Kavitha Davidson if You Thought Sports Were Ever Separate From Politics

April 02, 2022 Post a Comment

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its website www.well loved.calm. thanks for this chat nosotros had. always slap-up to see you. ♪♪ ♪♪ television receiver on c-span2 every weekend with others. book tv on c-span2 created by america's cable television company. today brought to fight these tv companies provide tv to viewers of the public service. ♪♪ >> practiced afternoon and welcome to the festival. today we will talk with to distinguished writers. they collaborated on a book nosotros

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can all relate to follow some sort of sports. living sports when they don't beloved y'all back. she might be best known as helping to break the scandal at baylor texas monthly. she'due south written a book, politics of rape. davidson, native new yorker written for bloomberg and rights for the athletic. she collaborates daily nosotros podcast get out. welcome. >> welcome, thank you. that's the first time gotten a shadow on this if i knew jessica

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as well, i give her a shot up as well. last calendar month this is an interesting collaboration. from what i understand, this is the starting time time collaborated on whatever line, is that correct? >> this is the first time i cowritten something. i piece of work on a show with a whole team of people. this is an interesting procedure plainly i'm incredibly honored to have equally a co-writer. >> jessica, your sort of a veteran of these large big project collaboration through the years. >> yep, i wrote a couple of pieces and yes, i like partnering with people.

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>> how did loving sports when they don't dear you back home about? when did you down to discuss this. >> nosotros met through twitter. that's an of import office of the story. it is expert for something, like-minded people who live very far abroad from each other. peculiarly when you talk nearly the community of women sportswriters, the community is small-scale tightknit. jessica tells the story of how we call back the book came virtually because he has a friend who planted the seed fierce jessica to get away. >> i had a friend years ago now, he thought this kind of book would be good. you know as whatsoever writer, kind of

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in the back of your head and we were pretty sure it was super bowl 2016, just the time every twelvemonth's manufactures directed toward women to survive is 101. how to talk sports with your swain like that. those are fine women like that at the moment where y'all recognize you are not the people imagine sports fan for making that together. we thought most writing a response. nosotros got from that, there's no snowfall in the book, it's a more than serious try we tried to

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button to be more inclusive for fans. >> came about earlier you met in person. >> yes, i believe we signed our actual before nosotros ever had contiguous contact the outset time a person is when she was on the floor for her first book in new york. >> that'southward a chancy thing. equally a writer/. >> you love stories with that. >> was there any trepidation going in? >> the book makes sense, team, 15 chapters. each one is. each chapter goes on its own and

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this kind of will is, there's so many -- the wide range. i could never take written this on my own, it would merely not be almost as good as i simply don't know all the things. we definitely likely concluded up complementing each other in that way. it could have gone in a totally different direction, i guess it worked out. there's stuff we definitely broke, but we also have expertise in different areas and fabricated the book so much amend the fact that in that location were ii of us on it. >> pretty much no where nosotros stood on these bug and the sports writing in our approach to our own, i recollect the biggest business organization never written with somebody, was mashing two voices and once again, i recall likely, information technology didn't present

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itself is a huge business when we sat down to practise the writing. >> likely you managed to observe but 14 problems. >> well, we found more than. [laughter] >> why didn't you include them? >> at to the lowest degree the chapters were proposed that didn't make it into the volume. one chapter was written, it was a long the more than snarky tone the original project was. in that location's then much more than you lot could talk about for so many more than issues to bring up. >> if you mind, volition start with a couple and so the national sport texas football is fraught with bug. among them, concussion and withal,

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as someone who grew upward playing, i know. i can get my head around all these problems and go, every sunday i will watch games. fifty-fifty though i could solve its bug, what is dorsum and is it wrong. >> is it wrong? one of the secrets, non clandestine anymore, information technology was originally how to dearest sports and i don't love you. it's really different everyone is different and where you lot describe your lines is so hard. the thought of whether or not it's right or wrong, some things in the we have more definitive opinions nearly but we commencement the book off with the trauma chapter because information technology's one vii difficult. i of the reasons it's hard

