In this unusual episode, Derek and Nathan talk with Maximillian Alvarez and Ryan Boyd, two leading commentators on higher education, work, and precarity about where sport and fandom fit in their lives. Maximillian Alvarez is a dual-Ph.D candidate in Comparative Literature and History at the University of Michigan. His work has appeared in countless venues, including The Nation, The New Republic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Boston Review, The Guardian, Los Angeles Review of Books, Dissent, and The Baffler. He is also the host of the incredible Working People podcast -- check this out, like...right now. Ryan Boyd is Assistant Professor of Writing at the University of Southern California. His work appears frequently in venues such as Los Angeles Review of Books and Public Books. He is a must-follow on Twitter, where he is an outspoken and much-needed critic of the adjunctification of higher education and its toll on the academic precariat.   This is a wide-ranging discussion of fandom, identity, and labor that, frankly, could have continued for hours longer than it did. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.   You can find Ryan on Twitter @RyanABoyd and Maximillian @maximillian_alv. Ryan's most recent essay in Public Books on why college is worth fighting for is here. Maximillian's recent discussion in Dissent of why he left his conservative roots is here.   __________________________________________________________________________   As always, please like, share, and rate us on your favorite podcast app, and give follow us on Twitter or Instagram. @Derekcrim @JohannaMellis @Nkalamb @EndofSportPod www.TheEndofSport.com   **For a transcription of this episode please click here. Huge thanks to @Punkadmic for making this happen!**