Conversations with Sports Fans

Just in time for the 2023 NCAA Men's Final Four, we speak in this episode with college basketball superfan, Craig Caswell, who in February attended the Lehigh University at American University game in AU's Bender Arena and, in so doing, completed his quest to see every NCAA Division I basketball team play in person. Yes, you read that correctly, over a 12-year period of time Craig has seen...

In this episode we're joined by former Ann Arbor News ' colleague Karl Bates for a rollicking conversation about his life as pseudo-sports fan who's managed to witness some pretty cool events. Along the way, Karl shares how he came to be at the Los Angeles Forum for Games 3 and 4 of the 1989 NBA Championship and, in so doing, witnessed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 's final NBA game. Oh, in...

In this episode we're delighted to be joined Andrew Chong , a software tester for the sports data suite of websites known as Sports Reference . (If you've never checked these sites out, do yourself a favor!) During our time with Andrew we learn that among his earliest sports fan recollections is attending Chicago Cubs games with his South Korean-immigrant father while the family lived in the Windy...

In this episode we're excited to be joined by a high school buddy from back in the day, Colin Lancaster , who - it turns out - was instrumental in our host meeting his future wife over 30 years ago. Unsurprisingly, it involved a hockey game. We say unsurprisingly because Colin was a high level metro-Detroit youth player who eventually played collegiately at Princeton University. Colin's also spent...

In this special episode we're joined by sports writer and author Lew Freedman to discuss the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race . The author of over 100 books - including several on the Iditarod - Freedman was also the Anchorage Daily News ' sports editor from 1984-2001 and has spent a fair amount of time on the trail through the years.  During our conversation Lew discusses "The Last Great Race's"...

In this episode we're joined by University of Alabama at Birmingham Hall of Fame broadcaster, Gary Sanders . Born in Decatur, IN, Gary was bitten by the sports radio bug at an early age, admiring the work of Bill Stern and Hilliard Gates . Gary's family eventually moved to Tennessee where he became active in the radio business and, ultimately, wound up doing Auburn University football games for 11...

In this episode we're joined by longtime friend, fellow educator, and President of the Michigan Education Association , Paula Herbart. Our chat with Paula reminds us that not everyone is an avid sports fan and that sometimes the best part of sports and sports spectating is the camaraderie it creates. Paula recollects growing up in her family of seven and how finding things to do is what kids did g...

Generously speaking, your host is a casual NASCAR viewer. By that I mean I'll tune in and watch a few laps here or there and will check the results to see how  local product Brad Keselowski finished.  With the "Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing" - aka the Daytona 500 - set to go green this Sunday afternoon and with it the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series kicking off, it seemed a perfect time to work...

In this episode we're joined by longtime member of the University of Michigan's Athletics Department, Bruce Madej. A Dearborn, MI, native, Bruce was into sports from an early age ... and by sports we mean all sports. He makes reference to watching - in person - baseball, hockey, football, basketball, unlimited hydroplane racing, offshore powerboat racing, lacrosse, curling, track and field, and ho...

We're delighted to be joined in this episode by Chesterfield, England's, Antony Fitzpatrick. Antony is among the founders of the website, podcast, and blog "Roar of the Lions UK." Antony is not Michigan ex-pat or a college student living abroad. Nope, in fact he's a bonafide Detroit Lions' fan by choice. How he came to choose the Lions is among the myriad recollections Antony shares during our tim...

This week's guest, Dr. Channon Washington, may well be the busiest sports fan we've ever spoken with. The wife of University of Michigan men's Assistant Basketball Coach Saddi , mother of University of Pittsburgh sophomore gymnast Sidney , and mother of Caleb, a Saline High School freshman 3-sport athlete (football, basketball, and track & field), Channon is one busy - and nervous! - spectator...

In this week's episode we enjoy a lovely discussion with an fellow educator and fellow former caddy, Kevin Marvin. Kevin looped at Red Run Golf Club for most of his teenage years in Royal Oak, MI, and earned a prestigious Chick Evans' Caddy Scholarship to Michigan State University. Yep, that thing Danny Noonan was gunning for in Caddyshack really exists and Kevin talks about how he earned it as we...

In today's episode we're joined by longtime friend Tom McClary. Tom was raised in St. Clair Shores, MI, where he was one of the stars of his high school basketball team. His body of work as a high school player afforded him to play collegiately at Eastern Wyoming College . His proclivity for basketball aside, Tom grew up in a baseball household and recalls lots of dialogue in the house about...

