Podcasts about Naismith

The history of Basketball begins in the unassuming town of Springfield, Massachusetts. Canadian born James Naismith is trying to keep his group of students at the YMCA busy during a cold New England winter. It took 2 peach baskets, a soccer ball, and a few simple rules to create the game of basketball... sort of. The first thing Naismith created was chaos. Eventually, out of the chaos came basketball. The popularity of the game spread much like other sports. Barnstorming teams like the New York Rens and the world famous Harlem Globetrotters popularized the game in small towns all over the country. On a professional level some leagues came and went, but eventually found their way to the NBA and ABA merger. These two leagues would form the modern NBA today. There is so much more to the story though. Don't miss a second as we get Historically High on Basketball and the NBASupport the show

This week, Part One of our look back at our fabulous Naismith Awards Ceremony from San Antonio. In this edition, MC Fran Fraschilla introduces our 2025 Jersey Mike's men's national player of the year Cooper Flagg from Duke! Plus his coach, Jon Scheyer joins the program! WANT TO SUPPORT A TROPHY LIFE?Leave a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback only helps make the show better, and we appreciate your support! For more information about the Naismith Trophy Award, visit our home on the web.

In this episode of Rogue Bogues, the NBL Free Agency is heating up while the NBA nears the end of the regular season with the Playoffs in sight. The Chicago Bulls earn Team of the Week honors, and Josh Giddey continues to shine. What's going on in Memphis as coaching changes raise eyebrows? Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony head to the Hall of Fame. Jokic racks up a wild defensive stat, and we reveal the Aussie of the Year. Plus, a great Fact or Fake News stat from Naismith, and Dellavedova is heading to the Sydney Kings! Tune in! 00:00:17 Intro 00:08:51 Team of the Week 00:13:41 Week team of the Week 00:30:29 
Latest NBA News 00:52:04 Useful or Useless 00:59:26 
Aussie of the Year 01:00:10 Fact or Fake News 01:02:33 Latest NBL News © 2025 AMB Media

SportsWrap - March 26, 2025 | Segment 3 | Anthony and Lomas discuss March Madness with 2003-04 Naismith coach of the year Phil Martinelli

SportsWrap - March 26, 2025 | Full Show | Anthony and Lomas discuss the Pistons winning and the Red Wings losing, as well as March Madness with 2003-04 Naismith coach of the year Phil Martinelli

In hour three of 3 Man Front we went to Fayetteville and caught up with Tye Richardson with ESPN Arkansas & got his preview of the Razorbacks in the Sweet 16. Brett Norsworthy joined to preview the Rebs and their potential 4th matchup with Auburn. Plus, we discussed Coach Cal's first year at Arkansas & Naismith finalists! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we salute our 2025 Jersey Mike's Naismith High School Boys Coach of the Year, Andrew Moran, from Columbus High School in Miami, Florida! Bob chats with the coach of the country's #1 high school team!WANT TO SUPPORT A TROPHY LIFE?Leave a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback only helps make the show better, and we appreciate your support! For more information about the Naismith Trophy Award, visit our home on the web.

