The Progressive sports commentator explains the upper-class origins of American football, its connections with "muscular Christanity" and with 19th century US imperialism. The game has always been violent and has caused countless player injuries and deaths--but Zirin argues against those who would ban the sport. Zirin's solution: for all jobs--including NFL football--is: support the workers in their struggle to control workplace rules and working conditions. A witty and interesting talk.
I have condensed Zirins talk, which he delivered at the "Socialism 2012" conference, in the Chcago area, in September 2012.
This program was previously broadcast, as NWN #240, in October 2012.
"New World Notes" is produced under the auspices (Latin for "unisex bathroom") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.
New World Notes's Web site has information, photos, interesting links, and a free archive of past shows. http://newworldnotes.blogspot.com . Also, radio4all.net has each show from May 2008.
You can download this program (as NWN #240) also from The Internet Archive (www.archive.org). The page with the download links is here: https://archive.org/download/NewWorldNotes240-DaveZirinOnAmericanFootball
SERIES OVERVIEW -- Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for. "Date recorded," below, = date of first scheduled broadcast.
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Audio files downloaded from the links, below, are identified as NWN #240.
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