A Front-Row Seat with the Sportswriters Who Sat There
Sit down with host Todd Jones and other sportswriters who knew the greatest athletes and coaches, and experienced first-hand some of the biggest sports moments in the past 50 years. They’ll share stories behind the stories -- some they’ve only told to each other.
Lenn Robbins: “You Knew You Were Seeing Something Truly Humbling.”
Lenn Robbins is a go-go-go Big Apple guy, but the Brooklyn native pauses on this episode to appreciate the people and places that form a mosaic of memories from his sportswriting career. Emotions bubbling at the ancient Olympic stadium in Greece. Riding with abandon at the Great Wall of China. The pressure felt by his young self in covering the Jets’ final game at Shea Stadium. Vince Dooley burning hot after a loss. A moment in a Montreal bar with Mark Messier. A foiled, shattering upset bid in the NCAA basketball tournament. Typing on deadline in the surprisingly chilled desert air. A marathon runner winning despite taking a wrong turn. And Lenn discusses how his battle with cancer in recent years has impacted his reflection on these and other moments from his four decades as a New York sportswriter.
Robbins spent 16 years of his career at the New York Post, beginning in 1997. He was that paper’s national college writer, wrote columns, and covered the NFL, NBA and the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. He appeared regularly on ESPN, FOX, NY1, SNY and YES. Prior to the Post, Lenn worked two stints at The Record in New Jersey (1985-90 and 1992-97), where he had several beats, including the New York Rangers, the NFL, and national college sports. He covered the NFC East and the NBA’s Atlantic Division for The National Sports Daily from 1990-92. His journalism career started at Greenwich Time in Greenwich, Connecticut after his graduation from Stony Brook University.
In 2013, Robbins left the New York Post to work for BrooklynNets.com and Barclays.com, where for two years he covered the Nets, the New York Islanders, championship boxing and college basketball. He also contributed stories for the Nets’ All-Access game programs, did weekly segments on Barclays Center Television, and made guest appearances on Nets’ game broadcasts on YES Network and WFAN. Lenn then joined MSGNetworks.com as the in-house, multi-media reporter for the Brooklyn Nets until 2017. He’s currently content director at BetBasics.com after previously serving as Editor-in-Chief of TheNYExtra.com.
Lenn is a former president of the Football Writers of America Association, and he’s a two-time winner in the Associated Press Sports Editors awards. In 2011, he received the Metropolitan College Football Writers Association’s Good Guy Award and the Jim Murray Outstanding Sportswriter Award.
In 2017, Lenn was diagnosed with Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH), a rare form of cancer in his head and neck, as he began studying for his Master’s degree in journalism. Despite undergoing treatments and suffering three relapses, he went on to earn that degree from the Craig Newmark School of Journalism at City University of New York in 2019. His cancer is in remission thanks to targeted gene therapy. He teaches journalism at the Newmark J-School, as well as at other universities in the New York City area.
Lenn wrote about his battle with cancer in hopes that chronicling his experience might help others: https://lennrobbins.wixsite.com/facetocancer
Follow Lenn on Twitter: @LennRobbins
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Lenn Robbins edited transcript
Todd Jones (00:02):
Welcome to the show, Lenn. Great to have you join us.
Lenn Robbins (00:06):
Thanks for having me, man. I'm telling you; I was kind of blown away when you called. I thought I owed you money.
Todd Jones (00:11):
Well, you do actually. You do.
Lenn Robbins (00:13):
Most guys don't call me.
Todd Jones (00:14):
But you owe me money and I owe you more beer. So, it kind of balances out.
Lenn Robbins (00:19):
Just pick the bar.
Todd Jones (00:21):
Hey, I'm honored to have a guest who covered pro college and Olympic Sports for damn near 40 years, but also a writer who still holds the detention record at Bildersee Junior High School in Brooklyn, New York.
Lenn Robbins (00:35):
How the hell did you come up with that one?
Todd Jones (00:38):
Oh, Lenn. I know shit about you that you won't even-
Lenn Robbins (00:41):
I should leave now-
Todd Jones (00:42):
You can't even imagine what I know about you, Lenn.
Lenn Robbins (00:44):
While I still have a tad of dignity intact. I should go now. Yeah, I think that record still stands. Obviously, I'm not allowed back in the school, but I think that record still stands.
Todd Jones (00:56):
Well, I'm very honored to be talking to somebody who I can relate to with detention records. So, here we go. The warden has let us out and now we got microphones.
Todd Jones (01:08):
Well, Lenn, you're Brooklyn born and bred, a city boy, which might explain what happened on a ski lift at the 2002 Winter Olympics. What the hell happened?
Lenn Robbins (01:37):
Well look, you hit it. Brooklyn, New York, we didn't exactly have a chalet in Vermont or out in Aspen or anything. I'd never been skiing in my life.
Lenn Robbins (01:48):
So, I get on the chair lift because you have to go up to the top of the mountain or whatever, I don't know, to like the press area. And I thought like it would stop at the bottom and like somebody would be there to say like, "Okay, here's where you get off."
Lenn Robbins (02:02):
And no, the ski lift apparently just continually runs. So, I missed the draw point and it started going back up and I started panicking, because what a shock, you were on dead line. So, I just jumped off. I don't know, maybe like 10 feet or something.
Lenn Robbins (02:22):
And all of a sudden, these alarms start going off and the ski lift shuts down. So, my claim to fame is for about five minutes. I stopped the Winter Olympics. Yeah.
Todd Jones (02:35):
Now you got a story. Well, so what would the New York Post headline have been if you had become the story?
Lenn Robbins (02:43):
Schmuck falls off ski lift.
Todd Jones (02:46):
There you go.
Lenn Robbins (02:47):
Yeah. Something like that.
Todd Jones (02:48):
You're being too tough on yourself, and I'm being tough on you. So, I bring up detention. I bring up falling off ski lifts. It's been a great show, Lenn. I appreciate your time.
Todd Jones (02:57):
In all seriousness, no, this is great to have you with us. One of my favorite guys in the business, as we said, New York born and bred. But you were all over the world, all over the country covering different things. And so, we ran around somewhat.
Lenn Robbins (03:14):
When you think back on the years, all those years of covering sports, does anything just come to mind right away when you think about your career?
Lenn Robbins (03:24):
I guess two things. One of them is what a great way to kind of like see the world for free and meet all these walks of life, all these people.
Lenn Robbins (04:13):
We went to the Great Wall of China, and there are like three ways to get down the three walls of China. You can walk back down; you can take like the "ski lift" back down. Or you can take these little bobsleds actually, these like single bobsleds.
Todd Jones (04:30):
Here we go.
Lenn Robbins (04:31):
Yeah. And you control the speed, right?
Todd Jones (04:34):
Allegedly.
Lenn Robbins (04:35):
Now, this is Communist China. So, they have not policemen, they have soldiers like every 20 yards, rifles up, full military, like no smiles.
Todd Jones (04:49):
Yeah. They like the word control over there, so-
Lenn Robbins (04:50):
Yeah. And I'm like, “How fast can this bad boy go?” Even though there are signs saying, "Do not exceed." And next thing I'm like right up against the guy in front of me. I'm basically like tailgating him.
