In 1898, a 16-year-old dreamer named Leo Lyons was tossing a football around a Rochester, NY sandlot. Within two years, he wasn’t just playing—he was managing, coaching, and bankrolling a team that would become an National Football League charter member: the Rochester Jeffersons.

This week, we sit down with authors Jeffrey Miller and John Steffenhagen to explore their powerful new book, "Leo Lyons, the Rochester Jeffersons and the Birth of the NFL [https://amzn.to/45qcisr]" - the unbelievable-but-true story of how one man’s relentless vision helped shape pro football’s earliest days.

From challenging Jim Thorpe’s Canton Bulldogs and signing Black players decades before integration, to mortgaging his house and offering Red Grange $5,000 per game, Lyons’ tale is one of grit, guts, and heartbreak. 

With exclusive access to the Leo Lyons Collection, Miller and Steffenhagen uncover the backroom deals, sandlot beginnings, and forgotten heroes behind the NFL's formation.

It’s a story of ambition, obsession — and a dream that changed American sports forever.

PLUS: Tim devises a strategy to definitively get Leo Lyons into the Pro Football Hall of Fame!

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405: Leo Lyons & The NFL's Rochester Jeffersons - With Jeffrey Miller & John Steffenhagen

It's another pit stop into the rich history of NASCAR racing this week, with a look back at the circuit's greatest rivalry — the legendary driving battle between Richard Petty and David Pearson that shaped the sport forever.   With the help of veteran motorsports journalist Mike Hembree's new book, "Petty vs. Pearson: The Rivalry That Shaped NASCAR [https://amzn.to/3Uo3DRU]," we explore how these two titans transformed racing from a regional spectacle into an American sports passion during the late 1960s and the bulk of the 1970s.

Discover the contrasting styles that made their frequent track duels electric: "The King's" relentless aggression versus "The Silver Fox's" calculated patience. We'll revisit their most jaw-dropping moments, including the wild finish at the 1976 Daytona 500 where both drivers crashed on the final lap, and examine how their incredible 63 head-to-head 1st/2nd-place finishes created the stuff of true NASCAR legend.

Learn how Petty's record-breaking 200 wins and seven championships stacked up against Pearson's incredible 18.3% winning percentage in just 574 starts. 

And, beyond the statistics, we explore Petty's and Pearson's mutual respect for each other and the friendship that transcended their fierce competition on the track — a rivalry that elevated NASCAR during its most transformative, increasingly televised era.

Plus: Mike and Tim reminisce about the once-essential Winston Cup Scene [https://x.com/thescenevault] weekly magazine!

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404: Petty vs. Pearson: The Rivalry That Shaped NASCAR - With Mike Hembree

Our summer roadtrip rolls on this week with a deep dive into one of the Queen City's most overlooked sports stories with baseball author Al Lautenslager - whose new book "Cincinnati Soul [https://amzn.to/4nHIOP3]" explores the remarkable but brief legacy of the Cincinnati Tigers, the city's first official Negro Leagues baseball team.

Discover how DeHart Hubbard, America's first Black Olympic gold medalist, founded the Tigers as a dual-circuit minor league (Indiana-Ohio League & Negro Southern League) outfit in 1934 - eventually joining as a charter member of the 1937 Negro American League - now an officially recognized as "major league" by Major League Baseball.

Lautenslager shares fascinating details about the team's home at Crosley Field, where they wore hand-me-down Cincinnati Reds uniforms and drew crowds that sometimes exceeded that of their benefactors.

Also:

 * The Tigers' historic 44-36 record and second-place finish in 1937

 * Five All-Star selections including legendary manager Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe

 * Key players like submarine pitcher Porter Moss and future Brooklyn Dodgers MLB signee Roy Partlow

 * The team's cultural impact on Cincinnati's African American community during segregation

 * Why the franchise folded despite on-field success and community support

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403: "Cincinnati Soul" - With Al Lautenslager

It's a Wisconsin road trip this week for a sit down with Jordan Treske, author of "Building the Milwaukee Bucks: Kareem Abdul‑Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and the Rapid Rise of an NBA Franchise [https://amzn.to/45WuZWl]," to explore one of the most astonishing turnarounds in modern American pro sports history.

Treske walks us through how Milwaukee rebounded from the loss of the MLB Braves to become an NBA basketball powerhouse in just three seasons — thanks to savvy ownership, an historic draft coin flip, and the ultimate pairing of two all-time greats: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (née Lew Alcindor) and Oscar Robertson. We’ll also unpack the racial and cultural tensions of the era, the ABA bidding war, and the community’s unique investment in the team.