Hello Interactors,It's March Madness time in the states — baskets and brackets. I admit I'd grown a bit skeptical of how basketball evolved since my playing days. As it happens, I played against Caitlin Clark's dad, from nearby Indianola, Iowa! Unlike the more dynamic Brent Clark, I was a small-town six-foot center, taught never to face the basket and dribble. After all, it was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's era of back-to-the-hoop skyhooks. By college, however, I was playing pickup games in California, expected to handle the ball, shoot, dish, or drive. Just like Caitlin! The players around me were from East LA, not Indianola. Jordan was king, and basketball wasn't just evolving — it was about to explode. It's geographic expansion and spatial dynamism has influenced how the game is played and I now know why I can't get enough of it.BOARDS, BOUNDARIES, AND BREAKING FREEThere was one gym in my hometown, Norwalk, Iowa, where I could dunk a basketball. The court was so cramped, there was a wall right behind the backboard. It was padded to ease post layup collisions! But when I timed it right, I could run and jump off the wall launching myself into the air and just high enough to dunk. This old gym, a WPA project, was built in 1936 and was considered large at the time relative to population. It felt tiny by the time I played there during PE as a kid and on weekend pickup games as a teen — though it was still bigger than anything my parents experienced in rural Southern Iowa.Basketball began as a sport of spatial limitation. James Naismith invented the game in 1891 — 45 years prior to my dunk gym's grand opening. The game was invented to be played in a YMCA gym in Springfield, Massachusetts. This building dictated the court's dimensions, movement, and strategy. Naismith's original 13 rules emphasized order—no dribbling or running, only passing to move the ball. Early basketball wasn't about individual drives but about constant movement within a network of passing lanes, with players anticipating and reacting in real time.The original peach baskets were hung ten feet high on a balcony railing, with no backboards to guide shots. Misses bounced unpredictably, adding a vertical challenge and forcing players to think strategically about rebounding. Since the baskets had bottoms, play stopped after every score, giving teams time to reset and rethink.Soon the bottom of the basket was removed, and a backboard was introduced — originally intended to prevent interference from spectators batting opponents shots from the balcony. The backboard fundamentally altered the physics of play. Now a player could more predictably bank shots of the backboard and invent new rebounding strategies.When running while dribbling was introduced in the late 1890s, basketball's rigid spatial structure loosened. No longer confined to static passing formations, the game became a fluid system of movement. These innovations transformed the court into an interactive spatial environment, where angles, trajectories, and rebounds became key tactical elements. According to one theory of spatial reformulation through human behavior, structured spaces like basketball courts evolved not solely through top-down design, but through emergent patterns of use, where movement, interaction, and adaptation shape the space over time.By the 1920s, the court itself expanded—not so much in physical size but in meaning. The game had spread beyond enclosed gymnasiums to urban playgrounds, colleges, and professional teams. Each expansion further evolved basketball's spatial logic. Courts in New York's streetball culture fostered a tight and improvisational style. Players developed elite dribbling skills and isolation plays to navigate crowded urban courts. Meanwhile, Midwestern colleges, like Kansas where Naismith later coached, prioritized structured passing and zone defenses, reflecting the systemic, collective ethos of the game's inventor. This period reflects microcosms of larger social and spatial behaviors. Basketball, shaped by its environment and the players who occupied it, mirrored the broader urbanization process. This set the stage for basketball's transformation and expansion from national leagues to a truly global game.The evolution of basketball, like the natural, constructed, and cultural landscapes surrounding it, was not static. Basketball was manifested through and embedded in cultural geography, where places evolve over time, accumulating layers of meaning and adaptation. The basketball court was no exception. The game burst forth, breaking boundaries. It branched into local leagues, between bustling cities, across regions, and globetrotted around the world.TACTICS, TALENT, AND TRANSNATIONAL TIESThe year my ego-dunk gym was built, basketball debuted in the 1936 Olympics. That introduced the sport to the world. International play revealed contrasting styles, but it wasn't until the 1990s and 2000s that basketball became a truly global game — shaped as much by European and African players as by American traditions.Europe's game focused on tactical structures and spatial awareness. In the U.S., basketball was built within a high school and college system, but European basketball mimicked their club-based soccer academy model. It still does. In countries like Serbia, Spain, and Lithuania, players are taught the game from a tactical perspective first — learning how to read defenses, move without the ball, and make the extra pass. European training emphasizes court vision, spacing, and passing precision, fostering playmakers wise to the spatial dynamics of the game. Geography also plays a role in the development of European basketball. Countries like Serbia and Lithuania, which have a strong history of basketball but relatively smaller populations, could not rely on the sheer athletic depth of players like the U.S. Instead, they had to refine skill-based, systematic approaches to the game. This helped to ensure every player developed what is commonly called a “high basketball IQ”. They also exhibit a high level of adaptability to team-oriented strategies. European basketball exemplifies this, blending the legacy of former socialist sports systems — which prioritized collective success — with contemporary, globalized styles. This structured process explains why European players like Nikola Jokić, Luka Dončić, and Giannis Antetokounmpo often arrive in the NBA with an advanced understanding of spacing, passing, and team concepts. Jokić's story is particularly revealing. Growing up in Serbia, he didn't just play basketball — he played water polo, a sport that demands high-level spatial awareness and precision passing. In water polo, players must make quick decisions without being able to plant their feet or rely on sheer speed. Although, at seven feet tall, Jokić could probably sometimes touch the bottom of the pool! These skills translated perfectly to his basketball game, where his passing ability, patience, and ability to manipulate defenders make him one of the most unique playmakers in NBA history. Unlike the American model, where taller players are often pushed into narrowly defined roles as rebounders and rim protectors (like I was), European training systems emphasize all-around skill development regardless of height.This is why European big men like Jokić, Gasol, and Nowitzki excel both in the post and on the perimeter. Europe's emphasis on technical education and tactical intelligence fosters versatile skill sets before specialization. This adaptability has made fluid, multi-positional play the norm, prioritizing efficiency and team success over individual spectacle.If European basketball emphasizes structure, the African basketball pipeline fosters adaptability and resilience — not as inherent traits, but as responses to developmental conditions. Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu popularized this as habitus, where individuals unconsciously shape their skills based on their social and material environments. With limited formal infrastructure, many African players learn in fluid, improvised settings, refining their game through necessity rather than structured coaching.Unlike U.S. and European players, who train in specialized systems from an early age, African players often develop versatile, positionless skill sets. Their careers frequently involve migrating through different leagues and coaching styles. A great example is Joel Embiid. He didn't start playing basketball until he was 15. Growing up in Cameroon, he initially played soccer and volleyball. These sports both contributed to his basketball development in unexpected ways. Soccer helped him refine elite footwork, now a required trait of the post game, while volleyball sharpened his timing and hand-eye coordination — hence his dominance as a shot-blocker and rebounder. This multi-sport background is common among African players. Many grow up playing soccer first, which explains why so many African-born big men in the NBA — Hakeem Olajuwon, Serge Ibaka, and Pascal Siakam — have exceptional footwork and agility.Like Jokić's water polo background shaped his passing, soccer's fluidity influences how many African players move on the court. Beyond skills, migration plays a key role, as many leave home as teens to develop in European leagues or U.S. schools. Constant adaptation to new environments builds mental resilience, essential for professional sports. (just ask Luka Dončić after suddenly being traded to the Lakers!) Anthropologist Arjun Appadurai describes this as evolving ethnoscapes and how globalization drives global cultural flows. Practices, traditions, and ideas reshape both new destinations and home cultures as identities become blended across cultures and borders. African players embody this, adapting their games across multiple basketball traditions.Look at Embiid moving from Cameroon to the U.S., adapting to American basketball while retaining his cross-sport instincts. Or Giannis Antetokounmpo, he was born in Greece to Nigerian parents, played soccer as a kid, and now blends European teamwork and fancy footwork with NBA strength training and explosiveness. Like the game itself, basketball is shifting as players from diverse domains deliver new directions, playing patterns, and philosophies.CULTURE, COURTS, AND CROSSOVERSThe influx of European and African players has not only changed the NBA, it's also changed how American players play overseas.Sports psychologist Rainer Meisterjahn studied American players in foreign leagues, revealing struggles with structured European play and coaching. Initially frustrated by the lack of individual play and star focus, many later gained a broader understanding of the game. Their experience mirrors that of European and African players in the NBA, proving basketball is now a shared global culture.While the NBA markets itself as an American product, its style, strategies, and talent pool are increasingly internationalized. The dominance of ball movement and tactical discipline coupled with versatility and adaptability have fundamentally reshaped how the game is played.Media has help drive basketball's global expansion. Sports media now amplifies international leagues, exposing fans (like me) to diverse playing styles. Rather than homogenizing, basketball evolves by merging influences, much like cultural exchanges that shaped jazz (another love of mine) or global cuisine (another love of mind) — blending styles while retaining its core. The game is no longer dictated by how one country plays; it is an interwoven, adaptive sport, constantly changing in countless ways. The court's boundaries may be tight, but borderless basketball has taken flight.Basketball has always been a game of spatial negotiation. First confined to a small, hardwood court, it spilled out of walls to playgrounds, across rivalrous cross-town leagues, to the Laker-Celtic coastal battles of the 80s, and onto the global stage. Yet its true complexity is not just where it is played, but how it adapts. The game's larger narrative is informed by the emergent behaviors and real-time spatial recalibration that happens every time it's played. Basketball operates as an interactive system where every movement creates new positional possibilities and reciprocal responses. Player interactions shape the game in real time, influencing both individual possessions—where spacing, passing, and movement constantly evolve — and the global basketball economy, where styles, strategies, and talent migration continuously reshape the sport.On the court, players exist in a constant state of spatial adaptation, moving through a fluid network of shifting gaps, contested lanes, and open spaces. Every pass, cut, and screen forces a reaction, triggering an endless cycle of recalibration and emergence. The most elite players — whether it's Nikola Jokić manipulating defensive rotations with surgical passing or Giannis Antetokounmpo reshaping space in transition — don't just react to the game; they anticipate and reshape the very structure of the court itself. This reflects the idea that space is not just occupied but actively redefined through movement and interaction, continuously shaped by dynamic engagement on and off the court.This logic of adaptation extends to the community level where basketball interacts with urban geography, shaping and being shaped by its environment. Urban basketball courts function as micro-environments, where local styles of play emerge as reflections of city life and its unique spatial dynamics. The compact, improvisational play of street courts in Lagos mirrors the spatial density of urban Africa, just as the systemic, team-first approach of European basketball reflects the structured environments of club academies in Spain, Serbia, and Lithuania. As the game expands, it doesn't erase these identities — it integrates them. New forms of hybrid styles reflect decades-old forces of globalization.Basketball's global expansion mirrors the complex adaptive networks that form during the course of a game. Interconnected systems evolve through emergent interactions. And just as cities develop through shifting flows of people, resources, and ideas, basketball transforms as players, styles, and strategies circulate worldwide, continuously reshaping the game on the court and off. The court may still be measured in feet and lines, but the game it contains — psychologically, socially, and geographically — moves beyond those boundaries. It flows with every fluent pass, each migrating mass, and every vibrant force that fuels its ever-evolving future.REFERENCESHillier, B. (2012). Studying cities to learn about minds: Some possible implications of space syntax for spatial cognition. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design.Naismith, J. (1941). Basketball: Its Origins and Development. University of Nebraska Press.Baur, J. W. R., & Tynon, J. F. (2010). Small-scale urban nature parks: Why should we care? Leisure Sciences, Taylor & Francis.Callaghan, J., Moore, E., & Simpson, J. (2018). Coordinated action, communication, and creativity in basketball in superdiversity. Language and Intercultural Communication, Taylor & Francis.Meinig, D. W. (1979). The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes: Geographical Essays. Oxford University Press.Andrews, D. L. (2018). The (Trans)National Basketball Association: American Commodity-Sign Culture and Global-Local Conjuncturalism.Galeano, E. (2015). The Global Court: The Rise of International Basketball. Verso.Ungruhe, C., & Agergaard, S. (2020). Cultural Transitions in Sport: The Migration of African Basketball Players to Europe. International Review for the Sociology of SportAppadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. University of Minnesota Press.Meisterjahn, R. J. (2011). Everything Was Different: An Existential Phenomenological Investigation of U.S. Professional Basketball Players' Experiences Overseas.Ramos, J., Lopes, R., & Araújo, D. (2018). Network dynamics in team sports: The influence of space and time in basketball. Journal of Human Kinetics.Ribeiro, J., Silva, P., Duarte, R., Davids, K., & Araújo, D. (2019). Team sports performance analysis: A dynamical system approach. Sports Medicine. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit interplace.io

Bob Naismith was one of the early Citadel sculptors who helped to define the foundations of Warhammer and 40k. From the original Space Marine design, predating Rogue Trader and the start of 40k, to the plastics created for HeroQuest and Space Crusade, Bob and Jordan talk about an incredible career full of iconic and important work.Bob Naismith interview._____________________________ Check out Bob's latest work: [Bob Naismith Website]https://www.bobnaismith.com/[Bob Naismith Patreon]https://www.patreon.com/user?u=31502359_____________________________ Support My Work: DOWNLOAD MY FANTASY BATTLE SCENARIO DEAD KING WENCESLAS:https://jordansorcery.itch.io/dead-king-wenceslasELEMENT GAMES AFFILIATE LINK:https://elementgames.co.uk/?d=11216PATREON:https://www.patreon.com/jordansorceryKO-FI:https://ko-fi.com/jordansorceryDISCORD:https://discord.gg/vtjKzTGevDINSTAGRAM:https://www.instagram.com/jordansorcery/ BLUESKY:https://bsky.app/profile/jordansorcery.bsky.social WEBSITE:https://jordansorcery.com/_____________________________ Art, Music, and Copyright: Images used belong to their respective copyright owners Jordan Sorcery Theme by Joylin Music Jordan Sorcery Heraldry by Becka Moor Jordan Sorcery Heraldry and Theme copyright @jordansorcerySupport the show

