
Good Seats Still Available
Tim Hanlon

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Top 10 Good Seats Still Available Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Good Seats Still Available episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Good Seats Still Available for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Good Seats Still Available episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

235: The Hartford Whalers - With Pat Pickens
Good Seats Still Available
10/18/21 • 101 min
We pick up where we left off in our previous episodes 62 (with the "Whaler Guys") and 100 (featuring WHA-version franchise founder Howard Baldwin) for a comprehensive look into the former NHL franchise that regularly sells more branded merchandise than even some current league teams - the Hartford Whalers.
Author Pat Pickens ("The Whalers: The Rise, Fall, and Enduring Mystique of New England's [Second] Greatest NHL Franchise") walks us through the history and ongoing mystique of one of the National Hockey League's most enigmatic clubs - one whose legacy endures some 24 years after its odd and bittersweet relocation to Raleigh (via Greensboro), North Carolina in 1997.

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243: The 3rd Annual Year-End Holiday Roundtable Spectacular!
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12/13/21 • 112 min
We try to make sense of a decidedly bipolar 2021 with our third-annual Holiday Roundtable Spectacular - featuring three of our favorite fellow defunct sports enthusiasts Paul Reeths (OurSportsCentral.com, StatsCrew.com & Episode 46); Andy Crossley (Fun While It Lasted & Episode 2); and Steve Holroyd (Episodes 92, 109, 149 & 188).
Join us as we discuss the past, present and potential "futures" of defunct and otherwise forgotten pro sports teams and leagues - starting with a look back at some of the year’s most notable events, including:
- COVID-19's continued wrath across the entirety of pro sports;
- Cleveland says goodbye Indians - and hello Guardians;
- The dubious reincarnation of the USFL;
- Relocation threats from MLB's Oakland Athletics, the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes, and half a season's worth of the Tampa Bay Rays;
- NWHL women's hockey reorg/rebrand to Premier Hockey Federation;
- NPF women's softball suspends operations after 17 years; AND
- The passing of challenger league pioneer Dennis Murphy.
Plus, we say goodbye to ESPN Classic!

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234: "Big-Time Soccer" - With Rachel Viollet
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10/11/21 • 68 min
We take another crack at the history and mythology of the late, great North American Soccer League - this time through the eyes of sports filmmaker Rachel Viollet, whose new documentary "Big-Time Soccer: The Remarkable Rise & Fall of the NASL" makes its US debut at New York's Kicking + Screening film festival later this week.
If that surname sounds familiar, it won't surprise you that Rachel is also the daughter of the late Dennis Viollet - one of the legendary Manchester United "Busby Babes" of the late 1940s & early 1950s - who later went on to become one of the pioneering coaches in the 1970s-era NASL.
With managerial roles overseeing Washington, DC's Diplomats and two flavors of Tea Men in both New England and Jacksonville, the elder Viollet unwittingly provided his young daughter with a bird's-eye childhood purview into a vibrant and hugely entertaining pro soccer circuit, whose influence is still felt in today's MLS and beyond.
Featuring dozens of first-person interviews, rare video footage, and a mountain of exhaustive research, "Big-Time Soccer" is a love letter to both the best and the worst of the NASL - and the legacy it left behind.

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237: Pro Sports in Atlanta - It's Complicated (With Clayton Trutor)
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11/01/21 • 78 min
By the time you hear this week's episode, the Atlanta Braves just may be celebrating their second-ever World Series trophy since moving from Milwaukee in 1956.
If so, it would be the team's first title in 26 years, and only the second time in the region's modern sports history - or fourth, if you include the titles won by the now-defunct NASL's Atlanta Chiefs in 1968 and Major League Soccer's Atlanta United three years ago - that "The ATL" has been able to boast of any true major pro sports championship.
That kind of futility can make any sports fan question their sanity, and as this week's guest Clayton Trutor ("Loserville: How Professional Sports Remade Atlanta―and How Atlanta Remade Professional Sports") tells us - in Atlanta's case, that self-doubt dates all the way back to the mid-1970s when one of its major newspapers dubbed the city "Loserville, USA".
As Trutor describes it, Atlanta's excitement around the arrival of four professional franchises during a dynamic six-year (1966-72) period quickly gave way to general frustration and, eventually, widespread apathy toward its home teams. By the dawn of the 80s, all four of the region's major-league franchises were flailing in the standings, struggling to draw fans - and, in the case of the NHL's Flames, ready to move out of town.
While that indifference/malaise has dissipated somewhat in the decades since then (save for a second attempt at the NHL with the short-lived Thrashers), the dearth of team titles continues to loom over Atlanta's pro sports scene.
The resurgent Braves and their paradigm-changing Truist Park complex may just help change all that.

