-that-having-a-conscience-does-not-distract-from-winning-the-game/

—
/ | http://twitter.com/EdgeOfSportsPod | http://fb.com/edgeofsportspod | email us: edgeofsports@gmail.com | Edge of Sports hotline: 401-426-3343 (EDGE)

—
Music: Eye Examination - Del the Funky Homosapien |  All I Know - DJ Jazzy Jeff | Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down) - Hamilton Soundtrack | Slippery - Migos | 2 AM - Rapsody Ft Ab Soul | Let Me Blow Ya Mind - Eve | Dreams and Nightmares - Meek Mill | The Wire Theme

This is a good one. We speak to ESPN the Magazine’s Howard Bryant about his forthcoming book “The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism.” Bryant explores the development of the black athlete over the last 75 years, including the changing social and political dynamics.

We also have a Choice Words segment that looks back at the year that was in sports and politics, and the backlash that followed the historic groundswell of protests. We also have a Just Stand Up award for McKayla Maroney for her courage in coming forward to tell the truth about USA Gymnastics, a Just Sit Down award to Jerry Richardson after a startling expose in Sports Illustrated, and our last Kaepernick Watch of 2017. All that and more!

Howard Bryant, ESPN Columnist

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hbryant42

https://www.amazon.com/Heritage-Athletes-Divided-Politics-Patriotism/dp/0807026999

Zirin, 2017 in Sports and Politics: The Return of the Backlash

https://www.thenation.com/article/2017-in-sports-and-politics-the-return-of-the-backlash/

—

/ | http://twitter.com/EdgeOfSportsPod | http://fb.com/edgeofsportspod | email us: edgeofsports@gmail.com | Edge of Sports hotline: 401-426-3343 (EDGE)

—

Support our Patreon at: www.patreon.com/edgeofsportspod

—

Music: Eye Examination - Del the Funky Homosapien | Can’t Truss It - Public Enemy | Song of the Underground Railroad - John Coltrane | Lean Back - Fat Joe | Trillionaire - Bun B | Fall in Love - Slum Village | All Night - Chance the Rapper Feat. Knox Fortune | Ain’t No Sunshine - DMX | All Black - Big L | Stakes Is High - De La Soul | The Wire Theme

Fresh off his Netflix Special, America Is The Greatest Country in the United States, Judah Friedlander takes a stab at defining American exceptionalism through humor. Friedlaner, a major soccer fan, also explains how and why the USA didn’t qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

I’ve got some Choice Words about the importance of Kaepernick to fighters for Social Justice. Lastly, we listen to the words of Breanna Stewart – her exclusive response to Edge of Sports – about why she joined the #MeToo movement, as read by my mom.

Judah Friedlander, ComedianTwitter: @JudahWorldChamp Website | Watch His Netflix Special

Zirin, Why Colin Kaepernick Matters So Muchhttps://www.thenation.com/article/why-colin-kaepernick-matters-so-much/

— / | http://twitter.com/EdgeOfSportsPod | http://fb.com/edgeofsportspod | email us: edgeofsports@gmail.com | Edge of Sports hotline: 401-426-3343 (EDGE)

— Music: Examination - Del the Funky Homosapien | Red Hot - Jurassic 5 | Jockin’ My Style - Craig Mack | Centuries - Fall Out Boy | Papaya (AirDice Remix) - Leander Janik Lilli | How’s It Goin’ Down - DMX | Apollo Kids - Ghostface Killah | Home Game - Souls of Mischief | The Wire Theme

We speak to three-time gold medalist and civil rights attorney Nancy Hogshead-Makar about how the #MeToo movement is shaping the world of sports as well as her own work in shedding light on sexual abuse in the field of athletics over the years. We look at the big picture of sexual violence in sports while also getting into the legal weeds. I cannot imagine a more important topic for this moment or a better person with whom to discuss all of this.

Additionally, I have some Choice Words about Jerry Jones and whether he’s all bark no bite, a Just Stand Up award to McKayla Maroney for coming forward, and we travel cross the pond for our Just Sit Down award. All that and much more!

Nancy Hogshead-Makar
Twitter: @Hogshead3Au
Website
http://www.espn.com/espnw/voices/article/21127152/nancy-hogshead-makar-metoo-shows-need-tighter-rules-club-olympic-sports

Zirin, Looks Like Jerry Jones Isn’t Going to Punish His Players for Protesting After All
https://www.thenation.com/article/jerry-jones-isnt-going-to-punish-dallas-cowboys-players-for-protesting-after-all/

—
/ | http://twitter.com/EdgeOfSportsPod | http://fb.com/edgeofsportspod | email us: edgeofsports@gmail.com | Edge of Sports hotline: 401-426-3343 (EDGE)

—
Music: Examination - Del the Funky Homosapien | What More Can I Say - Jay-Z | Brick House - The Commodores | Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves - Eurythmics Feat. Aretha Franklin | Top Back - T.I. | Slow Down - Brand Nubian | What a Job - Devin the Dude Feat. Snoop Dogg & Andre 3000 | Praise You - Fatboy Slim | FU-GEE-LAA - The Fugees | The Nosebleed Section - Hilltop Hoods | Pants - Here Come the Mummies | The Wire Theme

This week, three generations of activist athletes take the stage at Wake Forest University. It’s me your Edge of Sports host Dave Zirin, interviewing 1968 Olympic legend John Carlos, former NBA player - who knows something about being “blackballed” - Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, and Olympian Ibtihaj Muhammad. If only there was something to talk about in the world of sports and politics.

