The Other 51

Mental Illness Awareness Week was last week (Oct. 7–13, 2018), but in recognition of this, Brian’s good friend Dr. Shannon McCarthy joins him for a special episode. Shannon and Brian talk about their own mental health struggles and how it affects and impacts their writing (2:15). They also talk about knowing when you’re really struggling vs. when you’re just being lazy (9:40), how they deal with imposter syndrome (16:20), some of their strategies to beat back the demons and get stuff done (24:00), how they use humor to help (31:26) and the best thing they’ve read lately (34:26).

National Suicide Prevention Hotline

Call 1–800–273–8255

Shannon McCarthy on Twitter

Shannon McCarthy on Twitter

Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?: And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House by Alyssa Mastromonaco

Grant by Ron Chernow

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Two weeks ago, Brian and Bucky Gleason recorded what might have been the perfect podcast. It was witty, insightful, entertaining, everything you’d want from this medium and more.

And, then Brian went and messed up the recording but good.

But Bucky, a former Buffalo News sports columnist and now the editor of Buffalo Maven, is a mensch. He joins Brian again this week. They talk a lot about the Buffalo Bills and what this team is like to cover. Bucky talks about how he writes columns about the team without having press credentials, and the challenges and opportunities that presents.

Bucky details his career path from the Wellsville bureau of the Olean Times Herald to being a columnist at his hometown Buffalo News. He remembers the influence Jim Kelley had on his career (including the infamous Dominik Hasek incident) and discusses the challenges presented of writing what he calls “grossly unpopular” columns about bad teams for the past 10 years.

Bucky Gleason on Twitter

Buffalo Maven

Bucky and Sully

Jim Kelley

Mike Vaccaro books

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Nearly two years ago, Jeff Pearlman joined Brian in the early days of The Other 51. This was just after Jeff’s biography of Brett Favre came out, and Jeff was working on his next book - a history of the USFL.

That book — Football for a Buck — is out this month.

Jeff is back to talk about why he always wanted to write a book about the USFL and what makes that league so interesting to him. He talks about his reporting process — featuring 700 Word docs and his son, Emmett — as well as the challenges of structuring this book compared to his other works. Jeff also discusses the challenges of keeping this book from becoming all about Donald Trump. and how his reporting on the USFL helps him make sense of what’s happening in the world in 2018.

Jeff Pearlman

Jeff on Twitter

Football for a Buck

Jeff on Amazon

The Other Wes Moore

Episode 14: Gunslingers with Jeff Pearlman

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Tanya Marsh and Brian have been internet friends for a few years now, but this is the first time they’e actually spoken to each other.

Tanya is a professor of law at the Wake Forest School of Law. She’s is also as much of an Avett Brothers fan as Brian (she’s seen them 53 times in concert, which puts Brian’s concert count to shame).

Tanya and Brian talk a lot about their favorite band, how they discovered the Avett Brothers and what makes their lyrics so powerful and meaningful. Why did this band stick when the Mumford and Sons of the world did not?

They also talk about Tanya’s writing, her career as a law professor and her fascinating research into cemetery law. They discuss the pressures that young academics can feel to study what’s popular instead of what they’re interested in, the importance of grounding yourself in research, and how you know you’re ready to stop research and start writing. Tanya also answers the question of who owns a grave and the body inside of it?

It’s (yet another) Syracuse University Ph.D. program reunion, and Brian’s good friend and classmate Dr. Jenn Billinson joins the podcast this week.

Jenn, an assistant professor at Christopher Newport University, talks in detail about her research into the use of music and media as a coping mechanism for tragedy. Jen discusses how people used music in tribute videos following the Virginia Tech massacre and her fieldwork in New Orleans post-Katrina. What makes music such a unique media format? Is the way music has become so personal changed the way we collectively experience music?

There’s also some old-school Hamiltalk (including a brutal hypothetical that Brian poses) and some Aretha Franklin memories.

Dr. Andy Billings had written or edited 18 books. He has two coming out this year. He’s published more than 130 journal articles and book chapters.

