ESPN multi-platform writer/reporter/host Ryan McGee (" Welcome to the Circus of Baseball: A Story of the Perfect Summer at the Perfect Ballpark at the Perfect Time ") joins us this week to reminisce about his early-career experiences as a $100-a-week intern with 1994's Class A South Atlantic League Asheville Tourists - a proud minor league baseball team in the heart of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Asheville's history with minor league ball dates all the way back to 1897 (think Moonshin...
Apr 03, 2023•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 298
It's more International Hockey League (1945-2001) memories this week as Episode 181 guest Eric Weltner returns for a look back at one of minor league hockey's most dominant, yet curiously ephemeral franchises - the Cincinnati Mohawks (1952-58). Not to be confused with the middling AHL team of the same name that pre-dated them by three years, the IHL Mohawks were the class of their circuit during the 1950s - winning an incredible six consecutive regular season crowns and five Turner Cup champions...
Mar 27, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 297
In 1991, twenty-something baseball fanatics Bill Craib and Sue Easler did something no one else had ever done before - they went to a game at all 178 major and minor league baseball parks in one season. Craib and Easler drove nearly 54,000 miles and shot home-movie-style video (remember VHS?) at each stop - selected footage of which was featured on a segment that became known as "Bill & Sue's Excellent Adventure" on ESPN's weekly " Major League Baseball Magazine " program. The couple became ...
Mar 20, 2023•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 296
It's an early Spring Break hiatus for us this week - but not before sitting down for a very fun interview with CFL America blog/podcast publisher and friend-of-the-show Greg James - as a guest on his popular Sports History Network podcast " From the 55 Yard Line ." Tim and Greg go deep into the origin story of Good Seats Still Available , as well as a veritable audio potpourri of hot takes on what we've learned from doing the show over the course of nearly 300 episodes - and where we think pro f...
Mar 13, 2023•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 295
We head West this week to pay a visit to the "California Sports Guy" Dan Cisco (" California Sports Astounding: Fun, Unknown, and Surprising Facts from Statehood to Sunday "), and stir up a rich bouillabaisse of little-known factoids about defunct, previously domiciled and otherwise forgotten teams and leagues who once called the Golden State home. Discover the reason why Oakland was chosen as an inaugural franchise in 1960's American Football League debut - and why its original name was hastily...
Mar 06, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 294
Legendary Boston sports photographer Steve Babineau (" Behind the Lens: The World Hockey Association 50 Years Later ") joins the pod this week to discuss his new, lovingly-curated collection of largely never-before-seen images of the colorful 1970s challenger hockey league that helped kick-start a life-long love for photography - and a 50+ year career behind the lens shooting some of the game's biggest stars. A teenaged "Babs" was there at the old Boston Gardens on October 12, 1972, when the ina...
Feb 27, 2023•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 293
[After an entertaining "inaugural" weekend of the XFL's third incarnation, we dig into the archives for this 2019 conversation with author Brett Forrest - and a rewind to the league's original season back in 2001!] As another NFL season closes, we shift gears toward the forthcoming Alliance of American Football – the first of two new leagues attempting to again extend the pro game into viable Spring season play – where the USFL, World League of American Football and NFL Europe have famously trie...
Feb 20, 2023•1 hr 29 min
On the eve of the most significant changes to Major League Baseball's rules and scheduling, we continue our lament of 2021's radical streamlining of the minor leagues and obsess about the demise of its oldest circuit - the New York-Penn League - with City University of New York history/philosophy/political science professor Michael Sokolow (" Bush League: The Brooklyn Cyclones, Staten Island Yankees, and the New York-Penn League "). A staple of upstate New York and interior Pennsylvania summers ...
Feb 13, 2023•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 292
We channel our inner yellow tuxedo this week for a revealing conversation with the inimitable minor league baseball impresario Jesse Cole - and a look into the phenomenon behind his ground-breaking Savannah Bananas franchise - as it migrates from its collegiate summer Coastal Plain League roots into an audacious (and already sold-out) cross-country barnstorming tour featuring its own wildly entertaining brand of " Banana Ball ." + + + PRE-ORDER Jesse Cole's new book (with Don Yaeger): " Ban...
Feb 06, 2023•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 291
[It's a quick trip to the Bay Area this week for an archive fan favorite from 2017, featuring a true American sports original!] America’s most famous professional sports cheerleader “Krazy” George Henderson ( Still Krazy After All These Cheers ) joins Tim Hanlon to discuss some of the wackiest adventures from his 40+ years of live performances – and how a self-described shy, mediocre schoolteacher ultimately followed his passion to a unique and storied career converting passive game-day attendee...