Also, I have some choice words about what the NFL players truly won after their meeting this week with NFL owners.

Special thanks to Melissa Harris-Perry, Shanta Covington and Rolisa Tutwiler at Wake Forest.

Dr. John Carlos, ‘68 Olympian
READ: The John Carlos Story

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Former NBA Player
Follow on Twitter

Ibtihaj Muhammad, USA Fencing Olympic Medalist
Follow on Twitter

Zirin, Colin Kaepernick Was Mocked and Threatened for Taking a Knee. He’s Also Winning.
https://www.thenation.com/article/colin-kaepernick-was-mocked-and-threatened-for-taking-a-knee-hes-also-winning/

—
/ | http://twitter.com/EdgeOfSportsPod | http://fb.com/edgeofsportspod | email us: edgeofsports@gmail.com | Edge of Sports hotline: 401-426-3343 (EDGE)

—
Music: Examination - Del the Funky Homosapien | Super Lyrical - Big Pun Feat. Black Thought | Mental Flux - Clokworx | Power of Equality - Red Hot Chili Peppers | MC’s Act Like They Don’t Know - KRS One | Git Up Git Out - Outkast Feat. Goodie Mobb | Hot Sex - A Tribe Called Quest | Keep it Thoro - Prodigy | NBA (Never Broke Again) - Joe Budden Feat. Wiz Khalifa & French Montana | The Wire Theme

This week, we speak to NBL MVP and former NBA player Royce White about mental health and what collusion looks like, in light of the recent news about Colin Kaepernick’s NFL lawsuit. Also, we have Just Stand Up and Just Sit Your Ass Down awards, a Kaepernick Watch that explores the politics of collusion, and a brilliant poem about sports, politics, and race written and read by Tariq Toure.

Royce White, London Lightning
Website
How Royce White Became the Most Important Basketball Player Alive
Follow on Twitter

Zirin, Player Protests Are Not a Spectator Sport
https://www.thenation.com/article/player-protests-are-not-a-spectator-sport/

—
/ | http://twitter.com/EdgeOfSportsPod | http://fb.com/edgeofsportspod | email us: edgeofsports@gmail.com | Edge of Sports hotline: 401-426-3343 (EDGE)

—
Music: Examination - Del the Funky Homosapien | This Girl - Kungs vs Cookin’ on 3 Burners | Muddy Waters - LP | Every Single Piece - Redondo Bolier feat. She Keeps Bees | Hold You Down - The Alchemist | Oh No - Mos Def Feat. Pharoahe Monch & Nate Dogg | Organ Donor - DJ Shadow | Hate - Blaq Poet | Earth - MF Grimm | Guillotine (Swordz) - Raekwon | The Wire Theme 

This week, on the Edge of Sports Podcast, we talk foreign policy with 10-year NFL veteran Donté Stallworth. Also, I’ve got some choice words about the racist attack on LeBron James’ home. In addition, we have a very special Kaepernick Watch with the biggest doozy of an excuse for why the quarterback has not been signed. Lastly, we have a letter from an Edge of Sports listener, that I will read, about the use of the word “blackballing.”

Donté Stallworth, 10-year NFL Veteran WR
Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DonteStallworth

Zirin, Even LeBron James Can’t Escape This Toxic Wave of Racist Hatred
https://www.thenation.com/article/even-lebron-james-cant-escape-toxic-wave-racist-hatred/

—
/ | http://twitter.com/EdgeOfSportsPod | http://fb.com/edgeofsportspod | https://www.instagram.com/edgeofsportspod | email us: edgeofsports@gmail.com | Edge of Sports hotline: 401-426-3343 (EDGE)

—
Music: Intergalactic - The Beastie Boys | Eye Examination - Del the Funky Homosapien | I’m Broke - Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears | Live Your Life - T.I. featuring Rihanna | We Didn’t Start the Fire - Vitamin String Quartet | Hell on Earth - Mobb Deep | Tonite - DJ Quik | Studio - Schoolboy Q | How We Do - The Game | Memories Live - Reflection Eternal | The Wire Outro

This week we speak to the lead football scout for Bleacher Report, former Sports Illustrated football scribe, Doug Farrar. We talk about his extensive scouting of Colin Kaepernick as well as how a blackballing works in the NFL.

We also have an extended clap-back at Stephen A. Smith for his ugly remarks about Michael Bennett – plus, Bennett’s response. Finally, I have some choice words about Robert Mueller’s appointment to investigate Donald Trump, by looking at his time overseeing the investigation of the NFL.