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especially with football, it'southward violent and 1 reason people love it is because it is violent so what you exercise one of the things yous deeply honey virtually the sport is also the very matter that's causing all of these problems and how do you lot make sense of that? it's part of the reason the affiliate ends on the scientific discipline studying concussion, saying she does not want to get rid of sports. information technology's to effigy out how to manage information technology better simply in that location is no like shooting fish in a barrel answer especially when it comes to football annihilation with sports, violence is part of life. no like shooting fish in a barrel way to make sense of the. >> i recall this is the hardest result for readers and for us to reconcile because at that place's no existent solution, such thing as prophylactic football.

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nosotros are not maxim it's necessarily a bad thing, we end of the scientist maxim have every bit much information as possible so people tin can make informed decisions those getting paid can make informed decisions near what they are doing with their bodies in reno from the history of that for decades that was non the case. to reply about why you lot go along coming dorsum, this is a key question of the end interesting you read that with the national sport of texas is football. that is part of the answer as to why nosotros can't let go of these. we interviewed sports psychologist virtually how they are formed. about sports identities, its way earlier in life and they have to do our hometown and family. they have to do with our own

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sense of ourselves. on our own identities of who nosotros are, it'southward so wrapped intellect. to answer the question of whether it wrong, it's super judgmental and away we can't be because we experience these, to who we are in our formative years we can kickoff thinking about that in the context and when nosotros learned about these things we at present know, we can talk a little bit about what that ways. >> there aspects -- invested, i paid for my kids, all of these things that build upwardly to create a competitive athlete these days and so there's the contrarian

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affair like this is simply impaired to do to our bodies over and over and over over again and you know this. yes, everybody -- i'thousand sure everybody goes with everything. i'm sure they forget most but then injury sports, and and they watch quarterbacks crumple on the footing, these things keep occurring in our. this attribute to sports, virtually nothing else, i'll come back and watch that, every night she vocaliser ballet dancer was crushed and probably would lose the rest of her career or we change things to make it happen. it's an interesting thing we

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keep coming back to sports in that regard. on to another consequence that nosotros can't get enough of, the olympic. every four years, some country torn apart as they build infrastructure to put on these games. world cup and other international events. we have these games we can't become another champions and we love everything. with problems in the countries, can we talk nigh the olympics? >> this is actually ane of the hardest ones for me, about how

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much i beloved the olympics and the workup merely one time yous really await at the damage to the cities and countries, information technology is almost impossible. not possible to justify what every four years. how much money goes in, there's so much corruption effectually the coin, things that are actually never used once more, there'southward a lot of this involved but in that location'southward e'er placement, moving homeless around and one of the biggest things especially relevant in this moment as nosotros accept been reckoning, the things that happens to deal with potential threats, they militarize the police.

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all of that is left for the local communities and communities of colors to bargain with. and then hard. at the same fourth dimension, i'm going to watch and love every second of it ane thing we have to figure out if nosotros were to finally get rid of this moving every 4 years, what happened to him in sports? considering we know. these women volition say because he did well at the olympics, will give them a lot more money to do this. as a direct relationship the whether or not people similar women's sports, we get all this data that nosotros can't get in

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any other way. it'southward an incredibly important thing, access for women to play sports around the world. i do have a good answer near the olympics, i find it really difficult, information technology's the most nationalistic i'thousand, who will watch people canoe, like what? [laughter] >> i visited the nation two years agone, we have to acknowledge that. >> every iv years i considered making information technology and and then i forget. >> i went last year for the women'due south cup, i went to participate. i love stuff. i have no idea what nosotros do about it. >> information technology's interesting to see which nation accept this.

