Tag Archives: sports

Patrick Hruby: Sports In The Time Of COVID

Not too long ago, it was fairly normal for many of us to spend 4-5 hours a week yelling at the TV, providing valuable encouragement and critique to athletes who cannot hear us. If you’re a sports fan, or if you live with one, you know what I’m talking about. This week on Sea Change Radio, we take a look at how sports are adapting in the time of COVID-19 with sports journalist Patrick Hruby. While Clemson University’s star quarterback Trevor Lawrence made some waves by kicking off the #WeWantToPlay meme among college football players, more rational minds like Washington Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle asserted that sports should be “the reward of a functioning society.” Hruby talks about where things stand as sports resume in empty arenas across North America, and about how effective leadership ensures smoother transitions to normalcy. Can sports resume the way the NFL and major league baseball are hoping, or do the leaders of these industries need someone to offer them some good advice from the sidelines?

Invasion of the Lionfish Snatchers

Perhaps it’s cold comfort but it turns out that we human beings are not the only species on earth hell-bent on destroying our own habitat. We share that ignominious honor with the venomous, carnivorous, and highly invasive lionfish. This week on Sea Change Radio, we talk about what these marine invaders are doing to the ocean’s coral reefs, and what is being done to reduce the damage. Our guests today all are working in Bermuda, one of the regions of the world where these creatures are wreaking havoc on the coral reef. First we hear from Colin Angle, CEO of iRobot the company that makes the robotic vacuum-cleaner, Roomba, and his wife, biologist Erika Angle — together they have devised a way to use vacuum robot technology to catch the intrusive but tasty lionfish. Then we’re joined by Jeremy Pochman from 11th Hour Racing, who tells us about how his organization is leveraging the America’s Cup, set to take place in Bermuda this June, to raise global awareness about the problem.

Dave Zirin on Tom Brady and ConflateGate

DaveZirinIt has been a nightmarish week. The new president has kicked off his reign with a series of illegal and immoral executive orders and a set of preposterous appointments. Every day we wake up and remember that this is really happening. Many of us are looking to the upcoming Super Bowl more and more for solace and distraction. Today on Sea Change Radio we are having a Super Bowl special of a sort. Our guest is Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation magazine and host of Edge of Sports podcast, best known for his articulate treatment of the intersection of sports and politics. Zirin and host Alex Wise talk about the Brady-Trump connection (or what we are calling ConflateGate), and more broadly about the role of athletes in our political discourse.

Patrick Hruby on Sports Welfare

PatrickHrubyRoseBowlDid you know that almost all NFL teams are profitable before a single ticket is sold? And did you know that for most of these teams it’s public dollars that have made this level of profitability possible? A few weeks ago on Sea Change Radio we discussed some of the environmental advances being championed in the sports industry.

This week, host Alex Wise speaks with Patrick Hruby, a writer and podcaster for Sports on Earth. He offers a complementary (if contrasting) perspective to our earlier discussion by highlighting what he terms “sports welfare.” Hruby talks about how common government subsidies are in the sports industry, and the opportunity cost felt by environmental causes when public coffers are drained in order to bankroll some of the wealthiest enterprises in America.

A Sporting Chance For The Environment

AllenHershkowitzstadiumThis week’s guest on Sea Change Radio, Allen Hershkowitz, is a pioneer in the greening of the sports industry and a senior scientist at the NRDC. Dr. Hershkowitz is working to help decrease the carbon footprint of our nation’s sports teams while engaging sports industry leaders to speak up about environmental problems like climate change. He and host Alex Wise delve into the various ways that sports leagues and teams are starting to become leaders for change.