EPISODE 298: The Asheville Tourists - With Ryan McGee

ESPN multi-platform writer/reporter/host Ryan McGee ("Welcome to the Circus of Baseball: A Story of the Perfect Summer at the Perfect Ballpark at the Perfect Time") joins us this week to reminisce about his early-career experiences as a $100-a-week intern with 1994's Class A South Atlantic League Asheville Tourists - a proud minor league baseball team in the heart of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains.

Asheville's history with minor league ball dates all the way back to 1897 (think Moonshiners, Redbirds and Mountaineers), and its venerable 99-year-old (and twice-renovated) McCormick Field has seen multiple teams across numerous leagues sport the Tourists nickname - with legendary future Hall of Famers like Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and Jackie Robinson in the club's rosters at one time or another.

In 1994, however, the "Sally League" Tourists were a consolation prize of a job for the newly minted University of Tennessee communications grad McGee, who, after bombing an interview for an entry-level gig with his long-coveted ESPN, instead settled in for a life-altering and lesson-teaching summer of literal "inside baseball" - with often hilarious results.

Join us for a look back at a quintessentially classic old-school minor league baseball season - and hear how McGee ultimately parlayed the experience into a second chance at the "Worldwide Leader in Sports" - with very different results.

Welcome to the Circus of Baseball: A Story of the Perfect Summer, At the Perfect Ballpark, At the Perfect Time - Buy book here

EPISODE 297: The Cincinnati Mohawks - With Eric Weltner

It's more International Hockey League (1945-2001) memories this week as Episode 181 guest Eric Weltner returns for a look back at one of minor league hockey's most dominant, yet curiously ephemeral franchises - the Cincinnati Mohawks (1952-58).

Not to be confused with the middling AHL team of the same name that pre-dated them by three years, the IHL Mohawks were the class of their circuit during the 1950s - winning an incredible six consecutive regular season crowns and five Turner Cup championships during their brief six-year existence. 

No wonder, since the Mohawks constituted the primary farm team of the NHL's then-supreme and talent-overloaded Montreal Canadiens, who themselves were busy monopolizing multi-consecutive Stanley Cups during the decade.

Weltner's new film "The Mohawk Monopoly" looks at the curious story of the Mohawks' incredible, yet short-lived run, their revered home ice at the Cincinnati Gardens, and the team's place in a long line of professional hockey franchises that called (and still call) "The 'Nati" home.

Mohawk Monopoly Trailer from editfreak cut/fx on Vimeo.

Mohawk Monopoly - watch the film here

EPISODE 296: "Bill & Sue's Excellent Adventure" - With Bill Craib

In 1991, twenty-something baseball fanatics Bill Craib and Sue Easler did something no one else had ever done before - they went to a game at all 178 major and minor league baseball parks in one season.

Craib and Easler drove nearly 54,000 miles and shot home-movie-style video (remember VHS?) at each stop - selected footage of which was featured on a segment that became known as "Bill & Sue's Excellent Adventure" on ESPN's weekly "Major League Baseball Magazine" program.

The couple became celebrities of the moment long before social media - spotlighted in major outlets of the day like ABC's "Good Morning America", Sports Illustrated, CNN, The New York Times - and prominently featured in local media wherever they stopped.

30+ years later, Craib ("In League With America: The Story of an Excellent Adventure") has finally written the book he intended to write then; a story about more than just baseball parks, but a tale about what it's like to chase a dream and have it come true - and, more deeply, a tableau of 1990s America as seen through the lens of its official pastime.

In League With America: The Story of an Excellent Adventure - Buy book here

EPISODE 295: "From the 55 Yard Line" - With Greg James (Vacation Special)

It's an early Spring Break hiatus for us this week - but not before sitting down for a very fun interview with CFL America blog/podcast publisher and friend-of-the-show Greg James - as a guest on his popular Sports History Network podcast "From the 55 Yard Line."

Tim and Greg go deep into the origin story of Good Seats Still Available, as well as a veritable audio potpourri of hot takes on what we've learned from doing the show over the course of nearly 300 episodes - and where we think pro football (and sports generally) might be headed in the years ahead.

Please enjoy this conversation we recorded a few weeks back - and be sure to check out all the other great podcasts across the Sports History Network!

