EPISODE 259: Howard Baldwin Returns!

Hollywood film producer (Ray; The Game of Their Lives; Sudden Death) and original New England/Hartford Whalers founder/owner Howard Baldwin (Slim and None: My Wild Ride from the WHA to the NHL and All the Way to Hollywood) returns after a three-year absence to help fill in some of the gaps left over from Episode 100, and to dish on "new" territory from his hard-to-believe career, including:

• The contagious indefatigable spirit of WHA founder Dennis Murphy

• Who really paid for Bobby Hull's headline-grabbing contract (and who didn't)

• How Houston and Cincinnati went from being "in" the June 1978 WHA-NHL "merger," to being "out" of the senior league's "expansion" a year later

• The early 1990s saga of the HC CSKA Moscow "Red Army" team (aka the "Russian Penguins")

• Why the way to San Jose stopped first in Pittsburgh and then Minnesota; AND

• The World Football League's (almost) "Boston Bulls"

Slim and None: My Wild Ride from the WHA to the NHL and All the Way to Hollywood - buy here

“Red Penguins” - streaming video from Amazon Prime Video here

EPISODE 243: The 3rd Annual Year-End Holiday Roundtable Spectacular!

​We try to make sense of a decidedly bipolar 2021 with our third-annual Holiday Roundtable Spectacular - featuring three of our favorite fellow defunct sports enthusiasts Paul Reeths (OurSportsCentral.com, StatsCrew.com & Episode 46); Andy Crossley (Fun While It Lasted & Episode 2); and Steve Holroyd (Episodes 92, 109, 149 & 188).

Join us as we discuss the past, present and potential "futures" of defunct and otherwise forgotten pro sports teams and leagues - starting with a look back at some of the year’s most notable events, including:

• COVID-19's continued wrath across the entirety of pro sports;

• Cleveland says goodbye Indians - and hello Guardians;

• The dubious reincarnation of the USFL;

• Relocation threats from MLB's Oakland Athletics, the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes, and half a season's worth of the Tampa Bay Rays;

• NWHL women's hockey reorg/rebrand to Premier Hockey Federation;

• NPF women's softball suspends operations after 17 years; AND

• The passing of challenger league pioneer Dennis Murphy.

Plus, we say goodbye to ESPN Classic!

EPISODE 242: Pittsburgh's Civic Arena ("The Igloo") - With Dave Finoli

Our "tour" of lost pro sports venues continues with another stop in the Keystone State, this time for a loving look back at the life and times of Pittsburgh's legendary Civic Arena - aka "The Igloo" - with Steel City native Dave Finoli (editor, "Pittsburgh's Civic Arena: Stories from the Igloo").

Originally constructed in 1961 for the city's Civic Light Opera, the Arena was an ahead-of-its-time architectural marvel - distinctively adorned by a massive 3,000-ton retractable steel-roof dome that was world's first of its kind - making not just an attractive venue for music and entertainment, but big-time sports of all kinds.

Over time, the Igloo became synonymous with its longest-running tenant - the NHL's Penguins - who became the building's main occupant as an expansion franchise in 1967, and saw three (of its total five) Stanley Cup title runs.

But, of course, we remember the other teams that also called the Civic Arena home - including: basketball's Rens, Pipers & Condors; World Team Tennis' Triangles; soccer's Spirit & Stingers; arena football's Gladiators; lacrosse's Bulls & CrosseFire; and even roller hockey's oft-forgotten Phantoms.

And don't forget Dr. J's Pisces too!

Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena: Stories From the Igloo - buy book here

EPISODE 241: Philadelphia's Spectrum - With Lou Scheinfeld

Our GPS coordinates take us back to the "City of Brotherly Love" this week for a fond, first-person reminiscence of Philadelphia's legendary Spectrum - with one of its chief managerial architects, Lou Scheinfeld ("Blades, Bands and Ballers: How 'Flash and Cash' Rescued the Flyers and Created Philadelphia’s Greatest Showplace").

A state-of-the-art indoor sports and events mecca upon its opening in September of 1967, the facility dubbed "America's Showplace" was Philly's first ​true ​modern indoor arena - built ​quickly (in roughly a year) and specifically for the city's new NHL expansion franchise (the Flyers) - one that Scheinfeld and NFL Eagles co-owners Ed Snider, Jerry Wolman and Earl Foreman helped originally secure.

