The Other 51

Joe Iconis, the Tony-nominated writer and composer of Be More Chill, joins Brian this week to talk about creativity in the time of COVID–19, his songwriting process, Keanu Reeves and more.

Joe describes what it’s like living in New York City during quarantine, what it’s like to be in a dark theater district and a quiet Times Square, how he’s able to keep writing despite everything going on, and how he’s being inspired by art. But the real burning question: How would The Squip in Be More Chill have been different if Joe had seen Point Break before now?

Joe and Brian talk about the collaborative process of writing a musical, how Joe can’t write musical theater in a vacuum, what first drew him to the story of Be More Chill and his obsession with names.

Joe also describes his songwriting process, how he never starts with music. And he gives advice to aspiring writers and performers and answers an incredibly nerdy Be More Chill question.

Joe Iconis

Joe on Twitter

Joe on Instagram

Be More Chill

Scream Queen!

Point Break

Mr. Know-It-All by John Waters

The Colossus of New York by Colson Whitehead

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Leander Schaerlaeckens, a lecturer at Marist College and columnist at Yahoo Sports, joins Brian to talk about teaching, column writing, Donald Trump’s baseball career, and more.

Leander and Brian compare notes from this crazy spring 2020 semester, and talk about what worked and didn’t work in teaching sports media classes during the pandemic. Leander talks about how he used Discord in one of his classes.

Leander, who refers to himself as an “accidental academic,” traces his career path from a growing up as a sports fan in Europe to being the first full-time soccer writer ESPN hired to his current gigs. He discusses how being an active columnist makes him a better teacher and how being a teacher has made him a better columnist. He also discusses the piece he wrote for Slate about Donald Trump’s claims that he was a pro baseball prospect (spoiler alert, no), and how pursuing the truth no matter what and having the receipts can limit any potential backlash. There’s also discussion of The Last Dance and how Michael Jordan epitomizes toxic masculinity.

Leander Schaerlaeckens

Leander on Twitter

Leander at Yahoo

Was Donald Trump Good at Baseball?

Michael Jordan reminds us who he really is with ‘The Last Dance’ — and it’s not someone you want to be like

Into Thin Air

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Comic artist Katie Cook rejoins the podcast to talk about her delightful webcomic, “Nothing Special.”

Katie and Brian (with help from Brian’s daughter) do a deep dive into the world of “Nothing Special,” which has just started its third book on Webtoon. Katie discusses where the idea for the comic came from, how it was inspired in part by a Neil Gaiman novel and how this is the most “her” project she’s ever done. Katie talks about how writing digital comics is different, and what it’s like to write for a world of your own.

Katie and Brian (and Brian’s wife) also bond over life in quarantine and trying to keep their kids from making complete disasters of their Animal Crossing islands.

Katie Cook

… on Twitter

… on Instagram

Nothing Special

Episode 33: Apple Jack Would Never Say This with Katie Cook

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Small Town Murder

The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallach Johnson

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A decade ago, Michael Sharp and Brian had desks right next to each other.

They were both sports writers at the Press & Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton (N.Y.). Michael covered minor-league hockey, Brian minor-league baseball and college sports.

Now, they’re both former sports writers. Michael works in marketing in Virginia, Brian’s a professor. Michael and Brian reminisce about their careers as sports journalists.

What happens when you realize the only job you’ve ever wanted isn’t for you anymore? What made the 2000s such a weird time to be a sports writer, and what was it like to be the last generation that dreamed of being a “newspaper guy”?

Sports journalist, author and professor Melissa Isaacson joins Brian this week to talk about teaching, writing, reporting and the 1990s Chicago Bulls.

Melissa and Brian start out by talking about what it’s like to teach journalism — particularly sports journalism — during the cornavirus pandemic in 2020. Melissa talks about how being forced to teach online has made her a better professor, how to teach students to do better phone interviews and how this time can be an opportunity for students.

Melissa then discusses her excellent book State and what it was like, as a journalist, to write such an incredibly personal work and the advice that S.L. Price gave her that jumpstarted her work.

