WTS Podcast: Sports journalist Christine Brennan talks “Best Seat in the House”

Welcome to the first in a 3-part series of interviews with Christine Brennan, renowned sports journalist, best-selling author and commentator. Brennan was a pioneer as a female sports journalist and is still today the most widely-read female sports columnist.

Brennan wrote Best Seat in the House, released in June 2008, as a personal memoir but also as a tribute to her late father, Jim Brennan, whom she dubs “the first women’s sports advocate I met.”

Below, Ms. Brennan and I talk about her book, what her father meant to her as a young girl in the 1960’s who was a huge sports fan, what today’s fathers mean to their daughters, and the progress made in accepting women in sports and sports journalism.

Don’t forget to pick up a copy of Ms. Brennan’s book for your dad for Father’s Day! At the end of this interview, she tells you how to get not just a copy of the book but a signed copy from the author herself.

Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 of the series of interviews with Christine Brennan!

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Christine Brennan’s Website
USA Today Blog
Follow Christine Brennan on Twitter!

Blogderby Book Edition: Sporty reads for teens

Sports fiction for teens: As an athletic fanatic and sporty young adult author, I’m always on the hunt for an amazing book that features an athletic main character. And guess what? Some of the best teen and tween novels on bookshelves today feature a sporty protagonist.

Born to run? There’s a ton of great sporty books out there for cross-country and track lovers. Eileen Cook’s (http://www.eileencook.com) What Would Eileen Do? follows Emma on her quest to snag a track scholarship with some major boy bumps along the way. Pheobe in Tera Lynn Child’s (http://www.teralynnchilds.com/) sensation, Oh My Gods, is a die-hard cross-country runner. Even best selling author, Megan McCafferty’s (http://www.meganmccafferty.com/) main character Jessica Darling (Sloppy Firsts) runs cross-country in high school.

 Performancing enhancing steroids isn’t just for boys anymore. Kathy Mackel (http://us.penguingroup.com/static/html/blogs/guest-author/boost-kathy-mackel) tackles this controversial subject and more in her eye-opening basketball book, Boost.

 If soccer is your game, you’re in luck because soccer books are booming. Liz Tigelaar’s (http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/471527.Liz_Tigelaar) Pretty Tough is filled with plenty of soccer action, both on the field and off. Parker from Tina Ferraro’s (http://www.tinaferraro.com/) The ABC’s of Kissing Boys thinks she’s a sho-in for the varsity soccer team after two long years on junior varsity except she doesn’t make it. 

Are you a fastpitch fanatic? After moving to Texas, Ella learns to fit in through the softball team in Weezie Mackey’s (http://www.weeziekerrmackey.com/) Throwing Like a Girl. Keri Mikulski’s (http://www.kerimikulski.com) Screwball series follows superstar pitcher, Ashley Clarke, as she attempts to juggle serious softball with school, sports, and a social life, including a new boyfriend.

 Teen sports fiction doesn’t stop with softball. Alexa Young’s (http://www.alexayoung.com/) Frenemies series features gymnastics. Chris and Winston go on a post graduation cross-country bike trek in Shift by Jennifer Bradbury (http://www.jennifer-bradbury.com/). Boxing is Taylor Lucia’s sport of choice in Taylor Morris’s (http://www.taylormorris.com/) tween book, Total Knockout. And Liz Tiglear (http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/471527.Liz_Tigelaar) tackles football in the second Pretty Tough series novel, Playing for the Boys.

 Can’t find the sport you’re looking for? Or am I missing a great book? Let me know at www.kerimikulski.com. Keep reading.

Read On: Pretty Tough Book Club

Last month I received a note from a teacher at Apopka High School in Apopka, Florida who is a huge fan of  ”Pretty Tough” by Liz Tigelaar, the first book in our young adult fiction series. 

JoJo says, “I loved it as a teacher who sees students just like the ones in the book. I loved it as a sister who I did get along with growing up…”

At Apopka High School, there is a reading event called “Oasis.”  It has been going on for about 6-7 years.  Any teacher can select a book to promote.  The library makes a really nice poster of the teacher, the book and all the information so students can sign up.  The students read the book and then meet during lunch in a special room in the media center to discuss the book over pizza and coke. 

JoJo had never done an “Oasis” but since she  LOVED the book so much, she organized a discussion for each of the 3 lunch shifts.   Usually, teachers sign up anywhere from 8-16 students but more than 34 students read ”Pretty Tough” and wanted to take part.

Through a friend of a friend of a friend, JoJo contacted us and asked for some Pretty Tough goodies to raffle off during the event. We were happy to oblige.

Here’s JoJo’s recap of the “Oasis,” including the girls’ ideas regarding film casting!

Everything worked out perfect today. We got into some interesting discussions about sisters, coaches, and school. The girls loved the t-shirts and the next book (”Playing with the Boys”) and want to know if we can do this again. .

The group had a bit of a hard time with the casting of the potential movie…here are the ones they came up with:

Krista: Blake Lively
Charlie: Dakota Fanning
Martie: Jada Pinkett Smith
Noah: Mike Vogel
Cam: Zac Efron
Brooks: Brenda Song
Pickle: I have a girl in my class who said she wants to be Pickle. She is a cute girl; very animated and plays soccer! I told her to make a video and we would send it to you!!

Thank you again for making today very special and memorable…One more thing…I re-read the book and took some notes to prepare simple questions for the raffle ticket as they entered. And I cried…again! Tears in the coffee this morning as I finished the last 20 pages!

Time to grade some papers…thanks again for everything.

Joanna “JOJO” Lowe

If anyone wants to organize a book club discussion around “Pretty Tough” or “Playing With the Boys” (Penguin) let us know and we’ll try to help out.

Read on….

Pretty Tough Field Hockey Picks

For yourself or for a gift, everything you need to improve your field hockey game.

Chak de India: a movie review

Jan. 27, 2008 – Chak De India (translation: ”Come On India”) is a Hindi film about a women’s field hockey team. On the surface, the film is your basic, every-sports-movie-story about a disgraced player, here called Kabir Khan, who pulls together a team of misfits to do the impossible — here win the World Championship against the six-time trophy-winning Australian Women’s team.

Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan (aka King Khan), plays the coach at the heart of the film. According to international sources, Khan is bigger than Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt combined. Whoa – this guy’s hot! The script is inspired by the life of former Indian Hockey Goalkeeper and coach of the women’s Indian Hockey team, Mir Ranjan Negi, and his contribution in driving the women’s Indian Hockey team to win the 2002 Commonwealth Games held in Manchester.

We start when Kabir, India’s team captain and most successful Center Forward of all time, flubs a crucial penalty against Pakistan and is castigated by his nation. An Islamic last name and a meteoric temper don’t help his case and Kabir is labeled as a traitor involved in match fixing. He leaves his hometown along with his mother and goes into exile.

Read more

Book Club – exercising your mind

We’re not JUST jocks. We like to read too. And maybe even discuss a book or author. So hunker down and relax with one of our book recommendations. Nothing like some mental gymnastics!