In this engaging episode of the Driving Change Podcast, Jeff Bloomfield interviews Dr. Iona Naismith, a clinical psychologist, adventurer, and expert in the neuroscience of compassion. Dr. Naismith shares her fascinating journey from growing up in the Scottish Highlands to leading expeditions in the Italian Dolomites and pursuing a career in psychology. The conversation explores the neuroscience behind compassion, the importance of self-awareness, and practical strategies to rewire negative thought patterns for personal and professional growth. The episode offers actionable insights into achieving balance through mindfulness, self-compassion, and emotional intelligence. Why You Should Listen This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking personal growth or looking to improve their leadership and relationships. Dr. Naismith's unique blend of adventure and psychology provides inspiring lessons on resilience, self-awareness, and the power of compassion. Whether you're navigating life's challenges or seeking to optimize your mental well-being, her insights will leave you equipped with practical tools to transform your mindset and achieve balance. Key Takeaways Neuroscience of Compassion: Compassion is more than being nice—it's about addressing and alleviating suffering while fostering resilience and growth. Self-Compassion vs. Self-Criticism: Many people are compassionate toward others but harsh on themselves. Learning self-compassion can unlock greater potential and self-acceptance. Mindfulness as a Tool: Staying present helps disrupt negative thought patterns, reducing anxiety and increasing focus. Neural Pathways and Habits: Rewiring negative beliefs requires consistent effort, likened to forging a new path in a forest. Three Circles Model: Understanding the balance between the threat, drive, and soothing systems is key to maintaining emotional equilibrium. Visualization's Power: Mentally rehearsing positive outcomes can build confidence and reinforce neural pathways for success.

We meet at the Bricklayer's Arms to chat about Luton Town.

Penny Hardaway named to Naismith Watch List 2024 25 - Jason & John discuss it full 775 Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:14:44 +0000 itjZvEad1uuoOqCapmdY98a2EWQ5bBwf sports 92.9 Featured Podcast sports Penny Hardaway named to Naismith Watch List 2024 25 - Jason & John discuss it 92.9 ESPN FM/680 AM Featured Podcast of the Day 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc. Sports False https://player.amperwavepodcasting.com?feed-link=https%3A%2F%2Frss.amperwave.net%2F

The definitive college basketball coach rankings going forward! College basketball time machine: Where will these teams be in 5 years? Picking the winners for every Naismith positional award! PRESENTED BY MyBookie! Double your first deposit with promo code SLEEPERS here: https://bit.ly/SLEEPERS

#199: Jerod Haase is the former Stanford university head men's basketball coach. During his time on the farm at Stanford the Cardinal had won 126 games, recorded its best conference finish and most league wins in a decade and earned a postseason berth for the first time since 2015. The 2020 team was set to be postseason bound before the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament.A native of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Haase attended California in 1992-93, starting 23 games as a freshman and playing alongside Jason Kidd in the backcourt. Haase then transferred to Kansas, where he helped lead the Jayhawks to three consecutive conference titles and finished his career ranked in the school's top 10 in assists, three-point field goals and steals. Haase started 99 of 101 games at Kansas and scored 1,264 points, averaging 12.5 per game and reaching double figures 74 times. While at Kansas, Haase was a candidate for the Naismith and Wooden Awards. Haase was also a first-team GTE Academic All-American as a senior, a second-team Academic All-American as a junior and a three-time academic all-conference pick. The Jayhawks' Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 1997, Haase later earned a master's degree in business at Kansas in 2000.After playing professionally he went on to help as an assistant with his former college coach Roy Williams at Kansas and then North Carolina, before he became the head coach at UAB. At UAB, Haase led the Blazers to a regular-season Conference USA championship in 2016 and the program's 15th all-time NCAA Tournament berth in 2015. Haase compiled an 80-53 overall record in four seasons while improving the Blazers' win total every year. In 2016 he was tabbed as the Gene Bartow Conference USA Coach of the Year, leading the Blazers to a 26-5 overall record and a 16-2 conference mark while capturing their first regular-season title since 2011. In 2017, Haase joined the National Advisory Board of the Positive Coaching Alliance, the organization that uses the power of positive reinforcement to pursue winning and the more important goal of teaching life lessons through sports.On the show you will hear his story, overcoming setbacks, being genuine and authentic, core values, relationships, and much more. Enjoy the show! Book Link:https://www.amazon.com/Floor-Burns-Inside-Kansas-Jayhawk/dp/0965839214  