Then, of course, Brian and Melissa discuss The Last Dance. Melissa, who was the Bulls’ beat writer for the Chicago Tribune for their first three championships, describes what it was like to cover Michael Jordan and those great Bulls teams. She and Brian also discuss the biggest ways journalism has changed since the mid-1990s. Hint — it’s not all Twitter’s fault.

Melissa Isaacson

Melissa on Twitter

The Prologue to State

Some Things I Remember

State: A Team, a Triumph, a Transformation

Little Fires Everywhere

Fear: Trump in the White House

Catch and Kill

Educated

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Jon Campbell, who covers New York State government and Andrew Cuomo for USA Today Network-New York, joins Brian this to talk about being a government writer both in the BeforeTimes and the post-coronavirus world.

The conversation starts with a lot of talk about where Upstate New York begins, why Jon loves trolling people about it, the differences between regions in New York State, and the trap that national writers fall into when writing about upstate. That moves into a deeper conversation about how Jon’s journalism is influenced by being a lifelong upstate resident (go Lockport Lions).

Jon discusses how he resisted being known as “The Fracking Guy” but also how owning that one specific beat involving state government helped him develop sources to cover the entire government.

Jon then talks about covering Covid-19. He recalls the moment he realized just how major a story it was going to be, what it’s like to cover Andrew Cuomo’s press conferences, what it’s like when Cuomo and President Trump start bickering with each other in real time, and the Covid-19 story he wants to tell.

Jon Campbell at USA Today Network-NY

Jon Cambell on Twitter

Truth in our Times by David McGraw

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Jared Diamond, a national baseball writer for the Wall Street Journal and the author of the new book “Swing Kings: The Inside Story of Baseball’s Home Run Revolution,” joins Brian this week.

Jared talks about how being a baseball writer during the Covid-19 Pandemic is a lot busier than you’d expect and where he was supposed to be this week before the world stopped.

Jared and Brian discuss the writing and reporting of Swing Kings in depth. Jared talks about the unlikely role that Marlon Byrd played in his career, turning a good news paper story into a bool, and what a book proposal looks like and why it was so critical to his process, and why you always take the meeting. Jared talked about how he thought of the book like a movie, the difference between thinking of his sources and characters, and his oddly inspirational dedication to the book.

Less than five months ago, the last time Jesse Dougherty was a guest on the podcast, he had just started writing a book about the Washington Nationals World Series Championship.

Now, the book is out, and Jesse makes the move from “guest star” to “regular cast member.”

Jesse and Brian talk about the writing and reporting of “Buzz Saw.” Jesse describes how he got started with the project, what it was like to write a 90,000-word book in just seven weeks, and why coffee shops are so important to getting his work done and overcoming his natural tendencies toward procrastination.

Jesse also talks about what makes the book’s cover so special, and what it’s like to release a book during the middle of a global pandemic.

Dr. Rick Simpson was … is … one of those teachers.

Simpson, who was an English professor at St. Bonaventure University for 46 years, and Brian reconnect this week. Brian, who took three classes with Doc Simpson, gets to say thank you for teaching him some of the most valuable writing lessons of his life.

Simpson talks about how the sportswriters he read as a kid in San Francisco in the 1950s influenced him as much as the English authors and poets he later taught. Simpson and Brian discuss how modern sports writing can be thought of as poetry, as well as the best lessons that Doc taught again and again. Always think about your audience. Grammar doesn’t matter but it does. Did he mention audience? And of course, there are jazz recommendations.

If you had Doc Simpson as a professor at St. Bonaventure, this is like going back in time to one of his classes.

So what’s it like to be a sports writer when there’s no sports? That’s the question all sports journalists are facing during the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020, and this week, we check in with New York Post columnist Mike Vaccaro to see how he’s still doing his job.

Mike discusses how this time is bringing sports journalists back to their roots, the stories he’d most like to do, his favorite sports videos on YouTube and the singular value of persistence.