Episodes

  • 354: Sports Phone - With Scott Orgera and Howie Karpin

    354: Sports Phone - With Scott Orgera and Howie Karpin
    Jul 29 2024
    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 of the most well-known broadcasters, reporters, public address announcers, and other prominent media figures — as well as several who’ve been successful in Hollywood and the music industry. A veritable breeding ground for these now-polished professionals, the dial-up platform that once handled 50 million calls in a year churned out talent at a level likely not seen before or since. "Brought to you by media veterans Scott Orgera and Sports Phone alum Howie Karpin, "976-1313: How Sports Phone Launched Careers and Broke New Ground" features never-before-told tales of triumph and tragedy, a mix of hilarity, inspiration, and regret from the broadcasting hopefuls and sports junkies that comprised the brains and voices behind the pioneering operation. If you were assembling an All-Star team of media personnel, you’d only have to look as far as Sports Phone’s ranks. "As colorful as that cast of characters was, those who dialed 976-1313 regularly had their own yarns to spin. They form a tapestry of hardcore fans, award-winning actors, well-known comedians, impulsive gamblers, Broadway singers, and infamous mobsters, each with captivating stories told within these pages." + + + SUPPORT THE SHOW: "Good Seats" Show & Defunct Team Merch: http://tee.pub/lic/RdiDZzQeHSY Buy Us a Coffee: https://ko-fi.com/goodseatsstillavailable SPONSOR THANKS: Royal Retros (promo code: SEATS): https://www.503-sports.com?aff=2 Old School Shirts.com (promo code: GOODSEATS) https://oldschoolshirts.com/goodseats READ EARLY AND OFTEN: 976-1313: How Sports Phone Launched Careers and Broke New Ground (2024): https://amzn.to/4dlrtp6 FIND AND FOLLOW: Website: https://goodseatsstillavailable.com/X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoodSeatsStillInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodseatsstillavailable/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@goodseatsstillavailableFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodSeatsStillAvailable/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@goodseatsstillavailable
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    1 hr and 25 mins
  • 353.7: The NHL’s Atlanta Flames (& More!) – With Dan Bouchard [ARCHIVE RE-RELEASE]

    353.7: The NHL’s Atlanta Flames (& More!) – With Dan Bouchard [ARCHIVE RE-RELEASE]
    Jul 22 2024
    [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 (platooning with fellow Quebecois & expansion draftee Phil Myre during the club’s first five seasons) – and a survivor in a league where hard-nosed hockey was the norm and where good goalies were at a premium. Bouchard’s big-league call-up to the Flames in 1972 came amidst a frantic period of NHL franchise expansion and relocation driven in large part by the arrival of the challenger World Hockey Association – which debuted alongside Atlanta (and the NY Islanders) that season. And while the collective memory of the original Flames remains muddied by a woeful post-season record (reliably exiting the playoffs in the first round, despite qualifying six out of their eight seasons), as well as a then (and still?) persistent narrative of Southerners’ native distaste for ice hockey – Bouchard and Atlanta were actually more competitive and popular than many of the NHL’s other 1970s forays in places like Kansas City, Oakland, Denver, and Cleveland. When Nelson Skalbania bought the Flames and moved them to Calgary in 1980, most in Atlanta and around the league assumed that the well-publicized financial struggles of the team and owner Tom Cousins (who also controlled the Omni arena and the NBA Hawks) were to blame. But as Bouchard outlines in this revealing conversation, an explosive league-wide issue was festering behind the scenes – of which he was uniquely aware and determined to address – regardless of the potential consequences to his playing career. Bouch walks us through an eye-opening story that wends its way through the defunct Quebec Nordiques (including the infamous “Good Friday Massacre” vs. the Montreal Canadiens in 1984), the original Winnipeg Jets, the scandalous downfall of a pro hockey Hall of Famer, and fighting for legendary player/coach Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion both on – and off – the ice. + + + SUPPORT THE SHOW Buy Us a Coffee: https://ko-fi.com/goodseatsstillavailable "Good Seats" Show & Defunct Team Merch: http://tee.pub/lic/RdiDZzQeHSY SPONSOR THANKS Royal Retros (promo code: SEATS): https://www.503-sports.com?aff=2 Old School Shirts.com (promo code: GOODSEATS) https://oldschoolshirts.com/goodseats FIND & FOLLOW Website: https://goodseatsstillavailable.com/X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoodSeatsStillInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodseatsstillavailable/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@goodseatsstillavailableFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodSeatsStillAvailable/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@goodseatsstillavailable
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    1 hr and 50 mins
  • 353.6: NASL Soccer's Chief Architect Clive Toye [ARCHIVE RE-RELEASE]

