The Big Lead conducted a myriad of interviews this year. If you need some reading material over the next few days, take a look back at some of our favorites:
1. Robert Lipsyte
RG: Mickey Mantle is deified by the generation that grew up watching him. You wrote in your memoir about a time that he was pretty rude to you as a young reporter, and that this was essentially standard practice with how he treated journalists. If he played in today’s hypersocial, up-to-the-second media landscape, fans would be more privy to his temperament and some of his off-field indulgences inevitably would’ve wound up places like TMZ, Deadspin, and our site. This might be an impossible question to answer, but if you could transport him to today, how differently do you think he’d be perceived by fans and the media?
RL: It’s a great question, Ryan, because by thinking about it, you start to think about how we are treating this generation of big, rich, handsome hormone-driven child men. Mickey was 19 when he hit New York in 1951, suddenly free of the Oklahoma mines. He stuffed his insecurity by screwing and drinking. His story – father issues, early marriage and kids, wild companions, no real guidance from the club – gets repeated every season, every sport. Most of the current Mickey Mantles are separated from media and fans by economic and racial divides – which he was not. There are always a few superstars that are so important to their sports that they are protected – Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, most obviously – until they can’t be. It’s open media season on most of the rest. I’m torn. Is it the Faustian bargain of celebrity? Don’t they deserve privacy? Is there such a thing anymore? And do we keep exposing their lives to prop up the myth that they are somehow socially important?
2. Erik Rydholm, Executive Producer of PTI
Q: On the chemistry end, it seems pronounced that it’s better when both PTI hosts — be it Mike and Tony, or with guests — are in-studio. It also feels like that’s been more of a priority over, say, the past year. Is there something to that?
ER: Absolutely, and it wasn’t even just recently. We have from the start. But, the problem is — and this is a high-class problem to have — that you have a successful show. Because it’s a successful show, these guys — and the rest of us — end up getting opportunities that we wouldn’t have gotten. Tony got to be on Monday Night Football, so for three seasons he was essentially going to have to be on the road during the entire football season.
Mike was on the NBA show, and has been a key contributing member to ESPN’s NBA content ever since we started on this show. Because of that, and especially when he was in Los Angeles on the NBA countdown set, he was on the road a ton. We felt that this did put a great challenge in the chemistry. It’s weird. Chemistry’s an odd thing because a couple of things happen when you go on-remote, when people are separated by satellite. One, they tend to talk louder, which sounds ridiculous because you have a microphone on and they can clearly hear you, but because you’re staring at them on this screen across the room it’s just natural that you start to yell.
Also, because you can’t always see them — we’re playing video, and different things like that — you can’t always read their faces when they want to get in, or when they’re about to disagree with you. You can’t always read that in the way that you can when you’re sitting across the desk from them. That chemistry and cadence tends to play off in the satellite with less continuity, so it doesn’t feel as much like a collaboration. It feels less like jazz.
3. Katie Nolan
MC: Obviously a lot of what you do is tied to, for lack of a better term, “Internet culture.”How do you strike a balance between laughing at something and laughing with something?
KN: The hardest thing for me with the Internet stuff is that you want to stay connected to your fans because they’re the people who got you to where you are. They’re the ones who’ve been watching my YouTube videos since there were only 10 of them. You feel like you owe them something because honestly if it weren’t for them, you wouldn’t be where you are but you also get on this different level when you’re on television. Everyone is like, ‘don’t respond to this’. ‘Don’t interact with people.’ What I’ve found very difficult to grasp is straddling the Internet world and the television world. You kind of have to do it on your own and figure it out on your own what you can do and what you shouldn’t do. It’s tough. I’m only eight months in and it’s very tough to grasp.
4. Jeff Pearlman
RG: You received a bit of backlash over personal details that you uncovered in your biography of Walter Payton. What do you think is it about athletes in particular that people get so defensive about when a complete picture is painted of their lives off the field?
