Blue Ridge Public Radio is proud to announce the launch of “Going Deep: Sports in the 21st Century”, a podcast that looks at some of the most pressing issues in sports and society – such as race, gender, religion, and inequality.
The hosts are the husband and wife team of John Shoop and Dr. Marcia Mount Shoop. John coached football for more than two decades in both the NFL and NCAA, while Marcia is a theologian, minister, and author of books such as “Touchdowns for Jesus and Other Signs of Apocalypse.” Marcia says she’s the only “feminist theologian” she knows of that’s married to a football coach. Their backgrounds allow the Shoops to engage the toughest topics with intellect, humor, and years of first-hand experience in big-time sports. No issue is out of bounds on Going Deep. The hosts explore how sports are used to promote certain kinds of religion, the lack of rights for college athletes, and the unlikely alliance that includes a former NFL quarterback in pushing for the legalization of medicinal cannabis. For the Shoops, a W.I.N. is when listeners Wonder, Investigate, and Notice the dynamics of sports in a new way.
“Marcia and John take an unflinching look at sports in America”, says David Feingold, general manager & CEO of Blue Ridge Public Radio. “They bring to the podcast relationships with countless figures in sports who are willing to speak with them candidly about some of the toughest issues in sports today.” Episodes can be heard here and anytime through the free BPR mobile app, or downloaded through your preferred podcast provider. Individual episodes will also air Saturday afternoons at 3:30 on BPR News following BPR’s other locally produced program The Waters & Harvey Show.
John and Marcia Mount Shoop have a lifetime of experience in sports as former athletes, coaches, parents of athletes, and as a football family for over two decades.
John coached in the NFL and Division I College Football for twenty-six years. Coach Shoop has served as offensive coordinator and/or quarterbacks coach for some of the most storied franchises in the league: Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Oakland Raiders. He was also the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of North Carolina and Purdue University. Currently, John is teaching U.S. and World History at A.C. Reynolds High School in Asheville, North Carolina.
Marcia has a PhD from Emory University and a Master of Divinity from Vanderbilt University. She is ordained to the ministry in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Dr. Shoop is the author of Touchdowns for Jesus and Other Signs of Apocalypse: Lifting the Veil on Big-Time Sports and A Body Broken, A Body Betrayed: Race, Memory, and Eucharist in White Dominant Churches and Let the Bones Dance: Embodiment and the Body of Christ. Dr. Shoop is also the pastor at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Asheville, North Carolina.