One of my favorite podcasts to listen to lately is The Donut Bag by Joe Toscano. While I asked him to describe the podcast below, the short description from its Twitter page is that The Donut Bag is "A podcast about Pittsburgh sports & other stuff." I thought I would ask Joe about how he started the podcast, his relationship with Chris Carter (not that Chris Carter unless it's the Chris Carter you're thinking of), and more.
My first question is how did you decide to do a podcast, how did you get started, and did you have type of media experience or did you just grab a microphone and begin? (Yes, I guess this should be first questions.)
I decided to do a podcast because I had too much to say and being a loudmouth on Twitter wasn’t enough :)
In early 2018, a couple podcasts were nice enough to have me on and I had so much fun that I thought about doing one of my own. But I was so shy and had no idea how to even start something like that so nothing happened. I thought I needed a cohost so I asked a few friends if they wanted to do a podcast with me and they turned it down. That ended up being a huge blessing because it gave the freedom to do whatever I wanted :)
So in July 2018 I decided it was now or never. Steelers training camp was starting and I wanted to do a lot of Steelers coverage so I decided to start the podcast. I never had any media experience other than a little writing but I did have a technical background so that helped. I tried to register with Apple Podcasts but they need an episode to get registered. Then I discovered I needed a host so I signed up with podbean. I was able to get out that first episode, get registered on all of the podcast platforms and the rest is history :)
Did you have an idea when you started of what you wanted the podcast to be?
Yes, and it turned out to be nothing like that :) I listen to a lot of podcasts and one of my favorites is This Week In Tech. Each episode is 2 hours and features a host and 3 experts talking about tech. So I thought I’d do the same thing but with sports and pop culture. I did a couple episodes like that but it was hard finding ‘experts’ to commit to 2 hours so I had regular fans talking. Then I tried to live up to the ‘donut bag’ aspect by having 3 or 4 different segments on one episode. That didn’t work because people complained it was too long. So now I put out a number of episodes a week that are 30-60 minutes long and each episode focuses on one subject.
Going off this question, I’m impressed by how prolific you are in putting out multiple episodes each week. How do you decide on the theme of each episode?
Some of it is planned ahead of time and some of it just happens :) During football season, I have a structure of doing a show previewing the upcoming week’s game then a show reviewing the games. For baseball and hockey, I try to do an episode a week. But then things come up, like the Le’Veon Bell situation or the Antonio Brown trade where I feel the need to do an episode ASAP. The Antonio Brown trade was funny because I found out about it on 6am one Sunday morning and saw that frequent guest Mark Hagelauer was online and I messaged him that we should do a podcast now. He said ‘huh? Dude it’s 6am!’ But we did one anyway :)
And sometimes things just come up, like when it was the 30th anniversary of Seinfeld so I decided to do an episode about it!
While I’m a little late in discovering your podcast, my favorite reoccurring podcast guest is Chris Carter of DK Pittsburgh Sports because of his knowledge of the Steelers and the rapport between the two of you. I feel like I’m going to go into Chris Farley mode here interviewing Paul McCartney on SNL, but that was awesome.
Thanks! Chris is awesome and we always meet in person to record. I usually talk to people over the phone or Skype but talking to someone in person is a whole different dynamic.
Is there a dream guest that you would like to have?
There’s so many :) I want to talk to athletes, current and former. I want to do episodes with Pittsburgh media personalities but I’m too shy to ask them :)
What has surprised you about doing the podcast?
That anyone would want to talk to me :) But I’ve had so many guests on and it’s been so much fun meeting new people. Also, since I’m a one man operation, I had to do a better job of getting organized. I’d be sitting at home and someone would message me that they’re ready to record and I’d forget that we agreed weeks ago to talk :)
What should we expect to see (well, hear) in The Donut Bag future?
I don’t know! :) Maybe less episodes. Some weeks I put out 5 or 6 episodes a week and that’s a bit much :) Being a one man operation gives me the freedom to do what I want, and sometimes things just come up so we’ll see what happens :)
Do you have a favorite podcast episode?
I don't really have a favorite podcast episode - they're all like my children :)
Oh, what is the song that’s played at the end of each podcast?
It’s a song called ‘restaurant at the end of the universe’ by a band called Gumband. (This is the band's website.) They usually do rock covers (and are REALLY good!) but this was one of their originals.
Thanks to Joe for taking the time to answer my questions. He really likes smiley faces! :)
I highly recommend checking out his podcast, particularly if you're a Pittsburgh sports fan. Even if you're not, skip those episodes and listen to those about The Office, Seinfeld, and more. You can also follow Joe on Twitter.
Over 10 years ago, I wrote a post highlighting other blogs with "Sean" in the title. I'm sure that you're shocked that many are no longer in existence. With that written, I thought it would be fun to come back to this topic and turn Sean's Ramblings into Seans' Ramblings. How cool would it be to hear from other people named Sean like Sean "Diddy" Combs, Sean Connery, former Pittsburgh Pirate Sean Rodriguez, and others?
First up: Sean Leahy, NHL writer for NBC Sports. I've been a big fan of Sean's work from his time writing the Going Five Hole blog and then when he jumped to Yahoo's Puck Daddy. Here we go:
I guess my first question is how did you become a hockey writer? Did it start with Going Five Hole (one of my favorite hockey blogs and how I first saw your writing)? What is your background? Were you a hockey fan growing up? (Yes, I realize that this is more than one question.)
I originally had started a blog with a few friends with the idea we'd cover sports, pop culture, technology, and wrestling. Quickly my buddy and I realized our other friends who were going to take care of the non-sports stuff weren't going to contribute as much as they originally promised, so PopJocks became a sports blog. Eventually, my partner was going through grad school and preparing for his wedding, so his time was limited to work on the blog. More and more I started writing strictly hockey and then decided to create my own hockey-only blog, and that's how Going Five Hole was born in the fall of 2007.
I was always a hockey fan. With two older brothers, we played a lot of street hockey growing up on Long Island. I've always wanted to work in sports, but just didn't know what specific job I wanted to do. When I was getting Going Five Hole going, I was working a full-time job with a USL soccer team. Within a year, I was laid off from the soccer team and started writing more and more with Puck Daddy, which I started contributing to in its second day of existence in April 2008.
In my opinion, Yahoo’s Puck Daddy with Greg Wyshynski, you, and others was the preeminent place for hockey over a several year period. Can you share your experience at Yahoo?
Writing for Puck Daddy was such a fun time. Our editors let us do our thing and be creative and have fun while also covering the sport from all angles. It was cool to watch the site's popularity grow over the years and then explode really after Twitter became a huge part of our daily lives. The interaction with readers and doors being opened for us (ex: getting press credentials) really helped us make the site grow.
What happened to cause Puck Daddy to no longer exist? As I mentioned before, I thought it was one of the best places for hockey coverage anywhere.
Verizon purchased Yahoo in 2017 and they basically laid off thousands of people, including me and two others on the Puck Daddy staff after the 2016-17 NHL season. Wysh was only there another few months before leaving for ESPN. Puck Daddy wasn't going to be the same and he didn't have the desire to try and recreate it.
You’re now at NBC. What has been your role there?
I've been with NBC since October 2018 and I oversee four writers -- Joey Alfieri, Scott Billeck, Adam Gretz, and James O'Brien. I also do a lot of the behind the scenes stuff in regards to planning and scheduling and being a liaison to NBC HQ. I still write often each week, trying to find unique angles to stories like I did at Yahoo.
Since you’re with NBC, do you get to watch the filming of "The Good Place" or hang out with Hoda and Kathie Lee?
My requests to appear on "Men in Blazers" and "Law & Order SVU" have not been approved yet, but my fingers are still crossed.
What is the coolest thing you’ve been able to do or experience through your work as a hockey writer?
I've been able to play NHL2K11 against Ryan Kesler, hang out with Jim Craig and his "Miracle" gold medal, spend an hour chatting with Willie O'Ree, and drink water out of a giant Stanley Cup fountain in Times Square. There's been so many cool things I've been fortunate enough to experience over the last decade. I definitely feel lucky.
