This week Dr. Nathan Kalman-Lamb and Dr. Derek Silva drop in to talk about 1993's The Program, starring James Caan, Omar Epps, and Halle Berry. This movie was way ahead of its time in its discussions of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), concussions, and race and sexual dynamics on campus. We talk about all of this and the cost to college athletes to play the game.

About our guests:

Nathan Kalman-Lamb's scholarly work sits at the intersection of social theory and the sociology of sport, with a particular focus on labor, racism, and exploitation. His most recent book Game Misconduct: Injury, Fandom, and the Business of Sport, based on qualitative interviews with former professional hockey players and fans of the sport, uses Marxist-Feminist social reproduction theory to explore how the political economy of sports like hockey is predicated on an affective transfer from athletic workers to fans through the physical sacrifice that is fundamental to these 'games.'

Derek Silva's areas of interest include sociocultural studies of sport, critical sociology and criminology, labour, racism, and inequality. My work can be found in the peer-reviewed journals Critical Sociology, Punishment and Society, Crime, Media, Culture, Sociology of Sport Journal, Journal of Sport & Social Issues, Policing & Society, Annals of Leisure Research, Social Science & Medicine – Qualitative Research in Health, Sociological Forum, Race & Class, Educational Gerontology, and in media outlets such as TIME Magazine, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jacobin Magazine, and The Baffler Magazine.

Episode 118: The Program and the End of College Football with Dr. Nathan Kalman-Lamb and Dr. Derek Silva