Whether you're a Bucks fan or a basketball history buff, this conversation offers fresh insight into how a franchise — and a city — found its "big league" identity through the game.

PLUS: From 1977, the Milwaukee Bucks theme song "Green And Growing (The Bucks Don't Stop Here)!"

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402: The Milwaukee Bucks Origin Story - With Jordan Treske

In this special episode, we sit down with King David Haynes, son of American Football League legend and civil rights trailblazer Abner Haynes, to discuss his newly released biography "Abner Haynes: An American Hero [https://amzn.to/4esydD3]."

Abner Haynes was far more than just a football star — he was a barrier-breaking athlete, community leader, and a courageous voice for racial justice. From integrating Texas college football in the 1950s to becoming the league's first MVP in 1960 to standing at the forefront of athlete activism during the 1965 AFL All-Star Game boycott, his story is as American as it is heroic.

King David shares deeply personal stories about his father’s triumphs and struggles — on the field, in the locker room, and in segregated America — and reflects on how Abner’s legacy continues to resonate today. We talk about what it was like to grow up as the son of a sports pioneer, what inspired the book, and how the family continues to honor Abner’s legacy in the modern era.

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401: AFL Football & Civil Rights Pioneer Abner Haynes - With King David Haynes

It's our 400th, so we’re going big with a guest who’s called it all, seen it all, and somehow lived to laugh about it.

Steve Albert ("A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Broadcast Booth [https://amzn.to/4k4lLL0]") -- Hall of Fame broadcaster and proud member of the legendary Albert sportscasting family (including nephew/Episode 320 guest [https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/goog_210770559] Kenny) -- joins us for a deep dive into his one-of-a-kind, 45-year ride through the wilds of professional sports. From vanished leagues to unforgettable fights, from Brooklyn bedrooms-turned-broadcast-booths to center stage at Showtime Championship Boxing, Albert's stories are equal parts history and hilarity.

In this special milestone episode, we retrace Albert’s journey through memorable stops like:

 * The WHA’s Cleveland Crusaders, where his broadcast partner was the coach’s elbow-needling wife;

 * The MISL’s New York Arrows, where goal-scoring was nonstop and whiplash an occupational hazard;

 * The final ABA game ever played, which he and his older brother Al called from opposing sides;

 * 30+ years across the NBA, including 19 seasons with the New York and New Jersey versions of the Nets, and a career-capping, Emmy-winning turn with the Phoenix Suns;

 * Local New York TV sports anchor stints, where juggling 6 o’clock newscasts and rush-hour traffic to call evening games became an art;

 * And, of course, his nearly quarter-century ringside seat with Showtime Championship Boxing -- including the infamous Tyson–Holyfield (II) “Bite Fight”

We also talk about growing up in a house where three brothers fought over the mic instead of the remote, how a botched bathroom door nearly derailed a broadcast, and why the strangest moments in sports often happen outside the lines of the game.

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400: Hall of Fame Broadcaster Steve Albert

What do you get when you mix Gen X slacker spirit, a startup sports league on wheels, and a 25-year-old Deadhead-turned-front office exec? Welcome to the wild world of Roller Hockey International (RHI) — and the improbable story of the San Jose Rhinos.

Brad Porteus, former GM of the Rhinos and author of the rollicking new memoir "Roll With It: A Trip Back to the '90s - Gen X Style [https://amzn.to/4kH9M7g]," joins us to unpack one of the most absurd, glorious, and ultimately short-lived chapters in modern American pro sports history.

RHI burst onto the scene in the early 1990s during the inline skating craze, promising a legit summer hockey league full of high-speed thrills and low-rent spectacle. What it delivered was equal parts innovation and chaos.

Porteus was there from the beginning — drafting players who could barely skate; marketing a new team, league and sport on a shoestring budget; and helping San Jose win an unlikely Murphy Cup championship in only its second season (1995).

But Roll With It is about more than sports. It’s also a love letter to the analog '90s, a memoir of coming of age in an ascendant Silicon Valley, and a tribute to the resilient, underdog ethos of Generation X. Porteus brings us into a time before social media, when careers were launched on little more than a mixtape, a road map, and the blind faith that you could figure it out.

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399: Roller Hockey International's San Jose Rhinos - With Brad Porteus 

Before the Kraken. Before the Canucks. Before the NHL crossed the 49th parallel, there was the Seattle Metropolitans -- the first American team ever to win the Stanley Cup, in 1917.

This week, we uncover the forgotten saga of the Metropolitans, a team built on innovation, grit, and West Coast ambition. They played fast, they played smart -- and led by brilliant young coach Pete Muldoon, they made hockey history in a city barely known for winter sports.