The Spectrum was an instant hit for the freshman Flyers - and for the defending NBA champion 76ers, who also joined the tenant roster that first year - as well as the darling of top rock artists and concert promoters, immediately enamored with the facility's surprisingly top-notch acoustics.

And of course, a bevy of forgotten sports events and franchises that we love to obsess about, including some of our all-time favorites: the NASL's Philadelphia Atoms 1974 indoor exhibitions with the Soviet Red Army team that eventually launched the MISL and its Philadelphia Fever in 1978; the multi-league indoor lacrosse Wings; Billie Jean King's WTT Philadelphia Freedoms; the Bulldogs of the mid-90s' Roller hockey International; and much more.

Blades, Bands and Ballers: How “Flash and Cash” Rescued the Flyers and Created Philadelphia’s Greatest Showplace - buy book here

EPISODE 237: Pro Sports in Atlanta - It's Complicated (With Clayton Trutor)

By the time you hear this week's episode, the Atlanta Braves just may be celebrating their second-ever World Series trophy since moving from Milwaukee in 1956. 

If so, it would be the team's first title in 26 years, and only the second time in the region's modern sports history - or fourth, if you include the titles won by the now-defunct NASL's Atlanta Chiefs in 1968 and Major League Soccer's Atlanta United three years ago - that "The ATL" has been able to boast of any true major pro sports championship. 

That kind of futility can make any sports fan question their sanity, and as this week's guest Clayton Trutor ("Loserville: How Professional Sports Remade Atlanta―and How Atlanta Remade Professional Sports") tells us - in Atlanta's case, that self-doubt dates all the way back to the mid-1970s when one of its major newspapers dubbed the city "Loserville, USA".

As Trutor describes it, Atlanta's excitement around the arrival of four professional franchises during a dynamic six-year (1966-72) period quickly gave way to general frustration and, eventually, widespread apathy toward its home teams.  By the dawn of the 80s, all four of the region's major-league franchises were flailing in the standings, struggling to draw fans - and, in the case of the NHL's Flames, ready to move out of town.

While that indifference/malaise has dissipated somewhat in the decades since then (save for a second attempt at the NHL with the short-lived Thrashers), the dearth of team titles continues to loom over Atlanta's pro sports scene.

The resurgent Braves and their paradigm-changing Truist Park complex may just help change all that.

Loserville: How Professional Sports Remade Atlanta - And How Atlanta Remade Professional Sports - buy book here

EPISODE 235: The Hartford Whalers - With Pat Pickens

We pick up where we left off in our previous episodes 62 (with the "Whaler Guys") and 100 (featuring WHA-version franchise founder Howard Baldwin) for a comprehensive look into the former NHL franchise that regularly sells more branded merchandise than even some current league teams - the Hartford Whalers.

Author Pat Pickens ("The Whalers: The Rise, Fall, and Enduring Mystique of New England's [Second] Greatest NHL Franchise") walks us through the history and ongoing mystique of one of the National Hockey League's most enigmatic clubs - one whose legacy endures some 24 years after its odd and bittersweet relocation to Raleigh (via Greensboro), North Carolina in 1997.

The Whalers: The Rise, Fall, and Enduring Mystique of New England’s (Second) Greatest NHL Franchise - buy book here

EPISODE 225: The Cleveland Barons - With Gary Webster

We close the gap between our previous explorations of the National Hockey League's former California Golden Seals and Minnesota North Stars with a deep dive into the two-year curiosity that bridged between them - the unforgettably forgettable Cleveland Barons.

Episode 111 guest and WKKY-FM/Geneva (OH) radio jock Gary Webster ("The NHL's Mistake By the Lake: A History of the Cleveland Barons") returns the 'cast - this time to go deep into the baffling prelude, chaotic operations, and historically debatable termination/relocation of a franchise that was seemingly snake bitten even before its hasty arrival in Northeastern Ohio in the summer of 1976.