    353.6: NASL Soccer's Chief Architect Clive Toye [ARCHIVE RE-RELEASE]
    Jul 15 2024
    [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 exaggeration to say, flatly, that without Toye’s blind faith in the sport in the 1970s, pro soccer in the USA would have withered and died. Yes, Phil Woosnam and Lamar Hunt and Bob Hermann were there too. But in those unpromising years it was Toye’s voice -- it came in a steady flow of ridiculously optimistic press releases and grandiose plans for a future that few others even dared to ponder -- that called loudest. “The New York Cosmos general manager credited with turning that league’s fortunes around when he signed Pele to a contract in 1975. Toye, who was born in England and came to the United States in 1967 at the age of 33, was president of three North American Soccer League teams – the Cosmos, Chicago Sting and Toronto Blizzard – and general manager of the [original National Professional Soccer League and subsequent NASL] Baltimore Bays. [He] was an official of the NASL in helping it through its crisis year of 1969 and in its final months in 1985 – and helped to found the third American Soccer League in 1988. “There has always been the spirit of a showman in Toye, and surely it was that spirit that enabled Toye to overlook the virtual collapse of the old North American Soccer League and to see instead a glittering future for the sport in the USA, even to declare to anyone who was listening -- and not many were in those days -- the preposterous notion that the USA should begin preparing to stage the World Cup. “And when the NASL, by the skin of its teeth and by the mad devotion of Toye et al., did survive, it was Toye who gave the reborn league its glittering image with his invention of the Cosmos, with his canny maneuvering and dealing, who brought Pele and Beckenbauer to New York. Showmanship indeed.” Toye (A Kick in the Grass: The Slow Rise and Quick Demise of the NASL; Anywhere in the World) joins host Tim Hanlon for a lyrical and anecdote-filled journey through the pro league that he helped create, later put to rest, and which ultimately shored up the long-term foundation of the “beautiful game” in America. + + + SUPPORT THE SHOW: "Good Seats" Show & Defunct Team Merch: http://tee.pub/lic/RdiDZzQeHSY Buy Us a Coffee: https://ko-fi.com/goodseatsstillavailable BUY/READ EARLY & OFTEN: A Kick in the Grass: The Slow Rise and Quick Demise of the NASL (2006): https://amzn.to/3Ln1KAtAnywhere in the World (2015): https://amzn.to/3Y3TD3A SPONSOR THANKS: Royal Retros (promo code: SEATS): https://www.503-sports.com?aff=2 Old School Shirts.com (promo code: GOODSEATS) https://oldschoolshirts.com/goodseats FIND & FOLLOW: Website: https://goodseatsstillavailable.com/X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoodSeatsStillInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodseatsstillavailable/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@goodseatsstillavailableFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodSeatsStillAvailable/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@goodseatsstillavailable
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    1 hr and 45 mins
  • 353.5: The Senior Professional Baseball Association - With David Whitford [ARCHIVE RE-RELEASE]

    353.5: The Senior Professional Baseball Association - With David Whitford [ARCHIVE RE-RELEASE]
    Jul 8 2024
    [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 by which he went about chronicling this unique, but ultimately ill-fated eight-team circuit for former pro players over the age of 35 (32 for catchers). Despite half the franchises folding after the first 72-game season (and the rest of the league mid-way through the second), the Senior League afforded dozens of former big-league players and managers what Whitford dubbed a "life-after-death fantasy" – one that attracted both stars and journeymen alike for a chance to either stay fresh for one last shot in the Show, recapture past on-field glories, or simply earn some needed money. Whitford highlights a wide array of characters he met while covering the SBPA, including: Founder Jim Morley, the thirty-something hustler who erroneously believed a senior league could generate cash flow sufficient to sustain his debt-ridden real-estate empire;Commissioner Curt Flood, the indefatigable player’s union representative who broke Major League Baseball’s reserve clause, but sacrificed his career in the process; Pitcher Wayne Garland, the former Cleveland ace and early free-agent beneficiary who risked permanent shoulder damage by coming back to play pro ball after a five-year layoff;Ex-Padres/Astros fastballer (and pioneer descendant) Danny Boone, who reinvented himself into a knuckleball specialist, and improbably made it back to the bigs with Baltimore in 1990 following the SPBA season; AND A veritable who’s who of former big-name major league stars – each with their own personal reasons for returning to the diamonds: Bobby Bonds, Joaquin Andujar, Vida Blue, Rollie Fingers, Ferguson Jenkins, Dave Kingman, Bill “Spaceman” Lee, Graig Nettles, Mickey Rivers, and even manager Earl Weaver – just to name a few. + + + SUPPORT THE SHOW: "Good Seats" Show & Defunct Team Merch: http://tee.pub/lic/RdiDZzQeHSY Buy Us a Coffee: https://ko-fi.com/goodseatsstillavailable SPONSOR THANKS: Royal Retros (promo code: SEATS): https://www.503-sports.com?aff=2 Old School Shirts.com (promo code: GOODSEATS) https://oldschoolshirts.com/goodseats BUY/READ EARLY & OFTEN: Extra Innings: A Season in the Senior League (2024): https://amzn.to/4cfkRbs FIND & FOLLOW: Website: https://goodseatsstillavailable.com/X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoodSeatsStillInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodseatsstillavailable/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@goodseatsstillavailableFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodSeatsStillAvailable/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@goodseatsstillavailable
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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • 353: The NASL v. US Soccer/MLS Case - With Steven Bank

