Out of common roots in midwestern basketball and out of a passion for regional history, Randy Mills (Retd. Prof. Oakland City University) mines Larry Legend’s origin story.

In doing so, he presents the fervent foundation for the sport that existed in Bird’s home state of Indiana, using it as a base to focus specifically on the machinations of his high school basketball playing days for the Spring Valley Blackhawks from 1972-1974. 

Utilizing archived stories from local reporters and tapping into a lived experience with the subject matter, Mills arrives at his latest release in a line of publications that study the midwestern United States.

Controversial and entertaining, Cherry spoke his mind to the country for 37 years in the aforementioned first intermission segment.

On Nov. 9, 2019, going over the top met with the times at hand and the contemporary media landscape.  Cherry was fired by Sportsnet in what is known as “Poppygate”.

Is there more to this story? Is there more to Grapes than most care to know?

His late daughter decided she wanted to confront this matter and also the descriptions she so often heard and read about her dad.

The result is The Don Cherry Story, by his Daughter, Cindy Cherry. It’s a book that exists in two parts, the first deals with the front facing persona of her father, and the second which focuses on his life, on and off the ice.

This episode is a conversation with Cindy’s brother and Don’s son, Tim Cherry, about the book and about his family.

*Cindy Cherry passed away in July 2024.

**This was recorded one week prior to Cherry’s sign off from "The Don Cherry's Grapevine Podcast" on Sunday, June 22.

After traversing the "true north", Shuker (Editor-at-Large, The Hockey News) emptied his experiences over 244 pages giving further contemporary context to a game that exists in the bones of this nation. 

Jane McManus provides a real-time snapshot of where we currently are and how we got here in Fast Track: The Surging Business of Women’s Sports.

McManus has spent a career covering sports for major outlets such as the New York Daily News and was a founding columnist for espnW. Now an Adjunct Professor at NYU at the Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport, she has published a book that examines the business of women's sport, focusing on the peaks that have occured during her lifetime, from 1970s till present day.

Tracing a line through the origins of the WTA to the leagues emerging today, there is lots to learn in this rapidly developing movement that rides an undulating past into its next sustainable breakthrough.

It has been described as having religious significance, there is reverence and well earned-lore. A loathsome thread exists too. 

Without question it is one of the most significant buildings ever constructed in Canada and a big part of its legend is that it was completed during the early years of the Great Depression.

But what was Toronto Maple Leafs’ owner Conn Smythe’s intent?  Why did he build it where he did? What crowd did he want to attract and how do those spectators compare to what our notions of them would be? How did this venerated structure meet the times it evolved from?

These are questions that Russell Field (Associate Professor, Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management, the University of Manitoba) examines in A Night at the Gardens: Class, Gender, and Respectability in 1930s Toronto.

Explore the origin and early days of Maple Leaf Gardens through an academic lense. 

In an 18-season career he was a nine-time NBA all-star and two-time league champion.  He played his last season with the Toronto Raptors.  Olajuwon was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013 and is a member of the NBA's 75th anniversary team.

In “Dream: The Life and Legacy of Hakeem Olajuwon,” biographer Mirin Fader draws on some 250 interviews to present a silent sports star who experienced a religious metamorphosis.  A fiery competitor who led by example in all aspects of his life, paying it forward with teammates and current NBA stars through the type of mentorship he benefited from early in his career.  She also utilizes her extensive research to debunk myths surrounding Hakeem’s life and career.

Fader is a senior writer with The Ringer. Her début book, “Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA MVP,” reached The New York Times best-seller list.  

The veteran journalist (Regina Leader-Post, The Province) presents a case study, with novelistic detail, about the West Coast NHL franchise. Weaving a thread — one of instability at the top — through the history (and prehistory) of the team, Willes explains why the Canucks have fallen short of winning the Stanley Cup, but have never been boring across five-plus decades of torment.

Relying on firsthand research and contemporary accounts from fellow Vancouver sports journalists, Willes provides painstaking details about the life-arcs of stars such as Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Pavel Bure, Markus Näslund, and Todd Bertuzzi. The author also playfully teases out the franchise’s many what-ifs.

Willes is also author of “The Rebel League: The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association” (2005) and “End Zones and Border Wars: The Era of American Expansion in the CFL” (2013).

In “The Beautiful Dream,” the retired captain of the Canadian men’s national soccer team (CMNT) lets fans and readers in on a footballer’s journey. Now retired as a player, Hutchinson delves into his early life as a first-generation Canadian growing up in Brampton, Ont. in the 1980s, and ’90s and how he navigated the uncertain path to professional success in Europe during the days when a true domestic league hardly existed.

That perseverance led to a 20-season pro career that included championships, adulation, and celebrity outside Canada. And, after several frustrating World Cup cycles, Hutchinson was the 39-year-old captain when Canada broke through to qualify for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

Hutchinson joined us from his home in Turkey to discuss his life story. He joins Dwayne De Rosario as the second CMNT alumnus to appear on SportsLit.

“Hell Is a World Without You” plunges readers into the world of early-2000s teen Isaac Siena Jr., his youth group friends, widowed mother Katherine, and intense big brother Eli. Its themes delve through faith, the lingering effects of being raised with “constant fear of hell, and shame, and damnation,” and being in a world where “youth pastors dress like Stifler.”

Kirk, who calls himself a “lazy Christian pantheist,” is a senior editor at The Athletic and part of the long-running Shutdown Fullcast (“the internet’s only college football podcast.”). An Atlanta native, he and his wife Emily Kirk have also had a pod called Vacation Bible School.

Mike Keenan has a method.

All things considered, both descriptions are part and parcel of a coaching career in which he angered many, and accomplished a great deal.

30 years ago he won the Stanley Cup and then abruptly parted with the New York Rangers, the team he led to the title.

Iron Mike addresses career defining events such as this and covers much more in his life’s journey through hockey.

The 1985 Jack Adams Award winner (NHL Coach of the Year) joined SportsLit to discuss his exploits behind the bench, the front office, and off the ice.

If he was do it all again, would he do it any differently?  Find out.

