The Power of Sports: Recent Episodes
Aaron L. Miller, PhD
The Power of Sports Podcast is a place to explore how and why sports play such an instrumental role in so many people’s lives. My main goal is to demonstrate the power of sports by interviewing guests who share in my passion for sports, as players, coaches, and as fans, and to have a great time in the process. Sports can serve as powerful tools of positive and progressive social change, which is why I interview the people who are making that change reality. I hope you enjoy it!
Dr. Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff is a historian, speaker, and consultant working at the intersection of global sports, communications, and diplomacy. She specializes in Franco-United States relations through sports, is the author of Basketball Empire: France and the Making of a Global NBA and WNBA(Bloomsbury, 2023), “Views From the Embassy: The Role of the U.S. Diplomatic Community in France, 1914,” (U.S. Department of State, 2014), The Making of Les Bleus: Sport in France, 1958-2010 (Lexington Books, 2013), and her work on global sports has appeared with outlets like TIME, CNN International, The Athletic, and The New Yorker. She directs the FranceAndUS project and is an Adjunct Instructor at New York University’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport.
In this episode, I welcome Dr. Katie Lever, who is a former D-1 athlete and superb editor/freelance sports writer whose work has appeared in Global Sport Matters, Sportico, Extra Points, Forbes, and many other outlets. She is also the award-winning author of Surviving the Second Tier, a dystopian novel about the dark side of the college sports industry, She uses the Twitter and Instagram handle @leverfever. If you’ve been wondering why new episodes of the show aren’t appearing in your feed as often as they once did, it is because I have begun work as a professional coach, helping people change careers, strike a better work life balance, and fight imposter syndrome. One of the things I love about sports is how they help so many people grow, so I began training with the Coactive Training Institute in 2023 and started a company called Amplify Coaching & Consulting, LLC soon thereafter. If you or someone you know could benefit from the time and space to work with someone who can help them evolve into the person they want to be, please reach out. You can email me at amiller333@yahoo.com, see testimonials of my coaching impact on my personal LinkedIn page, and follow my LinkedIn business page for insights and inspiration on leadership development, career growth, and much more. I am glad you’re here to listen to Dr. Lever draw on her experiences as a college athlete and college sports researcher, and I hope you enjoy the show.
In this episode, I speak with Jenny Haskel, who is the Knowledge & Insights Lead for Deloitte Sports Business Group, where she works to give organizations a competitive edge in the sports market. Jenny was a standout college soccer player at Northwestern University, and recently moved to the UK to join Deloitte’s Sports Business group in Manchester. At Deloitte, Jenny provides insights into the trends and challenges that underpin activity in all aspects of the business of sports and explores unique opportunities for organizations to proactively target these trends. She is a main contributor to Deloitte's inaugural ‘Future of Sport’ report as well as the Annual Review of Football Finance. So please listen as I ask Jenny about what her clients are saying about sports and climate change, the rise of women’s sports, recent trends and future directions in sports business, and how businesses can help sustain sport for generations to come.
In this episode, we speak to Dr. Donna Lopiano, who is one of the greatest softball players of all time, a trailblazing athletic director and a world-renowned advocate for gender equity in sport. She is also the founder of Sport Management Resources and the current President of The Drake Group, which is an organization committed to advancing positive legislative change in college athletics.
Dr. Lopiano has also been inducted into thirteen halls of fame, has five honorary doctorates, and has garnered the highest praise from the biggest names in sports. As but one example, consider what the late great women’s basketball coach of the University of Tennessee, Pat Summitt, said of Donna, “If people ask who is the most powerful woman in women’s athletics, I would say she stands alone.” So, please listen in as I ask Dr. Lopiano about her tenure as athletic director at the University of Texas, her time leading the Women’s Sports Foundation, and what needs to be done now to further advance equity in sports for all.
