Unplugged with Brandon Steiner

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Odell Beckham Jr, An Interview | Unplugged #036 Jun 23, 2017

Show notes

Odell Beckham Jr. is an American football wide receiver for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Beckham played college football at nearby Louisiana State University (LSU), and was drafted by the Giants in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft with the 12th overall pick. A polarizing figure, Beckham has been one of the most productive and popular players since entering the NFL, but has drawn media scrutiny for his conduct both on and off the playing field. Beckham started the 2012 BCS National Championship Game in his first year playing for the LSU Tigers, and won the Paul Hornung Award following his junior season in 2013. In his first season with the New York Giants, Beckham broke numerous NFL rookie receiving records, despite missing the first four games of the season due to injury. Beckham became the first player to record more than 75 receptions, 1,100 yards, and ten touchdowns in a rookie season, and broke the rookie record for the most average receiving yards per game. During Week 12 of his first season, Beckham came to national attention when he made a one-handed touchdown catch whilst falling backwards in a Sunday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys, which numerous pundits and athletes called the greatest catch ever made. Beckham went on to win the 2014 Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Beckham continued his remarkable form beyond his rookie season. In 2016, he became the fastest player in NFL history to reach both 200 career receptions and 4,000 career receiving yards. In 2016, he recorded his first 100-reception season and reached the NFL playoffs for the first time in his career, after helping the Giants to an 11-5 season record. Beckham has been named to the Pro Bowl in each of his three seasons in the NFL, and has been named a second-team All-Pro twice. -- Recorded June 5, 2015 at Q&A with New York Yankees season ticket holders at Yankee Stadium.

Joe Torre Q&A | Unplugged #035 Jun 22, 2017

Show notes

Joe Torre is a professional baseball executive, serving in the capacity of Major League Baseball's (MLB) chief baseball officer since 2011. A former player, manager and television color commentator, Torre ranks fifth all-time in MLB history with 2,326 wins as a manager. With 2,342 hits during his playing career, Torre is the only major leaguer to achieve both 2,000 hits and 2,000 wins as a manager. From 1996 to 2007, he was the manager of the New York Yankees, whom he guided to four World Series championships. Torre's lengthy and distinguished career in MLB began as a player in 1960 with the Milwaukee Braves, as a catcher, first baseman and third baseman. He also played for the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets until becoming a manager in 1977, when he briefly served as the Mets' player-manager. His managerial career covered 29 seasons, including tenures with the same three clubs for which he played, and the Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers, until 2010. From 1984 to 1989, he served as a television color commentator for the California Angels and NBC. After retiring as a manager, he accepted a role assisting the Commissioner of Baseball as the executive vice president of baseball operations. A nine-time All-Star, Torre won the 1971 National League (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award after leading the major leagues in batting average, hits, and runs batted in.[1] After qualifying for the playoffs just once while managing the Mets, Braves, and Cardinals, Torre's greatest success came as manager of the Yankees. His clubs compiled a .605 regular season winning percentage and made the playoffs every year, winning four World Series titles, six American League (AL) pennants, and ten AL East division titles. In 1996 and 1998, he was the AL Manager of the Year. He also won two NL West division titles with the Dodgers for a total of 13 division titles. In 2014, Torre was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Gerry Cooney, An Interview | Unplugged #034 Jun 22, 2017

Show notes

Gerry Cooney is a former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 1990. Despite his relative inexperience, Cooney's exciting wins and size, aided by expert promotion, gained him a lucrative bout with world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes in 1982. Cooney performed credibly before his corner retired him in round 13, and was regarded as having made a brave and determined effort. The view of him as tactically naive in defense was reinforced when former light heavyweight champion Michael Spinks stopped Cooney in five rounds in 1987. In his final bout, Cooney demonstrated his exceptionally hard punching power by staggering the powerful George Foreman, but was unable to capitalize on it. Showing a deficiency in basic self-protection, Cooney suffered a devastating second-round knockout that ended his career.