When not writing and covering hockey, what does Sean Leahy do for fun?
I love watching other sports like football, soccer and baseball. They're a good outlet for me to get away from the game for a bit. I also spend a lot of my summer reading books, catching up on plenty of non-fiction and biographies. Fishing is also a nice thing to do to get away. Grab a 12-pack and hope the fish are biting that day.
Finally, who do you think will win the Cup this year? Actually, a better question may be: Tampa or the field?
I had Tampa vs. Nashville before the season and I'm sticking to that. And even though picking the field might be the smarter bet, it's so hard to think of anyone beating the Lightning four times in seven games. They've only lost back-to-back games twice this season. They've come up short three times in the last four years. I think they finally get it done this June.
Thanks to Sean for taking the time to answer my questions. Please follow Sean on Twitter and read his work on NBC Sports.
Tampa Bay Lightning photo by Chris O'Meara of AP. Picture of Sean from his Twitter page.
I've been a big fan of John Chamberlin and his Ya Jagoff website for many years now. I even have an entry in his book, Above The Fries though I'm still waiting for my first royalty check. I've also listed to the Ya Jagoff podcast since its inception, enjoying the interviews and keeping up to date with the happenings in Pittsburgh, even though I'm not there to enjoy them.
When I dislocated my wrist in January and wasn't able to type with two hands for about two months, I knew that I wouldn't have the time or ability to write blog posts as often as I'd like. Therefore, I contacted several friends to see if they were interested in writing guest posts or get interviewed (since this meant less typing for me). John and his co-host Rachael Rennebeck graciously accepted my invitation, so enjoy this fun interview about everything you wanted to know about the Ya Jagoff podcast!
The YaJagoff blog was around for many years before the podcast began. How did you decide to start podcasting?
John: The blog started with the first blog post on 1/1/2011. The blog post was about Mother Nature being a Jagoff by having it too warm here for the Winter Classic game. The podcast started, Light Up Night, 2016. We recorded from Dave DiCello’s store. The podcast started because, I had asked for some professional advice from internationally known social media guy, Jason Falls (Louisville, KY but has a Pgh Connection). He suggested starting a podcast.
Over the past year or so, it seems like you are at a different location or event nearly every week. Is there one (or more) places you've been or events that you covered that ranks as the coolest? Any places where you thought to yourself, "Wow, how cool is it that I'm here?"
John: Funny that you ask this question. Seems like each week we say to ourselves, “Wow! THAT was a really cool episode!” For me, the 2018 St. Patrick’s Day parade was a top favorite. I have watched that parade for years and it was total cool to be IN it while podcasting. The interviews that we have been able to do thanks to our sponsor, Total Sports Enterprises have been cool.. current and past Steelers, Penguins… JuJu Smith-Schuster has been a cool interview.
Rachael:
Place: David Highfield’s veranda to get footage we lost from a podcast! We had a production malfunction and had to get his interview again! He was so gracious and accommodating regardless of our mistake and bc I love him!
Event: St. Patrick’s Day parade bc it has always been a family event to attend and we had the opportunity to really be part of it through our own float and with some great interviews scored with the Governor and other iconic Pittsburgh notables.
Between media figures, sports icons, and politicians, it seems like you've talked to almost all every Pittsburgh celebrity. Is there someone that has not been on the podcast who would be your dream guest?
Rachael: Dream guest: Sidney Crosby— I think if we got him we could get him to talk! He’s such an untouchable with signings but an amazing person and I think we would have a blast asking him Pgh questions!
John: Definitely!!! Michael Keaton for me! First person to ever use the word Jagoff in a major movie (I think)
Rachael joined the podcast about midway through the podcast history. How did you/she come to be John's cohost?
John: Rachael had been on the podcast as a guest in the past. We worked together on various projects during the day and it became very clear that we had a chemistry. Plus, she was a former professional reporter so there’s THAT too!
Rachael: Because I said so lol! We worked together from a marketing standpoint and had such great chemistry that we thought it just may work. Plus having a female cohort provides a unique balance...even though I’m not girly!
The two of you have a great rapport. Are you at the point where you can finish each other's _____?
Rachael: Roasted Brussels sprouts when we have time to eat? Yes! ;) and sentences!
John: YES.. oh gawd yes! And thanks so much for recognizing the rapport. That means a ton!
What's next for the podcast? More field trips planned? (Live from Jagr's house in the Czech Republic would be awesome!)
John: Funny.. Rachael is head to the Czech Republic in late June because her 14-year old son is the number 2 ranked dek hockey player in the USA. (Sean's note: I listen to the podcast which is why I knew Rachael was heading to the Czech Republic.) He’s going there to play for team USA. Hopefully she can go in undercover and get an interview! We haven’t been in the studio since May of 2017. We love doing the podcasts on site. Every week is a new field trip.
Rachael: I say a road trip is always a must! Is that an invite for us to come there?! Sure! We hope for more outreach opps with athletes to get to know their personalities and how they relate to Pgh philanthropically. We are so lucky to be in the city of champions!
Final thought:
John: The world of podcasting seems like its growing but also seems saturated at the same time. We hope that the podcast that we deliver is always fresh. The podcast as afforded us so many cool opportunities and chance to meet some great people! We just want to wake up one day just podcast…screw all of the other real-life work! lol
Thanks again to John and Rachael for answering my questions. If you live in Pittsburgh/Western Pennsylvania or just like to hear about what's going on there, I highly recommend listening and subscribing to the Ya Jagoff podcast. The podcast is available to APPLE users on the iTunes and Podcast app., to ANDROID users on Google Play Music, and to ALL users via YaJagoff.com, Stitcher, or tunein.
(Michael Keaton photo by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Back in the heyday of blogs, it was fun finding new blogs, commenting on their posts, and then asking to exchange links. At some point (at least 8 years ago!), either I discovered Josh's World (not the original name) or Josh discovered my blog. I've followed Josh's blog over the years as he's gone from a single guy to now married with a daughter. While Josh writes about his personal life, he also regularly writes about sports, books, movies, and even politics. I'm always amazed by how prolific a writer he is. While I write fewer and fewer posts each year, Josh continues to put out high quality (and quantity) posts. In honor of this accomplishment, I bestowed Josh's World the Best Blog of 2016.
I thought it would be fun to interview Josh about his blog, how he became a blogger and more. Enjoy!
What inspired you to start writing a blog?
AOL Instant Message (RIP!)...I used to write really long Away Messages. Sometimes they would be multi-part rants, which led me to starting a livejournal. Unfortunately that turned into just me complaining about work and people I knew. I discovered that I actually enjoyed writing, but I hated the format of LJ and the direction most of my posts took. I decided to give blogger a shot and well, that was almost 12 years ago.
How do you find time to write so much?
I ignore my wife and kid. Okay, just kidding. Blogging is a hobby, so I like to write once Payton goes to sleep (and my wife usually falls asleep about the same time). Even when I work very early, I cannot go to sleep that early, so I tend to watch something on TV and write for a bit. Obviously my posting level has decreased the last few years, but I still try to find time to write whenever I can.
You write about a wide variety of topics, some of which may be considered controversial. (Basically, some of your political posts.) What type of feedback have you received from some of these posts?
Usually the feedback is positive. However, I think some of my political posts have put a strain on familial relationships. Many of my relatives believe I hate them for their political beliefs (or that I am an idiot for being on the opposite side). My one cousin will not speak to me anymore over it. Kind of sad, I never meant for anyone to take offense, nor were those posts aimed at any specific person. I post my opinion, I try to explain why I believe a certain thing, but I guess some people think I am being condescending.
You shared many personal posts about topics like your wedding, the birth of your daughter, and her experiences growing up. Are there topics that you consciously decided not to write about?
Honestly, I never really consider anything out of bounds. I suppose that since only my friends and family really read my blog that it makes it a bit easier to be free. I have learned over the years to make sure people are okay with me writing about them. I also realize that as Payton gets older, she may not appreciate me writing about her. I guess I will cross that bridge when we get to it.
Do you have a favorite post or subject during the history of Josh's World?