Lenn Robbins (05:04):
We get to the bottom and I get off. There are like six soldiers waiting for me.
Todd Jones (05:10):
Really?
Lenn Robbins (05:12):
Yeah. And only one guy who I guess was the head, spoke both Chinese and English. And fortunately, I'm with the Brooklyn Nets, so we all had our Brooklyn Nets attire on. But that was almost my like international incident.
Todd Jones (05:30):
See, once again, detention record.
Lenn Robbins (05:32):
I had to have like the head of our party speak to like the head of — not like Chairman Mao or anything like that, at their party-party. But-
Todd Jones (05:42):
So, what is the Chinese word for schmuck?
Lenn Robbins (05:45):
I don't know. All I know is, man, the bayonets on the tip of those rifles were-
Todd Jones (05:54):
I'd like to hear your call to the office after that one.
Lenn Robbins (06:14):
I can remember covering the Olympics in Athens, which was just the birthplace of it, right?
Todd Jones (06:20):
Right.
Lenn Robbins (06:22):
And so, they had the shot put, again, an event I had never covered. I knew nothing about it. But this is where it took place. This is literally the birthplace of a sport that people don't pay attention to, except for every four years, right?
Todd Jones (06:39):
Yeah. This is the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece and you're in Olympia-
Lenn Robbins (06:43):
Yeah.
Todd Jones (06:44):
Where they actually had the ancient Olympics.
Lenn Robbins (06:47):
Yeah. And they still have the arena like intact. And you see these 300, 310 pound guys just massive and women also. You can't even imagine what their strength training might be. And they're walking out and there were tears rolling down their cheeks. They're just so humbled.
Lenn Robbins (07:14):
Because people see the shot put and they're just think they … there's so much that goes into it mentally and form and all that other stuff.
Lenn Robbins (07:24):
And you just knew at that moment that you were seeing something truly like humbling. And why would that stick with me? I'm a football, baseball, basketball, hockey guy, right?
Todd Jones (07:39):
Right, right.
Lenn Robbins (07:41):
Because you hear the wind rustling through the trees and like it was the same thousands of years ago.
Todd Jones (07:47):
Yeah. Let's set the scene, it's the very same patch of dirt-
Lenn Robbins (07:51):
Yeah.
Todd Jones (07:51):
With the stone arch that the athletes would walk under.
Lenn Robbins (07:55):
Yeah.
Todd Jones (07:56):
And there's these grassy slopes and there's like 18,000 people there watching.
Lenn Robbins (08:00):
Crazy.
Todd Jones (08:00):
And which isn't a huge crowd, but again, it's shot put. And again, you're at the ancient site. I can remember the sound of the locus, and the reason that sound sticks with me is that I read accounts of the ancient games where people talked about the sound in Olympia of the locus. And so, you immediately thought, “This is exactly what it sounded like.”
Lenn Robbins (08:23):
Right, right.
Todd Jones (08:24):
Centuries ago.
Lenn Robbins (08:24):
Yeah.
Todd Jones (08:26):
Amazing.
Lenn Robbins (08:27):
Great. Yeah, great.
Todd Jones (08:28):
Amazing.
Lenn Robbins (08:29):
Look, if it stayed with me this long, I'm taking that one to the grave.
Todd Jones (08:34):
Yep. Definitely, definitely. I hear you on that.
Todd Jones (08:36):
So, you're thinking about places like that. You're going to China, you're in Athens, but it all started before you got to the New York Post where you were 16 years longtime writer there, and also two stints at The Record in New Jersey.
Todd Jones (08:51):
It all started before then at a NFL game where you first got some publicity, you were at the Greenwich time in Connecticut, and it was December 10th, 1983. The New York Jets were playing their final game at Shea Stadium.
Lenn Robbins (09:06):
Now that just sounds like a disaster, the Jets and Shea Stadium. You were there and your coverage got some recognition kind of set you up.
Lenn Robbins (09:20):
I had actually been working at that time here at the Greenwich time, and I was covering high school sports, taking high school football scores over the phone and trying to make sure I didn't misspell somebody's name because in Greenwich, Connecticut, who knows who was going to call you, could be the CEO of Disney or something. And say like you misspelled Murphy … the third's name incorrectly.
Todd Jones (09:44):
I got a problem with that Polo coverage.
Lenn Robbins (09:47):
Right, right. And I kept begging to do some pro sports, begging. And I don't remember exactly how it came to be, but they called me like the day before and said, "I ain't got nobody to do the Jets, do the Jets tomorrow."
Todd Jones (10:00):
Right.
Lenn Robbins (10:01):
I kid you not, I was there so early, I was the first person in the press box.
Todd Jones (10:08):
Well, were you wearing a suit?
Lenn Robbins (10:09):
I was wearing a suit. I didn't know what the press gate was. So, I'm walking around the stadium like four times, so I get up there, I'm sweating like a pig.
Todd Jones (10:20):
Are you nervous?
Lenn Robbins (10:20):
I was beyond nervous. I'm trying to make sure, does my phone line work, all that stuff, right?
Todd Jones (10:28):
Right. This is your chance, right?
Lenn Robbins (10:30):
Yeah. The Jets get their rear ends kick by the Steelers. People are setting fires in the stadium; they're ripping chairs out. My sister, my younger sister was at the game, and I remember saying like, "Do I cover this story or do I like go try and find my younger sister?"
Lenn Robbins (10:46):
And of course, my priority’s all out of whack, I stay and cover the thing. And I'll never forget, if I remember correctly, Terry Bradshaw had come back for that game. He'd been out for a while with an elbow injury.
Todd Jones (10:57):
Yeah. He was out for like 11 months and he started the game and-
Lenn Robbins (11:01):
Yeah.
Lenn Robbins (11:01):
Then got re-injured early in the second quarter.
Lenn Robbins (11:03):
Yeah. So, what happened was you run down after to the locker rooms, and it wasn't as sophisticated or controlling as it is now, where you've got PR guys and security guys and ropes and this and that.
Lenn Robbins (11:19):
And so, somehow, I managed to get right to the door of the Steelers locker room and the door opens up and Bradshaw walks out, and he just stands right next to me and now crush. So, I'm literally crushed up against Terry Bradshaw and he sees me and he goes, "How we doing today?" And I said, "How am I doing? Like, how are you doing?"
Todd Jones (11:43):
Right, right.
Lenn Robbins (11:44):
Yeah. And yeah, he got hurt again, that game. But yeah, it was great. And look, I don't know what we do. I don't know if it's in art or a science or whatever. I just remember when I got back up to the press box, like I didn't even have to think. I just started typing.
Lenn Robbins (12:05):
I must have sat in my seat literally for like 35 minutes, didn't take a sip of water, nothing, I just typed. Yeah. And I remember feeling, when it was all done, I felt like I was back in high school after I'd completed like an athletic event and you're just like, everything you've got is out.
Todd Jones (12:26):
Exhausted. Yep.