In 1977 and ’78, as a Sports Illustrated reporter, Ludtke was the winning plaintiff in Ludtke v. Kuhn, a U.S. federal case that Time Inc. and lawyer Fritz Schwarz Jr. brought against Major League Baseball. In the courtroom, Justice Constance Baker Motley — a civil rights icon  — found that MLB commissioner Bowie Kuhn had violated Kuhn’s constitutional rights by denying her the same access the male reporters had at Yankee Stadium during the ’77 World Series. Neither the legal win nor the affray in the court of public opinion came easily. But within a decade, Ludtke notes, the ranks of female sports journalists had increased enough to start AWSM (Association of Women in Sports Media).

Ludtke, a former TIME magazine correspondent, has also worked at Nieman Labs. She lives in Massachusetts and writes the Let’s Row Together newsletter on Substack.

In “Olympic Lyon: The Untold Story of the First Gold Medal for Golf,” Cochrane digs deep to tell the story of the Toronto insurance salesman who captured Olympic glory in the early 20th century, to the delight of fans in the young nation of Canada. Lyon never got to defend his title, or congratulate his successor. But through deep research honed over decades as a lawyer, and a keen understanding of golf’s appeal the world over, Cochrane may have readers feel like they’re in George’s gallery following him around the course.

A resident of Burlington, Ont., Michael Cochrane is a partner at Brauti Thorning LLP in Toronto. He hosted the program “Strictly Legal” on Business News Network (BNN). He has penned two other novels, and also has made two holes in one.

Author Jerry Grillo, who lives in the same region of rural Georgia where Mize hailed from, has remedied that by examining Mize’s baseball life and his effect on the sport.

Mize (1913-1993, inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981) played in the majors during an era marked and marred by segregation, the Great Depression, and the Second World War. The lefty-hitting slugging first baseman won four league home run titles, still has some unmatched batting feats, and shares the record for most career three-home run games. And he was almost forgotten by the keepers of baseball history. 

Grillo began researching a Mize bio in 2000. It is his second book, following, “The Music and Mythocracy of Col. Bruce Hampton: A Basically True Biography.”

In “The Price She Pays: Confronting the Hidden Mental Health Crisis in Women’s Sports— from the Schoolyard to the Stadium,” lead authors Dr. Tiffany Brown and Katie Steele call for changes to the athletic hierarchy women compete under. As lead authors, along with co-author Erin Strout, they propose that the expanding popularity and financial clout of women’s sports must be commensurate with an athlete-centred mental health approach 

The book is a candid guide to all stages of the sporting life, from introductory activities up to U.S. major-college athletics and the pros. It is unsparing of the traumas, but always optimistic, which meshes with 2024’s breakouts such as new leagues that are gaining traction, and the WNBA rookie class featuring the likes of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Kingston, Ont., native Aaliyah Edwards. “The Price She Pays” is both timely, and telling about what fault lines need to be filled in. 

Brown and Steele are both licensed marriage and family therapists based in Oregon. Strout, who has written and freelanced for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Runner’s World, Women Running, and ESPN-W, is based in Flagstaff, Arizona.  “The Price She Pays” was released by Little, Brown, and Spark on June 18, 2024.

In “Warming Up,” Orr pairs her academic curiosity and storytelling to stir optimism (or “hopeium”) about using the power of sport to explain climate adaptation. The University of Toronto professor’s début book reminds readers sports are a bigger social connector than politics, arts, and pop culture — and the loss of them can have significant mental health effects. 

As such, sports is a rallying point to push for a world that must burn about five times less fossil fuels to avert worst-case outcomes from climate change.

Whether it is children learning a new game, or globetrotting pros, athletes need breathable air, drinking water, and relief from the ‘big bad’ of extreme heat (and winter sport athletes need snow, too). Far from a doom-and-gloom finger-wag, Orr shows that many athletes and sports organizations are on Team Green, and outlines the next steps.

Ali “daydreams about being a basketball star,” but frets about whether she can make her school team. Along the way, Ali learns lessons about who makes a true team off and on the floor — and illustrates how sports give a child a chance to build life skills and responsibility.

Evanka Osmak is an anchor for Sportsnet Central. She is a mother of two and has been with Sportsnet since 2007.

In “Baseball: The Movie,” his first book, he advocates for the return of a sports movie niche that has faded since “Moneyball” and “42” were hits in the early ’10s. Drawing on insights from fellow writers and ballplayers, Gittell shows how the baseball movie, since the time of “The Pride of the Yankees” during the Second World War, has tapped into the essentials of the American soul and identity.

A longtime New York Mets fan, Gittell’s writing has graced The Atlantic, The Economist, Elle, Esquire The Guardian, GQ, and the LA Review of Books. He also keeps up a Substack, Good Eye: Movies and Baseball.

Johnson became the first track-and-field Olympian to lose a gold medal for doping after a positive test at the 1988 Summer Olympics. In “World’s Fastest Man*: The Life of Ben Johnson,” Ormsby raises alarming questions about the reactions from the IOC, Canadian sports leaders, and the media — and double standards imposed on Johnson and other Black Canadian athletes at a time when steroid use was common in Olympic sports.

Ormsby, who had a three-decade career with the Toronto Star, also pairs investigative work with a character study of Johnson. His second life has involved training soccer great Diego Maradona, racing against a car for charity, and finding grace and resilience to keep running.

At the start of the 2020s, Dryden sought out people with whom he shared a uniquely Canadian coming-of-age experience during an ambitious era. In the early 1960s, Dryden was part of the ‘Brain Class’ at Etobicoke C.I. — students who loved to learn. Through meetings on Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in person, Dryden learned the biographies of 34-of-35 classmates to produce, “The Class: A Memoir Of A Time, A Place, And Us.”

Dryden’s classmates have led rich lives, finding their own ‘Stanley Cup’ in unexpected places. And, of course, Dryden won the Stanley Cup six times with the Montréal Canadiens in the 1970s and was the winning goalie in the decisive Game 8 of the Canada-USSR Summit Series in 1972. “The Class” is his ninth book.

In 1989, Major League Baseball’s hit king received a lifetime ban for betting on games in which he managed his hometown Cincinnati Reds. With reportorial digging, O’Brien reminds readers of everything Rose did between the lines of MLB ballparks and off the field, and why the scandal lingers into this era of legal sports gambling.