The post I wrote about my dad is probably the one I consider to be my best. My story about Payton's birth is also great. The posts about our wedding were also so much fun to write, especially the one about all the craft projects we did and the work we put in to make the day perfect. However my favorite posts are some of the larger projects, particularly my baseball posts. I put a ton of research into them and then write like 3000 words before I realize that like three people will probably read the post. Oh, and my silly post about Albania, which has some fairly interesting comments from Albanians who took offense.
Finally, we have been in several fantasy leagues together over the years. Does it get tiring losing to me so often?
Hmm, I don't know...I will let you know if I ever actually lose to you.
For the record, You've also lost to me in fantasy sports many times!
And oh yeah, you beat me one time back in 2012. Hahaha
Make sure you check out Josh's World and you can follow him on Twitter here.
Writing a book is tough. I mean, I don't know from experience, but this is something I would love to do someday. Therefore, anytime a friend writes a book, I want to support them (see below).
Shannon Gregg and I graduated together from high school, um, several years ago and also performed together in Lil' Abner. Shannon is a Trainer, Speaker, and Sales Productivity Expert and recently wrote It's About Time: How to Do More of What Matters in the Time You Have for professionals of all career levels with Shawn McBride. As Shannon wrote on her website, "This book will benefit you and dramatically transform your approach to productivity and time management. Written based off of years of experience at hustling time, the information in this book was provided by absolute experts who have launched businesses, had full-time families and careers, and have found ways to achieve and surpassed their goals by focusing on total time management."
Shannon was gracious enough to take some time (see what I did there?) to answer a few questions.
Can you tell me (and everyone reading this) about the book?
For sure! For starters - it's short. Intentionally. If you're reading a book about time management, it's not because you have leisurely time to spend on things like reading! I co-authored the book with R. Shawn McBride, whom I met when we were booked to speak at a large radio convention together. We brought our perspectives on managing time, based on running full time jobs and side hustles, together to give a simple, based-on-you approach to time management.
While I'm sure this is in the book, what is the best way you have found for yourself to manage your time?
The book is really you-based, so it's not prescriptive on how to manage time based on mine or Shawn's best practices - but man, I could NOT live without Google calendar! Everything goes in it - dinner with friends, Luke's bike trips, mom jazz dance class on Sunday nights - so I know at all times where I am supposed to be. Those blank spaces, I fill them on up (I've got a blank space, baby, and I'll write...something to do in it). Denis Waitley has a quote that basically asks you to consider whether your activities are tension-relieving or goal-achieving, and I mentally categorize those things to make sure that they are in some sort of balance for me.
What advice and best practices do you have regarding time management and productivity for someone (um, like me) with a new child?
Sean, it's almost as if I asked you to ask this question (I didn't!). This is the number one issue that people are asking Shawn and I about: time management as a working parent. We are working on a publication for 2018 to address exactly that! But, my advice to parents is first psychological: lose the guilt. Lose it. We live in an era of insta-fabulousness, where all parents seem to have it together and are pinteresting the best memories for their kids and making Tate Museum-quality art sandwiches, and the "mompetition" of it all will make you lose your mind. Stop it. Give yourself permission to spend some time on yourself! That seems to be the toughest part for parents trying to juggle their personal and professional time.
How did our time at Junior Achievement in high school help you with the book?
YES! I refer to JA all of the time, Sean! In working with salespeople, I am always looking for ways for them to be efficient so that they can sell more in less time by being process-driven and scalable, and that is DEFINITELY thanks to those assembly line cookie sheets we made. No joke. When I first learned Six Sigma, I was the only one in the room laughing when I said, "Ohhhhh, so JA for working adults." YES. I think I need to actually write a check to Junior Achievement right now. BRB.
Are you concerned that people will confuse your book with the 2005 book, It's About Time?
Well, it was definitely something we considered when we were finalizing the name of the book. It's a pretty common combination of words - which can be good, as someone might stumble upon the book accidentally. I was masterminding with my friend Jason Anthony, and I told him that we had everything settled but the title: content, illustrations, cover designer, foreword. He said, "Well, it's about time." So, it stuck. (Thanks, Jason!)
Your website shows an offer of a "Creativity Session" with you or your co-author. What does this entail?
I'll tell you in exchange for a few drops of blood or some bitcoin, your choice! :) It's highly interactive, and again, you-driven, where we apply a Five-Whys exercise to get to the root of your challenges, to help you to identify precisely what the cause is to help you decide how to solve it. It's fun, and typically people walk away with some new and fresh ideas on what their issues actually are (and not the surface ones that they first suspected). We are launching a new website based on this system, www.timemagicment.com - which will have assessments and resources to help continue to drive the exploration.
Thanks again to Shannon for answering my questions. You can learn more about Shannon's book and work at ShannonGregg.com.
You can also check out some other interviews with friends/writers:
- Sarah Wendell (here and here).
- Laurie Koozer (here)
- Ron Lippock (here)
Welcome to part two of my interview with Chris Wright, the former General Manager of the Pittsburgh Spirit and current President of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx. Please click here to read part one about how Chris went from England to Pittsburgh and everything you didn't know you needed to know about the Spirit. In part two, Chris discusses the end of the Spirit, how he went to Minnesota, his role with the Timberwolves and Lynx, and memories of Pittsburgh.
Sean: When did you know that there wasn’t going to be a next season for the Spirit? Is there a certain time that you knew?
Chris: At the end of the [1985-1986] season, we got called up to a meeting in Youngstown, Ohio, met with Mr. DeBartolo, and Mr. DeBartolo at that point said, guys, I’m sorry, but I think we’re done with the MISL. At that point, although our attendance was terrific, it was still at a difficult time when the NASL teams had come into the MISL, so they’d closed down their sort of indoor league, and now the NASL teams were coming in, payrolls were not necessarily out of control, but the investment that you were making in players, if you're looking at it from a business standpoint, it didn’t make an awful lot of sense because the owners were writing checks at the end of every year, and you know, in hindsight, if the one thing that the league had ever done was sort of impose some type of a salary cap, you know, on the league, it might have been really helpful for the indoor game particularly to have continued to grow because if you went to a Cleveland Force game, if you went to a San Diego game, you went to the Strikers game here when I came here, and saw the number of people who were really appreciative of the sport, loved the sport, loved the quickness of the sport, loved the prolific goal scoring in the sport, you know, it had an amazing following for a young league. But unfortunately the players’ salaries outweighed the revenues that you were able to bring in.
Sean: I remember in the mid-80s, the Spirit definitely drew more than the Penguins.
Chris: There was one year I can remember we drew on average just underneath 11,000 a game.
Sean: Before that meeting, did you have much interaction with Mr. DeBartolo and his family?
Chris: Oh, yeah. My boss on a day-to-day basis was Paul Martha, and Paul Martha was in charge of the Civic Arena, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Pittsburgh Spirit, so I mean, his office was right around the corner from mine, so I would see Paul every day, whether it would be senior or junior, all people from different areas of Mr. DeBartolo’s sort of business operation, they were in our building all the time. Mr. DeBartolo would come down for games. Junior would come down for games, which was terrific, then every now and again, whether it would be player transactions, whether it be budgets, whether it be attendance, you would be invited up to Youngstown to explain some of the things that either you were doing or were happening inside the franchise. So yeah, I got to know that drive pretty well.
Sean: That’s funny. So the team ended, and then I guess you went to Minnesota from there?