Named for a decades-old, nine-time minor league AHL championship-winning team that preceded it until 1973 - which itself had been replaced by the struggling "major league" Crusaders of the wobbly World Hockey Association - the Barons came close to folding in both of its two NHL seasons, despite the frantic efforts of two separate ownership groups, a brand-new state-of-the-art arena, and at least one league bailout.

Along the way, attendance was meager, media coverage was scant, and on-ice play was woeful - the perfect ingredients for an episode sure to please!

The NHL’s Mistake By the Lake: A History of the Cleveland Barons - buy book here

EPISODE 206: The Life & Teams of Johnny F. Bassett - With Denis Crawford

Youngstown State professor Denis Crawford ("The Life and Teams of Johnny F. Bassett: Maverick Entrepreneur of North American Sports") joins the 'cast for a jam-packed deep dive into the life of one of the most underrated, yet enormously influential pro sports figures of the 1970s/80s.

A third-generation scion of a prominent Canadian industrialist family steeped in both media and sports team ownership, John F. (Johnny) Bassett distinguished himself from his elders as a marketing-savvy showman with a P.T. Barnum-esque flair for spectacle and a penchant for challenging the traditional conventions of professional sports - notably with teams in leagues predicated on bucking the establishment:

• The World Hockey Association's Toronto Toros and Birmingham Bulls;

• The World Football League's Toronto Northmen/Memphis Southmen;

• World Team Tennis' Toronto-Buffalo Royals; AND

• The United States Football League's Tampa Bay Bandits

Through all his adventures, Bassett catered to the common fan, demanded fair treatment of athletes, and forced traditionalist sports owners to take hard looks at the way they did business.

Crawford helps us unpack some of Bassett's most notable escapades, including: a quixotic attempt to compete with the NHL's Maple Leafs; raiding the NFL for Miami Dolphins stars Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick and Paul Warfield; battling the Canadian government over American football; an audacious attempt at marketing pro hockey in the Deep South; and his bitter rivalry with a greedy Donald Trump for the soul of the USFL.

Support the show by downloading the DraftKings app NOW and using promo code GOODSEATS to join the free One Million Dollar College Hoops Survivor Pool!

The Life and Teams of Johnny F. Bassett: Maverick Entrepreneur of North American Sports - buy book here

EPISODE 204: WHA Hockey Completism - With Scott Surgent

Arizona State calculus professor Scott Surgent ("The Complete World Hockey Association, 11th Edition"; "The World Hockey Association Fact Book") joins this week to discuss his personal passion project of documenting everything statistical from the fascinatingly ephemeral World Hockey Association - despite never having witness a single game during its brief seven-year run (1972-79).

Like many young sports fans of the 70s living outside of actual WHA markets (for as long as they lasted), Surgent's first introduction to and ongoing understanding of the upstart WHA was by way of laboring through the tiny catch-all "scoreboard" agate of local newspaper sports sections - where league standings, player transactions and a random box score or two would qualify as "coverage."

Surgent would squint hard to literally and figuratively read between the lines as to what the WHA was all about - supplemented by an occasional wire service article, usually about a team (or the league itself) in financial trouble. Imagination and hearsay filled in the rest - until the league's "merger" with the NHL in 1979, when everything WHA-related seemingly vanished with it, as if nothing had ever transpired.

By the early '90s, Surgent was perplexed as to the continued absence of anything historical - let alone definitive - from the league's statistical existence. So he struck out on his own to literally set the record straight - resulting in the first edition of "Complete" in 1995.

25 years and ten editions later, Surgent's reference opus - all 526 glorious pages of it - is now the go-to resource for anyone seeking authoritative certitude about anything WHA.

Support the show by getting two free months of NordVPN - plus a FREE GIFT - when you use the promo code GOODSEATS at checkout!

     

The Complete World Hockey Association, 11th Edition - buy book here

The World Hockey Association Fact Book, Second Edition - buy book here

EPISODE 199: The "Forgotten" 1974 Summit Series - With Craig Wallace

After overwhelming response to our Episode 194 exploration ​of hockey's epic 1972 "Summit Series," we gas up the Zamboni for a return visit into Canada/Russian competition lore - this time for the equally intriguing (but often overlooked) sequel Summit Series of 1974 - with sports author/historian Craig Wallace (The Forgotten Summit: A Canadian Perspective on the 1974 Canada-Soviet Hockey Series).