In this episode, our guest is Pat Burda, who is an extremely successful amateur golfer as well as a recovering alcoholic. Pat was born and raised in Modesto, California, played collegiately at Stanislaus State, is a two time Del Rio Country Club Champion and the current Dryden Park Golf Course Club Champion. Pat also serves as captain of the RACDG NorCal Golf Society and has caddied in multiple PGA tour events. Pat candidly admits that his road to golfing success involved a lot of alcohol, and that it is now his focus to play sober and help others do the same. So, please listen in as Pat tells some truly compelling stories about his relationship with his father, mental and physical health on and off the course, why quitting alcohol has helped him move past seeing golf as a pressure-filled roller-coaster, and why he continues to love the sport and the joy it brings him.
In today’s episode, we speak with Dr. Megan Babkes Stellino, a professor of social psychology of sport and physical activity at the University of Northern Colorado and the founder of Mindful Sport Parenting, to speak about her life in sports and her research on the impact of sports parents on youth. Dr. Babkes Stellino has taken her research, which explores the social influences on youth sport and physical activity, outside the academy and into people’s lives with her community of practice project, Mindful Sport Parenting. Sports can and does have profound influence on personal growth and development, and youth sports parents can gain a ton from being more mindful of their actions, behavior, and even their thoughts. As you’ll hear, Dr. Babkes Stellino encourages parents to prioritize communication and connection….and…..learn to let go, but you’ll want to listen to the end to make sure you hear what she has to say about the power of sports to parents, and to her. You can check out more about her important work here - https://www.instagram.com/mindfulsportparenting/ https://www.facebook.com/mindfulsportparenting
https://twitter.com/MSportParenting
In today’s episode, we speak with Sarbjit “Sab” Singh, who is a Professor and Chairperson with the Sport Management Program at Farmingdale State College (NY), and a regular contributor to Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal. Sab also publishes the Sports Doing Good newsletter, a unique publication that highlights the “good” from the world of sport. Before his time at Farmingdale State, Sab spent 12 years as a management consultant, but our conversation today is about the power of sports and particularly the power of sharing good news from the world of sports. So, please listen in as I ask Sab about his journey in sports and what he believes the power of sports is to him today.
In this episode we speak to Bill Carter, who is a name, image and likeness consultant, analyst, educator, and speaker. Bill runs Student Athlete Insights and is a NIL Columnist for Sports Business Journal. Healsoteaches NIL in College Sports at the University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business, and he runs MBA courses in NIL, too. So listen in as I ask Bill about his journey to NIL consulting and analysis, what the future holds for college athletes monetizing their names image and likeness, and what the power of sports means to him.
In this episode, we speak to Kenneth P. Vogel about sports gambling in the US today. Vogel is a reporter in the Washington bureau of The New York Times, where he covers the intersection of money, influence and politics. He has covered politics and government at all levels, from small-town cop shops and school boards to statehouses, Congress and the presidential campaign trail. He has reported for Politico, various regional newspapers, and The Center for Public Integrity in Washington. He is the author of “Big Money: 2.5 Billion Dollars, One Suspicious Vehicle, and a Pimp — on the Trail of the Ultra-Rich Hijacking American Politics”, which chronicles the characters and motivations behind the explosion of money in American politics after the Supreme Court’s 2010 historic “Citizens United” decision. As Vogel’s reporting on sports gambling shows, since 2018, when the Supreme Court struck down a law that had previously prohibited gambling in all but two American states, we have entered an era of legalized sports betting and as a result, there have been a host of societal changes. So, please join me as we learn from Ken about the state of legalized sports gambling in the US today, the importance of smartphones and geo-location technology in online betting, the impact legalization is having on Native American groups, and even the bizarre behavior of some gamblers on the Staten Island Ferry after New Jersey legalized sports gambling, but New York did not…
In this episode, we speak to Coach Ron Adams, who is an award-winning assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Coach Adams is now in 54th season of coaching and has been with the Warriors since 2014, when he joined the staff of Head Coach Steve Kerr. Since then, the Warriors have built one of the NBA’s most remarkable dynasties, making the playoffs in six of eight seasons and winning four championships. Coach Adams has left a considerable imprint on basketball, having not only made a name for himself as a stellar defensive strategist, but also because he wholeheartedly embraces his role as a seed-planting senior statesmen of the game. So please listen in as I ask Coach Adams about his thoughts on the state of the NBA today, the influence great mentors can have, and the power of sports.
