Sports are happening, and sometimes it’s just fun to talk to those who get to cover those sports for a living. Tim Layden, who’s been a senior writer at Sports Illustrated for just about 25 years, is one of those examples, and has more that 40 years worth of stories to tell on just that.
Before we get into Episode 110, as a reminder, The Bridge is broadcast as a one-hour radio show Monday through Friday on Sports Radio America at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. A brand new show airs on Wednesdays, then is released as a podcast on iTunes and on this website immediately following the episode. You can listen to the show live on Wednesday night on Sports Radio America here or through the TuneIn app. Additional bonus content, including a weekly gambling segment, can be found exclusively on this podcast.
- “Sports News Read Like Real News” throwback from around this time last year told the tale of a dark night for the Dark Knight and the dark phallus that could serve as a new superstition for the New York Mets (2:11).
- The Bridge Question of the Week is: Who is your favorite sports writer, and why? Leave a voicemail or text in your answer to 929-BRIDGE7, that’s 929-274-3437, and you’ll make it on the next show.
- This week’s guest is Tim Layden, a senior writer at Sports Illustrated for close to 25 years covering the NFL, Olympics, horse racing and everything in between. Tim cut his sports writing teeth covering high school and local college sports before working his way up to SI and covering just about everything on the way. He currently holds the beat for horse racing and track and field, hasn’t missed an Olympics since 1992 and attended his first Masters in April, so there’s not much that he hasn’t written about. We’ll chat about how he got into sports writing and the path that took him to Sports Illustrated, how his writing style has come to be through that process, his versatility in what he’s covered, the industry itself and much more. Some parts of sound have some technical difficulties, bear with us.
- Follow Tim on Twitter -> @SITimLayden. The interview starts at the 9:47 mark.
– In the interview, we discuss:
When he knew he wanted to be a sports writer (10:10), his biggest takeaways from getting cut from his college hoops team, his coach, and ending up in coaching (12:11), how he worked his way up to Sports Illustrated (16:07), how long it took him to find his voice as a writer (19:48), what drew him to the sports he currently covers (23:12), having versatility and evolving with the industry of sports writing (27:26), the process of writing game stories for Sports Illustrated on deadline (31:37), if there was a game story he had written that didn’t end up getting published (36:27), remembering Bill Nack and following in his footsteps with the horse writing beat (39:11), his favorite place to cover an event in (42:05), his tools of the trade in covering events (44:42), what story he hopes he’ll be remembered for (47:06) and if we should get on board with Justify (49:51).
- “Five Minutes in the Film Room” with Joe Baress, former star of the prestigious John and Joe Sports Show, breaks down “Maze Runner: The Death Cure,” which Rotten Tomatoes describes as:In the epic finale to the Maze Runner saga, Thomas leads his group of escaped Gladers on their final and most dangerous mission yet. To save their friends, they must break into the legendary Last City, a WCKD-controlled labyrinth that may turn out to be the deadliest maze of all. Anyone who makes it out alive will get answers to the questions the Gladers have been asking since they first arrived in the maze (51:44). You can follow Joe on Twitter @dukemich and read his movie reviews, previews and ratings at cupof-joe.com.
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Show music: ‘Actionable’ and ‘Epic,’ courtesy of www.bensound.com.
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