    353: The NASL v. US Soccer/MLS Case - With Steven Bank
    Jul 1 2024
    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 - largely ideated and funded by spurned billionaire/Cosmos owner Rocco Commisso - is still very much alive, and now officially headed to trial beginning January 6th of next year. At issue: whether the governing body of soccer in the US and/or its officially designated top-tier professional league conspired to exclude the NASL from Division I-sanctioned play, and schemed to monopolize the market for men’s pro soccer. At stake: the future direction, competitive landscape and legal structure of American professional soccer. We get a full primer on the history, rationale and likely outcomes of this stealthily persistent case, with UCLA law school professor, sports/soccer legal expert (and 1970s-era ASL Cleveland Cobras fan) Steven Bank - whose influential Twitter/X feed is an essential follow on all things law + soccer. + + + SUPPORT THE SHOW: "Good Seats" Show & Defunct Team Merch: http://tee.pub/lic/RdiDZzQeHSY Buy Us a Coffee: https://ko-fi.com/goodseatsstillavailable SPONSOR THANKS: Royal Retros (promo code: SEATS): https://www.503-sports.com?aff=2 Old School Shirts.com (promo code: GOODSEATS) https://oldschoolshirts.com/goodseats FIND & FOLLOW: Website: https://goodseatsstillavailable.com/X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoodSeatsStillInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodseatsstillavailable/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@goodseatsstillavailableFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodSeatsStillAvailable/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@goodseatsstillavailable
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    1 hr and 33 mins
  • 352: An Appreciation of Vin Scully - With Tom Hoffarth

    352: An Appreciation of Vin Scully - With Tom Hoffarth
    Jun 24 2024
    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 each season of his career calling games for the Los Angeles Dodgers, from 1950 through 2016—reflect on the ways his professional and private life influenced them. The contributions include a range of stories and remembrances from those who knew and followed him. The consensus of the contributions is that Scully’s actions spoke louder than his well-recognized words. "This collection includes fellow broadcasters as well as historians, players, journalists, celebrities, and others connected to the game of baseball, with each piece introduced by sports journalist Tom Hoffarth. Readers can consider Scully’s life through common themes: his sincerity, his humility, his professionalism, his passion for his faith, his devotion to his family, his insistence on remembering and giving context to important moments in the history of not just the game but the world in general, all wrapped up in a gift for weaving storytelling with accurate reporting, fellowship with performance art, humor, and connection." [P.S. - As mentioned in this week's episode, check out this amazing 2016 conversation between Scully and the late Willie Mays, who passed away last week at the age of 93.] + + + SUPPORT THE SHOW: "Good Seats" Show & Defunct Team Merch: http://tee.pub/lic/RdiDZzQeHSY Buy Us a Coffee: https://ko-fi.com/goodseatsstillavailable SPONSOR THANKS: Royal Retros (promo code: SEATS): https://www.503-sports.com?aff=2 Old School Shirts.com (promo code: GOODSEATS) https://oldschoolshirts.com/goodseats BUY/READ EARLY & OFTEN: Perfect Eloquence: An Appreciation of Vin Scully (2024): https://amzn.to/4cfkRbs FIND & FOLLOW: Website: https://goodseatsstillavailable.com/X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoodSeatsStillInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodseatsstillavailable/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@goodseatsstillavailableFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodSeatsStillAvailable/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@goodseatsstillavailable
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    1 hr and 19 mins
  • 351: The Origin Story of ESPN - With Peter Fox

