SportsLit

Don Cherry's Coach's Corner segment on Hockey Night in Canada ended abruptly in 2019. Was it ever going to happen any other way? Controversial and entertaining, Cherry spoke his mind to the country for 37 years in the aforementioned first intermission segment. On Nov. 9, 2019, going over the top met with the times at hand and the contemporary media landscape.  Cherry was fired by Sportsnet in what is known as “Poppygate”. Is there more to this story? Is there more to Grapes than most care to know? His late daughter decided she wanted to confront this matter and also the descriptions she so often heard and read about her dad. The result is The Don Cherry Story, by his Daughter, Cindy Cherry. It's a book that exists in two parts, the first deals with the front facing persona of her father, and the second which focuses on his life, on and off the ice. This episode is a conversation with Cindy's brother and Don's son, Tim Cherry, about the book and about his family. *Cindy Cherry passed away in July 2024. **This was recorded one week prior to Cherry's sign off from "The Don Cherry's Grapevine Podcast" on Sunday, June 22.

There is an unending well of culture to draw from when it comes to hockey in Canada. Ronnie Shuker's bucket is full after driving across the country, 30,000 miles (or roughly 50,000 kilometres for you hosers!) in all. After traversing the "true north", Shuker (Editor-at-Large, The Hockey News) emptied his experiences over 244 pages giving further contemporary context to a game that exists in the bones of this nation. 

The business of women's sports has never had this much momentum. So what is it building on? Jane McManus provides a real-time snapshot of where we currently are and how we got here in Fast Track: The Surging Business of Women's Sports. McManus has spent a career covering sports for major outlets such as the New York Daily News and was a founding columnist for espnW. Now an Adjunct Professor at NYU at the Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport, she has published a book that examines the business of women's sport, focusing on the peaks that have occured during her lifetime, from 1970s till present day. Tracing a line through the origins of the WTA to the leagues emerging today, there is lots to learn in this rapidly developing movement that rides an undulating past into its next sustainable breakthrough.    

The story, and history of Maple Leaf Gardens is well documented. It has been described as having religious significance, there is reverence and well earned-lore. A loathsome thread exists too.  Without question it is one of the most significant buildings ever constructed in Canada and a big part of its legend is that it was completed during the early years of the Great Depression. But what was Toronto Maple Leafs' owner Conn Smythe's intent?  Why did he build it where he did? What crowd did he want to attract and how do those spectators compare to what our notions of them would be? How did this venerated structure meet the times it evolved from? These are questions that Russell Field (Associate Professor, Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management, the University of Manitoba) examines in A Night at the Gardens: Class, Gender, and Respectability in 1930s Toronto. Explore the origin and early days of Maple Leaf Gardens through an academic lense. 

Hakeem Olajuwon left Lagos, Nigeria in 1980 and barely a year after taking up basketball, he blossomed into the game's first international star in Houston, first collegiately with the Cougars and then with the NBA's Rockets.  In an 18-season career he was a nine-time NBA all-star and two-time league champion.  He played his last season with the Toronto Raptors.  Olajuwon was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013 and is a member of the NBA's 75th anniversary team. In “Dream: The Life and Legacy of Hakeem Olajuwon,” biographer Mirin Fader draws on some 250 interviews to present a silent sports star who experienced a religious metamorphosis.  A fiery competitor who led by example in all aspects of his life, paying it forward with teammates and current NBA stars through the type of mentorship he benefited from early in his career.  She also utilizes her extensive research to debunk myths surrounding Hakeem's life and career. Fader is a senior writer with The Ringer. Her début book, “Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA MVP,” reached The New York Times best-seller list.  

Every hockey fan knows how it always ends for the Vancouver Canucks — no Stanley Cup — but Ed Willes digs in the corners to poke at the why, with a wry perspective. The veteran journalist (Regina Leader-Post, The Province) presents a case study, with novelistic detail, about the West Coast NHL franchise. Weaving a thread — one of instability at the top — through the history (and prehistory) of the team, Willes explains why the Canucks have fallen short of winning the Stanley Cup, but have never been boring across five-plus decades of torment. Relying on firsthand research and contemporary accounts from fellow Vancouver sports journalists, Willes provides painstaking details about the life-arcs of stars such as Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Pavel Bure, Markus Näslund, and Todd Bertuzzi. The author also playfully teases out the franchise's many what-ifs. Willes is also author of “The Rebel League: The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association” (2005) and “End Zones and Border Wars: The Era of American Expansion in the CFL” (2013).