Bernie Williams Q&A | Unplugged #033 Jun 22, 2017

Show notes

Bernabé "Bernie" Williams Figueroa Jr. is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball player and musician. He played his entire 16-year career in Major League Baseball career with the New York Yankees from 1991 through 2006. A center fielder, Williams was a member of four World Series championship teams with the Yankees. He ended his career with a .297 batting average, 287 home runs, 1,257 RBI, 1,366 runs scored, and 449 doubles. He was a five-time MLB All-Star and won four Gold Glove Awards. He also won the Silver Slugger Award and American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award. Known for his consistency and post-season heroics, Williams is one of the most beloved Yankees of all time and his number, 51, was retired by the Yankees in May 2015. Williams is also a classically trained guitarist. He has released two jazz albums. He was nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2009.

Bryan Stevenson, Author, "Just Mercy" | Unplugged #032 Jun 22, 2017

Show notes

#1 New York Times Bestseller | Named one of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times • The Washington Post • The Boston Globe • The Seattle Times • Esquire • Time Winner of the Carnegie Medal for Nonfiction | Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Nonfiction | Winner of a Books for a Better Life Award | Finalist for the Los Angeles Book Prize | Finalist for the Kirkus Reviews Prize | An American Library Association Notable Book A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice—from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever. Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice. Praise for Just Mercy “Every bit as moving as To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some ways more so . . . a searing indictment of American criminal justice and a stirring testament to the salvation that fighting for the vulnerable sometimes yields.”—David Cole, The New York Review of Books “Searing, moving . . . Bryan Stevenson may, indeed, be America’s Mandela.”—Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times “You don’t have to read too long to start cheering for this man. . . . The message of this book . . . is that evil can be overcome, a difference can be made. Just Mercy will make you upset and it will make you hopeful.”—Ted Conover, The New York Times Book Review “Inspiring . . . a work of style, substance and clarity . . . Stevenson is not only a great lawyer, he’s also a gifted writer and storyteller.”—The Washington Post “As deeply moving, poignant and powerful a book as has been, and maybe ever can be, written about the death penalty.”—The Financial Times “Brilliant.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer “Not since Atticus Finch has a fearless and committed lawyer made such a difference in the American South. Though larger than life, Atticus exists only in fiction. Bryan Stevenson, however, is very much alive and doing God’s work fighting for the poor, the oppressed, the voiceless, the vulnerable, the outcast, and those with no hope. Just Mercy is his inspiring and powerful story.”—John Grisham “Bryan Stevenson is one of my personal heroes, perhaps the most inspiring and influential crusader for justice alive today, and Just Mercy is extraordinary. The stories told within these pages hold the potential to transform what we think we mean when we talk about justice.”—Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

Authors Joseph Durso & Nicholas Stavola, An Interview | Unplugged #031 Jun 20, 2017

Show notes

Authors of "Teachable Moments and Essential Discussions...Twenty-Five Things a Father Should Do With His Son" Joseph Durso and Nicholas Stavola discuss their book with Brandon Steiner. This book is not a guide or parenting “how to,” but a selection of unrestricting suggestions that are designed to involve a father in his son’s life. Author Nicholas A Stavola, in collaboration with Joseph Durso, have used their experience as fathers, sons, and educators within the New York City Public School system to discuss the positive and negative impact male role models can have on young men. Through personal observations and countless conversations they have focused on twenty-five activities designed with the sole purpose of allowing a father to be that role model by encouraging creativity and eliciting the essential discussions that are a must for any father to have with his son. This book does not tell men how to be fathers. This book is the first to deliver ideas on where and how to start by utilizing the greatest asset all fathers have…their time.

Brett Haggler, An Interview | Unplugged #030 Jun 08, 2017

Show notes

Brett Hagler is the CEO and Co-Founder of New Story - an innovative nonprofit that transforms slums into sustainable communities around the world. Brett is a cancer survivor, author, speaker, Y Combinator alum, and 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30 Entrepreneur. After reviving a lost Christian faith, Brett took a trip to Haiti and met families living in the type of slums that New Story is now on a mission to transform into sustainable communities. That on-ground experience paired with his background in marketing, sales and formerly a venture-backed ecommerce founder, connected the dots to create New Story. For fun, he oddly enjoys doing burpees early in the morning.