Listen to “From the 55 Yard Line” here

Check out CFL America here

Check out Sports History Network here

EPISODE 294: California Dreaming - With Dan Cisco

We head West this week to pay a visit to the "California Sports Guy" Dan Cisco ("California Sports Astounding: Fun, Unknown, and Surprising Facts from Statehood to Sunday"), and stir up a rich bouillabaisse of little-known factoids about defunct, previously domiciled and otherwise forgotten teams and leagues who once called the Golden State home.

Discover the reason why Oakland was chosen as an inaugural franchise in 1960's American Football League debut - and why its original name was  hastily changed to "Raiders" just weeks before its first game.

Follow the move of the Pacific Coast League's original Hollywood Stars to San Diego in 1936 to become the Padres - and how a talented young player named Ted Williams unceremoniously ended his pitching career there before making it to the bigs.

And learn which legendary NBA basketball helped launch the International Volleyball Association's Irvine-based charter Southern California Bangers franchise in 1975 - and ultimately become the league's commissioner two years later.

PLUS, we make a bevy of unsolicited suggestions for Cisco's inevitable revised edition (and you can too)!

California Sports Astounding: Fun, Unknown, and Surprising Facts from Statehood to Sunday - Buy book here

EPISODE 293: Shooting the WHA - With Steve Babineau

Legendary Boston sports photographer Steve Babineau ("Behind the Lens: The World Hockey Association 50 Years Later") joins the pod this week to discuss his new, lovingly-curated collection of largely never-before-seen images of the colorful 1970s challenger hockey league that helped kick-start a life-long love for photography - and a 50+ year career behind the lens shooting some of the game's biggest stars.

A teenaged "Babs" was there at the old Boston Gardens on October 12, 1972, when the inaugural puck was dropped in the history of the New England Whalers (vs. the Philadelphia Blazers, on the second-ever day of WHA action) - unwittingly capturing some of the very first images of the revolutionary circuit that would ultimately give minor-league journeymen, NHL elder statesmen and even fledgling junior hockey phenoms (like a 17-year-old wunderkind named Wayne Gretzky) a chance to not only play, but creatively thrive.

And that guy Gretzky?  Well, we'll let Babs tell you that story!

Behind the Lens: The World Hockey Association 50 Years Later - Buy book here

EPISODE 292: Minor League Baseball's New York-Penn League - With Michael Sokolow

On the eve of the most significant changes to Major League Baseball's rules and scheduling, we continue our lament of 2021's radical streamlining of the minor leagues and obsess about the demise of its oldest circuit - the New York-Penn League - with City University of New York history/philosophy/political science professor Michael Sokolow ("Bush League: The Brooklyn Cyclones, Staten Island Yankees, and the New York-Penn League").

A staple of upstate New York and interior Pennsylvania summers dating back to 1939, the Class D-turned-Short-Season-Class-A NYPL represented 82 years of small-market America's pastime in the cradle of its historical birthplace - until MLB's grand realignment plan led to its disbandment in 2020. 

We talk about the league's history, what led to its ultimate demise, as well as explore two of the NYPL's most curious teams - the New York Mets-owned Brooklyn Cyclones (originally the St. Catherines [ON] Blue Jays, and now part of MiLB's High-A South Atlantic League), and the former Oneonta, NY-relocated Staten Island Yankees (now reincarnated as the independent Atlantic League FerryHawks) - in an attempt to bring the "big time" minor league game to New York City's outer boroughs.

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PRE-ORDER "Bush League: The Brooklyn Cyclones, Staten Island Yankees, and the New York-Penn League" from SUNY Press/Excelsior NOW!

Bush League: The Brooklyn Cyclones, Staten Island Yankees, and the New York-Penn League - Pre-Order book here

EPISODE 291: The Savannah Bananas - With Jesse Cole

We channel our inner yellow tuxedo this week for a revealing conversation with the inimitable minor league baseball impresario Jesse Cole - and a look into the phenomenon behind his ground-breaking Savannah Bananas franchise - as it migrates from its collegiate summer Coastal Plain League roots into an audacious (and already sold-out) cross-country barnstorming tour featuring its own wildly entertaining brand of "Banana Ball."

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PRE-ORDER Jesse Cole's new book (with Don Yaeger):​ ​​"​Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas​"​

BUY Jesse's inspirational best-sellers: "​Fans First: Change The Game, Break the Rules & Create an Unforgettable Experience​"​ AND ​"​Find Your Yellow Tux: How to Be Successful by Standing Out​"​ NOW!