A Cincinnati native like Rose, O’Brien draws on some 27 hours of dialogue with the baseball legend, and extensive interviews with Rose’s family, inner circle, and former teammates. “Charlie Hustle” is his fourth book, and second about sports.

In The Real Hoosiers, his 12th book, McCallum dives into why Indiana celebrates the 1954 Milan Miracle, and the film “Hoosiers,” more than Attucks. Repping a school community forced into existence in a “bewildering and openly racist big-city educational system,” future NBA assist king and players’ union leader Robertson and his teammates won back-to-back Indiana schoolboy titles barely a decade after the competition was opened to Black schools. It was the first time anywhere in America that a Black team had won ‘State,’ and that gets into some “freighted” history.

Best known as a longtime NBA writer at Sports Illustrated, McCallum’s basketball books include Dream Team, Golden Days, and Seven Seconds Or Less. He also detailed a personal health challenge in The Prostate Monologues.

Campbell, whose parents and a set of grandparents decamped from Chicago for Toronto during the sociopolitically turbulent late 1960s, shares much about growing up Black and learning his way in Canada when holding trenchant American roots.

It explores a rich and nuanced family tree filled with characters that can be turbulently interconnected.

Campbell is a CBC Sports senior contributor who spent close to two decades with the Toronto Star, the largest newspaper in Canada. He also performs boxing commentary, and was a boxing correspondent for The New York Times. His spouse, Perdita Felicien, was also a guest of SportsLit in 2021 (“My Mother’s Daughter,” S5E06).

Like a hard foul in the paint, Cohen's prose will knock you down and stoke a hunger for more

It could have easily been the title of Ted Nolan’s biography.

My Life in Two Worlds: A Coach’s Journey from the Reserve to the NHL and Back encompasses the duality of his drive to show people from his world, Garden River First Nation, could succeed in another one, whilst centering their Indigenous identity.

A career coach who has achieved success at every level, Nolan is best known for his first tenure with the Buffalo Sabres in the 1990s. He earned the NHL coach-of-the-year award in just his second season on the job but faced professional exile for nearly a decade afterward. 

Nolan’s journey to the NHL, both on the ice and behind the bench, began in Garden River First Nation, near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He and his spouse Sandra have seen both of their sons, Brandon and Jordan, play in the NHL.

As a former NHL president and general manager, Doug MacLean has seen the process from the inside. That is where he and Hockey Hall of Fame-honoured writer Scott Morrison take readers in Draft Day: How Hockey Teams Pick Winners or Get Left Behind. This is a book with a hook — informative with lively anecdotes along the way. MacLean relates what it’s like to call the shots, and he does not mind firing a few more in this book.

Like “Slap Shot” itself, Jonathon Jackson might have been slightly ahead of his time when he set out to write about the timeless hockey movie.

Nowadays, ‘how it was made’ books, podcasts, and limited series are everywhere. But it was back in 2006, Jackson set out to write about the “nuts and bolts” that held together a raunchy, rollicking 1977 sports comedy starring Paul Newman that remains unlike any depiction of hockey put on screens before, and possibly since.

“The Making of Slap Shot” was first published in 2010, and now has a second edition from Double J Media that includes behind-the-scenes photos contributed by cast members. See you down at the Ace’s.

Rooted in Jamaica and then Oakville, Ont., Bailey rocketed around the world after a belated entry into athletics. Following his triumphs on the track, his career was derailed by injuries. Decades after retirement, he makes it clear where he stands in the pantheon of Canadian sport. All you need to do is read the title — Undisputed: A Champion’s Life.

What was wrong? What can be changed? What did he like? What should be maintained?

With Canada’s national winter sport facing a moral audit, check out our discussion with an NHL draft choice and Memorial Cup champion player turned high school teacher who has an inside perspective. 

Conflicted Scars was released by ECW Press in October 2022. It features a foreword by Hockey Hall of Fame coach Brian Kilrea and a cover blurb from Davis’s one-time OHL teammate Joe Thornton, a member of the NHL’s 1,500-points club.

Over two stints covering 11 seasons, Gibbons won over Toronto Blue Jays fans. Getting the Jays back into pennant contention helped, but he became more relatable, a shrewd observer whom fans could imagine sharing baseball yarns and beers with up in the 500 level. Getting there involved 22 seasons in the minors, first as a catcher whose MLB days were curtailed by injuries before he moved into coaching and managing.

“Gibby” was written with past guest Greg Oliver  (S1E02, Grattoony The Loony). Gibbons lives in his native San Antonio with his wife, Christi, and cohosts The Gibby Show podcast with his agent John Arezzi.

The advancements might seem brand-new considering the first World Cup was held in 1991 and the inaugural Olympic tournament kicked off in 1996.

It would also be easy to assume that the charge forward for female footy began in North America. 

After all, the United States has had the most success, while Canada is the reigning Olympic champion and boasts the all-time time leading goal scorer - Christine Sinclair.

There is far more to the story.

In A Woman’s Game – The Rise, Fall and Rise Again, of Women's Soccer, journalist Suzanne Wrack (The Guardian) dives back well over a century ago to document and contextualize the progression of The Beautiful Game as it pertains to women.

She joined us from London to discuss how the past connects to the present, what the future holds and why even with recent breakthroughs and momentum, she feels that the women’s game is at a critical juncture.

The Scarborough man helped grow the beautiful game in North America as one of the first stars of Major League Soccer, contributing to four MLS Cup-winning teams and twice earning Cup MVP honours. It gnawed at him, though, that the Canadian men’s national team was never able to reach the biggest stage in global sport, which in turn hurt the sport’s perception of Canadian-produced talent.

In 2021, De Rosario and broadcaster Brendan Dunlop released the star’s candid autography, “DeRo: My Life.” The kickoff of the World Cup, with Canada represented and competing for only the second time, was a perfect opening for ‘DeRo’ and Dunlop to discuss the book and a northern nation’s place in the fútbol world.

He would not have that any other way. It’s been A Lucky Life.

As a national columnist with Postmedia, his articles are some of the most widely discussed amongst Canadian sports fans.

He has also appeared regularly on radio and television including TSN’s The Reporters.

Simmons began his professional writing career in 1979 at the Calgary Herald. He then shifted to the Calgary Sun right as the NHL Flames moved to town and joined his hometown Toronto Sun in 1987. He has had  the privilege of covering major personalities, and incredible moments in sport, including 17 Olympics.

