We welcome pro football historian (and Buffalo Bills memorabilia patron ) Greg Tranter (" The Providence Steam Roller: New England's First NFL Team ") to our microphones this week for a look back at the oft-forgotten Providence Steam Roller - which competed in the early-days National Football League from 1925-31. Based in Providence, RI, the Steam Roller holds a unique place in gridiron history as the first and only team from the Ocean State to win an NFL championship. The team's unusual name re...
Dec 16, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 374
We jump aboard this NFL season's biggest bandwagon with a look back at one of the league's most enduring, yet historically mediocre franchises - and the only club operational for the entirety of the post-AFL era to never appear in the Super Bowl. Bill Morris (" The Lions Finally Roar: The Ford Family. The Detroit Lions, And The Road To Redemption In The NFL ") joins the podcast to help us wallow in the colorful, but supremely confounding history of pro football's Detroit Lions - especially durin...
Dec 09, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 373
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 Richardson's riveting new memoir that chronicles his extraordinary journey on and off the basketball court. Hailed as “the next Walt Frazier” coming out of the University of Montana as a first-round pick (fourth overall) in the 1978 NBA Draft, "Sugar" was a force to be reckoned with, leading the league in both assists a...
Dec 02, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 372
Baseball history writer Scott Longert (" Love and Loss: The Short Life of Ray Chapman ") , joins the show for an in-depth look at the life and legacy of Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman (1891-1920) whose tragic story continues to resonate more than a century later. Chapman rose from humble beginnings to become one of the American League’s top shortstops of the 1910s. His exceptional talent on the field, coupled with his marriage to heiress Kathleen Daly, positioned him for a life of privi...
Nov 25, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 371
Author/biographer Debbie Sorensen ( Beyond the Jump Shot: The Elevated Life of Kenny Sailors ) delves into the story of basketball pioneer Kenny Sailors (1921–2016), one of the most unheralded influencers in both the collegiate and pro game. Widely credited with popularizing the modern-day jump shot, Sailors first stunned audiences in the early 1940s when he elevated mid-air to shoot over taller defenders - a revolutionary move in an era dominated by set shots. His innovation not only expanded o...
Nov 18, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 370
We gear up for the impending launch of the new six-team Women's Pro Baseball League (set to debut in summer of 2026) with another look back at the original All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (1943-54) with sports history writer Jim Sargent . In " We Were the All-American Girls " (2013), Sargent culled insights from over three dozen interviews with former AAGPBL players, detailing the league’s evolution from underhand pitching with a 12-inch ball in 1943 to overhand pitching and a st...
Nov 11, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 369
With apologies to ice hockey's legendary Lord Stanley, no sport is more synonymous with the awarding of championship cups than soccer. Long ingrained in the international culture of the sport, the hardware that overwhelmingly awaits the various victors of league titles (e.g., Italy's Serie A Coppa Campioni d'Italia or North America's MLS Cup); major club tournaments (like England's FA Cup or the US' Open Cup); and important international competitions (such as CONCACAF's gaudy Gold Cup and the pl...
Nov 04, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 368
Voice of America news editor and Pittsburgh native Dan Joseph (" Behind the Yoi: The Life of Myron Cope, Legendary Pittsburgh Steelers Broadcaster ") joins the podcast this week for a deep dive into the legacy of one of pro football's most unique broadcast voices. Myron Cope (1929-2008) served as the radio color commentator for the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers from 1970 to 2005, becoming an irreplaceable voice in NFL broadcasting. Known for his distinctive, gravelly tone and catchphrases like “ Yoi...
Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 367
John Madden (1936-2021) was more than a football icon - he embodied the sport itself. As the unmistakable voice of the NFL for nearly 30 years, he brought America’s game into TV living rooms across the country. His name became synonymous with football, not just through his legendary broadcast career, but also as the face of his eponymous "Madden" video game franchise. On the field, he was a coaching mastermind, holding the highest career winning percentage of any NFL coach - achieved exclusively...
Oct 21, 2024•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 366
Legendary sports broadcaster Tom Hammond (" Races, Games, and Olympic Dreams: A Sportscaster's Life ") joins host Tim Hanlon for a myriad of career memories from his nearly 35-year journey calling top-tier league packages and prime events for NBC Sports. Plucked from regional sportscasting obscurity in 1984 for a one-time stall reporting gig as part of the network's telecast of the inaugural Breeders' Cup, Hammond performed so well that an NBC executive offered him a chance to call Sunday NFL/AF...