Paul O'Neill, An Interview | Unplugged #029 May 24, 2017

Show notes

Paul O'Neill is a retired Major League Baseball player and current broadcaster who won five World Series championships while playing for the Cincinnati Reds (1985–1992) and New York Yankees (1993–2001). In his 17-year career, O'Neill compiled 281 home runs, 1,269 runs batted in, 2,107 hits, and a lifetime batting average of .288. O'Neill won the American League batting title in 1994 with a .359 average and was a five-time All-Star in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997 and 1998. Fun fact: O'Neill is the only player to have played on the winning team in three perfect games. He was in right field for the Reds for Tom Browning's perfect game in 1988. He caught the final out (a fly ball) in the Yankees' David Wells' perfect game in 1998, and he made a diving catch in right field and doubled to help the Yankees win David Cone's perfect game in 1999.

Patrick Ewing, David Falk, John Starks & Anthony Mason, An Interview | Unplugged #028 May 23, 2017

Show notes

About Patrick Ewing: Patrick Ewing is a retired Hall of Fame basketball player and current head coach of the Georgetown Hoyas Men's Basketball team. Ewing played center for Georgetown for four years—where he played in the NCAA Championship Game three times—and was named as the 16th greatest college player of all time by ESPN. He won Olympic gold medals as a member of the 1984 and 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball teams. In a 1996 poll celebrating the 50th anniversary of the NBA, Ewing was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. He is a two-time inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts (in 2008 for his individual career, and in 2010 as a member of the 1992 Olympic team). His number 33 was retired by the New York Knicks in 2003. About David Falk: David B. Falk is an American sports agent who primarily works with basketball players in the NBA. In addition to representing Patrick Ewing and negotiating the then-highest salary in NBA history, Falk is best known for representing sports icon Michael Jordan for the entirety of Jordan's career. Besides Jordan, Falk has represented more than 100 other NBA players, and is generally considered to be the most influential player agent the NBA has seen. During the peak years of Falk's career in the 1990s, he was often considered the second-most powerful person in the NBA behind Commissioner David Stern, and in 2000 he had at least one client on all but two NBA teams. He was listed among the "100 Most Powerful People in Sports" for 12 straight years from 1990 to 2001 by The Sporting News, and was also named one of the Top 50 Marketers in the United States by Advertising Age in 1995. About John Starks: John Starks is an retired professional basketball player who most notably played for the New York Knicks during a 13-year NBA career. He was an All-Star in 1994 and named the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year in 1997. About Anthony Mason: Anthony Mason was an American professional basketball player. In his 13-year career he played with the New Jersey Nets, Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks, Charlotte Hornets, Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association. He averaged 10.8 points and 8.3 rebounds in his 13-year NBA career. During the prime of his career in the mid-1990s, he earned the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1995 and then led the NBA in minutes played in the subsequent two seasons. In 1997, he earned All-NBA (3rd team) and NBA All-Defensive Team (2nd team). He was selected to the 2001 NBA All-Star Game. Mason suffered from congestive heart failure and passed away in February 2015. (Recorded in 2012)

Dr. Jonathan Fader, Sports Psychologist, An Interview | Unplugged #027 May 22, 2017

Show notes

Dr. Jonathan Fader is a licensed performance psychologist. He is the Director of Mental Conditioning for the New York Football Giants and also served as the team psychologist for the New York Mets for nine seasons. He is part of The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) Mental Performance Initiative. Fader is a frequent contributor to the national conversation on performance, appearing on CBS this Morning, CNN, Fox News, Bleacher Report and others. Represented by the Lavin Agency, he regularly speaks to groups on improving performance. Fader is the author of, "Life as Sport: What Top Athletes Can Teach You about How to Win in Life." For more information, go to jonathanfader.com.

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