This piece by @guardian is a masterclass in why old-school journalism will never die. You could easily lose 3 hours in this and still want more. theguardian.com/football/ng-…

The May 17, 1976 issue of @SInow is the perfect time capsule for Past Our Prime, capturing the sports world exactly 50 years ago through unforgettable stories and personalities. Headlined by Julius Erving on the cover, the issue showcased “Dr. J” at the peak of his ABA brilliance with the New York @BrooklynNets as the league headed towards extinction and its historic merger with the @NBA . But the magazine also stretched far beyond basketball, with features on the @NHLFlyers Reggie Leach’s playoff explosion, @atptour Björn Borg’s rivalry with Guillermo Vilas, @MLB baseball quirks, @LPGA golf drama, and even Japanese baseball culture. It’s exactly the kind of rich, entertaining snapshot of sports history that we love revisiting each week. On this week’s episode of @pastourprime50 , we jumped into that May 17, 1976 issue with author Michael MacCambridge who joined us to discuss his acclaimed book The Franchise: A History of Sports Illustrated Magazine. He took us behind the scenes of how SI rose from near failure in the 1950s to become the gold standard of sports journalism, blending deep reporting, cultural insight, and unforgettable storytelling. MacCambridge explored the magazine’s internal battles, larger-than-life personalities, and its profound influence on how America viewed sports for decades. His book is both a love letter and a clear-eyed history of one of the most important publications of the 20th century. @MacCambridge tells us how as a child in 1976, his favorite player was Dr. J. despite the fact he had never seen him play. Not in person. Not on TV. Only through the beautiful shots and words of SI. MacCambridge recalls how SI was one of the first magazines to implement color phots and how Henry Luce and Andre Andre Laguerre took an idea and turned it into a cultural phenomenon. He tells us how Sports Illustrated lost money its first 10 years in business before they started to turn the corner. He compares being on the cover of SI to a musician being on the cover of @RollingStone and he tells us how “a case can be made Julius Erving was the last truly mythic figure in American Sports. podcasts.apple.com/.../past-…... MacCambridsge is a history professor and his subject is Sports Illustrated and he’s teaching a class this week on Past Our Prime. Get full credit by downloading and listening and reviewing wherever you get your podcasts.

America's Game by @MacCambridge gets the first 100.0 SPS (@BrainySPS) grade in the Brainy Bookshelf. No book can - nor should - beat reading about the likes of Paul Brown and Vince Lombardi plus others from that era (Bert Bell, Lamar Hunt, Al Davis, etc.) in the same room and the ensuing conversations and results from those meetings. Who knew Vince Lombardi isn't the Lombardi we all know him as if he doesn't convert on a Pete Carroll style miscall in the Ice Bowl just because his players were cold and wanted to go home? Next book: The Essential Smart Football by Chris B. Brown (@SmartFootball) brainyballers.com/football-b…