While ostensibly a "round two" between the world's top national hockey programs, the 1974 Series differed in that the Canadian side was comprised exclusively of players from the World Hockey Association (WHA) - a major preseason promotional boost for the fledgling two-year-old circuit still struggling to gain a pro foothold against the mighty NHL.

As a result, wildly popular Canadian WHA stars like Winnipeg's Bobby Hull, Houston's Gordie Howe and Cleveland's Gerry Cheevers - each forbidden by the NHL from playing two years earlier - saw their first national team action, joined by returning series veterans Paul Henderson, Frank Mahovlich and Pat Stapleton.

Despite a strong start in the first two games, Team Canada could not replicate its trailblazing success from their 1972 exploits; the Soviets won the series (4 wins, 3 ties, 1 loss) - but as Wallace reveals, the games were close, extremely competitive and wildly entertaining - replete with just as much drama and excitement as its predecessor (and even better uniforms).

The Forgotten Summit: A Canadian Perspective on the 1974 Canada-Soviet Hockey Series - buy book here

EPISODE 197: Colorado "Rocky Hockey" - With Terry Frei

Former Denver Post columnist and long-time sports writer/author Terry Frei (“Third Down and a War to Go;” “'77: Denver, the Broncos, and a Coming of Age” + plenty more) joins to discuss the briefly curious life (1976-82) of NHL hockey's Colorado Rockies - Frei's first-ever professional newspaper beat assignment back in the day.

As originally recounted in his eyebrow-raising 2010 memoir Playing Piano in a Brothel: A Sports Journalist's Odyssey, Frei helps us better understand the events, personalities and hijinks that comprised the six-year Denver incarnation of the former Kansas City Scouts and future New Jersey Devils franchise - with some perspective on its under-appreciated history and legacy.

It's a story that traverses four separate owners, six different coaches, a constant threat of relocation, a terrible lease arrangement in a state-of the art (McNichols) arena, one meager (1978) playoff appearance (despite finishing 21 games under .500), a legendary logo - and a bombastic season of sour "Grapes."

If you're a fan of the Devils or today's Colorado Avalanche, consider this your hockey history lesson for the week!

Support the show by getting four free months of NordVPN when you use promo code GOODSEATS at checkout!

          

Playing Piano in a Brothel: A Sports Journalist’s Odyssey - buy book here

‘77: Denver, the Broncos, and a Coming of Age - buy book here

Third Down and A War to Go - buy book here

EPISODE 195: Second-Annual Year-End Holiday Spectacular!

We bid an emphatic good riddance to a crappy 2020 with our second-annual holiday roundtable spectacular featuring the return of fellow defunct sports enthusiasts Andy Crossley (Fun While It Lasted & Episode 2); Paul Reeths (OurSportsCentral.com, StatsCrew.com & Episode 46); and Steve Holroyd (Episodes 92, 109, 149 & 188) – for a spirited roundtable discussion about the past, present and potential future of “forgotten” pro sports teams and leagues.

It's a look back at some of the year’s most notable events, including:

• COVID-19's wrath across the entirety of pro sports;

• The mid-season implosion of the reincarnated XFL;

• Premier League Lacrosse's absorption of 20-year-old Major League Lacrosse;

• New names for the NFL's Washington and Raiders franchises; AND

• Major League Baseball’s RSVP approach to contracting the minors.

Plus, some predictions on what might transpire in 2021, as:

• Major League Cricket gears up for launch;

• The Rock cooks up a resuscitation recipe for the XFL;

• Cleveland's baseball club ponders a new nickname - and the others likely to follow;

• Adidas unevenly tries to cash in on NHL retro jerseys;

• Soccer expansion in Louisville (NWSL), Austin (MLS) and NISA; AND

• We continue to search for anyone with updates about Mark Cuban’s Professional Futsal League!

Support the show by getting four free months of NordVPN when you use promo code GOODSEATS at checkout!

EPISODE 194: Hockey's 1972 "Summit Series" - With Rich Bendell

Just about any Canadian of a certain age will be able to tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing on September 28, 1972.