But as author/guest Kevin Ticen chronicles in his acclaimed book "When It Mattered Most: [https://amzn.to/43BFUTO] The Forgotten Story of America's First Stanley Cup Champions, and the War to End All Wars [https://amzn.to/43BFUTO]," their Stanley Cup story wasn’t just about sports -- it was about a country on the edge of entering World War I, about patriotism and sacrifice, and about what happens when the games we play intersect with global events we can’t control.

We discuss the heroics of Bernie Morris, who scored a staggering 14 goals in the 1917 Stanley Cup Final -- and whose life took a dark turn when he was arrested for alleged draft evasion two years later. We revisit the tragic 1919 Final -- canceled due to the Spanish flu pandemic -- and the heartbreaking death of the Montreal Canadiens' Joe Hall. 

And we explore how the Seattle Kraken have embraced the legacy of the Metropolitans, from commemorative banners and tribute jerseys to the modern-day Pete Muldoon Award, given annually to the current-day team's MVP.

From hockey glory to global catastrophe, this is the incredible, nearly forgotten tale of how Seattle once conquered the hockey world -- "when it mattered most."

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398: The Seattle Metropolitans - With Kevin Ticen

We use up our remaining MTA MetroCard credit this week for a sit-down with baseball author/historian Chris Donnelly — whose new book "Get Your Tokens Ready [https://amzn.to/4kp5FN8]: The Late 1990s Road to the Subway Series [https://amzn.to/4kp5FN8]" represents the final installment of his intriguing trilogy charting the divergent, yet intertwined sagas of the Mets and Yankees from the mid-1980s through 2000's historic “Subway Series.”

Donnelly’s previous works — "Doc, Donnie, the Kid, and Billy Brawl [https://amzn.to/43FFfQ5]: How the 1985 Mets and Yankees Fought for New York's Baseball Soul [https://amzn.to/43FFfQ5]" and "Road to Nowhere:  [https://amzn.to/3SyaI1A]The Early 1990s Collapse and Rebuild of New York City Baseball [https://amzn.to/3SyaI1A]" — set the stage.  

But now, with “Tokens [https://amzn.to/3ZHliag],” he delivers the most in-depth look ever at how the late-1990s Yankees rose to dynasty status while the Mets clawed their way back from irrelevance — culminating in a tightly contested World Series showdown that defined a generation of New York baseball fans.

We explore how the Yankees became the undisputed kings of New York, the Mets’ dramatic resurgence, and what the 2000 cross-town showdown meant for the city’s baseball soul -- some four decades after the Giants and Dodgers abandoned Gotham for the California coast. 

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 * " [https://amzn.to/3StBKan]Doc, Donnie, the Kid, and Billy Brawl: How the 1985 Mets and Yankees Fought for New York's Baseball Soul [https://amzn.to/3StBKan]" [https://amzn.to/3StBKan]: https://amzn.to/3StBKan

397: The 2000 "Subway Series" - With Chris Donnelly

We welcome to our microphones award-winning author, cultural critic and Washington University in St. Louis professor Gerald Early, whose new book "Play Harder: The Triumph of Black Baseball in America" [https://amzn.to/3HacbZq] is a sweeping chronicle of Black Americans’ extraordinary influence on the game of baseball — from the sport’s formative days in the wake of the Civil War, through the heyday of the Negro Leagues, to the modern era.

A leading voice in the conversation about race, sports, and American identity, Early also served as an advisor to the National Baseball Hall of Fame [https://baseballhall.org/]’s landmark new exhibit, Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball [https://baseballhall.org/The-Black-Baseball-Initiative/the-souls-of-the-game]. Together, the book and exhibit offer a timely and powerful retelling of baseball’s past — one that acknowledges long-overlooked figures like Moses Fleetwood Walker, Rube Foster, and Cool Papa Bell, and reexamines well-known legends like Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Barry Bonds through a deeper historical lens.

We discuss how Play Harder arrives at a moment of renewed focus on the Negro Leagues, as Major League Baseball officially recognizes them as major leagues and integrates their stats [https://goodseatsstillavailable.com/listen/2022/1/9/episode-245-integrating-the-negro-leagues-with-sean-forman] into the game’s official record. 

Early explains why this recognition matters, how the Negro Leagues shaped Black identity and community, and what the story of Black baseball says about America itself.

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396: "Play Harder" - With Gerald Early

“Good Seats Still Available” is a curious little podcast devoted to the exploration of what used-to-be in professional sports. Each week, host Tim Hanlon interviews former players, owners, broadcasters, beat reporters, and surprisingly famous "super fans" of teams and leagues that have come and gone - in an attempt to unearth some of the most wild and woolly moments in (often forgotten) sports history.

timhanlon

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