Vanderbilt Sports & Society Initiative

Episode 68: Britt Hunter - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss Britt Hunter was the consensus National Player of the Year in high school and the first woman to compete in the Slam Dunk contest at the McDonald’s All-American Game. After suffering a potentially car...

Britt Hunter was the national HS🏀player of the year. A year later, after a devastating injury, she tried to take her own life. Now, after earning an MBA & stints teaching in Harlem & in the corporate world, she inspires athletes to control their own destinies
Episode: buzzsprout.com/2445404/epis...

On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss | Britt Hunter YouTube video by Vanderbilt Athletics

Britt Hunter was consensus national HS🏀Player of the Year. She nearly ended her life after a devastating knee injury sent her spiraling. Now she uses lessons learned in sports, teaching in Harlem, biz school & corporate world to guide new generation
youtu.be/y51XfdN_muc?...

Crypto group claims responsibility for hurling sex toys at WNBA games A spokesman for the cryptocurrency meme coin creators told USA TODAY Sports they launched sex toys as a lighthearted joke.

The people behind the sex toys at WNBA games is an unlikely source: crypto traders.

USA TODAY tracked down the group and started with several questions, but perhaps most important:

WHY?

Pawol to make history as MLB's first female umpire Jen Pawol will make history this weekend as the first woman to be an umpire in a regular-season MLB game. Pawol will ump three games during this weekend’s Marlins-Braves series in Atlanta, including b...

I'm practically in tears

After 45 years of umpiring and advocating for other women umpires, I'm about to witness what I was beginning to believe would never happen: Jen Pawol will be in uniform on the field in Atlanta this Saturday for the Marlins @ Braves doubleheader. www.mlb.com/news/jen-paw...

On the Ball with Andrew Maraniss | Jonathan Wynn YouTube video by Vanderbilt Athletics

Jonathan Wynn has always been more than a 🏈 player. In the NFL, he wrote a novel. Now he & a partner have launched a nonprofit boosting BIPOC creatives & plan to open a coffee shop. Jonathan discusses how learning the history of Black Nashville shaped his vision.
youtu.be/ATLJc00LszM?...

Congrats to our former Sports & Society intern!

On the Ball with Andrew Maraniss | Jonathan Wynn YouTube video by Vanderbilt Athletics

Jonathan Wynn has always been more than a 🏈 player. In the NFL, he wrote a novel. Now he & a partner have launched a nonprofit boosting BIPOC creatives & plan to open a coffee shop. Jonathan discusses how learning the history of Black Nashville shaped his vision.
youtu.be/ATLJc00LszM?...

Congratulations!

Heir Ball: How the Cost of Youth Sports Is Changing the N.B.A. Pro sports have long seemed like the closest thing we have to a true meritocracy. But maybe not anymore.

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

New Book Features Professional Runner Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Whetstone, A new illustrated children’s biography is bringing national attention to the story of Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Whetstone, a professional runner and passionate advocate for Indigenous rig...

A new illustrated children’s biography tells the powerful story of Lakota athlete Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Whetstone & her work around the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women & People crisis, environmental justice, & the fight against Native mascots
nativenewsonline.net/arts-enterta...

Celso Castilho, director of Vanderbilt's Center for Latin American, Caribbean & Latinx Studies, on protests by ⚽️ fans in Nashville & LA & the implications of ICE raids on the Club World Cup
📽️https://youtu.be/P81aEBPTVhw?si=L539xK11iARUXwy4
🎧https://www.buzzsprout.com/2445404/episodes/17365754

Club World Cup fans tell of ‘dangerous’ Rose Bowl conditions amid heat and lack of water Supporters who attended PSG’s noon kick-off against Atlético Madrid have talked of a struggle to access water and feeling unsafe

As if there was any doubt, it appears to be for the best that the Rose Bowl isn't hosting any World Cup games next year. From me + Paul MacInnes: www.theguardian.com/football/202...