Jan 30, 2023•1 hr 14 min
While American tackle football has long been considered an exclusively male sport, this week's guest Russ Crawford (" Women's American Football: Breaking Barriers On and Off the Gridiron ") takes us on an eye-opening journey over the decades that highlights the persistent and still-growing interest of women playing the game - including professionally. Anecdotal evidence abounds of amateur football competitions, collegiate intramural leagues, and even an 1926 NFL halftime exhibition featuring Fra...
Jan 23, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 290
We point our GPS towards the Garden State this week, for a return to the days of pro hoops in places like the "RAC" (Piscataway's Rutgers Athletic Center), the "Rock" (Newark's Prudential Center), and the strangely iconic Meadowlands - as we look back at 35 seasons of the oft-forgotten New Jersey incarnation of NBA basketball's peripatetic Nets franchise with sports historian Łukasz Muniowski (" Turnpike Team: A History of the New Jersey Nets, 1977-2012 "). Though replete with memorable moments ...
Jan 16, 2023•1 hr 47 min•Ep. 289
In 2014, Major League Baseball's Official Historian John Thorn and veteran baseball journalist Alan Schwarz published an authoritative and thought-provoking list of " Baseball’s 100 Most Important People " - including more than its fair share of surprisingly influential figures. Nestled between National Baseball Hall of Famers "Hammerin'" Hank Greenberg and "King" Kelly at number 79 on that list is this week's guest: "More than anyone, Miles Wolff is responsible for the modern renaissance of ...
Jan 09, 2023•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 288
[ We kick off our holiday break this week with a deep descent into the "Good Seats" archives - and an eyebrow-raising revisit of the enigmatic Continental Indoor Soccer League of the 1990s with former play-by-play broadcaster Kenn Tomasch! ] Former sportscaster and fellow defunct pro sports enthusiast Kenn Tomasch joins host Tim Hanlon to dig deep into the two-season saga of the Indiana (née Indianapolis) Twisters of the Continental Indoor Soccer League – the mid-90s summertime indoor soccer cir...
Dec 26, 2022•1 hr 41 min
In 1966, when a still-young Dallas Cowboys franchise ended six years of NFL futility with its first winning season and a championship game appearance, the team’s founder/owner Clint Murchison, Jr. was already dreaming bigger. In order to vault his club into the league's elite, Murchison knew he needed a better home situation than as a renter at the aging Cotton Bowl in Dallas’ Fair Park - one where he could eventually generate his own direct revenue streams, while simultaneously elevating fans'...
Dec 19, 2022•1 hr 54 min•Ep. 287
We're back from our extended Thanksgiving break with an inside look at the venerable sports venue that single-handedly elevated 1960s-era Atlanta to "major league" status, and cemented its place among the most important American cities. Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium - known simply as "Atlanta Stadium" when it opened in 1965 - was the long-time home of Major League Baseball's Braves (1966-96), the National Football League's Falcons (1966-91), two incarnations of the North American Soccer League'...
Dec 05, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 286
[We near the end of our Thanksgiving leftovers this week with a June 2018 archive re-release favorite featuring US Soccer Hall of Fame broadcaster JP Dellacamera - currently in Qatar covering this year's FIFA World Cup for Fox Sports!] Fox Sports soccer play-by-play broadcaster extraordinaire JP Dellacamera joins the podcast this week to discuss a pioneering career in sports announcing spanning over 30 years – including calling this year’s 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia – his ninth consecutive me...
Nov 28, 2022•1 hr 31 min
[Our Thanksgiving gift this week is a December 2017 archive re-release favorite with world-renowned singer/entertainer Pat Boone!] We usher in the holidays and round out our debut season with the inimitable Pat Boone – an American entertainment legend and inveterate business entrepreneur, with a life-long passion for the sport of basketball. In a career spanning over six decades (and counting!), the incomparable Boone has just about done it all in the fields of music, film, television, and stage...
Nov 21, 2022•1 hr 22 min
In 1974, a small Midlands underwear firm changed soccer forever when it won the contract as official kit supplier for England's national team - featuring a tradition-busting combination of bright colors, definitional striping, and, uniquely, prominently positioned manufacturer's logos on both shirt and shorts. Admiral Sportswear’s bold designs and distinctive branding - soon outfitting storied club sides like Manchester United, Leicester City, Norwich City, West Ham, and Sheffield United - quick...
Nov 14, 2022•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 285
An important but surprisingly little-remembered story in the history of pro football - and a turning point in the city of New Orleans' eventually successful pursuit of an NFL franchise - is the subject of this week's hugely intriguing conversation with Erin Grayson Sapp, author of "Moving the Chains: The Civil Rights Protest That Saved the Saints And Transformed New Orleans" . From the book's dust-jacket: We remember the 1966 birth of the New Orleans Saints as a shady quid pro quo between the NF...
