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Journalist, photographer and writer Blake Gillespie is back on the pod to discuss his article for SLAM entitled In War-Torn Ukraine, these Ukrainian Hoopers are Trying to Uplift Others Through the Power of the Game.  Follow some of the basketball players mentioned in this story, including Natalia Yudytska who can be found @tasha_shorty and Dmytro “Smoove” Kryvenko, found @smooveukraine. You can also follow Blake and his every growing collection of hoops photos @sacredhoopsbook.  Blake and his work have been featured on three previous episodes of Dear Adam Silver, including episodes 44, 48 and 81. 

Dr. Johanna Mellis is an Assistant Professor of History at Ursinus College where her research focuses on international sport during the Cold War, namely in the Eastern Bloc and Hungary especially, in order to connect the local voices and experiences of Hungarian athletes to the IOC and broader international sport society. Her manuscript, Changing the Global Game: Hungarian Athletes and International Sport During the Cold War, examines Hungarian sportspeople’s interactions with the International Olympic Committee from 1948-1989. Changing the Global Game shows how Hungarian athletes, Socialist Hungarian state sport officials, and the IOC gradually realized by the 1960s that sporting cooperation with one another - and not East-West political clashes nor resistance - was the way to achieve their respective aims of sport success, career and financial stability, and political and institutional strength. Our conversation covers many different topics, but we do repeatedly come back to a consistent theme of unlearning our early understandings of world history through sport to form a better, more accurate, and historically inclusive narrative.  You can follow Dr. Mellis's amazing and well curated Twitter feed @JohannaMellis. As I share in the podcast, my eyes have been opened to a multitude of different historical perspectives on sports through Dr. Mellis's Twitter account.  Dr. Mellis also cohosts the End of Sport Podcast, a podcast on capitalist sport, labor, and justice for end times. The show features interviews with athletes, critical sports journalists, and fellow academics to explore all the ways that people use sport to harm others - i.e. through racist mascotry, the NCAA and higher ed’s exploitation of Black and Brown college athletic workers, sexual abuse and harassment, transphobia, and more. You can read Dr. Mellis's writing alongside her End of Sport cohosts in The Chronicle of Higher Ed, The Guardian, Time, The Baffler, and more. She also has sole-authored pieces with The Washington Post and Arizona State University’s Global Sport Matters. As always, thanks for listening! Please share, rate and review Dear Adam Silver wherever you get your podcasts. 

Mikey Yates is a painter currently based in Kansas City, MO and a resident at the Charlotte Street Foundation, where our interview took place. Mikey paints tiny moments that carry a significant weight to him, sometimes also engaging with historical world events. Basketball, his first love, comes up again in different scenes that he depicts and his rich, dynamic palette brings a glow and reverence to each of his paintings. Grateful to have the chance to talk shop with Mikey and unpack how his work, and deep appreciation for basketball, came to be.  You can see and find out about his work here and be sure to follow him on Instagram @mikey_yates.  Please rate and review Dear Adam Silver wherever you get your podcasts! Thanks for listening, as always. 

Blake and Giovanni are on the pod today to discuss pickup basketball and the creative culture around the game. We touch on playing during COVID and post vaccines, including their personal experiences, and the ways they have used basketball and photography as a means to connect with  other likeminded people around the world. Thank you to Blake and Giovanni for coming on the show. Follow them on instagram! Blake is @sacredhoopsbook and Giovanni is @hgnext. And feel free to listen to my earlier conversations with Blake, featured in Episode 44 and Episode 48. Thank you to all you listeners out there! Please subscribe to Dear Adam Silver, and if you already are subscribed, please share, rate and review wherever you find your podcasts. Thank you so much for all of your support.

