Shows
The Other 51Episode 198: The Fast Track with Jane McManus“It was the stories that I woke up the next day thinking about … I want complicated stories about complicated people making difficult choices and facing real things.”Journalist, professor, and author Jane McManus joins us this week to talk about her career, The Year’s Best Sports Writing, her new book and more. Jane was the editor of the 2024 edition of The Year’s Best Sports Writing. She and Brian do a deep dive into what that job actually looked like. Jane describes how she got the gig, how Richard Deitsch helped her, how she leaned on a...
2025-06-0633 min
The Other 51Episode 192: Let's Find Out Together with Stuart Turton“I’ve got this crazy idea, it would be Agatha Christie meets Lost. They were like ‘how are you gonna pull that off?’ and I was like ‘I have absolutely no idea.”Stuart Turton joins Brian to talk about the writing of his New York Times bestseller, “The Last Murder at the End of the World.” Stuart talks about how this was the hardest book he’s ever written, why it was so hard, and how he had to throw a full 130,000-word draft away and start over. He talks about how he knew things weren’t working and...
2024-10-1033 min
The Other 51Episode 191: We Wrote a Book with Matt Zimmerman and Lauren Burch“After 190 episodes talking about other’s people writing, I finally get to talk about something I wrote!”Brian is joined by Matthew Zimmeran and Lauren Burch, and the three of them talk about their new textbook, Introduction to Sports Journalism. We talk about how Matt started the project and how/why he asked us to be a part of it. We talk about our different writing styles and methods, how Brian’s writing habits give Lauren anxiety, and how our three voices turned into one cohesive book. We also talk about the challenges of balancing theory wi...
2024-09-2741 min
The Other 51Episode 190: Solving That Puzzle with Joe Posnanski“I feel like my place as a writer is sort of that place between what happened and the mythology of what’s happening.” Joe Posnanski joins Brian for a deep dive into his new book, Why We Love Football: A History in 100 Moments. Joe talks about how he started with a list of more than 300 football moments and the process of whittling those down. It’s an honest and super nerdy discussion about how early drafts of the book weren’t working, what Joe did to work through those struggles, and how writing about The Drive unlocked the...
2024-09-1334 min
The Other 51Episode 188: A Book on Ya Ya with Jenn Billinson“I think the role of the critic is to bring that nuanced understanding and historical context to explain the music.”Dr. Jenn Billinson from Nazareth University joins Brian for a deep, deep dive into Cowboy Carter, The Tortured Poets Department, and the role of music writing in today’s media world. Jenn talks about her recent research into gatekeeping in country music and specifically the reaction to Beyonce’s new album. What is it about country music that brings out such strong gatekeeping tendencies? Jenn talks about her role as a white woman writing about her react...
2024-05-1044 min
The Other 51Episode 187: Caution is Kindness with Jen Moritz“When in doubt, choose not to harm somebody.”Jen Moritz, senior editor and inclusive language specialist (and Brian’s wife) joins us to talk about inclusive language. What is inclusive language?So glad you asked! Jen defines the term for us, and also describes how she got interested and involved in this area of editing. She tells us how the pandemic influenced her interest in inclusive language, how editing for inclusive language is an extension of her “Grammar Tingle” and what she does when that is activated by word or phrase, and how incl...
2024-04-1833 min
The Other 51Episode 186: Working Stuff Out with Jared Paventi“We all experience loss differently, but there’s common ground for all of us to find in that.”Jared Paventi joins Brian this week to talk all about his excellent Substack, Dirt Nap. Jared discusses how he came to write a weekly blog/newsletter/Substack/whatever we’re calling it about death and grieving, how watching his oldest daughter grieve the loss of her grandpa inspired him, and how he uses writing to work through what he’s thinking and feeling.Jared talks about how he’s looking to create a space for conversations...
2024-04-0444 min
The Other 51Episode 182: Feel Like a Writer with Dave Karpf“I ended up throughout the midst of the pandemic feeling like I couldn’t write anything anymore.”Dave Karpf, author of the must-read “The Future, Now and Then” on Substack, joins Brian to talk about writing, the internet, and more. Dave and Brian discuss this week’s news about Bluesky opening itself to the public, and why the years where there wasn't a lot of money in it was when the internet was the best.Dave, a political science professor at George Washington University, talks about how he built a weekly writing practice on Substack...
2024-02-0932 min
The Other 51Epsiode 176: Adams Was a Baller with Bob CrawfordBob Crawford, podcaster, history buff, and the bass player for The Avett Brothers (Brian’s favorite band), joins Brian this week to talk his new podcast series, Founding Son: John Quincy’s America.Bob and Brian talk about what made John Quincy Adams stand out as a story worth telling, how Adams is the bridge between Washington and Lincoln, a vessel to tell the story of America between the revolution and the Civil War, and a good, good man. What stories about Adams did Bob most want to tell but had to cut?Bob discusses how...
2023-06-0230 min
The Other 51Episode 167: Rabbit Holes with Pablo TorrePablo Torre, host of ESPN Daily, joins Brian to talk about interviewing, curiosity in reporting, and how podcasting sits at the middle of his professional Venn Diagram. After a brief delay in starting this episode, Pablo talks about the career path that brought him to ESPN. He tells Brian how he brings a magazine-writer’s sensibility to a daily sports podcast, and why he is so wary about being a redundant voice. Pablo discusses the range of his interests and the show, whether it is taking time to discuss serious topics (mental health in sports, concussions) to app...
2022-11-2339 min
The Other 51Episode 164: A 70-Word Sentence with Dr. Denny WilkinsDenny Wilkins' story is that of a geology major from Massachusetts turned into a journalism professor at St. Bonaventure.It’s also the story of a professor who taught a generation of St. Boanventure journalism graduates — Brian included — to omit needless words.Denny and Brian, now colleagues at the Jandoli School of Communication, bring faculty meeting energy to this week’s episode. Denny discusses the challenges of teaching college students how to write, the importance of curiosity, and how he teaches it. Denny talks about his own journalism experiences, why he views himself as a coach, an...
2022-10-2030 min
The Other 51Episode 159: Perfect Little Marriage with Donna DitotaDonna Ditota, who was recently named the New York State Sportswriter of the Year, joins Brian to talk about her career covering sports in Syracuse and Central New York. Being Bona Pride Day, Donna and Brian naturally start with some St. Bonaventure talk. Donna, a 1983 graduate, tells Brian what Russel J. Jandoli was really like, and talks about how her experience as a basketball player continues to inform her work to this day. It’s all about empathy, an underrated trait for journalists. Donna traces her career path from St. Bonaventure to her current gig as a...
