SilentPunt Podcast

Henny Hiemenz

Conversations with authors, athletes, and people who didn't take the straight path. www.silentpunt.com

  1. 2d ago

    A Small Town in a Billionaire’s League

    SilentPunt Podcast 224 / October 2, 2026 Being a Green Bay Packers owner won’t pay your mortgage. It won’t even get you season tickets. But it does give you a stake in one of the strangest arrangements in professional sports: a community-owned football team surviving in a league of billionaires. Tom Nelson, author of The Green and Gold Standard: A People’s History of the Green Bay Packers, joins me to talk about how a small Wisconsin city pulled that off - and the people who repeatedly stepped in when the team needed saving. We get into Tom’s first trip to Lambeau, courtesy of a school janitor; the complicated Curly Lambeau; a coach whose film study required an investigation; and a franchise that occasionally confused honoring its past with hiring it. We also discuss Tom’s work helping save a Wisconsin paper mill, his approach to writing history, and why he believes private equity could present a serious challenge to the Packers’ future. Football provides the setting, but the questions reach well beyond it: what makes something belong to a community, and what does it take to keep it there? Subscribe to SilentPunt for funny essays and conversations about life, sports, and the things we take a little too seriously. No stock purchase required. 📚 Chapters 00:00 Introducing Tom Nelson and The Green and Gold Standard01:12 What Does It Mean to Own the Packers?03:34 Tom Nelson: Public Service and Saving a Paper Mill06:52 A Janitor, Season Tickets, and a Lifelong Packers Fan08:30 Lee Remmel and Maria’s Packers Connection09:58 The Thanksgiving Game That Helped Save the Packers13:54 Passing the Hat—and Passing the Football15:11 The Complicated Curly Lambeau18:15 Jack Vainisi: Laying the Groundwork for Lombardi22:06 When the Packers Couldn’t Let Go of the Past25:53 Dan Devine and the Toothpick Test27:51 Bob Harlan and the Reinvention of Lambeau30:55 Private Equity and the Packers’ Future37:03 Writing Books While Holding Down a Day Job40:08 Research Rabbit Holes and an Ice Bowl Dispute43:00 Closing Thoughts 🎥 🎬 🎥 🎬 🎥 🎬 🎥 🎬 🎥 🎬 🎥 🎬 You can also watch this conversation on YouTube, where, as far as I can tell, the audience mostly consists of my mother. Come keep her company. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.silentpunt.com

  2. Sep 10

    Spam Sandwiches and the Women Behind Lombardi’s Packers

    SilentPunt Podcast 223 / September 10, 2026 The story of Vince Lombardi’s Packers usually arrives in the voice of John Facenda: frozen breath, muddy jerseys, and giants doing battle on the tundra. But after the cameras left, a group of young women was doing much of the work that made those football lives possible. This week, I’m joined by mother-daughter authors Laura Kostelnik Biskupic and Katherine Biskupic, authors of Lambeau Ladies: The Boundary-Breaking Women Behind Lombardi’s Packers. We talk about the women who helped integrate Green Bay, created communities for young football families, cared for injured players, packed brown-bag lunches, raised children, and supported one another through a life that offered very little money or security. We also get into Marie Lombardi’s influence, the famous mink-stole photograph, Careful Drive, Packer “Holy Roller” parties, Cherry Starr’s rubber cockroach, and the Spam sandwiches that may - or may not - have fueled a dynasty. It’s a Packers story, but more than that, it’s a story about friendship, race, family, invisible work, and the people football history too often leaves just outside the picture. Send me the good Spam. Become a free subscriber of SilentPunt. 📚 Chapters 0:00 Introduction 0:45 How the Lambeau Ladies Story Began 5:15 The Drive That Inspired the Book 8:30 Researching and Writing a Forgotten History 11:40 The Cherry Starr Few People Knew 13:04 The Women Who Helped Integrate Green Bay 14:36 Marie Lombardi: The Queen of It All 16:59 Spam Sandwiches and the Work Behind the Dynasty 18:50 Lore Lane, Careful Drive and Holy Roller Parties 22:06 Mink Stoles and the Making of Titletown 24:04 The Lambeau Ladies’ Legacy 28:44 Writing Together as Mother and Daughter 30:21 Lightning Round: Cockroaches, Curfews, and Lambeau 38:32 Final Thoughts This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.silentpunt.com

    Spam Sandwiches and the Women Behind Lombardi’s Packers

  3. Aug 27

    We Were Taught to Suck It Up. That Wasn’t Always Helpful.

