With the global mega-event, football (aka soccer)'s World Cup, in full swing, we take the opportunity to have as today's guest, Jules Boycoff, local author who has written widely on the business and politics of sport. A one-time member of the U.S. men's under-23 national team and for a few years a pro soccer player himself, Boycoff ended up becoming highly critical of the massive over-spending, corruption, displacement of poor communities, militarization and other problems associated with large sporting events like the Olympics. He wrote four books on the Olympics:\Celebration Capitalism and the Olympic Games; Activism and the Olympics: Dissent at the Games in Vancouver and London;Power Games: A Political History of the Olympics; and NOlympians: Inside the Fight Against Capitalist Mega-Sports in Los Angeles, Tokyo and Beyond.
Boykoff has also written on social movements, the suppression of dissent, and the role of the mass media in US politics, especially regarding coverage of climate change issues. He is currently a professor of Politics and Government at Pacific University. In 2007 and 2009, students selected him as recipient of the Trombley Award for teaching excellence.
- KBOO