Lenn Robbins (12:27):
Yeah. And it was just one of those days where you say to yourself, “How lucky am I? How lucky am I?” A guy from a neighborhood in Brooklyn, like hundreds of thousands of other guys. I'm standing next to Terry Bradshaw.
Todd Jones (12:47):
Right. You're some kid. Yeah, yeah. And you're doing what you always wanted to do. You're covering a game, an NFL game.
Lenn Robbins (12:55):
Yeah.
Todd Jones (15:11):
Well, Lenny, you said you were lucky and you were in a sense, but you really took that opportunity and turned it into a great career.
Todd Jones (15:19):
You went on to The Record in New Jersey and then onto the New York Post for 16 years. Back to The Record, you've covered so many different things, but I got to know you from covering college sports because you were the national college writer for many, many years based in New York going around the country. You're even El Presidente of the Football Writers Association of America.
Todd Jones (15:38):
When I think of college football, so much attention is on the Southeastern Conference in the South. So, here's a guy from New York, Mr. Brooklyn heading down into the South. There had to be some really interesting encounters for you as a New York guy going down into the South all those years.
Lenn Robbins (15:59):
Well, first of all, that presidency, that was a rigged election. Let's be honest about things, right?
Todd Jones (16:05):
Hey, I voted for you, twice.
Lenn Robbins (16:07):
There you go. You were my constituent. Yeah, I remember covering, it was Florida at Georgia and you hit it right on the head, the Northeast is very different than most of the country. College football's not a big thing.
Lenn Robbins (16:24):
Most of the college football fans here are people who moved here or went to school, Michigan or Georgia or whatever, and now they're making New York their home.
Todd Jones (16:33):
Right. Or they're gamblers.
Lenn Robbins (16:36):
Well, they're gamblers, right. My people. Florida won at Georgia, and one of the things you start to really try and do is, can I get something different? Can I get a different voice in my story? Can I get a different take?
Lenn Robbins (16:50):
And I see Vince Dooley in the back of the interview room. And I'm like, "This could be interesting. Like, legendary coach."
Todd Jones (16:58):
Yeah. Georgia coach, a long time-
Lenn Robbins (16:59):
Hall of famer, national champion. So, I go back there and I introduce myself and people from New York don't think or know they have an accent. Other people have to tell them that they have an accent.
Lenn Robbins (17:16):
And I said, "Mr. Dooley, got to be impressed with what Florida did today." And man, he gave me one of those hairy eyeballs that I will never forget. And he kind of … I thought he was mumbling, but that's who Vince was, "It was a fine football game."
Todd Jones (17:36):
Like he had marbles in his mouth.
Lenn Robbins (17:37):
It was full of — you can continue to open your mouth and prove that you're an idiot, or you can walk away. I of course, choose the former. And I said, "Well, it looked like they kind of like out-toughed you guys today."
Lenn Robbins (17:54):
And literally it was kind of like the audio broke for about like 15 seconds. He didn't say anything. Just continued to stare at me. And like I'm thinking now, "My fly's open or something?” I don't know.
Lenn Robbins (18:08):
And he just kind of like repeated, "I thought both teams competed well." Something like that. And then he literally just turned around and walked away.
Todd Jones (18:17):
Really?
Lenn Robbins (18:18):
Yeah. Like I had body odor or something like that.
Todd Jones (18:22):
He had enough of that Yankee.
Lenn Robbins (18:24):
Yeah. And it wasn't until like years later, I was kind of recounting the story a little with Mark Schlabach, great writer, on ESPN. And he just kind of looked at me, his head dropped a little and he was like, "I applaud you for trying to get Vince Dooley to talk after Georgia lost to Florida."
Lenn Robbins (18:48):
And back then, of course, the game was played in neutral site.
Todd Jones (18:51):
Right.
Lenn Robbins (18:51):
That was it, now that I think about it. Yeah.
Todd Jones (18:54):
Jacksonville, world's greatest cocktail party. Yeah.
Lenn Robbins (18:57):
Yeah. You drive in there. I didn't know this, like if you have a Florida bumper sticker on, Georgia fans throw like stuffed animal alligators under your tires.
Todd Jones (19:08):
Nice.
Lenn Robbins (19:09):
And conversely, if you've got a Georgia decal or whatever, Florida fans are throwing a little bulldog under you. It's starts yeah, from that drive down.
Todd Jones (19:20):
Yeah. I remember covering the Red River Shootout in Dallas at the old Cotton Bowl, Oklahoma versus Texas. It's literally right in the middle of the Texas State Fair while the fair is going on.
Todd Jones (19:30):
And I always remember this guy with a big sign walking around with these handwritten numbers on it, and it was like telling the time. And every minute he would flip over one of the minute numbers and it said whatever time it was and Oklahoma still sucks.
Lenn Robbins (19:49):
I remember, yeah. Because that's held at Texas State Fair. Right?
Todd Jones (19:53):
Right, right.
Lenn Robbins (19:54):
And again, the only horse I ever knew was Mr. Ed, that old television show. I never had any interaction with a horse. And I remember walking out to the pens and there were these enormous cows and I don't even know what to call them, but the girl I was with at the time actually grew up in a farm in South Jersey.
Lenn Robbins (20:17):
And I called her up and I'm like, "You got to see these cows." And she's like, "Well, describe it." And she does. And she tells me what kind of cow that is.
Lenn Robbins (20:27):
And then I went to like one of the "snack bars" and I had a fried salad for the first time in my life.
Todd Jones (20:33):
A fried-
Lenn Robbins (20:35):
Fried salad.
Todd Jones (20:36):
Fried salad. I got to get one of those.
Lenn Robbins (20:39):
Yeah. I'm like, "Welcome to Texas."
Todd Jones (20:42):
That's awesome. I love it. I love it.
Lenn Robbins (20:43):
And that's a great game. For all these rivalries that have switched it, so it's home and home, that Red River shootout where literally at the 50-yard line, there's a guy from Oklahoma sitting right next to a guy from Texas-
Todd Jones (20:58):
Yeah. Right down the middle. Yep.
Lenn Robbins (20:59):
And that's magic. And-
Todd Jones (21:03):
One tunnel, remember one tunnel at the old Cotton Bowl.
Lenn Robbins (21:06):
One tunnel.
Todd Jones (21:06):
So, they would have to go out together, right?
Lenn Robbins (21:08):
Yeah, yeah.
Todd Jones (21:09):
Yeah.
Lenn Robbins (21:10):
And you know what, I knew exactly when I get the college football bug, I was young, I was like nine years old or something, and I had a little black and white TV in my room. And it was a Saturday morning, and I'm watching Michigan, Northwestern and I don't know anything really about the two schools. I thought the Michigan helmets were cool. I didn't know that Northeastern's claim to fame at that point was, "That's alright. That's okay. You'll be working for us someday."
Lenn Robbins (21:39):
Michigan scores a touchdown kickoff, force a fumble, recover the fumble, score a touchdown in the next play. The place is going wild. It's the big house. And I was just like, the energy that literally felt like it came out of the TV. I'm like, "One day I got to go to some of these places. I got to be there."
