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A podcast on sports books where journalists Neil Acharya and Neate Sager discuss the latest titles with authors and athletes.
Episodes
Tuesday Mar 10, 2020
Tuesday Mar 10, 2020
Before Auston Matthews, there was another American star that wore No. 34 for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Twenty years ago, on March 11, 2000, his life changed forever and a promising career was compromised in an instant.
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.
Wednesday Mar 04, 2020
Wednesday Mar 04, 2020
It’s a first! We cover a children’s book. Put your preconceptions aside, because although The Ice Chips series is aimed at kids, the historical and contemporary themes carry a weight that people from all ages and walks of life can appreciate.
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.
Tuesday Dec 17, 2019
Tuesday Dec 17, 2019
It’s a hat-trick!
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.
Wednesday Oct 09, 2019
Wednesday Oct 09, 2019
The NHL annually celebrates diversity with the campaign "Hockey is for Everyone", because at one time it wasn’t.
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.
Monday Sep 30, 2019
Monday Sep 30, 2019
The roots of this country and the game so many love are intertwined…but there is a problem, there has been for a long time.
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?
Thursday Apr 04, 2019
Thursday Apr 04, 2019
Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth were like extended family for Toronto Blue Jays fans, all you have to do is mention their first names, and people in Canada know exactly who you are referring too.
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.
Wednesday Mar 20, 2019
Wednesday Mar 20, 2019
His name is so obscure, it doesn’t even grace the title of a new book about him. Even if author Mark Hebscher included George Washington Orton in the title, would you know who he was?
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
Wednesday Dec 05, 2018
Wednesday Dec 05, 2018
In our final episode of season 2, Phil Lind (Vice-Chair, Rogers Communications Inc.) and author Robert (Bob) Brehl step into the arena to discuss Right Hand Man - How Phil Lind Guided the Genius of Ted Rogers, Canada's Foremost Entrepreneur (Barlow Books).
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.
Friday Nov 30, 2018
Friday Nov 30, 2018
Think all we cover are books about hockey? Well, given this market, you wouldn't be entirely wrong.
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.
Wednesday Nov 21, 2018
Wednesday Nov 21, 2018
The 1992-93 Campbell Conference Final was riveting. 7 games in all, the series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Los Angeles Kings had all the elements of high drama.
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.