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We continue our dogged pursuit of the history of baseball's Negro Leagues with a stop this week in the suburban Philadelphia borough of Darby, PA - for a look at the famed Hilldale Club with SABR Seymour Medal-winning historian Neil Lanctot ("Fair Dealing and Clean Playing: The Hilldale Club and the Development of Black Professional Baseball"). Established as an amateur boys team in 1910 by a moonlighting civil servant named Ed Bolden, the club incorporated in November 1916, as the Hilldale Baseball & Exhibition Company - and developing into a professional Negro League powerhouse in the 1920s. Along with Atlantic City's Bacharach Giants, Hilldale played as eastern "associates" of the predominantly midwestern Negro National League in 1920-21 - before becoming charter members of a full-fledged Bolden-founded rival Eastern Colored League in 1923. Immediately, Hilldale's "Darby Daisies" became the team to beat - winning the ECL's first three league pennants, and earning two trips to the first-ever Colored World Series against the NNL's powerhouse Kansas City Monarchs - barely losing a best-of-nine series in 1924, but dominating in a five games-to-one title in 1925. Darby lineups were frequently stocked with some of the top players of the era - including six eventual baseball National Baseball Hall of Famers: Oscar Charleston, "The Immortal" Martin Dihigo, "Pop" Lloyd, "Judy" Johnson, "Biz" Mackey, and Louis Santop. ​Hilldale also made waning appearances in 1929's one-year American Negro League and 1932's East-West League ​as the economic strains of the Great Depression ultimately pushed the club into extinction.

Philadelphia's dean of baseball writers Rich Westcott ("The Mogul: Eddie Gottlieb, Philadelphia Sports Legend and Pro Basketball Pioneer") steps outside the batter's box this week to help us go deep into the story of one of pro basketball's most foundational figures, Eddie Gottlieb.

Armed with a great smile and a razor-sharp memory, the Ukranian-born and South Philly-raised Gottlieb was a multi-faceted hoops pioneer - rules innovator, successful coach, masterful promoter, and logistics wizard - whose tactical talents and business acumen gave rise to what would ultimately evolve into today's NBA.

In 1918, Gottlieb organized and coached a social club-sponsored amateur team for the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association (SPHA) that he grew into a regionally dominant and ultimately professional powerhouse; from the late 1920s to early 1940s, the SPHAs dominated the original Eastern and American Basketball Leagues, winning multiple championships and regularly beating prominent touring clubs like the Original Celtics and the New York Renaissance Five (Rens).

In 1946, Gottlieb helped establish a new professional league - the Basketball Association of America. As owner, general manager, coach, and "promoter-in-chief" of the league's Philadelphia Warriors, he won the BAA's first championship in 1946-47.

Three seasons later, Gottlieb played a pivotal role in the merger of the BAA with the National Basketball League to form the National Basketball Association, where his Warriors would win a second league crown in 1956, and to which he would later add the groundbreaking talents of one Wilt Chamberlain in 1959.

After selling the team in 1962, Gottleib became the NBA's "Mr. Basketball" - the definitive and authoritative resource spanning league rules, history, scheduling, and operations - until his death in 1979. He is immortalized not only as a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, but also as the name on the trophy given annually to the NBA's Rookie of the Year.

Author Geoff Williams (C.C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race: The True Story of the 1928 Coast-to-Coast Run Across America) joins for the stranger-than-fiction story of the cross-country long-distance running event/endurance contest that only the Roarin' 20s could have spawned. On March 4, 1928, a motley assortment of nearly 200 marathon pros, amateur sports enthusiasts and random publicity-seekers took to the starter's pistol from Los Angeles' Legion Ascot Speedway to begin an incredible 3,423-mile trek (half of it on a brand-new Route 66 highway) to New York's Madison Square Garden as part of the "C.C. Pyle International Transcontinental Foot Race of 1928" dubbed the "Bunion Derby" by the sports press - in pursuit of their share of a combined $48,500 in cash prizes offered by archetypal sports promoter Charles C. ("Cash & Carry") Pyle. Pyle was the P.T. Barnum of sports promotion, who first came into prominence by convincing collegiate football standout Red Grange to turn pro. Grange helped Pyle make a fortune, which he later parlayed into a similar turn promoting the first professional US tennis tour, converting top amateurs like Suzanne Lenglen. But it was the transcontinental ultra-marathon concept that would be Pyle's legacy: "It will be the greatest free show ever offered the American public," Pyle boasted. "The runners will go through hundreds of towns, each of which will be assessed for advertising. Thousands will flock to these towns to see the runners. We'll sell them programs and tickets to our traveling side show."

