Episode 105: Genre is Dead with Alysa Auriemma

October 10, 2019 Brian Moritz

For the fourth time, Alysa Auriemma joins Brian on The Other 51. But this time, there’s biggest stuff to talk about than Captain America, Chris Evans and Kylo Ren.

(I mean, they do talk about Avengers: Endgame. They’re not monsters.)

Alyssa joins Brian to talk about the writing and publication of her new book, “All Daughters Rise.” Alysa discusses the themes of her book and how she was inspired to write the book in part because of the gaps she saw in contemporary fiction. Where’s the intersectionality? Why does the main character always react so calmly when things happen? We’re all way more Scott Lang than Natasha Romanov, and maybe our fictions should reflect that.

Alyssa also discusses the book’s journey to publication, the challenges and frustrations she faced in trying to find an agent and a publisher, and why she made the decision to use Inkshares. She is nearly halfway to her goal of 750 preorders by January to get the book published.

Also, much praise is lavished upon Rainbow Rowell.

All Daughters Rise on Inkshares

Alysa on Twitter

Geek Love: A Novel by Katherine Dunn

The Married Man by Edmund White

Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Episode 52: Hating Kylo Ren with Alysa Auriemma

Episode 44: Generic Hot Actor Guy with Alysa Auriemma

Episode 27: Always Writing with Alysa Auriemma

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Episode 104: The Gray Area with Joe Buscaglia

October 3, 2019 Brian Moritz

Episode 104: The Gray Area with Joe Buscaglia

Joe Buscaglia, who covers the Buffalo Bills for The Athletic, joins Brian this week.

There is the requisite Harry Potter talk between two nerds, and the single hottest take in the history of The Other 51 is given. This yields to talk about another fantasy world, the Bills.

This leads to a discussion about how Joe balances matching the fans’ mood with a more measured approach to covering the team. Joe talks about how he avoids being a hot-take artist and, counterintuitively, how Twitter led him away from the loud opinions that often dominate sports media. The goal is to get fans to look at their team in a different way.

Joe talks about how NFL Game Pass changed the way he covers the Bills, his delightfully nerdy system for grading every player in every game, and the transition from a broadcast career to writing for The Athletic.

Joe at the Athletic

Joe on Twitter

Bills All-22 Review: Dissecting Josh Allen’s day and why there’s more to Zay Jones than meets the eye

‘New England doesn’t lose those types of games’: Sights and sounds from the two weeks that rocked Buffalo

‘You’re not going to outwork him’: How Joe Schoen became one of the most trusted voices in the Bills’ front office

Antonio Brown: New sexual misconduct accusation by Robert Klemko

Talking to Strangers audio book by Malcolm Gladwell

Puff

Harry Potter audio books

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Episode 103: Method Writer with Drew Gasparini

September 26, 2019 Brian Moritz

Drew Gasparini, a composer/lyricist/all-around awesome guy, joined Brian in New York City this past weekend to talk about song writing, musical theater and the creative process.

Drew discusses the recent re-release party for his 2009 album, “I Could Use a Drink,” and what it was like to revisit songs he had written 10-15 years ago. How, exactly, did Simon’s mom take that message in “I’m A Little Bit”?

This leads to a greater discussion about the role of the writer in making their characters understandable, which dovetails into a long discussion about the musical adaptation of “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” that Drew is writing with his collaborator and best friend, Alex Brightman. Drew discusses how he and Alex came to the project, what their writing process is like, and how you take a powerful novel like Ned Vizzini’s and adapt it to the stage.

Drew talks at length about his collaboration process, why he’s so addicted to the creative lifestyle, and how he structures his work schedule to make sure his momentum is rarely broken.

It’s Kind of a Funny Story

The World Doesn’t Require You by Rion Amilcar Scott

A Dream About Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons by Ben Folds

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

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Episode 102: Reverse Outlining with Dr. Jennifer Harker

September 19, 2019 Brian Moritz

In another episode that recorded at the AEJMC conference in Toronto last month (thanks Apple), Dr. Jennifer Harker from West Virginia University joins Brian to talk about her award-winning paper.

First off, she learns that Brian does not mess around when it comes to Canadian snack food.

Then, Jennifer and Brian do a deep diver into her study on the Alliance of American Football and their use of hashtags before, during, and after the league’s launch in 2019. This presented researchers with a unique opportunity to study a league’s social media use and fan interaction as the league itself was being born. Jennifer discusses her findings and their implications for sports media.

