The Other 51

“This wasn't gonna be a soccer book. This was gonna be a book about a weird soccer team.”  Leander Schaerlaeckens returns to the show to talk about the writing and reporting of his excellent new book, “The Long Game: U.S. Men’s Soccer and its savage, four-decade journey to the top, or thereabouts.” Leander talks about the idea for this book dates back to the US failing to qualify for the 2018...

“I had this moment, this great joy and excitement, followed by an equal sense of panic and fear because, I got the deal to write the book, and then I realized I had to write the book!” Bob Crawford returns to The Other 51 for a deep dive into the research and writing of his excellent new book: “America’s Founding Son: John Quincy Adams, from President to Political Maverick.” Bob talks about how he...

“Here’s what I felt through this entire process in writing this book: I felt complete trust.” Joe Posnanski and Michael Schur join Brian to talk about their new book, Big Fan: Two Friends, 81,589 Miles, and the Wild, Wonderful Sports We Love. (*I’m told it’s actually 82,490 miles. Thank you to Joe Posnanski, now the official ombudsman of The Other 51.) Joe and Michael talk about how a clip of the...

“I find it to be a pleasure. To be able to write a book is a privilege, but to do it, to me, is a pleasurable event. I just really enjoy writing. I still do.” Mike Vaccaro, my good friend, career mentor, and fellow proud St. Bonaventure graduate, joins me for a deep dive into his delightfully fun new book, “Bosses of the Bronx: The Endless Drama of the Yankees under the house of Steinbrenner.” We...

“I approach these things almost novelistically. I start with character.” Luke Epplin joins the show for the first time for a deep dive into the writing and reporting of his new book, “Moses and the Doctor: Two Men, One Championship and the Birth of Modern Basketball.” Luke talks about how his experience as a failed novelist — his exact words — trained him to write and research and report the way h...

Friend of the show Alysa Auriemma is back to talk about writing, motherhood, her new collection of short stories, her future books, and so much more.  That “so much more” is Heated Rivalry. Yes, the full bonus episode, and more Heated Rivalry content, is here.  But before that, Alysa talks about the two short stories in her new collection, “The Archives of Theara: Stories of the Kinborn.” She disc...

Our regularly planned episode with Alysa Auriemma , where we talk about writing and her new collection of stories and motherhood and all of the things, will be out next week. But we also talked a lot about Heated Rivalry. Well, Alysa had a lot to say about the show and the book series. As a bonus, and a preview of the full episode, enjoy some Heated Rivalry talk. Follow Alysa here.

Bestselling author Jeff Pearlman returns to talk all about the writing and reporting of his new book, “Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur.” Jeff talks about how and when he decided to write a biography of Tupac, what made the late rapper a compelling topic, and how he’s similar to Bo Jackson (the subject of Pearlman’s previous book).  Jeff talks about how he interviewed 652 peop...

“I kept thinking, is there a single quarterback I can write about that I can tell this story through? And no matter who it was … everything felt too small. And so what I wanted to do was write about all of them, in a way, at every level.” It’s our 200th episode, and we’re celebrating by talking to one of our favorite writers. Seth Wickersham joins Brian to talk about the writing and reporting of h...

“That’s why I do this. That’s why I’m involved in this. I was one of those young people who was endlessly inspired by female athletes and by women’s sport” Danielle Sarver Coombs and Molly Yanity join Brian to talk about the two scholarly anthologies they co-edited about the 2023 Women’s World Cup.  We’ve interviewed writers of all sorts throughout our nine years hosting this show, but this is the...

“It was the stories that I woke up the next day thinking about … I want complicated stories about complicated people making difficult choices and facing real things.” Journalist, professor, and author Jane McManus joins us this week to talk about her career, The Year’s Best Sports Writing, her new book and more.  Jane was the editor of the 2024 edition of The Year’s Best Sports Writing. She a...

“The challenge is to make you love Lloyd and make you realize that Lloyd is extraordinary and that you realize that before Lloyd does.” Will Leitch returns to the show to talk all about his new book, “Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride.” which is out now and you should totally buy!  Will describes how a pre-pandemic visit to a family friend helped plant the seed for the book’s premise, and how that pre...

