Conversations with Sports Fans

This week's guest is a college football - nay, a University of Michigan football - fanatic, Mike Hellman. A resident of Macomb, MI, Mike is the third Hellman to join us on Conversations. His son, Jack, appeared on Season 1, Episode 4 , and his wife, Jean, was part of the Season 2, Mother's Day Special . Those two are both big Michigan State University fans which makes for interesting Satur...

In this week's episode we're joined by Michael Thurston, a long-time educator and tremendous baseball fan from Maine (yep, check it off your Bingo Board if you're playing along;-). Thurston shares with us memories of Fenway Park, 1972, when his father took him to his first game, and how, the next season, he became a Carl Yastrzemski fan, then the Boston Red Sox leftfielder. He was also...

We're joined in this episode by Craig Pringle, an Ohio native who's lived in southern California for over 30 years. During our time with Craig we learn about falling in love with sports - football in particular - while attending Massillon Washington High School where he played football with both Spielman brothers ( Rick and Chris ) and participated in one of the great high school rivalries...

We're joined in this episode by a metro-Detroit area mother of six and grandmother of 18, Carol Nihem. Those close to her call her sitto (which loosely translates to grandma from Lebanese). The one thing we discovered, however, is that she must be referred to as a sports fan. With five brothers, Carol's love of sport developed early on and still burns brightly today ... though she's no...

In this episode we're joined by a work colleague from decades ago at the Detroit Free Press , Derek Meinecke. A product of Northwestern University and Wayne State University Law School, Derek is the son of the much-beloved and late Michigan sportswriter, Corky Meinecke . During our time with Derek we learn of his early days as a sports fan and how a kid growing up in the Grand Rapids, MI, area...

This week's guest is Pam Forton, a retired math teacher and former para-legal from the Traverse City, MI, area. Pam traces her sports fanaticism back to her grandmother who was a huge Detroit Tigers fan her mother who was an even bigger college basketball fan; Isiah Thomas in particular. Herself, Pam enjoys it all. She's not opposed to staying up late to watch west coast action, tennis, cy...

We're excited to be joined in this week's episode by Craig Calcaterra , author of the 2022 book, Rethinking Fandom: How to Beat the Sports-Industrial Complex at Its Own Game . He also pens a daily Substack newsletter, Cup of Coffee . During our time with Craig we learn about his sports origin story growing up near Flint, MI, and how he came to become an Alan Trammell fan. A family move to...

We're joined in this episode by Dave Metter, known in the Twitterverse as @CooperstownDave . With it being Induction Weekend at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, we felt it was the perfect time to check in with Dave, who first became enamored with the Hall of Fame when one of his favorite players, Vladimir Guerrero Sr. failed to reach the 75% threshhold needed for election his firs...

As The Basketball Tournament , a winner-take-all million dollar event, tips off next week, we're delighted to be joined today by Nick Elam, a high school teacher/administrator and sports fan, who had an idea about how to improve the end of basketball games ... and did something about it! The Elam Ending has been utilized by TBT since 2018. The NBA has used the concept for the finale of its All...

This week's guest is recently retired educator and union leader from suburban Detroit, Tony Lucchi. As we learn about Tony's journey as a sports fan we discover it was a visit to his Aunt Pat and Uncle's Bill's house that first exposed Tony to sports. In this case, a Detroit Tigers' broadcast on a family radio. And, like may kids his age during that era, the exposure to basebal...

We're joined in this episode by Bill Pepicello, a sports fan for over six decades who grew up in Erie, PA, and eventually found his way to cities from coast-to-coast. Pepicello grew up a Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Browns fan. He was a long-time admirerer of Hall of Fame running back and otherworldly athlete, Jim Brown . Oddly enough, his favorite baseball player growing up was not an Indi...

We're coming to you a few hours early this week, and for good reason! Later today, about 10 p.m. Alaska Daylight Saving Time, the annual Midnight Sun Game will be played in Fairbanks. Just as it has every year since 1906 (the result of a bar bet, go figure:-) baseball will be played on the Summer Solstice in Fairbanks without the aid of artificial lighting. This year, the Alaska Goldpanners ho...

After a touch more than a year of having these Conversations, one thing's pretty clear: Sports fandom tends to get passed from generation to generation and, in most cases, it moves from fathers to children. In this special Father's Day episode, we talk with a father, Brandon, and his 13-year-old son, Griffin, about their lives as sports fans. Unsurprisingly there are similar rooting intere...

