An Olympic misstep might be how the public defines a career, but it hardly defines a high-performance athlete’s life. When Perdita Felicien crashed into the first hurdle in the 100-metre final at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, all the reigning world champion from Canada could do was watch the race play out on a video screen high above the track. Though her dreams were dashed, she would stand proud and tall again — it was in her DNA. In My Mother’s Daughter: A Memoir of Struggle and Triumph (Doubleday), Felicien fastidiously constructs a poignant narrative that extends far beyond sport. By bringing her mother Cathy Browne’s tale of leaving St. Lucia to resettle in Canada to light, we can better understand the contemporary Canadian experience.  

SportsLit

SportsLit (Season 5, Episode 6) - Perdita Felicien (Canadian Olympian, World Champion Hurdler) - My Mother's Daughter: A Memoir of Struggle and Triumph

Hockey player’s are told to go to the net but Ryan Minkoff took his shot from the perimeter of the sport's universe. Through his path in the game, readers gain an idea of how the sport operates on the far reaches of its icy landscape. Minkoff’s premise in Thin Ice (Lyons Press) is essentially that if you have some talent and take your approach seriously, you can make a go of it. Now a player agent working in Seattle, Minkoff did not allow himself to become discouraged by youth hockey politics while growing up in the State of Hockey, Minnesota.   In our latest episode, Minkoff talks about how he came of age in American club college hockey and seized an opportunity to play pro in Finland’s fourth division, where he moonlighted as a Zamboni driver. All of that led to him finding himself by keeping an eye out for other possibly overlooked players who are trying to live the dream. 

SportsLit (Season 5, Episode 5) - Ryan Minkoff (83 LLC) - Thin Ice

In the sport of Kings, Eurico Rosa da Silva (Seven-Time Outstanding Jockey – The Jockey Club of Canada) reigned at Woodbine Racetrack, but for most of his life, he was living in a mental dungeon. When writing his biography with Bruce McDougall, he held steadfast that this would not just be a book about his success as a jockey.  The pages had to paint an unvarnished portrait of struggling with demons that tormented him in the form of gambling and sex addiction. It had to examine how his roots in Brazil led him to where he is today, for better and for worse. When Riding for Freedom was released in December, people weren’t expecting what they read about a man who seemingly lived high on the horse and that is just the way Rosa da Silva wanted it.

SportsLit (Season 5, Episode 4) - Eurico Rosa da Silva (Champion Jockey) - Riding for Freedom

The analytics wave had yet to sweep over the NHL when Brantt Myhres played in the league from 1994-2003. To be frank, goals, assists and plus/minus didn’t even matter that much in his role as enforcer. It was win lose or draw, no different from a heavyweight fighter.  So why do metrics apply to a man that last played a game almost 20 years ago?  Because the numbers show his memoir is a top seller and for good reason. In Pain Killer: A Memoir of Big League Addiction, Myhres shoots straight about trying to make it in the game he grew up loving, how it became intertwined with drugs and alcohol and eventually led to a lifetime ban. Where his story had so many chances to end tragically, it hasn’t and along the way back he found purpose in a commitment to helping others who have carried the weight of walking miles in his boots.

SportsLit (Season 5, Episode 3) - Brantt Myhres - Pain Killer: A Memoir of Big League Addiction

Breathe easy Canada. This isn’t the only country where parents have gone crazy over watching their kids play minor hockey. Esteemed writer Rich Cohen (Contributing Editor - Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair), navigated the Connecticut interstate with his son Micah during the Ridgefield Bears 2018-19 AA Pee-Wee season and emerged on the other end with his latest book, Pee Wees: Confessions of a Hockey Parent. As the months pass and the season wears on, the immersion of mothers and fathers into the progress of their kids and outcomes of their games, builds. They might have thought they could stay out of the politics, but it can and will pull you in, just like Cohen’s narrative. Pee Wees’ is exceptionally written. Fun, insightful and unguarded, it looks at the game we love, outside of our lens.