Todd Jones (22:00):
Well, you did for many, many years. And you got to live that out as a writer. So, what was it about college football? What did you learn about college football as you covered it all those years? And what did you enjoy about it? And maybe there's certain games or moments that really enhanced that.
Lenn Robbins (22:17):
Well, certainly the Push Bush game.
Todd Jones (22:21):
Notre Dame, USC. Right.
Lenn Robbins (22:23):
I know people roll their eyes sometime when Notre Dame's special, it's special. You go out there, you walk the campus, the grotto, touchdown Jesus and you are walking through the parking lot and there could be somebody from the class of ‘57 tailgating right next to some kids who may be just graduated like two years ago.
Todd Jones (23:07):
Right, right. Yeah.
Lenn Robbins (23:07):
And to me, that's what college football does. College football brings people together, it brings communities together. You wind up hearing incredible stories of two people who met at a college football game and 30 years later, one turns out to be the kidney donor for another. Right?
Todd Jones (23:28):
Right, right.
Lenn Robbins (23:29):
And it gave me an appreciation for (in a way), what's missing in the Northeast. Why don't we have this in the Northeast? And-
Todd Jones (23:39):
That's interesting.
Lenn Robbins (26:21):
And that's the thing, you asked me for what did I learn. I learned about "small town America." I learned about the importance of college football program and these people have in their communities.
Todd Jones (27:24):
So, it's Miami heavily favored. Right?
Lenn Robbins (27:26):
Yeah.
Todd Jones (27:27):
Against Penn State.
Lenn Robbins (27:28):
Yeah.
Todd Jones (27:29):
Vinny Testaverde.
Lenn Robbins (27:30):
Yeah. And Penn State came out playing five linebackers. Jerry Sandusky. Holy cow. And I don't remember how many times they intercepted Vinny. It was a bunch of times.
Lenn Robbins (27:42):
In Miami was so much better that they still got the ball back with one last chance. Score was 1610. And I'm thinking for sure that they're going to go down and score and the story obviously is going to be completely different. At that time The Record was small. So, I was in the auxiliary press box, which is a euphemism for, you're in the top deck, basically like hanging out in the crowd, but there's like a little work station for you. Remember I had like a little lamp and I had an outlet. And of course-
Todd Jones (28:34):
Radio Shack Tandy, right?
Lenn Robbins (28:36):
Yeah. I think that's what I was working on. Yeah.
Todd Jones (28:38):
You could see like four lines of copy.
Lenn Robbins (28:39):
Right.
Todd Jones (28:41):
You'd end up with these paragraphs that were like 80 lines long because you didn't realize it.
Lenn Robbins (28:45):
And you always lived in fear that you were going to hit a key and everything you had just done was going to like evaporate.
Todd Jones (28:52):
Yeah.
Lenn Robbins (28:53):
And we've all had that. You heard someone scream in a press box. Drop an F bomb, kick a chair and you're like "You got Radio Shack."
Todd Jones (29:01):
It was like a battlefield. Somebody hit a mine, tripped a mine.
Lenn Robbins (29:03):
Yeah.
Todd Jones (29:04):
That poor bastard
Lenn Robbins (29:05):
Fire in the hole. So again, like New Yorker, I didn't know that. I'm thinking Arizona, hot desert, whatever. You know how cold it gets at night at like two o'clock in the morning in the desert?
Todd Jones (29:19):
Yeah.
Lenn Robbins (29:20):
Literally, I couldn't feel my fingers typing by the end of the story. And then of course they come with the leaf blowers and stuff, that's a blast.
Todd Jones (29:33):
Yeah, right.
Lenn Robbins (29:34):
Next thing you know, you got some guy who, God bless him, he's making 450 an hour at that time. Dust is coming up in your face and …
Todd Jones (29:46):
You're bringing back good memories, Lenn.
Lenn Robbins (29:48):
It was great. It was great.
Todd Jones (30:01):
So, you're covering a game like that. You did a two in college basketball. You covered so many Final Fours and when the game's on the line and deadline's rushing at you for your New York edition, you're sitting there like ‘86 at the Indiana Syracuse game, right?
Lenn Robbins (30:17):
Yeah. Wow. What a memory. Two things about that. I remember thinking, "Man, if I could ever get to like a Final Four." To me those are like the best three weeks in sports. And-
Todd Jones (30:32):
Why? Why do you think that?
Lenn Robbins (30:34):
Because of kind of like what I said before about what colleges mean in a community, any community. And to have a Davidson playing a Wisconsin, doesn't seem to add up. And it's interesting, I just brought that up off the top of my head.
Lenn Robbins (30:53):
Bob McKillop is a New York guy. His father was a New York City firefighter. I got really close to Bob and they played Wisconsin one year. They were up something like seven with, I don't know, like less than a minute ago.
Lenn Robbins (31:11):
And why was Davidson competitive, beyond competitive? Like an NCAA tournament team from that small conference, because they didn't beat themselves. They were so fundamentally sound and they committed like three turnovers and missed a free throw or two in like that final minute and they lost.
Lenn Robbins (31:32):
And instead of going to the interview area, I made a beeline for the Davidson locker room.
Todd Jones (31:40):
Great choice. Why did you make that choice in that moment?
Lenn Robbins (31:45):
One of the things you're taught is know your readership. Know who you're writing for.
Lenn Robbins (31:51):
New York Post, Bob McKillop, long Island guy. Dad's a firefighter. It's a national game, yes. But I'm writing from a New York perspective, so most of the country's probably writing great Wisconsin winner. They deserve it.
Lenn Robbins (32:08):
I'm writing, you know, New York guy goes down in like the most painful way. And so, McKillop, I think he had a kid on that team whose dad also was a firefighter. And I connected with those guys. In fact, I'd written like a story leading up to that game.
Lenn Robbins (32:31):
Because at Davidson you get your laundry done, it's part of your tuition, you get your laundry done. And I wrote, "Why in the world would anybody not want to go to Davidson?"
Lenn Robbins (32:43):
The person at the school like tracks me down in the press room the next day. And I don't know about you, but like whenever I hear somebody's looking for me, I'm like, "Oh boy."
Todd Jones (32:55):
Somebody wants my ass-
Lenn Robbins (32:56):
Breath, breath.
Todd Jones (32:57):
I'm going to be catching some fire here.
Lenn Robbins (33:00):
Right. Control yourself, hear them out, because you're not as smart as you think you are. So, they may have something that actually is worth hearing.
Todd Jones (33:09):
Right, yeah. You can learn something. Right.
Lenn Robbins (33:10):
Yeah. So, I get to the locker room just as the door opens, McKillop walks out and I'm the first person he sees and he says, "Jesus, Lenny," like the basketball soul had been drained out of him. And he's a competitor. So, that loss hurt for him.
Lenn Robbins (34:32):
So, McKillop in that moment after he said Jesus, Lenny. He said, "I just stared into the faces of like 15 kids who's think their lives were shattered right here right now. And it's painful, it's awful. I have to help them get through this moment. I have to."