2022-02-0332 min
The Other 51Episode 158: Batman Begins for the Black Mamba with Mike SielskiMike Sielski of The Philadelphia Inquirer joins Brian for a deep dive into the writing and reporting of his new book, “The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality.”Mike describes how and why a book about Kobe’s life growing up in Philadelphia was the book for him to write. Why are biographies that focus on a slice of a famous person’s life so meaningful? Mike talks about his reporting process, how time at the Lower Merion Historical Society proved to be invaluable, and how keeping Kobe as the metaphorical sun helped him balance all of t...
2022-01-1132 min
The Other 51Episode 153: A Snake Did It with Stuart TurtonStuart Turton, the best-selling author of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Devil and the Dark Water, joins Brian to talk about writing, plot, Agatha Christie and more.A former journalist (among many other jobs), Stuart wrote two of the Moritz family’s favorite books of the past three years. Among other topics, Stuart and Brian discuss:How, exactly, did he plot out insanely intricate plot of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle?The amount of research he did for The Devin and the Dark Water. You’ll learn something you never would have...
2021-09-3038 min
The Other 51Episode 152: Bus Bubble with Tania ElizabethGrammy and Juno-award winning musician Tania Elizabeth joins Brian to talk about the writing and recording of her upcoming album and more. Tania’s been a touring musician for nearly her entire life, and has spent the past seven years playing fiddle in the Avett Brothers. Before that, she was a founding member of The Duhks and toured extensively both on her own and as an accompanist. In 2021, she recorded her first solo record in nearly 10 years and hopes to release it in 2022. Tania and Brian discuss: - The difference between a song and...
2021-09-2331 min
The Other 51Episode 149: My Mom Was Right with Lyndsey D'ArcangeloLyndsey D’Arcangelo, a sports writer for The Athletic, joins Brian to talk about journalism, social media, and her upcoming book, “Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women’s Football League.” Lyndsey describes her twisty career path that took her from college to an office job in Boston to an office job at the Buffalo News and finally back to sports writing. She tell Brian how using Twitter turned her career around in a good way (for real — she’s the one) and how she advocates for women’s sports while maintaining journalistic distance. Lyndsey tel...
2021-05-0731 min
The Other 51Episode 147: Make Your Editor Happy with Will LeitchWill Leitch joins Brian to talk about pandemic life, sports journalism and Will’s upcoming novel, How Lucky. Will and Brian talk about their lives during the pandemic, how sports journalism survived its self-perceived existential crisis, and how sports’ return helped pave the the way for a return to normalcy. Will then talks about his upcoming book, which he calls the purest distillation of what he feels abut the world. He talks about how he came up with the idea for How Lucky, why he wanted to write a story about someone with Spinal Muscular Atroph...
2021-04-2339 min
The Other 51Episode 145: Cultural Cartography with Michael MirerDr. Michael Mirer, a visiting assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, joins Brian to talk about researching and teaching journalism. Michael and Brian talk about the challenges of brining writing classes to the online environment. Michael also describes his career path from a kid in Detroit who wanted to write for a literary magazine, to being a sports journalists in the oil patch of New Mexico and California, to eventually graduate school in Wisconsin. Michael, who is probably the leading scholar in boundary work in sports journalism, breaks down exactly what “boundary work” is, why it...
2021-02-2539 min
The Other 51Episode 131: No Soup Cans with Zach RobertsZach Roberts, an independent journalist who has been covering protests for more than 15 years, joins Brian this week to talk about covering the recent Black Lives Matter protests in Rochester, N.Y.Zach, who was Brian’s student back in 2014, talks about how he got his start in freelance investigative journalism, how covering Occupy Wall Street changed the course of his career, and his experiences covering the protests of Daniel Prude’s death in Rochester. Zach discusses what he does when arrives in a city to cover a protest, his tips for staying safe while being on the...
2020-09-1155 min
The Other 51Episode 129: That's Just Twitter with Julia AzariJulia Azari, a professor at Marquette University and contributor to Five Thirty Eight, joins Brian to talk about public scholarship, politics and more.Julia and Brian talk about the challenges in teaching politics and journalism over the past four years, whether or not professor and journalists should openly talk about their politics, and how things have changed since the 2016 election.The main topic is public scholarship. Julia, who won the American Political Science Association’s inaugural Best Public-Facing Scholarship Award, defines what public scholarship is, why it’s so useful, and why it’s not tradit...
2020-08-2043 min
The Other 51Episode 128: That's A Lot of Words with Galen ClavioDr. Galen Clavio, the director of the National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana University, joins Brian to talk about his new book, “Social Media and Sports.”It’s The Flip Side reunion the world has been waiting for!Galen and Brian - who’ve been podcasting together since the mid–2010s - discuss the challenges of writing a book on your own as opposed to being a co-author. Galen describes how he kept his target audience in mind throughout the writing process, the things he hated about textbooks that he tried to avoid, and how his focus...
2020-08-0644 min
The Other 51Episode 125: Approaching with Curiosity with Michelle GarciaMichelle Garcia, the newly hired editor of NBCBLK and a veteran journalist, joins Brian to talk about professional reinvention, how journalists should be covering protest movements like Black Lives Matter, scrapbooking and more.You read that last part right. There’s a whole racial reckoning happening in the scrapbooking world, and Michelle spills all the tea.Michelle, who first joined Brian in 2016 (remember when that was the worst year ever?), talks about the challenges of starting a new job while still working from home, what it was like to get laid off from Vice in Ma...
2020-07-0939 min
The Other 51Episode 124: Talk a Story to Death with Katie BarnesKatie Barnes, a feature writer for ESPN, joins Brian this week to talk about writing, reporting, Title IX, activism in journalism, transgender athletes, Maya Moore and more.Katie talks about their career path to ESPN, and how their experience as an activist in the LGBTQ community helped their reporting. Katie and Brian do a deep dive into the three incredible stories Katie wrote for ESPN in June - about Maya Moore’s quest for justice; the rights of transgender athletes the future of women’s sports; and an interview with Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe. How did Kati...
2020-07-0230 min
The Other 51Episode 123: Grammar Tingle with Jen MoritzJen Moritz, Brian’s wife and the best editor he’s ever met, joins us this week to talk about the importance of editing, language, and word choice in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.Jen talks about the conversations she is having with writers about the words they choose, what those words mean and how they can be interpreted. She discusses the Associated Press’ decision to start capitalizing Black when referring to people, common phrases that have racist, classist or hateful origin stories, and how writers and editors can do better now and going...
2020-06-2530 min
The Other 51Episode 122: Canadian Rock Bands of the 1990s with Amber HealyAmber Healy, a writer and journalist, joins Brian to talk about her writing career, her career path, and her love of Canadian Rock bands of the 1990s and early 2000s.OK, let’s be real. Amber and Brian talk A LOT about their love of Canadian Rock bands of the 1990s.Amber and Brian talk about their respective paths to their shared love of Canadian alternative rock, how Toronto radio stations were to Buffalo kids what Buffalo TV stations were to Toronto kids, and what was so special about those bands? Sure, there’s nostalgia. But...