That's the day when "Team Canada" (and Toronto Maple Leaf) forward Paul Henderson scored a dramatic and decisive late-third-period "goal heard around the world" to clinch the eighth and final game of an epic month-long hockey series against a similar professional all-star team from the Soviet Union - in what is today remembered as simply the "Summit Series."

Hockey historian Rich Bendell ("The Summit Series: Stats, Lies & Videotape - The Untold Story of Hockey's Series of the Century") joins us this week for a deep dive into the curious, yet now-iconic battle between the sport's two top superpowers at the time - played against the backdrop of global 1970s-era Cold War tensions - that morphed from a relatively unassuming cultural exchange-oriented "exhibition" into the defining hallmark of each country's rich hockey heritage.

1972 Summit Series: Stats, Lies & Videotape - The Untold Story of Hockey’s Series of the Century - buy book here

EPISODE 193: Ebbets Field Flannels - With Jerry Cohen

A guilty pleasure this week, as we go deep into the story of iconic vintage sportswear retailer Ebbets Field Flannels - the world leader in researching, sourcing and creating 100% authentic athletic apparel - with its owner and founder Jerry Cohen. From the EFF website:

"Jerry Cohen grew up in Brooklyn, not far from where the fabled stadium once stood in Flatbush. Jerry listened to his father tell stories of the colorful players of another era. He was proud of the fiercely independent neighborhood. And the Brooklyn Dodgers' heritage as the first major league team to integrate professional baseball in 1947, with the addition of Hall-of-Famer Jackie Robinson.

"Jerry was fascinated with sports emblems and uniforms. As a youngster, he would purchase baseball cards to see the uniform changes and colors rather than for the players. Fast-forward to 1987, when he was trying to find a vintage flannel baseball jersey to wear onstage with his rock & roll band.

"Not satisfied with the 'polyester era' look and designs, Jerry became a bit obsessed, and eventually tracked down some old wool baseball flannel and had a few shirts made for himself. When people literally wanted to buy the shirt off his back, Ebbets Field Flannels was born. Focusing on non-major league history such as the Negro leagues and the pre-1958 Pacific Coast League gave the company a unique twist, and brought relatively unknown baseball history to the public at large.

"Over 30 years and thousands of flannels later, EFF is still making vintage jerseys, jackets and caps in America the old fashioned way, using original materials and manufacturing techniques.

"Each limited edition garment is handmade from the world's largest inventory of 100% authentic, historical fabrics. All jerseys, ballcaps, jackets and sweaters are cut, sewn, or knit, from original fabrics and yarns.

"We don't follow the latest fads. Instead, we're fanatics when it comes to historical accuracy, backed by documented research. We weave that local color and heritage into an array of products as timeless as the game itself."

Buy early & often from Ebbets Field Flannels (10% off with promo code: GOODSEATS10) here

EPISODE 190: Philadelphia Hockey Beyond the Flyers - With Alan Bass

When anyone brings up the topic of pro hockey in Philadelphia, the conversation quite naturally starts (and often stops) with the Flyers - one of the six franchises added to the NHL in the league's 1967 "Great Expansion," and the fastest of the bunch to capture the Lord Stanley's Cup, after only its seventh season.

But as this week's guest Alan Bass ("Professional Hockey in Philadelphia: A History") suggests, limiting the discussion to just the Flyers not only ignores the surprisingly long history of the game in the "City of Brotherly Love" prior to their arrival, but also neglects the club's lasting impact more broadly on Philly's sports scene ever since.

​For example, few fans know that the Flyers were actually not the first NHL franchise in Philadelphia. That "honor" instead went to the 1930-31 debacle known as the Quakers - a hastily relocated cellar-dwelling team from Pittsburgh (the Pirates), owned by a Depression-era bootlegger (Bill Dwyer), fronted by a temporarily retired lightweight boxing champion (Benny Leonard), and producer of one of the worst seasons in the league's 103-year history (4-36-4 record; .136 winning percentage).

Or that the city nearly got its second shot at the NHL in 1946-47, when franchise rights holders of the dormant Montreal Maroons couldn't secure funding for a new arena on the site of the old Baker Bowl.

Or even that for decades before the Flyers' arrival, Philadelphia was a reliable home to a wide range of colorful minor league franchises with names like Arrows, Comets, Ramblers, Rockets and Falcons - and even after (Firebirds, Phantoms).