Lenn Robbins (35:01):
But somehow some way, a belief that they'll be better, they'll be better people, they'll be more resilient. They'll deal with heartbreak or whatever better because of this moment. And look, you have 18, 19, 20-year-old young men and women unfortunately who get killed in battle. So, I don't want to make this out to be, in a way more than it is.
Todd Jones (35:27):
Right. Keep it in perspective. Right.
Lenn Robbins (35:29):
Yeah. If you're a college athlete and you lose in the NCAA tournament in a game you thought you had won, you are the underdog.
Lenn Robbins (35:37):
How many times have you read David versus Goliath in April? In March and April? For them, that is the most important thing.
Lenn Robbins (35:46):
So, I'm always looking for coaches who I honestly believe are thinking of their kids first.
Todd Jones (35:57):
I remember a coach, the late great Skip Prosser, the Wake Forest head coach.
Lenn Robbins (36:02):
And you just hit the nail on the head.
Todd Jones (36:03):
He was an assistant at Xavier University when I was covering Xavier basketball in the early 90s, and they had an NCAA tournament game where they played number one Indiana in the second round, in the Hoosier Dome, in Indianapolis.
Todd Jones (36:16):
So, you're talking about everything's set up for Custer's last stand. Lo and behold, Xavier had a really good team and they'd take Indiana down to the wire. They had to lead with a minute to go, and they had a turnover and they ended up losing by a couple.
Todd Jones (36:32):
And early in the second half, the foul count was eight to nothing.
Lenn Robbins (36:37):
Let me guess.
Todd Jones (36:38):
Yeah. In favor of Indiana.
Lenn Robbins (36:41):
Yeah.
Todd Jones (36:41):
And I remember Pete Gillen was the head coach, another Brooklyn guy and his trainer Jay Ross was screaming at the Brooklyn referee that they knew.
Todd Jones (36:50):
And anyway, I go into the locker room after the game and it was like you said about Davidson. It was beyond just; we lost a basketball game. It was so crushed about the opportunity. And I remember Skip pulled me aside and he didn't ask about the officiating, but he said to me, "Why are their kids better than our kids?"
Todd Jones (37:11):
And I always thought about that. That's how he viewed it. That Indiana was getting protected because they had some reasons to be protected because it might help things.
Todd Jones (37:21):
Now I'm not saying the game was fixed or anything like that. It wasn't. Indiana, all credit to them, came back and won the game. They were the number one team in the nation.
Todd Jones (37:28):
But that's how the assistant coach viewed it for his players. And that told me a lot about Skip in that moment, that he was thinking about his players and how it impacted them. And so, that just stuck with me.
Lenn Robbins (37:43):
Yeah.
Todd Jones (37:43):
30 years.
Lenn Robbins (37:44):
Look, these coaches, they'll coach another game. Some schools, they may never get to another Final Four, but they'll coach again. Right?
Todd Jones (37:52):
Right.
Lenn Robbins (37:52):
Their seniors, they're going home.
Todd Jones (38:06):
Yeah. Well, you got to experience these types of people by covering games throughout the nation, college football and basketball. And I think that's bringing a perspective into different environments, like we said, going down south, going all these small towns, big city environments, it really teaches you about people.
Todd Jones (38:27):
And I don't know about you, but I felt like it taught me how to write about them because I was experiencing so many different types of folks. And did you ever feel that impact too? That you felt like almost personally you grew from the people you encountered?
Lenn Robbins (38:42):
That's one of the things I've been trying to convey. We all grow up with perceptions, right, wrong, whatever, because of what was the environment that you grew up in? What were your teachers like? What were your parents like? What were your neighbors like? Right?
Todd Jones (39:00):
Right.
Lenn Robbins (39:01):
And you hope you're surrounded by good people, but until you get out there yourself and go down and … gosh, I remember once the drive from Jacksonville to Gainesville, I think it was. I flew into Jacksonville and I drove to Gainesville, cover a Florida game.
Lenn Robbins (39:22):
And you go through some town, Starkey where I think the state prison is, that just looked, I called it poor and like country poor.
Todd Jones (39:33):
Wow.
Lenn Robbins (39:34):
And I wound up stopping at, I don't know, some all-night diner or whatever. Two guys come in, overalls, hats. Big dudes, sit down at the counter.
Lenn Robbins (39:52):
Next thing I know I'm like deep into a conversation with them about how the price of gas, like literally affects their ability to buy like a carton of milk and hearing them talk about, “How do I turn to my kid and say that's all we got for dinner tonight."
Lenn Robbins (40:14):
And heck, the neighborhood that I grew up in, I'm not going to say it was poor, but you had some families that were scraping to get by. So, what do you learn, that — and I guess it's poignant at this day and age when we're at each other's throats. What do you want? You want a better life for your kids and your grandkids. You want safety, you want health, you want happiness. Right?
Todd Jones (40:39):
Right, right.
Todd Jones (41:41):
And I think that's why the New York Post and your years at The Record, they sent you places to write about … it's almost like you're bringing New York some education, by writing about these different environments and these different players and coaches.
Lenn Robbins (42:15):
I remember going to, I think it was UCLA or USC at Oregon and the Post sent me up there, like holy cow. And Phil Knight is in the back of the, for some reason it was almost like a Preston.
Lenn Robbins (42:33):
And so, I'm thinking just like I thought about, when you try and get a different angle, Vince Dooley. Walked to the back and I'm like, "Hey, it's the night, Lenn Robbins, New York Post." He goes, "The New York Post is out here covering Oregon football. Now I've made it." I'm like, "Now I've made it? You run Nike, dude."
Lenn Robbins (42:56):
Because you don't think to yourself, at least I never did, like "Hey, I work for the New York Post." We're all doing the same job wherever we're doing it, because it's about people. It's about the athletes you're covering, the stories that are unfolding.
Lenn Robbins (43:11):
I can still remember the first event I ever covered, girls field hockey-
Todd Jones (43:16):
Really?
Lenn Robbins (43:16):
Greenwich versus Stamford. Yeah. Which is kind of like a civil war, if you will, of girls’ high school field hockey. I never saw the sport before. I threw all these girls with these like canes. In my high school they're not giving girls sticks and letting them walk around the halls, trust me.
Todd Jones (43:34):
Right, right.
Lenn Robbins (43:35):
And some ref blowing the whistle, it seemed like every 30 seconds and doing this kind of emotion. Obstruction.
Lenn Robbins (43:44):
I don't know about you. I don't keep stuff on my walls. Like this award or whatever-
Todd Jones (43:51):
Yeah.
Lenn Robbins (43:51):
The only thing I keep is the Greenwich Hockey, Greenwich Field Hockey gave me a varsity letter-
Lenn Robbins (43:58):
Really?
Lenn Robbins (43:58):
After covering their team. They won the State Championship as it turned out.
Todd Jones (44:03):
Wow.
Lenn Robbins (44:03):
A little bit of lightning in a bottle. Right place, right time, stars aligned, learned so much from that field hockey coach B. Wocko I'll never forget her. She always used to say, "Just do it with dignity, as if that should be obvious. That should be always the bottom line."