JP: A bit? Ha. I think people take ownership of athletes. Not merely in a fantasy sports sort of way, but in a “This is our guy!” mode of thinking. I mean, let’s use Walter Payton as an example. Before the book came out—literally, before he read a word—Michael Wilbon wrote a column slamming me for authoring “Sweetness.” Why? Because he was from Chicago, and Walter was Chicago’s guy. And you don’t mess with that sort of bond. You can write glowingly and lovingly. But once you get dark … well, no. Not allowed.
The thing is, that’s bullshit. And dumb. Maybe it’s just optimistic thinking, but I believe a sports biographer is a sports historian, just as Robert Caro is a Lyndon Johnson historian and David Herbert Donald is an Abe Lincoln historian. You’re writing about something in the hopes that—when it’s done—it will exist as the authoritative record on the subject. And not merely about the sports side of things (Payton’s rushing yards and touchdowns), but the entirety of the person, or team, or era. I want to know what makes a person tick. I want to understand the triumphs and the hardships. I want to hear about struggles. As I said repeatedly in 2011, why is it so awful to learn that Walter Payton suffered through depression and suicidal thoughts? Isn’t he more of a man, battling through his difficulties? Doesn’t that make him more impressive? And, if nothing else, more real? These are people. All of them. They shit. They fart. The burp. They make mistakes, just like we do. Why is it wrong to know that?
5. Jim Calhoun
Q: Were you disappointed with the overall quality of play in the Big East Tournament after decades of classic games and rivalries were eroded by conference realignment?
[It’s not necessarily conference realignment so much as the evolution of the college game in general.] Just think if Anthony Davis was now a junior. Andre Drummond would be a junior for us right now, and he’s leading the NBA in offensive rebounding. You take those 30-50-60 guys, and put them in college, there would be some really powerful teams.
So, I think the product we’re putting out is very good and competitive, but the skill level is also not quite what it’s been. I don’t think that’s necessarily bad — it’s just a fact of life. With the two-year rule essentially doubling the amount of great players who stay, I think the product will be better the next year, the year after, and so on. So, I’m encouraged by the future. That’s the best way to put it. I am disappointed the basketball’s not quite as good right now — the quality from a fan standpoint is still wonderful, but the kind of players can’t compare to what it once was.
I just watched the 30 for 30 documentary on the Big East, and saw Pearl Washington, Patrick Ewing, Walter Berry, and Chris Mullin. Those guys were staying 3+ years. In my tenure, I had nearly 20 players leave early, but [most of them had developed more than most in this day and age]. Emeka Okafor left after his junior season, but he was the national player of the year. The longer they stay, the better it is for the sport. I think this proposed new rule in the NBA will help tip it that way.
6. John Smoltz
MC: You pitched through the changes in the playoff format. You guys were in the playoffs so often, how much did it change when they added the Divisional Series. Did that change your whole approach? Now, obviously, there’s the Wild Card play-in round which both these teams went through, does that make a different approach for a club in October knowing you have to win that extra session?
JS: You think about ’91, ’91 was so incredible the way we were able to chase down a couple teams and win the division and then go on with two seven-game series. I don’t think there is going to be another 1991 in that two last-place teams are in the World Series, you have two epic seven-game series. When ’95 rolled around and they introduced the Wild Card, I’m reminded about how hard it was for us. We’d been to two World Series already and hadn’t won them. We go to our third, but we had to start in a new format, on the road in a best-of-5 in this new introduced Wild Card against the Colorado Rockies, I don’t know if you remember how great they were, I just remember the journey being that much harder. From that point on there’s been some tweaks to the elimination game. Again, I don’t think anyone could have ever envisioned two Wild Card elimination games and two teams getting into the World Series after playing a one-game playoff, basically.
7. Jim Ross
RG: As I wrote a couple weeks ago, in Part 1 of your podcast with Shawn Michaels you addressed the criticism that you receive from your Twitter followers about today’s WWE announcers, and you said that it’s unfair to take it out on them as individuals because they’re adhering to strict guidelines. You specifically talked about ‘yelling’ and said that they’re told not to yell ‘at’ their audience. Is that something Vince McMahon ever said to you, and do you think the stylistic differences in how you and he prefer the broadcast should be done is the biggest reason why you’re not currently a WWE announcer?