In this episode, we speak to Len Simon, Esq., who is an avid sports fan, successful sports lawyer, and sagacious law professor. Simon has represented a range of sportspeople in a series of fascinating legal cases, including the superstar soccer phenom Olivia Moultrie in her case against the National Women’s Soccer League. He also writes op-eds regarding sports and the law and has been influential in helping to pass SB 206, which gives California-based college athletes the power to control their names, images and likenesses. Please listen in as I ask Simon about his early life in sports, how he became a successful sports lawyer, and what he thinks about the legal issues that remain in college sports today.
In this episode, we speak to Dr. Dean Barnes, who is a superintendent of schools in Ontario, Canada and has gained notoriety for his collection of Black NHL Hockey player cards. He started his collection at age 8 with O-Pee-Chee brand cards and recently completed a set that includes Wayne Gretzky’s rookie card. More significantly, though, Dean has collected most of the nearly 100 cards of Black players who have played in the NHL, and he has taken his show on the road, displaying his collection all around North America as part of the NHL Black Hockey History Tour. I used to collect baseball cards myself, but I know very little about hockey, let alone the value of collecting Black player cards, so I was eager to speak with Dean about his journey and what the power of collecting these particular sports cards means to him. So listen in and learn from Dean about his collection, why it holds educational value, and how we all have the power to help normalize the experiences of visible minorities in sports.
In this episode, we speak to Dr. Dean Barnes, who is a superintendent of schools in Ontario, Canada and has gained notoriety for his collection of Black NHL Hockey player cards. He started his collection at age 8 with O-Pee-Chee brand cards and recently completed a set that includes Wayne Gretzky’s rookie card. More significantly, though, Dean has collected most of the nearly 100 cards of Black players who have played in the NHL, and he has taken his show on the road, displaying his collection all around North America as part of the NHL Black Hockey History Tour. I used to collect baseball cards myself, but I know very little about hockey, let alone the value of collecting Black player cards, so I was eager to speak with Dean about his journey and what the power of collecting these particular sports cards means to him. So listen in and learn from Dean about his collection, why it holds educational value, and how we all have the power to help normalize the experiences of visible minorities in sports.
In this episode, we speak with Andy Schwarz, an economist and partner at the firm OSKR, the Chief Innovation Officer at the Professional Collegiate League, and a board game inventor. Andy is a fascinating and funny guy, and I think you will really enjoy hearing him talk about a range of topics, from his analysis of the two major camps criticizing the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) – “Team market” vs “Team reform” – to the power of using markets to grow the size of the college sports pie and rightfully sharing it with the people who get the dirtiest baking it: the athletes. Andy is also the inventor of a great board game, called Envelopes of Cash (EoC). EoC is a college football recruiting game, and all about building the best facilities, creating a winning culture, and paying a lot of cash under the table! Enjoy!
On today’s episode we speak to Katherine Holland Fox, who is the Director of KC2026 FIFA WORLD CUP BID, which is Kansas City's bid to host several matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be hosted jointly by the US, Canada and Mexico. Prior to this position, Katherine was Director of Marketing and Sales for the Greater Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation, and she has also served as Executive Director of the 2017 US Figure Skating Championships. So, please listen in and learn from Kat about what goes into the process of bidding to host the world's most widely viewed single sporting event.