          

Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas - Pre-Order book here

Fans First: Change the Game, Break the Rules & Create an Unforgettable Experience - Buy book here

Find Your Yellow Tux: How to Be Successful By Standing Out - Buy book here

EPISODE 290: The Many Leagues of Women's Football - With Russ Crawford

While American tackle football has long been considered an exclusively male sport, this week's guest Russ Crawford ("Women's American Football: Breaking Barriers On and Off the Gridiron") takes us on an eye-opening journey over the decades that highlights the persistent and still-growing interest of women playing the game - including professionally.

Anecdotal evidence abounds of amateur football competitions, collegiate intramural leagues, and even an 1926 NFL halftime exhibition featuring Frankford's "Lady Yellow Jackets" - proving women's intrigue with the sport.

The women’s game became more organized in ​1965 with the launch of sports entrepreneur​ ​Sid Friedman's ​aspirational ​Women's Professional Football League​, and later more forcefully in 1974 with the founding of the​ pioneering National Women’s Football League​ ​- ​featuring ​notable teams such as the ​Houston Herricanes, ​Dallas Bluebonnets, Toledo Troopers, Oklahoma City Dolls, and Detroit Demons.

​Today, ​two robust national semi-pro outdoor leagues (the 60+ team Women’s Football Alliance​; ​the 18-club Women’s National Football Conference)​, plus an increasingly evolved/credible indoor "X League" (fka as both the infamous "Lingerie," and later "Legends" Football League)​ - keep the women's gridiron game alive, with undoubtedly more pioneering to come.

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PURCHASE  Russ Crawford's book "Women's American Football: Breaking Barriers On and Off the Gridiron" in either hardcover or Kindle electronic versions NOW!

Women’s American Football: Breaking Barriers On and Off the Gridiron - buy book here

EPISODE 289: The New Jersey Nets - With Łukasz Muniowski

We point our GPS towards the Garden State this week, for a return to the days of pro hoops in places like the "RAC" (Piscataway's Rutgers Athletic Center), the "Rock" (Newark's Prudential Center), and the strangely iconic Meadowlands - as we look back at 35 seasons of the oft-forgotten New Jersey incarnation of NBA basketball's peripatetic Nets franchise with sports historian Łukasz Muniowski ("Turnpike Team: A History of the New Jersey Nets, 1977-2012").

Though replete with memorable moments both before (as the inaugural American Basketball Association's New Jersey Americans, and later the twice-champion, Julius Erving-led, Nassau Coliseum-based New York Nets) - and after (as the thoroughly rebranded, Barclays Center-domiciled Brooklyn Nets, since 2012) - it is the club's time as the New Jersey Nets that stands out to fans and scribes alike as the most colorful, bewilderingly forlorn and oddly endearing period of its existence.

Join us for memories of players like Bernard "Sky B.B." King, "Super John" Williamson, Buck Williams, Sam Bowie, Derrick Coleman, Stephon Marbury, Jason Kidd, and Vince Carter - and a team that twice came this close to an NBA Finals championship (2001-02; 2002-03), unwittingly solidifying a decades-old inferiority complex that arguably still permeates the franchise today.

Turnpike Team: A history of the New Jersey Nets - buy book here

EPISODE 288: Minor League & Independent League Baseball - With Miles Wolff

In 2014, Major League Baseball's Official Historian John Thorn and veteran baseball journalist Alan Schwarz published an authoritative and thought-provoking list of "Baseball’s 100 Most Important People​"​ - including more than its fair share of surprisingly influential figures.

Nestled between National Baseball Hall of Famers "Hammerin'" Hank Greenberg and "King" Kelly at number 79 on that list is this week's guest:

“More than anyone, Miles Wolff is responsible for the modern renaissance of minor-league baseball, as it emerged from the lean years of the 1960s and ’70s to the boom of the 1980s and ’90s. Wolff bought the Carolina League’s Durham Bulls for just $2,666 in 1979, nurtured it into a local success, and owned the franchise as it became a national symbol of the minor leagues after the release of the film ​"​Bull Durham​"​ in 1988. He sold the team in 1990 for $4 million just as the minors began to flourish again.

“A baseball purist at heart, Wolff grew frustrated at the money- and marketing-driven approach exhibited by the regular minor leagues, whose clubs were beholden to the major-league organizations to which they fed players. (Communities rarely got to know the best players, because they were promoted to the next level within three or sixth months.) So in 1993, Wolff re-established the Northern League, a circuit in the upper Midwest made up of teams that operated outside the sphere of Organized Baseball. The Northern League’s six clubs signed players — often minor-league veterans on their way down or overlooked collegians — to stock their rosters. The Northern League was an instant success and spawned imitators across the country.