JR: He’s told me many times not to yell at the audience. My interpretation of yelling: I got excited, I was emotionally invested in the fans, and my style was that of an old school sportscaster. If the moment merited raising one’s voice or tone or inflection, I did that organically and naturally. It just happened. Sometimes, Vince didn’t share my timing, obviously, so he would tell me not to yell at the audience.
He may have been right on some of those occasions, and I think that sometimes I was right. That was my style. That was how I worked. I presented the product with a little bit of gusto, and a little bit more fuel in my tank. I don’t know how to answer your question. I don’t think that my yelling was the reason, per se — I was there 20 years. I had done everything from broadcasting to administration to becoming an executive vice president. I had a lot of health issues that had to be addressed, or I wouldn’t be here talking to you right now. It was time that I needed to get away from the weekly grind of travel, and the pressure with my job description, and I was not the type of guy who was going to take myself out of the game.
That wasn’t me, and the longer I kept trying to maintain that schedule, the tougher it was gonna be. Gosh, I had a perforated intestine, and I was 30 days away from passing, and I had perpetual stomach aches 24/7. I didn’t realize that my intestines were perforated and I was poisoning myself. I didn’t take time to go to the doctor to get it checked out — I just knew something was wrong — and we just agreed for me to go back to Oklahoma and get it checked out. I was still traveling, doing SmackDown at the time, I believe, and I had acute sleep apnea that had, as of then, gone undiagnosed.
If I had kept going, there was going to be one of those headlines that said ‘Good Ol’ JR Died in His Sleep’. There were health issues, and a lot of other things that were going on in that deal — it’s not as glamorous as saying there was a huge split. Vince and I had never agreed 100% on philosophy, but I’d bet you money that there are a lot of assistant coaches in various sports that don’t 100% agree with the philosophy of the head guy. It’s just being human.
I don’t want to say that my yelling was the reason — there were a lot of factors at play. Coming back to Oklahoma, focusing and learning about my health, and recovering was a lot more important than being on Monday Night Raw. Now that I’ve had my intestines removed and re-attached, am getting treated for sleep apnea, quit smoking, and am going to the gym 4-5 times per week, I’m going to live longer. That’s a helluva lot more important than some juicy story about Vince and me not getting along. I still communicate with Vince, he still communicates with me. We have great respect for each other. We share a lot of the same values regarding the product, and we disagree on some.
8. Ian Darke
MC: You were in England when the Donovan news came out, did it get any sort of reaction at all?
ID: It wasn’t a big story in England. There are other big (World Cup) stories, like no (Carlos) Tevez for Argentina, not a shock. Or no (Samir) Nasri for France, maybe a bit more of a shock. I was shocked that he (Donovan) wasn’t selected. He’s not the player he was four years ago, but I thought when Jurgen sat down to write down the 23 he’d think, I could do with having (Donovan) around even if it’s from the bench. So I did think it was a bombshell. I will say this, coaches are paid to make big calls and he’s made a very brave one. Brave, because if it goes wrong for the U.S., people are going to say, you know, ‘we could have done with Landon Donovan there. It might have been different with him.’
9. DJ Gallo*, Sports Pickle founder
RG: Can you describe how you feel when your commenters (like on this recent Saban “story”) don’t intuitively realize that they’re reading satire?
DJG: There are different kinds of readers on the site. There are those who are regular readers and know exactly what they’re getting into. Then there are those who are regular readers who suddenly don’t find things quite as funny when there’s an article about their favorite team or player. “I usually like this site, but this just isn’t funny. Swing and a miss!”
And then there are people — like the commenters on that Saban story — who come across a link to a fake news article on Facebook or on a message board and take it as 100-percent true (as everything on the Internet is true and most legit news outlets have “Pickle” in the name) and go insane. I appreciate the first group of readers the most, but the latter group provides me with the most personal enjoyment.
*Published at very end of 2013.