Jennifer also discusses her writing process, the value in being in constant contact with your data, how she reverse outlines her manuscripts, and how she keeps moving while writing — literalliy.

A reminder that you can support Sports Media Guy and The Other 51 here.

Jennifer on Twitter

AEJMC Sport Communication paper abstracts

The Alliance of American Football

Becoming by Michelle Obama

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Episode 101: Writing Defensively with Dr. Mark Coddington

August 30, 2019 Brian Moritz

This episode was supposed to be recorded at the AEJMC conference earlier this month in Toronto. But Dr. Mark Coddington was busy doing conference stuff, and Brian forgot his Mac dongle, so consider this a makeup in a way.

Mark is an assistant professor at Washington and Lee University and the author of the new book, “Aggregating the News: Secondhand Knowledge and the Erosion of Journalistic Authority,” and he joins Brian for a deep dive into the writing process. Mark describes he got interested in news aggregation in the first place, how he picked it for his dissertation topic and then how he turned that dissertation into a book.

Mark and Brian talk a lot about the idea of writing defensively, why that may be one of the reasons why academic writing is often so bad and how hard it was for Mark to switch modalities for the book. They also talk about what aggregation is in news, why it matters, and why the myth of Woodward and Bernstein is so persistent among journalists.

Mark on Twitter

Snippets from the book

Aggregating the News

How News Happens

The MVP Machine: How Baseball’s New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players

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Episode 100: The Amazing and the Impossible with Joe Posnanski

August 22, 2019 Brian Moritz

Back when this podcast started, Joe Posnanski joined Brian for Episode 4 to talk about Hamilton, Buffalo sports, and writing.

This week, for our 100th episode, Joe joins Brian again to talk about … Hamilton, Buffalo sports, and writing.

After nerding out about their favorite moments in Hamilton, Brian and Joe get to the main topic — Joe’s upcoming book on Harry Houdini. Joe talks in depth about his writing and research process on this book, particularly how he balanced writing a biography of Houdini and a book about magic and wonder itself. Joe discusses how he reconciled those two ideas and found the center of the book.

Joe and Brian also talk about the importance of finding that thing that your piece of writing is about, and about how being honest with what you don’t know can build your credibility with sources. There is a brief Harry Potter detour, and reporting is compared to roller coasters (one of which, Brian and Joe love). Joe also discusses how he defines wonder and why that is so important to the book and our lives.

Also noteworthy, after this podcast was reported, someone did in fact hit two home runs in a game that day.

Joe Posnanski on Twitter

Joe Blogs

The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini

Joe on Amazon

Episode 4: Joe Posnanski

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Episode 99: Knowing the Story's Done with Rion Amilcar Scott

July 12, 2019 Brian Moritz

Brian is joined once again by his favorite local* author, Rion Amilcar Scott.

Rion has a new collection of short stories due out on Aug,. 20, “The World Doesn’t Require You.” It’s a followup to his previous collection, Insurrections.

Brian and Rion talk about how the new collection came together, and how both the world it’s set in and Rion’s writing have changed since President Trump’s election. Rion talks about the value of sitting with an idea for a long time until you know it’s ready and how he stretched himself as a writer with this book. How does Rion hope to influence how people see the world with this book? It’s a big question.

They also geek out hard core over SpiderMan.

Rion Amilcar Scott

Rion Amilcar Scott on Twitter

Episode 22: James Baldwin’s Head with Rion Amilcar Scott

Insurrections

The World Doesn’t Require You

A Lucky Man by Jamele Brinkley

Heavy by Kiese Laymon

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Episode 98: What'd Brigadoon Ever Do To You? with Anthony King

July 3, 2019 Brian Moritz

Anthony King, the Tony nominated co-writer of the book of Beetlejuice The Musical, joins Brian this week.

Brian and Anthony do a deep dive into the creative process of a Broadway show, as Anthony describes what a book of a musical is and why it is so important.

Anthony discusses the process he and Scott Brown had in writing the show, how Lydia became the main character, how they changed the conception of the Netheworld, and how the Beetlejuice cartoon influences the show. Anthony talks about how they decided what iconic parts from the movie made the musical, and he shares what he wish he could have brought from screen top stage.

