{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"253: "Out of Their League" - With Dave Meggyesy","description":"\u200bA pro football\u200b player who protests against the actions of his government, is shunned by \u200bthe league establishment, and eventually \u200bwinds up out of the \u200bgame, working for social justice. \u200b No, it's not Colin Kaepernick\u200b; it's the 1960s NFL saga of a former St. Louis Cardinals linebacker named Dave Meggyesy.   A 17th-round draft pick in 1963 out of Syracuse, Meggyesy was a steady presence and reliable performer for seven mostly mediocre Cardinal seasons (save for a 1964 season-ending Bert Bell Benefit [aka "NFL Playoff"] Bowl victory over Green Bay) - when\u200b he quit at the height of his career\u200b, \u200brepulsed by a game he saw rife with problems and injustices, and a nation fighting an increasingly futile war in Vietnam.   In 1970, he wrote\u200b a bombshell expos\u00e9 of a book called "\u200bOut of Their League\u200b"\u200b \u2013 a blistering assault on football and \u200bthe institutions that enabled it - in which \u200bhe detailed \u200bmultiple ills of the game, many of which still exist today.  \u200b   Racism, corruption, militarism, institutionalized violence, drug abuse, collegiate "amateurism," and the relentless inevitability of injuries and their lasting effects - blunt and searing insights that\u200b \u200b\u200bnot only \u200bshocked \u200bfans of the NFL, \u200bbut also\u200b \u200bshook up the broader 1970s \u200bsport\u200bs establishment.\u200b\u200b   \u200bStill\u200b\u200b, at its heart,\u200b \u200bMeggyesy's\u200b memoir \u200bwa\u200bs also a moving de\u200bpiction\u200b of \u200bhis individual\u200b struggle\u200b for social justice and personal liberation\u200b, the contents of which were both ahead of its time - and as timely as ever.\u200b ","author_name":"Good Seats Still Available","author_url":"https:\/\/goodseatsstillavailable.com","html":"