Nov 07, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 284
There are few moments in sports more thrilling, compelling, or inspiring than a comeback story. From the resurgence of a sports figure to a team that defies the odds for an unexpected win, to someone who never quite made it, finally getting their shot, these stories are the lifeblood of sports. Nobody knows this more than former NFL star linebacker, Ryan Shazier who scratched and clawed his way back from paralysis after a devastating on-field hit, to walk back on a football field just a few year...
Nov 03, 2022•3 min
As preparations for next month's 2022 FIFA World Cup spectacle in Qatar enter their final stages, we turn our attention back to the pitch for an intriguing look back at a seminal international "friendly" tournament earnestly designed to crown a world club soccer champion - and the unwitting genesis for today's officially-sanctioned FIFA Club World Cup competition. Soccer writer and part-time English lower-division amateur coach Dan Williamson (" When Two Worlds Collide: The Intercontinental Cup ...
Oct 31, 2022•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 283
Fans of Americana music may recognize the name Bob Carlin as one of the country's leading practitioners of the classic "clawhammer" style of banjo. His myriad recordings, historical writings and frequent performances across the US and around the world have won him plaudits from old-time banjo scholars and aficionados alike. But when he's not downpicking in the studio or performing on stage, Carlin is likely to be found elsewhere on the road, obliging one of his life's other passions - chroniclin...
Oct 24, 2022•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 282
Pittsburgh-native sports historian (and previous Episode 242 guest) Dave Finoli (" Where Pittsburgh Played: Oakland’s Historic Sports Venues ") returns to the pod for a deep dive into the notable histories of the Steel City's important first generation of modern-day sports venues. We dig into some of the memorable (and many not-so) professional teams and leagues that called the city's Oakland neighborhood home, in places like: Pitt Stadium (NFL football's Steelers); the Duquesne Gardens (the e...
Oct 17, 2022•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 281
The Hartford Whalers were a beloved hockey team from the moment of their founding in 1972 as the World Hockey Association's New England Whalers. Playing in the National Hockey League’s smallest market and arena after the 1979 WHA merger/absorption/expansion, the Whalers struggled in a division that included both the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens - but the club's fans were among the NHL’s most loyal. In 1995, new owners demanded a new arena - and when plans fell through, moved the team t...
Oct 10, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 280
He's enshrined as a member of the College Football Hall of Fame for his record-breaking, two-time consensus All-American fullback rushing career at Syracuse in the mid-1960s. He's an inductee of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, most notably for his dominant rushing prowess with the Don Shula-coached Miami Dolphins of the early 1970s - and his leading role in the club's three consecutive Super Bowl appearances, two back-to-back NFL titles, and its unparalleled perfect undefeated season in 1972. But...
Oct 03, 2022•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 279
We welcome budding sports historian - and previous Episode 190 guest - Alan Bass (" Ed Snider: The Last Sports Mogul ") back to our microphones this week, this time to delve into the life and times of modern-day Philadelphia's patron saint of professional sports. The dustjacket for The Last Sports Mogul makes the case: "Most sports team owners make their money elsewhere and purchase a team as an extravagant hobby - but that is not the story of Ed Snider. One of the few owners in history to get c...
Sep 25, 2022•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 278
Fans of the original NHL version (1979-96) of the Winnipeg Jets, as well as the first ten seasons (1997-2007) of their subsequent incarnation as the Phoenix Coyotes, will surely remember the dulcet tones of team radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster Curt Keilback ( Two Minutes for Talking to Myself: Jets, Coyotes, Tales, Opinions ). For 27 seasons - spanning some 2400+ games - Keilback was the signature voice of the since-rebranded Arizona franchise, a seemingly lone constant amidst the club's ...
Sep 18, 2022•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 277
Author/team biographer Steve Guinan ( We Are the Troopers: The Women of the Winningest Team in Pro Football History ) helps us celebrate the return of football this week - with a look back at the unheralded story of the most dominant women's team of the 1970s -the Toledo Troopers. Winners of seven consecutive championships across two different leagues - Sid Friedman's barnstorming Women’s Professional Football League (1971-72), and the pioneering true-pro successor National Women's Football L...
Sep 12, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 276
As a young girl growing up in tiny, rural Throckmorton, Texas in the mid-1950s, memoirist Addie Beth Denton (" 108 Stitches: A Girl Grows Up With Baseball ") had only a vague understanding of what her father and uncle did for a living - except that they seemed to always be talking about baseball. Only as she grew older did she come to realize all that discussion - not to mention her bevy of annual summertime excursions to professional parks all over the country - was much more than just a passin...
Sep 05, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 275
