House of L podcast

Michael Kim and I did a national sports show for awhile. I consider him a friend, colleague, and mentor. We talk about that. We also discuss his days at ESPN, learning from Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann and what it was like launching ESPNNews. He took a year off from the business and traveled the world with his family. Really interesting dude, with some great thoughts about the business. 

The Bears played a great 1st half. Everything looked perfect and then Aaron Rodgers showed you why he's the baddest man on the planet. I have some thoughts about all the good we saw and where things went wrong. 

White Sox prospect Michael Kopech is going to have Tommy John surgery. I'm in my feelings about it, like most Sox fans. So I talk about what this means and you'll hear from Rick Hahn and Michael Kopech. This sucks, but it's probably, eventually going to be ok.

Small-Town Girl makes good in the big city! This was such a great conversation. Shannon and I talked about her humble beginnings in Ohio, how Philly toughened her up, and why she laughs when fans in Champaign think she's citified. Plus, we both share fears about where journalism is going and Shannon opens up about being a white mom, raising a black son. 

Since I don't have a show today, I wanted to share my thoughts about the Bears trading for pass rushing monster, Khalil Mack. I explain why I think it's a move that can change the trajectory of Ryan Pace's tenure. Also, in this episode, my wife falls down the stairs, while I was recording (she's alright though).

Barry Rozner is one of the best storytellers in the business. The Daily Herald columnist & Hit & Run host sat down with me and talked about his humble beginnings as a beer vendor. Turns out, Barry is in the Baseball Hall of Fame (kinda). What was it like making deadline for Game 7 of the World Series? And, Barry shares his thoughts on fatherhood.

Sarah Spain's way into the sports world was unorthodox, but fascinating. We sat down and discussed her love of Saturday Night Live, gaining confidence as she rose up the ranks at ESPN, dealing with twitter trolls and being a role model. Sarah was on my hit list of guest when I started the podcast and this conversation, exceeded my expectations. In the listener email questions, I drop the F bomb.

This week, I sat down with one of radio's best DJs, Lin Brehmer. We talked about the art of DJing, vinyl vs cd vs digital and why WXRT just sounds so good. Oh, and it wouldn't be a conversation with Lin without talking Cubs. That's in here too. 

This week, I wanted to share some observations from my trip to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It was a really cool thing to see Urlacher inducted. I also interviewed the President of the Hall of Fame, David Baker. He's a fascinating figure who stands 6'9 & 400lbs. Be he shared with me what it was like to knock on the door and share the news with Urlacher that he was in. Plus, I answer your questions about the podcast.

I thought that this would just be two friends who have known each other for 30 years shooting the breeze, but it turned into a very serious conversation about the state of news. If you know Ben, you know that he's a fun and most times silly guy, but he takes storytelling VERY seriously. The WGN Anchorman & I discussed the news industry as a whole. 

Dan Zampillo is my old on-air partner. Back in the late 90s early 00s, we had a ridiculous weekend, late-night show on The Score. I thought we had a chance to be big as a duo, but it wasn't meant to be. Z went into management. He's now the Operations Manager for ESPN Radio-LA. He offers some great advice for broadcasters, we talk about how the industry has changed since we started and why he broke up a good thing. 

Mike Hall was the winner of ESPN's Dream Job, but he's gone on to do so much more than that. He's now one of the main faces of the Big Ten Network and his show "Sports Lite" teaches us not to take sports so seriously. Mike and I talked about navigating being a contest winner at ESPN (not everyone was nice to him) and what it's like to launch a network. We also giggled...

One of the more surprising sitdowns that I've had so far. Justin Roman has had many lives. He was star high school athlete, in a boy band, a successful singer/song writer, and for the last 16 years, he's been 1/2 of the Stylz & Roman show. Once on pop station B-96, now having success doing country at US99. 

This week I sat down with one of my favorite comic book writers. Kyle Higgins is a writer and director who's written Batman for DC, Captain America for Marvel & C.O.W.L. for Image. We talk about what it's like to create at that level. It may not be all it's cracked up to be. Great conversation with an intelligent and passionate subject. 

The University of Chicago is known for its academic reputation, but it has one of the most fascinating Athletic histories. I had an incredible conversation with Dave Revsine about Amos Alonzo Stagg's rule of the university when it began, but a friend at U of C, told me another crazy sports story from Hyde Park, so I wanted to share it with you.