Noah Cohan and John Early who are on the show to discuss their project Whereas Hoops. Noah Cohan is the Assistant Director of American Culture Studies at Washington University St. Louis and is a previous Dear Adam Silver guest from Episode 22 where he joined the show to discuss his book on fandom entitled We Average Unbeautiful Watchers. John Early is an artist and senior lecturer at the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington university St. Louis. Their collective project Whereas Hoops was created to draw attention to the lack of basketball courts in Forest Park, which is located in St. Louis and is one of the biggest urban parks in the country.....but with all that space, there are still no basketball courts. Noah and John are working collaboratively to highlight this issue within its' proper historical context and hopefully correct it in the long term.  Follow Whereas Hoops on Twitter and Instagram. Thank you to John and Noah for coming on and thank you to you all for listening! Please subscribe, share, rate and review Dear Adam Silver wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 79 features a conversation with Julie DiCaro, author of the recently published book Sidelined: Sports, Culture and Being a Woman in America. This book unpacks sexism in sports media for fans and non-fans alike. Julie writes about her time in radio covering sports, to the harassment she has received herself from fans and listeners to her time in the sport for development world. Thank you to Julie for coming on and sharing about all that went into producing this book, including her personal experiences.  You can read more of Julie's work on Deadspin, where she is a writer and editor, and hear more on her podcast The Ladies Room, which she cohosts with Jane McManus. Every week they dive into issues surrounding women and sports. You can follow her on Twitter @JulieDiCaro.  Thank you, as always, to Bookman's Entertainment Exchange for sponsoring this episode. And you can pick up your own copy of Side Lined at Bookman's! 

Long time Dear Adam Silver supporter and returning guest Brian Tran is back on the show to discuss our feelings about the first weekend of the NBA playoffs, including the play in tournament, the long standing question of whether refs and players are coworkers or colleagues, and our recent transition to sworn enemies as the Suns vs. Lakers series begins. Thank you to Brian for joining and indulging all of my emotional/over the top takes. And Happy Playoffs to all Dear Adam Silver listeners! Thank you for your support. 

Glacuo Adorno is back on the pod today (listen to episodes 40, 25 and 3 for more)! Long time listeners will remember that we collaborated in Lithuania on a body of artwork made about women’s basketball pioneer Senda Berenson. We met while we were both in graduate school at Louisiana State university, when I was studying fine art and Glauco was studying art history and he is now a curator based in Rio de Janeiro. He is back on the pod today to read some of the letters that we wrote to Berenson while we were Lithuania, a part of this work which we have not shared before. Thank you to Glauco for coming on and being so willing to discuss this ongoing work and the hardships of the pandemic in Brazil right now.  And thank you to you all for listening! Please share, subscribe, rate and review Dear Adam Silver wherever you get your podcasts.  Please note that we recorded this episode on Zoom and the sound quality is a bit lower than usual. 

I am so excited to share this episode, featuring Claude Johnson, founder of the Black Fives Foundation. The Black Fives Foundation’s mission is to research, preserve, showcase, teach, and honor the pre-NBA history of African Americans in basketball. The Foundation is doing incredible things around education and celebration of this history. I have been following Black Fives for the last couple of years, which is just a drop in the bucket of how long Claude has been doing this work and sharing these stories. The trajectory and development of what is now the Black Fives Foundation is a great reminder of all the good that can be done not just through your job, but through interests and subjects you find compelling that add to our shared discourse and push for change. So thank you, Claude for your work and for joining me today. You can follow the Black Fives Foundation and all the exciting things that are happening on Twitter @blackfives and on Instagram @blackfives.   Thank you all for listening! Please share, subscribe, rate and review Dear Adam Silver. Your support is so appreciated.

Episode 75 (!!!) features Gabe and Jamie, also known as the Menschwarmers, of the Menschwarmers Podcast. In their own words, Gabe and Jamie are Jews. They also love sports. But most of all? They love Jews in sports. Menschwarmers is their biweekly podcast where they gab about goings-on, interview fascinating industry figures and keep you updated on everything related to Jews in sports. I was excited to have the chance to speak with them about Jewish sports stuff and beyond. You can subscribe to the Menschwarmers wherever you get your podcasts and follow them on twitter @menschwarmers. These guys are great and we had fun and I hope you all enjoy listening to this episode! And please share, rate and review Dear Adam Silver. Thank you for your support!

New York Times Best selling author Andrew Maraniss is back on the pod to discuss his newest book, just out on March 2 (!!!!), entitled Singled Out: The True Story of Glenn Burke. The book is about Glenn Burke, the first openly gay MLB Player and the inventor of the high five. This is an incredible and devastating story and couldn’t be more timely, as Democrats in the House of Representatives just passed the Equality Act, which is now on it’s way to the Senate and if passed by both chambers and signed into law by President Biden, would establish anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people. In addition, there are also several states that are currently in the process of trying to pass anti trans legislation in the area of sports. The story of Glenn Burke is ever relevant as we continue to fight for equal treatment for everyone, no matter their gender or sexual identity. Thank you to Andrew for coming on again and thank you to you all for listening. Please share, subscribe, rate and review Dear Adam Silver wherever you find your podcasts.  You can follow Andrew on Twitter and Instagram. And you can buy Singled Out at Bookman's or wherever you shop locally!  Please note that this episode was recorded the same day as our first conversation from Episode 72 about Andrew's book Games of Deception, so we just jump right into the conversation about Singled Out without any of the usual formalities. We were also having some technical issues due to weather which is why it is a bit broken up in some parts of the conversation. 

Kirk Goldsberry joins the pod to discuss cartography, NBA Stats and how he has combined the two to make (stunning!) graphics that reflect recent NBA trends and the history of basketball. Kirk is a Lecturer in Management and the Associate Director of the Center for Leadership and Ethics at the University of Texas at Austin as well as a staff writer at ESPN. What I love about Kirk's work is that he brings together art and science, culminating in a visual that celebrates basketball and informs the viewer. Follow Kirk on Twitter and Instagram.  If you are interested in purchasing a Naismith International Park Map click here.  Thank you to Kirk for coming on and thank you to you all for listening. Please share, subscribe, rate and review Dear Adam Silver wherever you find your podcasts. 

Author Andrew Maraniss joins the show to discuss his book Games of Deception, which focuses on the first Olympics where basketball was included as a sport (for men only). These were the 1936 olympic games played in the heart of Nazi Germany during the regime's ascension. The games were used as a way for the Nazi's to show off and receive some validation from other world powers and individuals. And in the center of all of this, we have the inventor of the modern game of basketball, James Naismith, traveling to Germany to watch the game played as an Olympic sport for the first time. This is a truly fascinating and relevant story. You can find Andrew's website here and follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Books mentioned in this podcast: The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, Hitler's American Model by James Q. Whitman, Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, Strong Inside by Andrew Maraniss

Douglas Hartmann, Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota, is back on the show today to discuss his book Race, Culture and the Revolt of the Black Athlete: The 1968 Olympic Protests and Their Aftermath. This book encompasses the time leading up to the protests during which the Olympic Project for Human Rights, led by Professor of Sociology Harry Edwards, was attempting to organize a boycott of the 1968 games by black athletes. From there we learn about the actual moment where Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists on the medal stand in Mexico City and the legacy of their actions. What I appreciate so much about this book is the focus on the iconic image that was made of the protest that night and how that image has lived on and been used, for celebratory, educational and malicious reasons. Professor Hartmann is a returning guest to Dear Adam Silver and was featured in Episode 64 to discuss his book Midnight Basketball. I am grateful that he joined the pod again to share his work and thoughts, especially about how this action taken in 1968 connects to how we see athletes protesting and speaking out about racial justice today.  Books featured in this episode: Race, Culture and the Revolt of the Black Athlete: The 1968 Olympic Protests and Their Aftermath by Douglas Hartmann Midnight Basketball by Douglas Hartmann Listening to Images by Tina Campt 

Back in February of 2020, I was a project based resident at Lawrence Arts Center and spent two and a half weeks researching the history and current state of basketball in Lawrence, KS. The history of the game runs deep in this college town as James Naismith, the inventor of the game, was the first basketball coach at the University Kansas (KU) and worked with many people in the town and region on the development of the game.   As I am sure you can imagine, I learned a lot while I was there and can't wait to get back to continue to working through how the game lives in this majority basketball crazed town!  I want to thank the Lawrence Arts Center for supporting this work and providing me with Jayhawks Men’s basketball tickets. Especially Kyla Strid and Justin Harbaugh for all their logistical and conceptual support. I also wanted to thank all my guests; Nick Krug, Leo Hayden, Curtis Marsh and Linda Reimond answered so many of my questions and were patient with my tight schedule. And thank you to Tim Gaddie of the DeBruce Center for all of his knowledge. And thanks to the Lawrence Public library for letting me use their recording studios! And thank you for my contacts at Haskell Indian Nations University for sitting down with me and sharing with me about the school.  And also thank you to anyone else who was willing to talk to me or gave me a ride when it was too far to walk.  And finally, thank you to my dear friend Adam Meistrell who encouraged me to come to Lawrence. He and his family opened their home to me while I was there and I couldn’t be more grateful. And thank you, to you all, for listening, and Happy New Year.

Returning guests and Professors of Sociology (aka The Profs) Stephen Suh, Alex Manning and Kyle Green are back on the show to discuss recent sports news that has been on our minds. We speak about the financial impact of the pandemic on local sports teams, MLB's recent decision to recognize the statistics of the Negro Leagues as major league and breaking as an olympic sports and much more....thanks so much to The Profs for joining me on a very non-traditional Christmas Eve.  And thanks so much to you all for listening and supporting this podcast for the past year! 

Tucson local Zoe Lambert is on the podcast today to discuss her documentary titled Adia, which focuses on the recent history of the University of Arizona women's basketball program and is named for the head coach of the women's basketball team, Adia Barnes. Zoe and I discuss the initial idea for this documentary, how it evolved over time and some of her favorite parts. The documentary will be streamed on The Loft's website in February, which is a local theatre here in Tucson. . Thanks to Zoe for coming on the show and all the work she put into making this doc and celebrating U of A women's basketball.  Check out The Loft's website for details about show dates and times for Adia here. 

As many of you already know, this election cycle I was a volunteer for Mission for Arizona, the democratic coordinated campaign for Mark Kelly and the Biden/Harris ticket that helped to flip AZ from red to blue for the first time in many decades! And today on the pod I am joined by two of the organizers from the campaign, Carly Berke and Ben Horowitz, who dedicated the past year of their life to winning the election for the democratic party. We get into the all of the work that went into making this historic change possible, their feelings on the current state of politics, both in AZ and the rest of the country, and what the future of the democratic movement might look like. I was grateful and excited to work with both Carly and Ben and I am so glad they are on the pod to share a little bit about the behind the scenes of campaigns in a crucial swing state.  Although this episode is a little different from the norm for the pod, I believe that politics and political campaigns take a huge amount of creativity and of course, fierce competitiveness, and a belief you can win no matter what. So when you come at it from a conceptual point of view, the subject matter fits right in to our larger conversation around sports and art. Thank you to Carly and Ben for joining and thank you all for listening. Please email me @ abigaillsmithson@gmail.com with any questions. 

Eric Nusbaum, author of  the recently published Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between, joins the show to share about  researching and writing this book and his personal fandom of the Dodgers.  The book focuses on the story of the Aréchiga family, who were forced out of their home and off their property by the city, like many other families living in the Mexican-American neighborhood of Palo Verde, to clear the area for Dodger Stadium to be built.  Besides the central narrative of the displacement of a multigenerational family, this book is also about the fight for public housing, the red scare and a large American city grasping for continued relevance through Major League Baseball. Stealing Home is filled with a richness in detail that defines each character and their background, as well as beautiful sketches by Adam Villacin of the people and places we are learning about. Thank you to Eric for writing a book that represents a specific time and a place but very much speaks to systemic issues and injustices that continue to this day.  Thank you all for listening and if you would like to get in touch, please email me @ abigaillsmithson@gmail.com. 

Jessica Luther and Kavitha Davidson join the show to discuss their recently published book Loving Sports When They Don't Love You back: Dilemmas of the Modern Fan. Luther is a freelance journalist, Davidson is a sports writer for The Athletic and they are both dedicated sports fans. This book is an incredible collection of perspectives and stories for dedicated fans who believe in the ability of sports to evolve and grow as a part of our greater culture. From loving your team when you hate the owner to an honest, thoughtful conversation about the arbitrary controversies around doping, this book explores challenging issues that the invested fan faces. It is a true document and its' relevance to this moment we are living through, as sports fans, is incredibly impactful.