In this episode we're joined by Jovan Mrvos, who along with his family, was considered one of the over 5 million displaced persons following the conclusion of World War II. Yugoslavian by birth, Mrvos, his parents, and brother were sponsored refugees who arrived in the United States on Valentine's Day 1952. They found their way to Gary, IN, and ultimately settled a few blocks from Wrigley Field in...

We are honored to be joined in this episode by the 45-year voice of Indiana University's Simon Skjodt's Assembly Hall, Chuck Crabb . A native of Brazil, IN, Crabb was virtually born a sports fan. His father was a 3-sport star in high school and later became a referee and his mother was a high school cheerleader. His grandfather was also fond of taking young Chuck to see uncle Larry play one of his...

In this trailer for Season 2, Doug shares his thanks for helping get "Conversations with Sports Fans" launched and into the podcasting orbit. He also reflects on the incredible events and memorable performances we learned about from our guests during the 2022 Season and provides some hints about the first three episodes of the 2023 Season. If you missed any previous episodes we now have links to a...

In this episode we're joined by one-time Major League Baseball pitcher and the person charged with starting the Indiana University Purdue University Columbus athletics program from scratch, Zach McClellan . McClellan was hired by IUPUC less-than-a-year ago to begin this herculean task. To date, his accomplishments include finalizing admittance into the NAIA, fielding men's and women's cross countr...

Our guest this episode is former Ann Arbor News co-worker, Dave Holzman. A Michigan resident the vast majority of his life, Holzman is a Michigan State University graduate, a big Spartans fan, as well as a supporter of the Detroit Tigers and Lions. Our conversation takes us from his poor timing arriving on campus (a year after the Spartans won Big 10 football, basketball, and baseball championship...

In today's episode we leave the North American Continent for Melbourne, Australia, and speak to Sam, a 14-year-old Aussie futbol fan who recently had the experience of a lifetime, attending five Men's World Cup group stage matches in Qatar over a 4-day period.  Sam shares the improbable story of how the experience even came to be and how he knew nothing about it until it was pretty well set (...

In this week's episode we're excited to be joined by an Indiana University and American Basketball Association alum and North Dakota State University 's all-time winningest men's basketball coach, Erv Inniger . Inniger played collegiately at IU from 1964-67 for both Branch McCracken and Lou Watson before spending two seasons in the ABA for the Minnesota Muskies and the Miami Floridians. Our conver...

We're delighted to be joined in this episode by Steve Book, one of four 2008 Coke Zero Dream Job Biggest College Hoops Fans in the Nation winners. We wouldn't be able to do it justice trying to describe what it exactly that experience was or how it came to be. You have to listen. Suffice to say it includes references to the IZZOne , the band The All-American Rejects , actor Tim Robbins , and a the...

In today's episode we talk being a sports fan with Emmy Award-winning broadcaster Lee Conklin evening co-anchor at Toledo's Channel 13. A St. Clair Shores, MI, native, Conklin shares his earliest memories of being a sports fan and how it continues to this day.  Detroit Tigers' radio broadcasters Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey's closing thoughts .  Former Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner . Tom...

In today's episode we pay a visit to that hub of sports (and other) conversations ... the barbershop. In this case, it's a conversation with the owner of Coach's Cutz in Columbus, IN, "Coach" Ray Gipson. Born Hayward Raymond Gipson III in Princeton, NJ, Coach's father, Hayward Jr., was the first African-American football player at Princeton University in 1964 (the last Ivy League football team to...

In today's episode I’m delighted to be joined by a former co-worker of mine at both the Michigan and National Education Associations, Maury Koffman. Born and raised in Michigan, Maury's been a sports fan from early on, watching the Detroit Pistons' Bad Boys and listening to Ernie Harwell call Detroit Tigers' games. After matriculating to Michigan State University for higher education, Maury's enjo...

In today's episode we speak with an instructional coach and education union leader, Sara Earleywine, from Des Moines, IA. Sara's been a sports fan for nearly as long as she can remember when her mom signed her up softball. A devout Chicago Cubs fan, Sara makes at least one trip to Chicago each summer to not only visit her sister but also see her beloved Cubs. Like most, though, Sara was price...