10. Bob Ryan
RG: This may sound like a silly question, but I’m genuinely curious: Say you were writing up a story for an away game on a typewriter. How did you file it to the Globe? What was the technological process?
BR: In the beginning, it was all about Western Union. In every arena in America, there was an apparatus for a Western Union guy. You typed it up, and you handed it directly to one of him directly, or some runner. Then he typed it up on this machine, like a typewriter — it’s called the Telex — and it would get to the office on another Telex. They ripped it off, sent it to the copy desk, and assigned someone to read the story and write the headline. The headline was written on a separate piece of paper and GLUED on top of the copy. The copy was rolled up, stuck into a pneumatic tube, sent downstairs to the composing room, typed into the Linotype machine, and then eventually printed.
Then came the advent of the copier machine on-site in the Western Union. Now you used 3M or some other brand, and put the copy in. It revolved around and around like a surgical drum, and it printed out a page every six minutes. And they got that at the other end, and went through the same process that I just described with the copy desk.
Eventually, as we get to the 80’s, the first machines came in that were kind of computer-like. Some of them were cumbersome and awful and heavy. Some of them had ability to print copy for you, others didn’t. There was all different kinds of stuff. You carried your own around on the road. They could be as large as suitcases. You had to check them and get them off the carousel. You took care of them yourself. Or, there were two companies that had services that would handle all that for you on the road, and they were very popular.
Eventually, we arrived where we are today with computers. It’s been this astonishing revelation where you used to have four middlemen before, and now you just hit one button and it goes directly to the office. Then they can hit another button and send it on its merry way.
11. Brent Musburger
JL: I know you probably don’t monitor Twitter as much, but there’s plenty of the younger generation that enjoys, say, the references to, oh, who might be up by eight late in the game. Do you throw some of that in for fun, knowing that people get a kick out of it?
BM: Yeah, it’s, you know, I’m kind of amused by it. I’m certainly aware of it, because of enough people who monitor Twitter talk to me. So I’m aware. You know, it’s not the biggest thing that’s going on tonight, but I’m well aware that Kansas is a double digit favorite, and I know how many points they’re expecting in this game, and I also know that the interest in sports, part of it is fueled by that. There are people out there, contrary to what the moguls might think — and it’s not, I try to tell people, I say listen, it’s not these guys you read about that are betting $50,000 on a game, that’s ridiculous, there’s a handful of guys that do that, and I say, most of them, most of them, are not successful, some are.
Most guys enjoy watching a game with a $20 bill bet on it, or a man to man bet of $10 with your buddy, and it enhances the game you are watching. It brings a different perspective to what you are taking a look at. You know, the NFL loves to say, well, we can’t have that, we don’t want to do that. Then out of the other side of their mouth, they are telling me I should play fantasy.
12. Stone Cold Steve Austin
RG: Was unionization ever an idea that came up during your time in WWE?
SCSA: The word “union” came up many times in my career, but the deal is that top guys get taken such good care of and middle guys are okay. Guys at the bottom, you know, are the guys at the bottom. So, you’re never gonna get true unity because the guys on top are making too much money to side with everyone else and forego their well-being. The thought of a union is intriguing. But, will it ever happen? I think not.
13. Scott Mitchell
RG: Over the past few years, what was an average day of eating like for you, and what would you do on a binge day?
SM: As an NFL player, you get exposed to really good food. Really rich food, and food that really isn’t that good for you. Like, ‘Hey, this is great, I want to indulge in this.’ You do carry that over when you retire. You just love eating food that tastes great and is rich in calories and all those great things that we love, like butter.
For me, when you ask about binge days, well, shoot, every day was a binge day. For breakfast, I was eating almost 1,600 calories. If you went to McDonald’s, it was at least three breakfast sandwiches, hash browns, and a large Coke. I live in Utah, and there are fast food Mexican restaurants that have these combination breakfast burritos that are full of potatoes, eggs, steak, bacon, and chorizo. The thing weighs about five pounds, and of course I’d also get a Coke.