Chris: I was asked by Mr. DeBartolo, the way that he looked at it, he said Chris, he said, you were the first one in when we hired you and we decided to bring the team back, I want you to be the last one out. Your job for me is to close down the franchise, all of our obligations, etc., and obviously get the players, as many of them as you possibly can, a home somewhere else in the league. So that’s what I did for probably about almost three months. And while I was doing that, and I asked permission to do this, I said, look, obviously I want to be able to sort of continue in the league if I possibly can, if I close it down by a particular date for you, are you OK with me going out and interviewing for different jobs around the league that might be available. And he said absolutely, and there were three jobs that were open, I interviewed for all three of them. I was in conversations to accept all three of them and decided that Minnesota was the place to come for a lot of different reasons. I knew Alan Merrick very well here, the coach here. I liked the fact that Joe Robbie was an NFL owner and had sort of “deeper pockets," and I just loved Minnesota. Every single time that I came here, I always had a great time here. It’s cold during the winter, but it’s an incredible place to live and a very good place to raise a family. So a very good friend of mine, John Best, who was running the Tacoma Stars at the time, was somewhat disappointed that I didn’t go out to Tacoma. A very very good friend of mine, Kenny Cooper, was disappointed that I didn’t go to the Baltimore Blast and that I chose to come to Minnesota. And it was sort of in hindsight it was meant to be. Even though we closed the franchise down here two years later, it was when the World Cup was being bid for 1994, and Minnesota back at the time was looking to bid to be one of the cities where games would be hosted. So I was invited to be part of that group of people that were going to bid for games to be played in the World Cup in Minnesota, which led to development of something called the National Sports Center here. So I was one of two people who went to the state legislature, got $17.4 million, built the National Sports Center here. We weren’t fortunate enough to get games here in the World Cup, but then the Timberwolves expanded to this market in ’89, 90, and I came to work for them during the 1990-1991 season.
Sean: You just answered my question. That’s what I was wondering, how you went from MISL in soccer to the Timberwolves and later the Lynx.
Chris: Yeah, so a lot of people, a lot of people from the MISL found their way into the NBA. Because the MISL was very creative from ticket selling standpoint, unique promotions, to this day, one thing that people don’t realize, the creative group that we had in Pittsburgh was unbelievable. We actually were the first team in the history of sports, back in 1986 I think it would be, maybe ’85, we developed what was the equivalent of a family four-pack that was four tickets, four hot dogs, Cokes, Pepsis, and a tub of popcorn for a particular price. That still exists in sports today, and we were the very, very first team to do that in sports in Pittsburgh. So, you know, you’ve got everything from those, think about introductions back in the day, think about Hot Legs, think about neon sort of rolling up and down in smoke and ice, and think about the Baltimore Blast with basically a space ship coming from, you know, the rafters to introduce their players, and now think about sort of NBA-style introductions today. Well, an awful lot of that actually started back in the MISL, and the creativeness of the people who were involved. Because everybody saw it as outside of the big four, they saw it as this upstart league, nobody could figure out why 10,000 people on a night were going to go and watch these games be played. So, you know, fast forward now to Minnesota in 1990-1991, there were already three or four people working for the Minnesota Timberwolves who came from the MISL. One of them was a guy called Tim Leiweke, and Leiweke ran the Kansas City Comets, and he said, Chris, we’re moving into Target Center, we played our first year in the Metrodome, they built a building here, we need more talent, come on down and come work for us. So there we were in 1991, and I’ve been here ever since.
Sean: My brother-in-law is from the Minneapolis area, and he mentioned that the Target Center is doing some renovations. How that will benefit the team and the fan experience?
Chris: We’re putting $150 million into Target Center. The building was built in ’89-90. We moved in here in the 1990-91 season. Basically the building has pretty much stayed the same for all of those years. The bones of the building are very, very good. It’s in a great location right in the center of downtown Minneapolis. And so rather than tear it down and build new, we worked out a relationship with the city of Minneapolis. And the city of Minneapolis is now the owner of the building. We don’t own the building. AEG manages the building. We’re the major tenants in the building. And so some money from AEG, some money from the team, some money from the city, $150 million all told, basically we’re renovating this incredible building in downtown. So it’s everything from clubs to skyways to concourses to concessions to seats to scoreboard to the outside cladding on the building. It’s going to look really, really beautiful when it’s finished.
Sean: Another question about your day job. So I will admit that I follow the NBA the least just because growing up in Pittsburgh, we had the Penguins, Steelers, Pirates, but I’ve certainly followed enough of the off-season to know that you acquired Jimmy Butler and a couple of signings just happened. Have you noticed an increase in ticket sales or merchandise sales or even sponsorships?
Chris: Yeah, I mean, just so you know, we’re involved in a number of different things. So, you know, you talk about a day job. It’s fascinating because we own the Timberwolves, we own the Minnesota Lynx, we won three championships in six years in the WNBA. We just bought a G-league team in Des Moines, Iowa, and we’re a major investor in Minnesota United, the MLS expansion franchise that we got here last year, and we’re actually building a stadium for the MLS team to play in in two years’ time, in 2019. So a lot of my responsibilities are across multiple platforms. Actually, yes, Jimmy Butler is here, and [Jeff] Teague and [Taj] Gibson and we’re not done yet in rebuilding our roster around sort of some really good young talent, Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, and we will be very, very good on that side next year, and we’ll be able to capitalize on that. We’ve sold over, I think we’re just shy of 15,000 new full-season ticket memberships right now for our next season. We have the highest base in the WNBA season ticket members. We lead corporate sales on the WNBA side. The G-league team that we now own is the second most profitable team in the G League. And we are getting more and more and more and more involved in the MLS and basically sort of helping run that franchise. So there’s a number of us on the senior executive group that we have here. We have different roles and responsibilities to all of our franchises, but the idea is that we make every single one of those franchises as healthy as we possibly can for Glen Taylor, who is our primary owner.
Sean: Do you have any other memories of Pittsburgh or the Spirit? Do you get back to Pittsburgh at all?
Chris: Yeah, you know what, there was a big retirement party for Paul Martha, and it was just before the Igloo was imploded, so I got back there for that. I haven’t been back since. I have a lot of great friends there. The best man in my wedding, Dan Frasier, who lived out in a community just south of the city, unfortunately passed away about a year ago. A great, great friend. So I used to do an awful lot of different things with him outside of the soccer world there. We lived in Shaler for a while, we lived in Upper St. Clair for a while, still got many friends that we go backwards and forwards with, you know, in the Pittsburgh community. I absolutely love Pittsburgh. I love the sense of a diverse community. I love Shady Side. I love Polish Hill. I love the German Quarter.
Sean's Note: Is the Deutschtown area of Pittsburgh also referred to as the German Quarter?
I love the Gandy Dancer over on the other side of the river. Pittsburgh was this incredible melting pot of cultures, and that’s why I really believe that soccer, football, the real football, sort of worked there, because there was an appreciation from a heritage standpoint of the world’s great game, and although everybody said, no, this is a Steeler town, it’s a University of Pittsburgh football town, I always saw it as more than that. It was always more than that to me just because of the depth of sort of heritage in the majority of people there. And a lot of them sort of coming from Europe. So I loved my time there, miss my time there, miss a lot of my friends there, but I remember those days as being great days for me and my family.
Sean: Last question for you. If the Vikings play the Steelers, do you root for the Vikings or is it a toss up?
Chris: You know, I don’t. I root for every Pittsburgh team. So I root for the Penguins, the Pirates, which has been tough, and the Steelers. So I am a huge, I love Roethlisberger, and I love those guys, I love watching them, and I actually, when I’m looking at schedules during the NFL season, the very first thing I look for is what time is the Pittsburgh Steelers game.
Thanks again to Chris for taking the time to speak with me and answer my questions. The Spirit had a huge impact on me and many others in Western Pennsylvania, and Chris played a huge part in this. You can follow Chris on Twitter.
Thanks to Patrick McCarthy, probably the most active Pittsburgh Spirit fan on the internet, as well. This interview wouldn't have happened without his connection to Chris. Please follow him on Twitter @pwmst1. In addition, I'm still amazed that my friend Ellen agreed to transcribe this interview. There are a lot of tough names to try to type! Thank you!
Finally, please feel free to follow me on Facebook and Twitter where I'll also include some outtakes of this interview.
Chris Wright is the President of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx and previously served as the General Manager of the Pittsburgh Spirit of the Major Indoor Soccer League. As someone who was a big Spirit fan back in the 1980s (I even attended a Spirit soccer camp), I recently learned that Chris held the GM position and reached out to him to find out more about the inner-workings and history of the team. Chris was gracious enough to take 30 minutes to talk to me last week about his time with the Spirit, his current job, and much more. I broke this interview into two posts. Today focuses on how Chris went from England to Pittsburgh and his work with the Spirit. The second portion includes his transition to Minnesota, everything he's doing with the Timberwolves and Lynx, and his thoughts about the city of Pittsburgh. Please note that there are a lot of names in this post, and there's an excellent chance that some are spelled incorrectly. If you have any corrections, please feel free to contact me. And now, here's my interview with Chris.
Sean: How do you go from growing up in England to Pittsburgh and being the GM of the Spirit?
Chris: Yeah, I mean, it’s an incredible journey when you think about it. A young kid from in Filey, North Yorkshire, England, fishing town, 2,000 people, you know, goes on this sort of journey all the way through to ultimately ending up in Pittsburgh, then Minnesota, Minnesota in soccer, national sports center here and then into the NBA and the WNBA. So it’s been quite a journey, and I’m on the sort of back end of that journey now, but it’s been truly remarkable. So I played at school, at high school, I was seen by Hull City, invited to be part of their junior program, in the end didn’t make it to the top levels of their professional roster, so went away to college and played at Carnegie College of Physical Education. The single biggest thing that we did there is we won the English colleges cup by beating Cardiff 1-0 where I saved a penalty.
Sean's Note: Take that, Cardiff!
From there I decided that really what I wanted to do was be part of the game, so I did my English full badge, which is their top coaching award, I did that in Cardiff in Wales. Back then the national team manager of the Welsh soccer team, Mike Smith, he basically led that particular course, and he passed me to be able to coach at the highest levels in England. So I did a lot of work for the English FA, the Welsh FA, etc., coached at a really good level in England. I coached a team called Hitchin Town in the Isthmian League and from there managed to get a job in Allegheny County through the county commissioners there, Tom Foerster, Robert Pierce, Jim Flaherty, they hired me to come in as the soccer coordinator of Allegheny County, and from there Jim Mihalke bought the Spirit and they sort of folded for a year, and [Edward] DeBartolo [Sr.] brought them out of moth balls and offered me the General Manager’s job. So that’s how I sort of ended up in that seat.
I obviously hired John Kowalski as the Head Coach, and between John and myself, we put that new version of the Pittsburgh Spirit that played in the Igloo together with basically a Polish line, a sort of an Anglo-Scottish line, remember Graham Fyfe, David Hoggan, Paul Child, those guys, and sort of a mix of American players, the Joey Papaleos of the world, the Dave MacKenzies of the world, Canadian by birth, but Johnny O’Hara, etc. One or two additions like Drago [Dumbovic] that we found, Marcio Leite that we found, they became sort of that first iteration of a team that we put together.
Sean: Going back a little bit there, how did this all come to pass? Did they come to England to recruit people, or were you interested in moving to America?
Chris: No, between the ages of 21 and 28, I came to the United States every summer to coach in different soccer camps all over the country. Back in the day, North American soccer camps were absolutely huge. They were owned by a guy called Gary Russell. I actually met him over in England when he brought an American soccer team to England and I was asked to basically chaperone and coach the team while it was over in England. So he brought me over to the United States when I was 21, and I basically at that point started coming over every single summer. So I got to know a lot of people around the country but particularly in Pittsburgh, some of which happened to be led by Jim Flaherty [one of] the County Commissioners of Allegheny County. So when they wanted to expand their soccer program, they reached out to me to see if I was interested in the job, and after a series of interviews, they offered me the job, I packed my bags and came to the United States.
Sean: That’s really interesting. As a kid, I loved watching the Spirit, I never knew the history.
Chris: When I got here, in terms of registered players with the United States Soccer Federation, there was, believe it or not now, so I was 21 then, 68 now, so this was 47 years ago. 47 years ago there was 2,000 kids registered with the United States Soccer Federation. When I actually moved into the role with the Pittsburgh Spirit, there was 26,000 kids playing. So that was how the program grew. And through that and really getting to know the Pittsburgh area and a lot of the coaches in that area, there were already people doing great work, Denny Kohlmyer, John Wilshire, Bruno Schwarz, Jim Perry, Joe DePalma, all of those guys were doing incredible work in soccer. I just became for Allegheny County the catalyst and the growth of club soccer in each of the communities.
Sean: What was it like working with Stan Terlecki? It seemed like he had quite a personality.
Chris: Stan was an incredible talent, and back in the day, he actually came to us from Bruges in Belgium. There were basically two teams that were chasing him, we were and the New York Arrows. And Don Popovic was the head coach of the New York Arrows back in the day. John Kowalski had seen Stan play back in the day a number of times for the national team at the club level and really, really felt that Stan could be an incredible force inside of our league. Back in the day, the Arrows had Branko Segota, they had Steve Zungul, and we just felt, and I can remember conversations saying, if they got Stan Terlecki, then they would become just this basically unbeatable team because of the fire power that they would have had. And so we worked really really hard to recruit Stan. We actually went over to Europe a couple of times, once to Belgium, once to Poland, to really recruit him very very hard, and in the end, an agent for IMG called George Kalafatis), who we worked with on a lot of different player contracts. We convinced them to come to Pittsburgh. Stan was incredible, had a great family, incredible work ethic, very passionate about the game, prolific both right footed left footed, could go past players like nobody that I had seen, and it was unbelievable for the indoor game, particularly Pittsburgh. Because we had a big Polish community in Pittsburgh, Polish hill, etc. people like him and Greg Ostalczyk, Piotr Mowlik, Adam Topolski, Zee Kapka, Jan Sybis, all resonated really really well with the market. Stan obviously was the most notorious of all of them and well-known, but that group of players were, one, they were incredible human beings, very very incredible work ethic all of them, and always gave you 110, 120% in everything that they did. So we were really proud of the Polish connection, particularly John. This was nothing of the doing of Chris Wright, I just supported John in all of his efforts and made sure the contracts and everything else. I supported John in all of this, and he was the one who really recruited very very hard that Polish group.
Sean: You mentioned Steve Zungul, and Patrick asked me to ask you if the Spirit were close to acquiring him in the last season.
Chris: It was a little bit of a pipe dream because he was very close with Don Popovic, and obviously the last season was under the guidance of Don. We had struggled, I think it was season number five under John, if I remember correctly, you know, we had struggled, we decided to part ways with John Kowalski, and that was one of the, really that was one of the hardest decisions that I had to make because John was, John’s an incredible person, incredible coach, incredible human being, had worked so hard on behalf of the Pittsburgh Spirit and its fans and its players. And that’s one of the hardest decisions that a general manager ever has to make. So it was difficult to do that, and having made the determination that John would go, then obviously to have someone the caliber of Don Popovic as the potential head coach, I thought at the time was truly going to be a game changer for the team. He knew a tremendous number of players. He was able to attract a lot of great players, Helmut Dudek, Freddy Grgurev, and as much as he and we particularly wanted Steve to come, we knew that it was going to be problematic. So although we talked about it, it was never going to be realistic that Steve was going to wear a Pittsburgh Spirit jersey.
A special thank you to Patrick McCarthy, probably the most active Pittsburgh Spirit fan on the internet. This interview wouldn't have happened without his connection to Chris, and he gave me some suggestions of questions to ask. Most of the pictures and videos in this post are courtesy of Patrick. Please follow him on Twitter @pwmst1. In addition, I'm still amazed that my friend Ellen agreed to transcribe this interview. There are a lot of tough names to try to type! Thank you!
Please feel free to follow me on Facebook and Twitter where I'll include some outtakes of this interview.
Ron Lippock runs the PGH Sports Daily website and also sends out Pittsburgh Sports Daily Bulletin e-mails with links to blogs and articles about, you guessed it, Pittsburgh sports. Ron has been nice enough to include some of my blog posts in his daily e-mail, and we got together to watch a Steelers game at a Washington DC restaurant last season. Through his website, Ron has interviewed hundreds of Pittsburgh Steelers players from over the years and recently (actually today!) released Steelers Takeaways: Players Memories Through the Decades available now at Barnes & Noble and Amazon among other places. Ron's a cool guy (it turns out that we grew up about a mile away from each other) and was nice enough to answer some questions about his book.
