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Author and baseball historian Keith Wood  ( "The Memphis Red Sox: A Negro Leagues History" )  joins the show to explore the rich yet often overlooked story of the Memphis Red Sox , one of Black baseball's most resilient and community‑rooted franchises. From their semi-pro origins in the early 1920s to their run through the Negro Southern , National &  American Leagues , the Red Sox embodied sustai...

Sports stadiums are often framed as engines of civic pride, economic development, and shared spectacle. But what if they are something more consequential — and more complicated — than that? In this episode, we're joined by University of Vermont professor Helen Morgan Parmett , author of "Stadium City: Sports and Media Infrastructure in the United States" , for a wide-ranging conversation that reth...

Baseball's  1926 World Series was more than just a championship showdown — it was emblematic of America in a decade defined by financial excess, social rebellion, and societal reinvention. We explore that dramatic showdown through " Baseball in the Roaring Twenties: The Yankees, the Cardinals, and the Captivating 1926 Season ," a riveting new book by historian and author Thomas Wolf . Wolf takes u...

[We say goodbye to a crappy 2025 with a fond remembrance of frequent guest and long-time friend-of-the-show Steve Holroyd - whose untimely passing earlier this year still stings mightily. In this classic ARCHIVE RE-RELEASE from April 2019 , we tapped Steve's encyclopedic knowledge of US soccer history for an essential look at an oft-overlooked event in the life of the original North American Socce...

It's our year-end Holiday Roundtable Spectacular , featuring a look back at the year's newest additions to "what used-to-be" in big-time sports (RIP Pro Volleyball Federation , Utah Hockey Club , three UFL teams, half of Major League Rugby , and the NCAA's LA & Bahamas Bowls ); AND semi-educated guesses as to what might be ahead for 2026 - with three of our favorite fellow defunct sports enthusias...

He's been called "American soccer's renaissance man," and in this episode, Dr. Joe Machnik returns to trace the remarkable arc of a life spent pushing the sport forward in the United States. When Machnik first joined us for Episode 24 back in 2017, he brought a rare, firsthand view of American soccer's highs and lows. Today, with his new memoir, " From the Sandlots to the World Cup: Inside Seven D...

Baseball has long been America's pastime — and the stage for some of the wildest, most outrageous marketing stunts in sports history. From the postwar era through the 1970s, team owners and promoters pushed the limits of spectacle to fill seats, generate buzz, and entertain fans, often blurring the line between creativity and chaos. This week, " Baseball's Most Outrageous Promotions "  author  Joe...

The Philadelphia Flyers didn't just win hockey games in the 1970s — they changed the sport, the city, and the culture around them. In this episode, we dig into the rise, reign, and mythology of the "Broad Street Bullies," the decade-long era (1971–1981) when the Flyers transformed themselves from an NHL expansion afterthought into the toughest, most polarizing, and most beloved champions in league...

Few sports moments have left as lasting a mark on pop culture as the 1985 Chicago Bears' recording of the  " Super Bowl Shuffle ."  This week, we go behind the music, the madness, and the myth with NFL Films Senior Producer  Jeff Cameron   — director of HBO's new documentary short " The Shuffle " — who takes us inside the making of the iconic rap video that transformed a championship football team...

Baseball may be a game of numbers, but Tampa Bay's Tropicana Field is a place of stories — and no one knows those stories better than Bruce Reynolds, longtime Rays "fan host" and author of "There Is No Place Like Dome." In this delightfully off-beat episode, we venture under the famously tattered fiberglass roof — currently undergoing repairs and slated to reopen next spring — to explore the quirk...

[We mourn the passing of pro hoops great Michael Ray Richardson with an archive re-release of our conversation with the former Nets/Knicks star from last year, featuring his biography co-author Jacob Uitti.] + + + Former NBA All-Star Michael Ray Richardson and his co-author Jacob Uitti ( Banned: How I Squandered an All-Star NBA Career Before Finding My Redemption ) join the show to discuss Richard...

Cricket and America -  two words that rarely appear in the same sentence without a smirk or a shrug. Yet, as authors Beth Simpson and Mark Greenslade reveal in their new book " An American Cricket Odyssey ," the game's roots here run deeper than most realize — and its revival is one of the great under-told stories in modern sport. We trace the sport's improbable journey - from its 19th-century hey...

