What an honor to welcome two-time Pulitzer prize winning New York Times investigative journalist Don Van Natta Jr. to WRKO’s Pundit Review Radio. Don is the third New York Times reporter to join us, Andrew Ross Sorkin did for Too Big To Fail and more recently Diana Henriques for her great Madoff book Wizard of Lies.
Don’s has written an amazing book about the best female athlete of 20th century, Babe Didrikson Zaharias. One thing that fascinates me about stories like this is how someone so famous can be so unknown a few generations later.
There were so many aspects of Babe’s life that are completely relevant to today’s athletics. It’s all here, the money chase, the ego, the push and pull between amateur and professional athletics, using and being used by media, great successes and personal tragedies. In so many ways Babe was a modern athlete, brash, cocky and outspoken. She was the original trash talker and self promoter. You could say she was the first Chad Ochocinco, right down to referring to herself in the third person. Her story is incredible, her athletic feats even greater.
In true “you never know who is listening” fashion, we had two callers in a row with a personal connection to Babe. Pretty amazing.
Don has written a great book. I loved reading it and I hope that came across in the interview.
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On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 6-9pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.