Atiba Hutchinson finally has space to contemplate the inner strength it takes to chase goals that were often, and understandably, hard to define. In “The Beautiful Dream,” the retired captain of the Canadian men's national soccer team (CMNT) lets fans and readers in on a footballer's journey. Now retired as a player, Hutchinson delves into his early life as a first-generation Canadian growing up in Brampton, Ont. in the 1980s, and '90s and how he navigated the uncertain path to professional success in Europe during the days when a true domestic league hardly existed. That perseverance led to a 20-season pro career that included championships, adulation, and celebrity outside Canada. And, after several frustrating World Cup cycles, Hutchinson was the 39-year-old captain when Canada broke through to qualify for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Hutchinson joined us from his home in Turkey to discuss his life story. He joins Dwayne De Rosario as the second CMNT alumnus to appear on SportsLit.

In his début novel, sports journalist Jason Kirk gives readers a rigorous and referentially tight portrait of growing up in an evangelical world. “Hell Is a World Without You” plunges readers into the world of early-2000s teen Isaac Siena Jr., his youth group friends, widowed mother Katherine, and intense big brother Eli. Its themes delve through faith, the lingering effects of being raised with “constant fear of hell, and shame, and damnation,” and being in a world where “youth pastors dress like Stifler.” Kirk, who calls himself a “lazy Christian pantheist,” is a senior editor at The Athletic and part of the long-running Shutdown Fullcast (“the internet's only college football podcast.”). An Atlanta native, he and his wife Emily Kirk have also had a pod called Vacation Bible School.

Mike Keenan is a madman. Mike Keenan has a method. All things considered, both descriptions are part and parcel of a coaching career in which he angered many, and accomplished a great deal. 30 years ago he won the Stanley Cup and then abruptly parted with the New York Rangers, the team he led to the title. Iron Mike addresses career defining events such as this and covers much more in his life's journey through hockey. The 1985 Jack Adams Award winner (NHL Coach of the Year) joined SportsLit to discuss his exploits behind the bench, the front office, and off the ice. If he was do it all again, would he do it any differently?  Find out.  

Relying on a near half-century of deep research and reflection, Melissa Ludtke recounts her landmark federal case in “Locker Room Talk.” In 1977 and '78, as a Sports Illustrated reporter, Ludtke was the winning plaintiff in Ludtke v. Kuhn, a U.S. federal case that Time Inc. and lawyer Fritz Schwarz Jr. brought against Major League Baseball. In the courtroom, Justice Constance Baker Motley — a civil rights icon  — found that MLB commissioner Bowie Kuhn had violated Kuhn's constitutional rights by denying her the same access the male reporters had at Yankee Stadium during the '77 World Series. Neither the legal win nor the affray in the court of public opinion came easily. But within a decade, Ludtke notes, the ranks of female sports journalists had increased enough to start AWSM (Association of Women in Sports Media). Ludtke, a former TIME magazine correspondent, has also worked at Nieman Labs. She lives in Massachusetts and writes the Let's Row Together newsletter on Substack.

Michael Cochrane found an artifact of early Canadian golf great George S. Lyon hiding in plain sight one day — and set to bring him to life on the page, and on the links. In “Olympic Lyon: The Untold Story of the First Gold Medal for Golf,” Cochrane digs deep to tell the story of the Toronto insurance salesman who captured Olympic glory in the early 20th century, to the delight of fans in the young nation of Canada. Lyon never got to defend his title, or congratulate his successor. But through deep research honed over decades as a lawyer, and a keen understanding of golf's appeal the world over, Cochrane may have readers feel like they're in George's gallery following him around the course. A resident of Burlington, Ont., Michael Cochrane is a partner at Brauti Thorning LLP in Toronto. He hosted the program “Strictly Legal” on Business News Network (BNN). He has penned two other novels, and also has made two holes in one.

Johnny Mize, a top home-run hitter in a turbulent time for baseball and North America, never got a complete biography in his lifetime.  Author Jerry Grillo, who lives in the same region of rural Georgia where Mize hailed from, has remedied that by examining Mize's baseball life and his effect on the sport. Mize (1913-1993, inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981) played in the majors during an era marked and marred by segregation, the Great Depression, and the Second World War. The lefty-hitting slugging first baseman won four league home run titles, still has some unmatched batting feats, and shares the record for most career three-home run games. And he was almost forgotten by the keepers of baseball history.  Grillo began researching a Mize bio in 2000. It is his second book, following, “The Music and Mythocracy of Col. Bruce Hampton: A Basically True Biography.”