In this episode of the Just Schools Podcast, Jon Eckert interviews Paul Putz, director of the Faith & Sports Institute at Baylor University, where he helps to lead and develop online programming and curriculum as well as assisting with communications and strategic planning. They discuss his journey from high school teacher and coach to historian, diving into insights from his new book, The Spirit of the Game: American Christianity and Big-Time Sports. Putz reflects on the role of sports in K-12 education and the importance of of resilience, collaboration, and integrating faith into leadership in both education and sports. The Just Schools Podcast is brought to you by the Baylor Center for School Leadership. Each week, we'll talk to catalytic educators who are doing amazing work. The Center for School Leadership and Faith & Sports Institute are partnering together for a summer professional event! Join us for the FIT (faith-integration-transformation) Sports Leadership Summit! We will gather at Baylor to empower and equip Christian sports leaders in K-12 schools to lead, serve, and educate well as they pursue competitive excellence. Be encouraged. Mentioned: The Spirit of the Game: American Christianity and Big-Time Sports by Paul Putz Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe by David Maraniss. Faith & Sports Institute Youth Sports Summit  Connect with us: Baylor MA in School Leadership EdD in K-12 Educational Leadership Jon Eckert LinkedIn X: @eckertjon Center for School Leadership at Baylor University: @baylorcsl   Jon Eckert: All right, so we've got Paul Putz here in the podcast studio and we get to talk about a new book. We get to talk about coaching, we get to talk about teaching. So Paul, it's a huge blessing to have you here today. Can you just give us a little bit of your background about how you got to this office today, where you came through as a student and professionally? Paul Putz: Yeah. Well, I started, we'll start with I'm a teacher at heart and was a teacher, a high school teacher. So I grew up in small town Nebraska and playing all the sports thinking that I'm going to become a coach. So I went off and played small college basketball and then wanted to hang around sports. And so I got my secondary ed degree, was a social studies teacher. And as I started teaching in Omaha, Nebraska, I had a sense of how important sports were to me in terms of forming me. I was a pretty good student too, but sports mattered to me on a deeper level. And so I was really intrigued about learning more about sports. As I'm teaching social studies classes, I'm thinking about, man, how historically did we get to a place where sports are part of a school curriculum where sports are actually seen as educational or sports are seen as formative? I was just so curious about that. So instead of becoming a coach as a high school teacher, I get my master's in history and I start exploring these questions about the history of sports and as connections with Christianity. So those sort of questions I was wrestling with as a high school teacher lead me to applying to Baylor, coming to Baylor to get a PhD teaching at Messiah University for a year, and then coming back to Truett Seminary where I lead the Faith & Sports Institute and have been involved with FSI for the past five years. Jon Eckert: So love the work you do. I also understand from guys who still are able to play basketball with you, I have not been able to, as my knee no longer allows it, but you have a nice mid-range game still. Paul Putz: Old school. We keep it old school. Yeah. Jon Eckert: That's great. That makes Nebraska and Indiana boys proud. So love that. And I love the journey that you took. You go into education thinking you're going to coach and you're going to teach, and then you go down this history path, which then leads you to leading a Faith & Sports Institute. So it's kind of funny the way the Lord weaves us through these paths. And then to this book that's been published by Oxford University Press, really nice book by the way. Paul Putz: Thank you. Jon Eckert: Much nicer production than I typically get in the books that I write. So I'm impressed with what Oxford's done with it. The Spirit of the Game: American Christianity and Big-Time Sports. It says it's this fascinating look at the overlap and the way Christianity and major college sports and professional sports have been woven together starting in the 1920s. So tell us how you got to this book from that journey you just described. Paul Putz: Yeah, I think so many authors say their book is in some sense autobiographical. You have a question that you want to think about and in the process of exploring your own questions, you kind of realize, hey, other people might be asking these questions too. So that's how it started for me. I mentioned I'm growing up in Nebraska, I was a pastor's kid, I was also loving sports. And so this idea of being a Christian and being an athlete were so central to how I saw myself. And so when I did pursue the PhD and became a historian exploring sports in Christianity, it was my desire to figure out where did I come from? How was my high school basketball coach, Joel Heeser, who's a friend of mine now still coaching high school basketball? How did he learn what it means to be a Christian athlete, a Christian coach? And so out of that kind of sense of curiosity and a sense of where's my own place in this story, I went and do what historians do. So we go back to the archives and we try to look at the origins and we look at the cultural context and we try to figure out cause and change over time and how did this happen and how did it influence culture and how did culture influence what was going on? And so that's what I got to spend five years doing. It started as a PhD doctoral project. I'm going to archives across the US and I'm looking at memos and documents, and going to the libraries and just trying to tease out how this space to bring together sports and faith developed and then how it evolved and advanced to the place where it shaped my life and shaped the lives of so many others in America. Jon Eckert: That's well said and a great setup to the book. And one of the things that kind of blew my mind, and it's just in the introduction to your book, you have this comment here, "Compared with 100 years ago, there are far more athletes and coaches today willing to publicly champion Christianity as a formative influence in their lives." So I think sometimes in the US we feel like we're in this post-Christian world. And in some ways it's a very different world, especially when you hear athletes as soon as they're interviewed after a game, immediately giving credit to God and giving glory to God and the Steph Currys of the world and any number of football players. And you see this over and over and over again. And that wasn't the case a hundred years ago, probably because sports weren't as, they didn't have the platform that they do now. But as you've written the book, what do you attribute that to the most? I know that's the point of the whole book, but can you distill that down to two or three points for the people listening and why you think that's the case? Paul Putz: Yeah, what I try to suggest in the book is the blending of sports and Christianity kind of happens in two phases. And so I start in the 1920s, but there's this era before the 1920s, we'll say goes from after the Civil War until the 1920s. And it's during this era there's a movement called, muscular Christianity. And what muscular Christianity does is it helps Christians see the value of the body, the value of physical activity to moral formation. And it's out of muscular Christianity, which is a movement that starts in England and then it comes to the United States. It's out of muscular Christianity that a lot of these ideas about character formation in sports are developed. And it's why sports become connected to schools and education because people and school leaders are trying to figure out how do we channel this interest that our students have in athletic activity into productive ways so we can use it to form and shape them as good citizens. So muscular Christianity is kind of the first stage, which again connects sports to Christian mission with this character building way. And it has a profound effect. I mean, some of the sports we play today are products of muscular Christianity. And the classic example is basketball, 1891, James Naismith enrolls at a Christian college in Springfield, part of the YMCA. And when he enrolls at the school, he said his desire was to win men for the master through the gym. So he has a Christian purpose, a Christian mission at a Christian school, and he creates basketball to advance these muscular Christian ideas. Jon Eckert: And I didn't realize this, but in the book you highlight, Naismith is the only coach in Kansas history that has a losing record. Paul Putz: Only coach with a losing record. Jon Eckert: Because he didn't care. Paul Putz: He didn't... And this is such an important point because in that first era there were some real idealistic people like Naysmith who thought sport legitimately as first and foremost for moral formation, it's about developing people. Win or lose doesn't matter. So that's the first era. 1920s comes along and it's pretty clear that sports has developed into something else. Sports is connected to commercialization, winning comes first. Even at colleges it was supposed to be educational, but it's clear that at the college level, if you're a coach, you might be a great molder of young men, but if you don't win games, you're getting fired. Jon Eckert: Right. Paul Putz: So there's this sense in the 1920s, this reality sets in that sport is now commercialized. It's big time. And even though it's still connected to say college, at the big time level, that muscular Christian mission isn't there. So what my book tries to do is say, okay, when muscular Christianity is sort of on the back burner because we now have this big time sports structure in the 1920s where it's all commercialized, it's all celebrity, how do Christians still engage in that? How do they wrestle with that tension of a, when at all cost atmosphere, a space where Christians don't determine the culture of sports they're guests in this culture and how do they create a space to still cultivate and nurture Christian athletes and coaches there? And that's where we see in the 1920s, very few Christians able to navigate that. There's just a handful of them who can be in major league baseball or can be in big time college athletics and still feel strong about their Christian commitments. But a hundred years later, we now see all sorts of Christian athletes and coaches who are comfortable in those spaces. And you kind of asked what drove that. What I would say drives that is the formation of a community that was embedded within sports institutions, that creates a sense of shared mission, shared purpose, and that over generations continue to invite more people in, continue to develop and just kind of under the radar, ministry of presence was just there and available to help athletes and coaches identify as Christians in that space. So it really comes down to the creation of these networks and organizations like the Fellowship of Christian athletes, like athletes in action, like Pro Athletes Outreach, like Baseball Chapel, people starting something new and then sustaining it over time and seeing the ripple effects years later. Jon Eckert: The beautiful example and what I had just finished this summer, this, Path Lit by Lightning, it's the Jim Thorpe book. Have you read this? Paul Putz: Yes, I have. Fantastic book. Jon Eckert: Such a fascinating read, because it's in this, leading up to the 1920s, his career is this amateur versus professional, which he gets caught and just treated so poorly and Pop Warner, the king of amateur child sports that we have Pop Warner leagues all over, kind of a horrific human being in the way they exploited people and they did it through sports. But he started his career at the Carlisle Indian School, which was one of the horrific experiments in US history when we took students off from their families off of reservations to try to quote, unquote civilize them into these things. And sports were a major part of it. So in our conversation, I'd love to pivot a little bit, well maybe not even pivot, but integrate sports into what K-12 education has been because still most places other than maybe Friday night lights in Texas football, most K-12 sports are not big time sports yet that most of the athletes playing sports there. You would make the case that the extracurricular there is to support the moral development. It's not a huge money sport until you get into the AAU stuff and some of those things where you have revenue, but K-12 systems, it's still more about that and it's been used for a lot of good things. And then in some cases, in Jim Thorpe's example, it was good kind of. So could you integrate those a little bit and how you see K-12 sports still having an influence and where Christian coaches and Christian athletes have a spot in that? Paul Putz: Yeah, yeah, you're right. There is a difference. And that muscular Christian ideal still continues in some ways, certainly even at the big time sports level. There's elements of it, but especially I think when we get into K-12 or if we get into division three small colleges. Jon Eckert: Yes. Paul Putz: There's a better chance to I think fully integrate the sports experience with the mission of the school. And at the same time, I would say the trends that we see at the highest levels of sports, your professional leagues, those do filter down because kids are looking to athletes as celebrities and heroes. So they're emulating them in some ways. So even though at the K-12 level and the small college level, there's a difference structurally and financially, you still have people who are formed and shaped by what they're seeing in these images in this culture. Now at the same time, I do think in terms of the growth of sports in what we've seen, I think we saw really a century from the 1920s until the last 10 years of continual development of sports as a central part of education in the United States. And this was done intentionally through organizations and networks like coaches associations, high school athletic associations. These develop in the 1920s and after the 1940s and 1950s, they sort of take on this professional identity. There was a period in time where to be a coach at a high school, you were seen as like, well, you're not really part of what's going on at the school. And so it took time for coaches to establish a professional identity linking it with education. And that evolved over the course of, again, a hundred years from the 1920s into the present. But these coaches and athletic directors, I have a quote in my book where I mentioned this, they intentionally had this vision for cultivating in young people a love of sports, because they thought through sports we can instill good values for American citizens or if you're at a Christian school you can instill Christian values. And so at the K-12 level, sports were always connected with some sort of vision beyond just the game. It was more than a game. It was about who you're becoming as a person. It was about learning life lessons and it sounds like a platitude. We've all heard this and we've also, I'm sure seen hypocrisy where we know of a coach who says this, but it doesn't seem like it plays out that way. But there's also some deep truth to that. I think anyone listening to this, if you've played a sport at the high school level that formed and shaped you, maybe in some bad ways, but in some good ways too. And so I think there is a power to sports that continues to have relevance and resonance today. I will say in more recent years we're seeing some really big shifts with K-12 school. With club sports, with travel sports. And there's some ways that that sense of community identity that was tied into the school level, it doesn't exist everywhere. There's pockets where it does. But in some places, some of the best athletes are now not connected to their school. And so for the future, I worry about what will it look like in 40, 50, 60 years where sports could be such an important part of a community and neighborhood identity at a school level. Will that go away as more and more athletes maybe turn to different models to pursue their dreams and goals? Some people in education might say that's healthy. They might say we need to separate education from sports. For me, and maybe I'm naive, but I think there's something important and beautiful about linking sports to education. But we do have to have guard rails and we do have to have people fighting to do it the right way. Jon Eckert: I completely agree. I want to see sports, I want to see all extracurriculars integrated well into what's going on in the classroom. I think that provides more holistic place for kids to learn is where kids can be more engaged and kids can flourish in areas where they may not flourish in one classroom, but they might flourish with an instrument they might flourish in a club or with sports. And I think sports are a powerful place for that. I do know with some states moving to NIL deals for high school athletes, that completely changes the dynamic and is really disconcerting for me because in that case, unlike colleges where that athlete is generating revenue for the school, it's hard to argue that the gate attendance at the high school game is really that much impacted by an individual athlete. But that's coming and that is the world we're living in. And that's some of that trickle-down effect that you described. I never want to be the sky is falling person. I'm thrilled that we have a 12 team playoff system in college football. I'm also not ignorant of the fact that, that completely changes the dynamics of the economics of the sport. So what I'd like to say is Christian leaders, because our set in the Interfaith Sports Institute and the Center, we overlap in some really good ways. What I'd like to see is what you described about the athletes in the twenties and thirties, creating these associations and these communities that fly under the radar of just inviting people in because I think that's what as Christians we should be doing in whatever we're called to. So do you see overlap for Christian administrators and teachers for how we can represent Christ well in the platforms big or small that we have? Do you see any lessons that we can take away as educators from what you found from your athletes in the book? Paul Putz: I think so. I think probably one of the most important, or I guess if I were to highlight two things. One is I would say there's lots of different ways to do it. Jon Eckert: Yes. Paul Putz: I think sometimes a certain person or a certain organization, they come up with a way that works really well for them and then they hold fast to that as if this is the way, this is the biblical way, this is the Christian way. And what I would want to say is it's a part of a conversation. Different contexts need different resources, different methods. And the way God made us as a community talks about the diversity of strengths we have in giftings and callings. And so I think one thing to learn is you can learn from other people who have methods and approaches when it comes to integrating faith in sports. And you probably also have something to offer to that conversation too. So if we can hold what we do loosely, but also not in a way that shies away from the calling to step up as Christian leaders and to say there is a way to engage in sports that reflects my convictions, but then also in a way where there's a sense of humility that I can learn from others. I don't have it all figured out. A bunch of Christians before me have messed up as they're trying to do this, but they've also done some good stuff along the way. And I think that can give us freedom to try, probably to fail, but to maybe advance the conversation forward. So that's one piece. And the other piece is I think it's simply expect tension, expect that there's not an easy overlap between the culture of sports and Christianity. I think there are certain elements to sports that I'm really drawn to. I'm competitive. I love the competitiveness of sports. I want to have the winner. For me, there's a drive for all of that. Jon Eckert: You're not James Naismith, is that what you're saying? Paul Putz: I'm not. I love James Naismith, but for me, boy, I want to, I'm kind of like, I want to win. Jon Eckert: You can be John Wooden. He wanted win too. Paul Putz: There you go. That's right. He did it. The quiet winner. But biblically, there are all sorts of messages, passages, commands from Jesus that tell us that his kingdom is upside down. It's different than the way the world works. And sports culture so often has a certain way where we prioritize the winner. We maybe give our attention to the star athlete. And that type of culture, it's really difficult to fully, fully integrate that into this full-fledged view of Christian faith. And especially because sports is also a pluralistic space where you're going to have people of all different faith, traditions, race, ethnicity, backgrounds, which is beautiful. But it also means let's just have some realistic expectations for what we can accomplish in sports, realizing tension's going to exist. It's the already not yet tension. We live after Jesus's life, death and resurrection before he comes to make it fully complete. And so in the midst of that, we can witness to Christ's way right now and point to glimpses of his coming kingdom. But let's not have this sense of maybe an idealistic perfectionist bent that insists or expects that we're going to round out all the sharp edges of sports. There's going to be tension there. Jon Eckert: And so as educators, the beautiful thing, I got to teach coach for years and what I loved about it was I love basketball, but it wasn't going over the same play for the fourth year in a row. And the 50th practice that I've done it was seeing how individuals came to that and what skills you had and how you could put them in place to be successful. And so when I taught a science lab the 16th time I taught the science lab, I knew what was going to happen with the chemical reaction, but it was fun to see through the eyes of the kids that were there. So the more diverse and pluralistic the classroom of the team is, the more interesting it is to see that through all those different perspectives. And I think that's really how God sees us anyway. And so there's beauty in that and it's not a challenge to be overcome. It's the beauty of being in the world that every person is made in the image of God, whether they're the guy on the end of the bench or the best player on the team, or the kid that struggles in the science lab and flourishes in the art classroom. That kid is fascinating. And then you can't give up on that kid. And so the great coaches don't give up on players. It's why I'm super curious to see how Bill Belichick does at University of North Carolina, having been a pro coach for so many years where it is like, yeah, you've got to recruit well, but you also have to build a culture where your team, and that's harder to do now than ever because of what's going on in the transfer portal. And I don't like this, so I'm going to leave. And at least in the classroom, for the most part, we get a kid for the year and we get to be with them. We get to walk alongside them for a time and help them become more of who they're created to be and then pass them off to the next person. So I know in the Faith and Sports Institute, this is a lot of what you're trying to do through sports and how you integrate faith well. So talk a little bit about any events you have coming up or what you hope to do through that. Paul Putz: Yeah, well one thing we are excited about is the stuff we get to do with you, the Center for School Leadership. I think just over the past couple of years we've connected and collaborated. We've hung out and [inaudible 00:22:43] Jon Eckert: Board, you're on our advisory board board. Paul Putz: I often tell people, CSL think is one of the best things Baylor has going for it. And that's because I was a high school teacher and I see the sort of leaders that are developed through CSL. And so I immediately wanted to get connected and to see some overlap. I also knew sports is so central to education, and I know you have many coaches and athletic directors who come through your degree programs. And so it's been fun just to explore together some of the ways we can partner. So we do have, in June, we're actually going to be putting on at Baylor in conjunction with Baylor Athletics Center for School Leadership, faith and Sports Institute. We're going to have a little Christian Leadership Summit event. We're going to gather people together who are interested in these questions of faith and sport integration and how do you compete with excellence, but with Christian values and perspective. And so we're real excited about that. We have other events that we're doing in February, we're hosting a youth sports event, thinking about how the church navigates youth sports issues. And that's going to be February 7th and eighth here at Truett Seminary in Waco. And then in next summer, July, late July, we're hosting the Global Congress on Sport and Christianity. This is more of an academic gathering. We're bringing in scholars who do research on sports and Christianity, but we're also bringing in some thoughtful practitioners, some chaplains, some coaches, some athletic directors, people who have thought deeply about sports and faith. And it's a shared conversation. So a lot of what we try to do with the Faith and Sports Institute, convene people, have conversations, collaborate, bring people together. And we do have some grad programs and online certificate programs. So we have some educational pieces that are foundational to what we do, but also we have these just public facing programs and collaboration opportunities that I'm real excited about. Jon Eckert: Love that. And I love being at a place like Baylor where there's so many good things going on. As a center, we get to partner with you, we get to partner with Baylor Athletics. Anything Coach Drew does, I will happily support. Paul Putz: 100%. Jon Eckert: So we have so many great people like that. So that's a blessing. And I know we're almost out of time, so I'm going to do our lightning round because we really need to do the lightning round. But I want to start with this. What's the biggest challenge you see facing Christian coaches and educators right now? Paul Putz: I think it's margin and time, and the demands of the job. It seems there's more and more responsibility, and for good reasons. It's because there's these issues. It's mental health. We want to care for the kids. And there's all these challenges kids face now you need to figure that out, because if you're going to teach the kid, you better know what you're doing. And it just seems like I was last a high school teacher 11 years ago. I don't know that that world exists now 10 years later. It's totally different when I hear what educators are going through. I think for coaches as well, you've talked about it with NIL, it feels so new. I would just say some margin, some grace, some space, some sense of community. And then through that, maybe we can figure out some healthier rhythms because it's unsustainable with the way it is now. So that's one thing I see just with the people I've been around, and I know we've talked a little bit about this too, it's something... We need each other. At the end of the day, we need each other for this. Jon Eckert: Yeah. Best advice you've ever received? Paul Putz: I would say, I'm going to, boy, here's what I'll go with. John Wilson said this, "Let a thousand flowers bloom," was what he said. And he was talking about in the context of academics who kind of try to claim their territory, their space, and kind of own it. And his perspective was, let's encourage it all. Let's let it all grow. Don't try to cultivate your little space, a little thousand flowers bloom. It's going to look more beautiful and let's encourage one another along the way. And so that's the first thing that to mind. If I were to think more, I might have something else, but that's something I've been continually reminded of is how much we need each other and how much we need to encourage one another. And how much there is when we look out from ourselves and see the other work that's being accomplished. There's so much to support and encourage. Jon Eckert: That's good. I always like what comes to mind first. So that's good. Worst advice you've ever received? Paul Putz: Worst advice... Jon Eckert: Or given? Paul Putz: Or given? I've probably given some bad advice. I cannot think of... There's nothing specific that's coming to mind. That's for worst advice probably because sort of just went in one ear and out the other. Jon Eckert: That's good. Paul Putz: Gosh, I've run a total blank. You stumped me. [inaudible 00:27:39] Yeah. I'll circle back. I'm going to email you, if I can think of one after. Jon Eckert: You have to have gotten bad advice from a coach or from about coaching. That's where some of the worst advice I've ever received about coaching. Paul Putz: Well, I'll tell you. So this isn't necessarily advice, but I have heard a coach say, and this is about being a Christian, basically it was, "Hey, when you're a Christian, when you step onto that field, you're someone else. You're totally someone else. You can become whatever you want to be there." So there you go. That's some bad advice. Jon Eckert: Yeah. That's good. Paul Putz: As Christians, sports are part of life. So we don't separate who we are as Christians, we don't compartmentalize. So there you go. Worst advice is that you can separate who you are in the field to play. Jon Eckert: So if you had to distill down into a sentence your one takeaway piece of advice for somebody who wants to write a book, I talk to a lot of educators who run to write a book, you've now written a book. Any nugget that as an encouragement or as a discouragement, like, "Hey, think about this." What would you say? Paul Putz: I would say you got to write it for yourself. You got to care about it. And it's got to be important for you that you put this out because there's a ton of great books out there. You're not going to get rich off writing books. It's got to be because you're passionate about it. For yourself, not in the sense of to glorify yourself, for yourself in the sense that I have these words that I think could be helpful if I get it out. And the other thing is resilience. You got to be willing to sit down in that chair and write when you don't feel like it. Get that draft out, edit, revise. So it's resilience. And it's also a real calling that these words need to be out there. Jon Eckert: Yeah. Well, you said you were not going to make money on this. I've heard you refer to yourself as the John Grisham of sports historians. Paul Putz: There's only... Yeah, of sports and Christianity in America. Historians. There's like two of us. Jon Eckert: That's good. No, no, that's good. It's so true about the books and not getting rich, and you do have to have something that you feel so deeply that you need to get out there that it's going to drive you on those days you don't want to do it. So that's good advice. Last question, what makes you most hopeful as you look ahead, as an educator, as somebody who's interested in sports, what makes you most encouraged? Paul Putz: I think it's being around people who we're in this with, it's about the people we're in it with. There's a lot that I can get discouraged about when I see the news and it feels like there's so much that's changing. But then I'm around people who are saying, "You know what? This is a time we lived in. We didn't choose this time, but here we are, and what are we going to give up? We're going to say, oh, it's hopeless." No, it's the people. It's looking for people who want to find solutions and who realize young people are growing up. They're being shaped and formed right now. And if we're not in that work, what are we doing to shape the future? So that's more than anything. It's just being around people who are willing to put in the work, even in the face of the struggles. Jon Eckert: Well, until wrap up, I'm grateful that you decided not to take your talents to the NBA, but you brought them into academia and you brought those loves together. So I really appreciate your partnership and you being here today. Paul Putz: Thanks so much. Really appreciate you and the work you do.