Anthony also talks about the rewriting process that the show underwent after previews in Washington, D.C.

In addition, he answers an incredibly specific question about Gutenberg, the Musical!

Anthony King

Anthony on Twitter

Beetlejuice the Musical

The Complete Works of Dashiell Hamett

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Episode 97: Wired to Talk to Everyone with Baxter Holmes

June 27, 2019 Brian Moritz

Baxter Holmes had one of the best months for a sports features writer in a very long time earlier this year. He published two fantastic stories at ESPN - one on the fancy dinners that San Antonio Spurs coach Greg Popovich hosts, the other detailing the dysfunction of the Los Angeles Lakers.

On the face of it, they are two very different stories. But in his return visit to The Other 51, Baxter tells Brian how the reporting for those stories had a lot in common.

Baxter describes how he first heard about Popovich’s wine dinners and how the Lakers’ dysfunction first got on his radar. He talks about the value of talking to everybody, how writing scenes is a key part of his process, how Robert Caro’s notions of concentric circles help him report, and what it was like the day the Lakers story broke. There was a lot of coffee that day.

Baxter and Brian also discuss how writers are a lot like chefs.

Baxter Holmes on Twitter

Episode 57: Untold Stories with Baxter Holmes

Michelin restaurants and fabulous wines: Inside the secret team dinners that have built the Spurs’ dynasty

Lakers 2.0: The failed reboot of the NBA’s crown jewel

The Day The Music Burned

Work Clean: The life-changing power of mis-en place to organize your life, work, and mind by Dan Charnas

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Episode 96: A Little Kelly Tripucka with Tyler Dunne

June 20, 2019 Brian Moritz

One of our very first guests on The Other 51 (Episode 3), Tyler Dunne from Bleacher Report returns to kick off our summer season.

Tyler and Brian spend the first several minutes reminiscing about early 1990s NBA basketball, including Brian’s home-economics class gamesmanship involving Chuck Person and Tyler’s origin story as a Charlotte Hornets fan.

Then they get around to the business at hand. What does this time of year look like for an NFL features writer like Tyler? Tyler talks about how this time of year is important to him, helping him lay the foundation for the stories he’ll work on in the fall. Tyler talks about how to approach players as people, not as sources, and how many players appreciate having to think in an interview and having someone really listen to them.

Brian and Tyler then do a deep dive into that fantastic story about the Packers that Tyler wrote in April. What’s it like when Aaron Rogers calls you out? How do you report and write a story like this?

Tyler Dunne’s stories

Tyler on Twitter

What Happened in Green Bay

Tecmo NBA Basketball

INSIDE GANG TERRITORY IN HONDURAS: ‘Either They Kill Us or We Kill Them’

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Episode 95: Marvel Nitpick Podcast with Travis Clark

May 23, 2019 Brian Moritz

Travis Clark was never actually Brian’s student at SUNY Oswego. But he was, in his own words, “student adjace.” Travis, a SUNY Oswego graduate and now a media and entertainment reporter for Business Insider, joins Brian this week. They start with the requisite Oswego talk, and Travis talks about how much working for the student paper helped prepare him for his career.

Travis talks about his journey from kid writing movie reviews in his high-school paper to covering the media and entertainment industries for Business Insider. He and Brian discuss the juggling of being a fan of these properties vs. covering them, how entertainment writing has some analogies to sports writing, and how covering the business side of entertainment influences how you watch movies and TV shows.

About 20 minutes in, they get super nerdy in their breakdown of Avengers: Endgame. If you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want it spoiled, bail then.

Also, Travis breaks some exciting Hawkeye news to Brian.

Travis Clark at Business Insider

Travis Clark on Twitter

The Oswegonian

‘Avengers: Endgame’ directors describe the 100-hour workweeks and tremendous pressure of making their $2 billion blockbuster

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

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Episode 94: Thinking About Your Audience with Dr. Kathy Roberts Forde

May 16, 2019 Brian Moritz

In the summer of 2018, Brian heard Dr. Kathy Roberts Forde from UMass speak on a panel at the annual AEJMC conference. The panel’s title: “So You Wanna Write A Book”

This week, Kathy joins Brian to demystify the book-writing process.

Kathy discusses her research into literary journalism and her first book. What is literary journalism, what’s interesting about that field, and how do we read older pieces when we know a lot of what was presented as fact was more fiction?