New investment and enthusiasm are pouring into women's sports. In “The Price She Pays: Confronting the Hidden Mental Health Crisis in Women's Sports— from the Schoolyard to the Stadium,” lead authors Dr. Tiffany Brown and Katie Steele call for changes to the athletic hierarchy women compete under. As lead authors, along with co-author Erin Strout, they propose that the expanding popularity and financial clout of women's sports must be commensurate with an athlete-centred mental health approach  The book is a candid guide to all stages of the sporting life, from introductory activities up to U.S. major-college athletics and the pros. It is unsparing of the traumas, but always optimistic, which meshes with 2024's breakouts such as new leagues that are gaining traction, and the WNBA rookie class featuring the likes of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Kingston, Ont., native Aaliyah Edwards. “The Price She Pays” is both timely, and telling about what fault lines need to be filled in.  Brown and Steele are both licensed marriage and family therapists based in Oregon. Strout, who has written and freelanced for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Runner's World, Women Running, and ESPN-W, is based in Flagstaff, Arizona.  “The Price She Pays” was released by Little, Brown, and Spark on June 18, 2024.

Sport ecologist Dr. Madeleine Orr is pitching a ‘green game plan' for sports fans. In “Warming Up,” Orr pairs her academic curiosity and storytelling to stir optimism (or “hopeium”) about using the power of sport to explain climate adaptation. The University of Toronto professor's début book reminds readers sports are a bigger social connector than politics, arts, and pop culture — and the loss of them can have significant mental health effects.  As such, sports is a rallying point to push for a world that must burn about five times less fossil fuels to avert worst-case outcomes from climate change. Whether it is children learning a new game, or globetrotting pros, athletes need breathable air, drinking water, and relief from the ‘big bad' of extreme heat (and winter sport athletes need snow, too). Far from a doom-and-gloom finger-wag, Orr shows that many athletes and sports organizations are on Team Green, and outlines the next steps.

In “Ali Hoops,” the début children's book by sports anchor Evanka Osmak, the 10-year-old heroine just wants a place in the game.  Ali “daydreams about being a basketball star,” but frets about whether she can make her school team. Along the way, Ali learns lessons about who makes a true team off and on the floor — and illustrates how sports give a child a chance to build life skills and responsibility. Evanka Osmak is an anchor for Sportsnet Central. She is a mother of two and has been with Sportsnet since 2007.

Noah Gittell is here to get the baseball movie out of its big-screen slump.    In “Baseball: The Movie,” his first book, he advocates for the return of a sports movie niche that has faded since “Moneyball” and “42” were hits in the early '10s. Drawing on insights from fellow writers and ballplayers, Gittell shows how the baseball movie, since the time of “The Pride of the Yankees” during the Second World War, has tapped into the essentials of the American soul and identity.   A longtime New York Mets fan, Gittell's writing has graced The Atlantic, The Economist, Elle, Esquire The Guardian, GQ, and the LA Review of Books. He also keeps up a Substack, Good Eye: Movies and Baseball.

Whether Ben Johnson ever receives exoneration, the examination of the Canadian sprinter's life and times by Mary Ormsby shows he got a raw deal. Johnson became the first track-and-field Olympian to lose a gold medal for doping after a positive test at the 1988 Summer Olympics. In “World's Fastest Man*: The Life of Ben Johnson,” Ormsby raises alarming questions about the reactions from the IOC, Canadian sports leaders, and the media — and double standards imposed on Johnson and other Black Canadian athletes at a time when steroid use was common in Olympic sports. Ormsby, who had a three-decade career with the Toronto Star, also pairs investigative work with a character study of Johnson. His second life has involved training soccer great Diego Maradona, racing against a car for charity, and finding grace and resilience to keep running.

In what might be his most ambitious work, author and hockey legend Ken Dryden affirms the value of finding our similarities. At the start of the 2020s, Dryden sought out people with whom he shared a uniquely Canadian coming-of-age experience during an ambitious era. In the early 1960s, Dryden was part of the ‘Brain Class' at Etobicoke C.I. — students who loved to learn. Through meetings on Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in person, Dryden learned the biographies of 34-of-35 classmates to produce, “The Class: A Memoir Of A Time, A Place, And Us.” Dryden's classmates have led rich lives, finding their own ‘Stanley Cup' in unexpected places. And, of course, Dryden won the Stanley Cup six times with the Montréal Canadiens in the 1970s and was the winning goalie in the decisive Game 8 of the Canada-USSR Summit Series in 1972. “The Class” is his ninth book.