2020-06-1134 min
The Other 51Episode 121: You Have to See Point Break with Joe IconisJoe Iconis, the Tony-nominated writer and composer of Be More Chill, joins Brian this week to talk about creativity in the time of COVID–19, his songwriting process, Keanu Reeves and more.Joe describes what it’s like living in New York City during quarantine, what it’s like to be in a dark theater district and a quiet Times Square, how he’s able to keep writing despite everything going on, and how he’s being inspired by art. But the real burning question: How would The Squip in Be More Chill have been different if Joe had seen P...
2020-05-2831 min
The Other 51Episode 120: Accidental Academic with Leander SchaerlaeckensLeander Schaerlaeckens, a lecturer at Marist College and columnist at Yahoo Sports, joins Brian to talk about teaching, column writing, Donald Trump’s baseball career, and more.Leander and Brian compare notes from this crazy spring 2020 semester, and talk about what worked and didn’t work in teaching sports media classes during the pandemic. Leander talks about how he used Discord in one of his classes.Leander, who refers to himself as an “accidental academic,” traces his career path from a growing up as a sports fan in Europe to being the first full-time soccer writer E...
2020-05-2137 min
The Other 51Episode 119: Emotional Support Radish with Katie CookComic artist Katie Cook rejoins the podcast to talk about her delightful webcomic, “Nothing Special.”Katie and Brian (with help from Brian’s daughter) do a deep dive into the world of “Nothing Special,” which has just started its third book on Webtoon. Katie discusses where the idea for the comic came from, how it was inspired in part by a Neil Gaiman novel and how this is the most “her” project she’s ever done. Katie talks about how writing digital comics is different, and what it’s like to write for a world of your own.Katie...
2020-05-1434 min
The Other 51Episode 118: No-Inch-Count Environment with Michael SharpA decade ago, Michael Sharp and Brian had desks right next to each other. They were both sports writers at the Press & Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton (N.Y.). Michael covered minor-league hockey, Brian minor-league baseball and college sports. Now, they’re both former sports writers. Michael works in marketing in Virginia, Brian’s a professor. Michael and Brian reminisce about their careers as sports journalists. What happens when you realize the only job you’ve ever wanted isn’t for you anymore? What made the 2000s such a weird time to be a sports writer...
2020-05-0739 min
The Other 51Episode 117: Tell Your Story with Melissa IsaacsonSports journalist, author and professor Melissa Isaacson joins Brian this week to talk about teaching, writing, reporting and the 1990s Chicago Bulls. Melissa and Brian start out by talking about what it’s like to teach journalism — particularly sports journalism — during the cornavirus pandemic in 2020. Melissa talks about how being forced to teach online has made her a better professor, how to teach students to do better phone interviews and how this time can be an opportunity for students. Melissa then discusses her excellent book State and what it was like, as a journalist, to write...
2020-04-3047 min
The Other 51Episode 115: Frankenstein's Monstering with Jared DiamondJared Diamond, a national baseball writer for the Wall Street Journal and the author of the new book “Swing Kings: The Inside Story of Baseball’s Home Run Revolution,” joins Brian this week. Jared talks about how being a baseball writer during the Covid-19 Pandemic is a lot busier than you’d expect and where he was supposed to be this week before the world stopped. Jared and Brian discuss the writing and reporting of Swing Kings in depth. Jared talks about the unlikely role that Marlon Byrd played in his career, turning a good news pap...
2020-04-1641 min
The Other 51Episode 113: Intoxicated by the Language with Dr. Rick SimpsonDr. Rick Simpson was … is … one of those teachers. Simpson, who was an English professor at St. Bonaventure University for 46 years, and Brian reconnect this week. Brian, who took three classes with Doc Simpson, gets to say thank you for teaching him some of the most valuable writing lessons of his life. Simpson talks about how the sportswriters he read as a kid in San Francisco in the 1950s influenced him as much as the English authors and poets he later taught. Simpson and Brian discuss how modern sports writing can be thought of as poet...
2020-03-2635 min
The Other 51Episode 108: The Right Column with Bruce ArthurIn the first episode of 2020, Brian’s joined by Bruce Arthur, sports columnist for the Toronto Star.Being a good son of a border town, Brian asks Bruce what it was like to watch The Tragically Hip’s final concert with members of the Canadian Olympic Team on the final night of the Rio Olympics. Many Hip memories are shared.Bruce discusses his unconventional career path in journalism, what makes college newsrooms so special, and what he learned as an intern at the National Post, and how a writer can improve as by reading great (and...
2020-01-1634 min
The Other 51Episode 107: People Doing Good with Marnie EisenstadtMarnie Eisenstadt, a reporter for Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard who was named the 2018 Journalist of the Year by the New York State Associated Press Association, joins Brian this week. Marnie talks about what it has been like to report on stories in Syracuse lately, whether it was a shooting at the Destiny USA mall or the on-going instances of racism at Syracuse University. Marnie and Brian discuss why stories about real people doing things that matter still resonate within a community, and how Marnie uses social media to find stories and connect with sources....
2019-12-0531 min
The Other 51Episode 98: What'd Brigadoon Ever Do To You with Anthony King (rebroadcast)(This episode originally aired July 3, 2019 and has been updated.)
Anthony King, the Tony nominated co-writer of the book of Beetlejuice The Musical, joins Brian this week.
Brian and Anthony do a deep dive into the creative process of a Broadway show, as Anthony describes what a book of a musical is and why it is so important.
Anthony discusses the process he and Scott Brown had in writing the show, how Lydia became the main character, how they changed the conception of the Netheworld, and how the Beetlejuice cartoon influences the show. Anthony talks about how they decided what iconic...
2019-11-2730 min
The Other 51Episode 105: Genre is Dead with Alysa AuriemmaFor the fourth time, Alysa Auriemma joins Brian on The Other 51. But this time, there’s biggest stuff to talk about than Captain America, Chris Evans and Kylo Ren.(I mean, they do talk about Avengers: Endgame. They’re not monsters.)Alyssa joins Brian to talk about the writing and publication of her new book, “All Daughters Rise.” Alysa discusses the themes of her book and how she was inspired to write the book in part because of the gaps she saw in contemporary fiction. Where’s the intersectionality? Why does the main character always react so c...
2019-10-1038 min
The Other 51Episode 102: Reverse Outlining with Dr. Jennifer HarkerIn another episode that recorded at the AEJMC conference in Toronto last month (thanks Apple), Dr. Jennifer Harker from West Virginia University joins Brian to talk about her award-winning paper.First off, she learns that Brian does not mess around when it comes to Canadian snack food.Then, Jennifer and Brian do a deep diver into her study on the Alliance of American Football and their use of hashtags before, during, and after the league’s launch in 2019. This presented researchers with a unique opportunity to study a league’s social media use and fan inte...
