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Sidelines

Sidelines

By: Dustin Foote
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Sports stories from outside the lines of play© 2025 Dustin Foote Social Sciences
Episodes
  • All Bets Are Off: A Gambling Counselor on Legal Sports Betting
    Mar 20 2025

    A gambling addiction nearly ruined Arnie Wexler’s life in the 1960s. Since then, he and his wife, Sheila, have dedicated their lives to helping compulsive gamblers recover. Now, as states rapidly legalize sports betting, Wexler warns of an industry that prioritizes profit over people.

    Wexler, a certified gambling counselor, co-wrote All Bets Are Off: Losers, Liars, and Recovery from Gambling Addiction with Sheila.

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    15 mins
  • Jimmy Carter’s Sporting Legacy
    Mar 12 2025

    Peanut farmer, president, humanitarian… and distance runner. Jimmy Carter was both an athlete and a devoted sports fan—just not of golf. Sports played a surprising role in his life and presidency, shaping key moments and controversies. Jonathan Alter, author of His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life, joins me to explore the little-known story of Carter and sports.

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    12 mins
  • The First High School Football League to Ban Kickoffs
    Jan 11 2025

    When the Riverdale Falcons’ football season was cut short due to a series of injuries, Athletic Director John Pizzi reached out to the Concussion Legacy Foundation with a mission: “change football.” This moment, followed by a comprehensive study, led to a series of reforms, the most significant being the elimination of the kickoff. Riverdale, along with its peers in the Metropolitan Athletic League, made history by becoming the first high school football league in the nation to ban kickoffs.


    So, what made Riverdale football the first of its kind? Will more high schools follow their lead? And with all the talk of “reforming football” and “player safety,” could this small New York league be providing the blueprint for meaningful change?

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    17 mins
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