SportsLit (Season 5, Episode 2) - Rich Cohen - Pee Wees: Confessions of a Hockey Parent

The reason that players like James Worthy and Michael Jordan were able to leave college “early” and enter the NBA draft or later, Kobe Bryant and Lebron James could do the same from highschool was because Spencer Haywood challenged the system and won.  50 years ago, the concept of “one-and-done” or “early entry” was born after a landmark Supreme Court ruling and the landscape of pro basketball seismically shifted. Today, Haywood, an Olympic gold medallist (1968), NBA Champion (1980) Hall of Fame Inductee (2015) and former star power forward in the ABA and NBA still wants the league to put some respect on his name – officially. It is why his biography is titled - The Spencer Haywood Rule: Battles, Basketball and the making of an American Iconoclast.  Released last fall, it covers a life that began in the Jim Crow South, weaved through the Pacific Northwest, Broadway, Hollywood and Europe.   Along the way, Haywood built up the emotional baggage that followed blazing a trail. Creating upheaval came with a cost and his legacy paid a price in the delay of his due respect.

SportsLit (Season 5, Episode 1) - Spencer Haywood - The Spencer Haywood Rule: Battles, Basketball and the making of an American Iconoclast

In hockey, either you are trying to keep the puck out, or put it in the net.  Whether you are Wayne Gretzky, who has scored an NHL record 894 times or a member of the NHL's one goal club, they all count the same. Ken Reid (Sportsnet) tracked down 39 players who have lit the lamp just once, and in the process, turned footnotes into features, bringing to life the stories of men who have accomplished a feat that is the envy of anyone who has hit the ice with big league dreams.  

SportsLit (Season 4, Episode 14) - Ken Reid (Sportsnet) - One to Remember - Stories from 39 Members of the NHL's One Goal Club

Hockey fans in Canada know Paul Romanuk best from his broadcasting days at TSN and Hockey Night in Canada (Sportsnet), but for well over 30 years, he has also written Hockey Superstars, an annual release that showcases the NHL's best, to kids. The 2020-21 edition was released on Oct. 6, and Romanuk joined us to discuss the challenges of producing the most recent installment during the pandemic, a TV/Radio career which has taken him to the top levels of sports media, and his new podcast The Walrus Was Paul.   

SportsLit (Season 4, Episode 13) - Paul Romanuk - Hockey Superstars 2020-2021

Serge Savard grew up in rural Quebec following WWII in an era known as Le Grand Noirceur (The Great Darkness), but he didn't see it that way. Confident and astute, Savard went from playing hockey on outdoor rinks reminiscent of illustrations in Roch Carrier's The Hockey Sweater, to starring for the Montreal Canadiens from 1966-67 - 80-81.  Once he retired from the NHL, he returned to become their general manager.  In total, he won the Stanley Cup 10 times. All the while, he represented Canada internationally, developed his business acumen and fostered political relationships that have propelled him to prominent standing today. On Oct. 21, the English translation of Forever Canadien, his authorized biography written with journalist Philippe Cantin, was released. The result? A comprehensive and intricate look at Savard's direct impact on the fabled history of the franchise, while immersing the reader into a life forged in one solitude.

SportsLit (Season 4, Episode 12) - Serge Savard with Philippe Cantin - Forever Canadien

When journalist Dave Shoalts joined us for Season 2, Episode 5 to discuss Hockey Fight in Canada, his book about the rights battle for Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC), he told us that his print stories about the storied program always moved the dial. It's true, HNIC gets people talking...and writing. Al Strachan had a long history with the show as a panelist on Satellite Hot Stove, the second intermission segment that was created by executive producer John Shannon in 1994 to showcase the insider knowledge of those dialed in around the NHL. Along with Coach's Corner and of course, the game itself, Satellite Hot Stove was part of the triumvirate that made Saturday night appointment TV. Strachan, who entered the media section of the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993 for contributions in covering the league, draws on his unique vantage point for an unfiltered read of what went on behind the scenes, after 40 minutes of play.  