It has been a busy week at Luton Town with players and staff coming and going ahead of a massive match against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Saturday. Kev is joined as ever by The Lutonian journalist James Cunliffe to look ahead to the February opener but before the boys get there they discuss the recent additions of Kal Naismith, Thelo Aasgaard and, since we recorded, Millenic Alli, as well as who else might be arriving on the horizon.Could a fourth bid for Wycombe's Richard Kone do the trick?  The lads then reflect on the negative news regarding the two Tom's – Lockyer and Krauss with the former having an injury setback and the latter ending his loan spell prematurely. The boys then turn their attention onto the match and highlight the form and dangers that Sheffield Wednesday enter the contest with before looking at how Luton could line up with their new signings. All this and much more including the score predictions on the longest-running, award-winning Luton Town podcast! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Find us at: https://www.lutontownsupporterstrust.com  Find all the latest Luton Town news, including transfer news and match previews at The Lutonian at: https://thelutonian.com. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to The Barber Club and The Lower Level for hosting our new studio for the regular podcast. You can find them at:  The Lower Level: https://www.instagram.com/_thelowerlevel_/?hl=en-gb The Barber Club: https://www.facebook.com/TheBarberClubLuton/?locale=en_GB Like our logo? Check out Ed Smith Creative at: https://www.edsmithcreative.co.uk  Like our theme tune? It's by Seán Grant and the Wolfgang who have released a live album out now, via Luton label Vandalism Begins at Home Records. Find it on all streaming platforms at: https://vbah.co.uk/presave/SGWG/Transformed-Transcending-Live