Lenn Robbins (44:26):
And there were times I knew I screwed up and I didn't do it that way. You want to go back and say to those people, "I owe you one."
Todd Jones (44:35):
Give us a time when you screwed one up.
Lenn Robbins (44:39):
When did I not screw that up? Gosh.
Todd Jones (44:42):
Because we all have-
Lenn Robbins (44:43):
Yeah.
Todd Jones (44:43):
We all have things that we look back on as a reporter and a writer and say, "Man, I wish I had that one back."
Lenn Robbins (44:49):
Yeah, okay. This one's kind of easy in a way. Ralph Willard, great basketball coach was at the University of Pittsburgh, for a while.
Todd Jones (44:57):
Western, Kentucky. Yeah.
Lenn Robbins (44:59):
And a really good man, really good man. In fact, he coached Western Kentucky to an upset over Seton Hall, ironically. Kevin Willard then goes on to coach Seton Hall.
Lenn Robbins (45:12):
He had been struggling a little, probably a lot. And a guy called me and said, "Pittsburgh's firing him." And in my screwed-up zeal to get the scoop, because Post was one of those places where you got to break news, you got to get in the middle of it, be in the middle of it. I tried calling one guy in Pittsburgh to get confirmation. I called one of my buddies, Gerry Dulac, great reporter in Pittsburgh.
Todd Jones (45:45):
Yeah, Gerry. Great guy. Yeah.
Lenn Robbins (45:46):
Yeah, yeah. I didn't get him. And I wrote the story without like a double confirmation. And of course, the next day, Pittsburgh's playing and coach has to answer all these questions, and he didn't really know me from home ... we knew of each other. I'm sure I probably covered one of his games.
Lenn Robbins (46:07):
And he said, "Look guys, Lenny Robbins is a standup guy and a good reporter. But if this is true, I haven't heard anything of it."
Lenn Robbins (46:22):
And he wasn't getting fired. And the guy who called me, wanted the Pittsburgh job. He was an assistant in the Big East.
Todd Jones (46:31):
Yeah.
Lenn Robbins (46:32):
And-
Todd Jones (46:33):
He was planting something for his own benefit. Yeah.
Lenn Robbins (46:34):
Right. And in that moment in time — and I could make 20 different excuses, I screwed up. I didn't do the simple thing of getting a second confirmation or holding the story until I got a hold of ... I don't know, maybe you can hear just like, it still kind of guts me to the day. Really does.
Lenn Robbins (47:00):
Because you should always remember that you are one of these jobs where you impact people. You impact them.
Lenn Robbins (47:10):
I tell this to my kids, I'm fortunate enough to teach in a couple of places now. Parkers, Montclair State, Brooklyn College, love them all. If you're a plumber and my cousin's a plumber. I think it's a great profession.
Lenn Robbins (47:27):
If you screw up the job at somebody's house, who's going to know about it. The homeowner, a couple of neighbors maybe, immediate family.
Lenn Robbins (47:34):
If you write something about it, particularly about a kid and I call them kids, I did then, I will now. Like you could really impact somebody's life. So, always take that second to kind of sit back at the laptop or whatever, and just take a breath, you know?
Todd Jones (47:56):
Yeah. I think a lot of that, there's so much emotion involved in sports and now in the world today, we're just throwing it out there, "Fire this guy, fire that guy."
Lenn Robbins (48:06):
Right.
Todd Jones (48:06):
And it's really dehumanizing. And I was as guilty of it as anybody when I was covering sports. But I always tried to catch myself and remind myself that, like you said, you're impacting people and it goes beyond what you see on the field, on the court, on your television screen.
Lenn Robbins (48:23):
Yeah, yeah.
Lenn Robbins (49:41):
And trust me, there are more people out there who think that I'm not a sensitive person. And I don't know if I am or I'm not, but you got to listen to that other voice. You have to.
Todd Jones (49:51):
Right. Well, you can learn in so many different situations. And again, you covered college sports for many, many years as a national writer.
Todd Jones (49:59):
But Lenn, you've also covered other things. You worked for the national, Frank Deford's baby back in the day-
Lenn Robbins (50:06):
Yeah.
Todd Jones (50:06):
At '90 and '91. And you covered NFL, you covered NBA. You also have done some hockey for the Post. You did some … actually for The Record, I believe, for the New York Rangers.
Lenn Robbins (50:17):
Yeah.
Todd Jones (52:09):
What did you enjoy about covering hockey?
Lenn Robbins (52:15):
Wow, getting me in trouble. Okay. I love covering hockey. I remember covering a game in Ottawa. There's a canal that goes right through Ottawa and obviously it's frozen through most of the hockey season.
Lenn Robbins (52:27):
And I check in at the hotel and I want to go to the skate. And I'm kind of running late and I said, "Can you tell me the best way to get to?" And she says, "'What size skate do you wear?" And I'm like, “That’s the oddest response I've ever gotten me trying to check in.”
Todd Jones (52:47):
That's like fried salad.
Lenn Robbins (52:48):
Credit cards-
Todd Jones (52:49):
It's like fried salad.
Lenn Robbins (52:50):
Right, yeah. I didn't think about that. Yeah. Like had your credit cards been declined and had like ... do you have another form of ID? Right, I've got that.
Lenn Robbins (53:00):
Well, it turns out everybody in Ottawa skates and they skate down the canal to get to places. Just like I jumped in the cab.
Todd Jones (53:09):
Wow, wow.
Lenn Robbins (53:11):
I was like, "I don't skate." And the woman then looked at me probably like Vince Dooley did. But anyway, I remember covering my first game in Montreal.
Todd Jones (53:22):
Wait, hold on a second. Wait a minute. Did you skate? Did you put the skates on?
Lenn Robbins (53:27):
Hell, I couldn't skate. You kidding me, man. There would've been like a splotch of blood from a hotel to the arena.
Todd Jones (53:35):
Once again, another embarrassing call to the office.
Lenn Robbins (53:38):
Yeah. Grabbed a cab, turn out it was only a couple blocks away, I could have walked. But I think the front counter person was just so astounded by this creature that had wandered in.
Lenn Robbins (53:57):
She didn't even think, "Well, it's only like half a mile."
Lenn Robbins (53:03):
So yeah, I remember covering this game, the first time the Rangers were playing at the Canadians when I was covering them. And to me that's it. That's the cathedral of hockey Montreal. All that stuff going through my head. And the guys on the beat were telling me that there was a gentleman's club that I have to go to.
Todd Jones (54:25):
Here we go.
Lenn Robbins (54:26):
And yes, I've been to a few gentlemen's clubs. And most of them have not been Ford models. Let's leave it at that. Okay, alright. You walk into Chez Paree and it's a European men's club, very attractive women, first class service.
Todd Jones (54:47):
I would never know. Thanks for informing me.
Lenn Robbins (54:49):
I know. That's why I'm here. I'm here to educate. Remember I said, I owe you money at the beginning of the show.
Todd Jones (54:56):
I do.
Lenn Robbins (54:57):
Okay. And Messier and Ulf Samuelsson are sitting at like the table. It's raised up a little. Two beautiful women, like sitting with them. Messier has two stacks of cash in front of him.
