Going Deep: Sports in the 21st Century Season One Going Deep: Sports in the 21st Century Season One

I recruited Devon Ramsay to come to UNC to play football by convincing him that he would compete for a National Championship, become as good of a player as he could be, get a meaningful and useful education, and have a family that cared for him and loved him. Devon's six years at UNC took many bizarre twists and turns. In 2010 he scored the opening TD of the season against LSU in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, but later that year was banned for life by UNC because the NCAA declared him guilty of academic fraud. Listen as Devon tells the story of his Life as a Collegiate Athlete.

Economist, Andy Schwarz, is the go-to guy on anti-trust and price-fixing issues in big-time sports. His fascinating and penetrating analysis of the economics of collegiate sports can be found everywhere from ESPN to Deadspin to a chapter forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook of Sports Economics. He is also the author of two important appendices in Indentured: The Inside Story of the Rebellion Against the NCAA by Joe Nocera and Ben Strauss. Andy has been a litigation economist since 1997 and has testified in and consulted on several landmark cases in the sports world including L.A. Raiders v. NFL, White v. NCAA , and O’Bannon v. NCAA.

Economist, Andy Schwarz, is the go-to guy on anti-trust and price-fixing issues in big-time sports. His fascinating and penetrating analysis of the economics of collegiate sports can be found everywhere from ESPN to Deadspin to a chapter forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook of Sports Economics. He is also the author of two important appendices in Indentured: The Inside Story of the Rebellion Against the NCAA by Joe Nocera and Ben Strauss. Andy has been a litigation economist since 1997 and has testified in and consulted on several landmark cases in the sports world including L.A. Raiders v. NFL, White v. NCAA , and O’Bannon v. NCAA.

The Billion Dollar industry of College Football and Basketball often collide with the mission of higher education. Joe Nocera takes us on a journey through the history of the NCAA and describes the moment the NCAA went from "impotent to powerful." Listen to why the Power Five "Conference Commissioners are the Five most powerful guys in sports." He explains why baseball and hockey teams operate by a different set of rules than football and basketball when it comes to turning pro and making money. And he tells us why Walter Byers invented the term "student-athlete" and why Myles Brand invented the "Collegiate Model." Fascinating listen.

The immense collection of regulations that makes up the NCAA rule book does not include any provisions for athletes to have due process. This lack of due process is a curious and troubling reality when so much is at stake for collegiate athletes. It is a topic worth our attention in America, a country that treasures our commitment to due process and fairness in all aspects of life. Dr. Emmett Gill, Professor of Social Work at the University of Texas, San Antonio and the National Convener of the Student Athletes Human Rights Project joins us to explore the cost for athletes in a system where no due process exists and possibilities for reform.

Sonny Vaccaro is a fascinating man. He is a living legend in the world of sports and puts players interests first. Sonny grew up in Western Pennsylvania and started the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic with boyhood friend Pat DiCesare in Pittsburgh. His hope was to get local basketball players in front of college coaches to enhance their chances for recruitment. That All Star game led to camps, which led to shoe contracts, which led to Sonny becoming the most prominent marketer of basketball shoes in the world.