In what might be his most ambitious work, author and hockey legend Ken Dryden affirms the value of finding our similarities. At the start of the 2020s, Dryden sought out people with whom he shared a uniquely Canadian coming-of-age experience during an ambitious era. In the early 1960s, Dryden was part of the ‘Brain Class’ at Etobicoke C.I. — students who loved to learn. Through meetings on Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in person, Dryden learned the biographies of 34-of-35 classmates to produce, “The Class: A Memoir Of A Time, A Place, And Us.” Dryden’s classmates have led rich lives, finding their own ‘Stanley Cup’ in unexpected places. And, of course, Dryden won the Stanley Cup six times with the Montréal Canadiens in the 1970s and was the winning goalie in the decisive Game 8 of the Canada-USSR Summit Series in 1972. “The Class” is his ninth book.

How Pete Rose became so polarizing spurred Keith O’Brien to get granular in “Charlie Hustle,” which has become an instant The New York Times bestseller. In 1989, Major League Baseball’s hit king received a lifetime ban for betting on games in which he managed his hometown Cincinnati Reds. With reportorial digging, O’Brien reminds readers of everything Rose did between the lines of MLB ballparks and off the field, and why the scandal lingers into this era of legal sports gambling. A Cincinnati native like Rose, O’Brien draws on some 27 hours of dialogue with the baseball legend, and extensive interviews with Rose’s family, inner circle, and former teammates. “Charlie Hustle” is his fourth book, and second about sports.

Jack McCallum is on the case of the Crispus Attucks Tigers, a young Oscar Robertson, and purloined glory in the heartland of hoops. In The Real Hoosiers, his 12th book, McCallum dives into why Indiana celebrates the 1954 Milan Miracle, and the film “Hoosiers,” more than Attucks. Repping a school community forced into existence in a “bewildering and openly racist big-city educational system,” future NBA assist king and players’ union leader Robertson and his teammates won back-to-back Indiana schoolboy titles barely a decade after the competition was opened to Black schools. It was the first time anywhere in America that a Black team had won ‘State,’ and that gets into some “freighted” history. Best known as a longtime NBA writer at Sports Illustrated, McCallum’s basketball books include Dream Team, Golden Days, and Seven Seconds Or Less. He also detailed a personal health challenge in The Prostate Monologues.

Morgan Campbell’s debut memoir, “My Fighting Family: Borders and Bloodlines and the Battles That Made Us” is more than a sports book — but sport is a through line.  Campbell, whose parents and a set of grandparents decamped from Chicago for Toronto during the sociopolitically turbulent late 1960s, shares much about growing up Black and learning his way in Canada when holding trenchant American roots. It explores a rich and nuanced family tree filled with characters that can be turbulently interconnected. Campbell is a CBC Sports senior contributor who spent close to two decades with the Toronto Star, the largest newspaper in Canada. He also performs boxing commentary, and was a boxing correspondent for The New York Times. His spouse, Perdita Felicien, was also a guest of SportsLit in 2021 (“My Mother’s Daughter,” S5E06).

Gambling has become a new revenue stream for major sports leagues in the last few years, raising questions about how to protect competitive integrity. It also calls to mind the fallout from the Black Sox Scandal, the greatest game-fixing scandal in the history of North American sports.   In "Joe Jackson vs. Chicago American League Baseball Club: Never Before Seen Trial Transcript," the public can finally read about a civil trial 100 years ago that laid bare the inner workings of major-league baseball. Jacob Pomrenke, editorial director of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), joins us to explain why the great Shoeless Joe Jackson sued his former ballclub, the Chicago White Sox; why the trial largely fell off the public reader; what has been left out of mainstream accounts of the scandal; and why it still matters today.   As SABR writers have explained, the Black Sox Scandal remains a cold case, not a closed case.

Erik Kramer built an NFL career on precision, timing, and accuracy, but it was his greatest miss that led to him building a complete life. Since surviving a 2015 suicide attempt, the former quarterback is making his ultimate comeback day after day, living with renewed sense of purpose.   Athletically, Kramer climbed up from the "bottom of the barrel," in his words. Getting a chance to make a first impression was tough enough for a football player who was unrecruited out of high school and was undrafted by the NFL out of college. Now he is using his second chance at life to share his story with the world to help save the lives of others.

