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Miss falling asleep listening to a baseball game on your AM radio? Well, here you go. Baseball on the radio is like Mom and apple pie.
Here are 10 minutes and you can put it on loop and fall asleep to the soothing and familiar voices broadcasting baseball.
Relax and sleep well.
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Great to talk with Haley Shapely this week!
A stirring and vibrant account of women’s athleticism throughout history, journalist Haley Shapley’s STRONG LIKE HER: A Celebration of Rule Breakers, History Makers, and Unstoppable Athletes (2024; Gallery Books) “will leave readers feeling inspired and powerful” (Ms. Magazine).
Part group biography, part cultural history, Strong Like Her delves into the fascinating stories of our muscular foremothers. From the first female Olympian (who entered the chariot race through a loophole) to the circus stars who could lift their husbands above their heads and make it look like “a little light housework with a feather duster,” these brave and brawny women paved the way for the generations to follow.
Filled with Sophy Holland’s beautiful portraits of some of today’s most awe-inspiring athletes, including Peloton instructor Robin Arzón, bodybuilder Dana Linn Bailey, powerlifter Meg Gallagher, celebrity fitness trainer Jen Widerstrom, CrossFit enthusiast Lindy Barber, WNBA vet Holly Rilinger, climber Margo Hayes, and many more, Strong Like Her is “a love letter to muscles and the women who rock them so gloriously” (Shape).
Haley Shapley is an award-winning journalist whose writing has appeared in SELF, Teen Vogue, American Way, Shape, Sierra, and the Telegraph. An Olympics superfan and exercise enthusiast, Shapley has cycled 206 miles from Seattle to Portland, summited the highest glaciated peak in the continental U.S., competed in a bodybuilding show, and run a marathon. She lives in Seattle.
Link: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Strong-Like-Her/Haley-Shapley/9781982120856
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Rick talks with University of Wisconsin professor and author, Ashley Brown this week.
She’s the author of Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson.
The most comprehensive biography of Althea Gibson, set against the major historical developments of the twentieth century
Based on previously unpublished archival sources, news media accounts, and oral histories
A nuanced examination of a woman’s experience as an elite athlete
Places a woman at the center of sports integration
From her start playing paddle tennis on the streets of Harlem as a young teenager to her eleven Grand Slam tennis wins to her professional golf career, Althea Gibson became the most famous black sportswoman of the mid-twentieth century. In her unprecedented athletic career, she was the first African American to win titles at the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.
In this comprehensive biography, Ashley Brown narrates the public career and private struggles of Althea Gibson (1927-2003). Based on extensive archival work and oral histories, Serving Herself sets Gibson’s life and choices against the backdrop of the Great Migration, Jim Crow racism, the integration of American sports, the civil rights movement, the Cold War, and second wave feminism. Throughout her life Gibson continuously negotiated the expectations of her supporters and adversaries, including her patrons in the black-led American Tennis Association, the white-led United States Lawn Tennis Association, and the media, particularly the Black press and community’s expectations that she selflessly serve as a representative of her race. An incredibly talented, ultra-competitive, and not always likeable athlete, Gibson wanted to be treated as an individual first and foremost, not as a member of a specific race or gender. She was reluctant to speak openly about the indignities and prejudices she navigated as an African American woman, though she faced numerous institutional and societal barriers in achieving her goals. She frequently bucked conventional norms of femininity and put her career ahead of romantic relationships, making her personal life the subject of constant scrutiny and rumors. Despite her major wins and international recognition, including a ticker tape parade in New York City and the covers of Sports Illustrated and Time, Gibson endeavored to find commercial sponsorship and permanent economic stability. Committed to self-sufficiency, she pivoted from the elite amateur tennis circuit to State Department-sponsored goodwill tours, attempts to find success as a singer and Hollywood actress, the professional golf circuit, a tour with the Harlem Globetrotters and her own professional tennis tour, coaching, teaching children at tennis clinics, and a stint as New Jersey Athletics Commissioner. As she struggled to support herself in old age, she was left with disappointment, recounting her past achievements decades before female tennis players were able to garner substantial earnings.
A compelling life and times portrait, Serving Herself offers a revealing look at the rise and fall of a fiercely independent trailblazer who satisfied her own needs and simultaneously set a pathbreaking course for Black athletes.
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As anticipation builds for the 2024 Olympics, a new book from Glenn Allen and Richard Kaufman takes readers back to the contentious atmosphere surrounding the Summer Games hosted by the Nazi regime, when the nations of the world had a chance to turn their backs on Hitler’s propaganda-laden spectacle — but didn’t. Their book, PLAYED: The Games of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, brings to life pivotal characters, both good and bad, to depict a cautionary story that serves to warn the modern era that history must not repeat itself.
Kaufman joins Rick this week.