Doug Farrar | Bleacher Report, NFL Lead Scout
Follow on Twitter: @BR_DougFarrar

—
/ | http://twitter.com/EdgeOfSportsPod | http://fb.com/edgeofsportspod | https://www.instagram.com/edgeofsportspod | email us: edgeofsports@gmail.com | Edge of Sports hotline: 401-426-3343 (EDGE)

–
Music: Sunday Morning - k-OS | Eye Examination - Del the Funky Homosapien | Behold - Grayskul | Immortal - Panacea | The Worlds Gone Mad - Handsome Boy Modeling School | The Real Slim Shady - Eminem | Dance with the Devil - Immortal Technique | Oasis (ft. Foxes) - Kygo | Show Me How to Live - Audioslave | The Creator - Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth | Guess Who’s Back - Scarface | 2 Dope Boys in a Cadillac | Everything is Everything - Lauryn Hill | The Wire Outro

John Cusack is a renowned actor, best known for classics like Being John Malkovich, Better Off Dead, Say Anything, and for my money, the greatest sports movie of all time, Eight Men Out. Cusack is also a serious political thinker with a new book “Things That Can and Cannot Be Said: Essays and Conversations,” co-written with Indian author Arundhati Roy about a range of subjects from patriotism, war, resistance, and empire – most centrally a reflection on a trip Cusack took with Roy and famed whistleblower of the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg to meet with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. We speak with Cusack on his book, his beloved Chicago Cubs, patriotism, the anthem protests of Colin Kaepernick and I slip in a couple of movie questions as well. I also have some “choice words” about Kaepernick’s first start of the season in Buffalo and “Just Stand Up” awards go to Wisconsin Badger Nigel Hayes and LA Dodger Adrian Gonzalez.

Things that Can and Cannot Be Said: Essays and Conversations by Arundhati Roy and John Cusack http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Things-That-Can-and-Cannot-Be-Said

Freedom of the Press Foundation https://freedom.press/

‘The Woke Tailgate’: The Brave of Buffalo Kneel in Solidarity With Colin Kaepernick https://www.thenation.com/article/the-woke-tailgate-the-brave-of-buffalo-kneel-in-solidarity-with-colin-kaepernick/
—
| http://twitter.com/edgeofsports | http://fb.com/edgeofsportspod | email us: edgeofsports@slate.com
—
music: “The Magnificent Seven” by The Clash http://www.theclash.com/ | “Coolie Dance Riddim” - Cordell “Scatta” Burrell | “Step Into a World (Rapture’s Delight)” - KRS-ONE (Jesse West production) | The Swanky Modes (Sam Moore and Junior Walker) - Ordinary Man (Tapeheads Soundtrack) | “In Your Eyes” - Peter Gabriel (Orchestral version) http://petergabriel.com |   “Hail Mary” & “Keep Ya Head Up” - 2Pac (Hurt-M-Badd & DJ Daryl production) | “All the Way Up” - Fay Joe & Remy Ma (Edsclusive Cool & Dre production) | “Slow Down” - Brand Nubian

(Image from The Nation by Karl-Raphael Blanchard)

The Olympics are here and as I head to Rio, Edge of Sports has David W. Larkin, an attorney who focuses on the corruption of sports organizations like the International Olympic Committee, about the decision to not suspend Russia from the Olympics. We ask him which is more corrupt: the IOC or FIFA? His analysis may surprise you. We also have some “choice words” about the Rio Olympics - of course - and why ten years ago, almost no one thought having Brazil as a host was a bad idea. But I start the show by speaking about the Khan family, and remember when a Gold Star Mother was attacked ten years ago because she stood up to the war that took her son’s life. I speak about Cindy Sheehan. The Just Stand Up award goes to activist WNBA players who refused to bow to NBA and WNBA chiefs Adam Silver and Lisa Borders, and won.

David W. Larkin, esq. https://twitter.com/SportCorruption
Larkin’s talk at the American Bar Association Meeting: “Corruption’s New Arena: International Sports in a Post-FIFA World” 3:30 PM Moscone Center West, 3rd Floor, Room 3014, San Francisco, CA
Court of Arbitration for Sport http://www.tas-cas.org/en/index.html
Zirin columns:
The Last Dance: On Heading to Olympic Rio https://www.thenation.com/article/the-last-dance-on-heading-to-olympic-rio/
Budget Failures, Displacement, Zika—Welcome to Rio’s $11.9B Summer Olympics https://www.thenation.com/article/budget-failures-displacement-zika-welcome-to-rios-11-9b-summer-olympics/
The Problem With the International Olympic Committee’s Decision on Russia https://www.thenation.com/article/the-problem-with-the-the-international-olympic-committees-decision-on-russia/
—
This week’s poll question: Are you watching the Olympics this year? Or are the stories about Rio overwhelming your ability to love the events themselves?  Call 401-426-EDGE (3343) and leave us a message.
—
| http://twitter.com/edgeofsports | http://fb.com/edgeofsportspod | email us: edgeofsports@slate.com
—
music: No TV No Radio - Peace https://soundcloud.com/notvnoradio, The Captain - The Bossa Fella’s Funk http://thecaptain.it, The Kount - Jupiter https://soundcloud.com/the-kount