    SilentPunt Podcast 222 / August 27, 2026 Joe Palumbo has been a national champion, an All-American, a lawyer, an NFL intern, a sports agent, a wealth manager for professional athletes, and a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. Somehow, that’s only the setup. We talk about NIL money, why some athletes handle wealth better than others, the recurring dream that college football gives you one more year of eligibility, and the point in middle age when your body begins escalating the messages. Then the conversation turns to what football taught men of our generation to hide - and how Joe and his family are using Kristin’s Fund and a free football camp to teach boys a healthier version of strength. Interested in supporting Kristin’s Fund? Click here. Want to keep the conversation going? Subscribe for free to SilentPunt. 📚 Chapters 0:00 Introduction 1:38 Joe Palumbo’s path from Ithaca to the NFL 3:57 Inside the Jets, Chargers, and NFL league office 8:11 Becoming a sports agent 11:28 Leaving agency life for wealth management 13:17 NIL and teenage athletes making real money 15:31 Why some athletes handle money better than others 18:42 Jiu-jitsu, middle age, and listening to your body 24:58 Coach Butterfield and the 1991 national championship 27:49 Why former players still dream football isn’t over 33:55 Kristin’s Fund and preventing domestic violence 39:50 Teaching boys a healthier version of masculinity 45:59 Why speaking up is leadership 49:29 How the camp works—and how to support it 52:31 Private equity comes for youth sports This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.silentpunt.com

    We Were Taught to Suck It Up. That Wasn’t Always Helpful.

  4. Aug 20

    Nobody Gets Fired For Bad Predictions

    SilentPunt Podcast 221 / August 20, 2026 Fred Segal has spent a decade preserving the predictions sports media would rather forget. As the creator of Freezing Cold Takes and author of the new book Freezing Cold Takes: College Football, he has built an archive of certainty gone bad—from coaches crowned too early to games declared over before they were. In this episode, Fred and I talk about why coaches rely on “coach speak,” what Bobby Ross’ journey from “Bobby Loss” to national champion reveals about judging people too soon, and how Fred’s years as a lawyer—and his father’s enormous collection of old sports magazines—prepared him for this work. We also get into what today’s sports-media environment has lost: context, mystique, independent access, and the patience to see more than one clip or one bad play. Fred revisits the Peyton Manning–Charles Woodson Heisman race, shares a spectacularly ill-timed piece of BYU trash talk, and considers whether the culture of keeping receipts has made commentators any more careful. Spoiler: nobody gets fired for bad predictions. Nobody gets fired for subscribing to SilentPunt. You can do that here: 📚 CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro music and episode setup 0:47 Why “an incomplete history”? 2:36 Choosing what made the book 3:23 Why coaches use coach speak 4:37 Bobby Ross becomes “Bobby Loss” 8:11 Charlie Weis and premature coronations 9:01 How a lawyer created Freezing Cold Takes 10:38 Fred’s dad and the magazine archive 11:14 What modern sports media has lost 13:03 Too much access, less mystique 14:40 One bad play becomes a whole narrative 16:03 Manning, Woodson, and the unknown unknowns 18:25 Trash talk that aged terribly 20:05 Cameras, performance, and lost authenticity 21:06 Do receipts make pundits more careful? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.silentpunt.com

  5. Aug 13

    He Partied With Springsteen, Played for Madden, and Spent 50 Years Arguing About One Play