In this episode, we speak to Professor Stacy Kratz, of the University of Southern California’s School of Social Work. Dr. Kratz specializes in policy practice, advocacy, and activism, and is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW), a certified addiction professional (CAP), a researcher, a community advocate and organizer, and an international leader in the sport for social justice and peace movement. Professor Kratz also serves as lead faculty for the School of Social Work's Sport Social Work Task Force, as well as Executive Board Member of the Alliance of Social Workers in Sports. I hope you enjoy our wide ranging discussion about social work and social justice, and the power of sports to advance these causes in American society today.
In this episode, we speak to the hilarious and versatile Barry Tompkins, a sports broadcaster who has, in his nearly fifty years working in television, covered almost every sport you can think of, at Fox, NBC, HBO, ESPN and Showtime, and many more. Barry is a San Francisco native, where he attended George Washington High School, and it was in the Bay Area that he started his career. He’s covered the World Cup, the Super Bowl, eight Olympic Games, The Tour de France, the Masters, the World Series, the Rose Bowl, the NCAA Final Four, Wimbledon, and over 400 World Championship fights. And on and on! Barry is perhaps best known for his work as a boxing commentator, and indeed, he was voted into the International Boxing Hall of fame in 2017. But Barry is also a four-time Emmy Award winner, teaches storytelling for television at Dominican University, and writes a humor column for the Marin Independent Journal. In fact, you'll want to stay tuned to hear Barry talk about doing play-by-play for a dog show! So please join me and listen in to Barry reminisce on his career in sports broadcasting, his up-close impressions of boxers like Mike Tyson, and what the power of sports means to him now.
In today's episode, we speak to Professor Kirsten Hextrum, the author of the recently published Special Admission: How College Sports Recruitment Favors White Suburban Athletes, and an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Hextrum is also a former NCAA Division I two-time national champion rower, and a recognized expert on college sport access, equity, and diversity. I hope you enjoy hearing Prof. Hextrum share her views on the connections between meritocracy, ideology and what she considers to be the entrenched myth of a level playing field in college sports. So please listen in for an eye-opening discussion about missed educational opportunities, class and race, and the power of college sports to misguide millions of American youth.
In this episode, I enjoyed getting to know Jack Gallagher, a columnist at Japan Forward, former sports editor at the Japan Times, and the host of the figure skating podcast “ICE TIME”, which is bilingual in English and Japanese. Jack is a cross-cultural unifier who has worked in sports in various capacities since the 1980s. He has been the architect of various public relations campaigns in professional sports, including one to celebrate the accomplishments of Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese baseball to play in the Major Leagues back in the 1960s. Please listen in to hear Jack and I discuss the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, figure skating, and how sports can provide joy and unify different groups of people. Enjoy!
In this episode, we speak with Michael Ohioze, who recently participated in the 4x400 relays for the United Kingdom at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Michael was actually a student of mine in the MA program in Kinesiology at St. Mary’s College of California, so I was excited to hear that he had made it to the Olympics and eager to have him as a guest on the show. Please listen in for some great insights into the mind of an elite athlete, as Michael tells us about his journey from soccer-playing-lad in the UK, to a soccer scholarship athlete in the US, and finally finding his way to track and field’s biggest stage.
In this episode we talk to Dave Newhouse, a former columnist for the Oakland Tribune whose journalism career spanned five decades. Dave is the author of 18 books about sports, including The Yankee Way (co-written with Charlie Silvera). It was a pleasure to learn from him about New York Yankee greats like Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle, and how sports continue to capture the American attention, how sports have changed since he began covering them in the 1960s, and why he thinks sports held power then, and hold power now.
In this episode, we speak with Professor Dennis Frost of Kalamazoo College about the recent Paralympic Games and their fascinating history. Professor Frost is a full professor and chairs the history department at Kalamazoo, and is the author of two books about Japanese sports, More than Medals: A History of the Paralympics and Disability Sports in Postwar Japan, and Seeing Stars: Sports Celebrity, Identity, and Body Culture in Modern Japan. Please join us for a broad discussion about Professor Frost’s journey to becoming an award-winning historian and why he believes that much more must be done to properly amplify the true message of the Paralympic Games specifically, and disability sport in general.