Simmons has written four books and collaborated on six others. His latest is a collection of selected works which were published between 1986 and 2021.

As he has learned across nearly a half century in sports media, one has to evolve or die. In this memoir, Shannon writes of how he has absorbed and applied lessons that are wrapped as mortal blows in order not merely survive, but thrive in an often cutthroat field.

In “Evolve or Die,” he writes of how he had a vision, from his early life in the British Columbia interior, to be a storyteller. That aspiration led him to Toronto in the 1970s right at the inflection point for a sports broadcasting boom in Canada.

Shannon quickly became well-regarded as a producer with Hockey Night in Canada while in his early 20s. Later, he became executive producer (1994-2000) when that crown jewel of live sports production instituted the now familiar Saturday doubleheader and Satellite Hot Stove intermission panel.

Since 2009, Shannon has created a seemingly unprecedented second act in front of the camera as an analyst and insider. 

Currently he is a regular panelist on Edmonton Oilers broadcasts and continues to co-host the Bob McCowan Podcast on Sirius XM Radio.

When it was announced that Hockey Hall of Fame centreman Bryan Trottier was releasing a memoir, one had to wonder why that had not already happened. 

Trottier won the Stanley Cup six times as a player and once again as an assistant coach. The son of a Cree-Chippewa-Métis father and an Irish-Canadian mother from a Saskatchewan ranching family, he also earned multiple major awards an 18-season NHL career (1975-94).

Timing is the answer.

At age 66, Trottier believes he is far enough removed from the game where could tell some “secrets.” As well, In the age of Reconciliation between Canada and First Nations, the publishing industry is eager to amplify a story like his.

In "All Roads Home," the example that Trottier set for Indigenous youth in his hockey heyday is captured in a foreword by author and historian Jesse Thistle (author of the international best-seller "From The Ashes"). Trottier's narrative, written with esteemed Canadian sportswriter Stephen Brunt, details his obligation to make the people who shaped him proud, especially his family.

Over his life in hockey, Trottier has touched individual and collective greatness. He has also taken the time to listen, learn and share his experiences with Indigenous communities across Canada.

Join us for our conversation with one of the greatest hockey players of all time.

Captivated by Canadian swimmer Alex Baumann racing to gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Shepley realized that he wanted to be in elite sport.  His skillset was best suited to being a coach.

Chasing greatness began with hustling. Starting from his residence room at McMaster University, he bootstrapped and helped triathlon move from a loose structure into something with a foundation, a fanbase and young athletes who would become its long-term future. One of them, first spotted in Sharbot Lake, Ont., was Simon Whitfield.

Eventually Shepley became Canada's national triathlon coach for several years beginning in 1991. In 2000, all his groundwork was validated when Whitfield became the first Olympic men's triathlon champion at the Sydney Olympics.

In Chasing Greatness, Shepley shares his experiences working with elite athletes and hobbyists who were bent on proving something to themselves. In addition to his commentary work, Shepley is cofounder of Personal Best, a Caledon, Ont.-based health and wellness firm that works with corporate and individual clients.

He raised the Stanley Cup and came within a postage stamp goal of backstopping Canada to an Olympic Gold medal.

But the save of his life never happened on the ice.

It happened when he stopped short of driving off a cliff. 

The plan was to finally be rid of intrusive thoughts he couldn’t shut off. Now he has learned how to deal with them.

Corey’s brain lies to him, it tells him things that aren’t true.

It is called OCD and the form he has is probably not what you think it is.

People such as Hirsch can drown in irrational thoughts about harming themselves or others, contracting deadly diseases and/or need constant self-assurance about their sexual orientation.

Corey, like so many others that suffer from this mental illness was ready to end it all…but he didn’t, he got help and came forward.

While so many out there suffer, often in silence, Hirsch uses his platform to make sure they aren’t alone.

Five years after his important mental health revelation in The Players' Tribune, his new book with Sean Patrick Conboy goes deeper into that journey from despair to hope.

He electrified third base and the batter's box with a formidable combination of grit, finesse and power.

However, it was what the one-time unanimous NL MVP (1996) did after his playing days that stands above the great fielding plays, all-star appearances and revitalizing the San Diego Padres franchise. 

In 2002, Caminiti came clean about baseball's worst-kept secret. 

Author Dan Good paints a portrait of a big-hearted man who lived life on the edge and how his public confession forced Major League Baseball to confront its steroid problem.

Join us as Good discusses his book Playing Through the Pain.

Major League Baseball's all-time leader in runs scored and stolen bases and greatest leadoff hitter of all time vexed and perplexed teammates, fans and the media as much as he did opposition over a 25-season career.

Even up until his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009, questions of who Rickey actually is and what has driven him to be so singular have remained.

In June 2022, Howard Bryant (senior writer, ESPN, and a two-time Casey Award winner) released Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original. In the 380 pages, he provides the context that helps explain Henderson’s motivations and Henderson’s value in the age of advanced analytics.

Les Stroud is a creator who is best known for his world famous TV show, but he is also a musician and an author. 

In March 2021, he released Wild Outside: Around the World with Survivorman, his first book aimed at a youth audience. It recently won a Yellow Cedar Award presented by the Ontario Library Association for nonfiction books intended for readers in grades 4 to 8.

Using condensed and illustrated versions of his adventures, Stroud intersperses nature facts with advice on spending time outside, no matter where that is.

After the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic delayed his appearance on SportsLit, Les joined us to discuss this book as well as his latest projects, plus some humble career tales from a man who does things his way.

At five-foot-three, he is the shortest player to ever play at basketball’s highest level and he succeeded with four teams across 14 seasons during the rugged 1980s and '90s.  A testament to his focus, talent and toughness.

In April 2022, he released Muggsy: My Life from a Kid in the Projects to the Godfather of Small Ball, written with Jacob Uitti (Triumph Books).

Muggsy pays tribute to a loving family who supported him through his maturation into a true player from inner-city Baltimore to the time he established himself as a pro point guard, whose career peak came as the engine of the expansion Charlotte Hornets.

His playing days lasted from 1987-88 until an abbreviated season with the Toronto Raptors in 2000-01.

