Episode 262 with Rus Bradburd, Author of Big Time, His First Novel that Connects to Four Nonfiction Works Passionately and Thoroughly Exploring Intersections Between Sport, Race, and Larger Culture

Notes and Links to Rus Bradburd’s Work

   Rus Bradburd’s latest book is the satirical novel, “Big Time.”  Rus attended Chicago Public Schools for eleven years before graduating from North Park College. After coaching basketball for fourteen seasons at UTEP and New Mexico State University, he left the game to study with Robert Boswell and Antonya Nelson—and pursue a life in writing. His five books focus on the intersections of sport, social progress, politics, and race. Rus has remained connected to the game through his acclaimed Basketball in the Barrio summer program in El Paso, as well as serving as NMSU’s television “color analyst.”  He was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to return to Ireland to work on his next book about refugees in Belfast, “Almost Like Belonging.” An accomplished fiddle player, he lives in Chicago, Belfast, and New Mexico.

Buy Big Time

Rus Bradburd's Website

At about 2:00, Rus gives background on his fiddle playing and his time as color commentator for New México State University 

At about 3:40, Rus talks about Big Time as his first work of fiction, as well as its nice timing, and he details how he worked on the book for many years

At about 5:40, Rus outlines some of the book’s exposition and plot, and talks about the current Colorado Football connections

At about 6:40, Rus talks about Univ of Chicago’s 1939 dropping of football and other stimuli for the book’s genesis, including Rick Russo’s work, and Dave Meggyesy's book 

At about 8:40, Rus talks about satire and fiction and ideas of how fiction often gets at truth so well

At about 10:00, Rus gives more background on committee workloads and how the proliferation of committees and on particular example worked their ways into his book 

At about 12:25, Rus talks about normalization of budget imbalance in universities 

At about 13:30, Pete and Rus discuss the book’s epigraph, and Ruis talks about how the book satirizes college athletics, while he’s “knee-deep” in sports still

At about 15:30, Pete details a compare and contrast lesson that he teaches 

At about 17:00, Rus responds to Pete’s question about the book’s opening and main characters Mooney and Braverman, history professors, working concessions at football games 

At about 18:40, Rus gives background on “pop poet” Layla, and the ways in which she and the two history professors work together; Rus connects today’s conversations around student protests and protests in the book

At about 20:30, Rus talks about the downfall of the Coors State English Department in the book

At about 22:00, Rus cites the Missouri Football protest in fodder for a similar situation in his book

At about 23:00, Rus speaks about rich owners often asking taxpayers to finance big building projects 

At about 24:20, Pete asks Rus about any inspirations for Layla, and he expands upon how the character evolved in his writing

At about 27:50, Pete charts the roles and importance of some characters in the book

At about 28:35, Rus discusses the financial costs and gains of big sport universities, and argues that the sporting program is taking away from education and educators

At about 33:00, Rus talks about a flawed system that puts so much work and so little compensation for adjunct instructors and showcases much hypocrisy

At about 35