sports writing – Home of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast

Episode 430: Louisa Thomas Knows How to End a Story

By Brendan O’Meara

Nice to have Louisa Thomas back on the show to talk about profile writing, teaching, and kickers. Louisa is a staff writer for The New Yorker and one of my “appointment reading” writers: I see her byline, I make a date with it.

In this episode we talk about a profile she wrote on Nikola Jokic, perhaps the best player in the NBA. In talking about kickers, we riff on her column about the ennui of the Oakland Athletics and a smattering of other kickers. She says she’s not good at them and credits her editor more than herself, but I think she’s just being modest.

Louisa also is the author of the brilliantly biography Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams and a co-editor of Losers: Dispatches from the Other Side of the Scoreboard.

Episode 415: Sam Jefferies, Hammering Out Screed

By Brendan O’Meara

Sam Jefferies is a freelance writer and communications specialist and his first book is Legacy on Ice: Blake Geoffrion and the Fastest Game on Earth. Credit The University of Wisconsin Press for publication.

It’s a book that chronicles the college hockey and the rise of hockey in the South. And at the heart of it is the Geoffrion familly whose bloodline in hockey goes back to the formation of the slapshot.

Blake Geoffrion had the pressure to keep the generational NHL lineage alive. And he did, though his career was cut short by a devastating head injury.

This is a story of the weight of that legacy.

Now in Paperback: Jackie MacMullan on the Fear of Failure, Writing that Teaches You, and the Final Chapter of ‘Best American Sports Writing’

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By Brendan O’Meara

Nice to re-up Jackie MacMullan, the legendary sports writer for The Boston Globe, ESPN.com, The Ringer, and several books she co-authored.

Over the course of her career, she has co-written books, collaborated on books, and now she can add guest editor to 30th and final volume of The Best American Sports Writing.

In this conversation, we talk about:

The rigor of reporting
Making the extra ten calls
Fear
And how writing should teach you something

Among other things, of course.

I hope you dig it and consider emailing this to a friend and let them know what we’re up to here at CNF Pod HQ.

Episode 355: Flinder Boyd

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By Brendan O’Meara

Ten years.

Ten years since “20 Minutes at Rucker Park” by Flinder Boyd (@FlinderBoyd) for SB Nation Longform for the incomparable editor Glenn Stout.

It felt like a good time to knock on Flinder’s door and have a conversation about what the past ten years has been like for him and what the next ten might look like.

Episode 339: Jeff Pearlman

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By Brendan O’Meara

What a surprise! Jeff Pearlman (@jeffpearlman), author of The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson, came by the show to talk about writing biography (but don’t bring up the word craft, okay?).

This was a wonderful conversation from a brilliant writer and reporter, and a great advocate for the writing community at large. He’s the host of Two Writers Slinging Yang.

Writing this story was the hardest one he’d ever reported. He wrote it in backwards chronology, a la Memento. Did you know I did something similar back in 2016? True story. Jeff got $4 a word for his 3,000-word story; I got $200 for a 5,000-word story. That should give you an idea what kind of astral plane Jeff Pearlman works from. He’s a pretty cool dude.

Episode 332: David Maraniss

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By Brendan O’Meara

David Maraniss is the author of several biographies, including his latest, Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe (Simon & Schuster). This book will make a great addition to your sports biographies. But like great stories involving sport, it’s about so much more.

David has written biographies on Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Vince Lombardi, Roberto Clemente and now the great Jim Thorpe.

In this conversation we talk about David’s “four legs of the table” for writing biography, navigating around people who won’t talk, world building in biography, and a whole lot more.

Episode 320: Howard Bryant

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By Brendan O’Meara

Howard Bryant is the author of many, many books, most recently Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original (Mariner Books).

It’s a tremendous books, one that delves into the life of the great lead-off hitter Rickey Henderson and puts his life into context, builds a world around Rickey.

Howard is the author of The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron, Full Dissidence: Notes from an Uneven Playing Field, and The Heritage, among many others. He has covered baseball for many years, is a senior writer for ESPN, and is a contributor to NPR’s Weekend Edition. He also was the 2017 guest editor for Best American Sports Writing.

Episode 291: ‘Simple is the Way to Go’ with Mirin Fader

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By Brendan O’Meara

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What’s not to love about Mirin Fader (@mirinfader)?

She’s an incredible writer and reporter. She’s a senior staff writer for The Ringer. On top of that, she’s generous and insightful, and she brought all of that and more to this episode of the podcast.

We talk about her feature on Tyler Skaggs, a notable selection for Year’s Best Sports Writing.

We also dig into her biography Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an MVP.

We talk about failure and persistence and writing and ledes. This is a dream conversation if you’re into the nuts and bolts of writing and reporting long features and books.

Episode 253: Julie DiCaro Won’t Be ‘Sidelined’

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By Brendan O’Meara

Julie DiCaro came by the show to talk about her new book Sidelined: Sports, Culture, and Being a Woman in America.

It’s a fine read, written by someone who definitively has something of value to say. You can find her on Twitter @juliedicaro.

It’s an engaging, entertaining, and sobering read about feminism and the sorry state of women’s representation in sports journalism.

Episode 244: Jackie MacMullan on the Fear of Failure, Writing that Teaches You, and the Final Chapter of ‘Best American Sports Writing’

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By Brendan O’Meara

Jackie MacMullan, the legendary basketball writer, is on the podcast to talk about judging what we know to be the final installment of The Best American Sports Writing.

She’s chronicled the NBA (big ups to Louisa Thomas) since the early 1980s for The Boston Globe, Sports Illustrated and now ESPN.

Her five-part series on mental health in the NBA was widely lauded and a must-read.