And we won't even mention the World Hockey Association's home ice-challenged flirtations with the market - the inaugural 1972-73 season's Philadelphia Blazers (Civic Center/Convention Hall) and 1973-74's mid-season relocated New York Golden Blades-to-Jersey Knights (suburban Cherry Hill [NJ] Arena)!

Professional Hockey in Philadelphia: A History - buy book here

EPISODE 185: NHL Hockey by Design - With Chris Creamer & Todd Radom

Logo archivist Chris Creamer (SportsLogos.net) and graphic brand designer Todd Radom (Todd Radom Design) join this week's show to dive into the rich and fascinating visual story of the National Hockey League's nearly 103-year history - as told by the names, logos and uniforms of its teams.

Their new book collaboration Fabric of the Game: The Stories Behind the NHL's Names, Logos and Uniforms is a comprehensive look into the rationale behind and the execution of the iconography of each of the league's major historical franchise lineages - from the respective journeys of today's 32 teams to the forgotten former clubs of yore.

Of course, we go long and hard into the visual foibles of the latter - who can forget the Cleveland Barons, Kansas City Scouts, Colorado Rockies, California/Oakland/Bay Area/California Golden Seals, the Atlanta Thrashers, or even the New York/Brooklyn Americans?

But there are plenty of revealing tidbits and surprising twists for fans of today's NHL franchises - including directionless Stars, wayward Flames, cartoonish Ducks - and a hot debate on just where team histories should go when they pull up stakes for greener pastures.

Fabric of the Game: The Stories Behind the NHL’s Names, Logos and Uniforms - buy book here

EPISODE 181: Columbus' IHL Hockey Heritage - With Eric Weltner

Little did we know when we dropped our minor league hockey tribute to the 1990s ECHL Columbus Chill in our Episode 169 with David Paitson & Craig Merz earlier this year that it would not only become our most listened-to episode of 2020 (so far), but would also unearth a project devoted to the colorful history of the forgotten teams that preceded it.

Columbus native and Cincinnati creative agency professional Eric Weltner ("International Incidents"), previews his soon-to-be-released 80-minute documentary of "old-time hockey gold" devoted to the three clubs in the rock 'em, sock 'em International Hockey League that called Ohio's capital city (and the scruffy Ohio Expo Fairgrounds Coliseum) home during the late 1960s and early 1970s:

• The Columbus Checkers (1966-70): the city's first-ever professional hockey franchise - a "Plan B" sports ownership pursuit for Cleveland's entrepreneurial Schmeltzer brothers, after just missing out on the NBA's Boston Celtics;

• The Columbus Golden Seals (1971-73): Charlie O. Finley's malnourished attempt to create a feeder team for his floundering California NHL namesake - whose woeful 25-117 record set IHL futility records; and

• The Columbus Owls (1973-77): mortgage executive Al Savill's franchise rehab that handed full managerial reigns to local hockey legend "Moe" Bartoli - undermined by Savill's 1975 purchase of the NHL Penguins.

International Incidents - find out more about the film here

EPISODE 179: WHA Hockey "Lost & Found" - With Dennis Murphy

If we ever get around to creating a Good Seats Still Available "Hall of Fame," this week's return guest will most certainly be part of its inaugural class of inductees.

Dennis Murphy (“Murph: The Sports Entrepreneur Man and His Leagues”) is a bona fide legend in sports entrepreneurial circles - a man responsible for helping found no less than four "major" game-changing leagues across the North American pro sports landscape, including the polychromatic American Basketball Association (our previous Episode 129), and this week's focus: the raucous World Hockey Association. (The others: World Team Tennis and Roller Hockey International.)

This week's shorter-than-normal episode was originally intended to be our second full-length discussion with "Murph" - and our first exclusively devoted to the founding and operation of the WHA - until events last year conspired against it.

A scheduling snafu resulted in a shorter window of conversation than originally intended, and the recording itself was feared lost during our internal archives transfer process weeks later.

However, in the process of doing background research for our recent episode on the original Winnipeg Jets with Curtis Walker, we were lucky enough to stumble across the fully intact audio file on a redundant backup server - which we now present as the bulk of this week's episode.

