Straight Lines

Bluebook Sports
Bluebook Sports
  • 5.0 (16)
  • Management
  • Updated Weekly

Straight Lines is for leaders, entrepreneurs, and everyday grinders chasing big dreams. Hosted by legendary coach Tim Neiman, it’s about alignment—getting your values, goals, and actions in sync, even when the road gets rough. Drawing on decades of coaching, scouting for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers, and building championship cultures, Coach Neiman shares proven tools, real stories, and winning strategies to help you inspire your team, maximize talent, and create lasting success. About the Host Tim Neiman is a 14-time Coach of the Year and Hall of Fame baseball coach with 36 years at DeSales University, 868 career wins, and 13 players who’ve gone pro. From NCAA tournaments to the College World Series, scouting for MLB teams, and broadcasting AAA baseball, Tim’s career is built on winning cultures and inspiring people to reach their full potential.

  1. 2d ago

    Straight Lines | Jay Jackson: Seventeen Years of Pro Baseball, the SMILE Philosophy, and Staying in Your Own Lane

    Coach Tim Neiman welcomes Jay Jackson to Straight Lines, brought to you by Bluebook Sports, the game's trusted directory since 1909, connecting businesses directly with players, parents, and coaches. Download the app today. Jay pitched for six major league clubs (San Diego, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Atlanta, Toronto, and Minnesota) and spent time in Japan across a seventeen-year professional career. He looks back at what a seventeen-year-old doesn't understand about pro baseball, namely how much of it is a business, and why gratitude and showing up for each day kept him in the game. Jay shares the support system that carried him: his mom's "go take a nap" test for deciding whether a problem is real, and his parents' simple question, "Are you happy?" He also tells the story of a low point, trying to afford a wedding on a minor league salary, and the winter ball offer that arrived right after he asked for a sign, one he says marked a turning point in the second half of his career. Jay talks about his book, Nine Innings to Living Your Best Life, and the SMILE curriculum and app he's building to help young athletes stay in sports longer, build positive foundations, and handle the reality that most kids will never play professionally. He closes with a driving analogy for what straight lines means to him: you're the one behind the wheel, and every pothole is a choice between staying positive and getting it fixed or letting negativity run you off the road. A must-listen for young athletes and parents navigating the ups and downs of player development, anyone feeling stuck who needs a reminder to build a "positivity snowball," and coaches who want to help kids carry the lessons of sport well beyond the field.

  2. 4d ago

    Straight Lines Eastern Pennsylvania | John Graham: From Pitt Football to a Lifetime NSCA Award and Building Health and Performance at St. Luke's

    On this episode of Straight Lines Eastern Pennsylvania, presented by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, host Tim Neiman welcomes John Graham, Senior Network Administrator for Lifestyle Health and Wellness, Fitness and Sports Performance at St. Luke's University Health Network, and recipient of the 2026 Boyd Epley Award for NSCA Lifetime Contributions. John traces his path from a football player at the University of Pittsburgh who planned to become a physical therapist, to a career-changing conversation with strength coach Buddy Morris that pushed him into exercise science just as the profession was taking shape. He reflects on how much the field has changed, from the old three-days-a-week gym guidance to today's push for daily movement, and how St. Luke's lets his team focus on patient and athlete care rather than insurance protocols. John also shares his approach to youth sports and parenting: skip the car ride critique, wait twenty-four hours, and treat the last player on the roster with the same attention as the star, because you never know who will surprise you. He closes with the standard he lives by: it's not what you do when everybody's watching that matters, it's what you do when nobody is. A must-listen for young people considering a career in exercise science and sports performance, parents and coaches looking to keep youth sports fun, and anyone who believes the little things done consistently, and without recognition, are what make a difference.

  3. Oct 1

    Straight Lines | Mike Rooney: From Notre Dame Walk-On to ESPN's Voice of the Road to Omaha

    Coach Tim Neiman welcomes ESPN college baseball analyst Mike Rooney to Straight Lines — brought to you by Bluebook Sports, the game's trusted directory since 1909, connecting businesses directly with players, parents, and coaches. Download the app today. Mike traces his roots to a sports-obsessed childhood in suburban Philadelphia, where his father coached track and cross country at Monsignor Bonner before becoming a stockbroker, and where Little League glory was the dream of every twelve-year-old in town. He shares the story of walking on to Notre Dame's baseball team as an overmatched freshman under a young, deathly serious head coach named Pat Murphy — now the Milwaukee Brewers' manager — and playing all four years alongside future big leaguer Craig Counsell despite checking his locker every day certain he'd been cut. Mike opens up about the unseen preparation behind broadcasting the Road to Omaha, why college baseball coaches remain refreshingly open compared to football and basketball, and the parallel he draws between a manager's toughest in-game decision — when to pull a pitcher — and the hardest calls leaders face in business and personnel. He closes with a candid, vulnerable take on what "straight lines" means to him as a self-described chronic overthinker: not a perfect path, but keeping his eyes fixed down the field even when life knocks him backward. A must-listen for walk-ons and underdogs chasing a roster spot, leaders wrestling with tough personnel decisions, and any baseball fan curious what really goes on behind the ESPN broadcast desk.