Kal Naismith has rejoined Luton Town on loan until the end of the season!

Rangers' great Dane embodied how the truly gifted make this beautiful game look easy.This podcast is part of a new, digital version of Nutmeg that will give you more of the Nutmeg stories you love, straight to your email inbox.You'll get topical columns from leading players and journalists, The Nutmeg Mysteries – uncovering strange episodes in our game's past, fascinating rummages into football finance with Sporting Intelligence's Nick Harris, and Daniel Gray's Slow Match Report.These digital dispatches will come to you via the brilliant publishing platform Substack. Just pop in your email. No apps. No faff.Subscribe for free now This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nutmegfootball.substack.com

A great weekend of college hoops is here, and ESPN and BTN analyst Meghan McKeown joins to share her insights on the women's season so far! Bob starts us off with the latest news and notes! All presented by Jersey Mike's! Happy Holidays from our Naismith family to yours! WANT TO SUPPORT A TROPHY LIFE?Leave a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback only helps make the show better, and we appreciate your support! For more information about the Naismith Trophy Award, visit our home on the web.

All the best bits of Saturday and Sunday's shows in one place! Scotland!; Pranks; Bread XI; Grandparents and Football; Terracing Teaser with Steven Naismith, Ian McCall and Rosco McClelland join Tam Cowan, Ray Bradshaw and Paul English

Christy Winters Scott and Debbie Antonelli discuss Debbie's weekend at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, where she received the Curty Gowdy Award for Electronic Media, Christy's son Jordan announced his intent to sign with Tom izzo and Michigan State, oh and there is a very competitive WNBA Finals going on between the New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our 2018 Werner Ladder Naismith Women's College Coach of the Year: Vic Schaefer, joins Bob this week to talk about the Texas move to the SEC and more! Plus, there's an under-the-radar event this weekend for USA Basketball! WANT TO SUPPORT A TROPHY LIFE?Leave a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback only helps make the show better, and we appreciate your support! For more information about the Naismith Trophy Award, visit our home on the web.

