THE WARMUP

Welcome to Volume I, Edition I of The Sunday Back Page.

This is your Sunday morning sports section — built for the inbox and made for independent creators. Every week, the best sports writing, podcasting, and storytelling from people who own what they build. No institutions. No legacy outlets. No algorithms deciding what you see. Just great work. Every Sunday morning.

THE LEAD

I spent half my life hating Lou Holtz.

For one play call he made in a regular-season game. A game Notre Dame won, 54-7.

Thirty-four years later, I’ve softened — but the rollercoaster of emotions Holtz, who died at age 89 this week, evokes in me tells the story of how sports are hardwired into my DNA. And explains why I became the writer I am.

That’s at the core of what The Sunday Back Page is meant to be: good writing, reporting, talking, watching. We’re all here because something about sports energizes and enriches our human existence — the drama, the camaraderie, the physical potential unleashed. I hope this read does a little of the same for you every week.

Like many kids, sports became the mechanism of how I bonded with my father. He played freshman football alongside Paul Hornung at Notre Dame during the last season coached by Frank Leahy, Knute Rockne’s protege.

We watched Notre Dame grind through the Gerry Faust years before Holtz — who my father reminded me triggered a “Notre Dame out clause” in his previous contract — won a national championship within three years. That same year, my parents divorced. I ended up at Boston College. Didn’t even apply to Notre Dame.

I arrived during a football renaissance under Tom Coughlin. That freshman year, Coughlin brought an undefeated BC into South Bend. BC students snuck into the Notre Dame pep rally, angered Holtz; legend has it someone let a live pig loose in the student computer lab. Holtz’s Irish responded by going up 37-0 at halftime, and when BC held them to a three-and-out to open the second half, Holtz ran a fake punt. Final score: 54-7. Thousands of BC egos bruised.

The next year, BC returned one week after Notre Dame had beaten Florida State in the Game of the Century. I sat three rows from the end zone opposite Touchdown Jesus. What a view for a kid who grew up idolizing Notre Dame.

In striking contrast to the year before, BC ambushed the Irish to lead 38-17 with 11 minutes left. Then I watched, in shock and awe, one of the greatest comebacks in Notre Dame history. 22 points in 10 minutes. The final touchdown pass in the back of the end zone would’ve hit me in the face if Lake Dawson hadn’t corralled it. The stadium erupted so violently that I nearly collapsed. I thought: This is what a heart attack feels like.

Notre Dame left too much time. Glenn Foley drove the Eagles down the field. David Gordon knuckled one through the uprights beneath Touchdown Jesus for a 41-39 BC win. My friends and I celebrated on the field for hours. Greatest sporting experience of my life. At 19.

BC beat Holtz again the following year in Chestnut Hill, Mass., with my father in the stands as my guest.

Holtz played a role in the peak and the valley of my sports life. That fake punt still burns. But without it, I’m not the writer sitting here.

— Ian Powers

THE READS

Each week, we curate 4-6 of our favorite reads from this week. The selections came from our own curation and from dozens of submissions by our readers. Thank you so much, and keep them coming.

Our take: Miami (Ohio) is the last undefeated team in Division I men's basketball — 31-0, ranked 19th — and the debate isn't whether they're good. It's whether their nonconference schedule is good enough to earn an at-large bid if they lose in the MAC tournament. Matt Brown went and found out who wouldn't play them. He filed an FOIA request. The documents tell the story. This is Journalism 101 — find the question everyone is asking and answer it with reporting. The post is strategically gated, enough to appreciate the work, enough to make you subscribe. You should.

Our take: The Baltimore Orioles just had their biggest free agent spending spree in years. New principal owner David Rubenstein made it possible. Bradford William Davis went digging into how Rubenstein makes his money — and found an LLC tied to his private equity firm Carlyle Group listed as the owner of a Georgia warehouse DHS is converting into a migrant detention facility. SEC filings. Property records. Corporate addresses. Every dot connected. This is the kind of reported sports-business story that only happens when someone does the unglamorous work independently. Bradford is doing it.

Our take: You didn’t think this list was going to be all hard-news, investigative pieces, did you? This piece is a fun way to get into the Formula 1 season, which sped off from a standing start last night in Australia. It’s OK to indulge.

Our take: Black History Month marked its 100th anniversary this year. Matthew Barry spent it on the yard. This is a text version of an episode that visits the communities built around HBCUs — the bands, the homecomings, the generations of people paying forward what was paid for them. A worthy way to close out the month. And if you’re questioning the sports connection, then please read.

Our take: A non-profit called CASPR just released the first-ever state-by-state report card on online gambling policies, and if your state legalized it, you probably failed. Dustin Gouker — one of the best independent voices covering the gambling and prediction markets space — breaks down where he agrees, where he pushes back, and why any crackdown that ignores offshore books, sweepstakes casinos, and prediction markets isn't really a plan at all. Required reading as states increasingly revisit regulation.

THE LISTEN

Each week, we curate 1-2 of our favorite podcasts from this week. The selections came from our own curation and from submissions by our readers. Thank you so much, and keep them coming.

Tyler Dunne | Go Long

Our take: Tyler Dunne’s Go Long is the No. 1 bestselling NFL Substack for a reason. He produces loads of great content, and in this episode of his podcast, he chats with Chuck Klosterman about his new book on football.

THE WATCH

Each week, we curate 1-2 of our favorite videos this week. The selections came from our own curation and submissions by our readers. Thank you so much, and keep them coming.

Joon Lee

THE PRESSROOM

The genesis of this idea was born when Ian wrote about Joe Posnanski’s quiet return to the Substack leaderboard. Well, we noticed that sports radio personality Bill Reiter has found a home for his “Reiter Than You” daily show on Substack.

THE ROSTER

We want to celebrate as many independent creators on The Sunday Back Page as possible. Here are all the people who submitted their work for consideration this week, and we are grateful that they did and that we were able to consume amazing content. Many of these creators deserved a place in this newsletter, and we hope they continue to submit their work. Please keep them on your radar because they are on ours.

James Mortimer | Clare McEwen | Will Colahan | Astor Henriquez Cooper | Jack Mckeever | Jakob Sanderson | The Baseball Generalist | Andrew M. Werners | Beauty Of A Game | Casey Bellon | Chuck Hanf | Kitcyclopedia | PJ Brown | Caleb Hawkins