Monday, December 29, 2014: Bob talks with author and neurologist Oliver Sacks about many things including his book Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, where Sacks investigates the power of music to move, heal and haunt us. Then, Bob visits with the top-selling rock duo of all time, Daryl Hall and John Oates. After more than 40 years of recording together, the Philadelphia musicians have enough songs to fill up a four-CD, 74-track collection, 28 of them Top 40 hits. The boxed set is called, Do What You Want, Be What You Are: The Music of Daryl Hall and John Oates.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014: Peter, Paul & Mary sounded better than Peter, Noel & Mary. But Noel or Paul, it’s the same guy. Noel Paul Stookey talks about being in the middle of the 60’s folk music movement. He talks about that with Bob and about his 2008 solo CD titled Facets. Today is Stookey’s 77th birthday. Then Bob is serenaded by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary. Yarrow brought his guitar to the studio and they discuss Yarrow’s picture book for children – based on his classic song Puff the Magic Dragon – which he insists is NOT a metaphor for drug use. Finally, we hear from Peter, Paul and Mary Travers from 2004, one of our very earliest interviews, when they were at XM promoting their 5-CD boxed set titled Carry It On.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014: Bob talks with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Maraniss about his new book, Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero. Roberto Clemente was a legendary athlete who helped the Pittsburgh Pirates win two World Series championships. Clemente died in a plane crash 42 years ago today – on New Year’s Eve 1972 – as he led an effort to deliver aid to Nicaragua after an earthquake.
Thursday, January 1, 2015: As the nation turns its attention today to the first ever college football playoff games, we take a look at the treatment of athletes in big-time college sports and the impact of big-money sports programs on higher education. We learn about the recent academic scandal at the University of North Carolina with whistleblower Mary Willingham and UNC professor Jay Smith. Bob’s investigation features SiriusXM’s own Dave Zirin and includes the voices of Len Elmore and other former players; college officials like University of West Virginia president Gordon Gee, who had a controversial tenure at Ohio State; and journalists who have covered college sports, including John Feinstein. It’s a replay of our documentary titled Dropping the Ball: The Shady Side of Big-Time College Sports.
Friday, January 2, 2015: In 1968, Stanford ecologist Paul Ehrlich published the best-selling book The Population Bomb. He was criticized for making false, doomsday predictions although Ehrlich maintains that, if anything, his book was overly optimistic. Now in his 80s, Ehrlich is still teaching, researching and publishing. He talked with Bob about his 2010 book titled Humanity on a Tightrope, which examines ways to create a sustainable society capable of preserving the planet. Then, Bob speaks with cognitive psychologist and neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, author of This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession.
I am glad to hear this story and that it hasn't died in our short-term memory attitudes.
The issue has complex depth; arrogance, ignorance, pride, deceit, racism, abuse, money and greed. As adults, the injured and abandoned athlete can say they were responsible for accepting the school's offer. But, we all know they were kids. Their brains haven't fully developed, they don't have the ability to recognize and be accountable for the intentional actions of those (scouts and coaches) much older and with practiced skills in such dishonest negotiations.
I have no doubt that the colleges and universities are engaged in deliberate abuses of human brains and bodies; the dishonest academic processes and the deplorable medical care of college athletes.
It's crazy that all who are engaged in college sports (Boosters, Patrons, Board and Presidents, fans, on down) are directly responsible for this outcome.
My question, however, is what is the role of the K-12 schools who get to hide in the shadows while the light shines on post-secondary athletics. I have yet to hear any discussions about the failure of K-12 systems that allow their sports stars to graduate even as the staff and coaches and families know the kid (and these are kids) cannot read, or cannot pass basic education coursework. We need to be honest and back up a few feet so that the edges of the light fully include K – 12 education in this country.