Episode 65: In the Training Room with Evan Drellich

Mike Harrington on Twitter

Episode 58: Seven layers with Mike Harrington

March 1, 2018 Brian Moritz

Fifteen years ago this week, Brian broke the biggest story of his career.

As a reporter for The Times Herald in Olean, N.Y. covering St. Bonaventure basketball, Brian was one of the outlets breaking the ongoing news about a player-eligibility scandal with the Bonnies and an ensuing player boycott of two games.

His main competition on that story? Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News.

This week, 15 years after that story broke, Mike and Brian reunite to reminisce about what Mike calls “the weirdest story” of his career. They look back at how the story unfolded, how they reported it, the mistakes they made along the way. They talk about Jamil Terrell, Jan van Breda Kolff, Robert and Kort Wickenheiser and more. They also talk a lot about how sports media has changed in the past 15 years, and how this story would be reported if it happened now. Mike also takes us behind the scenes of the most infamous Atlantic 10 conference call ever.

As a bonus, Mike tells us if there is any hope for the Buffalo Sabres.

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Episode 57: Untold Stories with Baxter Holmes

February 22, 2018 Brian Moritz

The strange connection between a small town in North Carolina, a near nuclear disaster and the NBA. Pro basketball players’ love affair with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Carmelo Anthony’s obsession with wine.

Baxter Holmes has a knack for finding the untold stories in pro basketball, the ones that are kind of hidden from plain view but emerge through his tireless reporting.

Baxter joins Brian this week to talk about his recent story about Kinston, N.C. and the unlikely pipeline that town has to the NBA. Baxter talks about how he followed the threads of this story, how he decided what to lede with, and how he handled the emotional nature of the story. Baxter also talks about his reporting process, how his editors have helped him find and shape stories, and why listening is such a lost art.

Baxter Holmes on Twitter

America’s Basketball Heaven

The NBA’s Secret Wine Society

The NBA’s Secret Addiction

Steve Padilla: 21 ways to find story ideas

The White Darkness: A solitary journey across Antatctica by David Grann

A Kingdom from Dust by Mark Arax

Lost, Almost by Amy P. Kngiht

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NFL prospect Michael Sam comes out as gay

Episode 56: Coming Out with Cyd Zeigler

February 8, 2018 Brian Moritz

Cyd Zeigler, a writer, activist and founder of Outsports.com joins Brian this week.

Their first order of business is, naturally, defining what makes a catch.

It makes sense. Cyd is a high school and college football official and has written a lot about why the much-maligned NFL catch rule actually makes perfect sense.

Cyd and Brian talk about the founding of Outsports.com, why no athletes in the major U.S. team sports have come out in the past few years, the way the mainstream media covers gay athletes, and how that has and hasn’t changed. Cyd recalls Michael Sam’s coming out and the ESPN “report” that undid so much of the positive aspects of that story.

Out Sports

Cyd Zeigler

Basketball and Other Things

For Kraft, Brady and Belichick, is this the beginning of the end?

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Seahawks’ Marshawn Lynch at Super Bowl XLIX Media Day: ‘I’m just here so I won’t get fined’

Episode 55: It's A Lot with Stephen Cohen

February 1, 2018 Brian Moritz

What’s it really like to cover the Super Bowl?

Stephen Cohen go first hand experience in 2015 as a sports writer for the Seattle Post Intelligencer. At the time, he was the paper’s Seahawks beat writer and he covered the team’s loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 49.

With this year’s Super Bowl between the Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles just a few days a way, Cohen — now a general assignment reporter for the paper — joins Brian this week to talk about his Super Bowl experience. Stephen talks about what it was like to be at media day and on the Marshawn Lynch “I’m just here so I won’t get fined” beat, how the Super Bowl is really all about formal logistics, and what makes the event so overwhelming. He also talks about the actual game, how the reporters in the normally staid press box lost their minds at the end of that game, and how the Seahawks locker room provided some real human moments at the end of a surreal week.

Brian and Stephen also trade craft beer recommendations.

We asked readers how they learned about consent

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper

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The Undefeated on Twitter

Episode 54: Question Everything with Lisa Wilson

January 25, 2018 Brian Moritz

In the summer of 1998, Brian was a summer copy editing intern at the Buffalo News. During that summer, Lisa Wilson came on these copy desk for a tryout and eventually a job.