    SilentPunt Podcast 220 / August 13, 2026 Phil Villapiano has stories. About growing up on the Jersey Shore and watching Bruce Springsteen perform before most people knew his name. About being drafted by the Oakland Raiders without knowing exactly where Oakland was. About surviving the brutal practices and even longer nights of the Raiders’ legendary training camps. And, of course, about spending the rest of his life arguing with Franco Harris over what really happened during the Immaculate Reception. Subscribe for free to SilentPunt. Springsteen, Madden, and Franco won’t show up every week. Good stories will. In this episode, Phil joins me to discuss his new memoir, Just Tackle Baby, and the remarkable life behind it. We talk about John Madden, Al Davis, John Matuszak, the glorious chaos of the 1970s Raiders, and the unlikely friendship Phil developed with Franco after finding himself on the wrong side of football’s most famous play. Phil also explains why the title of his book means more than making tackles. Whether it was football, a 35-year career in shipping, writing a memoir, or dealing with the problems life continues to present, Phil has approached everything the same way: prepare, compete, and tackle whatever is in front of you. 📚 Chapters 0:00 Intro: Phil’s very New Jersey morning 0:40 Bruce Springsteen before he was famous 3:53 The night Springsteen sang “Jersey Girl” 6:06 How Just Tackle Baby became a book 9:58 The hard work of writing a memoir 15:02 From the Jersey Shore to Bowling Green 22:56 Drafted by Oakland - and needing an atlas 26:44 The Raiders’ brutal, beer-soaked training camps 32:52 Why Phil couldn’t keep hating Franco Harris 37:11 “If I don’t drop my arms, there’s no Immaculate Reception” 40:18 Franco’s 4:07 call every December 22 42:42 The interception that sealed the Sea of Hands game 47:02 Christian Bale, Nicolas Cage, and the Madden movie 51:23 Why Just Tackle Baby is bigger than football 53:26 Closing thoughts This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.silentpunt.com

  6. Jul 30

    JJ Birden Was 157 Pounds - and Lasted Nine NFL Seasons

    SilentPunt Podcast 219 / July 30, 2026 At 157 pounds, JJ Birden was never supposed to last nine seasons in the NFL. In this conversation, the former Kansas City Chiefs receiver explains how he turned speed, preparation, and a stubborn desire to prove everybody wrong into a career that included catching passes from Joe Montana. Birden also opens up about his less-documented years after football: business successes and failures, the coffee shop he owned despite not liking coffee, and the life-changing decision he and his wife made to raise five nieces and nephews alongside their three children. Those experiences helped shape his new book, Beat the Coverage: Six Strategic Steps to Win in Business and Life, a practical framework for recognizing opportunities, preparing with purpose, and performing under pressure. Subscribe for free to SilentPunt. 📚 Chapters 0:00 Introduction 0:55 First pass from Joe Montana 3:51 From a 133-Pound Track Recruit to Oregon Football 5:51 Putting in the Reps for Life After the NFL 10:15 Coffee, a Search Engine, and Learning Business on the Fly 13:02 How JJ and Raina Went from Three Children to Eight 16:11 Know the Field—and Draw Up the Game Plan 19:36 Evolving as a Receiver and Catching His First TD from Montana 22:03 Why Beat the Coverage Is Different from His First Book 24:54 Playing to Your Strengths and Covering Weak Spots 27:21 SilentPunt Lightning Round 31:14 Joe Montana’s Endorsement 34:02 Where to Find JJ and Beat the Coverage This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.silentpunt.com

  7. Jul 16

    The Dream Came True. It Still Didn’t Feel Like Enough.