In this episode, our guest will be Kamba Tshionyi, who is Associate Director for External Relations at Stanford University, where he oversees the Communications, Outreach, and Development teams at the Haas School of Public Service, leads fundraising and donor stewardship efforts, and serves as part of the center’s leadership. Kamba is an old friend and also hero of mine, and I think you will really enjoy hearing his thoughts on a range of issues related to sports and their power. In his professional life, Kamba has built upon his experiences as captain of Stanford’s men’s basketball team and as a member of the Peace Corps to become a unique and visionary leader in the field of American public service, where he has often leveraged the power of sports to do some truly great work. I hope you enjoy the show!
In this episode, we speak with J.R. Sakuragi, a professional basketball player who has thrived is his adopted homeland of Japan. J.R. first gained fame as J.R. Henderson, in his native Bakersfield, California, and at UCLA where he helped the Bruins win the 1995 NCAA men’s basketball championship. Upon graduation, J.R. was drafted into the NBA, where he played for the Vancouver Grizzlies. But after 1999-2000 season was cut short due to conflict between NBA owners and players, J.R. traveled to Japan to continue his career. It was there that J.R. found a home away from home, becoming a bona fide star on several championship teams, and becoming a naturalized Japanese citizen. All told, J.R. played over 700 games spanning 19 seasons, and scored nearly 11,000 points. So, listen in to J.R. tell us about his international basketball journey, about his experiences becoming affectionately known as “Mr. SeaHorses”, about his views of the two professional leagues that existed in Japan up until 2014, and about the FIBA sanctions that were placed on Japan which helped usher in a new professional league and a new age of basketball in the land of the rising sun.
In this episode we learn about basketball in Japan from Ed Odeven, who is the sports editor at japan-forward.com and the author of the book, Going 15 Rounds with Jerry Izenberg, which is a great collection of writings about one of the best sports columnists of all time. Previously Ed worked for the Arizona Daily Sun and The Japan Times, and he regularly contributes to English language publications all over the world. One of his most recent stories was about Rui Hachimura, the superstar Japanese basketball player who plays for the NBA’s Washington Wizards and whose rise to stardom has put basketball on the Japanese map. In fact, Ed has catalogued basketball’s rise to national prominence in Japan for the last fifteen years, so it was my great pleasure to sit down with him recently to learn about his love of sports and sports writing, and about Japan’s national team performances in basketball at the recent Olympic Games.
In this episode, we speak with Professor Robert Turner, who is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership at The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Science, and also holds a position as a Research Scientist in the Center on Health and Society at Duke University. After attending James Madison University on an athletic scholarship, Dr. Turner played football professionally in the National Football League as well as in the United States Football League and the Canadian Football League. Following that, he earned his Ph.D., became a sports sociologist, and authored “Not for Long: The Life and Career of the NFL Athlete”, which was published by Oxford University Press in 2018. Please listen in to our wide-ranging discussion about “Not for Long”, including why Prof. Turner believes that it is not football per se that is our society's problem, but rather our greed, our collective dishonesty about the game’s deep-seated profit motive, and our willingness to accept a world that exploits its most vulnerable and leaves many of its best athletes “broke and broken”.
In this episode, we speak with Professor Robin Kietlinksi of LaGuardia Community College about Olympic "legacy", sustainability, and the notion of greenwashing. Prof. Kietlinski has done some fascinating on-the-ground research about the rhetoric of sustainability and legacy of these Tokyo Olympics, and the reality that is sometimes obscured by it.
Dr. George Selleck was an All-American at Stanford University who was drafted by the Philadelphia Warriors, but instead of becoming a professional basketball player, he chose to become a Presbyterian minister and later pursue a PhD in counseling psychology. Dr. Selleck has since devoted his life to reminding Americans that there is much more to life than sports, but that sports can help you learn it. So, listen in to this wise sports leader speak from a wealth of experience and expertise, about true leadership, about our role as facilitators for the next generation, and about the importance of reflective thinking. Pre-order his new book, Kian and Me, here.