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231: The 1956 Los Angeles Angels - With Gaylon White
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09/20/21 • 99 min
We revisit LA's spirited pre-majors Pacific Coast League rivalry (begun in Episode 208: The Hollywood Stars - With Dan Taylor) with a look at the team ultimately responsible for the demise of both - the Los Angeles Angels.
Baseball author Gaylon White (“The Bilko Athletic Club: The Story of the 1956 Los Angeles Angels”) helps us set the table for the club’s background story as the city’s preeminent minor league baseball franchise - seen through the lens of its triumphant pennant-winning season of 1956, its penultimate before the National League’s Dodgers took over town.
Comprised of major league castoffs and unproven rookies, the Angels that season were centered around a bulky, beer-loving basher of home runs named Steve Bilko - a former St. Louis Cardinal whose headline-grabbing exploits at the plate led the PCL in eight different categories and the club to a dominating 107-61 record - 16 games ahead of their nearest challenger.
In addition to earning national Minor League Player of the Year honors that season, Bilko also became an instant celebrity in Los Angeles - earning as much (if not more) than some of his better-known major league colleagues, as well as unwitting fame the eponymous lead character for of the Emmy Award-winning Phil Silvers Show.
When the Angels and the Stars left town in 1958, so did Bilko - this time for a few more cups of coffee in the bigs, including, ironically, the first two seasons of the major (AL) league expansion version of the Angels in 1961-62 - the inaugural season of which was played in the same Wrigley Field that housed him and its predecessor.

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389: The 1925 NFL Champion(?) Pottsville Maroons - With David Fleming
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04/07/25 • 104 min
It's our long-overdue dive into one of the most controversial stories in National Football League history — the tale of the Pottsville Maroons and its stolen 1925 championship — with ESPN journalist and author David Fleming, whose acclaimed 2007 book "Breaker Boys: The NFL's Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship" is newly apropos on the 100th anniversary of what many consider to be pro football's most egregious historical blunder.
Fleming guides us through the dramatic rise and fall of the Maroons — an Eastern Pennsylvania coal-country semi-pro team born of grit, visionary coaching, and the raw determination of hard-working, hardscrabble working-class miners/players/characters, like Tony 'The Human Howitzer' Latone.
We'll trace how this unlikely squad stormed into the NFL in 1925, defeated its powerhouse Chicago Cardinals in the ostensible title game, and then toppled a heavily-favored University of Notre Dame "Four Horsemen" squad in a much-hyped exhibition match.
But their moment of triumph became their undoing. The NFL suspended the team for allegedly violating territorial rights for the game — a charge hotly contested to this day — and stripped them of the title. Instead, the Cardinals were awarded the championship, and Pottsville was left with nothing but heartbreak.
Hear how the Maroons’ win over the Fighting Irish actually helped legitimize a still-fledgling NFL — and how the league "repaid" them with what many call the worst injustice in pro football history. We'll explore the political maneuvering behind the decision, the 100-year fight for redemption, and what it reveals about the NFL's ownership power dynamics, both then and now.
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161: Jim Bouton: Baseball Original – With Mitch Nathanson
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04/27/20 • 110 min
From the day he first stepped into the New York Yankee clubhouse in 1962 at the age of 23, Jim Bouton was baseball’s deceptive revolutionary. Behind the all-American boy-next-door good looks and formidable fastball, lurked an unlikely maverick with a decidedly signature style – both on and off the diamond.
Whether it was his frank talk about MLB front office management and player salaries, passionate advocacy of progressive politics, or efforts to convince the Johnson Administration to boycott the 1968 Summer Olympics, “Bulldog” Bouton fearlessly – and seemingly effortlessly – confronted a largely conservative sports world and compelled it to catch up with a rapidly changing American society.
On the field, Bouton defied tremendous odds to reach the majors – first with the champion Bronx Bombers (making 1963’s AL All-Star team in his second season, and winning two World Series games in 1964) – and later, with an improbable post-retirement comeback at age 39 with the Atlanta Braves.
But in between, it was his memorable 1969 season with the woeful one-year Seattle Pilots – and his groundbreaking tell-all account called Ball Four – that literally and figuratively changed the game (not to mention Bouton’s career) by reintroducing America to its national pastime in a profound and traditional-altering way.
Author Mitch Nathanson (Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original) joins the show for a look at Bouton’s unconventional life, and how – in the cliquey, bottom‐line world of professional baseball, Bouton managed to be both an insider and an outsider all at once.