How Pete Rose became so polarizing spurred Keith O'Brien to get granular in “Charlie Hustle,” which has become an instant The New York Times bestseller. In 1989, Major League Baseball's hit king received a lifetime ban for betting on games in which he managed his hometown Cincinnati Reds. With reportorial digging, O'Brien reminds readers of everything Rose did between the lines of MLB ballparks and off the field, and why the scandal lingers into this era of legal sports gambling. A Cincinnati native like Rose, O'Brien draws on some 27 hours of dialogue with the baseball legend, and extensive interviews with Rose's family, inner circle, and former teammates. “Charlie Hustle” is his fourth book, and second about sports.

How Pete Rose became so polarizing spurred Keith O'Brien to get granular in “Charlie Hustle,” which has become an instant The New York Times bestseller. In 1989, Major League Baseball's hit king received a lifetime ban for betting on games in which he managed his hometown Cincinnati Reds. With reportorial digging, O'Brien reminds readers of everything Rose did between the lines of MLB ballparks and off the field, and why the scandal lingers into this era of legal sports gambling. A Cincinnati native like Rose, O'Brien draws on some 27 hours of dialogue with the baseball legend, and extensive interviews with Rose's family, inner circle, and former teammates. “Charlie Hustle” is his fourth book, and second about sports.

Jack McCallum is on the case of the Crispus Attucks Tigers, a young Oscar Robertson, and purloined glory in the heartland of hoops. In The Real Hoosiers, his 12th book, McCallum dives into why Indiana celebrates the 1954 Milan Miracle, and the film “Hoosiers,” more than Attucks. Repping a school community forced into existence in a “bewildering and openly racist big-city educational system,” future NBA assist king and players' union leader Robertson and his teammates won back-to-back Indiana schoolboy titles barely a decade after the competition was opened to Black schools. It was the first time anywhere in America that a Black team had won ‘State,' and that gets into some “freighted” history. Best known as a longtime NBA writer at Sports Illustrated, McCallum's basketball books include Dream Team, Golden Days, and Seven Seconds Or Less. He also detailed a personal health challenge in The Prostate Monologues.

Morgan Campbell's debut memoir, “My Fighting Family: Borders and Bloodlines and the Battles That Made Us” is more than a sports book — but sport is a through line.  Campbell, whose parents and a set of grandparents decamped from Chicago for Toronto during the sociopolitically turbulent late 1960s, shares much about growing up Black and learning his way in Canada when holding trenchant American roots. It explores a rich and nuanced family tree filled with characters that can be turbulently interconnected. Campbell is a CBC Sports senior contributor who spent close to two decades with the Toronto Star, the largest newspaper in Canada. He also performs boxing commentary, and was a boxing correspondent for The New York Times. His spouse, Perdita Felicien, was also a guest of SportsLit in 2021 (“My Mother's Daughter,” S5E06).

Gambling has become a new revenue stream for major sports leagues in the last few years, raising questions about how to protect competitive integrity. It also calls to mind the fallout from the Black Sox Scandal, the greatest game-fixing scandal in the history of North American sports.   In "Joe Jackson vs. Chicago American League Baseball Club: Never Before Seen Trial Transcript," the public can finally read about a civil trial 100 years ago that laid bare the inner workings of major-league baseball. Jacob Pomrenke, editorial director of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), joins us to explain why the great Shoeless Joe Jackson sued his former ballclub, the Chicago White Sox; why the trial largely fell off the public reader; what has been left out of mainstream accounts of the scandal; and why it still matters today.   As SABR writers have explained, the Black Sox Scandal remains a cold case, not a closed case.

Erik Kramer built an NFL career on precision, timing, and accuracy, but it was his greatest miss that led to him building a complete life. Since surviving a 2015 suicide attempt, the former quarterback is making his ultimate comeback day after day, living with renewed sense of purpose.   Athletically, Kramer climbed up from the "bottom of the barrel," in his words. Getting a chance to make a first impression was tough enough for a football player who was unrecruited out of high school and was undrafted by the NFL out of college. Now he is using his second chance at life to share his story with the world to help save the lives of others.

Nothing is ever as good as it once was. That's a lie —they improve, or more accurately, they evolve. Still, why not look back with a bit of wonder? Rich Cohen is the right writer to put the NBA, then and now, into perspective. In When the Game Was War: The NBA's Greatest Season, Cohen stress-tests his belief that the 1987-88 season was the zenith of pro basketball.   Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, and their long-time teammates carry a narrative about the finesse and ferocity of a different time Like a hard foul in the paint, Cohen's prose will knock you down and stoke a hunger for more

Pride and Prejudice It could have easily been the title of Ted Nolan's biography. My Life in Two Worlds: A Coach's Journey from the Reserve to the NHL and Back encompasses the duality of his drive to show people from his world, Garden River First Nation, could succeed in another one, whilst centering their Indigenous identity. A career coach who has achieved success at every level, Nolan is best known for his first tenure with the Buffalo Sabres in the 1990s. He earned the NHL coach-of-the-year award in just his second season on the job but faced professional exile for nearly a decade afterward.  Nolan's journey to the NHL, both on the ice and behind the bench, began in Garden River First Nation, near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He and his spouse Sandra have seen both of their sons, Brandon and Jordan, play in the NHL.