Nothing is ever as good as it once was. That’s a lie —they improve, or more accurately, they evolve. Still, why not look back with a bit of wonder? Rich Cohen is the right writer to put the NBA, then and now, into perspective. In When the Game Was War: The NBA's Greatest Season, Cohen stress-tests his belief that the 1987-88 season was the zenith of pro basketball.   Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, and their long-time teammates carry a narrative about the finesse and ferocity of a different time Like a hard foul in the paint, Cohen's prose will knock you down and stoke a hunger for more

Pride and Prejudice It could have easily been the title of Ted Nolan’s biography. My Life in Two Worlds: A Coach’s Journey from the Reserve to the NHL and Back encompasses the duality of his drive to show people from his world, Garden River First Nation, could succeed in another one, whilst centering their Indigenous identity. A career coach who has achieved success at every level, Nolan is best known for his first tenure with the Buffalo Sabres in the 1990s. He earned the NHL coach-of-the-year award in just his second season on the job but faced professional exile for nearly a decade afterward.  Nolan’s journey to the NHL, both on the ice and behind the bench, began in Garden River First Nation, near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He and his spouse Sandra have seen both of their sons, Brandon and Jordan, play in the NHL.

The NHL Draft is one of hockey's great spectacles. Just after the Stanley Cup is awarded, the spotlight shifts to the draft floor, where teams hope to acquire future stars and the diamonds in the rough that can lead them — or keep them — in contention.  As a former NHL president and general manager, Doug MacLean has seen the process from the inside. That is where he and Hockey Hall of Fame-honoured writer Scott Morrison take readers in Draft Day: How Hockey Teams Pick Winners or Get Left Behind. This is a book with a hook — informative with lively anecdotes along the way. MacLean relates what it’s like to call the shots, and he does not mind firing a few more in this book.

Jonathon Jackson captures the spirit of the thing Like “Slap Shot” itself, Jonathon Jackson might have been slightly ahead of his time when he set out to write about the timeless hockey movie. Nowadays, ‘how it was made’ books, podcasts, and limited series are everywhere. But it was back in 2006, Jackson set out to write about the “nuts and bolts” that held together a raunchy, rollicking 1977 sports comedy starring Paul Newman that remains unlike any depiction of hockey put on screens before, and possibly since. “The Making of Slap Shot” was first published in 2010, and now has a second edition from Double J Media that includes behind-the-scenes photos contributed by cast members. See you down at the Ace’s.

Act like a champion, talk like a champion, run like a champion. Wired like a prizefighter, Donovan Bailey became the fastest man on earth in the 1990s.   He did it for himself while raising Canada's standing in international sport. In his memoir, the 100-metre and Olympic and world gold medalist tells his life story with intent.   Rooted in Jamaica and then Oakville, Ont., Bailey rocketed around the world after a belated entry into athletics. Following his triumphs on the track, his career was derailed by injuries. Decades after retirement, he makes it clear where he stands in the pantheon of Canadian sport. All you need to do is read the title — Undisputed: A Champion’s Life.

Dave Hill is a multitalented man, but a fan for one season — hockey season.   The comedian, essayist, and musician is meh toward his hometown NFL Cleveland Browns, but hockey had him hooked right off the hop. Over his life, it has become a source of perplexment as to why more Americans are not similarly stoked about hockey. In his fourth book, "The Awesome Game: One Man's Incredible, Globe-Crushing Hockey Odyssey," Hill seeks out hockey wherever he can find it from Nairobi, Kenya to Kemptville, Ont., showing how the game provides an emotional release that you might not find in many other places.    "The Awesome Game" is Hill's fourth nonfiction book. He also has a 2022 comedy special, "The Pride of Cleveland," produced by 800-Pound Gorilla Media.

Step into the arena. Step outside the bubble. Justin Davis offers the public a personal story of a life in hockey with all aspects considered. What was wrong? What can be changed? What did he like? What should be maintained? With Canada’s national winter sport facing a moral audit, check out our discussion with an NHL draft choice and Memorial Cup champion player turned high school teacher who has an inside perspective.  Conflicted Scars was released by ECW Press in October 2022. It features a foreword by Hockey Hall of Fame coach Brian Kilrea and a cover blurb from Davis’s one-time OHL teammate Joe Thornton, a member of the NHL’s 1,500-points club.

Baseball banter comes easily to John Gibbons,  but it was a hard and winding road to get to that point. Over two stints covering 11 seasons, Gibbons won over Toronto Blue Jays fans. Getting the Jays back into pennant contention helped, but he became more relatable, a shrewd observer whom fans could imagine sharing baseball yarns and beers with up in the 500 level. Getting there involved 22 seasons in the minors, first as a catcher whose MLB days were curtailed by injuries before he moved into coaching and managing. “Gibby” was written with past guest Greg Oliver  (S1E02, Grattoony The Loony). Gibbons lives in his native San Antonio with his wife, Christi, and cohosts The Gibby Show podcast with his agent John Arezzi.

Whether one calls it soccer or football, the women’s game is coming into its own.  The advancements might seem brand-new considering the first World Cup was held in 1991 and the inaugural Olympic tournament kicked off in 1996. It would also be easy to assume that the charge forward for female footy began in North America.  After all, the United States has had the most success, while Canada is the reigning Olympic champion and boasts the all-time time leading goal scorer - Christine Sinclair. There is far more to the story. In A Woman’s Game – The Rise, Fall and Rise Again, of Women's Soccer, journalist Suzanne Wrack (The Guardian) dives back well over a century ago to document and contextualize the progression of The Beautiful Game as it pertains to women. She joined us from London to discuss how the past connects to the present, what the future holds and why even with recent breakthroughs and momentum, she feels that the women’s game is at a critical juncture.

