Do Sports Matter?
About this Episode
In this episode, author Andrew Maraniss leads a conversation with David and John Feinstein, the best-selling author of some of the most celebrated books on American sports. The three talk about their methods of interviewing and writing books, about whether and why sports matter, and about the role of race in sports and American life. John, a vivid raconteur, spins stories ranging from the time he raced Leonard Bernstein down the aisle of a music hall to his experiences with Coach K, Bob Woodward, and Tiger Woods. David recalls his first meeting with Barack Obama, and Andrew remembers that in his first publication as an adolescent, A.J.’s Sports Journal, his first and only interview was with Feinstein, who used to drive David home from work when they both worked at the Washington Post.
Recent Episodes from David Maraniss, Ink in Our Blood
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Jim Kossakowski
Norbert Hill
Patty Loew
Finding the Path (Part 2 of 2)
Finding the Path (Part 1 of 2)
Making Lightning
Educating Elliott: Abraham Lincoln High and University of Michigan
In this episode, David talks about researching the formative years of his father, Elliott Maraniss, whose ordeal before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee and time in the crucible of the Red Scare are the subject of his latest book, A Good American Family. In Elliott’s old Boy Scout newsletter, high school yearbooks and articles in the University of Michigan student paper, David found the paper trail that revealed the shaping of his father’s life and political beliefs during the great depression and run-up to World War II. In the New York Public Library and the digital archive of the Michigan Daily, David came upon influential moments and people: the brilliant Jewish teachers at Abraham Lincoln High, kept from university jobs by quotas, who told Elliott’s class ‘they could not afford to be another lost generation,” as well as Elliott’s cohort at the Michigan Daily that included a young Arthur Miller and the poet John Malcom Brinnin. The newspaper was first-class, cultivating, as all good student newspaper do, a generation of writers and space for questioning authority. But the biggest revelation was the article he found confirming a family tale about how his parents met: A banquet on campus for Bob Cummins, home from the Spanish Civil War; his younger sister, Mary Cummins in attendance. And covering the event for The Michigan Daily was Elliott Maraniss.
Lombardi + The Making of the Play
In this episode, Sarah and David speak with actor Dan Lauria, who played Vince Lombardi in the Broadway production of LOMBARDI, written by Eric Simonson and based on David’s book, When Pride Still Mattered. Known for his portrayal of Jack Arnold in The Wonder Years, Dan, who is also a writer and fierce advocate for new plays, describes working with director Tommy Kail before his break-out success in Hamilton and with his co-star, Judith Light, whose nuanced portrayal of Marie Lombardi earned a Tony nomination. With his warm, funny, energetic personality, Dan regales listeners with stories about his father, the truck driver whose childhood best friend was Yankee hall of famer Phil Rizzuto, and behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the Broadway run. He also offers a vision for new play production in the changed social environment with an idea that might remind listeners of the golden age of television.