Scorecard Scribblings

Ken Rudulph admittedly was not a fan of horse racing when he took a job with the-then fledgling TVG Horse Racing Network. Fast forward more than two decades, and he has forged a career in, around and beyond the world of horse racing that makes him one of the truly coolest guys I've known in the business. We talk about raising a kid in the biz, landing the long shot on live TV, playing music with his bands including Mama's Gravy and why you need to be careful when feeding a thoroughbred cookies. Even if you're not a racing nut, I think you'll enjoy this one. And you can catches podcast Bleav in Horse Racing on iTunes, and the Bleav Podcast Network. And check out www.scorecardscribblings.com for more.

Mike Benton has the polish of an NHL broadcaster, but just like the players whose games he calls, he has to earn his time on the ice at the top. These days - and since 2015 - he has been calling the play-by-play for one of the elite teams in the Canadian Hockey League's Junior tier, the Western Hockey League, the Everett (Washington) Silvertips. Every year a player or two gets drafted to the show from that team, and its just a matter of time before Mike gets his shot. For now, he's passing on what he's learned about the business to others, as he has developed into a great storyteller as well as live broadcaster. He touches on the sacrifices needed to make it as a pro broadcaster and shares new ways he is trying to reach out during this time of the Covid-19 pandemic.

For two decades he's been the man with the inside stuff in the Bay Area, and has authored books on both the Giants and 49ers. The Athletic is his primary place of biz, and even during the pandemic he's doing essential work - cranking out great sports stories in mid-season form. He talks Jimmy G., baseball cards and why he loves Roger Craig. Shockingly, we have the same favorite baseball movies, although his story is better.

Steve Physioc is a pro's pro... and it turns out he can handle some prose, too. I got to know him when I was in SoCal covering the Angels and he was their TV play-by-play guy. His career has been impressive - and he's been at it for a long, long time. His smooth voice and positive storytelling are among Physioc's hallmarks of craftsmanship. And his story of how a dream inspired him to write his first novel, The Walls of Lucci, is terrific. This is a guy you need to get to know and hopefully get some inspiration from during the Covid-19 hiatus form sports.

I've known Ben since he was a little bear cub, and frankly, the guy remains the nicest, most relatable pro in sports talk radio. He has brought fun to overnight sports talk radio for a long time with Fox Sports Radio on the Ben Maller Show, and you can also find his podcasts and live streams out there, too. Ben talks about growing up in SoCal, and eventually building his audience one late night listener at a time. We talk about the biz, his weird shift, Kobe, Tommy Lasorda, and a whole lot more. He's one of the world's most listened to radio hosts and is a down right great dude!

This one is from the archives - recorded in July 2019 just as his book was published and his story gained national prominence. Ryan O'Callaghan had a longer than average career in the NFL, but almost didn't survive the experience. He has a new book, My Life on the Line – and much of it deals with being a big macho offensive lineman who happens to be gay, and what that was like for him as a man and as a player and what he's doing now to help others in his retirement.

This filmmaker loves baseball and storytelling maybe even more than the host of Scorecard Scribblings. Jon's collection of min-baseball docs and long-form baseball pieces can be found on Vimeo on Demand and Amazon Prime. Just look for The Sweet Spot!

Redding Trail Alliance Executive Director Nathan Knudsen talks about bringing together government agencies, private resources and outdoors enthusiasts to string together, renew and build anew trails that mean so much to the lifestyle and tourism economy of the region. Episode recorded in January 2020. You can also learn more at reddingtrailalliance.org.

This one was recorded in November of 2019, and these women are a blast. Roller Derby is making a cool comeback all across the U-S and northern California won't be left behind. Props to Jim Croce and the movie Whip It!

January 29, 2020 One of the sports journalists who helped launch what has become – in my opinion – the most trusted sites for sports news and information, Yahoo!Sports, Alan Springer joins me live from Miami, the site of Super Bowl LIV. Alan talks about his career growing up as a sports producer in Los Angeles, where his work coincided with that of the late Kobe Bryant. He shares his personal insight into Bryant the week of the NBA star's shocking death. We also talked – of course – about the NFL's ultimate game between the 49ers and Chiefs – and we both picked the same team to win, Kansas City. Learn more about his experience surrounding the Super Bowl, as he coordinates coverage for dozens of professionals there on behalf of Yahoo!Sports. You can learn more from him on twitter @alanspringer and of course follow Yahoo!Sports via your smart device, the internet and the Yahoo!Sports app on Apple TV and elsewhere.

In this Scorecard Scribblings interview originally recorded before Christmas in 2019, former Big Red Machine catcher Bill Plummer, a lifelong resident of northern California, talks with Brent Weber about the Hall of Fame additions of Edgar Martinez and Marvin Miller. Brent also shares with him a “scouting report” found on young Plummer back in the 1960s.

If you know anything about me, and it's obviously OK if you don't, you'd know all I ever dreamed of doing was play-by-play on the radio for baseball. Amaury Pi Gonzalez isn't any different, and throughout what should be a Hall of Fame career calling MLB games (are you listening Cooperstown?) he has seen more than his share of amazing, memorable players, coaches, managers, owners, moments… The Gibson home run? Yep. Charlie O's Swingin' A's? Yep. Candlestick Park shaking during the 89 Bay Bridge Series? Uh, a big time yep. Here's some of what the Oakland A's 2020 media guide says about him: Amaury Pi-González, a pioneer in establishing Spanish baseball radio play-by-play in the Bay Area, serves as the “Voice of the A's” for Spanish broadcasts. This will be his 27th season doing A's broadcasts, having filled that role from 1978-93, 2009-10 and again the past eight seasons. We just scratched the surface in this interview. Hope you enjoy.

Boxing is more than just an escape from the chaos of the streets or the baggage of what's behind to those who find their way into the gym, and ultimately, the ring. boxing can be the road – and has been for many over the generations in hard scrabble America – to the way in life. That's the story shared by Alicia Doyle in her memoir Fighting Chance, published in February of 2020, chronicling the young journalist's unlikely emancipation from her life's hardships through immersion into the “sweet science” of boxing. The book takes us back to the childhood and life that shaped her inner demons, to her amateur and brief pro boxing career, and the two decades since she hung up the gloves. In this Scorecard Scribblings interview I try to share what I learned from her book, and what Doyle, now two decades removed from the ring, wants us to know. “…in the end, I learned the power of dedication and sacrifice, and the personal rewards that come with faith,” Doyle writes in Fighting Chance. “The boxing ring is a metaphor for life, a place where the fight starts inward, and once the fight is won in the mind, anything is possible.”