Best Glen Hines Podcasts (2024)

1
Beyond the Game 23:02

2+ y ago23:02

23:02

Two days after my father passed away from stage 4 CTE, I had to travel to military training. I decided to drive. As if somehow ordained, the day was Super Bowl Sunday, and the roads across the southeastern United States were virtually clear. While football culture spent the day glued to the television, I traveled quietly over 700 miles and escaped …

1
The Longest Drive 36:40

2+ y ago36:40

36:40

In late January, 2019, I got the call I always knew I would dread. Although my father had been having some serious long-term physical and neurological problems for a very long time from playing football in college and the NFL, nothing could have prepared us for how rapidly his last days came and what brought us all back together for one final vigil…

1
League of Deception: The NFL's Refusal to Honor the Terms of the Settlement It Made with Former Players 19:31

2+ y ago19:31

19:31

In April 2016, a U.S. federal appellate court approved the settlement agreement in the case of In re: National Football League Players Concussion Injury Litigation. The league agreed to an uncapped compensation fund that would potentially cover over 20,000 retired players in exchange for a release of all concussion-related claims against the league…

1
Empty Colosseum 17:22

2+ y ago17:22

17:22

In this episode, I take a contemplative visit back to the empty stadium where many years ago my father and I played and were part of championship teams, twenty-five years apart. I think back on everything that happened then and everything that happened afterward, and I ask, was it all worth it?

1
How a Pandemic Unmasked the Hypocrisy of Football Culture 19:11

2+ y ago19:11

19:11

Universities and college football fans preach about their concern for the well-being of the "student-athletes" who attend their schools. But this facade crumbled when the worst pandemic in a century hit the world and they feared they might not get to watch football. The result was a forced, chaotic, shortened, and illegitimate season, the personal …

1
On Habits, Mythology, Tribalism, and The Path to Change (Part 2) 26:46

2+ y ago26:46

26:46

In the second of a two-part social and cultural analysis, I discuss the concepts of habit, myth, and tribalism as they all combine and relate to American football. In previous episodes, I’ve argued that one of the explanations for why football only exists in America and why intelligent people would still continue to watch and participate in somethi…

1
On Habits, Mythology, Tribalism, and The Path to Change (Part 1) 20:15

2+ y ago20:15

20:15

In the first of a two-part social and cultural analysis, I discuss the concepts of habit, myth, and tribalism as they all combine and relate to American football. In previous episodes, I’ve argued that one of the explanations for why football only exists in America and why intelligent people would still continue to watch and participate in somethin…

1
Voices in the Wilderness: Luke Kuechly and the Play that Shocked Football 18:22

2+ y ago18:22

18:22

Luke Kuechly was one of the best linebackers in the NFL for the entirety of his eight-year career. But he will perhaps be remembered foremost for a searing picture he provided into what can happen when a player in the prime of his life and at the top of his abilities suffers a serious concussion on a single play. He would retire from the game at th…

1
What the Game Took from Us 24:11

2+ y ago24:11

24:11

There was a time when I believed football had been "good" to our family. But that was a very long time ago. The more I watched my father's post-NFL life develop, the more I realized that rather than "giving" him or our family anything, it had taken much more. In exchange for playing four years on the college level and eight in the NFL, it had given…

1
A High They Have to Have: A Retelling 20:12

2+ y ago20:12

20:12

In this episode, I update my original Sports Illustrated piece from 2015, in which I described what suffering a concussion in a football game is like and the day many years later when I finally faced the truth that I could no longer conceal my true feelings about the culture of enablement that surrounds the football industry.…

1
The Man on Aisle 7 19:11

2+ y ago19:11

19:11

A middle aged man who grew up in Texas lived alone in a small apartment in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was unmarried and had no children. He had no family in the area. He had apparently chosen the city at random. He slept in a sleeping bag on the floor of his apartment because of an old back injury. He worked at the local Sunshine Food Stores sta…

1
The NFL and Big Tobacco 17:53

2+ y ago17:53

17:53

What if the same law firms that represented Big Tobacco also represented the NFL? Would that raise any questions in your mind? We know what happened to Big Tobacco after decades of claiming that nicotine was not addictive and covering up the link between smoking and deadly diseases like lung cancer. It cost Big Tobacco 246 billion dollars. Big Toba…

1
The Mysterious Case of Ron Weaver 15:57

2+ y ago15:57

15:57

In 1995, the University of Texas gave a man named Ron McKelvey a full scholarship to play football. McKelvey then went on to play defensive back in all twelve regular season games for the Longhorns and would have played in the Sugar Bowl against Virginia Tech on New Years' Day 1996 if it hadn't been for one problem: Ron McKelvey was not Ron McKelve…

1
The Tribal Origins of American Football Culture 16:44

2+ y ago16:44

16:44

If you're a college football fan, have you ever stepped back and asked yourself why you care about whether 18 to 22-year-old young men win or lose a football game? There are reasons people invest significant emotional energy in the athletic achievements of 18 to 22-year-old young men. It just might be in their sociological “DNA.”…

1
Opening Minds and Speaking Truth 23:35

3y ago23:35

23:35

The machine cannot run without fuel. And fans and "sports writers" provide that fuel. The irony is, neither group really knows much at all about football or the long-term costs to the people who play it and their families. But they act like they do, especially the never-have-played sports writers who provide erroneous narratives. It becomes incumbe…

1
Renegades from the Cause 21:10

3y ago21:10

21:10

How does one go from a part of the machine to being a renegade from the cause, a traitor to the movement? What are the culminating events? There are many former football players, indeed, more than you would ever believe, who have become renegades and turned their backs on the game. The reasons are legion.…

1
The Twilight of an American Game 14:23

3y ago14:23

14:23

Die-hard fans scoff at the notion that football will ever fade away, but they are overlooking the evidence. For many years now, the numbers of young boys playing tackle football has been in steady decline, even in states where football is akin to a social religion. More and more parents are facing the realities of playing the sport, and they are re…

1
Bring in the Gladiators 56:08

3y ago56:08

56:08

In episode three, I begin to explore how the culture that surrounds the game - made up of the owners' oligarchy, universities that have abandoned teaching and higher education in favor of multi-billion dollar television contracts, and the fans themselves - is an engine - indeed, a self-propelling machine - that might actually be more dangerous in t…

1
The End of Fall 22:04

3y ago22:04

22:04

In this episode, I explain how I arrived at this point. In doing so, I must necessarily begin at the end - with the most recent events - then work back.

1
Prologue 8:20

3y ago8:20

8:20

In the Prologue, I begin to explore how young men come to the game. My father grew up in a small southern town in a state where football - like it was all over the South - was quickly becoming king. But unlike some other people who are groomed and destined for it from birth, instead of him reaching out and finding the game, the game reached out and…