2019-09-1929 min
The Other 51Episode 101: Writing Defensively with Dr. Mark CoddingtonThis episode was supposed to be recorded at the AEJMC conference earlier this month in Toronto. But Dr. Mark Coddington was busy doing conference stuff, and Brian forgot his Mac dongle, so consider this a makeup in a way.Mark is an assistant professor at Washington and Lee University and the author of the new book, “Aggregating the News: Secondhand Knowledge and the Erosion of Journalistic Authority,” and he joins Brian for a deep dive into the writing process. Mark describes he got interested in news aggregation in the first place, how he picked it for his diss...
2019-08-3035 min
The Other 51Episode 100: The Amazing and the Impossible with Joe PosnanskiBack when this podcast started, Joe Posnanski joined Brian for Episode 4 to talk about Hamilton, Buffalo sports, and writing.This week, for our 100th episode, Joe joins Brian again to talk about … Hamilton, Buffalo sports, and writing.After nerding out about their favorite moments in Hamilton, Brian and Joe get to the main topic — Joe’s upcoming book on Harry Houdini. Joe talks in depth about his writing and research process on this book, particularly how he balanced writing a biography of Houdini and a book about magic and wonder itself. Joe discusses how he reconc...
2019-08-2246 min
The Other 51Episode 99: Knowing the Story's Done with Rion Amilcar ScottBrian is joined once again by his favorite local* author, Rion Amilcar Scott.Rion has a new collection of short stories due out on Aug,. 20, “The World Doesn’t Require You.” It’s a followup to his previous collection, Insurrections.Brian and Rion talk about how the new collection came together, and how both the world it’s set in and Rion’s writing have changed since President Trump’s election. Rion talks about the value of sitting with an idea for a long time until you know it’s ready and how he stretched himself as a wri...
2019-07-1231 min
The Other 51Episode 98: What'd Brigadoon Ever Do To You? with Anthony KingAnthony King, the Tony nominated co-writer of the book of Beetlejuice The Musical, joins Brian this week.Brian and Anthony do a deep dive into the creative process of a Broadway show, as Anthony describes what a book of a musical is and why it is so important.Anthony discusses the process he and Scott Brown had in writing the show, how Lydia became the main character, how they changed the conception of the Netheworld, and how the Beetlejuice cartoon influences the show. Anthony talks about how they decided what iconic parts from the movie...
2019-07-0331 min
The Other 51Episode 97: Wired to Talk to Everyone with Baxter HolmesBaxter Holmes had one of the best months for a sports features writer in a very long time earlier this year. He published two fantastic stories at ESPN - one on the fancy dinners that San Antonio Spurs coach Greg Popovich hosts, the other detailing the dysfunction of the Los Angeles Lakers.On the face of it, they are two very different stories. But in his return visit to The Other 51, Baxter tells Brian how the reporting for those stories had a lot in common.Baxter describes how he first heard about Popovich’s wine di...
2019-06-2740 min
The Other 51Episode 96: A Little Kelly Tripucka with Tyler DunneOne of our very first guests on The Other 51 (Episode 3), Tyler Dunne from Bleacher Report returns to kick off our summer season.Tyler and Brian spend the first several minutes reminiscing about early 1990s NBA basketball, including Brian’s home-economics class gamesmanship involving Chuck Person and Tyler’s origin story as a Charlotte Hornets fan.Then they get around to the business at hand. What does this time of year look like for an NFL features writer like Tyler? Tyler talks about how this time of year is important to him, helping him lay the foun...
2019-06-2035 min
The Other 51Episode 95: Marvel Nitpick Podcast with Travis ClarkTravis Clark was never actually Brian’s student at SUNY Oswego. But he was, in his own words, “student adjace.” Travis, a SUNY Oswego graduate and now a media and entertainment reporter for Business Insider, joins Brian this week. They start with the requisite Oswego talk, and Travis talks about how much working for the student paper helped prepare him for his career.Travis talks about his journey from kid writing movie reviews in his high-school paper to covering the media and entertainment industries for Business Insider. He and Brian discuss the juggling of being a fan of the...
2019-05-2338 min
The Other 51Episode 94: Thinking About Your Audience with Dr. Kathy Roberts FordeIn the summer of 2018, Brian heard Dr. Kathy Roberts Forde from UMass speak on a panel at the annual AEJMC conference. The panel’s title: “So You Wanna Write A Book”This week, Kathy joins Brian to demystify the book-writing process. Kathy discusses her research into literary journalism and her first book. What is literary journalism, what’s interesting about that field, and how do we read older pieces when we know a lot of what was presented as fact was more fiction?Kathy and Brian also talk about the book writing process itself...
2019-05-1636 min
The Other 51Episode 93: Move Through the World Differently with Quinn RoseWriter and podcast Quinn Rose joins Brian this week.First off .. .there is a TON of musical theater nerdery this week. Brian finally saw Hamilton, Quinn has seen it twice, so they talk A LOT about the show, about what it’s like to see it after listening to the cast recording so much. They also talk about the shows they’re going to see soon. Quinn’s got Be More Chill coming up. Brian’s talking his 8-year-old to see Book of Mormon. It’ll be fine.That segues into talk about Quinn’s podcasting a...
2019-05-0232 min
The Other 51Episode 92: Paying Close Attention with Steve PolitiHow did Arnold Palmer order an Arnold Palmer?Who dry cleans the green jackets for Augusta National members?What’s it like to play Augusta National when you are … not a very good golfer?Steve Politi, who was recently named the top sports columnist in the country by the Associated Press Sports Editors, joins Brian this week to talk about column writing. Steve traces his career path from the Nutley Sun to the Star Ledger, with a detour to cover hockey in North Carolina.Steve and Brian do deep dives into the...
2019-04-1136 min
The Other 51Episode 91: It's My Job to Know with John WawrowOf all the writers Brian has had on this podcast, you’ve probably read more words more often by John Wawrow than any other guest.You just didn’t realize it.John has spent nearly 20 years as the AP sports writer in Buffalo, covering primarily the Bills and the Sabres. He joins Brian this week in an episode recorded at the Village Bakery in Pittsford, N.Y.John talks about his long career path from journalism school in Toronto, to a pair of small-town weekly papers in Canada and eventually to Buffalo. He talk...
2019-04-0439 min
The Other 51Episode 89: Unintended Consequences Might Ensue with Bob CostasWhen Brian was growing up, his dream was simple — move to New York City and be a broadcaster for NBC Sports. He wanted to be Bob Costas.That didn’t happen. But this week Brian gets to interview his boyhood idol, as Bob joins him to discuss writing, broadcasting and sports media.Bob and Brian talk about Bob’s memories of Syracuse University, and his mentor Stan Alten (1:35); the uneasy relationship between sports television and the leagues they cover, and how that has gotten harder to navigate over the past decade (5:45); how writing plays a role i...