Since then, Lisa became the sports editor for The News and is now the senior editor, sports, at The Undefeated.

Lisa joins Brian this week, and they Share memories of that summer. Lisa talks about working with Milt Joffee, Milt Northrup and Bill Wolcott and what she learned from working with old-school veterans like them. Lisa describes what diversity means to her, why it is so important and how sports journalists can get better at it. She also tells us what makes as good story two her, why descriptive writing is so moving, and why trust between writers and editors is so important.

Lisa also gives advice for young writers and editors, and reminds them that you never know who’s watching you.

Lisa Wilson

The Undefeated

The Undefeated on Facebook

The State of the Black Athlete

Courtroom erupts in applause after Aly Raisman unloads on Larry Nassar and calls out USA Gymnastics

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Jesse Dougherty on Twitter

Episode 53: I Remember Getting an F with Jesse Dougherty

January 11, 2018 Brian Moritz

Jesse Dougherty was Brian’s student back in 2014, when he was a sophomore at Syracuse University and Brian was a doctoral student.

The student has become the master. Now, Jesse’s a sports writer for the Washington Post, and he joins Brian for a fun and wide-ranging conversation. Jesse talks about how the first hockey game he ever saw in person was the first one he covered for the L.A. Times, and how Hall-of-Famer Helene Elliott gave him a crash course in the sport. Jesse also talks about what it’s like to work at the Washington Post at this point in journalism history.

Jesse and Brian do a deep dive into Jesse’s recent feature story on Mya Fourstar, a star high school basketball player living on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Frazer, Montana. Jesse describes about how he found out about the story, how he spent his four days on the ground in Montana reporting it, and how he wrote it very quickly. Jesse talks about picking the right details for the story, how the reporting he did before he got to Montana informed his story and the challenges he faced as an outsider trying to report on this world.

They also share their best Jim Boeheim stories.

Jesse at the Washington Post

‘Anywhere but here’

For high-scoring Frazer freshman Mya Fourstar, hoops are ticket to her dreams, by Jeff Welsch

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Episode 52: Hating Kylo Ren with Alysa Auriemma

January 4, 2018 Brian Moritz

In what may be the back-door pilot for an upcoming podcast about nerd and comic culture, University of Connecticut professor Alysa Auriemma returns to The Other 51. She and Brian do a deep dive into The Last Jedi (if you haven’t seen the movie, it will be spoiled for you) and what the Star Wars fanboys dislike about the movie. Alysa talks about how much she loved the story of Rey’s parentage, how great Mark Hamil was in this movie, and how much she hates Kylo Ren.

This leads to a greater discussion about diversity in comic culture. Why is it so hard for a certain population of fans to accept women or people of color as superheroes?

Also, how it is that the guy who plays Bill Weasley is also General Hux?

Annihilation: A Novel (The Southern Reach Trilogy)

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

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The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton

The Best of 2017: Songwriting and St. Jude with Bob Crawford

December 28, 2017 Brian Moritz

Bob and Hallie Crawford. Photo by Leon Goodwin from Press On Fund.

This episode originally aired on Sept. 21, 2017 and was by far the most popular episode of The Other 51 this year.

Bob Crawford, bass player for The Avett Brothers, joins Brian to talk about his family’s connection to St. Jude, the work he's doing through the Press On Fund, and his quest to cure child cancer.

Bob talks about the day his then 22-month-old daughter, Hallie, was diagnosed with brain cancer and how St. Jude gave him and his family hope. He also discusses how his daughter’s diagnosis changed songwriting for him, and how he wrote part of The Avett Brothers' song “Good to You.” He and Brian also discuss their favorite Founding Fathers (Bob goes way off the board for his pick) and the theology of Thomas Merton.

Anyone who knows Brian knows he and his family are big fans of The Avett Brothers. They also raised $2,000 for St. Jude as part of an Avett Nation team.

(Our Skype connection faded a few times, so apologies for a few inconsistencies).

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Impro: Improvisation and the Theater by Keith Johnstone)

BEST OF 2017: Making a ruckus with Seth Godin

December 21, 2017 Brian Moritz

This episode originally aired on April 4. It's been slightly re-edited.

