Good Seats Still Available

Baseball historian and Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) contributor Eric Vickrey (" Season of Shattered Dreams: Postwar Baseball, the Spokane Indians, and a Tragic Bus Crash That Changed Everything ") joins the podcast for a look back at one of the worst tragedies in the history of US pro sports.   From the dust jacket of Vickrey's new book: "On June 24, 1946, a bus carrying the  Spok...

We celebrate the 94th birthday of legendary  Soccer America columnist Paul Gardner ( The Simplest Game: The Intelligent Fan's Guide to the World of Soccer ; Soccer Talk: Paul Gardner on Soccer ) with this special archive re-release (and our 6th-ever episode!) from 2017. The universally acknowledged "dean" of American soccer writers waxes nostalgic on his unlikely journey from fledgling British pha...

During the late 1960s, Dean Tolson (" Power Forward: My Journey from Illiterate NBA Player to a Magna Cum Laude Master's Degree ") emerged as a standout prep basketball talent during his junior and senior years at Central High School in Kansas City, Missouri. His prowess on the court attracted the attention of a bevy of college recruiters, leading him to accept a full scholarship offer from the ne...

It's our first journey into the chaotically exciting history of "professional" roller derby with former skater and long-time keeper-of-the-flame Scott Stephens (" Rolling Thunder: The Golden Age of Roller Derby & the Rise and Fall of the L.A. T-Birds" ). From the moment he laced up his first pair of roller skates at age six in mid-1960s Los Angeles, roller derby became more than just a sport to St...

It's a special mea culpa episode this week, as we welcome back Szczecin University (Poland) history professor and Episode 289 guest Łukasz Muniowski ( Turnpike Team: A History of the New Jersey Nets 1977-2012 ) for a deep dive into the drama of the NBA's Vancouver Grizzlies move to Memphis in 2001 - and an assessment of the winners and losers some 23+ years since.   While Muniowski 's current titl...

[ A dip into the archives for a one of our first-ever episodes from 2017 - by request!] Author Matt Algeo ( Last Team Standing: How the Steelers and the Eagles – "The Steagles" – Saved Pro Football During World War II ) joins Tim Hanlon all the way from Maputo, Mozambique to discuss the marriage of convenience that literally saved the National Football League from collapse in 1943. Algeo describes...

Former ESPN ad researcher, and current Elon University professor of communications and sport management David Bockino ( Game On: How Sports Media Grew Up, Sold Out, and Got Personal with Billions of Fans ) helps us trace the evolution of the sports media industry - with historical points of interest both obvious (e.g., the 1958 NFL Championship Game; " Sports Illustrated " magazine; ABC's " Monday...

We reach back into the vaunted Good Seats library stacks this week for a deep dive into one of Tim's favorite sports reference books - Roadside Baseball: The Locations of America's Baseball Landmarks - with its (prodigious non-fiction) author Chris Epting .   Now in its third edition, Roadside is everything you'd imagine from the title: a detailed, geographic cataloging of over 500 important event...

Sharing something special, an episode of the new podcast "Ways to Win" - where coaches Craig Robinson and John Calipari use their on-court wisdom to solve off-court problems. In this first episode (recorded before the start of the NCAA basketball tournament!), there's no better way to kick off March Madness than with President Barack Obama (and Craig's favorite brother-in-law), who drops by to bre...

We bust some brackets this week in honor of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, with a look back at the old East Coast Athletic Conference and the coaching cradle of city of Boston - with return ( Episode 237 ) guest Clayton Trutor (" Boston Ball: Rick Pitino, Jim Calhoun, Gary Williams, and the Forgotten Cradle of Basketball Coaches ").   Before the formation of the original Big East...

We squint hard this week for a look into the story of American "professional" wrestling's formative years - with pop culture writer Jon Langmead ( Ballyhoo! The Roughhousers, Con Artists, and Wildmen Who Invented Professional Wrestling ).   Langmead takes us inside the raucous period roughly between the mid-1870s to the early-1940s - where genuine competitive wrestlers and opportunistic amusement-...

Harper's Contributing Editor and novelist/historian extraordinaire Kevin Baker (" The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City ") brings his blended affection for (and evocative portrayals of) both "The Big Apple" and the "National Pastime" - to make a compelling case for New York City as the rightful center of the baseball universe. From Alan Moores' review in Booklist :   "Baseball fan...

It's a celebration of women's hoops this week, as we look back at the "early days" of the Women's National Basketball Association - including stops with the oft-forgotten Utah Starzz and San Antonio Silver Stars - with three-time league all-star Marie Ferdinand-Harris ( Transformed: The Winning Side of Losing ).   A first-round pick in the WNBA's fifth-ever draft in 2001, Ferdinand was a dominant...

