Episode 1: Welcome to the Show!

Welcome to The End of Sport Podcast! In this first episode of the show, Derek Silva and Nathan Kalman-Lamb introduce themselves to listeners and explain the project of the show. Derek is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology at King's University College at Western University. You can find some examples of Derek's recent scholarship on sport, national identity, and crime and punishment here, here, and here. Nathan Kalman-Lamb is a Lecturing Fellow in the Thompson Writing Program at Duke University. You can find his book Game Misconduct  and recent scholarly articles here and here. In the first half of the show, Derek and Nathan discuss the MO of the podcast and address why they started it in the midst of a global pandemic when sport has ceased to exist entirely. The genesis of the name of the show, then, is a gesture to that absence and the opportunity it produces to interrogate what capitalist sport is and means, and perhaps to imagine sport beyond the instrumental and dehumanizing institution we have come to know.   In the second half of the show, they discuss what sport means to them personally and how they wed that with their academic interests, including their theoretical frameworks (we find out if Derek is a Marxist). The hosts also foreshadow their on-going critique of US college sport with an appraisal of what exploitation means in that context (for more on this, check out Derek Van Rheenen's illuminating piece).  Finally, the show discusses what listeners might expect moving forward – topical commentary, interviews with a range of figures in the world of sport, and readings of salient popular culture texts on sport.  Derek and Nathan would love to hear your feedback at theendofsport@gmail.com. You can also follow on Twitter @endofsportpod @derekcrim @nkalamb and Instagram @endofsportpod. If you are interested in any paywalled links from the show notes, please feel free to get in touch at any of these places and we will be happy to hook you up with the readings.     __________________________________________________________________________   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!**