166: MISL Soccer’s Los Angeles Lazers – With Ronnie Weinstein
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06/01/20 • 86 min
The Major Indoor Soccer League’s rocket red ball bounces back our way this week for an Eighties-style rewind into the story of the Los Angeles Lazers – as seen through the eyes of one of its chief front office architects, Ronnie Weinstein.
Claimed from dormancy (as the previous Philadelphia Fever) by LA sports baron Dr. Jerry Buss – owner of the 1980 NBA champion Lakers, NHL Kings, 1981 TeamTennis champion Strings, and the building that housed them, Inglewood’s “Fabulous” Forum – the Lazers began life in the MISL in the fall of 1982 under the direction of Weinstein and Buss’ eldest son Johnny.
True to its name (and emblematic of the league’s over-the-top promotional zeitgeist), the team immediately became known for its cutting-edge pre-game laser light shows, which management felt ideally suited to the lightning-fast pace of indoor soccer – and hoped would help the Lazers stand out from the wealth of entertainment options available in Southern California.
Weinstein, Buss & Co. also tapped heavily into the celebrity-driven energy associated with their “Showtime”-era Laker arena mates, borrowing the Paula Abdul-choreographed Laker Girls to become the “Lazer Girls” for their games – and regularly recruiting Hollywood A-listers like James Caan, Neil Diamond, Cher, Ricky Schroeder, and elder Buss poker mate Gabe Kaplan to the festivities.
But the white-hot Lakers, the rising Kings, a robust concert schedule, and the family-favorite Strings all took scheduling precedence over the Lazers, leaving only a hodgepodge of mostly weekday winter school nights from which to attract soccer-mad families to the Forum.
Of course, there was high-scoring MISL soccer action – but the Lazers were not very good (an 8-40 inaugural record and just one winning [1987-88] season over the team’s run didn’t help) – and the majority of games were not well-attended (the league’s least-drawing franchise in five of its seven seasons).
Despite all the synergies – including Jerry Buss’ strong enthusiasm for the game itself – nothing seemed to work. By 1987 (with son Jim now helming the team alongside Weinstein), Buss saw the Lazers and the league as doomed – unless moves to reduce player salaries and shift play to a more family-friendly summer schedule were embraced.
After fruitless pleading with the MISL Board of Governors, Buss pulled the plug on the team after the 1988-89 season, telling Weinstein if he ever wanted to pursue another indoor soccer endeavor with his more prudent business model, he’d be there to back it.
This week’s episode is sponsored by the Red Lightning Books imprint of Indiana University Press – who offer our listeners a FREE CHAPTER of pioneering sportswriter Diana K. Shah’s new memoir A Farewell to Arms, Legs and Jockstraps!