The NHL Draft is one of hockey's great spectacles. Just after the Stanley Cup is awarded, the spotlight shifts to the draft floor, where teams hope to acquire future stars and the diamonds in the rough that can lead them — or keep them — in contention.  As a former NHL president and general manager, Doug MacLean has seen the process from the inside. That is where he and Hockey Hall of Fame-honoured writer Scott Morrison take readers in Draft Day: How Hockey Teams Pick Winners or Get Left Behind. This is a book with a hook — informative with lively anecdotes along the way. MacLean relates what it's like to call the shots, and he does not mind firing a few more in this book.

Jonathon Jackson captures the spirit of the thing Like “Slap Shot” itself, Jonathon Jackson might have been slightly ahead of his time when he set out to write about the timeless hockey movie. Nowadays, ‘how it was made' books, podcasts, and limited series are everywhere. But it was back in 2006, Jackson set out to write about the “nuts and bolts” that held together a raunchy, rollicking 1977 sports comedy starring Paul Newman that remains unlike any depiction of hockey put on screens before, and possibly since. “The Making of Slap Shot” was first published in 2010, and now has a second edition from Double J Media that includes behind-the-scenes photos contributed by cast members. See you down at the Ace's.

Act like a champion, talk like a champion, run like a champion. Wired like a prizefighter, Donovan Bailey became the fastest man on earth in the 1990s.   He did it for himself while raising Canada's standing in international sport. In his memoir, the 100-metre and Olympic and world gold medalist tells his life story with intent.   Rooted in Jamaica and then Oakville, Ont., Bailey rocketed around the world after a belated entry into athletics. Following his triumphs on the track, his career was derailed by injuries. Decades after retirement, he makes it clear where he stands in the pantheon of Canadian sport. All you need to do is read the title — Undisputed: A Champion's Life.

Dave Hill is a multitalented man, but a fan for one season — hockey season.   The comedian, essayist, and musician is meh toward his hometown NFL Cleveland Browns, but hockey had him hooked right off the hop. Over his life, it has become a source of perplexment as to why more Americans are not similarly stoked about hockey. In his fourth book, "The Awesome Game: One Man's Incredible, Globe-Crushing Hockey Odyssey," Hill seeks out hockey wherever he can find it from Nairobi, Kenya to Kemptville, Ont., showing how the game provides an emotional release that you might not find in many other places.    "The Awesome Game" is Hill's fourth nonfiction book. He also has a 2022 comedy special, "The Pride of Cleveland," produced by 800-Pound Gorilla Media. 

Step into the arena. Step outside the bubble. Justin Davis offers the public a personal story of a life in hockey with all aspects considered. What was wrong? What can be changed? What did he like? What should be maintained? With Canada's national winter sport facing a moral audit, check out our discussion with an NHL draft choice and Memorial Cup champion player turned high school teacher who has an inside perspective.  Conflicted Scars was released by ECW Press in October 2022. It features a foreword by Hockey Hall of Fame coach Brian Kilrea and a cover blurb from Davis's one-time OHL teammate Joe Thornton, a member of the NHL's 1,500-points club.

Baseball banter comes easily to John Gibbons,  but it was a hard and winding road to get to that point. Over two stints covering 11 seasons, Gibbons won over Toronto Blue Jays fans. Getting the Jays back into pennant contention helped, but he became more relatable, a shrewd observer whom fans could imagine sharing baseball yarns and beers with up in the 500 level. Getting there involved 22 seasons in the minors, first as a catcher whose MLB days were curtailed by injuries before he moved into coaching and managing. “Gibby” was written with past guest Greg Oliver  (S1E02, Grattoony The Loony). Gibbons lives in his native San Antonio with his wife, Christi, and cohosts The Gibby Show podcast with his agent John Arezzi.