2019-03-2129 min
The Other 51Episode 88: The Anti-Hype with Drew MontreuilThere is no website Brian relies on more during the winter than Finger Lakes Weather. It’s the best weather forecasting site in upstate New York.This week, Drew Montreuil — the brains and the voice of the site - joins Brian to talk all things weather (and SUNY Oswego).Drew talks about his lifelong obsession with weather and how and why he turned that into a site about the Finger Lakes. He and Brian discuss the unique nature of the region, both from a meteorological and a media point of view. Drew discusses what goes into...
2019-01-2435 min
The Other 51Episode 86: Hard Harbor to Find with Sam FortierSix months ago, Sam Fortier was a college student at Syracuse University. Now, he is the Los Angeles Chargers beat writer for The Athletic.Sam joins Brian this week, to rub it in about the nice weather and talk about being an NFL beat reporter in 2018. Sam talks about what it’s like to start your career on a pro beat, the challenges he’s faced starting a new beat in a new city. What’s it like to work a locker room when you’re the same age (or younger) than the players?Sam talks ab...
2018-11-2934 min
The Other 51Episode 84: Director's Cut, plus The Secret Life of WordsThis week, Brian has collected bits and pieces that didn’t make it into previous episodes but are collected here in a kind of deleted scenes collection of The Other 51.Tanya Marsh of Wake Forest University (1:25) and Jeff Pearlman (4:23) offer their single best pieces of writing advice.Doug Schneider (7:40) talks about what he writes about when he’s not covering Making a Murderer, and how he learns the skills needed to do those projects.And, in the debut of a new segment, Jen Moritz (16:30) joins me for The Secret Life of Words. You know...
2018-11-0125 min
The Other 51Episode 83: Did Steven Avery do it? with Doug SchneiderWhat’s it like when an actual phenomenon happens in your backyard?That’s the position Doug Schneider found himself in a few years ago. A projects reporter for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin, Doug found himself writing about Making a Murderer, the Netflix documentary that is set a county near his offices in Green Bay.Doug, who worked with Brian at the Press & Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton, joins Brian this week to talk about reporting and more. Topics include Why Binghamton was the best news town Doug has ever worked in (6:08); covering Making a Murderer (12:00); what it was...
2018-10-2539 min
The Other 51Episode 82: Not Those Kinds of Doctors with Dr. Shannon McCarthyMental Illness Awareness Week was last week (Oct. 7–13, 2018), but in recognition of this, Brian’s good friend Dr. Shannon McCarthy joins him for a special episode. Shannon and Brian talk about their own mental health struggles and how it affects and impacts their writing (2:15). They also talk about knowing when you’re really struggling vs. when you’re just being lazy (9:40), how they deal with imposter syndrome (16:20), some of their strategies to beat back the demons and get stuff done (24:00), how they use humor to help (31:26) and the best thing they’ve read lately (34:26).National Suicide Prevention Hotline
2018-10-1838 min
The Other 51Episode 81: Write What You See with Bucky GleasonTwo weeks ago, Brian and Bucky Gleason recorded what might have been the perfect podcast. It was witty, insightful, entertaining, everything you’d want from this medium and more.And, then Brian went and messed up the recording but good.But Bucky, a former Buffalo News sports columnist and now the editor of Buffalo Maven, is a mensch. He joins Brian again this week. They talk a lot about the Buffalo Bills and what this team is like to cover. Bucky talks about how he writes columns about the team without having press credentials, and th...
2018-09-2744 min
The Other 51Episode 79: Live and Die with Tanya MarshTanya Marsh and Brian have been internet friends for a few years now, but this is the first time they’e actually spoken to each other.Tanya is a professor of law at the Wake Forest School of Law. She’s is also as much of an Avett Brothers fan as Brian (she’s seen them 53 times in concert, which puts Brian’s concert count to shame).Tanya and Brian talk a lot about their favorite band, how they discovered the Avett Brothers and what makes their lyrics so powerful and meaningful. Why did this band sti...
2018-08-3034 min
The Other 51Episode 78: The Voice of my Anxiety with Dr. Jenn BillinsonIt’s (yet another) Syracuse University Ph.D. program reunion, and Brian’s good friend and classmate Dr. Jenn Billinson joins the podcast this week. Jenn, an assistant professor at Christopher Newport University, talks in detail about her research into the use of music and media as a coping mechanism for tragedy. Jen discusses how people used music in tribute videos following the Virginia Tech massacre and her fieldwork in New Orleans post-Katrina. What makes music such a unique media format? Is the way music has become so personal changed the way we collectively experience musi...
2018-08-1740 min
The Other 51Episode 75: A Mental Shower with Dr. Gina Masullo ChenDr. Gina Masullo Chen, a grad-school classmate of Brian’s at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, joins The Other 51 this week to talk about writing for both newspapers and academics.Gina talks about her 20-plus year career at the Post-Standard in Syracuse and why she decided to leave journalism in 2009 to get a Ph.D. Gina and Brian trade theories on why newspapers were so weird in the mid-to-late 2000s and why they were so bad at adopting new technology.Gina also talks about her writing process, how she uses deadlines and her own pe...
2018-07-0535 min
The Other 51Episode 73: Metro Community News with Richard DeitschFun fact: Richard Deitsch and Brian Moritz are professionally connected.No, not just because they both write about sports media — Richard for The Athletic, Brian for whomever will let him. But because Richard’s first job in journalism was covering Buffalo sports for the Metro Community News — a free weekly paper that Brian delivered as his first job in middle school.Richard joins Brian this week to talk about his time in Buffalo as a college student and as a reporter. They talk about what makes Buffalo such a great sports town, how Richard is still...
2018-06-2135 min
The Other 51Episode 71: Podcast Inception with Dr. Galen ClavioIt’s a weird flip of the podcast world this week. Normally, Brian co-hosts The Flip Side, a podcast about sports, media and other stuff with Dr. Galen Clavio. But this week, Galen joins Brian to talk about sports media and writing.Galen, the director of the National Sports Journalism Center and a professor at Indiana University’s media school, discusses his career path from minor-league hockey play-by-play guy to academia. He talks about how writing helped him in his play-by-play and broadcasting career, and how the job is often about figuring out how words go together.
2018-06-0736 min
The Other 51Episode 70: Draft Nerds with Matthew FairburnMatthew Fairburn, who covers the Buffalo Bills for NYUpstate.com (or Syracuse.com, or The Post-Standard, depending on which generation you belong to), joins Brian this week for a deep dive into life on an NFL beat.Matthew discusses how he got the job as a Bills beat writer on a one-season trial, and what it was like for him to not only start a new beat at a paper, but to be dropped onto an NFL beat fresh out of college. Matthew and Brian talk about what it means to cover an NFL team with a...
2018-05-2440 min
The Other 51Episode 68: Watergate Baby with Kevin BlackistoneYou probably know Kevin Blackistone best from his regular appearances on ESPN’s “Around the Horn.” But he’s also a professor of practice at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, a longtime sports columnist (at both the Washington Post, the Dallas Morning-News and more), an author, a contributor to NPR and much more. As he said at the Summit on Communication and Sport, he’s like a NASCAR driver — he has a lot of labels.Kevin joins Brian to talk about his career in journalism, his origin story growing up in Washington...