209: The Eastern Professional Basketball League - With Syl Sobel & Jay Rosenstein
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04/05/21 • 97 min
The EPBL was a fast-paced and physical affair, often played in tiny, smoke-filled gyms across the northeast and featuring standout players who found themselves "boxed out" of the NBA for a variety of reasons - unspoken quotas on Black players (like Hal “King” Lear, Julius McCoy, & Wally Choice), collegiate point-shaving scandals (e.g., Sherman White, Jack Molinas, Bill Spivey), or simply the harsh math of a 1950s/60s NBA that counted less than 100 roster slots total across its 8-10 franchises.
Syl Sobel and Jay Rosenstein ("Boxed Out of the NBA: Remembering the Eastern Professional Basketball League") join the show to delve into the fascinating story of a league that, for over 30 years, was the next-best professional league in the world after the NBA.
And featured a bevy of eventual basketball luminaries - like Syracuse University coach Jim Boeheim, former Temple University coach John Chaney, former Detroit Pistons player & coach Ray Scott, former NBA coach & TV analyst Hubie Brown, and former NBA player & coach Bob Weiss - who went on to make their marks upon the modern game. If you remember teams like the Scranton Milers, Wilkes-Barre Barons, Sunbury Mercuries or Allentown Jets - this is the episode for you!Support the show by trying one month of BlueChew for FREE (just pay $5 shipping) with promo code GOODSEATS at checkout!

164: Negro League Baseball’s Atlantic City Bacharach Giants – With Jim Overmyer
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05/18/20 • 90 min
The curious story of baseball’s Atlantic City (NJ) Bacharach Giants originates from a unique intersection of racism, tourism, and politics.
In 1915, an independent semi-pro “Atlantic City Colored League” was formed to provide an entertainment outlet for the city’s 11,000+ black residents – with the hope being they would attend the games and stay off the boardwalk, a then-booming summer haven for white tourists.
Two black businessmen active in the local Republican political machine asked an existing area team to join the league and promotionally rename itself after politician Harry Bacharach, the once-and-future mayor of Atlantic City. When the team refused, the duo travelled south and convinced eight members of the Duval Giants, a black amateur team in Jacksonville, Florida, to venture north and create the foundation for a new independent club instead.
The “Bacharach Giants” largely dominated whatever opponents came their way during the late 1910s, despite persistent financial wobbliness. In 1920, the team began a three-year stint as an associate member of Rube Foster’s new Negro National League (NNL) – allowing them to retain official independence, but also to coordinate non-league games with the teams from Foster’s largely Midwest-based circuit.
In 1923, Atlantic City broke from the NNL to help start the rival Eastern Colored League (ECL), where they achieved their greatest success – including winning two league pennants in 1926 and 1927 – though losing both times in subsequent Negro League World Series play to the NNL’s Chicago American Giants.
Beset by rancorous squabbles over player contracts, the ECL folded in 1928. Five of its clubs – including the Bacharach Giants – formed the bulk of a new American Negro League for 1929, only to see both the league and its team from Atlantic City fold by the end of the season.
Author/historian Jim Overmyer (Black Ball and the Boardwalk: The Bacharach Giants of Atlantic City) joins to discuss the history of the club, and some of the legends that emanated from it, including Negro League standouts Dick Lundy, Oliver Marcell, Dick Redding, “Nip” Winters, Chanel White, “Rats” Henderson, Claude Grier, and Luther Farrell – and National Baseball Hall of Famer John Henry "Pop" Lloyd.
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FAQ
How many episodes does Good Seats Still Available have?
Good Seats Still Available currently has 431 episodes available.
What topics does Good Seats Still Available cover?
The podcast is about Basketball, Baseball, History, Football, Podcasts, Volleyball, Sports, Soccer, Hockey and Nostalgia.
What is the most popular episode on Good Seats Still Available?
The episode title '237: Pro Sports in Atlanta - It's Complicated (With Clayton Trutor)' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Good Seats Still Available?
The average episode length on Good Seats Still Available is 90 minutes.
How often are episodes of Good Seats Still Available released?
Episodes of Good Seats Still Available are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Good Seats Still Available?
The first episode of Good Seats Still Available was released on Mar 6, 2017.
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