Limpert Tech "SullyCast" on ALT 105.7 and iHeartRadio 4/25/20 - Joan Ryan, Author, Award-Winning Journalist
Sunday, April 26, 2020 at 10:52AM Rick talks to Joan Ryan this week. Ryan is an award-winning journalist, author and sports media consultant.
She was a pioneer in sports journalism as one of the first female sports columnists in the country. She covered every major sporting event from the Super Bowl and the World Series to the Olympics and championship fights. Her sports columns and features earned 13 Associated Press Sports Editors Awards, the National Headliner Award, the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Journalism Award, and the prestigious Edgar A. Poe Award from the White House Correspondents Association for her four-part series about wounded soldiers, "War Without End.’'
Her first book, “Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters’’ (1995, Doubleday) was a ground-breaking expose named one of the “Top 100 Sports Books of All Time’’ by Sports Illustrated and one of the “Top 50 Sports Books of All Time’’ by the Guardian. The book and Joan were featured on Oprah, 60 Minutes, Nightline, the Today Show, People magazine, the New Yorker, the New York Times, Time magazine and other media around the country.
Have a listen:
Her 2015 book, Molina: The Story of a Father Who Raised an Unlikely Baseball Dynasty (Simon & Schuster), was a finalist for the 2015 PEN Literary Award.
Her current book, Intangibles: Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry, will be published by Little, Brown, in April.
Joan has been the senior media advisor to the San Francisco Giants since 2008.
Does team chemistry actually exist? Is there scientific or mathematical proof? Is team chemistry as real and relevant as on-base percentages and wins above replacement?
In Joan Ryan's groundbreaking book we discover that the answer to all of the above is a resounding yes. As Ryan puts it, team chemistry, or the combination of biological and social forces that boosts selfless effort among more players over more days of a season, is what drives sports teams toward a common goal, encouraging the players to be the best versions of themselves. These are the elements of teams that make them "click," the ones that foster trust and respect, and push players to exceed their own potential when they work well together.
Team chemistry alone won't win a World Series, but talent alone won't win it, either. And by interviewing more than 100 players, coaches, managers, and statisticians, as well as over five years of extensive research in neuroscience, biology, physiology, and psychology, Ryan proves that the social and emotional state of a team does affect performance. Grit, passion, selflessness, and effort matter -- but never underestimate the power of chemistry.
You can order and pre-order the versions here: