BBCollective

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FORE! A Coup Incoming Apr 05, 2022

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Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where it is a Dollop-style bonus week, as Andrew presents the story of golf icon Jack Nicklaus’ failed endeavor at removing then-PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman in an attempted PGA Tour coup. As tour profits and assets sky-rocketed through much of the 70’s and early 80’s under Beman’s watch, golfers prospered in lock-step, competing for increasingly lucrative purses in-line with the tour’s respective growth. The explosion of competitive income was not enough for Nicklaus, nor was it for Arnold Palmer or Tom Watson, recruited by the old bear to combat what they perceived as over-reach on the part of Bemoan and the PGA Tour. The crux of Nicklaus’ case is that the Tour has grown to become a business adversary to his and notably Palmer’s own off-course interests: apparel, equipment, course design and assorted Madison Avenue dalliances. By way of venturing into these outlets, the PGA Tour and Beman, in Nicklaus’ mind, undercut his and other top players’ branding efforts and subsequent bottom lines. It all comes to a head in the summer of 1983, where Nicklaus’ star-power and omnipresence as the game’s top player and pitchman collides head on with Beman and the tour’s rank and file at the negotiating table. It is a story with some renewed relevance in 2022, as a few of golf’s veteran power brokers, namely Phil Mickelson and Greg Norman, have wed themselves to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in an attempt to launch a rival circuit to the PGA Tour in the name of craven economic greed. The efforts of Nicklaus (and Palmer and Watson) are something of a forerunner to the movement championed by Mickelson in the present in trying to wrest financial leverage away from the Tour. That story is this week on the Bill Bradley Collective.

presents the 2nd Annual Grover's Mar 29, 2022

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Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week we reward the best and worst in sports and politics over the last year with the 2nd annual Grover Awards. First a troika of red carpet rants; as Zak celebrates the inspired Cinderella run of Jersey City’s own Saint Peter’s Peacocks to the NCAA Tournament’s elite eight; Ed rails in the direction of South Dakota governor Kristi Noem and her contribution towards the torpedoing of abortion rights; and finally Andrew considers the disposability of college athletes following a gruesome season-ending leg injury suffered Villanova’s Justin Moore. From there it is on to the podium to hand out some well-deserved hardware. If you’re new to the Grovers, let’s bring you up to speed. Loosely inspired by the other prominent award ceremony happening this week, the Grovers set out to honor the best that the intersectionality of sports and politics had to offer in the last twelve months, including individual awards for a leading man, woman and breakthrough, and also a Collective Best Picture-type prize for a best event/movement. While the Oscars and Razzies operate separately in rewarding the best and worst in the film industry, the Grovers endeavor to both celebrate the best and desecrate the worst. Sometimes the race to the bottom is the most compelling of all, and so we have figurative statuettes to hand out for our worst leading man and woman and the worst event/development/movement spanning sports and politics. Fear not, as though some awards were debated contentiously, no GI Jane jokes were made and no palm strikes were thrown by any of your hosts.

Fear Strikes Out For Good Mar 22, 2022

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Welcome again to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts survey the evolving relationship between sports and mental health awareness. Rants set the table, where Ed lays out the abhorrent details of a proposed Tennessee bill granting individuals the right to sue abortion providers and thusly allowing charges to be brought upon rape victims; Andrew wraps up day one of the NCAA Tournament with a post-mortem dissection of UConn’s performance in a losing effort and what the future might hold; and finally Zak denounces disgraced ex-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo following the latest stop on his no apology tour and the continued fallacious coverage of his so-called comeback. We then transition into our conversation on mental health and sports, with a focus on how the cultural perception of athletes dealing with mood and/or anxiety disorders has evolved over time. From Jimmy Piersall’s struggle with bipolar disorder in the 1950’s to Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka’s recent public disclosure of their mental health issues, we’ve come a long way in how we grasp the struggle many have with their own psychological well-beings. The conversation is also a deeply personal one, as our brother Zak opens up about his mental health battle. Whether you’re a world-class athlete or ordinary Joe/Jane, there is no greater self-care one can take than that of their psychological well-being. It is our collective hope this week to bring greater awareness to the importance of mental health and attempt to further destigmatize mental illness.

MLBPA: The Union takes another L Mar 15, 2022

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Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts examine the recently settled Major League Baseball lockout. The ninth work stoppage in league history and first since 1994-95 that cancelled the ’94 World Series, players and owners came to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement following a three month-plus impasse. Union leaders sought most notably to increase the competitive balance tax threshold disrupt ownership manipulation of player service time in the interest of the game’s younger and middle classes, as well as competitive balance within the league. Whether or not they succeeded is the question. The details of the agreement, that appeared to only further erode the power of the once-mighty MLBPA, are considered, as well as the exact bargaining positions of each side, a background on this and past stoppages and the representative dilemma facing the union ratification process. But first we rant, as Zak bids a hopeful adieu to the David Cox era of URI Rams men’s basketball while making a spirited case for a certain notable alumnus to take the reins of the slumping program; Ed unmasks yet another ghastly piece of proposed legislature in the form of a horrifying Missouri anti-abortion bill; and finally Andrew describes the scene in Durham, North Carolina the night a coaching legend went out with a whimper in his home curtain call against his most storied rival.

Best of Frenemies Mar 08, 2022

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Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where it is seasonal profile week as we present a deep dive on the lives of and rivalry between tennis greats Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. Two of the greatest to ever pick up a racket, male or female, Navratilova and Evert each re-wrote the record book during their era and the only one stopping each of them from greater success was the other. As their careers largely intersect one another, the on-court rivalry between the two is one of the greatest across gender or sport. Join us as we examine the rivalry and the women behind it. Contrasting public images, physical appearances and on-court playing styles belie a rivalry perhaps best remembered for the class and sportsmanship of the combatants and the enduring friendship that it helped create. While we celebrate both Evert and Navratilova for their achievements both on- and off-court, it is a conversation about a relationship not without some controversy, as both of our subjects have recently made public statements regarding the competitive rights of trans-gender athletes. Catalysts for a tennis boom in the 1970’s and 80’s, Evert and Navratilova represented themselves and their sport with dignity and grace, while many of their male contemporaries were better known for their boorish and outspoken personalities. The professional rivalry and personal relationship between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova is a lengthy chapter in the history of women in sports, and that chapter is examined this week on the Bill Bradley Collective.

Brian Flores: A Profile in Courage Mar 01, 2022

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Welcome again to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts revisit the NFL’s Rooney Rule in the wake of Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the league alleging racial discrimination of minority coaches and executives. Flores’ lawsuit comes on the heels of his termination as Dolphins head coach and his discovery, thanks to former boss Bill Belichick, that the New York Giants had settled on Bills coordinator Brian Daboll to be their next coach BEFORE Flores was scheduled to interview for the same position. Another coaching cycle has passed, and again many well-credentialed minority candidates have been passed over, yet again in the case of many. It is not merely a hiring issue, but a retention one, as well, for teams have been proven to give black coaches far less margin for error and minimal in the way of consideration should a minority coach be seeking a second opportunity. Finally your hosts predict what effect the Flores suit will have both on the obsolete Rooney Rule and the NFL hiring process for minority candidates. But first we rant, as Zak leads off with both an extended tribute to the heroism of the brothers Klitschko as they take up arms on behalf of their native Ukraine in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War and a broader look at the war in its first week; Ed takes a figurative flamethrower to despicable anti-LGBTQ legislation in Florida and Texas targeting trans children gay and trans children and their families; finally Andrew examines the hiring of disgraced ex-Baylor head football coach Art Briles by of all places, former HBCU powerhouse Grambling State.

WHYYYYY WHYYYYY MEEE!!! Feb 22, 2022

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Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where after a brief in-person pause we are here to put out the torch on these Winter Olympics with a look back on the scandal that embroiled the 1994 games involving Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan and a collection of goons straight out of the blackest of Hollywood comedies. Presumptive Olympic favorite and so-called America’s sweetheart Kerrigan arrived to a national trial run and left the victim of a telescopic baton-assault to the leg concluding a plot “masterminded” by Harding’s ex-husband Jeff Gillooly and friend/Harding bodyguard Shawn Eckardt. What ensues is a controversy that made women’s figure skating front page news around the world and the lead story of those forthcoming Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. The assault and the eventual Olympic results wherein Kerrigan takes silver and Harding misses the podium altogether take a backseat in the conversation to an examination of the contrasting pre- and post-Olympic lives of Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding and more importantly the deeply problematic manner in how the media and public estimate what constitutes the feminine ideal, both then and now. But first, being back in person, a trio of proper rants: where Andrew orates the hopeful epilogue for the Saudi Golf League with a look at Phil Mickelson’s characteristically brazen comments defending his support for the mercifully doomed golfing off-shoot; Ed sizes up the prospective Republican nominees in the running for Michigan’s Attorney General position in light of their shared and woefully archaic stance opposed to a landmark 1965 Supreme Court ruling; and finally Zak attempts to reconcile Russian skater Kamila Valieva’s doping violation with American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson’s ban from last summer’s Olympics and the forever inequities of the IOC.

At least there was no biting: Holyfield-Romney I Feb 15, 2022

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Another one of our Dollop inspired bonus episodes, where Zak tells the story of a truly classic American boxing match.

The Winter of Our Discontent Feb 08, 2022

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Welcome to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts examine the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and the many complications surrounding these games. A cloud exists over these Olympics, and that cloud is the authoritarian regime of host China and, amongst other human rights offenses include most prominently the ongoing Uyghur genocide. How Beijing came to host these Olympic Games in spite of the nation’s deplorable record on human right issues begins the conversation, followed by a look at the efficacy of the diplomatic boycott of the United States and others, the pros and cons of a hypothetical boycott by American Olympians, and finally how we approach these games as both enthusiastic observers of the events themselves and ardent critics of the host country’s record of rhetoric and action. But first, a trio of rants cometh: Zak sees and raises Ed’s prior bet on Aaron Rodgers as the NFL’s principal attention whore with insight on the drawn out saga of Tom Brady’s retirement announcement with a little shade thrown toward TB12’s “neglected” fanboys across New England; Ed censures the censure enacted by one Ronna (Romney) McDaniel, disgraced RNC chair and water carrier-in-chief for our deposed previous President; and finally Andrew leads us into the valley of morally compromised athletic spectacles with a look at the latest in Saudi efforts to buy golf following the conclusion of a tradition unlike any other bankrolled by blood money.

Jack Donagahy's Worst Dates Feb 01, 2022

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Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week we profile one of history’s most significant African American women, Condoleezza Rice. National security advisor during President George W. Bush’s first term and U.S. Secretary of State for his second, Rice was the highest ranking African American woman in U.S. history until Kamala Harris’ ascension to the vice presidency in 2021. Her upbringing in Birmingham, Alabama in the era of Jim Crow and entry into politics during the Carter administration set the table for a conversation about a career and legacy notable for both historic professional achievement and also examples of disgrace and cronyism. Rice comes to prominence working in the National Security Council under the H.W. Bush administration with a concentration on Soviet and Eastern European policy, service that accelerates her rise in the cabinet of Bush’s son George W. Much like in the way you think “sports and politics” and the Bill Bradley Collective immediately comes to mind, for many Condoleezza Rice has a similar association with the Iraq War and the foreign policy of the Bush administration. Her culpability for those spectacular failures is the meat of this portrait, but her relationship to the sporting world takes us home. Once floated as a candidate for an NFL head coaching job, the first(!) chairperson of the College Football Playoff committee and first female member of the Augusta National Golf Club, Rice’s political career and forays into sport share parallels. On paper a resume fit for one of history’s pre-eminent civil servants, but in actuality a career propped up by being long held in the favor of those in power and as something of a black effigy for conservative white America, giving way to results and realities that don’t measure up to certain commendations and appointments. A fascinating study of ambition and race and legacy is Condoleezza Rice, and this is the home for it, on the Bill Bradley Collective.

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