Tonight on The Independents: Steroids, Concussions, Stadium Subsidies, College Compensation, Title IX, and How Sports Makes Society Weirder and More Fun!

Tonight at 9 pm ET, and then repeated again at
midnight, Fox Business Network’s The
Independents will be devoting its Friday-magazine episode
to one of the nation’s most entertaining subjects—except when it
mixes with politics.
That’s right, we’re talkin’ about sports!

First up is the terrific Yahoo! baseball writer Jeff Passan, who explains why
his inaugural Hall of Fame ballot this year will include (in
Kennedy‘s
phrasing) some “pumpkin heads”–players widely associated with
using performance-enhancing drugs. Following that, former tailback
great Ricky
Watters describes in moving detail why he has
joined the crusade against concussions in the NFL.

Also: Economist J.C. Bradbury discusses the

curious persistence of stadium welfare in the face of
overwhelming evidence that the stuff never pays off; libertarian
legal genius Richard Epstein
makes the case against the women-in-college-athletics provisions of

Title IX, the co-hosts yell at each other a lot about
compensating college athletes, and there is a lively discussion at
the end that touches on gay NBAer Jason Collins, Jackie Robinson,
and Bill
Walton’s weed habits.

Practice? This show counts!