This week, Derek and Nathan have the honor of being joined by Otito Ogbonnia to talk about the life of a college football player and a summer of gridiron labor organizing and resistance. Otito is a Junior defensive lineman at UCLA, U20 USTF national champion in shot put, and bronze medal winner in the discus. He is also one of the organizers of the PAC-12's #WeAreUnited movement.
In the first half of the episode, Otito shares his nuanced views on questions of exploitation, coercion, and harm in college football, both from his personal experiences and conversations with countless other players across the country. Then, in the second half, he walks us through how the pandemic fomented labor activism on his own campus at UCLA and then in the PAC-12 more broadly, from the writing of the Players Tribune #WeAreUnited manifesto to meeting with Larry Scott and the cancellation (at the time) of the PAC-12's season. Finally, he shares where #WeAreUnited stands today after the news that the season will indeed be played.
You can find Otito on Twitter at @otitoogbonnia12. You can find the #WeAreUnited open letter/manifesto to the PAC-12 here.
Our piece from the summer on athlete labor organizing is here. Our piece on the cancellation of the PAC-12 season as union-busting is here.
Our argument against college football during a pandemic is here.
As mentioned off the top of the show, a big shoutout to friend of the show @Ryan_Reilly78 and his wife for putting in the work to shed light on the truly harmful and violent rhetoric that comes out of all things Barstool Sports. Ryan and his wife were publicly doxxed on-air which, predictably, led to a massive troll job on Ryan’s family. Please give him a follow on Twitter @Ryan_Reilly78 and show your support! Solidarity forever!
For a transcription of this episode, please click here. (Credit @punkademic)
After listening to the episode, check out our most recent pieces:
“Red-Scare Rhetoric Isn’t Gone From Histories of American Sport” in Jacobin Magazine
"Canceling the College-Football Season Isn't Enough" published in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
“'We are being gaslit': College football and Covid-19 are imperiling athletes” in The Guardian
“Canceling the college football season is about union busting, not health” also in The Guardian
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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
Episode 100: Critical Sports Scholars on Parenting and Youth Sport
Episode 99: Towards a Public Sociology of Sport
Episode 98: Dehumanization and the NFL Draft with Ben Natan
Episode 97: Universities Are *Choosing* Not To Pay Academic Bonuses to Athletes
Episode 96: On UCLA Gymnastics, Iowa Football, and Ted Lasso
Episode 95: On Transphobia in Capitalist Sport with Karleigh Chardonnay Webb
Episode 94: Pandemic Sport, Convoys, and the Anti-Trans Movement in Sports
Episode 93: Hard Truths about Football with Chris Borland
Episode 92: Institutional Failure and Harm in Canadian Gymnastics with Kim Shore, Part II
Episode 92: Institutional Failure and Harm in Canadian Gymnastics with Kim Shore, Part I
Episode 91: The Wide World of Surveillance in Sport with Courtney M. Cox
Episode 90: Football and Fairness with Johnny Stanton
Episode 89: The NLRB Memo with Jennifer Abruzzo
Episode 88: Athletic Labor and #Striketober
Episode 87: Fighting for #FairBall in the Minors with Harry Marino
Episode 86: On Coercion and Resistance in College Sport
Episode 85: #Striketober with Max Alvarez
Episode 84: The Sports Media Problem with Adam H. Johnson
Episode 83: Progress for Whom? With Britni de la Cretaz
Episode 82: Higher Ed is Imploding! with Asheesh Kapur Siddique
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