#44 – Jeremy Schaap, ESPN journalist: upsets, doping, triumphs, and the importance of sports

KEYPOINTS

• 01

  Braddock's comeback was built by hardship

  Schaap, who wrote the best-selling Cinderella Man, retells James J. Braddock's story. He was a former light-heavyweight contender who lost his 1929 title shot to Tommy Loughran, then broke his hand and went on government relief during the Depression. Unable to afford bus fare, he walked to work as a stevedore on the Hudson docks. That labor built strength in a left hand he had never really had. He was booked as a stepping stone for John 'Corn' Griffin and won, and Griffin's name became boxing slang for someone who couldn't get it done.

• 02

  Max Baer was the opposite of Braddock: a showman shaken by a death in the ring

  Baer killed Frankie Campbell in a 1930 San Francisco fight, which led to an inquest. Accounts, including his son's, say he was never the same afterward. He was later blamed for Ernie Schaaf's death against Primo Carnera, though Peter notes an autopsy suggested meningitis. Schaap says Baer saw boxing as show business and acted in Hollywood films while champion. That ambivalence showed when he clowned through his first defense against Braddock, who weighed about 192–193 pounds to Baer's roughly 250.

• 03

  Braddock embodied an older code of fighting until nothing was left

  Against a 23-year-old Joe Louis, Braddock knocked Louis down in the first round. Then, battered, he told manager Joe Gould that if he threw in the towel he would never speak to him again. Schaap says that by today's standards it would seem 'silly,' but it meant something then. Louis went on to hold the title for 12 years with 25 defenses.

• 04

  Buster Douglas beating Tyson wasn't a lucky punch, Schaap insists

  In Tokyo, 22 days after his mother died, the 42-to-1 underdog dominated. Tyson's eye was swelling shut by the third round, and Douglas controlled even the eighth, in which he was knocked down. Schaap says only about four people predicted that Douglas's jab and size could frustrate Tyson. His point is that Douglas had real credentials, including a win over Greg Page, yet Don King had called him 'a dog' and a quitter.

• 05

  The 'destroyers' and the 'artists' approach the sport differently

  Peter and Schaap contrast feared knockout artists such as Dempsey, Liston and Tyson with stylists like Ali and Louis. Schaap suggests that a fighter hailed as able to end things with one punch may stop listening to trainers like Kevin Rooney. That leaves him exposed when someone finally stands up to him.

• 06

  Too much, too fast undid Douglas

  After the upset came court fights with Don King and over the eighth-round 'long count,' the replacement of the people who had built his success, and a $24 million purse to fight Holyfield, the largest in sports history at the time. After taxes and payouts he still had about $9 million in cash. Schaap believes his motivation was gone and his grief over his mother finally hit.

• 07

  The Bobby Knight interview made Schaap's career

  Days after Indiana fired Knight over its zero-tolerance policy, Schaap, then 31, pushed back when Knight called his son Pat 'the real victim.' Schaap pointed out that Pat wouldn't be losing his job if Knight had behaved. Knight glared and said, 'You've got a long way to go until you're as good as your dad.' Producer Willie Weinbaum had warned him that Knight would probably use his father against him.

• 08

  Schaap regrets not being more skeptical during the 1998 home run chase

  Covering Mark McGwire for ESPN, he saw about 20 of the 70 home runs, including every one from 52 to 70. He says the androstenedione found in McGwire's locker, then a legal supplement, seemed to put the steroid question to rest. He wishes he had approached it with more skepticism. Peter calls the tribute to Roger Maris's family, alongside Sammy Sosa, 'phony' in hindsight.

• 09

  Schaap holds contrarian views on doping punishments

  Schaap says he asked Lance Armstrong how anyone could win without EPO. He argues Armstrong should get his yellow jerseys back unless rivals like Pantani, Ullrich, Riis and probably Indurain lose theirs too. On baseball, he wishes Barry Bonds would admit what he did and be inducted. He notes the complication that Joe Jackson, a .356 career hitter, is excluded even though he was a Hall of Fame-level player before 1919.