My wife’s been trying to get me to eat healthy for so long. She would pack my lunch; I own a business and have about an hour commute, so I’d stop by some breakfast place, then I’d eat the lunch she’d prepared for me on my way to work. So I had my breakfast and my lunch before 8 am. And then, I’d eat snacks in my office, and I’d always go to lunch at a restaurant. Then I’d come home at night, and sometimes I’d stop and get fast food on the way home and then have dinner when I got home. My day was a binge, and it started at breakfast.
14. Jahlil Okafor
RG: How would you feel if Adam Silver mandated that your class must spend two years in college before entering the NBA?
JO: I didn’t know that that might affect our class. I’m excited to go to Duke. I think about it every day, living in Durham and learning under the leadership of Coach K. Two years there wouldn’t hurt me at all — it’d definitely benefit me. Whatever happens, happens, right now I’m just happy that I’m going to college. I definitely think it’s premature for me. I mean, I’m still in high school. When this is all over, I have to go back to class on Thursday, and I still have to graduate. I have a long way to go.
15. Wade Phillips
RG: You’ve seen and coached some of the best football players of all-time in your life. We don’t know what’s going to happen going forward with health and whatnot, but where does the level Watt’s been playing at for the past few years stack up against the peaks of other greats?
WP: Well, I said two years ago that he had the best season any defensive lineman’s ever had. He had over 20 sacks. He had I-don’t-know-how-many hits on the quarterback, tackles for a loss, batted passes, tackles, assists. He had all of those things in one year that nobody’s ever done. I still believe it was the best year anybody’s ever had, because he had the combination of six or seven things and excelled in all of them. He makes some of the greatest plays that I’ve ever seen, and of course I saw Bruce Smith and Reggie White, who were fantastic too. He’s got a real knack for the football, and he’s consistent at doing it. He’s a tremendous guy and a hard worker and he’s going to keep it up because of his work ethic.
16. Kevin Iole
RG: Dana White famously said that there would “never” be a women’s division, and reconsidered that pretty much entirely because of Rousey. What do you think happens if she wins this fight, but then abruptly retires from UFC to become a full-time movie star? What is the contingent scenario for the whole division if that were to happen?
KI: It would be very scary. I think they need to develop the women’s division. Right now, it’s still in its infancy, so if Ronda were to fight tomorrow and then leave, it would be disastrous. There’s nobodyelse out there that you can put in the headline of a PPV and sell a lot of tickets.
I think you could put non-Rousey women’s matches in the undercard — Miesha Tate would be recognized, but I’m not sure too many of the rest of them would be. That’s going to be a problem. As time goes on, these are really good fighters who are competitive and put on good events, so people will get to know them. But it’s one of those things that Ronda is the vehicle through which they will get known. If she leaves tomorrow, it will relegate women to a niche portion and it’s just gonna be a certain segment of the hardcore fan base that will follow it.
17. Dom Cosentino, NJ.com Jets beat writer
JM: I can’t think of many writers who left Deadspin or any other sports websites who then go into a life of full-time reporting in the mainstream media. In a way, you’re the most impressive Deadspin/sports blogging alum. Have the Jets treated you as “that sports blogger”? How have things gone with other writers on the Jets beat, which is one notorious for in-fighting and squabbles?
DC: I appreciate the sentiment, but there are a number of Deadspin alums doing full-time reporting work. Honestly, the Jets have treated me like anyone else. That goes for the players and coaches, the PR staff, and most of the rest of the beat crew. My writing might sometimes be a little different from everyone else’s, but I approach the job like any other reporter. It’s not like I’m in the locker room trying to pants Bob Glauber just so I can blog about it, though that’s probably not a bad idea (hi, Bob!).
18. Jeff Goodman
JL: What coaches, when you go work as part of a game broadcast or story, are the best to work with, knowing you won’t reveal too much, but will give you what you need?