This week, our reigning 2024 Werner Ladder Naismith Men's National Coach of the Year Head Coach Dan Hurley joins Bob Rathbun! Plus, the weekly news and notes around college basketball! WANT TO SUPPORT A TROPHY LIFE?Leave a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback only helps make the show better, and we appreciate your support! For more information about the Naismith Trophy Award, visit our home on the web.

This week on A Trophy Life, we celebrate the legacy of our outgoing Naismith Awards chairman: Barry Goheen! Plus, Bob relays our weekly news and notes! WANT TO SUPPORT A TROPHY LIFE?Leave a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback only helps make the show better, and we appreciate your support! For more information about the Naismith Trophy Award, visit our home on the web.

With Steven Naismith SACKED as Hearts FC manager, the big question is: Should the club turn to a familiar face like John McGlynn to take the reins? We explore whether McGlynn's deep understanding of Hearts FC makes him the perfect fit for the job. SUBSCRIBE NOW:  @PLZSoccer  We break down why Naismith was sacked, John McGlynn's history with Hearts, and what qualities he could bring to the team. Plus, we dive into Craig Levein's sacking from St Johnstone, Rangers' interim chairman John Gilligan's appointment, and the pressure building on Rangers Manager Philippe Clement to keep winning.

Hearts CEO Andrew McKinlay sits down with Sky Sports' Luke Shanley for an exclusive interview as he discusses why the club sacked Steven Naismith, how they'll appoint a new head coach, reports the club are in talks with Brighton owner Tony Bloom over investment and they use of his analytics company, the future of captain Lawrence Shankland, being linked with the Rangers CEO job and much more.

Another top show and guest for you this week as we're joined by Motherwell Captain and Andy Halliday's teammate, Paul McGinn. The lads discuss their recent League Cup Quarter-Final victory which sees them play Rangers at Hampden for a place in the final! We also chat through the big news of the weekend with Hearts Manager Steven Naismith losing his job after an 8th straight defeat and Paul McGinn chats us through some of his career stories with the likes of Queens Park, St Mirren, Hibs and of course when he was capped for Scotland! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Another top show and guest for you this week as we're joined by Motherwell Captain and Andy Halliday's teammate, Paul McGinn. The lads discuss their recent League Cup Quarter-Final victory which sees them play Rangers at Hampden for a place in the final! We also chat through the big news of the weekend with Hearts Manager Steven Naismith losing his job after an 8th straight defeat and Paul McGinn chats us through some of his career stories with the likes of Queens Park, St Mirren, Hibs and of course when he was capped for Scotland! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gordon Duncan in joined by Roger Hannah & Andy Halliday as they discuss Celtic v Falkirk and replacements for Naismith.

Laurie, Mark & Scott are back with an instant reaction to the news that Steven Naismith has left Hearts, along with his assistants Gordon Forrest and Frankie McAvoy, following the […]

Richard Gordon and the team react to the sacking of Hearts head coach Steven Naismith

Reaction from Hearts boss Steven Naismith after their eighth successive loss. A classic 3-3 in Dingwall. Plus Rangers & Aberdeen book their places in the League Cup semi-finals.

Jane Lewis is joined by Gemma Fay and Sean Hamilton to discuss all the big talking points in Scottish football. They preview the weekend's League Cup quarter-final ties and ponder the pressure Steve Naismith is under as his Hearts side visit St Mirren in the Premiership. We also hear from Motherwell fan Jenna Thomson ahead of their game with Dundee United and from the BBC's Andrew Southwick who takes a closer look at what's going wrong for the Jam Tarts so far this season.

This week on the podcast, Bob Rathbun welcomes our 2024 Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Girl's High School Player of the Year: Sarah Strong. She talks about some of her takeaways from the year and her goals moving forward into college.WANT TO SUPPORT A TROPHY LIFE?Leave a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback only helps make the show better, and we appreciate your support! For more information about the Naismith Trophy Award, visit our home on the web.

Happy 4th of July to all! This week on A Trophy Life, presented by Jersey Mike's,  Bob Rathbun is joined by ESPN and Stadium basketball expert Fran Fraschilla! Bob and Fran discuss the three Naismith Trophy award winners from 2024 who heard their names called during the NBA Draft. Plus.. the news and notes from the week!WANT TO SUPPORT A TROPHY LIFE?Leave a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback only helps make the show better, and we appreciate your support! For more information about the Naismith Trophy Award, visit our home on the web.

This week, we welcome our 2024 Jersey Mike's Naismith Girl's High School Coach of the Year, Sue Phillips from Archbishop Mitty High School! Bob recaps our award winners who were selected in the NBA Draft's first round, plus our weekly News and Notes!WANT TO SUPPORT A TROPHY LIFE?Leave a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback only helps make the show better, and we appreciate your support! For more information about the Naismith Trophy Award, visit our home on the web.

Send us a Text Message.Brian Aquart sits down with Abha Malpani-Naismith, a dynamic digital PR and social media communications specialist who bravely left her corporate job to redesign a life that harmonizes her career aspirations and parenthood. With over 17 years of experience, Abha shares her journey, the challenges of balancing work and family, and how she leverages emerging technologies like AI to achieve her goals.Discover the strategies behind her successful newsletter for working moms, her new online course on creating children's books using AI, and the importance of authenticity. Tune in to be inspired by Abha's story of reinvention and learn valuable insights into creating a fulfilling, flexible career.Don't miss this episode filled with practical wisdom and inspiration!Takeaways:Hear her powerful insights on leveraging emerging technologies like AI and digital tools to maximize productivity and creativity.Get valuable advice on balancing career and parenting, embracing the illusion of perfect balance, and making every decision count.Learn about "The Big Leap" and the concept of Einstein time for a fresh perspective on managing your time effectively.Enjoy!Stay connected with AbhaVisit: https://workingmumsclub.substack.com/Website: www.abhanaismith.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhamalpani/Brian is celebrating his 40th year of life by running 40 races!Here's how you can support:Donate to help those impacted by Childhood Trauma for the 2024 Chicago Marathon: http://donate.aahgiving.org/goto/BRunsChicagoStay connected with Why I Left Visit: https://www.WhyILeft.coSubscribe: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMgQI4X0kEp8-o7Z9D3tRmg Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-i-left/id1613667100 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0TE4Y626idPxNeewpCG6EfFollow: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialwhyileft/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-i-left/ Connect with Brian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianaquart/ Rate us 5 stars and write a review here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-i-left/id1613667100Thanks to our partners & sponsors: Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1967679 Castmagic: https://get.castmagic.io/whyileft 2xYou: https://2xyou.B Runs Chicago BetterHelp Online Therapy - Get 10% off your first month and get matched to a therapist. 10% off first order at APodcastGeek.com Visit APodcastGeek.com, sign up, and use code BA10 to get 10% off your first order.Support the Show.

Send us a Text Message.Brian Aquart sits down with Abha Malpani-Naismith, a dynamic digital PR and social media communications specialist who bravely left her corporate job to redesign a life that harmonizes her career aspirations and parenthood. With over 17 years of experience, Abha shares her journey, the challenges of balancing work and family, and how she leverages emerging technologies like AI to achieve her goals. Discover the strategies behind her successful newsletter for working moms, her new online course on creating children's books using AI, and the importance of authenticity. Tune in to be inspired by Abha's story of reinvention and learn valuable insights into creating a fulfilling, flexible career. Don't miss this episode filled with practical wisdom and inspiration!Takeaways:Hear her powerful insights on leveraging emerging technologies like AI and digital tools to maximize productivity and creativity.Get valuable advice on balancing career and parenting, embracing the illusion of perfect balance, and making every decision count.Learn about "The Big Leap" and the concept of Einstein time for a fresh perspective on managing your time effectively.Enjoy!Stay connected with AbhaVisit: www.workingmomsclub.substack.comWebsite: www.abhanaismith.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhamalpani/Brian is celebrating his 40th year of life by running 40 races! Here's how you can support: Donate to help those impacted by Childhood Trauma for the 2024 Chicago Marathon: http://donate.aahgiving.org/goto/BRunsChicago Stay connected with Why I Left Visit: https://www.WhyILeft.co  Subscribe:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMgQI4X0kEp8-o7Z9D3tRmg Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-i-left/id1613667100 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0TE4Y626idPxNeewpCG6Ef  Follow: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialwhyileft/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-i-left/ Connect with Brian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianaquart/  Rate us 5 stars and write a review here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-i-left/id1613667100 Thanks to our partners & sponsors:  Buzzsprout:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1967679  Castmagic: https://get.castmagic.io/whyileft  2xYou: https://2xyou.comB Runs Chicago BetterHelp Online Therapy - Get 10% off your first month and get matched to a therapist. 10% off first order at APodcastGeek.com Visit APodcastGeek.com, sign up, and use code BA10 to get 10% off your first order.Support the Show.