Currently, Bogues is an ambassador and community advisor with the Hornets franchise in Charlotte. In between watching the NBA Finals where close family friend Steph Curry goes for a fourth title with the Golden State Warriors utilizing a playing style that he helped push, Muggsy joined us to talk about his life and how it has inspired the lives of others.

Sounds simple enough, but how do you get there?

Talent alone isn't always the answer.

The inner game is often the hardest aspect to manage.

André Lachance (Manager – Women’s National Team - Baseball Canada 2004 – 18) and Jean François Ménard (Author - Train (Your Brain) Like an Olympian) have years of practical and professional experience in mental performance coaching from boardrooms to a baseball diamond and even the circus (Cirque du Soleil).

Utilizing what they have learned, the duo combine to offer their strategies on building team chemistry.

In "1972: The Series That Changed Forever," Hockey Hall of Fame-honoured writer Scott Morrison draws a complete narrative of that classic confrontation a half-century ago. 

What started out with good intentions between the sports’ reigning world power and a country that wanted to show that it was the best, when it chose to ice the best, became so much more in real time that September. The final result was as close as it gets, and for the Canadian and Soviet stars whom Morrison has come to know, it has bonded them uniquely over time.

It is a series that Canada won and where hockey won. One side showed it could play with the NHL superstars, the other went to extraordinary lengths to assert their skill and will, and in turn, this Cold War on ice created a legacy they celebrate together.

Approaching age 90, he finally decided it was time, at the behest of Michael Holmes, executive editor at ECW.

McFarlane is familiar to generations of fans from his three-decade tenure at Hockey Night in Canada as well as working in the U.S. with CBS and NBC.

His connection to the game is deep. As a standout NCAA player, he scored over 100 goals in his college career.  An astute businessman, he brought the game to children and new audiences with Peter Puck.  That was just one of his many ventures.

When Perdita Felicien crashed into the first hurdle in the 100-metre final at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, all the reigning world champion from Canada could do was watch the race play out on a video screen high above the track.

Though her dreams were dashed, she would stand proud and tall again — it was in her DNA. In My Mother’s Daughter: A Memoir of Struggle and Triumph (Doubleday), Felicien fastidiously constructs a poignant narrative that extends far beyond sport.

By bringing her mother Cathy Browne’s tale of leaving St. Lucia to resettle in Canada to light, we can better understand the contemporary Canadian experience. 

Through his path in the game, readers gain an idea of how the sport operates on the far reaches of its icy landscape. Minkoff’s premise in Thin Ice (Lyons Press) is essentially that if you have some talent and take your approach seriously, you can make a go of it. Now a player agent working in Seattle, Minkoff did not allow himself to become discouraged by youth hockey politics while growing up in the State of Hockey, Minnesota.

In our latest episode, Minkoff talks about how he came of age in American club college hockey and seized an opportunity to play pro in Finland’s fourth division, where he moonlighted as a Zamboni driver. All of that led to him finding himself by keeping an eye out for other possibly overlooked players who are trying to live the dream.

When writing his biography with Bruce McDougall, he held steadfast that this would not just be a book about his success as a jockey.  The pages had to paint an unvarnished portrait of struggling with demons that tormented him in the form of gambling and sex addiction.

It had to examine how his roots in Brazil led him to where he is today, for better and for worse.

When Riding for Freedom was released in December, people weren’t expecting what they read about a man who seemingly lived high on the horse and that is just the way Rosa da Silva wanted it.

So why do metrics apply to a man that last played a game almost 20 years ago?  Because the numbers show his memoir is a top seller and for good reason.

In Pain Killer: A Memoir of Big League Addiction, Myhres shoots straight about trying to make it in the game he grew up loving, how it became intertwined with drugs and alcohol and eventually led to a lifetime ban.

Where his story had so many chances to end tragically, it hasn’t and along the way back he found purpose in a commitment to helping others who have carried the weight of walking miles in his boots.

Esteemed writer Rich Cohen (Contributing Editor - Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair), navigated the Connecticut interstate with his son Micah during the Ridgefield Bears 2018-19 AA Pee-Wee season and emerged on the other end with his latest book, Pee Wees: Confessions of a Hockey Parent.

As the months pass and the season wears on, the immersion of mothers and fathers into the progress of their kids and outcomes of their games, builds.

They might have thought they could stay out of the politics, but it can and will pull you in, just like Cohen’s narrative.

Pee Wees’ is exceptionally written. Fun, insightful and unguarded, it looks at the game we love, outside of our lens.

50 years ago, the concept of “one-and-done” or “early entry” was born after a landmark Supreme Court ruling and the landscape of pro basketball seismically shifted.

Today, Haywood, an Olympic gold medallist (1968), NBA Champion (1980) Hall of Fame Inductee (2015) and former star power forward in the ABA and NBA still wants the league to put some respect on his name – officially.

It is why his biography is titled - The Spencer Haywood Rule: Battles, Basketball and the making of an American Iconoclast. 

Released last fall, it covers a life that began in the Jim Crow South, weaved through the Pacific Northwest, Broadway, Hollywood and Europe.  

Along the way, Haywood built up the emotional baggage that followed blazing a trail. Creating upheaval came with a cost and his legacy paid a price in the delay of his due respect.

Whether you are Wayne Gretzky, who has scored an NHL record 894 times or a member of the NHL's one goal club, they all count the same.

Ken Reid (Sportsnet) tracked down 39 players who have lit the lamp just once, and in the process, turned footnotes into features, bringing to life the stories of men who have accomplished a feat that is the envy of anyone who has hit the ice with big league dreams.

The 2020-21 edition was released on Oct. 6, and Romanuk joined us to discuss the challenges of producing the most recent installment during the pandemic, a TV/Radio career which has taken him to the top levels of sports media, and his new podcast The Walrus Was Paul. 

Confident and astute, Savard went from playing hockey on outdoor rinks reminiscent of illustrations in Roch Carrier's The Hockey Sweater, to starring for the Montreal Canadiens from 1966-67 - 80-81.  Once he retired from the NHL, he returned to become their general manager.  In total, he won the Stanley Cup 10 times.

All the while, he represented Canada internationally, developed his business acumen and fostered political relationships that have propelled him to prominent standing today.