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we saw this in a huge fence with austin they decided to host and were picked to exercise so. information technology'due south not a secret that a lot of these countries in the terminal decade don't want to practice this anymore. they run across they don't get a lot of benefit from it and it kind of showing how much ability we have ourselves that nosotros believe the olympics and requite us influence and power heighten our profile on the global stage enough to counteract all the negative things that was only talked most. it'south telling which countries and cities are willing to take that risk. if you focus in the united states, when boston had their

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debate, talking to people, y'all are seeing the same economical profile and longitudinal studies over decades about the economical touch on of the olympics your city, why are yous doing this? recollect people sincerely telling me that they would non be able to unlock funding for infrastructure for the subway organisation and things that should be funded if they want hosting a loftier-profile event similar the olympics. that's an indictment on our system in the country. it is really difficult considering i think when you talk nearly any of these issues in the book, specially with the of that's, nosotros can apply this to what we talk about, in that location are skillful things to get out of this. support for women'south sports is a huge affair here. in 2012 when the olympics were in london, the first year in

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saudi arabia sent a adult female, they are forced to send a woman to exist in the mix and also the offset twelvemonth women's battle was a woman'south sport. information technology had equal representation. it was this incredible culmination of the idea that women's access to sport does correlate with access to democracy. if y'all track it over the years, information technology rings true. i don't know how to become around that if we simply get rid of the olympics just we continue having to push and that's to host them and we will exist worse off for information technology. >> related, how we should brace the fact that athletics are political. [laughter] >> it should exist the baseline. it starts and ends with

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kaepernick because that's where the conversation is merely is trying to push the idea that you tin can't, sports and politics just together. piece of work just y'all accept to practise the piece of work to separate them, created a phrase because it'southward work yous accept to do to constantly remind people to sports. so to talk well-nigh at the activex, the work they practice accept a the fact that women are doing information technology, to. as a huge history of this also sports a sites of politics all the time. i always famously of the world cup in russia where arius ran out onto the field and it was

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astonishing. a keen style for them to practice politics. kids meet these, donald trump has used information technology constantly. role of it is about black athletes, we had lebron james ten days ago, i don't know what fourth dimension but i think a couple of weeks ago just before the election, whenever that was. he was also at the national title game terminal year. nosotros know the u.s. military was paying the nfl to do military things out there games. all of this stuff is constantly turning and it'due south not just the athletes doing it, politicians love it, to. the baseline should just exist the

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acceptance go together and and so we tin have a conversation on acme of that instead of constantly doing politics and sports, that will thing, i am then tired of it. and so artificial. >> part of the discussion is the word political has get so diluted, it's political the section of defense had a $5 million upkeep for marketing through sports events. it's not political black basketball player went to the nba. the idea is that call all of these things political, it dilutes the notion of information technology there are political ways sports and politics have e'er intersected has to practise with race and gender in a way we are considering to be political, we are talking well-nigh being workers and the fact

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that these are businesses. if we are criticizing owners for subsidies for building stadiums for hosting a super basin or things like that, he's of the criticisms we volition concur amazon when nosotros find the adjacent headquarters. but considering they are happening in the context of sports, we want them to be different and assign them a political designation because so many people wanted for escapism. it's understandable, i wish i could use escapism. the final couple weeks would take been squeamish to escape from everything merely it's not possible for so many to exercise. it'due south unfair to enquire people who are participating in these events whether they are athletes, whether they are owners. how many owners, if you wait at the breakdown possessor contributions to political

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campaigns, seem to criticize that side of it the fact that nosotros criticize is very telling and which part of the labor versus management would fall on. >> i want to go to some questions but i take a few more than i accept prepared. i do want to go to this topic because i feel information technology would be horrible for me to get out this. >> tall well-nigh how to utilise this. can white sports men and sports media be redeemed? [laughter] i'm just asking i don't to annihilation in sports, simply as needed. you have a chapter on sports media and information technology's part of a larger give-and-take in media but it'southward

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even more pronounced on the sports side. if you go to a news conference in america, it'due south at least nine men and usually out of that, 8 are white make full in the blank for the other. there is conspicuously a problem, it also comes at a fourth dimension when media organizations are getting smaller, not expanding. you guys have clearly thought about this a lot. help us with solutions to five years from at present we don't still have the aforementioned problem or even 10 years from now. >> i definitely think white guys and sports media can be redeemed, are redeemable and are good ones. i work at the athletics 4150

