The Write Stuff?
John Steinbacher, Lisa Bralts, and Brian Moline. Michael O. Thomas
1:05 – LOONS, TENNIS AND BRANDTS, OH MY
We start off by slicing into the U. S. Open. Despite the return of Maria Sharapova, Roger Federer’s near-upset and the emergence of Garbiñe Muguruza have us wondering if the new guard is finally posed to take over the sport. Then Lisa chats about her sojourn up to Bridgeview to watch her beloved Minnesota United upset the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park. She talks about the game day experience at the suburban pitch and the continuing struggles of the Fire.
10:00 – PIVOTING AWAY FROM THE PIVOT
In recent weeks, The Athletic, a relatively new sports journalism startup, has been getting a lot of attention thanks to the high profile hiring of national writers like Seth Davis, Stewart Mandel and Ken Rosenthal. The subscription-based site promotes itself as serving the most diehard sports fans. We talk to one of the site’s very first employees, Jon Greenberg, the editor-in-chief of The Athletic Chicago. Among other things, Jon discusses why he decided to take a chance with a brand new sports outlet, how The Athletic plans to thrive with a subscription model in world where the audience expects free content, why the site is betting on written content while other sites are “pivoting” to video, and how to use LinkedIn to actually find a job.
25:37– RENÉE
In this weeks’ CONTROVERSY! segment, John revisits the story of Renée Richards, a relatively successful women’s tennis player/trailblazer for trans rights. Renée was born a man and transitioned at the age of 42. We chat about the controversy surrounding her entrance, as a woman, to the 1976 US Open and the aftermath ().
33:20 - STATUS UPDATE!
Lisa found a great video about the 2nd female groundskeeper in Major League Baseball, Nicole McFadyen of the Baltimore Orioles.
Brian reminisces about the time Tommy Lasorda got Expos mascot Youppi! tossed out of a game. Yes Youppie!
John points to an article revealing that a "Captain Kangaroo" cartoon is apparently the seed for the controversial "War Chant" song that the University of Illinois recently banned from sporting events.
Episode 39 is in the books. Follow us on Twitter @bndwgnpdcst - we'll be back in a couple weeks. Thanks, as always, for playing!