Logo for Sports In America with David Greene

Sports In America with David Greene

WHYY | PRX

Sports in America explores stories that shape athletes and fans alike. Each week, David Greene hosts in-depth conversations with people across the world of sports  – from the star who hits the game winner to the millions of us whose lives are touched by the game.

From WHYY and PRX.

2025

Sports in America explores stories that shape athletes and fans alike. Each week, David Greene hosts in-depth conversations with people across the world of sports  – from the star who hits the game winner to the millions of us whose lives are touched by the game.

From WHYY and PRX.

2025
28hr 19min
Thumbnail for "When the Game Ends, DeMaurice Smith Fights for the Players".
April 23, 202650min 3sec96.01 MB
Thumbnail for "You Don’t Need to Be Flashy To Become a Legend. Just Ask Michael Cooper".
June 4, 202650min 4sec47.96 MB
Thumbnail for "Robert “The Chief” Parish on a Life of Toughness".
May 28, 202650min 2sec95.98 MB
Thumbnail for "Enes Kanter Freedom Won't Stay Silent".
May 21, 202650min 4sec96.03 MB
Thumbnail for "The Reinvention of Rex Chapman".
May 14, 202650min 4sec96.03 MB
Thumbnail for "Brittney Griner on Coming Home".
May 7, 202650min 3sec96.01 MB
Thumbnail for "Is Baseball Boring? Ask the Savannah Bananas".
April 30, 202650min 3sec96.01 MB
Thumbnail for "Shea Serrano Talks “Expensive Basketball” (And Other Things)".
April 16, 202650min 3sec96.02 MB
Thumbnail for "“Chief Vibes Officer” Bones Hyland".
April 9, 202650min 4sec96.03 MB
Thumbnail for "Shayla Smith Scored More Points Than Wilt Chamberlain".
April 2, 202650min 3sec96.01 MB
Thumbnail for "Today’s Echoes of Jackie Robinson’s America".
March 26, 202650min 4sec96.03 MB
Thumbnail for "Why Bomani Jones Won’t ‘Stick to Sports’".
March 19, 202650min 4sec96.03 MB
Thumbnail for "Carli Lloyd on Soccer’s Double Standard".
March 12, 202650min 4sec96.03 MB
Thumbnail for "For Claressa Shields, the Best Revenge is Her Paper".
March 5, 202650min119.9 MB
Thumbnail for "Will “Heated Rivalry” Change the NHL?".
February 26, 202650min 4sec96.03 MB
Thumbnail for "Coming Down from the Olympic High with Nick Goepper".
February 19, 202650min 3sec96.02 MB
Thumbnail for "Olympian Alysa Liu Doesn’t Care About the Medals".
February 12, 202650min 3sec96.02 MB
Thumbnail for "Super Bowl Highs and Heartbreaks with Larry Fitzgerald".
February 5, 202650min 3sec96 MB
Thumbnail for "Tom Coughlin’s Measure of a Life Well Lived".
January 27, 202650min 4sec96.03 MB
Thumbnail for "Andrew Whitworth’s Journey from Recruit to Champion to Mentor".
January 20, 202650min 3sec96.01 MB
Thumbnail for "Eye in the Sky Don’t Lie: Benjamin Watson on Faith, Effort and Accountability".
January 13, 202650min 2sec95.99 MB
Thumbnail for "Playing Through Pain, with RGIII and Elena Delle Donne".
January 6, 202650min 4sec96.03 MB
Thumbnail for "Kareem Rosser’s Ride of a Lifetime".
December 23, 202550min 3sec96.01 MB
Thumbnail for "His Dream Through Me, Pt. 2: Seth Jensen".
December 16, 202550min 4sec47.96 MB
Thumbnail for "His Dream Through Me, Pt. 1: Ryan Jensen".
December 9, 202550min 4sec96.03 MB
Thumbnail for "Nattie Neidhart From the Top Rope".
December 2, 202550min 4sec96.03 MB
Thumbnail for "The Man Behind the Tush Push".
November 25, 202550min 4sec96.03 MB
Thumbnail for "Sports Betting: From Vegas to Our Smartphones".
November 18, 202550min 3sec120.15 MB
Thumbnail for "Tim Hardaway on Fatherhood, Failure, and Forgiveness".
November 11, 202550min 3sec96.01 MB
Thumbnail for "The New Rules of Sports Reporting with Pablo Torre".
November 4, 202550min 2sec95.99 MB
Thumbnail for "Chris Godwin on the Keys to Perseverance".
October 28, 202550min 3sec120.13 MB
Thumbnail for "Susannah Scaroni on the Magic Outside Your Comfort Zone".
October 21, 202550min 4sec120.17 MB
Thumbnail for "Lia Thomas' Fight to Compete".
October 14, 202550min 3sec120.15 MB
Thumbnail for "Meet the Heywards".
October 7, 202545min 58sec110.34 MB
Thumbnail for "Introducing Sports In America with David Greene".
September 19, 20251min 44sec3.35 MB

When the Game Ends, DeMaurice Smith Fights for the Players

Thumbnail for "When the Game Ends, DeMaurice Smith Fights for the Players".
April 23, 202650min 3sec

It’s time for the 2026 NFL Draft — when all 32 teams get to pick new talent from the best college football programs across the country. Who will be the players to watch next season, and how will they help shape the future of the game? We’ll talk all of this out with Nick Baumgardner, a senior writer and NFL Draft analyst at The Athletic.

Then, we’re going to sit down with DeMaurice Smith. For 14 years, he was the president of the NFL Players Association. That’s the union for professional football players. Basically, he was the guy who had to protect 300-pound dudes who are smashing into each other for a living.

In his time with the union, he went head to head with NFL leaders on contentious issues like the 2011 lockout, Colin Kaepernick’s 2016 protests for racial justice, and Damar Hamlin’s near-fatal cardiac arrest on the field during a game. He unpacks these moments and more in his autobiography “Turf Wars: The Fight for the Soul of America’s Game.”

Show Notes

  1. Turf Wars: The Fight for the Soul of America’s Game by DeMaurice Smith
  2. Who Won the 2011 NFL Lockout? | Forbes
  3. A timeline of the NFL’s response after Damar Hamlin collapsed | CNN
  4. Predicting 2026 Draft Picks 1-100, starting with Fernando Mendoza | The Athletic

Show Credits

Host: David Greene

Executive Producers: Joan Isabella, Tom Grahsler

Senior Producer: Michael Olcott

Producer: Michaela Winberg

Associate Producer: Bibiana Correa

Talent Booker: Britt Kahn

Engineer: Mike Villers

Tile Art: Bea Walling

Theme Song: Emma Munger

Sports in America is a production of WHYY, distributed by PRX, and part of the NPR podcast network.

Transcript

Thumbnail for "When the Game Ends, DeMaurice Smith Fights for the Players".
When the Game Ends, DeMaurice Smith Fights for the Players
00:00
50:03