Todd Jones (54:13):
Two stacks?
Lenn Robbins (54:14):
One American dollars. One Canadian dollars. He had two stacks.
Todd Jones (55:18):
He's got both currencies.
Lenn Robbins (55:19):
Trust me. Yeah. He's got them both. Bricks, I've never seen something like that.
Lenn Robbins (55:25):
Well, Ulf Samuelsson, married, two kids and he is not really doing anything wrong. Just, they're having a beverage and they're looking at the girls.
Lenn Robbins (55:33):
Well, he sees the reporters coming. He jumps up in like a panic, starts to jump up. And Mess just puts his hand so subtlety on Ulf's forearm and looks at us and nods. And we nod. Ulf sits back down. We go to a table, few minutes later if that long, waitress comes over with a bottle of champagne and ice, glasses and we're sports writers, we don't drink champagne. We're like, "What's the house special?"
Todd Jones (56:04):
Can't even spell it.
Lenn Robbins (56:06):
Right. Probably can't. And she just said, "Compliments of the gentleman at that table." Messier. And no, that's not why I think he's the greatest leader of all time.
Todd Jones (56:18):
I’m just going to say, is that why-
Lenn Robbins (56:21):
It hurt.
Todd Jones (56:22):
Is that why he's the ultimate leader captain?
Lenn Robbins (56:26):
Yeah. Well look, who guarantees a win? Joe Namath did. Mark Messier did.
Lenn Robbins (57:14):
Yeah. They're down three, two, they got to win in New Jersey, then they got to come back and win at the garden. Smooth as silk, I guarantee we're going to win.
Todd Jones (57:24):
Yeah.
Lenn Robbins (57:24):
And then of course he goes out and scores the win. There are some people who were put on earth who have the magic, the skill, the guts to the moments brightest. They talk about that, right?
Todd Jones (57:40):
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Lenn Robbins (57:40):
They grab it. Right?
Todd Jones (57:42):
Right.
Lenn Robbins (57:44):
Magic.
Lenn Robbins (57:44):
And they know when to send champagne.
Lenn Robbins (57:46):
Yeah. Magic.
Todd Jones (57:48):
Magic.
Lenn Robbins (57:48):
Yeah.
Todd Jones (57:57):
But there was another thing in 1994 I wanted to ask you about before we leave, and that's the New York City Marathon that year. You were awarded an Associated Press Sports Editors honor for your coverage of that event.
Lenn Robbins (59:31):
So, I'm kind of like at the front of the entrance, if you will, of where the runners come into Central Park and there were just a couple of cops, no barricades, no nothing, like really. And this guy comes in and one of the cops kind of like ... and points, sends the guy the wrong way.
Todd Jones (59:55):
Yeah. Into Central Park.
Lenn Robbins (59:57):
Yeah. Sends him the wrong way. I don't know. They were like, was it 26.2? There's 0.2 left or whatever.
Todd Jones (01:00:03):
I think he had a little money on the result.
Lenn Robbins (01:00:07):
He was ahead of his time. He knew that betting was going to be the thing. He knew it.
Todd Jones (01:00:10):
I got the other guy plus 300 yards.
Lenn Robbins (01:00:16):
Wow. That's great. And I don't remember how far he ran. It wasn't that far, but it was far enough that the other guy took the lead. And then like two other cops and a race official, like quickly, like fairly quickly. But like I said, the other guy took the lead.
Todd Jones (01:00:32):
Yeah. Benjamin Paredes. Yeah. Another Mexican runner took the lead.
Lenn Robbins (01:00:37):
And this guy just put on this kick, I guess it was called, right?
Todd Jones (01:00:42):
Yeah. And this is only a half mile from the finish line.
Lenn Robbins (01:00:45):
Something like that. Yeah.
Todd Jones (01:00:47):
He puts on a kick, as you say, as runners say.
Lenn Robbins (01:00:50):
And he comes back and he wins it. And I'm just thinking to myself, you've been asking me a lot about what it's like to go around the country. And one of the best thing to me about being a New Yorker is when I'm walking through the streets and I see somebody's like … they're looking at their map and they barely speak English. I get such a jones out of going up to them and saying, "Can I help you? Where you trying to go?"
Lenn Robbins (01:01:16):
Sometimes there's a total language barrier. They're pointing at a map. I'm pointing where they are. I just absolutely love that.
Lenn Robbins (01:01:23):
And so, it just came to me, this is one city you don't want to get lost in, even though it's really kind of simple. First avenue, second avenue, third avenue. If you've never been here before, it can be dicey.
Lenn Robbins (01:01:36):
I remember Nebraska played in the kickoff classic, which was played before the season started, it was one of those kickoff games.
Todd Jones (01:01:46):
Yeah. Across the river into Meadowlands. Yeah.
Lenn Robbins (01:01:49):
Yeah. Tom Osborne, regal guy, brings his team in, and I was in Times Square when the Nebraska buses rolled in. They flew into Kennedy or whatever. And these guys, most of them at that point were Nebraska kids.
Lenn Robbins (01:02:05):
Nebraska was like Nebraska linemen, California like skill. Occasionally, like a guy from Jersey would go out there, Rougier, Mike Rougier. And these guys were looking up like they had landed on Mars. The billboards, the lights, the skyscrapers.
Lenn Robbins (01:02:28):
Sometimes I'd look at the skyline and I'm like, they're like three, four, like freaking skylines here. Right?
Todd Jones (01:02:34):
Right, yeah. Depending on the time of day and your perspective. Yeah.
Lenn Robbins (01:02:38):
And so, you get reminded again, you know what, most people don't grow up like this. It's right here. Like New Yorkers are rude, some of them are, we can be pretty rude a-holes.
Lenn Robbins (01:02:50):
But it's a different pace, hate that it has to come to something like this. But 9/11 showed people like we all want the same things, you know? Just like I said before, you want the best things for the next generations of you.
Todd Jones (01:03:10):
Right, right.
Lenn Robbins (01:03:11):
Yeah.
Todd Jones (01:03:11):
So, did you bring that idea of being lost to the story that you covered?
Lenn Robbins (01:03:17):
I think that was kind of like my lead. Like this is the one city you don't want to get lost in. Five boroughs. And just kind of like then tried to let it describe itself, what happened and I don't remember the story line by line of course, but I remember you’re speaking to Silva, you're speaking to the guy who came in second, and like their quotes were kind of like perfect.
Lenn Robbins (01:03:43):
They were like, "Yes. Like I was a little confused." Like you just ran 26 miles and now you're confused?
Todd Jones (01:03:58):
Yeah.
Lenn Robbins (01:03:58):
So again, it was just one of those like — you probably heard this a million times as a writer. Stay out of your own way. Don't sit there and think for a second that you're going to sit there and create like some epic writing that's going to be studied for decades to come. Just write the goddamn story.
Todd Jones (01:04:21):
Yeah. Tell me a story. What was it like? Like you're sitting in a bar, what the hell will happened?
Lenn Robbins (01:04:25):
Exactly.
