In the 39-minute podcast, five-time New York Times best seller and The Athletic national columnist Ian O’Connor joins “The Main Event with Andrew Marchand.” O’Connor tells amazing stories from his book and explains what it takes to be a best seller.
What’s on tap:
How and why O’Connor has written New York Times best selling books on Arnie & Jack, Derek Jeter, Bill Belichick and Aaron Rodgers. His latest is co-authored with Dan Hurley
The value of breaking stories for a best-selling book
How O’Connor broke the story in his Coach K book on how Mike Krzyzewski blocked Tommy Amaker from being hired instead of Jon Scheyer
Why O’Connor started writing books
How O’Connor got the final George Steinbrenner exclusive when Steinbrenner threatened to fire Joe Torre
O’Connor’s Clueless Joe Torre column was always misunderstood
How Joe Torre was almost got fired before he managed a game
Why O’Connor did the Belichick and the Jeter books
How a friend of Belichick said O’Connor told him that he told stories about Belichick’s life that he didn’t know
Why Jeter was the most negative of any of the people O’Connor has written about
The late night hotel scene in the Jeter book that Jeter probably didn’t like
How Aaron Rodgers was really good about understanding the reason for the negative and the positive being in his book
Why O’Connor told Rodgers about the negatives when he went to his house
The way O’Connor shows accountability with examples from Jeter, Rodgers and Belichick
What was the Coach K process like
O’Connor reaction when Coach K got sick the day the Amaker story came out
How Hurley book happened after he won back-to-back National Championship
What O’Connor is looking for in his next book? Aaron Judge?
What Jon Bon Jovi told O’Connor about his Belichick book
Would O’Connor write a non-sports book? Some interesting names he has thought about
Some Related Sports Media Podcasts
2. How Adam Schefter became the most prolific NFL insider in history
3. How Woj became a Hall of Famer
4. How Tyler Dunne made his NFL longform Substack work
5. Peter King’s legendary NFL stories
6. Peter Schrager, the king of connections
8. How Joel Sherman became a New York baseball institution
9. How Chris Russo became the greatest sports talk show host of all-time
Jay Marine is the guest for “Off The Record with Andrew Marchand presented by WSC Sports” on Sept. 24th. Sign-up here
Sponsor: WSC Sports … Tell them Marchand sent you
On Deck Tuesday: Marchand & Meterparel
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