On the tenth episode of the fourth season of The Sports-Casters, hosts Steve Bennett and Don Russ welcome Chris Ballard (Sports Illustrated, SI.Com) Jeff Pearlman (Author) and David Shoemaker (Grantland) to the podcast. Kicking off the show with 3Things, Steve and Don look back at the NCAA basketball tournament and UConn's 4th National Title since 1999, look ahead to the Frozen Four, and talk about a Masters without Tiger Woods. Also on the show, the guys declare six more things the greatest of all time (1991), look ahead to a busy few months for the book club, and close the show with one last thing.
-Chris Ballard is making his third appearance (0:22:45) on the podcast. Chris joins us to talk about SI Longform, his piece on a dubious streak, and how Longform represents a new direction at SI. Ballard talks about the origin of his story, explains expectations at Division III schools, and talks about his own experience as a college athlete.
-Jeff Pearlman is making his fourth appearance (0:41:57) on the podcast. Pearlman's new book "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980's" is our book club book of the month for March. Pearlman talks about how he decided to write a book about the Lakers, how he sold that idea to a publisher, and explains why working on the book was a much needed escape for him after "Sweetness" was released. Pearlman discusses starting a book, why he doesn't write for any specific "audience," and how he avoided writing another book about the Magic/Bird rivalry. The interview ends with Pearlman dashing any hopes that he will someday write a hockey book, but he does say that he already pitching his new project about football.
-David Shoemaker is making his second appearance (01:24:12) on the podcast. Shoemaker stops by to discuss his week in New Orleans for the WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony, Wrestlemania XXX, and last night's Raw. Shoemaker talks about the underwhelming response to the Ultimate Warrior, the shock of the end of the Undertaker's perfect record at Wrestlemania, and the potential (or lack of) for a long title run for Daniel Bryan. Shoemaker also comments on the brilliance of the WWE Network and explains why he is surprised he likes it as much as he does.