Todd Jones (01:04:25):
What was it like, keep it simple, stupid.
Lenn Robbins (01:04:28):
Yeah. And that's one of the things that I keep with me. When I'm writing or if I'm lucky enough to get called to do a TV spot, I'm sitting at a bar, I'm sitting around a table, I'm sitting around the living room table, pizza box, couple of six packs, just shooting the breeze with people. So, yeah. That was crazy.
Todd Jones (01:04:54):
German Silva goes the wrong way and he still wins, but-
Lenn Robbins (01:04:58):
Yeah.
Todd Jones (01:04:58):
That's what sports is. Sports does encompass so much emotion, so many facets of life to just play out in these contrived environments of competition. Tears of joy, tears of rage. You got Jets fans tearing up Shea Stadium after losing another game.
Todd Jones (01:05:15):
You got memorable moments. Like you were there when Keith Smart hit this jumper. You got characters like Vince Dooley down in Florida or down in Georgia, with his southern draw.
Todd Jones (01:05:27):
Sometimes things don't go as planned, like the national or didn't go as planned as for Silva when he turns right into Central Park.
Todd Jones (01:05:36):
But the thing I think about is, it is like such a reflection of life and you know that well.
Todd Jones (01:05:42):
I wanted to close real quick with a tribute to you, because you've been through a lot. In the fall of 2017, you began taking courses at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in Midtown, to get your masters at 57. Did you have a little beanie on your head?
Lenn Robbins (01:06:06):
Yeah. I'll have to lie about my age and all that. The Brooklyn Nets did away with their multimedia job that I was doing, which was great.
Todd Jones (01:06:15):
Right, right.
Lenn Robbins (01:06:16):
Loved it. Learned so much from that. And I had been teaching at Rutgers, they had called me like years before, and then it became like almost any place you teach now, they want to see a master's.
Todd Jones (01:06:27):
Yeah.
Lenn Robbins (01:06:27):
Well, why not? Kind of like-
Todd Jones (01:06:30):
Yeah, why not? Right? That's the spirit you brought to all your reporting. Why not? What is it?
Lenn Robbins (01:06:35):
Right, right. I remember Mel Stottlemyre, former Yankee pitching coach may he rest in peace, when he was diagnosed with cancer, somebody said like ... he was asked, "Well, do you ever wonder like why you?" And he said, "Why not me? What's different than me than anybody? Like, what's special about me than anybody else?" Right?
Todd Jones (01:06:56):
Right.
Lenn Robbins (01:06:57):
So, yeah. So, first of all, it kept me around young people. I'm in classes now with kids in their like twenties and some other people, maybe thirties, forties. And I'm learning new skills. Right?
Todd Jones (01:07:11):
Right.
Lenn Robbins (01:07:12):
And I just absolutely loved it there. I got my master's and allowed me to teach at some other places and-
Todd Jones (01:07:17):
Yeah. And you earned your masters at a time when you had to say why not? About six weeks into studying for your masters, you were diagnosed with cancer. And really went through a lot, three relapses and all the treatments.
Lenn Robbins (01:07:37):
When you think about what you've been through and thankfully, you're doing well now, but when you went through your health struggles, did it change how you thought about your sports writing career and your life?
Lenn Robbins (01:07:50):
It's a heck of a question. Great question. I don't know what it is, Jonesy. I never believed that it was going to "win." I always believed like, "Okay, I got this diagnosis. What do we do? What's the next step? What do we do?"
Lenn Robbins (01:08:10):
I do remember though, the first time I heard the words thinking, “Shit I don't want to let anybody down.” And my wife said to me like later that she goes like, "What are you talking about?" And I said, "I don't know, kids are still young. I don't know. I just don't want to let anybody down."
Lenn Robbins (01:08:30):
And trust me when I say this, I'm not saying that there were a couple of days like where you're in bed and you just say like, "Oh man, this just sucks. This sucks."
Lenn Robbins (01:08:41):
But if you're in one of those infusion rooms, I'll never forget this, I had brought my work bag with me. And on the work bag, I always have like these little pins. Covered the national championship, I put that year's pin on it.
Lenn Robbins (01:09:01):
I don’t remember what pin I had actually, I do now, it was one with King Kong on it. King Kong … near Empire State Building. I think it was for the Kickoff Classic. And there was some father cradling his like young kid, I don't know.
Lenn Robbins (01:09:18):
The kid. And I made eye contact, kid has no hair. And he looks at me and gives a faint little smile and he starts playing with the pin on my backpack. And I say to the father, "It's sharp on the back. Is it okay if I give him this? Just be careful with it."
Lenn Robbins (01:09:41):
I was 57. Sure, there's a lot more I want to do and all that, but I had already lived a really full life. We just talked about it. Nobody grows up in Brooklyn, New York, at least in my circle, I think. I'm like, "Yeah, one day I'm going to cover the Olympics and Athens, one day I'm going to go to China and toboggan down the Great Wall of China." Today I think I'll go out and cover game seven of the World Series.
Lenn Robbins (01:10:13):
Are you kidding me?
Todd Jones (01:10:14):
Yeah, right.
Lenn Robbins (01:10:15):
So, I always said to myself, because I honestly believe it, I honestly feel it, I've lived a charmed freaking life. And fortunately, found like the one doctor in like the Northeast who'd ever heard of my cancer.
Todd Jones (01:10:32):
Yeah. You had a rare cancer in your head and neck and the treatment even involved like targeted gene therapy. Yeah.
Lenn Robbins (01:10:38):
Yeah. They're still doing it. I was the first guy in this experimental trial and now like 10 other people are on it. And that's the thing I'm "happiest" about, proud about, that I got a great doctor who's like this cool Brooklyn hipster. And we just kind of clicked and hit it off and he was like, "Look, I need a Guinea pig." And I'm like, "Where do I sign?"
Todd Jones (01:11:03):
Why not?
Lenn Robbins (01:11:04):
Because I've been called a pig a lot, so to be called a Guinea pig, it was like to step up.
Lenn Robbins (01:11:11):
So just, hey, somebody else might benefit from that. Worth it. Worth it. Yeah.
Todd Jones (01:11:17):
Well, I'm so happy obviously that you're doing well, that you've fought your way through and I'm just really appreciative of our friendship over the years. We haven't talked nearly enough in recent years.
Todd Jones (01:11:30):
And I think back on my own career a lot differently now at my age, and I didn't go through the health challenges that you have pulled through. And I just want to tell you thank you so much for giving us your time and for sharing your stories with us, because time is very valuable and I'm just so lucky that you're willing to give us this time.
Lenn Robbins (01:11:55):
Hey, like I said, when you first reached out, like humbled, like speechless kind of. Like I've seen, I know some of the other dudes that you've had on this show. Like you got like Mount Rushmore guys. So, I figured I really must owe you money or something.
Todd Jones (01:12:15):
No, I owe you money. You owe me beer. Is that way that went? No, I think it's the opposite.
Lenn Robbins (01:12:21):
There's no loser in this game.
Todd Jones (01:12:22):
Yeah. Alright, well we'll pay up at some point.
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