Sports, sex – it's all academic

David Nylund spent the better part of four years researching his book on the phenomenon of sports talk radio, tuning in so much it became part of his life. He woke to it. He drove around with it. It was on when he went to sleep.

Needless to say, Nylund's marriage ended before his field work.

One of the main points in the 190-page book, "Beer, Babes, and Balls," is that sports radio is the one place where men can still be men. If some men are confused about the appropriate way to express their masculinity, radio is the so-called "third place" besides work and home.

"There is this real community where men get together. Talking about sports is really intimate for men and some women. It is very connecting, but it can be very exclusionary if you're not into sports," Nylund said.

Research included eating his share of hot wings and guzzling beer. He went to sports bars often enough that everybody knew his name. He even dated one of the bartenders.

To those he interviewed, such as Isaac Clark III, Nylund seemed like "just a regular guy. I remember him saying he was writing a book and I said, 'Yeah right, whatever.' "

But Nylund, 47, is anything but regular – and would seem to be unlikely to author a sports book.

For one, he is a feminist scholar with a doctorate in cultural studies. For another, one facet of his profession sees him counseling those considering a sex change operation.

"I traffic in these very contradictory sites," said Nylund, a professor of social work at California State University, Sacramento. He is also clinical supervisor for the Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Center.

Growing up, Nylund did not play the traditional team sports. He excelled at tennis and was a scratch golfer or, as he calls them, feminized sports.

Sports fans might applaud some of the professor's conclusions and cringe at others. For instance, Nylund refers to much of the behavior at sports bars as "homoerotic," of all things.

Many readers might finish the book and wonder what in the world Nylund is talking about. The book mixes insider sports lingo with the occasionally dense and polysyllabic language of academia, sometimes to amusing effect.

Nylund writes: "With white male masculinity being challenged by feminism, affirmative action, gay and lesbian movements, and other groups' quest for social equality, sports talk shows have become an attractive venue for embattled white men seeking recreational repose and a nostalgic return to a prefeminist ideal."

While working on the book for years, Nylund often found himself enjoying the experience – sometimes enjoying it too much. He writes of worrying he might be betraying his enlightened values as a feminist scholar.

"At times, I was uncomfortable with the laddish displays of manhood and frequently feigned laughter," he wrote of his field work. "Admittedly, I also participated in crude, sexist jokes on occasion, keeping secret my feminist-informed values. … Yet, I simultaneously enjoyed my field work and felt part of this community."

He went on to wonder, "Is it hypocritical of me to have participated, at least occasionally, in 'male collusive discourse?' "

Nylund argues in the book that much of sports talk radio is not as Neanderthal as some might assume, that the medium polices itself regarding what is acceptable speech. Though comments on "hot babes," for instance, are almost always welcomed, racist or demeaning language is not.

In an interview before he departed for a two-week lecture stint in Sweden, Nylund talked about his disparate work: from observing the world of sports bars to the counseling he provides for those contemplating gender reassignment surgery.

"If we didn't have this investment in being a man or a woman and people could just be, I think people wouldn't feel the need necessarily (to have the surgery)," he said. "I've learned from my clients that some are just not at home in their body, so I've been a strong advocate."

Sacramento plays a prominent role in the book, especially "The Rise Guys" morning show on KHTK (1140 AM). The self-deprecating Nylund notes how he once called the show and, when his banter droned on, got cut off by the hosts.

One section about the Sacramento scene includes an account of how several regular callers to "The Rise Guys" eventually decided to get together at a sports bar. The men, including Clark and Ken Broughton, are now close friends.

Broughton, 48, who works with foster youths, said the book "captures the whole idea of what brings guys together. It identifies (sports talk radio) as a culture of like-minded individuals.

"For me, sports is always a release. Sports are pure. You get honest competition, you get a result and then you get to talk about it."

Clark, 41, an enrollment analyst with Delta Dental insurance, said his phone calls get on the air so often because he knows sports and has a modicum of common sense. "I can definitely see someone becoming addicted to it," he said. "It is entertaining, it diverts you from the real issues of life and it gets you involved."

Nylund said the conclusions he began drawing from his clinical work inspired him to write "Beer, Babes, and Balls."

"I've been a therapist for years and over time it seemed that a lot of problems I was seeing had to do with fairly narrow gender norms, particularly ideas about masculinity and manhood," he said.

"In my opinion, it's problematic. Men didn't invent this system," he said. "When they open up about this stuff they are told by women often to get back in that box."

Nylund is also the author of "Treating Huckleberry Finn," arguing that many children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, are often over-medicated. "It's based on the idea that if Huck Finn were alive and in a contemporary classroom he'd be on Ritalin," he said. "He would have been compliant – but a very uninteresting story."

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