The Director of the Alabama Program in Sports Communication and Ronald Reagan Chair of Broadcasting in the Department of Journalism and Creative Media, Andy was also a part of a wonderful panel discussion at the AEJMC conference in Washington this week, where he talked about what it takes to write a book. He joins Brian on the podcast to recap that discussion and talk about the book writing process. How do you go from “hey, I’d like to write a book some day?” to publishing?

Andy talks about the importance of de-limiting your topic, making sure it’s not too big or too small. He discusses why the table of contents is such and important part of the process, why you have to think two years out when you’re writing a book, how he learned what writing schedule worked for him and how his background as a public speech coach informs his writing.

Kimberley A. Martin began her career working in finance in New York City. Even when she started looking at a career in journalism, she never wanted to work for a newspaper.

Many twists and turns later, she now covers Washington and the NFL for the Washington Post.

Kimberley joins Brian to talk about her convoluted career path, how her study of psychology at Wesleyan University influences her reporting to this day, and how she went from New Jersey to New York to Buffalo and finally to the Post.

Kimberley talks about the balancing act between day-to-day news and longer form features that she must navigate as a beat reporter, what it’s like to jump onto the Washington beat in the middle of the season, and how Syracuse University helped shape her as a writer.

Near the end, she also casually drops in the fact that she knew Lin-Manuel Miranda in college.

Kimberley A. Martin

Kimberley on Twitter

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Grant by Ron Chernow

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Dr. Gina Masullo Chen, a grad-school classmate of Brian’s at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, joins The Other 51 this week to talk about writing for both newspapers and academics.

Gina talks about her 20-plus year career at the Post-Standard in Syracuse and why she decided to leave journalism in 2009 to get a Ph.D. Gina and Brian trade theories on why newspapers were so weird in the mid-to-late 2000s and why they were so bad at adopting new technology.

Gina also talks about her writing process, how she uses deadlines and her own personality to work to her advantage, the difference between disagreement and incivility, and about civility in online discourse. Which means yes, she read the comments.

And yes, Gina tells us that Austin really is that cool.

Gina Masullo Chen

Gina on Twitter

Online Incivility and Public Debate: Nasty Talk

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

Does incivility hurt democracy? Here’s what political science can tell us by Emily Sydnor

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In the first roundtable discussion on The Other 51, Drs. Lauren Smith and Shannon McCarthy join Brian this week. It’s like the IACS Summit on Communication and Sport, only in podcast form (and without bacon and beer).

Lauren and Shannon talk about the paths they took to their current teaching jobs at Indiana University and the University of Central Missouri. Along with their research agendas, they both discuss how their experiences as college athletes influence their academic and professional work. They talk about what is interesting about social media in sports in 2018 and the challenges they face as women studying sports.

There’s also a discussion about human tacos.

For real. It’s a thing they all talk about.

Lauren Smith on Twitter

Shannon McCarthy on Twitter

Shannon McCarthy on Twitter

The Curious Case of Bryan Colangelo and the Secret Twitter Account

This Man Made Tacos From His Amputated Foot And Then Fed Them To His Friends

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Fun fact: Richard Deitsch and Brian Moritz are professionally connected.

No, not just because they both write about sports media — Richard for The Athletic, Brian for whomever will let him. But because Richard’s first job in journalism was covering Buffalo sports for the Metro Community News — a free weekly paper that Brian delivered as his first job in middle school.

Richard joins Brian this week to talk about his time in Buffalo as a college student and as a reporter. They talk about what makes Buffalo such a great sports town, how Richard is still influenced by his time in the city, and what’s happening to The Buffalo News’ sports department.

Beyond Buffalo, Richard discusses his career path and how he ended up covering sports media, first for Sports Illustrated and now for The Athletic. He talks about the process that goes into writing his regular media columns, what his perfect sports media world would look like, and entertains Brian’s theory about The Athletic and Sports Illustrated.

Richard Deitsch

Richard Deitsch at The Athletic

Sports Media with Richard Deitsch

Blood Will Tell

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