JG: Tom Izzo is insanely good. To whereas there are a lot of times, he’ll say something, I won’t write it. He’ll never say it’s off the record, but I won’t write it, just because I know better, I know that’s something that is really flammable, that I just wouldn’t do. You have to know that, and I didn’t necessarily know that ten years ago. Ten years ago, maybe even five years ago, I was more in it to make a name for myself. Break the story, write all the things that are going to be flammable, get the attention. Now, I get beat on stories. I don’t love it, but I understand the end-game.
19. Jim Ross (again)
RG: Lawrence Taylor headlined a WrestleMania. WCW brought in Steve McMichael, Kevin Greene, Karl Malone, and Dennis Rodman. How come it seems like they haven’t gone after athletes like that in the last 15 years?
JR: I don’t know that they haven’t, and I also don’t know if some of the contracts of these NFL guys are restrictive of things like that. My God, they can’t ride a motorcycle. I don’t know. I think you’re going down a road that doesn’t end anywhere with that question. The generation of football players now, you can’t find very many guys who have had real success in the NFL that want to go and devote the effort and work you need to become really good at pro wrestling.
Lawrence Taylor was broke. He had great name identity, and he needed the money. He trained like a crazy man and pushed himself to be ready. We had a great performer in Bam Bam Bigelow to carry the match, and Pat Patterson was the referee to make sure he could talk to LT and guide him through it. That’s the exception to the rule. You’re just not gonna find a great star who’s fallen on hard times and is willing to put in the hellacious effort to make it work. He was a one-hit wonder, and it was never going to be anything more than that.
A lot of guys who have had long NFL careers don’t feel motivated to make the money that’s there for them in WWE based on what’s there for them from playing football. They want something for nothing. They want to be paid more than they might be worth. It’s a hard transition, and it’s just not a good fit sometimes. You mentioned Steve McMichael. That didn’t really work out in the long run. He was a role player. Now, you get some guys who were in the league for 2-3 years and flamed out, there are some people like that in NXT. That’s a different animal. Not just anybody can be a pro wrestler. The training is not anything like what people think it will be.
20: RJ Bell
RG: As TBL discussed after the Super Bowl, it seems like the most prominent Vegas sportsbooks had a sizable position on the Seahawks. You mentioned that 2/3’s of total public bets appeared to be in favor of Denver, and David Purdum had similar numbers. Given that they didn’t adjust the line to spur more equal wagering on each side, it seems like they were more or less okay with effectively betting on Seattle. The Seahawks win was so dominant that it almost seems inevitable in retrospect, but can you go over the thought process that leads the books to gamble their own money against the public in games?
RJB: I guess there’s two questions there: What made them like Seattle, and how unusual is it that they would take such a position in them? The classic belief is that the bookmakers want to have 50/50 action, and then they win either way. That’s not something that they would hate in a given situation, but they’re also willing to be lopsided on one team sometimes.
What are the factors that makes them willing to risk that? One of the factors is going to be their opinion on the game — do they have a preference on a side? Another is how much money is at stake. For most events — even an NFL game during the regular season that’s bet heavily — it’s not a significant enough decision, even if they’re lopsided at 80/20, that it’s gonna affect their monthly net profit in a way substantial enough for the bosses upstairs to have a problem with it.
The Super Bowl is the exception — it’s a game where, if they’re lopsided and they’re wrong, it could really clearly affect their bottom line. Not even just for that week, but for the month and even longer. The bookmakers I talked to on the Seahawks-Broncos Super Bowl did like Seattle, and I think we saw clearly they were correct.
The number did open up in some spots with Seattle as 2-point favorites, so clearly that was their number. Within the first hour, Denver was bet up to the favorite, and soon enough they were giving 2.5 points. So, if you’re a bookmaker and you believe that Seattle should be laying two, but you’re operating a book where they’re getting 2.5 and you have the VIG to your advantage, that’s a formula where you’re willing to be lopsided.
Specifically with Seattle, I think because of that line move initially they were comfortable with the position. But, each book had a finite amount it was willing to risk. Specifically, South Point moved the number to three a few times to get a bunch of action on the underdogs, and then moved it back to 2.5 — they were mitigating their risk.