Glue Guys
Episode 22 Arenas of American Ambition
Glue Guys

Episode 22: Arenas of American Ambition

Glue Guys

Episode 22

Arenas of American Ambition

How do you turn overlooked data into bestselling stories that change industries? Michael Lewis reveals his process for finding and telling groundbreaking narratives, from Moneyball to Flash Boys to The Big Short. He also explains how he came across Shane’s unique impact on basketball, and how Kobe Bryant secretly studied his profile “The No-Stats All-Star” to counter Shane’s tactics. Jump inside the mind of one of our favorite authors and leave with a clear (and surprisingly simple) sense of how to find extraordinary stories.

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Show Notes:

(00:00:00) Learn about Ramp

(00:02:08) Introducing Michael Lewis: A Career Overview

(00:03:26) High School Football Memories: Reggie Bush and Beyond

(00:08:20) Evaluating Quarterbacks: Talent and Processing

(00:22:22) The Evolution of College Athletes

(00:24:24) The Story Behind 'No Stats All-Star'

(00:27:01) Shane Battier's Unique Defensive Techniques

(00:34:17) Impact of Writing on Sports and Athletes

(00:39:01) The Coal Miner Story and Public Service

(00:45:17) The Art of Finding the Right Character

(00:48:45) Revisiting Old Ideas

(00:50:17) The Intersection of Sports and Finance

(00:51:09) The Appeal of Competitive Environments

(00:52:14) From Wall Street to Sports Writing

(00:55:06) The Evolution of Analytics in Sports

(00:56:34) The Art of Storytelling

(00:57:51) Unique Jobs and Hidden Talents

(01:01:04) The Value of Being Useful

(01:05:17) Financial Literacy in Sports

(01:07:17) The Future of NIL Deals

Arenas of American Ambition

Introduction

Shane
What up, Glue Guys and Glue Gals out there? We got a special guest, author Michael Lewis, who started his career on Wall Street working for Salomon Brothers, which inspired his first bestselling book, Liar's Poker. Since that book, he's gone on to be one of the greatest and most successful nonfiction writers of our time. He's written famous books like Moneyball that everyone knows and loves, The Big Short, The Blind Side, all of which have become successful films.

He's also a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and has his own podcast called Against the Rules. And on a personal note, he's changed my life. I was the subject of his 2009 piece in The New York Times Sunday Magazine called "The No-Stat All-Star," where he explained what I did as a Glue Guy for the Houston Rockets many years ago.

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