SportsLit

SportsLit (Season 7, Episode 7) - Ted Nolan (NHL Coach of the Year - 1997) with Meg Masters - Life in Two Worlds

Pride and Prejudice

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.

SportsLit (Season 7, Episode 6) - Doug MacLean with Scott Morrison - Draft Day

The NHL Draft is one of hockey's great spectacles. Just after the Stanley Cup is awarded, the spotlight shifts to the draft floor, where teams hope to acquire future stars and the diamonds in the rough that can lead them — or keep them — in contention. 

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.

SportsLit (Season 7, Episode 5) - Jonathon Jackson - The Making of Slap Shot (Revised 46th Anniversary Edition)

Jonathon Jackson captures the spirit of the thing

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.

SportsLit (Season 7, Episode 4) - Donovan Bailey (World and Olympic 100 metre gold medallist) - Undisputed: A Champions Life

Act like a champion, talk like a champion, run like a champion. Wired like a prizefighter, Donovan Bailey became the fastest man on earth in the 1990s.

 

He did it for himself while raising Canada's standing in international sport. In his memoir, the 100-metre and Olympic and world gold medalist tells his life story with intent.

 

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.

SportsLit (Season 7, Episode 3) - Dave Hill (Comedian/Musician/Writer) -The Awesome Game - One Man’s Incredible, Globe-Crushing Hockey Odyssey

Dave Hill is a multitalented man, but a fan for one season — hockey season.

 

The comedian, essayist, and musician is meh toward his hometown NFL Cleveland Browns, but hockey had him hooked right off the hop. Over his life, it has become a source of perplexment as to why more Americans are not similarly stoked about hockey. In his fourth book, "The Awesome Game: One Man's Incredible, Globe-Crushing Hockey Odyssey," Hill seeks out hockey wherever he can find it from Nairobi, Kenya to Kemptville, Ont., showing how the game provides an emotional release that you might not find in many other places. 

 

"The Awesome Game" is Hill's fourth nonfiction book. He also has a 2022 comedy special, "The Pride of Cleveland," produced by 800-Pound Gorilla Media. 

SportsLit (Season 7, Episode 2) - Justin Davis (NHL Draft choice & Memorial Cup champion) - Conflicted Scars: An Average Player’s Journey to the NHL

Step into the arena. Step outside the bubble. Justin Davis offers the public a personal story of a life in hockey with all aspects considered.

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.

SportsLit (Season 7, Episode 1) - John Gibbons (Blue Jays Manager - ’04-’08 / ’13-’18) - Gibby: Tales of a Baseball Lifer

Baseball banter comes easily to John Gibbons,  but it was a hard and winding road to get to that point.

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.

SportsLit (Season 6, Episode 14) - Suzanne (Suzy) Wrack (The Guardian) - A Woman’s Game

Whether one calls it soccer or football, the women’s game is coming into its own. 

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.

SportsLit (Season 6, Episode 13) - Dwayne De Rosario (2011 MLS MVP) & Brendan Dunlop (Broadcaster) - DeRo - My Life

Canada ascending to FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 was surely cathartic for every footballer who has worn the Maple Leaf — especially Dwayne De Rosario, one of this nation's best ever .

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.

SportsLit (Season 6, Episode 12) - Steve Simmons (Toronto Sun Columnist) - A Lucky Life

Steve Simmons dishes it out, and Steve Simmons takes it.  

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.