2018-05-1034 min
The Other 51Episode 67: Neutral Site with Bryan CurtisIt’s a podcast bowl game, of sorts, and Bryan Curtis from The Ringer joins Brian this week at the IACS 11th Summit on Communication and Sport. Bryan, who is The Ringer’s editor-at-large and media critic, compares the conference to the Final Four or the Combine and talks about some of the interesting research he saw this past weekend.Bryan and Brian (it’s not confusing) talk about the state of sports journalism and sports media. What do you do when the villain in the story is just the march of history? Bryan discusses how reading the Da...
2018-05-0331 min
The Other 51Episode 66: Curating the curators with Kendall BakerKendall Baker is the curator and creator of Sports Internet, which is one of the best daily sports newsletters available on the internet. But what makes a daily sports newsletter interesting and worth it?Kendall joins Brian this week to talk about his daily process in creating the newsletter and breaks down the skills that are needed to create a newsletter. What makes a newsletter good, and why are newsletters so popular in this media age? He discusses how he iterated many different versions of the Sports Internet and how living on the West Coast i...
2018-04-2616 min
The Other 51Episode 65: In the Training Room with Evan DrellichAnother lifetime ago, Brian and Evan Drellich spent summers together at NYSEG Stadium in Binghamton. Brian was the Binghamton Mets beat reporter for the Press & Sun-Bulletin, and Evan (an intern at the paper) was covering the team for Scout.com. This week, Brian and Evan — who now covers the Red Sox for NBC Sports Boston and who’s been a big-league baseball beat reporter for 10 years — reminisce about those days watching Jose Coronado and Fernando Martinez. They remember their late editor, Charlie Jaworski, and how they still hear Jaws’ voice in their heads. Evan, a graduate of...
2018-04-1942 min
The Other 51Episode 64: Beyond 24/7 with Jen McCaffreyJen McCaffrey just started a new job. After covering the Boston Red Sox for several seasons for MassLive, she has recently started covering the team for The Athletic’s new site in Boston. Jen tells Brian why she made that move and details her career path from student at Syracuse University to her new gig, and how working on Cape Cod and in Philadelphia prepared her for her new gig. Jen talks about life on the Red Sox beat and what it’s really like to be a baseball beat reporter. She talks about bringing the la...
2018-04-1235 min
The Other 51Episode 63: Breaking News with Lindsay BoyleLindsay Boyle has been a journalist in Ghana, and she has also reported on immigration and the option crisis in Southeastern Connecticut. She joins Brian this week to talk about her work and her career.Lindsay, a graduate of Ohio University, talks about her day-to-day life as a breaking news reporter for The Day. She describes the entire process of breaking news, from how she finds out about news to her reporting and writing process. Lindsay talks about how she tries to balance reporting on breaking news and reporting longer stories. She also talks about why she...
2018-04-0539 min
The Other 51Episode 62: The Stream of Time with Rebecca MakkaiBefore going on vacation last summer, Brian was looking for one more book to take with him and he found a collection of short stories that looked interesting. “Music for Wartime” by Rebecca Makkai. He picked it up. And well … three books later, he had a new favorite author.Rebecca joins Brian this week to talk about writing novels and short stories and the writing life.Rebecca talks about her new novel. The Great Believers, how she came up with the idea for the book and how important her research was to telling an authentic story...
2018-03-2941 min
The Other 51Episode 61: My Parents' Pasture with Tim BontempsTim Bontemps got his first break in journalism while he was standing in his parent’s pasture. Tim tells that story, and more, as he and Brian catch up on writing, the NBA and all things St. Bonaventure. Tim describes his career path from St. Bonaventure University (where he and Brian met in 2004, when Brian was an adviser to the school newspaper’s sports department) to his current gig as the national NBA writer for the Washington Post. Tim talks about where he gets story ideas, the difference between covering a team vs. covering an entire...
2018-03-2738 min
The Other 51Episode 60: That's How Jobs Work with Shea SerranoShea Serrano, the author of the NY Times bestsellers “The Rap Yearbook” and “Basketball and Other Things” and a columnist for The Ringer, joins Brian this week. Shea talks about why writing books isn’t much fun, but why he does it anyway. Shea talks about how the way he writes is influenced by his time as a teacher, how researching books is a lot of fun but the actual writing of a book is a lot of work, and how he goes from column idea to execution. Shea and Brian talk about who would win in a one-on-on...
2018-03-1533 min
The Other 51Episode 59: What They Don't Know with James MirtleJames Mirtle, the editor-in-chief and columnist for The Athletic, joins Brian this week to talk about business models in sports journalism. James talks about The Athletic’s business model and its approach to sports journalism. He views the site as one of the feel-good stories in media these days and explains to the skeptics (like Brian) why their subscriber-funded approach can work. He also talks about why it is freeing for journalists to not have to chase page views as a primary metric. James, who wrote about Toronto sports for the Globe and Mail before movi...
2018-03-0833 min
The Other 51Episode 58: Seven layers with Mike HarringtonFifteen years ago this week, Brian broke the biggest story of his career.
As a reporter for The Times Herald in Olean, N.Y. covering St. Bonaventure basketball, Brian was one of the outlets breaking the ongoing news about a player-eligibility scandal with the Bonnies and an ensuing player boycott of two games.
His main competition on that story? Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News.
This week, 15 years after that story broke, Mike and Brian reunite to reminisce about what Mike calls “the weirdest story” of his career. They look back at how the story unfolded, how they reported it, the...
2018-03-0151 min
The Other 51Episode 56: Coming Out with Cyd ZeiglerCyd Zeigler, a writer, activist and founder of Outsports.com joins Brian this week.
Their first order of business is, naturally, defining what makes a catch.
It makes sense. Cyd is a high school and college football official and has written a lot about why the much-maligned NFL catch rule actually makes perfect sense.
Cyd and Brian talk about the founding of Outsports.com, why no athletes in the major U.S. team sports have come out in the past few years, the way the mainstream media covers gay athletes, and how that has and hasn’t changed. Cyd recalls Mi...
2018-02-0830 min
The Other 51Episode 55: It's A Lot with Stephen CohenWhat’s it really like to cover the Super Bowl?
Stephen Cohen go first hand experience in 2015 as a sports writer for the Seattle Post Intelligencer. At the time, he was the paper’s Seahawks beat writer and he covered the team’s loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 49.
With this year’s Super Bowl between the Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles just a few days a way, Cohen — now a general assignment reporter for the paper — joins Brian this week to talk about his Super Bowl experience. Stephen talks about what it was like to be at media day an...