SportsLit (Season 4, Episode 11) - Al Strachan - Hockey's Hot Stove - The Untold Stories of the Original Insiders

Joe Murphy lives in the precarious crack that lies between an uplifting ending or a tragic conclusion. Once upon a time he was the first NCAA player selected in the NHL Draft, a Stanley Cup winner and an eccentric teammate, but today he is homeless and in clear need of mental health care. Could a vicious hit sustained in one of the 779 career games he played from 1986-2000 have significantly altered the path of his life to where it is today? Journalist Rick Westhead (TSN) digs deep into the story of a gifted Canadian kid that went to the top of the hockey world, and the untreated brain injuries that may have caused his unsettling descent. 

SportsLit (Season 4, Episode 10) - Rick Westhead (TSN) - Finding Murph - How Joe Murphy Went From Winning a Championship to Living Homeless in the Bush

Ron Hawkins sings of "a wounded soldier from the bad old days," in his song Peace and Quiet, which Tim Thompson wove together with archived footage to create his acclaimed ode to the Toronto Maple Leafs. That lyric rings true when examining the tenure of former captain Rick Vaive. A prolific scorer, he was named team captain at the age of 22 and netted three-consecutive 50-goal seasons while enduring a circus-like atmosphere and futility during the Harold Ballard era.   At his peak between 1980-87, he achieved great personal success on the ice, but it also marked a time when the franchise’s legacy to past glory was fully severed.  It was a paradoxical experience as a professional in a life that through various contributing circumstances, “left him on the edge of the limelight.” Catch 22 is the title of his memoir which he wrote with journalist Scott Morrison and it was released on Nov. 17.  Here is Vaive, in his own words.  

SportsLit (Season 4, Episode 9) - Rick Vaive - Catch 22 - My Battles, in Hockey and Life

Manon Rheaume was always in a league of her own.  Mention her name to hockey fans and most will remember the media frenzy that accompanied her appearance in net with the Tampa Bay Lightning during NHL exhibition play in 1992.  While GM Phil Esposito got the attention he sought for his expansion team, Rheaume’s professionalism under the spotlight illuminated the way forward for women’s hockey.  Inspired to tell the story on film, actor/producer Angie Bullaro decided that a children’s book could also light a spark for future generations and so Breaking the Ice was born. Hit play and hear what they both had to say!  

SportsLit (Season 4, Episode 8) - Angie Bullaro / Manon Rheaume - Breaking the Ice

On Nov. 3, 1995, the Toronto Raptors tipped off against the New Jersey Nets and changed the sports landscape of the city.The Raptors are now a team to be reckoned with but it wasn’t long ago that people would have laughed at the notion they would ever win an NBA title, let alone by the time their 25th anniversary rolled around.Why did they become champions? What were the turning points? How comedic, chaotic, tumultuous, and triumphant has the last quarter-century been?Raptors beat writer Doug Smith (Toronto Star) has pretty much seen it all covering the team from Day 1, and oftentimes he would say, “Man, that’s one for the book.”Now you have it.

SportsLit (Season 4, Episode 7) - Doug Smith (Toronto Star) - We The North - 25 Years of the Toronto Raptors

If you are a hockey fan, you probably know the story of Willie O’Ree.  In 1958, he became the first black player to skate in an NHL game when his Boston Bruins faced the Montreal Canadiens.The feat wasn’t heralded at the time and Mr. O’Ree’s NHL career lasted just 45 games, though he would go on to play professional hockey until 1979.  Following his retirement, he remained far from the public eye until 1996.At that time the league was being run a new regime that was focused on expanding the game into new markets and exposing the sport to different demographics. In O’Ree, the NHL saw a perfect ambassador who had first-hand experience to drive an inclusive message.The rest of his life story is remarkable as well, from an ancestor believed to have found freedom through an early form of the Underground Railroad to his own direct path navigating the segregated southern United States as a baseball prospect…and there is much more.We are pleased to have him join us to discuss his new book Willie – The Game Changing Story of the NHL’s First Black Player, written with Michael McKinley.  

SportsLit (Season 4, Episode 6) - Willie O'Ree - Willie - The Game Changing Story of the NHL's First Black Player

A podcast on sports books where journalists Neil Acharya and Neate Sager discuss the latest titles with authors and athletes.

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SportsLit

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