Sports

Charley Rosen is author of the new novel "Barney Polan's Game" (Seven Stories Press) The book is largely based on the real-life college basketball point-shaving scandal in 1950 and 51. Rosen also wrote a non-fiction account of this in "Scandals of 51: How the Gamblers Almost Killed College Basketball".

Former Ice Dancing Gold Medal Winner Christopher Dean. In the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo he and his dance partner, Jayne Torvill received nine perfect marks, and a gold medal for their flawless performance. Now Dean works as a choreographer. He'll talk with Barbara Bogaev about the art of ice dancing, and about this year's Olympics.

The sport of snowboarding was admitted into the Olympics for the first time this year. Jake Burton is one of founders of the sport. He began making snowboards 20 years ago in his Vermont garage, experimenting with design and materials until he got the kind of board he envisioned. His company is Burton Snowboards (in Burlington, Vermont).

TV critic David Bianculli on the coverage of the Olympics.

Basketball expert and playground legend Pee Wee Kirkland. Professor at Long Island University and basketball coach in Manhattan, Kirkland wrote the introduction to John Huet's photography book, "Soul of the Game" (Melcher Media/Workman pub.). It's about the impact playground basketball has on the sport. Kirkland also acted in and served as the Technical Basketball Advisor for the 1994 movie "Above the Rim."

Tara VanDerveer coached the Olympic gold medal-winning U.S. Women’s basketball team. The team’s performance drew large crowds and secured the formation of two professional U.S. women’s leagues: the WNBA and the ABL. VanDerveer has written a book about her own experience as a woman in sports. Its called “Shooting from the Outside: How a Coach and her Olympic Team Transformed Women’s Basketball.” (Avon Books) VanDerveer now coaches the Stanford University Women’s basketball team. (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Aquatics director Jim Spiers with Aerobics West, a fitness club in New York City's Upper West Side. Spiers specializes in teaching children and infants how to swim. His students can be as young as six months old. Though the Red Cross maintains that children under five can not be taught to swim, Spiers disagrees, and considers it a safety measure to teach toddlers how to swim. (An article in the New York Times, July 31, 1997, edition profiles Spiers). (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Former major league baseball scout John Young. He is special assistant to the general manager of the Chicago Cubs. In 1988 he began a program in south central Los Angeles to get inner city kids playing baseball. Known as RBI ("Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities"), the program has since expanded to include 51 cities and 40,000 youth. (For information about RBI contact: Tom Brasuell, Baseball Office of the Commissioner, 350 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022, phone 212-339-7844) (REBROADCAST from 4/29/97) (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

This month National Geographic "Explorer" will broadcast a behind-the-scenes documentary about NFL films, whose innovative presentation of football has helped make the sport as popular as it is today. The show, which is called "Inside NFL Films: The Idol Makers," will air on August 17th at 7 PM (ET) on TBS Superstations. Marty Moss-Coane talks with Steve Sabol, the president of NFL films, who also directs many of the NFL films.

The sport of boxing has been in the news since boxer Mike Tyson bit the ear of his opponent, Evander Holyfield. Photographer Larry Fink has captured many images of boxing which have been collected in his book, "Boxing" (Powerhouse Books). And sports writer Bert Sugar has written numerous works on sports and has served as senior vice-president of "The Ring" magazine, a magazine on boxing. He wrote the essay included in Fink's book. They'll talk about the often maligned sport. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Lead prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson criminal trial, Marcia Clark. She has since stepped down as Prosecutor in the Office of the Los Angeles District Attorney. She has a new memoir about the trial and her experiences: "Without a Doubt" (Viking).

Former major baseball league scout John Young. He is currently special assistant to the general manager of the Chicago Cubs. In 1988 he began a program in south central Los Angeles to get inner city kids playing baseball. Known as RBI ("Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities"), the program has since expanded to include 51 cities and 40,000 youth.

Commentator Gerald Early talks about baseball legend Jackie Robinson and his unintended effects on the Negro leagues.

Commentator Gerald Early tells us why he was unsatisfied with "When We Were Kings" the Oscar-award winning documentary about the classic showdown between Muhammad Ali and George Forman in 1974 in Zaire.

Athlete and freelance journalist Anna Seaton Huntington. She won the women's pair rowing bronze medal in the 1992 Olympics and was a member of the 1995 women's team in the America's Cup competition. In her new book "Making Waves," she writes of her experience training for and competing in a traditionally male-dominated sport of sailing.

Fred & Kim Goldman, father and and sister of the late Ron Goldman, who was murdered in June 1994. They were present throughout the criminal trial against O.J. Simpson, who was charged with the crime, and recently won their case against him at the civil trial. In a new book "His Name is Ron: Our Search for Justice," the family recounts their experiences at the criminal trial and shares their memories of Ron Goldman.

Gates is the W.E.B. DuBois Professor of Humanities and chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University as well as a staff writer for "The New Yorker." In his new book, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man," Gates records the thoughts of some of society's most revered black American men. The men debate the current state of black men and the difficulties of race and gender relations in American society.

America's pre-eminent writer has written forty-seven books, including 17 novels. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, poet, and essayist has now turned his attention to his other passion. "Golf Dreams: Writings on Golf" is published by Knopf.

This past spring in Philadelphia, in a well publicized match, Kasparov beat IBM's Deep Blue, which was considered the most competitive chess computer to date. Kasparov recently has been promoting chess as a learning tool in schools. He made a new chess computer game called "Talking Coach Kasparov" by Saitek. It has the unique feature of having an electronic chess tutor talk to you when you're in trouble. Kasparov was born in Moscow and was an outspoken critic of communism during the Cold War.

An excerpt from the next edition of "This American Life" from WBEZ: a performance excerpt from monologist, actor and writer Spalding Gray. His latest show "It's a Slippery Slope" opens this Sunday at New York's Lincoln Center Theater. This excerpt was recorded at Chicago's Goodman Theater.