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people, probably not a secret a lot of us are white and a lot of them are very good people. it comes with having these conversations, resources to people who are non white men engaging those are. the solution office i always go to a couple of areas. one is college more minorities and women and promote them non to they are the people doing the hiring considering even when it's implicit bias, it very much exists. you will hire somebody who looks similar you, things like you and grew up similar you. as you have more diversity at top levels. we come across a lot of diverse talent on air most the people doing the hiring, pretty much for every other media network or paper or anything, these are

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editors, names you wouldn't know are household names and they are usually not from the most diverse groundwork. the second function, we've had this whole conversation about sports media radio, information technology was going around, why aren't in that location more women in sports radio in particular the reply was, they are merely non equally interested. so there was a huge backlash because it's ridiculous only a lot of people, myself included say a lot of united states of america are interested. we become into this business it is harder to pause into this business organisation and it'southward fifty-fifty harder to lucifer because of how hostile it can be because of ideas we don't want to be in this business. i can't even imagine how it is for black women or indigenous women or non- binary people but it's the idea nosotros have to

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continue to cultivate our surround to be more than welcoming because that's not where piece of work tops we talked about the pipeline in the nfl and diverseness a lot, it is similar here just a similar misunderstanding or we don't empathise it takes down. it doesn't simply happen at the very first, it'southward in the middle and higher levels in this something going on and it needs to be addressed. >> that chapter in the book is different than all other chapters because talked to xx plus within sports media the don't check the box of white male, heterosexual man. nosotros've had all these voices and they accept all different kinds of experiences and part of it was to prove there are people out

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in that location doing the work right now, you should go detect them. every writer likes to hear they are doing a good task, other editors, too. you can find those voices in their studies that be that show company are better when they are more diverse and that is truthful when it comes to storytelling and how stories are beingness tell and media becomes amend and richer whenever we have more than places just yes, it's about hiring but likewise keeping them in those places. you lot can't just hire them then treat them terribly and be shocked when you can't redeem them. >> that does brand sense. you desire to answer some questions from viewers? >> yes, sure. >> hither we become. are either of you working on a

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new book right now? >> no black. >> now. i am back in school, working at the university of texas on sports studies. women in the 1970s but no. both are difficult. [laughter] >> they take a long time to write. it also felt once it was done, it was never done. washington football game squad changed their names, so many things we wrote about are fluid so there is stuff to write nigh should we e'er cull to but no at present. >> the racist mascot chapter is particular interesting for those of you who want to pick this book up jessica has a lot behind her, perchance to buy direct from her. >> these are my. [laughter]

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>> speaking of books, is there anything in your reading correct now that you are liking? >> i've been finding that'due south one of my things that have been very hard. i'thousand not tranquillity about the fact that i love romance novels. i have read good romance novels recently. we moved was spectacular. that's just off the peak of my head but i'm not reading anything nonfiction or don't know. i found sitting and reading to be difficult. >> i concur with that. also when you write for a living, y'all read so much in the class of that and i always tell people there's no such affair every bit watching sports for purely pleasure, you can't plough that office of your encephalon off even when yous watch a squad who love. you lot think almost how y'all are

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going to cover it. equally far as reading for pleasure, it's difficult to find that time and space and probably non the best use of that time and space given our political civilisation right now. i'm reading the invisible span about how we got basically from conservatism to that is where i'grand at right now. >> the work i am doing, i'yard reading a book that is coming out, early next year every bit a book on texas sports in the 1970s and frank is wonderful, he's on my commission and so he'south let me read some of the before pages and it's and then skilful then interesting. i don't know the proper noun, i am deplorable merely i will be out in february and information technology'southward really good.