    351: The Origin Story of ESPN - With Peter Fox
    Jun 17 2024
    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, luck, fear, fun, and unbridled optimism. As ESPN’s founding executive producer, Peter Fox was privy to some spectacular professional efforts by a cadre of Connecticut locals who made the dream real. "The first 300 days of the fledgling network were filled with mayhem, on-air gaffes, and the slowest instant replay in television. What started as a humble idea in the late spring of 1978 to capitalize on the brand-new mania for UConn men’s basketball soon morphed into ESPN and a plan to begin airing a series of “test broadcasts” in the fall. "This is the story of the early days at ESPN, told by one on the network's launching pad, and how a conversation over a couple of martinis in 1978 led to the creation of a broadcast juggernaut. + + + SUPPORT THE SHOW: "Good Seats" Show & Defunct Team Merch: http://tee.pub/lic/RdiDZzQeHSY Buy Us a Coffee: https://ko-fi.com/goodseatsstillavailable SPONSOR THANKS: Old School Shirts.com (promo code: GOODSEATS) https://oldschoolshirts.com/goodseats Royal Retros (promo code: SEATS): https://www.503-sports.com?aff=2 BUY/READ EARLY & OFTEN: The Early Days of ESPN: 300 Daydreams and Nightmares (2024): https://amzn.to/3xalQdX FIND & FOLLOW: Website: https://goodseatsstillavailable.com/X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoodSeatsStillInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodseatsstillavailable/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@goodseatsstillavailableFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodSeatsStillAvailable/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@goodseatsstillavailable
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    1 hr and 17 mins
  • 350: The "Father of Modern Baseball" - With Tom Delise & Jay Seaborg

    350: The "Father of Modern Baseball" - With Tom Delise & Jay Seaborg
    Jun 10 2024
    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, Hanlon played 13 professional seasons with the Cleveland Blues, Detroit Wolverines, the Federal League's one-year Pittsburgh Burghers, Pittsburgh Pirates (neé Alleghenys), and (original American Association-then-National League) Baltimore Orioles - stealing 329 bases after stolen bases were first recorded in 1886. Despite a modest .260 batting average, Hanlon was renowned for his speed and daring on the bases, as well as his defensive prowess, leading the National League in putouts in 1882 and 1884. Hanlon’s managerial career began after participating in A.G. Spalding’s “Around The World Baseball Tour” in the winter of 1888. He became the player-manager of the Pittsburgh Alleghenys in 1889 and supported the short-lived Players’ League in 1890, where he posted a .383 on-base percentage. Returning to the Alleghenys, Hanlon inadvertently contributed to the team’s name change to Pirates due to his aggressive player acquisition tactics. In 1892, Hanlon took over the Baltimore Orioles and revolutionized the game with his “Inside Baseball” philosophy. He emphasized teamwork, speed, and innovative plays like the hit-and-run, sacrifice bunt, and double steal. Hanlon also introduced the "Baltimore Chop" and was among the first to use a platoon system based on pitcher handedness. Under his leadership, the Orioles transformed from cellar dwellers to dominant forces, capturing five NL pennants from 1894 to 1900. Hanlon’s strategic genius earned him accolades from peers and successors. Hall of Fame manager Connie Mack regarded Hanlon as the greatest leader in baseball history, and in 1937, The Sporting News dubbed him “The Father of Modern Baseball.” Ned Hanlon passed away on April 14, 1937, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1996, cementing his legacy as a pioneer of the sport. + + + SUPPORT THE SHOW: "Good Seats" Show & Defunct Team Merch: http://tee.pub/lic/RdiDZzQeHSY Buy Us a Coffee: https://ko-fi.com/goodseatsstillavailable SPONSOR THANKS: Old School Shirts.com (promo code: GOODSEATS) https://oldschoolshirts.com/goodseats Royal Retros (promo code: SEATS): https://www.503-sports.com?aff=2 BUY/READ EARLY & OFTEN: Foxy Ned Hanlon: The Baseball Life of a Hall of Fame Manager (2024): https://amzn.to/3Vyge6v FIND & FOLLOW: Website: https://goodseatsstillavailable.com/X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoodSeatsStillInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodseatsstillavailable/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@goodseatsstillavailableFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodSeatsStillAvailable/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@goodseatsstillavailable
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    1 hr and 23 mins