First, tell me and everyone reading this about your book, Steelers Takeaways.
The book was over five years in the making - 400+ Steelers interviews took forever - to find the players, get them to say yes to an interview, to conduct and transcribe the interviews…. But a lot of fun too. I tried to ask questions and approach these in ways others have not - to make it different. Not just due to the number of players - but really tried to get to the good stories, personal issues, racial religious stuff, humor/inside jokes, physical toll of the game….I was really surprised at how open players were. One reason may be that I intentionally interviewed guys only after they were out of the game. They were free to reveal - to open up and have fun. Less afraid of consequence - of upsetting the boss and giving away locker room secrets.
Ultimately I think this is what makes this different. Different, more personal approaches to the interviews and more openness on the players’ parts. And yes, I was pretty surprised and excited at just how open and revealing they were. And frankly, the vast majority, really good guys.
Also - because it literally spans seven decades of players - starting in the 50's - it really gives a great perspective of the team and it's journey to prominence over the years.
How did you get all of these former Steelers to talk with you?
It sounds funny…but I asked. And there is the what’s in it for me. I had something to offer - a captive audience of thousands of readers that helped give them reason to talk. An audience for them to discuss their businesses, foundations, to connect with their fans again….
Was there an interview where you thought to yourself "I can't believe he is saying this" or maybe even told the individual this?
A few days. Richard Huntley calling out Jerome Bettis. Roy Jefferson speaking frankly about his anger at Chuck Noll. A ton of inside jokes and stories - from Bradshaw stealing a player’s girlfriend, guys fighting on the freeway after a tough practice, player opinions of coaches, pranks….lot’s of great stories you never expect until you ask the questions and get those great responses.
Is there someone that you wished you could have interviewed for the book?
Eric Green and Mel Blount. Green because I really wanted to understand what happened after all of that talent and promise. I interviewed Troy Edwards and really came away fascinated and how open he was about why things didn’t work out. Those stories interest me greatly. Mel Blount as well - because he’s done so much good since the game and influences the game when he played so much.
Now that you published Steelers Takeaways, will we see a Pirates Takeaways, Penguins Takeaways, or Maulers Takeaways?
Oh wow the Maulers idea is brilliant. If only there were enough people who cared about them! I was so excited when they launched, Pirates maybe….I have interviewed former Pirates and Penguins players - but the Penguins guys are tough because there are so many that are scattered all over the world - it being such an international sport. It's hard to find those guys.
Oh - and the time…I don't know if I have that many interviews left in me!
Churchill Chargers for life! (I understand that this isn't really a question.)
Ok - now this REALLY ages me. I was there when Churchill went through “The Merger” {cue ominous music). That was when we turned into Woodland Hills. Churchill was an “ok” team before then - but now it’s a powerhouse as Woodland Hills. Clearly, they needed me out there playing….I was too busy being too small and buying pads at Walmart because none of the pads were small enough to fit me!
Where was there a Walmart near us? I don't think the Walmart in North Versailles opened until much later as there were two bowling alleys across the street from each other. If you got pads, they were from Hills or Gold Circle!
Maybe it was K-Mart? Remember we did have one of those near us!
Thanks again to Ron for answering my questions and asking so many questions over the years. Please get his book! You can also follow him on Twitter @PittsburghSport.
You may have heard that there is an election in New Hampshire today. Even if for some reason you don't ever follow the news, I'm sure that you've seen this outstanding video from Saturday's Republican debate which I may have watched a dozen times.
I've always wondered what it's like to live in New Hampshire during the nation's first Presidential primary. Does every candidate personally call you or knock on your door? My friend Ellen, also the author of the terrific Bookspired blog, moved to New Hampshire a few years ago, so I asked her about life in the Granite State.
My perception is that New Hampshire, in terms of population, is rather small. With so many candidates spending so much time in New Hampshire over the past year, I feel like the odds of seeing or meeting a candidate are pretty high. So since you're a parent of young kids, what candidate has kissed or tried to kiss them?
You know, I thought we'd run into a candidate or two in recent weeks or months, but so far we haven't. They're around, of course ... Many of the major events happen at St. Anselm College, which is right in our town. Carly Fiorina did a town hall meeting at our kids' future school this Saturday. I'm glad no candidates have tried to kiss my babies!
(This may be the last picture you'll see of Fiorina as a Presidential candidate.)
Being serious (momentarily), what's it like being in New Hampshire days before an election where the whole country is watching (or at least will watch after the Super Bowl)?
It is kind of exciting that all eyes will be on New Hampshire. We've had a lot of knocks at our door from canvassers. I'd say tomorrow we'll get more. The weirdest one happened yesterday. My attending nurse for my second daughter's birth knocked on my door to ask for my vote for Hillary. Really tugging at heartstrings.
Just going to the grocery store or running errands, can you avoid the election or do people simply go about their business?
People seem to go about their business. I thought I might have an exciting sighting at Market Basket, but nothing yet. So far, no one has approached me while I've been in public. They just come right to my house. The political signs are everywhere, though, similar to the situation in Northern Virginia.
I decided to look up famous people from New Hampshire. I figure (my perception again) that they are all traveling the state with the candidates they support. So who did Mandy Moore, born in Nashua (though she moved to Florida at two months) endorse? What about current Pittsburgh Penguin Ben Lovejoy? Basically, have you had any celebrity sightings either from people endorsing the candidates or even media members?
I didn't even think of the possibility of meeting real celebrities! That would be truly exciting. Mostly I've been thinking up choice words for Donald Trump, if he should cross my path.
What do you expect when you go to the polls on Tuesday? Big crowds? Offers for a free California Tortilla taco if you wear your "I Voted" sticker?
Hmm well they are pretty organized here in my town, and it's not that big, so I expect an efficient voting experience. I would love the bribe of free tacos, but it'd have to be Chipotle ... No California Tortilla in these parts!
(Sean's note: Chipotle offered free burritos Monday, but that had nothing to do with any elections.)
What do you expect New Hampshire to look like on Thursday?
I expect there will be no candidates left in the Granite state ... they'll be heading to Nevada and South Carolina, I guess? Or maybe making their rounds in the other states in preparation for Super Tuesday? It'll be interesting to see how long the signs hang around. Jeb seems to have the most signs in our area ... maybe because of the proximity to the family residence in Kennebunkport. I think NH will be back to business as usual pretty quickly.
Thanks again to Ellen for answering my questions. Tuesday should be fun in New Hampshire. Please make sure to check out Ellen's blog, Bookspired.
Welcome to part two of my interview of Sean Guillory of Sean's Russia Blog. You can check out part one by clicking here.
This could be completely inaccurate, but my perception is that Ukraine isn't in the news much these days. What is the latest there?
Ukraine has been off the news since the Minsk II agreement in February. I’ve felt for a while that the European powers would rather the Ukrainian crisis go away. The only reason they reluctantly responded with sanctions is because of American pressure and the downing of MH 17 by the rebels using Russian supplied Buk missiles. The EU is in no position to inherit a political and economic basket case like Ukraine except to open its markets to free trade. Sure, they would ideally like to see Ukraine adopt European political and legal standards, but I don’t really see any EU invitation coming. Nor do I see a NATO invite coming for a long time, if ever. Putin put the kibosh on that by showing he was willing to support a proxy war in the east. No one in Europe or the US is willing to go to war with Russia over Ukraine, except for neoconservative hawks, Russophobes, and Cold War re-enactors. This is why the US response has mostly been lukewarm. Ukraine might matter in the geopolitical game board of Risk, but Ukraine is not a vital object of US interests, regardless of Russian paranoid induced fantasies. Plus the US can’t even contain the Middle East. We won’t even mention Africa, which will be the next theater in the “war on terror.” Sure Obama had to do something in response to Crimea and certainly to MH 17. Being the global hegemon comes with that kind of obligation. Sanctions and attempts at isolating Russia from the “West” are pretty much all the US can do. The Obama Administration has the power to subordinate Russia but the will isn’t there because the costs are way too high. The US and EU will sell out Ukraine eventually, and it will be done quietly as not to be perceived as not being tough with Putin. We see indications of this already. In the last few months in particular, the French and Germans have been putting more pressure on Kiev to comply with the Minsk II agreement. The US has almost completely disengaged diplomatically though it still engages in backroom machinations in terms of guiding the outer contours of Ukrainian politics (as best it can) and, mainly, influencing the neoliberal institutional and economic reforms (as best it can). Ukraine remains a pet project for a handful of American Russia obsessed imperialists who salivate at the prospect of Russia’s collapse and neoliberals searching for “live experiments” for their defunct doctrines. But the whole of the American foreign policy establishment has moved on, if they were really ever “on” in the first place. The Ukrainian populace is also tired of the war and polls show that the majority want some kind of resolution in the Donbas. Even the Russians are backing off as attention turns to Putin’s Syria adventure.