This week, our guest is the 2024 Werner Ladder Naismith Trophy Men's College Coach of the Year: Dan Hurley  of the NCAA champions! And as always Bob starts us off with the Jersye Mike's News and Notes!WANT TO SUPPORT A TROPHY LIFE?Leave a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback only helps make the show better, and we appreciate your support! For more information about the Naismith Trophy Award, visit our home on the web.

Because they're so familiar, coins can sometimes seem to be a part of the natural order. But in the Early Middle Ages, just about everything to do with coins was in flux, from where they were sourced, to who was using them. This week, Danièle speaks with Rory Naismith about the complex world of medieval coins.You can support this podcast on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

[This blog will always be free to read, but it's also how I pay my bills. If you have suggestions or feedback on how I can earn your paid subscription, shoot me an email: cmclymer@gmail.com. And yes, I am available for speaking engagements. And if all this is too big a commitment, I'm always thankful for a simple cup of coffee.]South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley has no time for chasing ghosts, let alone nonsense of any variety. In a few hours, her team, undefeated this season, will face off against Iowa in the national championship, the final game in a tournament that has positioned women's college basketball as the biggest story in American sports.For folks who aren't into sportsball, lemme offer some quick context:South Carolina has lost a total of four games over the past three seasons. Their regular season record over that time is 107-3. They are undeniably a juggernaut, a dynasty-in-waiting. This is the fourth consecutive year they've made the Final Four.The last time they lost was in last year's Final Four… to Iowa. Iowa has never won a national title. This is only the second time they've made it to the championship game. Last year, they lost the final to LSU and star Angel Reese.But they boast Caitlin Clark, whose thrilling play on the court has shattered records for TV ratings, ticket prices, and, of course, NCAA stats. This regular season—her final season—Clark became the all-time leading scorer in the history of college basketball, for both women and men. So, one of the greatest college basketball players of all-time is leading a team that's considered the underdog against an undefeated team that has stomped through opponents over the past several years. Except for last year's loss against Iowa, of course.All of this amounts to a national championship game (today at 3pm ET on ABC/ESPN/ESPN+) that could be the biggest college basketball game in history, regardless of gender.The quarterfinal game between LSU and Iowa, this past Monday, attracted more than 12.3 million viewers, more than last year's World Series, more than last year's NBA Finals, more than almost every regular season college football game in 2023.Simply put: women's college basketball is currently not only the talk of the sports world but central to the national conversation.Today is a crowning achievement for women's sports. It is now widely considered illogical to claim women's sports aren't exciting. Tens of millions of people who weren't watching before this are certainly watching now. And debating the game. And appreciating the game. And openly being fans of the game.But yesterday, when Dawn Staley should have been asked about what this all means for the progress of women's sports as an essential component of American life, a reporter from an anti-LGBTQ outlet asked her how she feels about trans women in sports.It was a trolling question. It was a derailing question. It was intentionally a distracting question that took attention off the historic nature of this moment for women's sports.It was also a question about ghosts for people who are really into chasing ghosts. There are no trans women playing NCAA Division I college basketball. There are no trans women coaching NCAA Division I college basketball. There are no trans women being recruited to any NCAA Division I college basketball programs.The question was asked on a premise that is not only entirely hypothetical but also has no basis in reality for the foreseeable future. Coach Staley could have pointed this out. She could have said: “Why would I worry about a problem that doesn't exist?”No one would have thought lesser of her for that answer. We would have all been annoyed she was asked that question in the first place and probably praised her response.But Coach Staley didn't say that. She answered directly and made it abundantly clear where she stands on this issue."Damn, you got deep on me, didn't you? I'm on the opinion of, if you're a woman, you should play. If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play. That's my opinion. You want me to go deeper?”When pressed, she followed up with:"Yes, yes. So now the barnstormer people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me on one of the biggest days of our game, and I'm OK with that. I really am."And the haters did flood social media. For the past day, rightwing trolls and pundits have been apoplectic that a coach of Dawn Staley's stature is unapologetically in support of trans women athletes.You see, the ghost chasers were hoping Coach Staley, given that she's leading a program in socially conservative South Carolina, would offer a juicy soundbite, her resume doing most of the work to diminish trans girls and women.The ghost chasers aren't wrong about that resume.Dawn Staley is the only person to win both Naismith College Player of the Year and Naismith Coach of the Year. She's the only person to have won an Olympic gold medal as both a player and a head coach. As a player, she was a 6x All-Star, 3x Olympic Gold Medalist, and selected for both the 10th and 15th WNBA Anniversary Teams. As a coach, she has two national titles, six Final Fours, eight SEC championships, and four of those aforementioned Naismith trophies. And that Olympic Gold.Dawn Staley is women's basketball. She is synonymous with the sport and widely beloved by those within it.The resume that the ghost chasers were counting on to bolster their anti-trans views came crashing down on them with Coach Staley's thoughtful response. And of course, their original plan backfiring spectacularly, many anti-trans extremists are now claiming Coach Dawn Staley is being pressured to say something politically correct. Imagine thinking so very little of Dawn Staley that you seriously believe she would tolerate being forced to say something antithetical to her beliefs.Anyway, I hate talking about all this. It's profoundly grating. We should be celebrating this extraordinary moment for women's sports and taking the time to imagine an extraordinary future with more moments like this one.The ghost chasers will be there tomorrow, still waving their arms around and telling ghost stories to anyone who will listen, hyping up apparitions that are nowhere closer to reality than in their own minds.I'm following Coach Staley's lead. I have no time for ghost stories. There's a big game to watch and a title to be won and glory to be had. There's history to be witnessed. Enjoy the game, y'all.Charlotte's Web Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Charlotte's Web Thoughts at charlotteclymer.substack.com/subscribe

Iowa rallies past WV to the Sweet 16, Matt Snyder's MLB Season Predictions & Naismith finalists

What would the Coaches wear if they were on the sideline today? Mid-season coaching changes at DePaul and with the Milwaukee Bucks get some attention and former American U standout Craig Sedmak gets some love.

On today's show, the Grizzlies won in Toronto, Joel Embiid had a historic night in Philly, we have a trade in the NBA, and we have NFL Notes.3:00--Grizzlies are 2024 Naismith Cup Champions after winning in Toronto, Jaren Jackson Jr's monster first quarter, John Konchar turning into Mutombo, Luke Kennard letting it fly from three + Joel Embiid scoring 70 points last night and Terry Rozier getting traded to Miami45:46---Team USA released some of their player pool for the Olympics this summer. There's a Grizzlies player on here and we'll talk about it plus some of the other names.1:19:21---NFL Notes on the Divisional Round

Coming up on NBA Today... Joel Embiid did something that has not been done in more than FIFTY years... is he well on his way to a second straight MVP after what he did to the BEST defense in the league? PLUS... The Lakers and Clippers are on different sides of streaks right now. Are the Lakers letting LeBron down? Are Kawhi and the Clippers poised for a title run?  And... We reveal the Naismith basketball Hall of fame nominees for the class of 2024... NBA Today starts right now!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As James Naismith's new sport became increasingly popular, more and more people looked for ways to evolve, adjust, or flat-out change Naismith's original rules. In the second part of this series, Ben, Noel and Max explore how basketball continued to change over time -- and how some kids at Yale found a loophole to "pass the ball to themselves."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

These days basketball is a billion dollar cultural phenomenon -- but where did it come from? In the first part of this week's series, Ben, Noel and Max explore the origins of basketball, starting with the moment a young James Naismith was asked to distract a bunch of "incorrigible" students during the winter months. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.