Best-selling author and noted ruckus maker Seth Godin joins Brian this week. They talk about the importance of not only writing every day but publishing every day, what school should teach students, and why work is always the answer. Seth explains to Brian why the recording of Kind of Blue can be compared to writing, why he benefits from writing every day, and why books are the perfect technology.

Seth is one of Brian’s favorite people on the internet. This was a fun episode to do.

Seth Godin

Seth’s Blog

Replay by Ken Grimwood

The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World

Breslin: Digging JFK grave was his honor

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The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball's Most Improbable Dynasty

Episode 51: Meme Wars with Dr. Nick Koberstein

December 15, 2017 Brian Moritz

Episode 51: Meme Wars with Nick Koberstein

If you’ve been following Brian on Twitter the past few weeks, your timeline was flooded with his student posts to the #MoritzMemeWar.

The inspiration for that joins the podcast this week. Dr. Nick Koberstein, an assistant professor at Keuka College, created the original meme war (#kcmemewar). He joins Brian this week at Eddie O’Brien’s in Farmington, N.Y. to talk digital pedagogy in higher ed. Nick talks about the ways he tries to challenge his students in an environment that is still a bit relaxed and supportive, and how he gets students to make work that surprises him. He and Brian also talk about the importance of revisions in writing, and how to teach students to become risk takers.

It’s a UConn guy and a Syracuse guy together, and there is no fighting and it is not a 6 overtime podcast.

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Episode 50: The Golden Age with Adrian Wojnarowski

December 7, 2017 Brian Moritz

Episode 50: The Golden Age with Adrian Wojnarowski

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is the best reporter in sports journalism. You already know this. Everyone knows this. He’s also been a friend and mentor of Brian’s for nearly two decades.

Woj joins Brian this week and describes why he feels this is a golden age of sports journalism. Woj describes how the mobile phone did more to revolutionize reporting than almost anything else. He describes his reporting process, why it’s important to connect with sources when you’re not quoting them. Sometimes, it’s the 53rd time you talk to a source that yields the important piece of information. Woj also talks about how he works with his ESPN colleagues, how he stays in front of stories, and how he had to make a choice between waiting for Bill Parcels and taking out his garbage.

And, since Woj is a Bona guy, there’s the requisite 10 minutes about St. Bonaventure.

Woj on Twitter

Woj on Facebook

Weinstein’s complicity machine

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I Thought You’d Be Faster: The Quest to Become An Athlete

Episode 49: Dude, You Wrote A Book! with Amy Moritz

November 30, 2017 Brian Moritz

The last time Amy Moritz joined Brian on the podcast, she said that she was working on her first book. Good little brother that he is, Brian said he’d have her back when the book was out.

Hey, guess what? The book is out! And it’s outstanding!

Amy joins us to talk about the writing of “I Though You’d Be Faster.” She talks about where the idea for the book came from, what her writing process was like, and why she self-published. Amy and Brian talk about how newspaper writing is different than book writing and the challenges it presents, why doing just a little bit each day means so much, and why when something keeps calling you (whether it’s a book project or grad school), you’ve just got to be fierce and go after it. They also talk about why Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird is one of the best books you could ever read. Amy also drops a spoiler alert on Book No. 2.

And hey, did you know that Ernest Hemingway is a good writer?

Our new theme music this week is by Ellie Moritz.

Amy Moritz

Amy on Twitter

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

All Quiet on the Western Front by Ernest Hemingway

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Andrew Anglin: The Making of an American Nazi by Luke O’Brien

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Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries

Episode 48: Introductory Lexicography with Kory Stamper

November 16, 2017 Brian Moritz

Kory Stamper has the best job title of any guest in the history of The Other 51.

She’s a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster.

She writes the dictionary.

No, the dictionary doesn’t just appear, handed down by the grammar gods. It’s written by people. People like Kory.

Kory talks what it’s like to wield the power to decide what part of speech a word is. She describes her job, and she and Brian talk about how people who write the dictionary are much more open about language and usage then you might assume. There’s a difference between language and writing, and Kory describes that. Kory talks about her book Word by Word and how writing the dictionary has made her more attuned to the rhythm of her language and her writing.

Kory also gives Brian the perfect gift idea for his wife.

Harmless Drudgery

Kory Stamper on Twitter

Kory Stamper at SUNY Brockport

Dord

John Boehner Unchained by Tim Alberta

Masha Gessen: What Words Mean

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