On Oct. 21, the English translation of Forever Canadien, his authorized biography written with journalist Philippe Cantin, was released.

The result? A comprehensive and intricate look at Savard's direct impact on the fabled history of the franchise, while immersing the reader into a life forged in one solitude.

It's true, HNIC gets people talking...and writing.

Al Strachan had a long history with the show as a panelist on Satellite Hot Stove, the second intermission segment that was created by executive producer John Shannon in 1994 to showcase the insider knowledge of those dialed in around the NHL.

Along with Coach's Corner and of course, the game itself, Satellite Hot Stove was part of the triumvirate that made Saturday night appointment TV.

Strachan, who entered the media section of the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993 for contributions in covering the league, draws on his unique vantage point for an unfiltered read of what went on behind the scenes, after 40 minutes of play.

Once upon a time he was the first NCAA player selected in the NHL Draft, a Stanley Cup winner and an eccentric teammate, but today he is homeless and in clear need of mental health care.

Could a vicious hit sustained in one of the 779 career games he played from 1986-2000 have significantly altered the path of his life to where it is today?

Journalist Rick Westhead (TSN) digs deep into the story of a gifted Canadian kid that went to the top of the hockey world, and the untreated brain injuries that may have caused his unsettling descent.

That lyric rings true when examining the tenure of former captain Rick Vaive.

A prolific scorer, he was named team captain at the age of 22 and netted three-consecutive 50-goal seasons while enduring a circus-like atmosphere and futility during the Harold Ballard era.  

At his peak between 1980-87, he achieved great personal success on the ice, but it also marked a time when the franchise’s legacy to past glory was fully severed.  It was a paradoxical experience as a professional in a life that through various contributing circumstances, “left him on the edge of the limelight.”

Catch 22 is the title of his memoir which he wrote with journalist Scott Morrison and it was released on Nov. 17.  Here is Vaive, in his own words.

Mention her name to hockey fans and most will remember the media frenzy that accompanied her appearance in net with the Tampa Bay Lightning during NHL exhibition play in 1992. 

While GM Phil Esposito got the attention he sought for his expansion team, Rheaume’s professionalism under the spotlight illuminated the way forward for women’s hockey. 

Inspired to tell the story on film, actor/producer Angie Bullaro decided that a children’s book could also light a spark for future generations and so Breaking the Ice was born.

Hit play and hear what they both had to say!  

The Raptors are now a team to be reckoned with but it wasn’t long ago that people would have laughed at the notion they would ever win an NBA title, let alone by the time their 25th anniversary rolled around.

Why did they become champions? What were the turning points? How comedic, chaotic, tumultuous, and triumphant has the last quarter-century been?

Raptors beat writer Doug Smith (Toronto Star) has pretty much seen it all covering the team from Day 1, and oftentimes he would say, “Man, that’s one for the book.”

Now you have it.

The feat wasn’t heralded at the time and Mr. O’Ree’s NHL career lasted just 45 games, though he would go on to play professional hockey until 1979.  Following his retirement, he remained far from the public eye until 1996.

At that time the league was being run a new regime that was focused on expanding the game into new markets and exposing the sport to different demographics. In O’Ree, the NHL saw a perfect ambassador who had first-hand experience to drive an inclusive message.

The rest of his life story is remarkable as well, from an ancestor believed to have found freedom through an early form of the Underground Railroad to his own direct path navigating the segregated southern United States as a baseball prospect…and there is much more.

We are pleased to have him join us to discuss his new book Willie – The Game Changing Story of the NHL’s First Black Player, written with Michael McKinley.

He is well known for his tenure as the leagues’ disciplinarian and his time at the helm of the Hartford Whalers, Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames and Anaheim Ducks, where he won the Stanley Cup in 2007.  Since stepping away from management, he has become an analyst with Sportsnet.   

In his newly released memoir written with Stephen Brunt, Burke sets the record straight on his very colourful and sometimes controversial experiences in the game, while navigating life lessons, balancing familial responsibility and dealing with tragedy along the way.

Fair warning, there was no truculent talk or pugnacious exchanges, just good conversation.

When she began playing hockey as the only girl on a boys team in Winnipeg, there had yet to be an IIHF Women’s World Championship or competition at the winter games.

An excellent athlete, she landed a scholarship to Stanford University as a track and field competitor while moonlighting in net with the men's club team. A subpar meet led to a chance trip to Calgary, there, the national program happened to be scouting for Nagano 1998.

That ticket led to a journey that wasn’t even possible when she first signed up to play.

Small discusses the role she played as well as the ongoing fight for equity and inclusion in our newest episode. 

He found them in Shaq, a larger than life centre and a petulant, singularly focused, rising superstar named Kobe. In assembling this new era of dominance under head coach Phil Jackson, The Lake Show was flying high...but with a whole lot of drama unfolding behind the scenes. 

Jeff Pearlman (current host of Two Writers Slinging Yang Podcast, former sr. writer at SI and ESPN columnist) is well versed with such themes. This, his ninth book, follows along the arc of trouble in paradise established in earlier works such as Boys Will Be Boys about the wild 1990s Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl runs, and Love Me, Hate Me, which details the inner machinations of "anti-hero" Barry Bonds. 

Welcome to our conversation.

Bryan Berard was a dynamic defenseman, drafted first overall in 1995, he won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year after his first season. Just days after turning 23, and on the rise, an errant shot attempt permanently blinded him, but his story didn't end, or begin, with this horrific injury.

Along with Jim Lang, Berard released his memoir titled Relentless - My Life in Hockey and the Power of Perseverance, which chronicles his emergence as the Rocket from Woonsocket, through a remarkable return to the game he loved.

Join us as he recounts his tale of family, fate, fraud and fortitude.

So, who created this ongoing tale of a diverse time-traveling minor hockey team?  Prolific Canadian journalist/author Roy MacGregor (O.C. - 2005, Hockey Hall of Fame - 2012) and his daughter Kerry. 

With the fourth installment just released in February (The Ice Chips and the Stolen Cup), Roy spoke with us over the phone from his home in Ottawa, about this project, classic material, as well as the state of sports media.

For the third time, Ken Reid (co-anchor - prime time weeknight edition of Sportsnet Central), joins SportsLit to discuss a new book.