Whether one calls it soccer or football, the women's game is coming into its own.  The advancements might seem brand-new considering the first World Cup was held in 1991 and the inaugural Olympic tournament kicked off in 1996. It would also be easy to assume that the charge forward for female footy began in North America.  After all, the United States has had the most success, while Canada is the reigning Olympic champion and boasts the all-time time leading goal scorer - Christine Sinclair. There is far more to the story. In A Woman's Game – The Rise, Fall and Rise Again, of Women's Soccer, journalist Suzanne Wrack (The Guardian) dives back well over a century ago to document and contextualize the progression of The Beautiful Game as it pertains to women. She joined us from London to discuss how the past connects to the present, what the future holds and why even with recent breakthroughs and momentum, she feels that the women's game is at a critical juncture.

Canada ascending to FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 was surely cathartic for every footballer who has worn the Maple Leaf — especially Dwayne De Rosario, one of this nation's best ever . The Scarborough man helped grow the beautiful game in North America as one of the first stars of Major League Soccer, contributing to four MLS Cup-winning teams and twice earning Cup MVP honours. It gnawed at him, though, that the Canadian men's national team was never able to reach the biggest stage in global sport, which in turn hurt the sport's perception of Canadian-produced talent. In 2021, De Rosario and broadcaster Brendan Dunlop released the star's candid autography, “DeRo: My Life.” The kickoff of the World Cup, with Canada represented and competing for only the second time, was a perfect opening for ‘DeRo' and Dunlop to discuss the book and a northern nation's place in the fútbol world.

Steve Simmons dishes it out, and Steve Simmons takes it.   He would not have that any other way. It's been A Lucky Life. As a national columnist with Postmedia, his articles are some of the most widely discussed amongst Canadian sports fans. He has also appeared regularly on radio and television including TSN's The Reporters. Simmons began his professional writing career in 1979 at the Calgary Herald. He then shifted to the Calgary Sun right as the NHL Flames moved to town and joined his hometown Toronto Sun in 1987. He has had  the privilege of covering major personalities, and incredible moments in sport, including 17 Olympics. Simmons has written four books and collaborated on six others. His latest is a collection of selected works which were published between 1986 and 2021.

In 2019, veteran live sports producer John Shannon was — no need for an euphemism — fired by Sportsnet.  As he has learned across nearly a half century in sports media, one has to evolve or die. In this memoir, Shannon writes of how he has absorbed and applied lessons that are wrapped as mortal blows in order not merely survive, but thrive in an often cutthroat field. In “Evolve or Die,” he writes of how he had a vision, from his early life in the British Columbia interior, to be a storyteller. That aspiration led him to Toronto in the 1970s right at the inflection point for a sports broadcasting boom in Canada. Shannon quickly became well-regarded as a producer with Hockey Night in Canada while in his early 20s. Later, he became executive producer (1994-2000) when that crown jewel of live sports production instituted the now familiar Saturday doubleheader and Satellite Hot Stove intermission panel. Since 2009, Shannon has created a seemingly unprecedented second act in front of the camera as an analyst and insider.  Currently he is a regular panelist on Edmonton Oilers broadcasts and continues to co-host the Bob McCowan Podcast on Sirius XM Radio.

When it was announced that Hockey Hall of Fame centreman Bryan Trottier was releasing a memoir, one had to wonder why that had not already happened.  Trottier won the Stanley Cup six times as a player and once again as an assistant coach. The son of a Cree-Chippewa-Métis father and an Irish-Canadian mother from a Saskatchewan ranching family, he also earned multiple major awards an 18-season NHL career (1975-94). Timing is the answer. At age 66, Trottier believes he is far enough removed from the game where could tell some “secrets.” As well, In the age of Reconciliation between Canada and First Nations, the publishing industry is eager to amplify a story like his. In "All Roads Home," the example that Trottier set for Indigenous youth in his hockey heyday is captured in a foreword by author and historian Jesse Thistle (author of the international best-seller "From The Ashes"). Trottier's narrative, written with esteemed Canadian sportswriter Stephen Brunt, details his obligation to make the people who shaped him proud, especially his family. Over his life in hockey, Trottier has touched individual and collective greatness. He has also taken the time to listen, learn and share his experiences with Indigenous communities across Canada. Join us for our conversation with one of the greatest hockey players of all time.

Barrie Shepley had his eureka moment while working a summer job in an auto plant. Captivated by Canadian swimmer Alex Baumann racing to gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Shepley realized that he wanted to be in elite sport.  His skillset was best suited to being a coach. Chasing greatness began with hustling. Starting from his residence room at McMaster University, he bootstrapped and helped triathlon move from a loose structure into something with a foundation, a fanbase and young athletes who would become its long-term future. One of them, first spotted in Sharbot Lake, Ont., was Simon Whitfield. Eventually Shepley became Canada's national triathlon coach for several years beginning in 1991. In 2000, all his groundwork was validated when Whitfield became the first Olympic men's triathlon champion at the Sydney Olympics. In Chasing Greatness, Shepley shares his experiences working with elite athletes and hobbyists who were bent on proving something to themselves. In addition to his commentary work, Shepley is cofounder of Personal Best, a Caledon, Ont.-based health and wellness firm that works with corporate and individual clients.