Oct 14, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 365
Baltimore-based music historian and unwitting baseball biographer Tim Newby (" The Original Louisville Slugger: The Life and Times of Forgotten Baseball Legend Pete Browning ") joins the show to delve deep into the story of one of the most formidable baseball players of the 19th century, whose mastery with a bat is still paying dividends today. Over his 13-year career (including now-defunct stops like the American Association 's Louisville Eclipse/Colonels and the Players' League 's Cleveland In...
Oct 07, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 364
Despite their name, the Harlem Globetrotters weren’t originally from New York's Harlem neighborhood, nor did they start out as true world travellers. This all-Black basketball team, founded by Jewish immigrant Abe Saperstein , originated on Chicago’s South Side and began touring the Midwest rather humbly in Saperstein’s unheated Ford Model T. With his sharp promotional skills and the players’ incredible talent, the Globetrotters quickly grew into an international sensation. Author-brothers Mark ...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 363
With the Mets th-i-i-i-i-s close to a rare MLB playoff berth this season, we do our best not to jinx their chances with a look back at the local New York post-game TV show synonymous with the club's first 32 years in Gotham with sports reporter/author Mark Rosenman (" Down on the Korner: Ralph Kiner and Kiner's Korner "). "Kiner's Korner" was a beloved postgame interview show that became a staple of New York Mets broadcasts from the team's inception in 1962 through the 1990s. Hosted by Hall of F...
Sep 23, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 362
From the tough streets of Louisville's Smoketown to corporate success, former college hoops standout and American Basketball Association pro George Tinsley 's life is a testament to resilience and opportunity. In his inspiring new memoir " Catch as Catch Can: Building a Legacy by Finding Opportunity in Every Obstacle ," Tinsley shares his journey from poverty in the racially divided South to three-time (1966, '68 & '69) NCAA champion (Division II Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers ), ABA player ( Wa...
Sep 16, 2024•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 361
Metroplex restauranteur and armchair football historian Mike Cobern ( Wards of the League: The Untold Story of the First NFL Team in Dallas ) joins for a deep dive into the mostly forgotten saga of the 1952 Dallas Texans , the one-year wonder that has nearly vanished from the annals of National Football League history. Before the Cowboys became "America's Team," the NFL's Dallas Texans were nobody's team! + + + SUPPORT THE SHOW: Buy Us a Coffee : https://ko-fi.com/goodseatsstillavailable "Good S...
Sep 09, 2024•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 360
Syracuse University communications professor and former Emmy award-winning ESPN producer Dennis Deninger (" The Football Game That Changed America: How the NFL Created a National Holiday ") joins the show to take us through the origin story and unlikely sociological trajectory of the Super Bowl - pro football's annual championship extravaganza that morphed from uncertain beginnings during the late 1960s AFL-NFL merger into one of America's dominant cultural touchstones. From the book's dust jack...
Sep 02, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 359
The date: June 14, 1974 The place: Cleveland's venerable Municipal Stadium The event: an evening regular-season game between MLB's Cleveland Indians & Texas Rangers The added attraction: "Ten Cent Beer Night" The result: one of baseball history's (and American sports') most notorious promotional fiascos Cleveland native Scott Jarrett (" Ten Cent Beer Night: The Complete Guide to the Riot That Helped Save Baseball in Cleveland ") joins the show this week to go deep into the night that changed...
Aug 26, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 358
We raise our sports history IQ a few points this week with an enlightening conversation around the broader cultural importance and underlying social significance of the very venues in which our favorite games are played - with Columbia University professor Frank Guridy (" The Stadium: An American History of Politics, Protest, and Play "). The book's promotional intro sets it up best: "What comes to mind when we think of stadiums in the United States? For most of us, it’s entertainment: football ...
Aug 19, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 357
Buckle up for a wild ride through some of the most forgotten franchises in recent minor league hockey history - with a colorful lifer who literally fought his way to becoming the NHL's oldest (32) opening-day rookie (with the Boston Bruins), only to see it all fall apart to a concussion after just three games. This is the raw and savage story of Bobby Robins (" Sex, Drugs, Pucks, and Souls: A Savage Memoir "), whose decade-long odyssey across minor league outposts in places like Binghamton, NY (...
Aug 12, 2024•1 hr 51 min•Ep. 356
We head back to the diamond this week for a look into the "extraordinarily ordinary" baseball life of 1950s-era infielder Danny O'Connell with biographer Steve Wiegand (" The Uncommon Life of Danny O'Connell: A Tale of Baseball Cards, "Average Players," and the True Value of America's Game "). Wiegand's story is a rich exploration of a player often overlooked in history due to his status as a "common" card in the world of sports memorabilia. However, the book delves far deeper than his on-field ...