In this episode, our guest is Kevin Streelman, who is a professional golfer on the PGA Tour, a deeply devoted Christian and a loving father, husband and friend. Kevin makes abundantly clear that the road to his professional success has been marked by many bumps along the way and has required great discipline, dedication, and gratitude. He also has some compelling things to say about the mental health of professional athletes and why the game of golf continues to beguile him, but not consume him. Please listen in to Kevin explain how he arrived at his unique way of keeping a competitive edge by living in the moment and keeping a sense of perspective.
In this episode, our third on the 2020 Tokyo Games, we hear from two scholars who have been vocal opponents of these Olympics Games: Professor Jules Boykoff of Pacific University and Professor Naofumi Suzuki of Hitotsubashi University. As we heard from Professor Victor Matheson in the last episode, the costs of hosting the Games are enormous, but these costs are not only economic. There are environmental and social costs, too. Perhaps worst of all, there appears to have been misleading information fed to the Japanese public about these costs, which can breed distrust of government itself, and which is a cost that may be very difficult to calculate. So, grab a cup of coffee and listen to what these scholars say about what they think should be done to ensure that the indignities of these Olympics are never repeated.
In episode #5, we again explore issues regarding the 2020ne Tokyo Olympic Games, this time by learning from Professor Victor Matheson about Olympic economics. In particular, Prof. Matheson helps us understand why many citizens around the world, including in Japan, have turned against the idea of hosting the Games. This show is built on excerpts from a presentation that Prof. Matheson recently gave to M.A. students at an Olympic colloquium in the Department of Kinesiology at Saint Mary's College of California. We are grateful to Prof. Matheson not only for enlightening us on these important issues, but also for doing so in a highly entertaining way. Enjoy!
In this episode, it was a pleasure to speak to Professor Andrew Billings of the University of Alabama about the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo and how Olympic television broadcasts shape our perceptions about race, gender, and nationality. Our conversation spanned a range of other topics, too, from pandemic safety to the prospects of using sport for building a sense of global citizenship, and it comprises a one-on-one interview and excerpts from a presentation that Prof. Billings recently gave to M.A. students at an Olympic colloquium in the Department of Kinesiology at Saint Mary's College of California. We are grateful to Prof. Billings for enlightening us about how the Olympics continues to be not only a juggernaut in television broadcasting, but also a cultural force in our collective conversations about identity. Enjoy!
It is an honor and a privilege to welcome Coach VanDerveer for this third episode of the Power of Sports Podcast. Coach Tara VanDerveer is the Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women’s Basketball at Stanford University, and a recent NCAA champion for the third time. She has been coaching at Stanford since 1985, and coaching at the college level since 1978. Her overall coaching record since then is an astonishing 1125 wins and 255 losses, meaning her teams have won more than 81% of all the games they have played. Listen in and enjoy learning from this legendary basketball coach.
On today’s episode I have the great pleasure of speaking to Robert, aka "Bob", Whiting, who is the bestselling author of more than a half dozen bestselling books about Japan, including one about baseball that was the first book I ever read about Japan. It's called You've Gotta Have Wa, and you can buy it here. Bob also has a new book called Tokyo Junkie, which we talk about on the show and I also highly recommend. Enjoy!
Hey, thank you for stopping by! Please listen in to this first episode of “The Power of Sports” Podcast, where I talk to loyal sports fan, Jeremy Medovoy, who talks about his long-term love affair with the Georgetown Hoyas men’s basketball team, and why he has long admired not only their play on the court but also their stances on issues of social justice.
If you have any questions or comments, or have a great show idea, please send me an email – amiller333@yahoo.com – or a note via my Patreon page, where you can find out more about how to support the show. https://www.patreon.com/AARONLMILLER.