“Wolff’s first baseball job came in 1971 as the general manager of the Double-A Savannah (Georgia) Braves, and he subsequently was a GM in Anderson, South Carolina., and Jacksonville, Florida.

“Wolff also owned Baseball America, the Durham-based magazine of the minor leagues, for most of its lifetime. He bought the magazine from founder Allan Simpson in 1982 and served as president and publisher until selling the company in 2000.”

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PRE-ORDER Miles Wolff's soon-to-be-released memoir​ "​There's a Bulldozer on Home Plate: A 50-Year Journey in Minor League Baseball​"​ AND/OR the upcoming final (4th) edition of the indispensable "Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball: A Complete Record of Teams, Leagues and Seasons, 1876-2019​" ​NOW!

There’s a Bulldozer on home Plate: A 50-Year Journey in Minor league Baseball - buy book here

The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball: A Complete Record of Teams, leagues and Seasons, 1876-2019 - buy book here

EPISODE 287: Texas Stadium - With Burk Murchison & Michael Granberry

​​In 1966, when a still-young Dallas Cowboys franchise ended six years of NFL futility with its first winning season and a championship game appearance, the team’s founder/owner Clint Murchison, Jr. was already dreaming bigger.

In order to vault his club into the league's elite, Murchison knew he needed a better home situation than as a renter at the aging Cotton Bowl in Dallas’ Fair Park - one where he could eventually generate his own direct revenue streams, while simultaneously elevating fans' game-day experience.

Clint, Jr.s' s son Burk Murchison and Dallas Morning News writer Michael Granberry ("Hole in the Roof: The Dallas Cowboys, Clint Murchison Jr., and the Stadium That Changed American Sports Forever") join the podcast this week to help us delve into the history and mythology of Texas Stadium - the Cowboys' groundbreaking suburban Irving, TX home for 38 seasons (1971-2008) that not only fulfilled their owner's ahead-of-its-time vision, but also became the de facto template for modern-day sports facility expectations - for better or worse.

Hole in the Roof: The Dallas Cowboys, Clint Murchison, Jr., and the Stadium That Changed American Sports Forever - buy book here

EPISODE 286: Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium - With the "Ground Crew"

​We're back from our extended Thanksgiving break with an inside look at the venerable sports venue that single-handedly elevated 1960s-era Atlanta to "major league" status, and cemented its place among the most important American cities.

Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium - known simply as "Atlanta Stadium" when it opened in 1965 - was the long-time home of Major League Baseball's Braves (1966-96), the National Football League's Falcons (1966-91), two incarnations of the North American Soccer League's Atlanta Chiefs, and college football's postseason Peach Bowl (1968-92).

And nobody knew its inner workings better than the facility's hard-working "ground crew" who tended to the whims and vicissitudes of the teams, players, owners, and even fans that called the stadium home for 30+ memorable years.

1970s stadium crew members Harvey Lee Frazier and David Fisher - along with "as-told-to" author Austin Gisriel ("Ground Crew Confidential") - join the podcast to share a bevy of little-known "behind-the scenes" memories of the facility that helped put Atlanta on the map - with the help of influential figures like Hank Aaron, Phil Woosnam, Ted Turner, the Beatles, and even high-wire great Karl Wallenda.

Ground Crew Confidential - buy book here

EPISODE 285: The Rise & Fall of Admiral Sportswear - With Andy Wells

In 1974, a small Midlands underwear firm changed soccer forever when it won the contract as official kit supplier for England's national team - featuring a tradition-busting combination of bright colors, definitional striping, and, uniquely, prominently positioned manufacturer's logos on both shirt and shorts.

Admiral Sportswear’s bold designs and distinctive branding - soon outfitting storied club sides like Manchester United, Leicester City, Norwich City, West Ham, and Sheffield United - quickly caught fans' attention with their detailed "replica" versions, which offered the most ardent supporters a novel opportunity to literally dress like their favorite pro players.

Sports documentarian/author Andy Wells ("Get Shirty: The Rise & Fall of Admiral Sportswear") tells us the story of how Admiral unwittingly invented today's now-multi-billion-dollar replica jersey industry - while revolutionizing the worlds of sports commerce and street fashion alike.

