We will talk about:

Your 33 years at Sports illustrated (1984-2017, eventually senior writer covering NFL, college football and the Tour de France) - how did coverage of sports change over those years, how did access to athletes change, how did you change?,

How did your coverage of sports evolve - the ‘angle’, the depth/length of stories, the challenge vs. the outcome?,

What did you want your sports stories to tell readers?,

You had about 140 SI cover stories - how were those stories selected: prominence of the athlete, anticipated number of readers, ability to attract sponsors?,

Sports is now about money (NIL, huge pro contracts) - how big an issue was it in the 1980s and 1890s?, did athletes think in terms of ‘monetary payoff’ of their athletic ability?,

The effect of Time’s merger with Warner Communications in 1990 - on editorial independence and magazine content?

Effect on the masthead of Time Warner’s merger with AOL in 2001 - your distrust of ‘synergy’?,

You covered 10 Superbowls - were/are you surprised at how big an event it has become (200 million viewers on 2024)?

You covered a dozen NCAA football championships - how have they changed over the years?

You called athletes you covered at SI as ‘hitting the genetic jackpot’ - could you explain?

You had a preference for coverage of college football over the NFL - why?,

Could you tell whether a college athlete could/would make it professionally (thinking of those who didn’t: Matt Leinart - USC or Johnny Manziel - Texas A& M vs. Tom Brady - Michigan)?

You wrote 2 college football books (among others): 1) ‘The Sweet Season: A Sportswriter Rediscovers Football, Family, and a Bit of Faith at Minnesota's St. John's University’ (2001) and 2) ‘Saturday Rules: A Season with Trojans and Domers’ (2007) - what differences did you see in the ‘conduct of the game’ in Division III vs. Division I?,

Pre- NIL vs. NIL: effect off $ on college athletics and athletes? Is the day of the true amateur athlete dead?,

The transfer portal in college football - your opinion of it?

You covered football, cycling, Olympics, hockey and rodeo - which sport had the ‘best’ athletes?

Sports betting - good, bad or indifferent effect on sports?,

What would you advise young athletes about careers in sports?

The best books you’ve read on sports (perhaps football, in particular: Paper Lion, A Few Seconds of Panic, Friday Night Lights, etc.)?,

What is the ‘message’ of sports: a) winning is everything?, b) victory is in the effort - see Roger Federer’s Dartmouth College Commencement address - https://bit.ly/4jR1CK8, c) joy of competition?, d) the importance of testing one’s limits?,

Other issues you might want to discuss - like being a delivery truck driver for Amazon

simonandschuster.com/authors/Austin-Murphy/234832916