Kathy and Brian also talk about the book writing process itself. How do you turn a dissertation into a book? How do you find the narrative thread? Why is thinking about your audience so important? Kathy recommends a book that all would-be authors should read, and she also talks about how one of her upcoming projects is the most important book she’ll ever be a part of.

Dr. Kathy Roberts Forde

Kathy on Twitter

Literary Journalism on Trial: Masson v. New Yorker and the First Amendment

Thinking Like Your Editor

Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David Blight

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Episode 93: Move Through the World Differently with Quinn Rose

May 2, 2019 Brian Moritz

Writer and podcast Quinn Rose joins Brian this week.

First off .. .there is a TON of musical theater nerdery this week. Brian finally saw Hamilton, Quinn has seen it twice, so they talk A LOT about the show, about what it’s like to see it after listening to the cast recording so much. They also talk about the shows they’re going to see soon. Quinn’s got Be More Chill coming up. Brian’s talking his 8-year-old to see Book of Mormon. It’ll be fine.

That segues into talk about Quinn’s podcasting and writing career. She talks about her excellent four-part series, Setting the Stage, about a community theater in rural Maine. Quinn talks about where the idea for the story came from, how the story evolved as she was reporting it, and why transcribing all of the interviews proved to be such a necessary step. That leads into a bigger discussion on storytelling and podcasting, and what the future holds for the medium.

Quinn Rose

Quinn on Twitter

Quinn’s blog on the 2019 Tony nominations

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Episode 92: Paying Close Attention with Steve Politi

April 11, 2019 Brian Moritz

How did Arnold Palmer order an Arnold Palmer?

Who dry cleans the green jackets for Augusta National members?

What’s it like to play Augusta National when you are … not a very good golfer?

Steve Politi, who was recently named the top sports columnist in the country by the Associated Press Sports Editors, joins Brian this week to talk about column writing. Steve traces his career path from the Nutley Sun to the Star Ledger, with a detour to cover hockey in North Carolina.

Steve and Brian do deep dives into the four columns that won the APSE top honors, from his fun columns from the Masters, to taking Bob Hurley Sr. to a high school basketball game to spending 24 hours with Eric LeGrand. Steve talks about his reporting process, the importance of a good idea, the value of zigging when others zag, and why he thinks more reporters aren’t willing to break away from the pack.

Steve Politi at NJ.com

Steve Politi on Twitter

His Private Struggle

I played Augusta National and had my own Masters meltdown

Masters 2018: The green jacket dry-cleaning secrets of Augusta National

It takes $2 and a pizza to get Bob Hurley Sr. into a HS hoops game these days

I found the saddest spot in N.J. sports at the state’s wrestling championships

This will be my 17th Masters. Here are the stories I enjoyed writing the most

The Day the Dinosaurs Died by Douglas Preston

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Episode 91: It's My Job to Know with John Wawrow

April 4, 2019 Brian Moritz

Of all the writers Brian has had on this podcast, you’ve probably read more words more often by John Wawrow than any other guest.

You just didn’t realize it.

John has spent nearly 20 years as the AP sports writer in Buffalo, covering primarily the Bills and the Sabres. He joins Brian this week in an episode recorded at the Village Bakery in Pittsford, N.Y.

John talks about his long career path from journalism school in Toronto, to a pair of small-town weekly papers in Canada and eventually to Buffalo. He talks about how his time at those weekly papers showed him that he truly loved journalism. John discusses the unique challenges presented by writing for the AP, how unlike most of the people around him every day, he’s writing for an audience that is in, say, Alabama. John also talks about the favorite teams he’s covered, how he’s able to put informed perspective into his stories, and he breaks down just what happened the night he shot down a report that Antonio Brown was being traded from the Steelers to the Bills.

Most importantly, John tells Brian where he should start listening to The Replacements.

John Wawrow

Jonn on the Antonio Brown deal

Gore looks forward to sharing Bills backfield with McCoy

Tim by The Replacements

‘Touch with the past’: Inside the homes of Harry Jacobs and Al Bemiller, Buffalo Bills champions living with dementia

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Episode 90: America's Best Cereal Podcast with Dr. Jeremy Littau

March 28, 2019 Brian Moritz

Bob Costas served as a perfect opening act for this week’s guest. Dr. Jeremy Littau.