If you followed any of the franchises from the late 1970s/early 1980s North American Soccer League or Major Indoor Soccer League (or even the American Soccer League's Columbus Magic) - chances are you remember (or even owned) an Admiral shirt!

Get Shirty: The Rise & Fall of Admiral Sportswear - buy book here

EPISODE 284: How New Orleans "Moved the Chains" - With Erin Grayson Sapp

An important but surprisingly little-remembered story in the history of pro football - and a turning point in the city of New Orleans' eventually successful pursuit of an NFL franchise - is the subject of this week's hugely intriguing conversation with Erin Grayson Sapp, author of "Moving the Chains: The Civil Rights Protest That Saved the Saints And Transformed New Orleans".

From the book's dust-jacket:

We remember the 1966 birth of the New Orleans Saints as a shady quid pro quo between the NFL commissioner and a Louisiana congressman. Moving the Chains is the untold story of the athlete protest that necessitated this backroom deal, as New Orleans scrambled to respond to a very public repudiation of the racist policies that governed the city.

In the decade that preceded the 1965 athlete walkout, a reactionary backlash had swept through Louisiana, bringing with it a host of new segregation laws and enough social strong-arming to quash any complaints, even from suffering sports promoters. Nationwide protests had assailed the Tulane Green Wave, the Sugar Bowl, and the AFL’s preseason stop-offs, and only legal loopholes and a lot of luck kept football alive in the city.

Still, live it did, and in January 1965, locals believed they were just a week away from landing their own pro franchise. All they had to do was pack Tulane Stadium for the city’s biggest audition yet, the AFL All-Star game. Ultimately, all fifty-eight Black and white teammates walked out of the game to protest the town’s lingering segregation practices and public abuse of Black players. Following that, love of the gridiron prompted and excused something out of sync with the city’s branding: change. In less than two years, the Big Easy made enough progress to pass a blitz inspection by Black and white NFL officials and receive the long-desired expansion team.

The story of the athletes whose bravery led to change quickly fell by the wayside. Locals framed desegregation efforts as proof that the town had been progressive and tolerant all along. Furthermore, when a handshake between Pete Rozelle and Hale Boggs gave America its first Super Bowl and New Orleans its own club, the city proudly clung to that version of events, never admitting the cleanup even took place.

Moving the Chains: The Civil Rights Protest That Saved the Saints and Transformed New Orleans - buy book here

EPISODE 283: World Soccer's Intercontinental Cup - With Dan Williamson

As preparations for next month's 2022 FIFA World Cup spectacle in Qatar enter their final stages, we turn our attention back to the pitch for an intriguing look back at a seminal international "friendly" tournament earnestly designed to crown a world club soccer champion - and the unwitting genesis for today's officially-sanctioned FIFA Club World Cup competition.

Soccer writer and part-time English lower-division amateur coach Dan Williamson ("When Two Worlds Collide: The Intercontinental Cup Years") takes us on a journey from 1960 to 2004, when the Intercontinental Cup (later known as the one-match "Toyota Cup" from 1980-onward) ambitiously sought to determine the world's best club team by annually pitting the champions of the two historically strongest continents - Europe and South America - against each other in front of an internationally televised audience.

​Although never formally recognized by the sport's governing body at the time, soccer media and fans alike reveled in clashes featuring some of the modern era's most iconic franchises and legendary players - and had no problem acknowledging each year's victors as the not-so-unofficial club champions of the world.

We dig into the Cup's controversial (and sometimes violent) clashes of the late 1960s; its decline (including numerous team boycotts) during the 70s; a competition-saving, Japanese-sponsored rebirth in 1980 - and the eventual absorption and expansion of the series into FIFA's formal orbit in the 2000s - replete with the retroactive (and ironic) reclassification of its winners as (now-)"official" world champions.

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REMEMBER: Get up to $100 in matching deposit credit when you sign up to try PrizePicks - and use promo code GOODSEATS!

When Two Worlds Collide: The Intercontinental Cup Years - buy book here

EPISODE 282: New York Baseball Stadiums of Yore - With Bob Carlin

Fans of Americana music may recognize the name Bob Carlin as one of the country's leading practitioners of the classic "clawhammer" style of banjo. His myriad recordings, historical writings and frequent performances across the US and around the world have won him plaudits from old-time banjo scholars and aficionados alike.

But when he's not downpicking in the studio or performing on stage, Carlin is likely to be found elsewhere on the road, obliging one of his life's other passions - chronicling the histories of North American "lost" baseball parks.

