Category Archives: Uncategorized

https://newbooksnetwork.com/out-of-bounds Highly promising basketball player Chris Washburn was selected third overall in the 1986 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors. But a chance encounter with famed basketball player Len Bias introduced him to crack cocaine. Soon, the overwhelming temptations of fame, fortune, and drugs derailed his promising career. And by 1989, after failing hisContinue reading “Podcast with Chris Washburn and Ron Chepesiuk about their book Out of Bounds: From Broken NBA Dreams to Redemption”

https://newbooksnetwork.com/harry-bucky-lew Harry “Bucky” Lew leapt over pro basketball’s color wall in 1902 and continued to integrate every single role in the game over the next 25 years. He was the first Black player, coach, manager, referee, and franchise owner in otherwise white leagues. His accomplishments were well documented in the newspapers of his day, butContinue reading “Podcast with Chris Boucher, author of Harry “Bucky” Lew: A Biography of the First Black Professional Basketball Player”

https://newbooksnetwork.com/sports-chaos What happens when sports decision-making collides with business interests, legal battles, and moral dilemmas? Sports Chaos dives into the unpredictable world where experts, executives, and athletes must navigate high-stakes choices that shape the future of sports. From billion-dollar deals to ethical debates over owner and athlete behavior, this book unpacks The Colliding Reasons Problem,Continue reading “Podcast with the authors of Sports Chaos: Exploring the Reasons Behind Expert Business, Legal, and Moral Decisions”

https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-last-gladiator William Muldoon was an infamous athlete whose prowess, savvy, and chicanery across his six-decade career led him to wealth, cultural importance, and political power. Muldoon, the child of poor Irish immigrants, began wrestling in the 1870s and quickly became one of the most famous athletes of the post–Civil War era. He started acting andContinue reading “Podcast with Scott Beekman about his new book The Last Gladiator: William Muldoon and the Making of American Sports”

https://newbooksnetwork.com/hero-redefined Heroes aren’t just the ones who bring home medals. Hero Redefined: Profiles of Olympic Athletes Under the Radar (Clever Cleever, 2025) delves into the lesser-known stories of Olympic athletes—and a couple of special Olympic venues—that challenge the conventional narrative of glory and gold. In riveting personal profiles exploring herculean feats of strength, perseverance, and sportsmanship, award-winning sportsContinue reading “Podcast with Doug Levy about his book Hero Redefined: Profiles of Olympic Athletes Under the Radar”

https://newbooksnetwork.com/gift-and-grit In 1998, Bill Clinton hosted a town hall on race and sports. ‘If you’ve got a special gift,’ the president said of athletes, ‘you owe more back.’ Gift and Grit shows how the sports industry has incubated racial ideas about advantage and social debt since the civil rights era by sorting athletes into two broad categories.Continue reading “Podcast with Joseph Darda, author of Gift and Grit: Race, Sports, and the Construction of Social Debt”

https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-warrior In The Warrior: Rafael Nadal and His Kingdom of Clay (Grand Central Publishing, 2025) Christopher Clarey illuminates the skill and determination it took to accomplish Rafael Nadal’s most mind-blowing achievement: 14 French Open titles. Nadal has won big on tennis’s many surfaces en route to becoming one of the greatest players of all time: securing two WimbledonContinue reading “Podcast with Christopher Clarey about his new book The Warrior: Rafael Nadal and His Kingdom of Clay”

https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-nbas-global-empire During the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, the Dream Team, a collective of the National Basketball Association’s top talent led by Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Charles Barkley, shook up the world as they amazed spectators and opponents on their way to winning gold. Their success introduced the world to the NBA’sContinue reading “Podcast with Joshua Wright about his new book The NBA’s Global Empire: How the League Became an International Powerhouse”

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-128-round-2-preview-the-garden-wars/id1693742494?i=1000705805460