2018-02-0135 min
The Other 51Episode 54: Question Everything with Lisa WilsonIn the summer of 1998, Brian was a summer copy editing intern at the Buffalo News. During that summer, Lisa Wilson came on these copy desk for a tryout and eventually a job.
Since then, Lisa became the sports editor for The News and is now the senior editor, sports, at The Undefeated.
Lisa joins Brian this week, and they Share memories of that summer. Lisa talks about working with Milt Joffee, Milt Northrup and Bill Wolcott and what she learned from working with old-school veterans like them. Lisa describes what diversity means to her, why it is so important and h...
2018-01-2536 min
The Other 51Episode 53: I Remember Getting an F with Jesse DoughertyJesse Dougherty was Brian’s student back in 2014, when he was a sophomore at Syracuse University and Brian was a doctoral student.
The student has become the master. Now, Jesse’s a sports writer for the Washington Post, and he joins Brian for a fun and wide-ranging conversation. Jesse talks about how the first hockey game he ever saw in person was the first one he covered for the L.A. Times, and how Hall-of-Famer Helene Elliott gave him a crash course in the sport. Jesse also talks about what it’s like to work at the Washington Post at this p...
2018-01-1132 min
The Other 51The Best of 2017: Songwriting and St. Jude with Bob CrawfordBob Crawford, bass player for The Avett Brothers, joins Brian to talk about his family’s connection to St. Jude, the work he's doing through the Press On Fund, and his quest to cure child cancer.
Bob talks about the day his then 22-month-old daughter, Hallie, was diagnosed with brain cancer and how St. Jude gave him and his family hope. He also discusses how his daughter’s diagnosis changed songwriting for him, and how he wrote part of The Avett Brothers' song “Good to You.” He and Brian also discuss their favorite Founding Fathers (Bob goes way off the board for...
2017-12-2828 min
The Other 51BEST OF 2017: Making a ruckus with Seth GodinBest-selling author and noted ruckus maker Seth Godin joins Brian this week. They talk about the importance of not only writing every day but publishing every day, what school should teach students, and why work is always the answer. Seth explains to Brian why the recording of Kind of Blue can be compared to writing, why he benefits from writing every day, and why books are the perfect technology. Seth is one of Brian’s favorite people on the internet. This was a fun episode to do.
2017-12-2133 min
The Other 51Episode 51: Meme Wars with Dr. Nick KobersteinIf you’ve been following Brian on Twitter the past few weeks, your timeline was flooded with his student posts to the #MoritzMemeWar. The inspiration for that joins the podcast this week. Dr. Nick Koberstein, an assistant professor at Keuka College, created the original meme war (#kcmemewar). He joins Brian this week at Eddie O’Brien’s in Farmington, N.Y. to talk digital pedagogy in higher ed. Nick talks about the ways he tries to challenge his students in an environment that is still a bit relaxed and supportive, and how he gets students to make work th...
2017-12-1534 min
The Other 51Episode 50: The Golden Age with Adrian WojnarowskiESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is the best reporter in sports journalism. You already know this. Everyone knows this. He’s also been a friend and mentor of Brian’s for nearly two decades. Woj joins Brian this week and describes why he feels this is a golden age of sports journalism. Woj describes why he thinks the mobile phone did more to revolutionize reporting than almost anything else. He describes his reporting process, why it’s important to connect with sources and talk to them when you’re not quoting them. Sometimes, it’s the 53rd time you talk to a...
2017-12-0734 min
The Other 51Episode 49: Dude, You Wrote A Book! with Amy MoritzThe last time Amy Moritz joined Brian on the podcast, she said that she was working on her first book. Good little brother that he is, Brian said he’d have her back when the book was out. Hey, guess what? The book is out! And it’s outstanding!Amy joins us to talk about the writing of “I Though You’d Be Faster.” She talks about where the idea for the book came from, what her writing process was like, and why she self-published. Amy and Brian talk about how newspaper writing is different than book w...
2017-11-3036 min
The Other 51Introductory Lexicography with Kory StamperKory Stamper has the best job title of any guest in the history of The Other 51. She’s a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster. She writes the dictionary. No, the dictionary doesn’t just appear, handed down by the grammar gods. It’s written by people. People like Kory. Kory talks what it’s like to wield the power to decide what part of speech a word is. She describes her job, and she and Brian talk about how people who write the dictionary are much more open about language and usage then you might as...
2017-11-1636 min
The Other 51Episode 46: Fargo Auto Kings with Matt VautourThe Atlantic 10 Media Association reunion tour continues, as long-time listener, first-time caller Matt Vautour joins Brian to talk about the life of a college sports beat writer.
Matt, who covers the University of Massachusetts for the Daily Hampshire Gazette, and Brian reminiscence about their days covering the A-10 in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with the requisite John Chaney stories (for every Phil Martelli, theres a Darelle Porter ). This leads to a larger discussion about how being a beat writer has changed over the past 20 years. Matt talks about how message boards were the original Twitter, what it was...
2017-11-0242 minThe Other 51You Podcast? with Jen MoritzJen Moritz is the best editor Brian knows. And he’s not just saying that because he married her.
Really, she’s awesome.
And since Brian’s been talking to writers for more than a year, he figured it was time to get the scoop from an editor.
Jen, who is the senior copy editor at Dixon Schwabl advertising, talks about what makes a good editor and how editing should be like gardening. You know your Facebook friend who posts memes about its/it’s and how they love grammar? Jen tells us that just shows they don’t know what an ed...
2017-10-2633 minThe Other 51'Live' at Oswego with Kate FaganCan a podcast be live? Sort of? Maybe? Brian gives it a try this week with Kate Fagan from ESPN, the author of one of the best books he’s read all year.
Fagan is the author of “What Made Maddy Run,” a poignant look at college, college athletics, social media, mental illness and more told through the lens of Madison Halloran. During her visit this week to SUNY Oswego (where Brian teaches), she sat down with Brian to talk about the book and about writing.
Kate and Brian talk about how she first heard about Madison’s story and walks th...
2017-10-1228 min
The Other 51Episode 42: The Right Details with Kevin Van ValkenburgHamilton. Jason Isbell. Sports writing.
Kevin Van Valkenburg is pretty much the perfect guest for The Other 51.
Kevin, a feature writer for ESPN The Magazine, joins Brian to talk about seeing the original cast of Hamilton (apparently, it was worth it). He and Brian talk a lot about their admiration for Jason Isbell and what makes him such a gifted lyricist and songwriter. They also talk about how to develop the instinct to find the right details, how Kevin connected with Eddy Lacy before writing a recent feature story, and why reading is so, so important to being a writer...
2017-10-0533 minThe Other 51Song writing and St. Jude with Bob CrawfordBob Crawford, bass player for The Avett Brothers, joins Brian to talk about his family’s connection to St. Jude, the work he's doing through the Press On Fund, and his quest to cure child cancer.