Carlin's new book, "New York's Great Lost Ballparks," gives us the perfect excuse to delve into both ends of the Empire State's (and the Big Apple's) sizable trove of past professional baseball diamonds - from the iconic and memorable (like the Bronx's original Yankee Stadium, and the four versions of Manhattan's fabled Polo Grounds), to upstate Binghamton's oft-forgotten Johnson Field (RIP: 1968), the decades-long home of the Parlor City's various minor league league teams (e.g., Bingos, Brooms and Triplets).

And, of course - everything in between!

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DON'T FORGET: Get up to $100 in matching deposit credit when you sign up to try PrizePicks - and use promo code GOODSEATS!

New York’s Great Lost Ballparks - buy book here

EPISODE 281: "Where Pittsburgh Played" - With Dave Finoi

​​Pittsburgh-native sports historian (and previous Episode 242 guest) Dave Finoli ("Where Pittsburgh Played: Oakland’s Historic Sports Venues") returns to the pod for a deep dive into the notable histories of the Steel City's important first generation of modern-day sports venues.

We dig into some of the memorable (and many not-so) professional teams and leagues that called the city's Oakland neighborhood home, in places like: Pitt Stadium (NFL football's Steelers); the Duquesne Gardens (the early NHL Pirates & numerous minor-league hockey clubs; the BAA basketball Ironmen); and of course, the legendary Forbes Field - which not only housed baseball's Pirates, but also the same-named (pre-Steelers) sister football franchise, two WWII-era NFL contractions (1943's "Steagles" & 1944's "Card-Pitt"), the Negro Leagues' iconic Homestead Grays, and even the 1967 one-and-only season of the NPSL soccer Phantoms.

PLUS: we "send in" a special collegiate nod to the still in-use Fitzgerald Field House !

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AND: Get up to $100 in matching deposit credit when you sign up to try PrizePicks - and use promo code GOODSEATS!

Where Pittsburgh Played: Oakland’s Historic Sports Venues - buy book here

EPISODE 280: "Bleeding Green" - With Christopher Price

​​The Hartford Whalers were a beloved hockey team from the​ moment of their founding in 1972 as the World Hockey Association's New England Whalers.

Playing in the National Hockey League’s smallest market and arena after the 1979 WHA merger/absorption/expansion, the Whalers struggled in a division that included both the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens - but the club's fans were among the NHL’s most loyal. In 1995, new owners demanded a new arena - and when plans fell through, moved the team to Raleigh, North Carolina - where they became today's Carolina Hurricanes.

Astonishingly, the Whalers remain as popular as ever in their former home town and previous incarnation. Even though more than two decades have passed since Connecticut’s only professional sports team relocated, nobody has truly forgotten the team, its history, or its uniquely memorable (and still highly profitable) logo. And while the NHL continues to thrive without them, the Whalers' impact stretches far beyond the ice and into a still very-much-alive cultural phenomenon.

Boston Globe sportswriter Christopher Price ("Bleeding Green: A History of the Hartford Whalers") grew up in Connecticut as a diehard Whalers fan, experiencing firsthand the team’s bond with the community. Drawing from all aspects of the team’s past, he shares an uncensored history of ​the region’s still-favorite professional sports franchise.

PLUS: Listen for your chance to win a free copy of "Bleeding Green"!

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AND: ​Get up to $100 in matching deposit credit when you sign up to try PrizePicks - and use promo code GOODSEATS!

Bleeding Green: A History of the Hartford Whalers - buy book here

EPISODE 279: Larry Csonka

He's enshrined as a member of the College Football Hall of Fame for his record-breaking, two-time consensus All-American fullback rushing career at Syracuse in the mid-1960s.

He's an inductee of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, most notably for his dominant rushing prowess with the Don Shula-coached Miami Dolphins of the early 1970s - and his leading role in the club's three consecutive Super Bowl appearances, two back-to-back NFL titles, and its unparalleled perfect undefeated season in 1972.

But in our conversation this week with legendary gridiron star Larry Csonka ("Head On: A Memoir"), we digress (and obsess) into some of the lesser-known chapters of an impressively unique career - including his first professional years with Miami as part of the old American Football League in the late 60s; a bombshell move (along with Dolphin teammates Paul Warfield and Jim Kiick) to the upstart World Football League's Memphis Southmen (née Toronto Northmen) in 1974; and front office roles with the original USFL's Jacksonville Bulls (1984-85).

Head On: A Memoir - buy book here