It only took 50 years for the original Team Canada to fully participate in a book about that September, in 1972. John U. Bacon, a seven-time best-selling author based in Ann Arbor, Mich., was drafted to put "The Greatest Comeback" into words for a new generation.   Through unfettered access, Bacon expands upon the time-honoured narrative about the Summit Series by blending in modern hockey analytics and a historian's eye for detail. The result is a tale about optimism becoming an act of resistance.    Relive this "friendly" series with the Soviet Union that escalated into the Cold War on ice that ultimately changed hockey for the better. John, who jokes that his name should be "Canadian Bacon", expands on his work in our latest conversation.

Corey Hirsch played 14 seasons as a professional goalie, including 108 NHL games. He raised the Stanley Cup and came within a postage stamp goal of backstopping Canada to an Olympic Gold medal. But the save of his life never happened on the ice. It happened when he stopped short of driving off a cliff.  The plan was to finally be rid of intrusive thoughts he couldn't shut off. Now he has learned how to deal with them. Corey's brain lies to him, it tells him things that aren't true. It is called OCD and the form he has is probably not what you think it is. People such as Hirsch can drown in irrational thoughts about harming themselves or others, contracting deadly diseases and/or need constant self-assurance about their sexual orientation. Corey, like so many others that suffer from this mental illness was ready to end it all…but he didn't, he got help and came forward. While so many out there suffer, often in silence, Hirsch uses his platform to make sure they aren't alone. Five years after his important mental health revelation in The Players' Tribune, his new book with Sean Patrick Conboy goes deeper into that journey from despair to hope.

Ken Caminiti was the type of ball player that fans loved. He electrified third base and the batter's box with a formidable combination of grit, finesse and power. However, it was what the one-time unanimous NL MVP (1996) did after his playing days that stands above the great fielding plays, all-star appearances and revitalizing the San Diego Padres franchise.  In 2002, Caminiti came clean about baseball's worst-kept secret.  Author Dan Good paints a portrait of a big-hearted man who lived life on the edge and how his public confession forced Major League Baseball to confront its steroid problem. Join us as Good discusses his book Playing Through the Pain.  

Rickey Henderson is as enigmatic as he was dynamic on a ballfield. Major League Baseball's all-time leader in runs scored and stolen bases and greatest leadoff hitter of all time vexed and perplexed teammates, fans and the media as much as he did opposition over a 25-season career. Even up until his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009, questions of who Rickey actually is and what has driven him to be so singular have remained. In June 2022, Howard Bryant (senior writer, ESPN, and a two-time Casey Award winner) released Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original. In the 380 pages, he provides the context that helps explain Henderson's motivations and Henderson's value in the age of advanced analytics.

We finally landed Survivorman. Les Stroud is a creator who is best known for his world famous TV show, but he is also a musician and an author.  In March 2021, he released Wild Outside: Around the World with Survivorman, his first book aimed at a youth audience. It recently won a Yellow Cedar Award presented by the Ontario Library Association for nonfiction books intended for readers in grades 4 to 8. Using condensed and illustrated versions of his adventures, Stroud intersperses nature facts with advice on spending time outside, no matter where that is. After the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic delayed his appearance on SportsLit, Les joined us to discuss this book as well as his latest projects, plus some humble career tales from a man who does things his way.

Tyrone (Muggsy) Bogues is one of the most recognizable “names” in NBA history. At five-foot-three, he is the shortest player to ever play at basketball's highest level and he succeeded with four teams across 14 seasons during the rugged 1980s and '90s.  A testament to his focus, talent and toughness. In April 2022, he released Muggsy: My Life from a Kid in the Projects to the Godfather of Small Ball, written with Jacob Uitti (Triumph Books). Muggsy pays tribute to a loving family who supported him through his maturation into a true player from inner-city Baltimore to the time he established himself as a pro point guard, whose career peak came as the engine of the expansion Charlotte Hornets. His playing days lasted from 1987-88 until an abbreviated season with the Toronto Raptors in 2000-01. Currently, Bogues is an ambassador and community advisor with the Hornets franchise in Charlotte. In between watching the NBA Finals where close family friend Steph Curry goes for a fourth title with the Golden State Warriors utilizing a playing style that he helped push, Muggsy joined us to talk about his life and how it has inspired the lives of others.