Bob talks about the day his then 22-month-old daughter, Hallie, was diagnosed with brain cancer and how St. Jude gave him and his family hope. He also discusses how his daughter’s diagnosis changed songwriting for him, and how he wrote part of The Avett Brothers' song “Good to You.” He and Brian also discuss their favorite Founding Fathers (Bob goes way off the board for...
2017-09-2128 minThe Other 51Stealing Money with Mike JensenMike Jensen has Brian’s dream job.
When Brian was a young reporter covering St. Bonaventure basketball, his career goal was to write about college basketball in Philadelphia. That’s what Mike has been doing since the 1990s. The two covered some of the Atlantic 10’s most memorable games in the early 2000s, which always somehow involved St. Bonaventure and Temple. Today, they swap John Chaney stories (spoiler, he wasn’t calling about an adverb) and discuss what made the Temple coach so unique and so awesome to deal with. Mike talks about whether or not Chaney would be successful in this...
2017-09-1435 minThe Other 51My Play Uncle with Dr. Sherri WilliamsDr. Sherri Williams and Brian were classmates in the doctoral program at Syracuse University. Sherri is a former newspaper reporter who is now a newly hired assistant professor at American University in Washington D.C. and incredibly gifted and prolific writer on the intersection of race, media and popular culture.
She and Brian talk about the difficulty they faced in moving from newspapers to academia and why they both, in part, don’t consider themselves fully academics. Sherri also discusses the impact Oprah had on her life and career, why she considers herself a storyteller above all else, the importance of...
2017-09-0733 min
The Other 51Episode 38: Mets Weblog with Matthew CerroneMatt Cerrone was one of the pioneers of digital sports media. MetsBlog.com, the site he created in the 2000s, has been an indispensable resource for New York Mets fans.
He joins Brian this week to talk about just what the heck happened to the Mets this season, and the challenges and opportunities that a bad year like this presents to writers and storytellers. Matt talks about how he created MetsBlog and how he maintains it while still being a dad to two young kids, why knowing your own strength and weaknesses is so important to being a writer, how...
2017-08-3135 minThe Other 51Aaron Burr, Sir with Chris AndersonA few years ago, when Brian was writing his dissertation at Syracuse, one of the books that provided the best material and most inspiration was Rebuilding the News by Dr. Chris Anderson.
Today, Chris — a professor at the University of Leeds and the City University of New York - joins Brian to talk about academic writing and the profession of journalism. They talk about what made the era between 2003-09 so fascinating for media sociologists, why tabloid newspapers were probably better suited for the digital revolution than broadsheets, why Chris misses being a doctoral student, and how he is a fas...
2017-07-2834 min
The Other 51Episode 35: Bat Flips with Stacey May FowlesYou know those banal-sounding cliches you hear baseball players say in interviews with reporters every day? Stacey May Fowles finds a lot of truth in them. She’s built a newsletter and written a book about the life lessons she’s learned as a baseball fan.
After breaking down exactly what’s up with the Toronto Blue Jays, Stacey May talks about her career writing about baseball from a fan’s perspective. She and Brian talk about how the Blue Jays’ recent run of success has changed the fan culture in Toronto, the value of writing on a closed platform like a new...
2017-07-0638 min
The Other 51Episode 33: Apple Jack Would Never Say This with Katie CookShe’s a comic book writer and artist. She’s written My Little Pony comics, worked on books for Marvel, D.C. and IDW. She’s written her own comics, including the adorably awesome Gronk. She drew pictures of the cast of Hamilton for Broadway Cares and has been on stage at the Richard Rogers Theater twice. She’s basically living every nerd’s dream life.
She and Brian talk about the comic book writing process. Katie talks about why it can be easier to write for an already defined, established character as compared to one you create yourself, why she always...
2017-06-2233 minThe Other 51Summerteeth with Michael FarrellIt’s a WSBU/88.3 The Buzz reunion, and Brian catches up with fellow St. Bonaventure alum and author Michael Farrell. The two talk about the importance that Dr. Rick Simpson played in both of their writing lives, with Michael telling the story about how Doc Simpson line-edited the 600-page first draft of his first novel.
Farrell talks about the writing process of his two novels, Running with Buffalo and When the Lights Went Out. He discusses the lessons he learned in several grad-school meetings with Dennis Lehane, why it’s important to keep a story moving forward, what it’s like t...
2017-05-2546 minThe Other 51Standing for Science and Pie with Keith LawThere have been days in the past month where Keith Law has done more than 20 interviews in one day.
So what’s one more?
Law, the ESPN columnist and author of the outstanding new book “Smart Baseball,” joins Brian to talk about writing and analytics in sports. Keith talks about how he learned to slow down his writing, how writing about analytics doesn’t mean you don’t have passion for your subject material, and how being open-minded can help you ask better quesetions and write better stories. He also describes how numbers can never drive a story, and he reveals wh...
2017-05-1132 minThe Other 51Episode 25: Making a ruckus with Seth GodinBest-selling author and noted ruckus maker Seth Godin joins Brian this week. They talk about the importance of not only writing every day but publishing every day, what school should teach students, and why work is always the answer. Seth explains to Brian why the recording of Kind of Blue can be compared to writing, why he benefits from writing every day, and why books are the perfect technology. Seth is one of Brian’s favorite people on the internet. This was a fun episode to do.
2017-04-0432 min
The Other 51BONUS TRACK: Ellie and Amy MoritzIn the first-ever bonus track, Ellie Moritz (episode 21) interviews Amy Moritz (episode 24)
2017-03-2802 minThe Other 51Episode 24: Working Girl with Amy MoritzBrian’s origin story as a reporter and writer is an easy one — his older sister is a writer and reporter, so of course he wanted to do it to. But what’s Amy Moritz’s origin story? Sitting in Brian’s kitchen, they talk about how their grandma taught them how information is power, how their mom’s love of books made reading an important part of their lives, and the moment Amy realized she could be a sports writer. Amy also provides an in-depth look at life as a sports writer at The Buffalo News and why Bob Huggins loves...
2017-03-2839 minThe Other 51Episode 23: Comfort Zones with Molly KnightMolly Knight, bestselling author of “The Best Team Money Can Buy” about the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Brian reminisce about the 5th Summit on Communication and Sport and Bradley University. Molly was the keynote speaker and was terrified. Brian was a first-year doc student and somehow impressed Dave Kindred. Molly talks about how baseball players are the easiest athletes to relate to, the adorableness of Vin Scully and his wife, how doing a little bit at a time can make a huge project seem less daunting, and why the best sports stories end in losses. She and Brian also talk abou...
2017-03-2137 minThe Other 51Episode 21: Spoiler Alert with Ellie MoritzEllie Moritz (first grader, actress, human spoiler alert) talks about her favorite Harry Potter books, the books and plays she’s written and been in, why she loves theater, and who her favorite actresses are. She also becomes the first guest of The Other 51 to sing.
2017-03-1421 min