Jeremy, an associate professor at Lehigh University, joins Brian this week to talk about his experience earlier this year when he legitimately went viral on Twitter. How did it happen, what was it like, and when did Jeremy’s notifications finally become manageable again. That yields into a discussion about public scholarships and why academia, as a whole, does not typically value it.

They also swap stories about life in newsrooms in the early 2000s, and how woefully unprepared newspapers were for the digital age.

But most importantly, they break down the travesty that was the SB Nation Breakfast Cereal Bracket.

Jeremy Littau

Jeremy on Twitter

Jeremy’s vial thread

The SB Nation Breakfast Cereal Bracket

The Guardians and the War on Truth

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Episode 89: Unintended Consequences Might Ensue with Bob Costas

March 21, 2019 Brian Moritz

When Brian was growing up, his dream was simple — move to New York City and be a broadcaster for NBC Sports. He wanted to be Bob Costas.

That didn’t happen. But this week Brian gets to interview his boyhood idol, as Bob joins him to discuss writing, broadcasting and sports media.

Bob and Brian talk about Bob’s memories of Syracuse University, and his mentor Stan Alten (1:35); the uneasy relationship between sports television and the leagues they cover, and how that has gotten harder to navigate over the past decade (5:45); how writing plays a role in his job, his process for writing commentaries, and how Bryant Gumble was a master at writing to a specific time (11:00); the sports writers he looks up to (16:34); the newspapers he read growing up (all 5 of them) (21:05); Bob’s legendary story about Goldie Goldthorpe, the inspiration for Ogie Oglethorpe in Slapshot (22:15); and the best thing Bob’s read lately (27:02).

I Wanted to be Bob Costas

K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches by Tyler Kepner

You Gotta Play Hurt by Dan Jenkins

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Episode 88: The Anti-Hype with Drew Montreuil

January 24, 2019 Brian Moritz

There is no website Brian relies on more during the winter than Finger Lakes Weather. It’s the best weather forecasting site in upstate New York.

This week, Drew Montreuil — the brains and the voice of the site - joins Brian to talk all things weather (and SUNY Oswego).

Drew talks about his lifelong obsession with weather and how and why he turned that into a site about the Finger Lakes. He and Brian discuss the unique nature of the region, both from a meteorological and a media point of view. Drew discusses what goes into his weather forecasts, what frustrates him about mainstream media coverage and what he learned from his most recent storm forecast.

Finger Lakes Weather

FLX Weather on Facebook

Scott Steiger at SUNY-Oswego

Fantasy Life: The Outrageous, Uplifting, and Heartbreaking World of Fantasy Sports from the Guy Who's Lived It

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Episode 87: Nobody's Two Dimensional with Michael Rosenberg

January 17, 2019 Brian Moritz

In our first episode of 2019, Michael Rosenberg of Sports Illustrated joins Brian for a deep dive into his excellent feature story on Todd Marinovich that appeared in the Jan. 14 edition of the magazine.

Michael recounts how he first got interested in the story, how he reported the story and what it was like when the story turned out to be very different than the one he expected. He talks about when he knew he was done reporting the story, why he believes this story is accurate, and why structure is everything when it comes to writing.

TODD MARINOVICH IS LEARNING TO BE HUMAN AGAIN

War as They Knew it Note, this is Michael’s book that he didn’t want to promote but I’m happy to promote.

The Nix by Nathan Hill

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Episode 86: Hard Harbor to Find with Sam Fortier

November 29, 2018 Brian Moritz

Six months ago, Sam Fortier was a college student at Syracuse University. Now, he is the Los Angeles Chargers beat writer for The Athletic.

Sam joins Brian this week, to rub it in about the nice weather and talk about being an NFL beat reporter in 2018. Sam talks about what it’s like to start your career on a pro beat, the challenges he’s faced starting a new beat in a new city. What’s it like to work a locker room when you’re the same age (or younger) than the players?

Sam talks about working for The Athletic and the opportunities and challenges that come from writing for an organization that stresses different kinds of coverage. He shares his best Jim Boeheim story, and tells Brian what he wish he had learned in journalism school.

Sam Fortier on Twitter

Sam Fortier at The Athletic

St. Anthony’s Unanswered Prayer

Drew Brees is Hiding in Plain Sight

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