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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
Monday Oct 26, 2020
Monday Oct 26, 2020
On Nov. 3, 1995, the Toronto Raptors tipped off against the New Jersey Nets and changed the sports landscape of the city.
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.
Sunday Oct 25, 2020
Sunday Oct 25, 2020
If you are a hockey fan, you probably know the story of Willie O’Ree. In 1958, he became the first black player to skate in an NHL game when his Boston Bruins faced the Montreal Canadiens.
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.
Tuesday Oct 13, 2020
Tuesday Oct 13, 2020
Whether it is an attention-grabbing quote, transaction or ruling, Brian Burke has always made a splash wherever he has worked, from the NHL head office, to running a marquee franchise.
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.
Monday Sep 28, 2020
Monday Sep 28, 2020
As a child, Sami Jo Small had visions of summer Olympic glory, but those podium dreams would be realized through a winter sport.
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.
Wednesday Sep 16, 2020
Wednesday Sep 16, 2020
As we entered a new millennium, the LA Lakers were in search of the sequel to Showtime. GM Jerry West was looking for answers after the curtain had dropped on Magic, Kareem and Worthy.
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.
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?