Canada ascending to FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 was surely cathartic for every footballer who has worn the Maple Leaf — especially Dwayne De Rosario, one of this nation's best ever . The Scarborough man helped grow the beautiful game in North America as one of the first stars of Major League Soccer, contributing to four MLS Cup-winning teams and twice earning Cup MVP honours. It gnawed at him, though, that the Canadian men’s national team was never able to reach the biggest stage in global sport, which in turn hurt the sport’s perception of Canadian-produced talent. In 2021, De Rosario and broadcaster Brendan Dunlop released the star’s candid autography, “DeRo: My Life.” The kickoff of the World Cup, with Canada represented and competing for only the second time, was a perfect opening for ‘DeRo’ and Dunlop to discuss the book and a northern nation’s place in the fútbol world.

Steve Simmons dishes it out, and Steve Simmons takes it.   He would not have that any other way. It’s been A Lucky Life. As a national columnist with Postmedia, his articles are some of the most widely discussed amongst Canadian sports fans. He has also appeared regularly on radio and television including TSN’s The Reporters. Simmons began his professional writing career in 1979 at the Calgary Herald. He then shifted to the Calgary Sun right as the NHL Flames moved to town and joined his hometown Toronto Sun in 1987. He has had  the privilege of covering major personalities, and incredible moments in sport, including 17 Olympics. Simmons has written four books and collaborated on six others. His latest is a collection of selected works which were published between 1986 and 2021.

In 2019, veteran live sports producer John Shannon was — no need for an euphemism — fired by Sportsnet.  As he has learned across nearly a half century in sports media, one has to evolve or die. In this memoir, Shannon writes of how he has absorbed and applied lessons that are wrapped as mortal blows in order not merely survive, but thrive in an often cutthroat field. In “Evolve or Die,” he writes of how he had a vision, from his early life in the British Columbia interior, to be a storyteller. That aspiration led him to Toronto in the 1970s right at the inflection point for a sports broadcasting boom in Canada. Shannon quickly became well-regarded as a producer with Hockey Night in Canada while in his early 20s. Later, he became executive producer (1994-2000) when that crown jewel of live sports production instituted the now familiar Saturday doubleheader and Satellite Hot Stove intermission panel. Since 2009, Shannon has created a seemingly unprecedented second act in front of the camera as an analyst and insider.  Currently he is a regular panelist on Edmonton Oilers broadcasts and continues to co-host the Bob McCowan Podcast on Sirius XM Radio.

When it was announced that Hockey Hall of Fame centreman Bryan Trottier was releasing a memoir, one had to wonder why that had not already happened.  Trottier won the Stanley Cup six times as a player and once again as an assistant coach. The son of a Cree-Chippewa-Métis father and an Irish-Canadian mother from a Saskatchewan ranching family, he also earned multiple major awards an 18-season NHL career (1975-94). Timing is the answer. At age 66, Trottier believes he is far enough removed from the game where could tell some “secrets.” As well, In the age of Reconciliation between Canada and First Nations, the publishing industry is eager to amplify a story like his. In "All Roads Home," the example that Trottier set for Indigenous youth in his hockey heyday is captured in a foreword by author and historian Jesse Thistle (author of the international best-seller "From The Ashes"). Trottier's narrative, written with esteemed Canadian sportswriter Stephen Brunt, details his obligation to make the people who shaped him proud, especially his family. Over his life in hockey, Trottier has touched individual and collective greatness. He has also taken the time to listen, learn and share his experiences with Indigenous communities across Canada. Join us for our conversation with one of the greatest hockey players of all time.

Barrie Shepley had his eureka moment while working a summer job in an auto plant. Captivated by Canadian swimmer Alex Baumann racing to gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Shepley realized that he wanted to be in elite sport.  His skillset was best suited to being a coach. Chasing greatness began with hustling. Starting from his residence room at McMaster University, he bootstrapped and helped triathlon move from a loose structure into something with a foundation, a fanbase and young athletes who would become its long-term future. One of them, first spotted in Sharbot Lake, Ont., was Simon Whitfield. Eventually Shepley became Canada's national triathlon coach for several years beginning in 1991. In 2000, all his groundwork was validated when Whitfield became the first Olympic men's triathlon champion at the Sydney Olympics. In Chasing Greatness, Shepley shares his experiences working with elite athletes and hobbyists who were bent on proving something to themselves. In addition to his commentary work, Shepley is cofounder of Personal Best, a Caledon, Ont.-based health and wellness firm that works with corporate and individual clients.