It's a "retcon" special this week, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the most colorful and persistent franchises in American pro soccer history - with a return visit from Episode 40 guest Gary Singh ( The Unforgettable San Jose Earthquakes: Momentous Stories On & Off the Field ). As one of four West Coast expansion teams (along with the Los Angeles Aztecs, Seattle Sounders and Vancouv...

Veteran Minnesota sportswriter Kevin Allenspach ( Mirage of Destiny: The Story of the 1990-91 Minnesota North Stars ) takes to the ice with us this week, as we look back at one of the most improbable playoff runs in NHL history - one that came the closest to giving the self-professed "State of Hockey" its first Stanley Cup championship - a title that still eludes the region to this day. Throughout...

We celebrate the launch of the new " MISL 1980s: The Story of Indoor Soccer " Substack series with its author and return ( Episode 31 ) guest Tim O'Bryhim (" Make This Town Big: The Story of Roy Turner and the Wichita Wings " & " God Save the Wings "). O'Bryhim's long-form pieces promise to bring to light myriad stories from the legendary original Major Indoor Soccer League - a pioneering pro socc...

Iowa baseball chronologist Steve Dunn (" ' Pug,' 'Fireball,' and Company: 116 Years of Professional Baseball in Des Moines, Iowa ") joins for a surprisingly rich journey into the history of professional baseball in the Hawkeye State's largest city - currently home to the Diamond Baseball Holdings-owned Triple-A affiliate of the National League's Chicago Cubs. Besides today's Iowa Cubs, the city of...

[ A dip into the archives for a fan favorite from 2019 - featuring a show-closing ode to the late, great 70s' TV game show " Celebrity Bowling "! ] + + + We hit the lanes this week to delve into the fascinating story of the nation's first and only attempt at a professional team bowling league – a seemingly anachronistic idea by today's standards, but a concept that made total sense in the early 19...

Valdosta State University history professor (and Episode 244 guest) Tom Aiello (" Dixieball: Race and Professional Basketball in the Deep South ") returns after a two-year absence - for an enlightening look at the curious cultural history of the city of Atlanta's awkward relationship with professional hockey. In his new book " White Ice: Race and the Making of Atlanta Hockey ," Aiello interestingl...

We buckle up this week for a wild and revelatory ride across 50+ years of big-time soccer in the United States with one of the biggest unsung heroes of the American game - and unquestionably, one of its most prominent "keepers of the flame." The professional and personal life journey of "Soccer Tom" Mulroy ( " 90 Minutes with the King: How Soccer Saved My Life ") virtually parallels the 1970s-to-1...

We turn back the clock 48 years ago this week for a revisit of one of the most consequential contests in the history of the National Hockey League - with sports historian Ed Gruver (" The Game That Saved the NHL: The Broad Street Bullies. the Soviet Red Machine, and Super Series '76 "). The dust jacket of Gruver's new book sums it up thusly: "In late 1975 and early 1976, at the height of the Cold...

It's the adventure-filled story of how a late-60s-era Scottish top-league footballer helped start the first-ever professional soccer circuit in the then-British colony of Hong Kong - punctuated by an unexpected off-season loan to one of the most forgotten franchises in North American Soccer League history. Derek Currie (" When 'Jesus' Came to Hong Kong: The Remarkable Story of the First European F...

We press the rewind button on a most interesting 2023, and peer ahead into the uncharted waters of 2024 with our fourth-annual(-ish) Holiday Roundtable Spectacular - featuring three of our favorite fellow defunct sports enthusiasts: Andy Crossley ( Fun While It Lasted & Episode 2 ); Paul Reeths ( StatsCrew.com , OurSportsCentral.com & Episode 46 ); and Steve Holroyd ( Crossecheck , Philly Classics...

After last week's ugly, team-record 63-21 drubbing by the Las Vegas Raiders, and the subsequent dismissal of its head coach and general manager - it's been a (yet another) rough season for the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers.  While family owner/scion Dean Spanos tries (again) to plot a plan forward, we look nostalgically  back to the franchise's early years in San Diego as one of the charter entries i...

We adjust our TV antenna rabbit ears back to the late 1970s for the origin story of one of the most influential firms in modern-day sports media - with Rick and Dee Ray, the founders of televised college sports juggernaut Raycom Sports . In their new George Hirthler-penned memoir " Unstoppable: A Story of Love, Faith and the Power Couple Who Ignited the College Sports Broadcasting Boom ," the Rays...