Just Win Baby! Sounds simple enough, but how do you get there? Talent alone isn't always the answer. The inner game is often the hardest aspect to manage. André Lachance (Manager – Women's National Team - Baseball Canada 2004 – 18) and Jean François Ménard (Author - Train (Your Brain) Like an Olympian) have years of practical and professional experience in mental performance coaching from boardrooms to a baseball diamond and even the circus (Cirque du Soleil). Utilizing what they have learned, the duo combine to offer their strategies on building team chemistry.

Fifty years on, the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the then-Soviet Union remains the most famous international hockey series ever played.   In "1972: The Series That Changed Forever," Hockey Hall of Fame-honoured writer Scott Morrison draws a complete narrative of that classic confrontation a half-century ago.  What started out with good intentions between the sports' reigning world power and a country that wanted to show that it was the best, when it chose to ice the best, became so much more in real time that September. The final result was as close as it gets, and for the Canadian and Soviet stars whom Morrison has come to know, it has bonded them uniquely over time. It is a series that Canada won and where hockey won. One side showed it could play with the NHL superstars, the other went to extraordinary lengths to assert their skill and will, and in turn, this Cold War on ice created a legacy they celebrate together.

Brian McFarlane has written so many books he has lost count, but never one about his life in hockey. Approaching age 90, he finally decided it was time, at the behest of Michael Holmes, executive editor at ECW. McFarlane is familiar to generations of fans from his three-decade tenure at Hockey Night in Canada as well as working in the U.S. with CBS and NBC. His connection to the game is deep. As a standout NCAA player, he scored over 100 goals in his college career.  An astute businessman, he brought the game to children and new audiences with Peter Puck.  That was just one of his many ventures. Above all, he is a student of the game, writing and sometimes correcting its rich history.  In October he released A Helluva Life in Hockey and joined us to tell us why that was the case…  

An Olympic misstep might be how the public defines a career, but it hardly defines a high-performance athlete’s life. When Perdita Felicien crashed into the first hurdle in the 100-metre final at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, all the reigning world champion from Canada could do was watch the race play out on a video screen high above the track. Though her dreams were dashed, she would stand proud and tall again — it was in her DNA. In My Mother’s Daughter: A Memoir of Struggle and Triumph (Doubleday), Felicien fastidiously constructs a poignant narrative that extends far beyond sport. By bringing her mother Cathy Browne’s tale of leaving St. Lucia to resettle in Canada to light, we can better understand the contemporary Canadian experience. 

Hockey player’s are told to go to the net but Ryan Minkoff took his shot from the perimeter of the sport's universe. Through his path in the game, readers gain an idea of how the sport operates on the far reaches of its icy landscape. Minkoff’s premise in Thin Ice (Lyons Press) is essentially that if you have some talent and take your approach seriously, you can make a go of it. Now a player agent working in Seattle, Minkoff did not allow himself to become discouraged by youth hockey politics while growing up in the State of Hockey, Minnesota.   In our latest episode, Minkoff talks about how he came of age in American club college hockey and seized an opportunity to play pro in Finland’s fourth division, where he moonlighted as a Zamboni driver. All of that led to him finding himself by keeping an eye out for other possibly overlooked players who are trying to live the dream.

In the sport of Kings, Eurico Rosa da Silva (Seven-Time Outstanding Jockey – The Jockey Club of Canada) reigned at Woodbine Racetrack, but for most of his life, he was living in a mental dungeon. When writing his biography with Bruce McDougall, he held steadfast that this would not just be a book about his success as a jockey.  The pages had to paint an unvarnished portrait of struggling with demons that tormented him in the form of gambling and sex addiction. It had to examine how his roots in Brazil led him to where he is today, for better and for worse. When Riding for Freedom was released in December, people weren’t expecting what they read about a man who seemingly lived high on the horse and that is just the way Rosa da Silva wanted it.

The analytics wave had yet to sweep over the NHL when Brantt Myhres played in the league from 1994-2003. To be frank, goals, assists and plus/minus didn’t even matter that much in his role as enforcer. It was win lose or draw, no different from a heavyweight fighter.  So why do metrics apply to a man that last played a game almost 20 years ago?  Because the numbers show his memoir is a top seller and for good reason. In Pain Killer: A Memoir of Big League Addiction, Myhres shoots straight about trying to make it in the game he grew up loving, how it became intertwined with drugs and alcohol and eventually led to a lifetime ban. Where his story had so many chances to end tragically, it hasn’t and along the way back he found purpose in a commitment to helping others who have carried the weight of walking miles in his boots.