Indeed, Ukraine has mostly fallen victim to Syria, which I’m sure is a secret big relief for many in Brussels, Paris, Berlin, and Washington. This is not to say that they would rather deal with the refugee crisis and the Syrian civil war. But Russia’s involvement in Syria allows for a potential diplomatic deal with Moscow. There have been hints of this in the press. Putin may be willing to trade Assad for a neutral Ukraine and some kind of de facto recognition of Crimea. Putin’s main condition will probably be that Moscow has some say so over a post-Assad Syria, in whatever political or geographical form it takes. If a deal is able to be struck (the Americans would have to get the Turks and Saudis to go along), the West can quietly let Ukraine go. That is a big if, though, and a lot of it depends on how far the Russians are willing to go to prop up Assad. Russia faces the danger of getting sucked in to Syria as the Americans, Turks and Saudis double down and prolong the conflict. Ironically, what might happen in Syria is exactly what some were saying would happen if the US supplied weapons to the Ukrainians. Now the situation is reversed.
In all, I think we’re seeing the twilight of the Ukrainian crisis unless something brash and unforeseen occurs. It will likely continue on a low simmer for a while which will benefit Putin. In fact, I’m sure there are Russian elites eagerly waiting for the Russian state to aid in the rebuilding of the Donbas so they can pillage the kitty. This is what happened in Sochi and I’m sure is happening in Crimea. War presents all sorts of economic opportunities and I’m sure there is a tacit agreement between Putin and his elite that they will get access to the spoils in the Donbas in exchange for their loyalty. The only problem with all this is that Russia doesn’t have the money since oil and gas prices are so low. Nevertheless, the opportunity is there.
In regard to Syria, the propaganda response in the US has been incredible. The ramping up of the Russian propaganda machine is expected, because as I said above, this is one of the few mechanisms the Russian state has at creating consensus. But in America, it has been clumsy and transparent—the transformation of jihadists into “moderate rebels” or just “rebels” and the constant harping on the fact that the Russians aren’t hitting ISIS like they said they would. I mean it has been really pathetic. I think this desperate response by the entire US ideological state apparatuses is in part due to Russia interfering on US turf, and by doing so revealing the utter failure of US power projection in the Middle East. You can see this in all the rhetoric about Putin outfoxing Obama, winning, “not letting him get away with it,” etc. It’s like the US’ collective masculinity was insulted by the bare-chested Slav on horseback.
You've spent the past few years in Pittsburgh and I understand that you speak Russia fluently. So have you met and talked with Evgeni Malkin?
I’ve been in Pittsburgh for four years. It’s a great place and we decided to stay. The one (of many) things about Pittsburgh that disturbs me is how racially segregated it is. This is not to say that LA isn’t segregated. It is. But LA is a multiracial and multiethnic, albeit balkanized city. Here it’s just black and white. And frankly I’m not so comfortable with all these—what my mother would call—white-white people.
I don’t speak Russian fluently. I wish! I have a constant battle with the language even after all these years. I read a lot better than I speak. I’ve been in Russia for a year at two different intervals—2004-2005 and 2009-2010, in addition to several shorter trips. My Russian got quite good in that period. I think the only solution is for me to spend some extended time in country, and by extended time, I mean 3-5 years. That’s not going to happen under my current situation. I sometimes wonder if I’ll ever get a chance to go back. Maybe when my daughter is older and she can appreciate it. This is too bad because I really enjoy being there. It’s a fabulous country despite all its flaws. In all, I’m just not good with languages. I’m always amazed by those people who have picking up languages as their superpower. Unfortunately, I think languages are my kryptonite.
I’ve never met Evgeni Malkin.
The Original Hot Dog: Great place to get a hot dog and fries or greatest place for a hot dog and fries?
It’s okay. (Sean's note: It's better than okay!) I’ve been there a few times. Honestly, no fast food anywhere beats In-N-Out Burger in Los Angeles. N-o-w-h-e-r-e. Five Guys is a decent substitute. But still . . . I don’t miss a lot of things about LA except three things: In-N-Out, the Lakers, and the weather. Oh, perhaps medical marijuana as well.
(Sean's Note: In-N-Out is very, very good though I'll take the O Fries over In-N-Out fries.)
It seems like your blog has been pretty quiet lately. Are you currently working on anything for the site?
I’ve been real busy this summer. I was in Tanzania for ten days. It was absolutely amazing. I’ve always wanted to go to the African continent so this trip was very special for me. Then my wife and I bought a new house in East Liberty. Moving and setting up the house has taken a lot of time and has been my singular focus for the last two months.
But I’m now starting to reemerge from my hole. I’ve started up the podcast again and I will be writing more.
The big project ahead of me, however, has nothing to do with Russia. I’m embarking on a research project into American non-profit funding of Israeli settlements for the organization my wife works for, Partners for Progressive Israel. The idea is to track, collect, and make publically available information about the non-profit organizations that provide funds to organizations that send money to settlements. Our goal is to make this information available in a searchable database. We’re only getting started and it probably won’t be until sometime next year before it’s done.
Thanks again to Sean for taking the time to participate in this interview. These two posts are probably the most thoughtful entries on my blog ever. I'll get back to my usual posts about kids and other stuff in my life next week.
About 100 years ago (give or take 93 years), I wrote a post highlighting other blogs with Sean in the title. Recently, I found another Sean blog, Sean's Russia Blog. The topic itself was intriguing but I also found a connection with the site's author, Sean Guillory, since he was a post-doc at the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Russian & East European Studies. I sent Sean few questions about himself, Russia and Pittsburgh and he was extremely generous in providing excellent and thorough answers. So thorough that I'm dividing this up into two separate posts. This is a little different than my usual posts and topics, and I hope you enjoy this interview.
Plus, this is the first time that "plutocrats" has ever been used on Sean's Ramblings.
Tell me about your background. How did you become interested in Russia and Russian history and decide to get a doctorate in this subject?
I’m originally from California. I was born in the San Francisco Bay Area and moved to Los Angeles when I was ten. I consider myself a Los Angeleno first and foremost. A Laker fan for life. My entire family is from Louisiana, though. Theirs is an interesting story in and of itself. I learned a few years ago that my family was legally categorized as “black” until they moved to California in 1960s. It was a big secret, and some relatives refuse to talk about it. It’s as if they are living in the closet, so to speak. If you look at the census records of both my mother’s and father’s family going back to the 19th century they are all categorized as “negro” in the race column. My mother likes to say that at some point a “black” person entered our genealogy. I’ve come to wonder when a “white” person did.
The reason why I say they were “categorized” as black is because as far as I know none of them self-identified as black. Rather since Louisiana had the “one drop rule” my family was legally designated as black and had to live according to Jim Crow laws. However, I’ve been told that they didn’t identify as either black or white, though given a preference they identified as white and do so today. Instead, the more culturally conscious of them see themselves as Creole.