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>> rooted related, how has the pandemic affected your work over the last 8 months? >> i think for anybody obviously affected the productivity and workflow. i think that's something collectively we are going to as a nation. i have a daily sports cast and then it'southward interesting, things got weird. nosotros have a panel called let's get weird that we figured out how to maintain the content. on the 1 manus also, in that location is then much to cover equally far as how responsible information technology is nosotros have sports at present peculiarly in the nfl college football on the other mitt, at that place are games going on and things happening. the difficult thing has been finding the rest betwixt

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wanting to cover what's going on and give escape every bit much as possible, maintaining a moral imperative to what's going on and for my own mental health, sometimes i but want to talk nearly baseball. [laughter] that has been a flake of a challenge. >> i oasis't had -- i've definitely had productivity bug, i work from home so that role is so strange my husband also at present works from home and my sixth-grader too said that function has been hard at times equally far as getting piece of work washed but the hardest role in coming sports and how i feel about fifty-fifty the fact they are happy, i cohost sports podcast and last weekend nosotros talked about

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sports stories nosotros are excited virtually i talk about twin card, coming dorsum after a twelvemonth off because she was fighting breast cancer. it's an incredible story. then we finished recording and i was like i actually don't know how i feel about this recall most playing in the pandemic. i'1000 excited for her, she'south excited at the aforementioned time, i have been spotlighting cancer survivor playing in the pandemic i don't know that is me covering sports, very strange. >> that in itself, how did the pandemic affect our book writing we had a moment of panic a couple weeks before the volume was

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sent to. >> it might have been five days we had an emergency phone phone call with our publisher, how tin can we go forward with this? leader if there are even going to be curt, nosotros don't know if it's insensitive to exist talking about dilemmas and games from people are dying. none of information technology was certain. strange and interesting. nothing about this is expert, to see how the pandemic has heightened all of these dilemmas we talked about and it tightened all of these tensions. sports have come dorsum and given some reprieve particularly hither in new york. i accept friends who would say i know it'southward not responsible but i would just desire to watch baseball right at present.

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i don't think you tin can tell them that they are wrong and that is the dilemma and its indicative of all these things nosotros are trying to talk about in the book. >> yous can bring it back to football dorsum because there was the notion, i don't know who made upwardly but a general feeling that we needed football come back in the summer, we went through shortening measures to make sure schools and the big 12 and is easy and nonpower 5 month a curve over backwards testing protocols and spending all kinds of money they probably didn't take because layoffs followed. it definitely feels, again you look at it and dear it but at the aforementioned time, it feels achy when rudy forced a cinderella

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story on sunday with whole yogurt to come undefeated but at the same fourth dimension, probably three guys will have covered. >> on the covid list literally yesterday. >> i think i tried to miss that in general just information technology'due south an interesting day because it's like all the higher football games. every time i log into social media, covered is everywhere. we are in a crunch and still they are trying to practise football game games. >> the pupil rushing the field in the president of notre dame releasing this memo, information technology is understandable, these are kids who feel joy. a lot of the states have not felt joy

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all year and i understand why you would at a football especially with that particular one just the adults in charge are non taking accountability here. and he had covid. [laughter] okay, deplorable. >> aye, sports. i do appreciate your time, thanks so much for joining united states today. once again, the book is loving sports and they don't honey you back. thank you for joining us. >> thanks so much. >> thanks so much. >> this is the first time i've e'er ended a virtual session. [laughter] going to become alee and say goodbye. give thanks yous for tuning in. >> cheers, anybody.

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♪♪ >> yous are watching boob tube on c-span2 every weekend with the latest nonfiction books and authors. book television set on c-span2 created by america's cable idiot box company. today brought you like the television receiver companies to provide the public as a public service. ♪♪ >> welcome, everyone. i'm tony, she's funny officeholder of the las vegas presidential foundation is to salve today to take judge douglas conflict with us he was so he served as chief gauge for the d.c. circuit 20012008 has been on the 4th is he worked in the reagan administration taught law at harvard, university of chicago, columbia and others. we are excited to have yous

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