Aug 05, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 355
New York sports broadcast veterans Scott Orgera and Howie Karpin (" 976-1313: How Sports Phone Launched Careers and Broke New Ground ") join to help us wax nostalgic about the ground-breaking 1970s telephone service Sports Phone . From the dust jacket of "976-1313" : "Sports Phone set out to change the way scores and breaking news were consumed, and in turn ended up setting the tone for the up-to-the-second updates we take for granted today. Found among those who called the service home are some...
Jul 29, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 354
[One last dip into the vault before a flood of new episodes beginning next week; from 2020, our revealing conversation with a pro hockey great - and Atlanta Flames original!} For 1970s-era NHL hockey fans who remember the eight-year adventure known as the Atlanta Flames , few are likely to forget Dan Bouchard . A tenacious, slightly eccentric and occasionally fight-prone French-Canadian goalie, “Bouch” was an immediate standout between the pipes for the NHL’s first-ever Deep South franchise (pla...
Jul 22, 2024•1 hr 50 min
[By popular request, an archive re-release from August 2018, featuring our extraordinary conversation with one of the central figures of the original North American Soccer League - from its chaotic formation in 1968 to its untimely demise in 1985.] + + + Soccer America columnist (and Episode #6 guest) Paul Gardner summed up this week's National Soccer Hall of Fame guest in his May 2015 commentary: “The debt owed by American soccer to Clive Toye is a vast one. It is not too much of an exaggeratio...
Jul 15, 2024•1 hr 45 min
[An archive re-release favorite from September 2017, featuring one of professional baseball's most enigmatic leagues!] Inc. Editor-at-Large David Whitford ( Extra Innings: A Season in the Senior League ) joins host Tim Hanlon to retrace his journalistic odyssey covering the inaugural season of the short-lived, Florida-based Senior Professional Baseball Association (SPBA) in the winter of 1989-90. Whitford recalls the early-career events leading up to his plum writing assignment, and the process ...
Jul 08, 2024•1 hr 10 min
Most US and Canadian domestic soccer fans are certain that the second incarnation of the North American Soccer League (2011-17) officially met its untimely demise in early 2018, just a few months after the first-year San Francisco Deltas beat the New York Cosmos in the 2017 Soccer Bowl - and amidst a seemingly desperate/last-minute antitrust lawsuit alleging collusion between US Soccer and Major League Soccer to keep the league down. While the NASL hasn't played another game since, the lawsuit -...
Jul 01, 2024•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 353
We celebrate the legendary career and outsized influence of one of baseball's most recognized voices, with veteran LA sportswriter Tom Hoffarth ( Perfect Eloquence: An Appreciation of Vin Scully ). From the " Early Days " dustjacket: "When Vin Scully passed away in 2022, the city of Los Angeles lost its soundtrack. If you were able to deliver a eulogy for him, what might it include? What impact did he have on you? What do you carry forward from his legacy? "Sixty-seven essayists—one representing...
Jun 24, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 352
It's time to fire up the old Jerrold cable box for a trip back to the pre-launch and early first on-air days of cable TV's pioneering Entertainment and Sports Programming Network - better known as ESPN - with founding producer and channel memoirist Peter Fox (" The Early Days of ESPN: 300 Daydreams and Nightmares "). From the " Early Days " dustjacket: "The tales of early ESPN people who gambled their careers while critics carped that “all-sports television will never work” are full of guile, lu...
Jun 17, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 351
First-time sports historians Tom Delise and Jay Seaborg (" Foxy Ned Hanlon: The Baseball Life of a Hall of Fame Manager ") join the podcast for a biographical look at one of baseball's most innovative managerial minds - and who just may be related to your humble host! "Foxy" Ned Hanlon was one of the major leagues' earliest tactical visionaries, who recognized the value of speed and strategy in generating runs long before the term “small ball” became popular. Starting as a fine outfielder, Hanlo...
Jun 10, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 350
Cultural historian and best-selling British author Kassia St. Clair (" The Secret Lives of Color "; " The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History ") joins the podcast for a look back at the fascinating, improbable and culturally paradigm-shifting 1907 Peking-to-Paris Motor Challenge - as featured in her new book " The Race to the Future: 8,000 Miles to Paris - The Adventure That Accelerated the Twentieth Centur y ": From the " Race to the Future " dust jacket: "The rise of the automobile as to...
Jun 03, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 349
[An essential fan favorite from 2018 - with the dean of "forgotten sports" promotion!] If someone ever decides to build an American sports promotion Hall of Fame, the inaugural class will undoubtedly be led by this week’s special guest, Doug Verb . In a career spanning more than 40 years in professional sports management, Verb’s remarkable career has included spearheading marketing, promotion, publicity, and television for some of the most innovative and memorable leagues and franchises of the m...
May 27, 2024•3 hr 7 min