On the heels of CMA Fest & in the midst of Pride Month, Bryan Ruby discusses his one-of-a-kind career as a pioneering LGBTQ country artist, pro ⚾ player & nonprofit founder. Watch or listen!
📽️https://youtu.be/w3kTn6FNzUQ?si=KoWBEVlp553hcgpL
🎧https://www.buzzsprout.com/2445404/episodes/17347491

Cover image of the book The Stadium: An American History of Politics, Protest, and Play

Congrats to Frank Andre Guridy, the #NASSH2025 Book Award Monograph winner, for The Stadium, a masterful study of how colossal public venues provide the settings for sport/politics. #Skystorians #SportHistory ‪@cuhistorydept.bsky.social‬ @columbiauniversity.bsky.social

Award info: bit.ly/4bIsvdN

Do you receive our weekly round-up of news from the intersection of sports & society? Today's e-newsletter features a podcast on sports & fashion, news of MLB's investment in women's pro softball, an usher love story 50+ years in the making, & more. DM your email to subscribe!

Tennessee high school student-athlete banned from graduation after coming out on social media The Tennessee Christian Preparatory School's handbook lists same-sex sexual relations along with bestiality and incest as sins of immorality.

www.advocate.com/news/tn-high...

Nick Cormier, founder of “The Fabric of Culture,” discusses the connections between athletes, marketing & fashion. As one apparel company founder said recently, “Sports stars are the new Hollywood stars.”
Watch: youtu.be/Z06yFg8KgfA?...
Listen: www.buzzsprout.com/2445404/epis...

What a treat to welcome former Vanderbilt AD and SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer back to campus today with his son, granddaughter & great-grandson. Kramer, 95, visited FirstBank Stadium & Memorial Gym and shared some great stories about his days in Nashville.

Neurodiverse author shares defiant life story in new autobiography For Sam Flood Jr., writing was always easier than speaking as spoken words eluded him until he was 5 years old. He and his family sit down with NBC’s Anne Thompson to talk about his life story that he...

This is a touching story about the 31-year-old son of NBC Sports executive producer, Sam Flood.

www.today.com/video/neurod...

For trans equestrian rider, his horses ‘were the one thing that never asked me any questions’ When Jay Robinson was transitioning, he found comfort and security in his relationships with his horses.

For trans equestrian rider, his horses 'were the one thing that never asked me any questions.'
www.outsports.com/2025/5/27/24...

Christian Bale as Al Davis, Nic Cage as Madden

Heard Nic Cage was playing Madden, and I was like, oh, cool, a gamer -- I didn't picture this

NFL ‘Dream Team’: Who should be on the 2028 U.S. Olympic men’s flag football roster? With flag football on the docket for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, the NFL has OK'd the use of its players. So who'll make the team?

From @theathletic.bsky.social: NFL owners voted Tuesday to allow the league’s players to try out for flag football teams at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. So who could comprise the 10-player roster? Our writer made his picks.

These Travelers Plot Their Airport Starbucks Run Down to the Minute U.S. Soccer’s Hal Hershfelt and other road warriors share their tactics to sidestep snaking coffee lines.

Hal Hershfelt isn't just a star midfielder for @washingtonspirit.com. She's a ninja at timing her coffee pickup at the airport.

(cc: ‪@gingers4hal.bsky.social‬)
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/tr...

On the Ball with Andrew Maraniss | Jesus Ortiz, Sara Toussaint, Janelly Farias and Adrian Burgos Jr. YouTube video by Vanderbilt Athletics

If you missed our online symposium, here's the session hosted by Jesus Ortiz of @ouresquina.bsky.social on the state of Latino athlete activism. Joining Jesus are prof Adrian Burgos Jr., former pro soccer player Janelly Farias & sports exec @saratoussaint.bsky.social!
youtu.be/qot6KeV2aN0?...

Thank you for taking the time to be a part of it, Chris!

This was a really cool sports and activism discussion I got to a be a part of, you should check it out!

(Also check out the other two panels, they were very good as well)

On the Ball with Andrew Maraniss | Yussuf Khan, Chris Kluwe, Lou Moore, Johanna Mellis, Aquasia Shaw YouTube video by Vanderbilt Athletics

If you missed our online symposium with the James Lawson Institute, we'll be sharing replays of the panels. Kicking us off were Yussuf Khan, @chriswarcraft.bsky.social, @johannamellis.bsky.social, @profloumoore.bsky.social, & Aquasia Shaw on the state of athlete activism
youtu.be/LEzea2vk040?...

Beyond honored to be speaking at this tomorrow!!! Join us!!!