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Welcome to the schedule for BBF 2016! Please note that with the exception of the following sessions (Life without Envy, The Art of Perspective, Writing with Risk, Sound Advice, and Lore), absolutely every session at the BBF is free, and no tickets or preregistration are required. Thanks, and enjoy your day!
Saturday, October 15 • 3:00pm - 4:00pm
Sports in Context

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Buzzer-beaters, world record times, and walk-off home runs are all thrilling, but what do amateur sports really mean to their players, fans, and communities? Two distinguished writers consider this question. Sports Illustrated writer S. L. Price ponders whether high school football can be the salvation of a once-thriving Pennsylvania steel town after the demise of its primary industry, in Playing Through the Whistle. And in Black Gods of the Asphalt, Onaje X. O. Woodbine (who was once a shooting guard for Yale) explores how street basketball serves as a ritual act of healing and connection for black youths devastated by loss and dehumanized by systemic racism. Guiding us through this exploration of sports and their cultural context is Bill Littlefield, host of Only a Game on WBUR.
Moderators
avatar for Bill Littlefield

Bill Littlefield

Bill Littlefield is the host of NPR’s Only A Game and a columnist for the Boston Globe. He served as the guest editor for The Best American Sports Writing 1998, has published several other books, and most recently wrote the introduction for and edited The Top of His Game, a collection... Read More →

Presenters
avatar for S.L. Price

S.L. Price

S. L. Price has been a senior writer at Sports Illustrated since 1994. He is the author of several books, including Heart of the Game; Pitching Around Fidel, which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; and Far Afield, which Esquire named one of the top five reads of... Read More →
avatar for Onaje X.O. Woodbine

Onaje X.O. Woodbine

Onaje Woodbine currently teaches philosophy and religious studies at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. A former streetball player on the hard courts of Roxbury, Woodbine went on to become an all-star Ivy League player at Yale with NBA aspirations--until he quit, answering... Read More →

Saturday October 15, 2016 3:00pm - 4:00pm
Old South Mary Norton Hall 645 Boylston Street, Boston, MA
  Nonfiction