So clear your audio tracks, it’s time to learn about Eddie “The Entertainer” Shack.

Hockey player. Outlier. Salesman.  

Shack, now 82, is a living link to the Maple Leafs’ last Stanley Cup in 1967, one of four he won with Toronto in the 1960’s. 

The illiterate son of Ukrainian Immigrants, he has always excelled by going with his gut and shooting from the hip.

Find out how his flamboyant personality made him a hit, both on and off the ice.  

Before Willie O’Ree, there was Herb Carnegie.

The racial barrier that O’Ree was able to penetrate in 1958 when he became the first black player to play in the NHL, was the same one that kept Carnegie from ever reaching that goal.

Born in Toronto, Ontario in 1919, he was a dynamo on the ice, and an equally positive force off of it.

After retiring from an impressive semi-pro hockey career in the early 1950’s, he founded the Future Aces Hockey School and eventually the Herbert H. Carnegie Future Aces Foundation which has been providing post-secondary scholarships to students since 1989.  Carnegie was also successful in business as a financial advisor, and received the Order of Canada, but the slight of never being able to achieve his dream of playing in the NHL never left him.

In 1997, he released his autobiography, A Fly in a Pail of Milk: The Herb Carnegie Story (Mosaic Press) with Robert Payne, now the book is being re-released (ECW Press) seven years after his death with a large section written by his daughter Bernice. She fills in blanks, adds her own story and also that of the Carnegie family as it relates to her father's lasting legacy.

Listen as we converse with Bernice about what is new, and what remains the same.

Canadian hockey is approaching a state of crisis because of cost and exclusivity.

Reasons as to why this is the case have been thoroughly explored in a new book titled: Before the Lights Go Out: A Season Inside a Game Worth Saving (McClelland & Stewart), by journalist Sean Fitz-Gerald (The Athletic -Toronto).

Share in our conversation about how hockey has gone from Roch Carrier’s resonant snapshot of Canadiana that graced $5 banknotes, to a case of who gets to play? and why? 

From 1982-2004, the duo broadcasted the sights and sounds of Major League Baseball into cars, garages, workplaces and homes across the country via radio and later, the internet.

When a cancer diagnosis forced Cheek to vacate the booth permanently 15 years ago, Jerry Howarth continued to call games until a surprise retirement announcement in Feb. 2018.

Now he revisits his journey, from growing up in California to becoming the renowned voice of the Blue Jays for 36 years, in a new book aptly titled: Hello Friends!: Stories from My Life and Blue Jays Baseball.

Listen as he discusses what influenced his style, broadcasting two historic World Series runs in 1992 and 1993, and the evolution of the Jays fanbase, plus a blow-by-blow account of an unprecedented 53-minute 7th inning, in Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS …. From Bobby Cox to Jose Bautista and everything in between, our conversation with Howarth gives insight into how he did, and still continues to, touch us all.

Orton is Canada’s first ever Olympic medallist, reaching the podium with bronze in hurdles and then winning gold in steeplechase at the 1900 Summer Olympics held in Paris.  For decades, what should have been a celebrated Canadian achievement, was essentially lost to history.  Erroneously, his medals were credited to the U.S. as he was enrolled with the University of Pennsylvania and thus based in Philadelphia.

It took 70 years, before the International Olympic Committee corrected their books.  By then, Orton’s accomplishment had faded in time.   

A trivia question based on Orton’s feat sparked Hebscher to investigate and subsequently uncover more about this dynamic man born in Strathroy, Ontario, six years after Confederation. The result is The Greatest Athlete (you’ve never heard of) - Canada’s First Olympic Gold Medallist.

Hebscher is most recognizable for his 11 year run at Global’s SportsLine from 1984-1995 where he and Jim Tatti entertained viewers with their unique brand of humour and insight in the early days of sports highlight shows.

The father of the legendary Hebsy awards, now hosts his own podcast, Hebsy On Sports.

Please join us for a conversation about a true Canadian trailblazer - George Washington Orton

What does this have to do with sports?

Well, quite a bit.

Lind was in lockstep with Rogers for the purchase of the Toronto Blue Jays 18 years ago, establishing Sportsnet in 1998 to rival TSN, as well as spearheading the Bills Toronto Series, which brought regular season NFL games to Toronto from 2008-2013.

Hear Lind and Brehl share their thoughts regarding these subjects and more on SportsLit.

With that in mind, it's a pleasure to announce that in our latest episode, Glenn Stout (Series Editor - Best American Sports Writing, author - Fenway 1912: The Birth of a Ballpark, a Championship Season, and Fenway's Remarkable First Year) joins us via phone to converse about his latest release - Pats: An Illustrated History of the New England Patriots (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

Written with co-author Richard A. Johnson (Curator - The Sports Museum of New England), Pats is a meticulously crafted history of a team that has been in existence since Billy Sullivan was awarded an AFL franchise in 1959.

Go beyond nearly two decades of success with the triumvirate of Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Bob Kraft, back to Bill Parcells turning the tide, and then further into history where futility and near- misses preceded it all. 

From Gillette Stadium to Nickerson Field, welcome to our conversation with Stout about the full story of a franchise that many love and plenty loath. 

In his new book, The Last Good Year (Viking / Penguin Random House), veteran sportswriter Damien Cox (Toronto Star, Sportsnet) revisits the events that took place on and off the ice a quarter-century after he covered them as a beat writer.

Marty McSorley slugging it out with Wendel Clark.

Pat Burns’ hot pursuit toward Barry Melrose.

Don Cherry kissing Doug Gilmour on the cheek.

Glenn Anderson’s OT winner.

Game 6, Kerry Fraser, a high stick and a non-call, followed by “the best game” of Wayne Gretzky’s career two nights later at Maple Leaf Gardens.

It’s all there, presented under the overarching theme that what transpired eventually marked a dividing line. The game was about to change under a newly hired commissioner and those 13 nights in May, define a now by-gone era.

Lend us your ears for a conversation with Cox about what unfolded 25 years ago, that for so many, is as vivid as yesterday.

Emerging from the blogosphere to the forefront of hockey coverage, Sean McIndoe (as he is also known) employs his perspective developed as an outsider to present a hilarious take on the often flawed history of the league in The Down Goes Brown History of the NHL (Penguin Random House Canada).