Mercifully, the second take with our guest, Detroit Free Press high school sports writer, Mick McCabe , is better than the first. We were chatting Mick up in Season 1, Episode 18 when technology troubles scuttled the remainder of that episode. Like the sweetheart we know Mick to be, he offered up a do over and that's what you find here today. Along the way we learn about one of Mick's earl...

On this, our first anniversary of Conversations with Sports Fans, we thought it would be fun to turn the tables on our regular host, Doug Hill, and have him discuss his journey as a sports fan. Handling the hosting duties in this episode is Mike McClary (heard here in S:1, E:9 ). Mike's no stranger to podcasting, having previously hosted a Detroit Tiger-centric podcast, The Daily Fungo , durin...

We're joined in this episode by Mike Jaissle, an educator from the Cleveland, OH, area, who was born and raised in metro-Detroit. During out time visiting with Mike we learnabout his formative years as a fan (the 1987 Detroit Tigers season finale series vs. the Toronto Blue Jays is his first memory), the impact his father had on his fandom (Michigan Wolverines football and men's basketball...

We're joined in this episode by Sports Reference Product Director Adam Darowski . From the Providence, RI, area, Adam grew up relatively sports agnostic until an older brother introduced him to baseball cards. It was not the images on the front of the junk wax-era that captured Adam's attention, however, it was the stories and statistics on the back that fascinated him. Statistics, it seem...

In this episode, we're joined by longtime Rochester, NY-area, journalist and podcaster, James Brown. Brown's published work has appeared in the USA Today , NPR, PBS, and WXXI. He can currently be found online at jamesbrowntv.substack.com and on Twitter @jamesbrowntv. Brown cut his teeth as a sports fan during the early-1990s Michael Jordan era and, unsurprisingly, also became fascinated wi...

In this special Mothers' Day Episode of Conversations we sit down with four moms and discuss what their lives have been like raising children who've competed. Some in athletics the moms were familiar with and others unfamiliar in nearly every way. We hope you enjoy this discussion with Jean Hellman, Carol Hill, Kathy Ryan, and Tammy Westlake, who have - between them - raised seven children...

We're honored to be joined in this episode by one of hockey's all-time great broadcasters, Mike "Doc" Emrick . Growing up in smalltown, LaFontaine, IN, early on Emrick dreamed of calling the baseball games he listened to as a youngster. Doc takes us through his journey from childhood baseball fan to his initial exposure to hockey in Fort Wayne's Allen County Memorial Coliseum...

We're joined in this episode by Brent McKim, the President of the both the Jefferson County (KY) Teachers Association and the National Council of Urban Education Associations . A native of southern Indiana and a current Louisville, KY, resident, Kentucky Derby Week seemed an excellent time to catch up with Brent. Along the way we discuss Secretariat 's 1973 Triple Crown-winning performance...

In this episode we're joined by Iowa native, Josh Brown, who set out several years ago to catch a game in) each Major League Baseball stadium. Last summer in Phoenix, AZ, at Chase Field, he accomplished the feat. He shares some of the highlights of that quest, including seeing post-season baseball during the 2020 pandemic season in Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX. Josh also talks about some...

In this episode we're joined by Little Rock's Southwest Magnet High School library media specialist, Cathy Koehler. Naturally an avid Arkansas Razorbacks' fan, Koehler is also a big fan of all Philadelphia pro sports teams - per Cathy, "only God saves more than Bernie Parent ." During our time together we talk Philly sports, Razorbacks' hoops history (including what it wa...

Forty-nine years ago this past Saturday, Hank Aaron hit career home run 715 in breaking the long-standing record of Babe Ruth. Our guest this week, Dennis Hafeli, was there! He's got the ticket stub to prove it! Actually, he had a couple dozen stubs because fans just gave them to him when he asked. He also was on the field during batting practice, having crafted a phony press pass with the hel...

Our guest today is Tim Martin another long-ago work colleague of Conversations ' host, Doug Hill. Tim joins us in this episode to discuss that magical Sunday in mid-April 2014, when he was gifted - essentially - a golden ticket in the form of a grounds pass to the final round of The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. Please enjoy Tim's tale of how a flippant comment made to a bowling l...