What it lacks in length is more than made up with in depth and surprising detail from the now-93-year-old Murphy's still-sharp memory of hockey's "rebel league."

Murph: The Sports Entrepreneur Man and His Leagues - buy here

Game Changer: The Dennis Murphy Story - watch here

EPISODE 177: The (Original) Winnipeg Jets – With Curtis Walker

We cross the virtual border northward this week to obsess about the original incarnation of hockey's Winnipeg Jets - with author/team completist Curtis Walker ("Winnipeg Jets: The WHA Years Day By Day"; “Coming Up Short: The Comprehensive History of the NHL's Winnipeg Jets" ).

One of the twelve founding franchises in the upstart World Hockey Association's inaugural 1972-73 season, the Jets were one of only four teams to survive the entire run of the rebel league - and to ascend into the vaunted NHL after its demise in 1979.

They were also, arguably, the WHA's most successful club - winning three of the league's seven-ever AVCO Cup championships, while finishing as playoff runners-up twice. (We'll get into the story of the Houston Aeros' two titles and one finals loss in another episode!)

Walker helps us proverbially "scratch the surface" of the Jets' intriguing history in not only the WHA (including the credibility-validating, league-collective-funded signing of Bobby Hull; the Swedish-flavored "Hot Line" contributions of Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson; and a franchise-saving "Save the Jets" community campaign in 1974) - but also the National Hockey League, where the club largely struggled to reclaim their earlier glory - especially when facing their long-time regional nemesis, the Edmonton Oilers.

Of course, we tackle the delicate issue of where the original Jets' legacy should credibly reside: with the lamentable Arizona Coyotes (the franchise moved to Phoenix in 1996); the current Jets team (the relocated Atlanta Thrashers since 2011); or in the collective memories of the fans that routinely packed the rafters of the old Winnipeg Arena.

     

Coming Up Short: The Comprehensive History of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets (1979-96) - buy book here

Winnipeg Jets: The WHA Years Day-By-Day - buy book here

EPISODE 169: The Columbus Chill – With David Paitson & Craig Merz

We take a rare dip into the minors this week with the intriguing story of hockey’s Columbus Chill – the 1990s sensation that took the East Coast Hockey League and the Ohio capital’s sports scene by storm, and helped set the table for Columbus’s ascension into top-tier “major league” status by the dawn of the 2000s.

Historically overshadowed by the scale, prowess and outsized culture of its hometown Ohio State University Buckeyes athletics programs, Columbus’ pro sports landscape in 1991 largely consisted of AAA baseball’s sleepily long-standing Yankees affiliate Clippers – and not much else.  Professional hockey, specifically, had been absent from the market for 14 years, after a largely lamentable run of thinly supported International Hockey League franchises (Checkers, Golden Seals, Owls) during the late 60s and 1970s.

But though cheeky marketing campaigns and promotion-laden game-day experiences – targeted at both the growing city’s young professional set and fun-seeking OSU students looking for off-campus entertainment alternatives – the Chill quickly made an impact and suddenly becoming the hottest ticket in town.  Sellouts in the ancient 5,600-seat Ohio State Fairgrounds Expo Coliseum (opened in 1918) became the norm, and national media lauded the club as the vanguard of minor league sports.

After a dubious scheduling snafu by Fairgrounds management amidst the Chill’s second season, fans and local community leaders galvanized around a longer-term plan to solidify the newly popular team’s future and independence – leading to the eventual commitment to construct a top-flight downtown (now, Nationwide) arena – and, ultimately, the awarding of an expansion NHL franchise in 1999.

Ex-Chill President David Paitson and former Columbus Dispatch sportswriter Craig Merz (Chill Factor: How a Minor-League Hockey Team Changed a City Forever) recount the story of the team that paved the way for the Columbus Blue Jackets – and beyond.

This week’s episode is sponsored by the Red Lightning Books imprint of Indiana University Press – who offer our listeners a FREE CHAPTER of pioneering sportswriter Diana K. Shah’s new memoir A Farewell to Arms, Legs and Jockstraps!

Chill Factor: How a Minor-League Hockey Team Changed a City Forever - buy book here