On May 26, just 55 survivors stumbled into the Garden, where a 19-year-old Oklahoma Native American named Andrew Payne crossed the finish line to win - an 84-day journey comprising a total running time of 573 hours, 4 minutes and 34 seconds - a roughly 16-hour lead over second-place finisher John Salo of Passaic, NJ.

The prize money was held up for a week, but was finally doled out by fellow promoter Tex Rickard, who bailed out Pyle from an estimated $150,000 loss on the endeavor. Incredibly, Pyle came back for a second (and ultimately final) run in 1929 - with similar results.

After overwhelming response to our Episode 194 exploration ​of hockey's epic 1972 "Summit Series," we gas up the Zamboni for a return visit into Canada/Russian competition lore - this time for the equally intriguing (but often overlooked) sequel Summit Series of 1974 - with sports author/historian Craig Wallace (The Forgotten Summit: A Canadian Perspective on the 1974 Canada-Soviet Hockey Series). While ostensibly a "round two" between the world's top national hockey programs, the 1974 Series differed in that the Canadian side was comprised exclusively of players from the World Hockey Association (WHA) - a major preseason promotional boost for the fledgling two-year-old circuit still struggling to gain a pro foothold against the mighty NHL. As a result, wildly popular Canadian WHA stars like Winnipeg's Bobby Hull, Houston's Gordie Howe and Cleveland's Gerry Cheevers - each forbidden by the NHL from playing two years earlier - saw their first national team action, joined by returning series veterans Paul Henderson, Frank Mahovlich and Pat Stapleton. Despite a strong start in the first two games, Team Canada could not replicate its trailblazing success from their 1972 exploits; the Soviets won the series (4 wins, 3 ties, 1 loss) - but as Wallace reveals, the games were close, extremely competitive and wildly entertaining - replete with just as much drama and excitement as its predecessor (and even better uniforms).

We sit down with the eldest scion of Los Angeles' legendary Dr. Jerry Buss family sports empire for a wide-ranging discussion about its early construction, day-to-day operations, eventual unwinding - and its ongoing legacy via the current NBA World Champion Lakers, of which (along with his five siblings) he is a part-owner. Along the way, Johnny takes us through his personal adventures in places like:

• The original mid-1970s World Team Tennis (the Los Angeles Strings, Jerry's first pro sports ownership endeavor);
• Inglewood's "Fabulous" Forum (the eventual hub for Buss family-owned assets acquired from Jack Kent Cooke in 1979);
• The MISL's Los Angeles Lazers (where Johnny was president for the team's first three seasons);
• The WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks (again president, from the team's/league's inception in 1997 until 2006 - including back-to-back league titles in 2001 & 2002)

Buss also sheds some light on the often-challenging family dynamics both under father Jerry's watch and even more so after his passing - as well as hints at the sport that still intrigues him enough to potentially come out of retirement to make another go at it.

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Former Denver Post columnist and long-time sports writer/author Terry Frei ("Third Down and a War to Go;" "'77: Denver, the Broncos, and a Coming of Age" + plenty more) joins to discuss the briefly curious life (1976-82) of NHL hockey's Colorado Rockies - Frei's first-ever professional newspaper beat assignment back in the day.

As originally recounted in his eyebrow-raising 2010 memoir Playing Piano in a Brothel: A Sports Journalist's Odyssey, Frei helps us better understand the events, personalities and hijinks that comprised the six-year Denver incarnation of the former Kansas City Scouts and future New Jersey Devils franchise - with some perspective on its under-appreciated history and legacy.

It's a story that traverses four separate owners, six different coaches, a constant threat of relocation, a terrible lease arrangement in a state-of the art (McNichols) arena, one meager (1978) playoff appearance (despite finishing 21 games under .500), a legendary logo - and a bombastic season of sour "Grapes."

If you're a fan of the Devils or today's Colorado Avalanche, consider this your hockey history lesson for the week!

Support the show by getting four free months of NordVPN when you use promo code GOODSEATS at checkout!

Filmmaker and Maryland-native Troy Lowman ("The Ghosts of 33rd Street") helps us kick off the new year with a look back at the pro football franchise that still looms large over the city of Baltimore's sports exploits - the Colts.