The story of Moses Malone is one of basketball's most remarkable - and underappreciated - journeys. Rising from poverty in segregated Petersburg, Virginia, in the early 1970s, Malone became the first modern player to jump straight from high school to the pros, quickly establishing himself as one of the game's most dominant forces. A three-time NBA MVP, relentless rebounder, and driving presence be...

Unwitting US pro soccer historian Tim O'Bryhim (" Make This Town Big: The Story of Roy Turner and the Wichita Wings " and  " God Save the Wings ")  makes his third trip to the show - this time in celebration of his wild new collection of stories from the original Major Indoor Soccer League (1978-92).   O'Bryhim has spent nearly a decade  chronicling the MISL's wild and woolly history (including hi...

In the immediate years after World War II, the trajectory of America's pastime looked unstoppable.  By 1949, Minor League Baseball had swelled to 59 leagues, 448 teams, and some 10,000 players - the largest network in its history. But within a decade, the advent of television, suburban migration, and shifting leisure habits began to drain fans and revenue. Hundreds of teams folded, and by 1963, th...

In the late 1960s, Denver's business and political leaders were convinced they had secured the ultimate prize in international sport: the 1976 Winter Olympic Games . With the backing of the US Olympic Committee and a successful bid before the International Olympic Committee, Colorado seemed poised to showcase itself on the world stage. But just two years later, that dream collapsed in spectacular...

Peabody Award-nominated writer and Episode 389 guest David Fleming (" Breaker Boys: The NFL's Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship ") returns to the show to unpack one of the National Football League's most chaotic and fascinating chapters: the disaster of the 1952 Dallas Texans . In his new book, " A Big Mess in Texas: The Miraculous, Disastrous 1952 Dallas Texans and the Craziest Untol...

How do you build a professional women's hockey league from the ground up — and convince the sport's best players, skeptical investors, and hungry fans that this time it's built to last? CBC Sports journalist Karissa Donkin , author of " Breakaway: The PWHL and the Women Who Changed the Game ," helps us dive into the backstory of the incredible  Professional Women's Hockey League . Donkin traces th...

The incomparable Jayne Kennedy  (" Plain Jayne: A Memoir ") joins us for an intimate conversation about a career that defied expectations and left an indelible mark on both sports broadcasting and American culture. Raised in small-town Ohio and catapulted to national attention through beauty pageants and professional ambitions, Kennedy soon found herself in early 1970s Hollywood — landing a succes...

Veteran sportswriter,  Sports Broadcast Journal columnist, and Episode 233 guest Rich Podolsky  (" You Are Looking Live! ") returns to the show to explore the story of perhaps the greatest broadcast partnership in NFL history.  In his new book, " Madden & Summerall: How They Revolutionized NFL Broadcasting ," Podolsky offers a rare inside look at how kicker-turned-play-by-play man Pat Summerall ,...

Few writers have illuminated baseball's legends with the depth, rigor, and heart of renowned sports journalist and author Jane Leavy .  From Sandy Koufax to Mickey Mantle to Babe Ruth , her biographies of the game's greatest figures don't just recount their lives — they reveal the eras each helped to define. Now, with her new book Make Me Commissioner: I Know What's Wrong with Baseball and How to...

Long before the National Basketball Association  evolved into a global spectacle, it began as an awkwardly assembled mashup featuring a hefty dollop of relatively small-market teams in places like Sheboygan, Wisconsin; Anderson, Indiana and Moline, Illinois.  Among them were the Waterloo Hawks  - the only team from Iowa ever to play in the NBA. Their story is synonymous with the fragile early days...

It's a no-holds-barred conversation with footballing legend  Paul Cannell  — the Geordie striker who lit up mid-1970s Newcastle United, vaulted into the heyday of the  North American Soccer League , and left a trail of memorable goals, disciplinary cards, and impish chaos in his wake. Best remembered for his fiery stint with the two incarnations of the NASL's  Washington Diplomats , Cannell was as...

The story of women's basketball in the United States is one of grit, activism, and transformation. From barnstorming road shows to the bright lights of the WNBA, the game has mirrored — and often propelled — larger social changes in American life. We journey through that history with the help of Pamela Grundy and Susan Shackelford , authors of the newly expanded edition of " Shattering the Glass:...

Baseball's Danny Gardella was no ordinary ballplayer. A compact powerhouse — "not much taller than a fire hydrant," yet a left-handed pull hitter with undeniable talent — he hit .267 with 24 homers and 85 RBIs in just 169 Major League Baseball games. That blazing two-year stretch with the New York Giants in 1944–45 proved his major-league mettle. But Gardella's story didn't end in the box score. H...