Monthly Archives: September 2012

Unreadable Episode 2: Tim Layden

I’m in Chicago this week, far away from my precious audio equipment, so for Episode 2 we’re re-running an interview with Sports Illustrated senior writer Tim Layden from the Walk-Ons podcast in July. Tim has been with SI since 1994, and came up in the newspaper world for 15 years before that. We talk to him about his career, the changing face of journalism (as always!), the breaks he’s had along the way, what qualities help a writer make it to the top and avoid burn-out, and what qualities spell disaster. Later, we talk about the Olympics and his (then) upcoming trip to London.

Unreadable is now on iTunes, and you can subscribe to the podcast here. Just click “view in iTunes” once you reach that link, and then ‘subscribe for free.’ Voila. If you like it, you could do me a huge solid and give us a 5-star rating, and maybe even write something nice in the comments.

You can also access our podcast RSS feed.

If you need to download the file directly, this’ll do it. Enjoy!

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The Walk-Ons: Now Slightly More Offensive!

Today the triumvirate is back, and we’re talking about our old pal Billy Gillispie and his penchant for psychologically attacking high schoolers, the St. Mary’s possibly-Australian-themed NCAA investigation, Tami-Tam Hansbrough and her relative cleanliness, Pat Forde’s demand that Coach K investigate the Lance Thomas scandal PERSONALLY, the return of Steve Lavin and the viability of St. John’s basketball, and much else. We also go off topic to discuss the time Matt threw Tony Reali out of a rec league basketball game, Ben’s temper as a soccer coach, the strange position of “sports columnist,” and why it even exists on the web, whether or not Duke is the hardest place to play in college basketball, the extent of Matt’s outrageous arrogance, and the logistics of being a Siamese twin. Slightly offensive for some segments of the population.

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If you need to download the file directly, this’ll do it. Enjoy!

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The Walk-Ons: Roy, Lance, Fish Jokes, and the Team Scandal Draft

Matt’s going fishing, so today we’re talking about how to help kids engage at the Kentucky Fish & Game reservoir via the use of some classic fish jokes we looked up online. We also talk about Roy’s hospitalization and Ed O’Bannon’s lawsuit against the NCAA, and Ben organizes an NCAA scandal draft where the three of us choose teams we think might have some minor to major trouble over the coming year. A spirited 40 minutes. Minimal awkward talk, some homerism, and a discussion of why Coach K is the greatest human on earth.

Be a pal and subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Just click “view in iTunes” once you reach that link, and then ‘subscribe for free.’ Voila. If you’re feeling really generous, you could also rate the podcast and write a positive review.

You can also access our podcast RSS feed.

If you need to download the file directly, this’ll do it. Enjoy!

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Unreadable, Episode 1: Gregg Doyel

CBS Sports columnist Gregg Doyel joins me for the first episode of Unreadable, the new podcast dedicated to exploring the hearts and minds of sports journalists. In this conversation, we talk about how being an introvert helped drive him to writing, his aggressive approach to his column, the perils and benefits of ego, the inevitability of creating enemies (hey, Jay Mariotti!) in the business, the aftermath of confronting LeBron James, the necessity of admitting you’re wrong, and what it’s really like to be the occasional target of internet hate. Gregg grew up all over America, was an all-state baseball and soccer player in high school, attended the University of Florida, worked in newspapers for a decade, and has been writing for CBS since 2003.

This is the first episode of Unreadable with Shane Ryan, ME. Most of the time when you hear a journalist speak, he or she is on tv or radio talking about something else. The goal here is to “stand on the shoulders” of (steal from) giants like Marc Maron, and invite sports journalists to have a conversation about themselves- their careers, their ideas, their origins, etc. Hopefully it works. Enjoy.

You can download the mp3 file directly here, and it will be on iTunes in a day or so. Will update with that info when it goes up.

 

Time Stamps:

0:00 – Introduction, bumbling “Unreadable” mission statement
3:00 – Gregg Doyel thought I was a stalker sherpa on skype
4:00 – Gregg talks about the Nick Saban press conference, and the depressing part of his job/internet hate/the strength involved in admitting you’re wrong/the problem with access control
15:00 – Childhood, growing up all over America, living alone as a high schooler
17:30 – How boxing has helped him feel more comfortable and braver in social settings
19:00 – The effects of being a child of divorce and a natural introvert on a writer
21:00 – The inevitability of becoming a sports writer, childhood origins, love for Norman Mailer and non-sports writing
24:00 – How he’s avoided burning out on writing sports even though he lost interest in watching the games
27:00 – The development from an overconfident, egotistical kid to a more humble writer, and pissing people off along the way
32:00 – How his time at the Miami Herald brought him down to earth
35:40 – The difficulty of offering advice to young writers
38:00 – Moving up the newspaper ladder, from Tampa to Miami to Charlotte to CBS
40:00 – Editors love him, he loves editors, and why Dan LeBatard is responsible
43:00 – Why nobody likes Lupica or Mariotti or Whitlock, and why he hates being compared to them
44:20 – Why he refuses to fake a perspective, and how he avoids it
46:00 – Confronting LeBron James at the 2011 Finals, and the immediate and widespread fallout, and why the reaction form the journalism world was misguided
50:25 – Making enemies with other journalist, confrontation with Jay Mariotti at an NCAA regional
52:45 – How the Jim Rome show introduced him to the good feeling of dressing up
54:00 – How he got into boxing, and how he boxes like he writes, “fearless to the point of going too far”
56:30 – The relationship between the mainstream media and independent bloggers, and his need for financial security
58:00 – The needle in a haystack paradigm of making it in online sports journalism
1:00:00 – How his perception of twitter has changed since dissing it on CNN in 2009
1:02:30 – His favorite writers, his lack of hobbies, and the difficulty relaxing

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The Walk-Ons: Talking Purvis, Thorp, Calhoun, and More

It’s the second episode of the Matt Jones era, and it’s been an active week in the college basketball world. Jim Calhoun retired, Holden Thorp will resign, Billy Gillispie is back from the Mayo Clinic, and Rodney Purvis was finally cleared to play at N.C. State. We hit all these topics, list our most overrated and underrated coaches, and get three irate voicemails from an insane Pac-12 fan who thinks we’re ignoring his favorite conference.

Please subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Just click “view in iTunes” once you reach that link, and then ‘subscribe for free.’ Voila. If you’re feeling really like a million bucks, you could also rate the podcast and write a positive review.

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If you need to download the file directly, this’ll do it. Enjoy!

 

And now, check out our first voicemail from a crazy Kentucky fan! This call came in at 2:30am Monday night. Push play to listen.

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The Walk-Ons: Revolutionary Changes

Today we give a big Walk-Ons hello to our third co-host, the charming Kentuckian Matt Jones. Matt is a force in the world of independent basketball media, covering Kentucky and all of college hoops through his site Kentucky Sports Radio. He’s also written for CBS, Grantland, and various other joints, and we’re thrilled to have him on board. Today, he, Ben, and I take a pyschedelic tour through the shady world of offseason college basketball, stopping to take longer looks at Billy Gillespie, Nerlens Noel, Rodney Purvis, and Shabazz Muhammad. We also grill Matt in the opening so our listeners will have a sense of where he’s coming from. Turns out, he resents trust fund kids just like me. Ben is curiously mum on the subject…has anyone checked his financials lately?

Please subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Just click “view in iTunes” once you reach that link, and then ‘subscribe for free.’ Voila. If you’re feeling really like a million bucks, you could also rate the podcast and write a positive review.

You can also access our podcast RSS feed.

If you need to download the file directly, this’ll do it. Enjoy!

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