While the Ravens have been carrying the region's modern-day NFL torch since their messy arrival/conversion from the original Cleveland Browns franchise in 1996, few residents of Charm City would dispute the deep roots and lasting contributions of the legendary club that preceded them from 1953-83 - including three memorable NFL championships and a Super Bowl [V] title.

Before surreptitiously absconding for the greener financial pastures of Indianapolis in the snow-whipped overnight/morning hours of March 28-29, 1984, the Colts had largely been the darlings of Baltimore sports fans for much of their 30 years - only to be undone by a long-festering brew of owner greed, stadium economics and political miscalculation.

Lowman helps us unravel the elongated story arc of the once-beloved Baltimore Colts franchise, why the club ultimately left, and how that which has replaced it since will never fully equal what once was.

Support the show by getting four free months of NordVPN when you use promo code GOODSEATS at checkout!

[A re-release of fan favorite episode from January 2020!]

Prolific rock/R&B drummer/musician Steve Ferrone (Average White Band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) joins to delve into the backstory of helping write/craft the official theme song for the New York Cosmos – the latest chapter in our irregular series devoted to Tim's longstanding fascination with the North American Soccer League's most famous franchise.

Pop music aficionados know Ferrone as part of the "classic" mid-70s lineup of AWB (along with Hamish Stuart, Alan Gorrie, "Onnie" McIntyre, Roger Ball, and "Molly" Duncan); as a two-decade+ member of the Heartbreakers (1994-2017); and from a prodigious body of studio session work with a literal who's-who of pop music's biggest talent (Chaka Khan, Rick James, Eric Clapton, Stevie Nicks, and the Bee Gees, just to name a few).

But long-time Cosmos soccer fans may also remember Ferrone's semi-invisible hand in the creation and performance of the club's rhythmic anthem that blared from the Giants Stadium PA system after goals and anchored the team's WOR-TV telecasts – recorded under the AWB nom de plume of the "Cosmic Highlanders" via Warner Communications corporate sister Atlantic Records.

Besides the circumstances of the song's origins, Ferrone regales Tim with stories of: how he stepped into the Average White Band during a critical time in the group's then-young life; the musical magic of Atlantic and its founder-brothers Ahmet & Nesuhi Ertegun; how the "Cosmos Clap" came about; and the original song idea Cosmos management had in mind for the club's official theme!

We bid an emphatic good riddance to a crappy 2020 with our second-annual holiday roundtable spectacular featuring the return of fellow defunct sports enthusiasts Andy Crossley (Fun While It Lasted & Episode 2); Paul Reeths (OurSportsCentral.com, StatsCrew.com & Episode 46); and Steve Holroyd (Episodes 92, 109, 149 & 188) – for a spirited roundtable discussion about the past, present and potential future of "forgotten" pro sports teams and leagues.

It's a look back at some of the year's most notable events, including:

• COVID-19's wrath across the entirety of pro sports;

• The mid-season implosion of the reincarnated XFL;

• Premier League Lacrosse's absorption of 20-year-old Major League Lacrosse;

• New names for the NFL's Washington and Raiders franchises; AND

• Major League Baseball's RSVP approach to contracting the minors.

Plus, some predictions on what might transpire in 2021, as:

• Major League Cricket gears up for launch;

• The Rock cooks up a resuscitation recipe for the XFL;

• Cleveland's baseball club ponders a new nickname - and the others likely to follow;

• Adidas unevenly tries to cash in on NHL retro jerseys;

• Soccer expansion in Louisville (NWSL), Austin (MLS) and NISA; AND

• We continue to search for anyone with updates about Mark Cuban's Professional Futsal League!

Support the show by getting four free months of NordVPN when you use promo code GOODSEATS at checkout!

Just about any Canadian of a certain age will be able to tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing on September 28, 1972.

That's the day when "Team Canada" (and Toronto Maple Leaf) forward Paul Henderson scored a dramatic and decisive late-third-period "goal heard around the world" to clinch the eighth and final game of an epic month-long hockey series against a similar professional all-star team from the Soviet Union - in what is today remembered as simply the "Summit Series."

Hockey historian Rich Bendell ("The Summit Series: Stats, Lies & Videotape - The Untold Story of Hockey's Series of the Century") joins us this week for a deep dive into the curious, yet now-iconic battle between the sport's two top superpowers at the time - played against the backdrop of global 1970s-era Cold War tensions - that morphed from a relatively unassuming cultural exchange-oriented "exhibition" into the defining hallmark of each country's rich hockey heritage.