“I never really thought about it as something I would ever do a story on. I didn’t even think of it in terms of a story … these were just our friends.” Sam Borden from ESPN joins us for a deep dive into his moving feature story on the friendship between Abby Zittoun and the UConn women’s basketball team.  Sam discusses the intensely personal nature of this story for him, how he navigated bein...

Author, journalist and screenwriter Michael Weinreb joins Brian to talk about newsletters, carving out a writing career in the digital world, the intersection of sports, politics and culture and the value of works in progress.  We start out by talking about Michael’s time writing for Grantland and how that site was almost our generation’s version of The National Sports Daily. Michael talks ab...

“I didn’t want this to be 300 pages of highlights. I wanted this book to surprise people in its depth and in the way it’s written and in the topics we cover.” Mike Sielski returns to the show for a deep dive into the writing and reporting of his new book, “Magic in the Air.” We start with the book’s subtitle: “The Myth, the Mystery and the Soul of the Slam Dunk.” Mike, a columnist for the Philadel...

“What’s the book that I would write if I had time?” Jennifer Ashley Tepper joins us for a deep dive into her upcoming book, “Women Writing Musicals: The Legacy That the History Books Left Out.” Jennifer, a Broadway historian, producer and 2022 Tony Honoree (!!!), talks about how she came to the idea of writing about 300-plus women writers, dating back to the 1700s, who have written musical theater...

“I’ve got this crazy idea, it would be Agatha Christie meets Lost. They were like ‘how are you gonna pull that off?’ and I was like ‘I have absolutely no idea.” Stuart Turton joins Brian to talk about the writing of his New York Times bestseller, “The Last Murder at the End of the World.”  Stuart talks about how this was the hardest book he’s ever written, why it was so hard, and how he had t...

“After 190 episodes talking about other’s people writing, I finally get to talk about something I wrote!” Brian is joined by Matthew Zimmeran and Lauren Burch, and the three of them talk about their new textbook, Introduction to Sports Journalism.  We talk about how Matt started the project and how/why he asked us to be a part of it. We talk about our different writing styles and methods, how...

“I feel like my place as a writer is sort of that place between what happened and the mythology of what’s happening.”  Joe Posnanski joins Brian for a deep dive into his new book, Why We Love Football: A History in 100 Moments.  Joe talks about how he started with a list of more than 300 football moments and the process of whittling those down. It’s an honest and super nerdy discussion a...

“I think those fans deserve the truth. They don't need to be pandered to, they don't need to be misled.” Tyler Dunne, the man behind Go Long and the best NFL feature writer working today, joins Brian to talk about Sean McDermott, Zay Jones and so much more.  Ty talks about the aftermath of his Sean McDermott series, how the coach and the team responded to that explosive series and reached out...

“I think the role of the critic is to bring that nuanced understanding and historical context to explain the music.” Dr. Jenn Billinson from Nazareth University joins Brian for a deep, deep dive into Cowboy Carter, The Tortured Poets Department, and the role of music writing in today’s media world.  Jenn talks about her recent research into gatekeeping in country music and specifically the re...

“When in doubt, choose not to harm somebody.” Jen Moritz, senior editor and inclusive language specialist (and Brian’s wife) joins us to talk about inclusive language.  What is inclusive language? So glad you asked!  Jen defines the term for us, and also describes how she got interested and involved in this area of editing. She tells us how the pandemic influenced her interest in inclusi...

Next week, our regularly scheduled episode with Jen Moritz will be out. We’ll be talking all about inclusive language.  However.   Early in April, the Associated Press announced updates to its style book. Including new guidance on writing about “obese, obesity and overweight” We, um, we have some thoughts.  And so, a bonus episode.  Enjoy! And be sure to listen to our non-...

“We all experience loss differently, but there’s common ground for all of us to find in that.” Jared Paventi joins Brian this week to talk all about his excellent Substack, Dirt Nap.  Jared discusses how he came to write a weekly blog/newsletter/Substack/whatever we’re calling it about death and grieving, how watching his oldest daughter grieve the loss of her grandpa inspired him, and how he...

“Come in for the show, stay for the tears.” Alex Brightman joins Brian to talk about Broadway and writing, including a deep dive into his play “The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers.” A two-time Tony Nominee (for School of Rock and Beetlejuice), Alex tells Brian how a YouTube series, a production of Grease, and a shared affinity for Old Hollywood led to him writing a one-man show for Marc Summers ba...