Skin in the Game

What responsibility do athletes have beyond competition? This week on Skin In The Game, John Cimperman and Tim O'Shei welcome Bruce Kidd, one of Canada's most celebrated distance runners, a former Olympian, scholar, author, and Officer of the Order of Canada. Kidd reflects on his remarkable journey from a teenager discovering a talent for running in Toronto to representing Canada at the 1964 Tokyo...

What does it take to turn a passion for sports into a career? This week on Skin In The Game, John Cimperman and Tim O'Shei welcome Dr. Lynn Lashbrook, founder and president of Sports Management Worldwide, a global sports education company that has helped more than 30,000 graduates from 164 countries pursue careers throughout the sports industry. Lashbrook shares his remarkable journey from athlete...

What happens when a multi-sport athlete discovers that his greatest talent is on the dance floor rather than on the field or the ice? This week on Skin In The Game, John Cimperman and Tim O'Shei welcome Buffalo native Tony Bellissimo, a professional dancer, choreographer, actor and educator whose career has taken him from local sports fields and dance studios to some of the biggest stages in enter...

At 15 years old, Bonnie Shea was told she could no longer play hockey simply because she was a girl. More than six decades later, she’s still lacing up her skates. This week on Skin In The Game, John Cimperman sits down with Bonnie Shea — an early pioneer of women’s hockey in Minnesota — to talk about her lifelong relationship with the sport, the barriers she faced growing up in the “State of Hock...

Sports cards are no longer just childhood collectibles tucked away in shoeboxes—they’ve become a global business driven by technology, culture, nostalgia, and massive fan engagement. This week on Skin in the Game, John and Tim sit down with Tracy Hackler, Senior Brand Manager at Panini America, to explore the evolution of the sports collectibles industry—from vintage baseball cards to modern-day “...

Soccer is often called the world’s universal language—but what happens when it becomes the only language you share in a brand-new country? This week on Skin in the Game, John and Tim sit down with Jennifer Tepper, Executive Director of Soccer Without Borders, and Bruno Contreras, Program Director in Massachusetts, to explore how the organization is using sport to build trust, belonging, and opport...

The lines between sports, media, and entertainment have officially disappeared—and athletes are now at the center of it all. This week on Skin in the Game, John and Tim sit down with Lars Bengston, Head of Agency at HardScope, to explore how the next generation of athletes are becoming media brands. From his early days at Vice during its explosive growth, to co-creating Some Good News with John Kr...

This week on Skin In The Game, hosts John Cimperman and Tim O’Shei sit down with former U.S. Men’s National Team standout Eddie Lewis to explore how innovation and technology are reshaping the future of soccer. After a 15-year professional career that included the World Cup and time in England, Lewis talks about the moment that changed everything. He found a way to get more meaningful reps and sta...

This week on Skin In The Game, John Cimperman and Tim O’Shei welcome longtime New York lead sports columnist and author Mike Vaccaro for one of our deepest dives into one of the most chaotic and influential eras in sports history. Drawing from The Bosses of the Bronx, Vaccaro unpacks the reality behind the legend of George Steinbrenner — a figure so outsized that even the wildest stories…are true....

What happens when a city invests in sports, entertainment, and the fan experience? This week on Skin In The Game, John Cimperman and Tim O’Shei welcome Len Komoroski, longtime executive with Rock Entertainment Group and former CEO of the Cleveland Cavaliers organization. Komoroski helped lead the transformation of Cleveland’s downtown sports district—anchored by Rocket Arena and Progressive Field—...

Author and journalist Bonnie Tsui joins Skin In The Game for a fascinating conversation about the science, story, and meaning of muscle. Drawing from her book On Muscle, Tsui explores how strength shapes not just athletic performance, but identity, longevity, and human connection. From her childhood immersed in swimming and martial arts to learning to surf later in life, she shares how movement ha...

This week on Skin in the Game, John Cimperman and Tim O’Shei sit down with journalist and author Danny Funt to discuss the explosive growth of sports gambling and what it means for fans, athletes, and the future of the games themselves. Funt’s new book, Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling, takes an investigative look into an industry that has rapidly reshaped sports cu...

In this episode of Skin In The Game, John Cimperman sits down with Rick Nadeau of Nadeau Sports to explore what it really takes to grow the game of hockey. Drawing on his experience with Madison Square Garden and his work advising teams and leagues, Nadeau breaks down how fan development starts at the grassroots level—creating meaningful, accessible entry points for young athletes and their famili...

Fencing may be one of the oldest Olympic sports, but in the United States it is experiencing a modern surge in growth. This week on Skin In The Game, hosts John Cimperman and Tim O’Shei sit down with Phil Andrews, CEO of USA Fencing, and Brad Suchorski, Director of Membership Service and Growth, to explore how the national governing body is expanding the sport across the country. From grassroots p...

Rodeo may have deep roots in the American West, but today it’s becoming a global sports business, with a focus on equity in the sport. In this episode of Skin In The Game, hosts John Cimperman and Tim O’Shei are joined by Sean Gleason, CEO and Commissioner of Professional Bull Riders (PBR), and Linsay Rosser-Sumpter, Commissioner of Premier Women’s Rodeo (PWR). The conversation explores the explos...

In this episode of Skin In The Game, John Cimperman and Tim O’Shei sit down with sports journalist Oren Weisfeld, author of The Golden Generation: How Canada Became a Basketball Powerhouse, to explore how Canada transformed from producing the occasional NBA player into a global basketball force. From immigration policy under Pierre Trudeau to the grassroots AAU movement, Weisfeld explains how cult...

Recorded live at Holiday Valley Ski Resort in Ellicottville, New York, this Olympic Special of Skin In The Game explores what it truly takes to compete at the highest level in sport. Hosts John Cimperman and Tim O’Shei sit down with three-time Paralympic gold medalist Adam Page, training center director Miguel Azcarate, and sports performance coach Dr. Jason Rich for a powerful conversation about...

Entrepreneur and sports memorabilia pioneer Brandon Steiner joins Skin In The Game for a conversation about building businesses, preserving sports history and turning passion into purpose. Steiner shares the entrepreneurial mindset that fueled his rise from a childhood spent working in a bagel factory to creating one of the most influential memorabilia businesses in sports. He reflects on decades...

Former NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith joins Skin In The Game for a candid, wide-ranging conversation with hosts John Cimperman and Tim O’Shei about power, labor, and the true business of professional football. Drawing from his new book Turf Wars: The Fight for the Soul of America’s Game, Smith takes listeners inside nearly 15 years of battles with the NFL — from collect...

What happens after you achieve the dream? In this episode of Skin In The Game, hosts John Cimperman and Tim O’Shei sit down with Steve Mesler, Olympic bobsled gold medalist and founder of Mesler Performance Group, for a deeply honest conversation about success, identity, and life after elite competition. Mesler reflects on his journey from Western New York to Olympic gold in 2010, the pressure and...