In 272 pages, McIndoe (The Athletic NHL) lays bare "the world’s most beautiful sport, the world’s most ridiculous league", from the impractical to preposterous, deconstructing myths and uncovering mind wilting gems along the way.

Even if you thought you knew it all, Down Goes Brown has another thing coming, find out more on the latest episode of SportsLit.

A loveable, charitable, kind man, who could be the archetype of the perfect grandfather?

Goaltender extraordinaire, playing at the highest level into middle age during the NHL's golden era?

All true, as is evident in best-selling author Dan Robson's new book about the legendary Toronto Maple Leafs netminder, but there is also more.

What was his original last name? Why did he change it? Where did he learn his patented poke-check?

Not every question has a direct answer, but Robson (The Athletic) provides layers to Bower’s story by examining his motivations, conveying the depth of his relationships and exploring his roots and familial ties.

SportsLit welcomes Robson back to the show for a conversation about his recent release, Bower: A Legendary Life (HarperCollins). 

Everyday Hockey Heroes: Inspiring Stories On and Off the Ice (Simon and Schuster) highlights individuals who have triumphed over adversity, overcome great odds and blazed new trails.

From household names like Wayne Simmonds (Philadelphia Flyers) and Andi Petrillo (TSN) to those who go about their lives far away from the spotlight, veteran broadcasters / writers Jim Lang (105.9 The Region, formerly Sportsnet) and Bob McKenzie (TSN) uncover uplifting stories from across Canada which are told in first person narrative.

SportsLit is pleased to have Lang join the program to converse about his latest release.

For fans of TFC, uttering those words must have rung hollow through much of the club's existence.

The organization appeared to be constantly resetting, apathy was setting in. 

Where had the joy of being a shiny new franchise gone?

Eventually they did get it right and won the MLS Cup in 2017.

Joshua Kloke (The Athletic Toronto) chronicles their story from inception in 2005, through the worst years, to the title run, in his latest book: Come On You Reds - The Story of Toronto FC (Dundurn Press).

He joins SportsLit to discuss his new release. 

In 2014, he released Hockey Card Stories: True Tales from Your Favourite Players - which was a Canadian best seller, since then he has released two other books (One Night Only: Conversations with the NHL’s One-Game wonders & Dennis Maruk: The Unforgettable Story of Hockey’s Forgotten 60-Goal Man).

Now he is back with Hockey Card Stories 2, where he reveals more true tales from NHLers like Doug Gilmour, Guy Lafleur and “The Great One”, Wayne Gretzky.

SportsLit is pleased that Ken Reid returned to discuss his latest work, listen in to find out more about the hobby itself as well as the stories behind the stories about your favourite hockey cards.

A new book written by David Shoalts (Globe and Mail) examines how Hockey Night in Canada, the crown jewel of Canadian sports broadcasting properties, changed hands from CBC to Rogers Communications in shocking fashion prior to the 2014-15 NHL season.

Shoalts joins Neil Acharya & Neate Sager to discuss Hockey Fight in Canada (Released Sept. 29), exploring the inner workings of the $5.2-billion deal that ended the 62-year reign of a CBC institution.

Don't know much about Keith Pelley, or John Collins? Why is NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to be underestimated only at one's peril?

Find out the answers to these questions and more on the latest episode of SportsLit.

The current co-host of Stellick and Simmer (SiriusXM) is known primarily for his work covering the NHL (NHL Network, NBC, NESN), but he has chosen the scenic route along the way.  

For his fourth book, Simmer compiles his unique adventures in broadcasting in No Heavy Lifting (ECW Press).

From covering the Detroit Pistons while still attending high school, being embroiled in a Hawaiian political scandal, to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with Zdeno Chara, Simmer pulls no punches while providing a humorous take on the varied, often tense situations he has found himself in as a member of the press.

Tune in, as Simpson discusses his latest publication with SportsLit.

Utilizing his background in journalism (producer - CBC - As It Happens, Nature) and science (MSc - Neuroscience - Dalhousie University), Fairless writes compelling narrative non-fiction involving but not limited to: MMA fighters, TFC's Red Patch Boys, the 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot and high school football.

Listen in as we discuss these elements, his findings, experience and much more on the latest episode of SportsLit.

I pray thee, good Mercutio, let's retire.

The day is hot; the Capulets abroad;

And if we meet shall not 'scape a brawl,

For now, these days, is the mad blood stirring.

(William Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet)

Fans refer to him simply as Dougie.

Born in Kingston, Ontario, Doug Gilmour played twenty seasons in the NHL despite largely being written off early in his hockey career for being undersized.

Along the way the centreman won the Memorial Cup, Stanley Cup, Canada Cup gold, and was integral in resuscitating (even if temporarily) the fledging Toronto Maple Leafs.  Retiring in 2003, he had recorded 450 goals, 964 assists in 1474 games which led to his induction to the Hockey Hall of Fame (Class of 2011).

He was truly a complete player and his combination of intensity, skill and swagger endeared him to legions of hockey lovers, fully...completely.

After years of shunning the idea, he recently released his autobiography Killer: My Life in Hockey with author/journalist Dan Robson.

Robson joins us to discuss why this particular project was significant to both of them, his feature work as a senior writer with Sportsnet and much more.

Educator. Motivator. Famous hockey dad and now, author. 

He joins us for our first episode of 2018 to discuss his debut book, How We Did It - The Subban Plan for Success in Hockey, School and Life, written with journalist Scott Colby (Toronto Star).

While most know him as the father of NHL superstar P.K. Subban (Nashville Predators) as well as Malcolm (Vegas Golden Knights) and Jordan (LA Kings). His new book, like the man, is multi-faceted, going well beyond the rink.

From exploring the family roots in Jamaica to revisiting P.K.'s controversial departure from the Montreal Canadiens, listen as we converse with the Subban family patriarch.

Released this fall, the compilation highlights narrative non-fiction. It takes the reader far beyond the 24-hour news cycle by showcasing authors and topics rarely featured in the mainstream sports conversation.

Fowles, author of Baseball Life Advice, joins fellow journalists Neil Acharya and Neate Sager to discuss the project.