Based on real stories and real people involved in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, PLAYED plunges readers into a compelling, fictionalized account of the insanity and hysteria that unfolded across Germany, the United States and in much of the world from 1931 through 1936.
At the center of the controversy in the U.S. is American Olympic Committee President Avery Brundage. Unmoved by the new Nazi regime’s anti-Jewish doctrines, Brundage leads the fight to participate in the 1936 Berlin Games after much debate of a U.S. boycott. Brundage desperately wants to be on the International Olympic Committee. If he doesn’t get the Americans to Berlin, he can kiss that dream goodbye.
When the vote is decided in Brundage’s favor, AP Sports Editor Alan J. Gould, friend and champion of the athletes, travels to Berlin to cover all of the “games” being played. Through his eyes readers see the machinations of Brundage’s complicity with the Nazis, the tenacity of the proud American athletes and the extreme pressure from the Nazis on their German athletes. Their stories, heartbreaking and tragic, give rise to feats of heroism that go beyond the playing field.
Along the way readers meet some of the most famous people of the time: Mae West, Charlie Chaplin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Joseph Goebbels, Leni Riefenstahl, Eva Braun and the madman himself, who vowed to “make Germany great again,” Adolf Hitler.
“Of course, we can’t go back in time and change history insomuch as we can change the outcome of a sporting event,” the authors added. “But we’re obligated to study history because it teaches us how to move forward. At least we hope it does.”
About the Authors
Richard Kaufman and Glenn Allen have been writing together for over 25 years. They have numerous projects in development, including scripted feature films, docuseries, television series, and have co-written and produced two award-winning independent films, all under the banner Green Bandana, a TV/film development company the two co-created in 2015.
Book: PLAYED: The Games of the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Website(s): www.greenbandana.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richard.a.kaufman
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It’s Final Four week.. what helps make a successful shooter?
Rick is joined again by Davyeon Ross, Co-Founder, CEO and President of ShotTracker, this week.
There is a lot going on at ShotTracker.
ShotTracker is a revolutionary sensor-based system that delivers statistics and analytics to teams, fans and broadcast networks instantly, enhancing the experience of the game — both on and off the court.
ShotTracker tracks more than 70 stats for your team. Real-time stats at your fingertips.
Ross played basketball at Benedictine College and founded Digital Sports VENTURES, an interactive technology company, which was sold to Digital Broadcasting
Group in 2011.
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Rapsodo, the company known for leading the revolution to affordable, pro-grade sports technology to help athletes play like never before, recently announced the addition of R-Speed for all Premium Members on the mobile app for the Rapsodo Mobile Launch Monitor (MLM) and Mobile Launch Monitor 2 PRO (MLM2PRO™).
Have a listen to Rick and Matt.
R-Speed is a swing speed platform that measures the speed of the golf club when swung as well as speed training clubs, without the need for impact on a golf ball. Users can measure their swing in three different units: mph, mps or kph. The feature is compatible with both golf clubs and swing speed training programs. “It’s fantastic that Rapsodo has added the ability to measure clubhead speed without ball contact. I completed my last Stack session using the MLM2PRO. The speeds were accurate and it was handy to be able to watch a down the line view of my Stack swing after each rep.” said golf biomechanist, Dr. Sasho MacKenzie, Co-Founder of The Stack.
Designed to help golfers increase the speed of their golf swing, R-Speed allows users to practice and track their swing without needing to hit a golf ball. Perfect for practice sessions, R-Speed will help users increase their swing speed which will ultimately train them to hit the ball farther.
Players can record, monitor and track their R-Speed progress through Rapsodo’s new feature R-Cloud. R-Cloud, which launched in December of 2023, is a web-based platform that allows users to access their entire performance history for MLM and MLM2PRO™ sessions. With access to their performance history, players can monitor and analyze their progress to improve their game performance.
“The addition of R-Speed to Rapsodo’s platform of innovative features will provide another opportunity for athletes at every level to improve their game and track their performance,” Rapsodo Director of Golf Shawn Curtis said.
R-Speed is only available to users with a Premium Membership. The MLM Premium Membership is $99 for one year and includes a number of extra features, and the MLM2PRO™ Premium Membership is $199 for one year, but the first year is included with purchase. The MLM, MLM2PRO™ and the Premium Memberships can all be purchased on www.rapsodo.com.
Rapsodo is on a mission to give athletes everywhere the tools they need to play like never before. Favored by MLB teams, D1 College Champions, and top-ranked PGA coaches, our motto of “Play Without Limits™,” is realized by leveling the playing field with affordable, professional grade technology. Innovation and category leadership in golf, baseball, and softball have been celebrated in MyGolfSpy’s Best Of Golf Awards and led to the Official Partner of USA Baseball. Getting more out of your game is always within reach with Rapsodo. Experience more at https://www.rapsodo.com/.