Like I said, it’s an interesting story, but by no means an uncommon one. It does show the malleability of race in America, and to some extent even its artificiality. In fact, I recently finished a book by Barbara and Karen Fields, Racecraft: the Soul of Inequality in American Life that makes a very strong argument that when we talk about race we are really talking about racism. Race is a fiction, but the category of race, how we understand it, how it functions institutionally and discursively is based in racist ideology, and specifically on the debunked science of biological racism. When we speak about race in America, we do so by unconsciously invoking assumptions based on the fictitious biology of race. This however is not without its problems. I don’t think we can properly call race a “fiction” when we recognize and people identify themselves as members of say African American culture that is rooted in the historical experience of being black in America. Sure, Fields might say that A-A culture is to variegated to reduce it to one “race,” and that suggesting that there are commonalities in the experience of African Americas is based in racist assumptions. We don’t, after all, speak of a “White American” culture. Instead we tend to associate white Americans with the culture of their ethnicity: Irish, Italian, Jewish (a difficult category considering American Sephardic Jews), etc. I don’t know what Fields would say about the intersection between culture and race/racism. It is certainly one of the questions, if not criticisms, I have.
In regard to Russia, I got interested in Russia in college after taking a class on the history of the Soviet Union. The professor, J. Arch Getty, would become my dissertation advisor. My interest initially was for political reasons—interest in communism and Marxism. That has evolved over the years to include a wide variety of issues and topics like Russian state formation and state craft, social history, and politics and culture of Russian society. Currently, I’ve been spending a lot of time reading about the history of neoliberalism as a way to form a theory and picture of capitalism in Putin’s Russia.
Why did I decide to get a doctorate in Russian history? That’s a good question, especially considering I’m no longer in academia. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I don’t regret it though I wish things would have turned out differently.
Vladimir Putin is a fascinating person. Despite there being a legislative body in Russia, he seems to run essentially a dictatorship. How was he able to assume total power in Russia and is there any possibility of this changing?
I don’t like the word dictatorship and I wouldn’t call Russia one, though it is fashionable in some quarters—in the West and in Russia—to use this terminology. While I agree it is certainly authoritarian, but the concentration of power in the hands of the presidency is granted by the constitution. The legislature is weak because the Yeltsin constitution of 1993 made it such. That said, Russia has always had a top heavy, authoritarian structure. The legal strictures of the Constitution allow for an easy convergence with traditional Russian statecraft. I call it authoritarian because the legal system and state structure are mechanisms of the Russian elite, upon which Putin sits as the head. Moreover, the structures that would allow a politics independent from the state—political parties and civil society (structures which were always nascent in Russia)—have been neutered over the last 15 years under Putin. More tolerate assessments would call this “managed democracy” in which the space of acceptable political participation (which may expand and contact depending on the domestic and international situations) are defined by the state. This is a contrast with liberal systems where the law theoretically sits above the state, and it is the law that defines the rules of the political game. In liberal societies, the law is constructed to serve a class—the political and financial elite who may wage political battles against each other, but do not wage politics as a zero sum game. There is a more or less shared consensus among liberal elites in terms of class interests. However, we can see in the United States at least that the “rule of law” has increasingly become concentrated in the service of plutocrats and the neoliberal state. This best example of this convergence between law and neoliberalism is the Supreme Court’s ruling on Citizens United.
Russia has some elements of this, but there are important divergences. The law is merely reduced to an instrument of elite power and is exercised selectively to not only subordinate the masses, but more importantly as a disciplinary mechanism against the elite. Therefore I would argue that in Russia the elite lacks class consciousness as such. Rather, a small faction of the elite rules for its own benefit and demands that other elites fall in line if they want to maintain the wealth and privileges. The leader, in this case, Putin, maneuvers between these various factions, playing one against the other, ensuring divisions between them, and making sure his indispensability. Here, how Russia is ruled has more in common with feudal relations than modern class relations. Putin sets the rules for the elite: steal but only within certain parameters, understand that your wealth and privileges are in exchange for loyalty, and be ready to mobilize your wealth in service of the state when called upon. Corruption has been both the means for the elite and other bureaucrats to gain wealth at the same time it is a mechanism of discipline.
Now looking at both of these, the United States and Russia, you might see some convergence occurring as wealth and power are concentrated in few hands. There is something to this. I think the main difference is in the relationship between force and consent.
In many ways, this power dynamic within today’s Russian elite reproduces centuries old relations between Tsar and the nobility. In fact, some historians have argued that there is a strong continuum in Russian elite relations along these lines. I think it is too presumptuous to suggest that 17th century Russian elite relations continue virtually unaltered to this day. However, the analysis certainly gives deserves reflection.
Putin was able to become the dominant force in Russian politics through his adept manipulation of this system. He did this in several ways: 1) he broke independent oligarchic power and subordinated Russia’s elite to the state; 2) Utilized the flood of petrodollars in the 2000s to raise Russians’ standard of living; 3) Consolidated the political system by delegitimizing the non-systemic opposition on the one hand and taming the loyal opposition on the other; 4) Returned Russia into a global player capable of defending and prosecuting its geopolitical interests, a process in which we are seeing at the moment in Syria.
At the same time, Russia is a terribly under governed country. The concentration of power into few hands, if not solely into Putin’s, has resulted in micromanagement (in Russian ruchnoi kontrol or manual control) at the top and, as a result, subterfuge below. The centralization of power has resulted in the permanent atrophy of local state structures. The whole system is top heavy and as you burrow down the rung is actually quite fragile. This is why I say, to borrow a slogan from the preeminent Indian historian Ranagit Guha, Putin and his circle have dominance without hegemony. Dominance remains because the consensual apparatus of Russia is so weak. This is why I think the system relies so heavily on state controlled propaganda.
In many respects Putin rules over a country with chronic historical problems: the weakness of law—not in a liberal sense—but in a state sense. There is an absent of a rechtsstaat where the system operates on automatic control. While the bureaucracy is massive and the state bloated, governance is rather weak. The elite, to put it in Marxist terms, is a class in itself, but not for itself. That is too say, that the Russian elite sees itself as a distinct class vis-Ã -vis the masses, and at times, will even consolidate when faced with threats from within and without. But it doesn’t possess the consciousness to press for its collective class interests, and do so without cannibalizing itself. This is why it still requires a Putin to maintain the balance.
Finally, there exists very little political flow between the elite and citizens. While Putin and his circle are obsessed with the mass opinion of the population—Russians are some of the most polled people on the planet and the government is very mindful of maintaining Putin’s astronomical approval ratings. At the same time there are very few mechanisms for the masses to have any influence on governance. Hence there is a tendency toward the political stagnation we’ve been witnessing since Putin returned for a third term. There is just little dynamism in the system to perpetuate it or, more importantly, renew it.
As for the possibility of Russia changing, the question is in what direction. The hollowing out of popular politics in Russia has left a space where only Putin dominates. Once he’s gone there will be a vacuum, and who will occupy it is anyone’s guess. The problem is, and this is another one of Russia’s chronic historical problems, is that there is no mechanism for transition. Every succession produces crisis and every one of them has, except for a brief period in the 19th century from Alexander II to Nicholas II. Every other instance has led to conflict, palace intrigue, palace coups, state disintegration, civil war, and revolution.
Substantive political change in Russia has historically occurred in two ways: the rise of a modernizing or reformist leadership that is from above, or through revolution, that is from below. I, as well as others, thought that the Medvedev experiment of 2008-2012 was going to be the beginning of evolutionary process, particularly in terms of leadership transition, but, for whatever reasons, and people have various theories, that didn’t happen. Just the opposite actually.
This may be an odd question, but does Putin care about what the world thinks of him and Russia? He invaded Crimea and the Ukraine with little repercussions and recently delivered weapons to Assad, not at the top of the most popular world leader list, helping him maintain power in Syria. Conversely, he has spent billions of dollars on the Sochi Olympics and 2018 World Cup, two major events to showcase Russia.
Why should he care? He is not a president subject to an election by the world nor is he or should he be in a global popularity contest. He leads according to what he perceives are the interests of the Russian state. Now whether those perceptions are actually in the interests of the state, let alone the Russian people, is another question.
Meanwhile, we're not going to see a Putin-Elton John summit on gay rights anytime soon, are we?
No, and the one that supposedly happened was a prank.
Tomorrow, we'll cover Ukraine, Pittsburgh, The Original Hot Dog and more. (Part II is now available here.)
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