    SILENTPUNT PODCAST 218 / July 16, 2026 For the many new readers here: the basic rhythm at SilentPunt is that one week I write an essay, and the next I talk to someone interesting. The subjects bounce between middle age, marriage, parenting, sports, and whatever fresh indignity adulthood has provided lately. 🥃 📚 🥃 📚 🥃 📚 🥃 📚 🥃 📚 🥃 📚 Jason Botts grew up dreaming of spending one day in the major leagues. He eventually played parts of four seasons with the Texas Rangers - yet by the time his career ended, that original dream had somehow become a ten-year standard, and what once would have felt impossible no longer seemed like enough. We talk about why high achievers keep moving the goalposts, how timing and opportunity shaped his career, the fight-or-flight reality of living on baseball’s roster bubble, and what his friendship with Rick Ankiel taught him about the mental side of the game. (You can read Jason’s excellent writing at Have Bat Will Travel) The conversation eventually turns to the harder question of what happens after the uniform comes off. Jason opens up about losing his identity, finding a second act through mentoring and writing, and raising two baseball-playing sons without making his career the standard they must meet. We also cover conversations with his cousins from left field in an almost-empty Oakland Coliseum, an 18-hour Mexican winter-ball bus ride, and why he would rather face Aroldis Chapman at 105 miles per hour than throw batting practice to a frustrated teenager. Subscribe now to SilentPunt! You can move the goalposts later. 📚 Chapters 0:00 Making the Majors—and Still Wanting More 5:02 The Oakland Coliseum and the Memories That Last 12:00 Sammy Sosa, Ian Kinsler and the Role of Opportunity 14:17 The Mental Game: You Don’t Have to Be Perfect 18:52 Rick Ankiel, the Yips and “One More Chapter” 22:58 From Ballplayer to Mental-Performance Mentor 24:49 Life on the Roster Bubble: Years of Fight-or-Flight 28:42 Retirement, Identity Loss and Finding Writing 33:19 Raising Sons in the Shadow of a Pro Career 36:25 When His Son Wanted to Quit Baseball 40:12 Preparing Kids for Life Beyond Sports 42:36 The SilentPunt Lightning Round 45:16 An 18-Hour Mexican Winter-Ball Bus Ride 47:41 Finding a Baseball Community on Substack This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.silentpunt.com

  8. Jul 2

    From Ballfields to Battlefields

    SilentPunt Podcast 217 / July 2, 2026 This week on the SilentPunt Podcast, I’m joined by Christopher Warner, author of Playing for Keeps: Legendary Athletes in Combat During World War II. Since this is a July 4th edition of the show, we talk about athletes who did more than simply serve during the war. These were men who had already become champions, stars, record-setters, and future Hall of Famers — and then found themselves in places where the stakes were no longer wins, losses, trophies, or box scores. Chris and I get into the stranger-than-fiction life of Barney Ross, Bob Feller’s decision to enlist after Pearl Harbor, Tom Harmon’s survival story, Emlen Tunnell’s heroism in the Coast Guard, Yogi Berra’s D-Day experience, and Chuck Bednarik’s time as a B-24 gunner before becoming “Concrete Charlie.” We also talk about Chris’s own background as an athlete, writer, actor, and historian, and why he wanted the book to move across baseball, football, boxing, track, swimming, bobsled, and more. Subscribe to SilentPunt for free — so Red Forman doesn’t call you a d*****s. 📚 Chapters 00:00 — Welcome to the July 4th episode01:13 — Barney Ross: boxer, Marine, war hero, and survivor06:59 — Jack Ruby, Stallone, and the strange threads of history08:15 — Who made the book — and why some famous names didn’t10:07 — Chris Warner’s path from athlete to writer13:31 — Bob Feller, family history, and the roots of the book16:59 — Uncle Tom, glider pilots, and family war history18:34 — Tom Harmon: Heisman winner, plane crashes, and survival23:48 — Warren Spahn, false praise, and getting war stories right26:07 — Veterans’ silence and what they carried home29:22 — Emlen Tunnell: heroism, race, and forgotten greatness36:52 — Yogi Berra, D-Day, and real pressure38:25 — Chuck Bednarik, B-24s, and football toughness43:02 — Where to find Playing for Keeps and final thoughts This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.silentpunt.com

    From Ballfields to Battlefields
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Ratings & Reviews

5
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About

Conversations with authors, athletes, and people who didn't take the straight path. www.silentpunt.com

Information

  • Creator
    Henny Hiemenz
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    71
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Henny Hiemenz
  • Show Website
    SilentPunt Podcast