  4. Sep 29

    Straight Lines Eastern Pennsylvania | Kate Corcoran: A 26-Year Journey from DeSales to Athletic Director at Millersville

    On this episode of Straight Lines Eastern Pennsylvania, presented by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, host Tim Neiman welcomes Kate Corcoran, current Director of Athletics at Millersville University and a former standout student-athlete and champion at DeSales University. Kate traces her 26-year administrative career — from an early stint coaching at Neumann College and Cabrini College, to sports information and NCAA compliance work at Penn State Berks, to leadership roles at Rosemont College and Cabrini University (including a 2019 national championship run and Cabrini's eventual acquisition by Villanova), and finally to her current post navigating Division II scholarships and a unionized state system at Millersville. She breaks down her guiding leadership philosophy — "lead where you are" regardless of title, and become the expert of whatever room you're in — and reflects on how her formative years as a student-athlete at DeSales shaped the leader she is today, crediting mentors who saw potential in her before she saw it in herself. Kate closes with hard-won advice for young people stepping into leadership: find your voice and use it even when you doubt its value, stay a lifelong student of your profession, and always turn back to lift others up as you climb. A must-listen for young professionals finding their voice in the workplace, athletic administrators navigating a career across NCAA divisions, and anyone who believes real leadership means reaching back to bring others up with you.

  5. Sep 24

    Straight Lines | Kevin Burrell: Four Decades in Baseball, from First-Round Pick to Renowned Scout

    Coach Tim Neiman welcomes Kevin Burrell to Straight Lines — brought to you by Bluebook Sports, the game's trusted directory since 1909, connecting businesses directly with players, parents, and coaches. Download the app today. Kevin was a first-round pick of the Boston Red Sox out of high school in 1981, spending eleven seasons in professional baseball before transitioning into scouting in 1992 — a career that's now spanned nearly four decades and included a hand in signing talents like Gordon Beckham and Justin Green. He reflects on what he didn't understand as an eighteen-year-old pro — the demands of managing his own time — and how baseball taught him patience and how to endure failure as a path to progress, not perfection. Kevin shares his simple framework for evaluating players and people, "F.A.T." — faithful, available, teachable — and speaks candidly about two of the hardest leadership lessons to learn with age: saying no to good things to make room for the best things, and truly listening to understand rather than just to respond. He closes with a powerful reflection on legacy, sharing that his deepest hope isn't to be remembered as a great scout, but as someone who cared more about the people he coached and scouted — their character and their soul — than their stats. A must-listen for young players learning to manage the demands of pro ball, coaches and scouts evaluating character over talent, and anyone thinking seriously about the legacy they want to leave behind.

  6. Sep 22

    Straight Lines Eastern Pennsylvania | Chad Bruckner: From Combat in Iraq to Fifteen Years in Law Enforcement and Storytelling

    On this episode of Straight Lines Eastern Pennsylvania, presented by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, host Tim Neiman welcomes Chad Bruckner — Army combat veteran, fifteen-year police officer currently serving at Lehigh University, author, screenwriter, and filmmaker. Chad traces his path from a childhood shaped by financial instability and a drive to care for others, to enlisting in the Army at seventeen, to leading an infantry squad in Iraq at just twenty-four — an experience he says exposed and amplified everything about his values, work ethic, and character. He opens up about the emotional weight of watching 9/11 unfold from his barracks in Fort Lewis and how it reignited his commitment to serve, ultimately shaping his transition into law enforcement. Chad speaks candidly about the politicization of policing today, the importance of listening to understand rather than simply responding, and the staggering fact that less than one percent of Americans work across police, fire, EMS, and corrections combined to keep society running. He closes with practical advice for anyone looking to break into law enforcement or criminal justice: there's no single pipeline, so be your own advocate, find a mentor, and put yourself in front of real people rather than waiting on an email. A must-listen for veterans navigating a transition into civilian service careers, young people considering law enforcement or criminal justice, and anyone who wants a first-person account of what it really takes to serve, in and out of uniform.

  7. Sep 17

    Straight Lines | Erik Kratz: Eleven MLB Seasons, Ten Big League Teams, and the Power of Patience

    Coach Tim Neiman welcomes former big leaguer Erik Kratz to Straight Lines — brought to you by Bluebook Sports, the game's trusted directory since 1909, connecting businesses directly with players, parents, and coaches. Download the app today. A Christopher Dock High School and Eastern Mennonite University product, Erik didn't reach the majors until age 30 after grinding through the minors for a decade, ultimately suiting up for ten different big league organizations across an eleven-year MLB career that included a 2014 All-Star nod and a World Series run with the Royals. He opens up about the faith and partnership with his wife that carried him through years of uncertainty, the toll constant relocation took on his family — including the surreal night he learned mid-shower he'd been traded from the Blue Jays to Kansas City with just hours to pack up his household — and why family stability, not talent, ultimately ended his playing career. Erik also shares behind-the-scenes stories from the clubhouse, including watching a struggling Christian Yelich turn in one of the greatest second-half stretches he's ever seen, and makes the case for chronically underrated catcher Carlos Ruiz, who caught three no-hitters and a perfect game without ever making an All-Star team. He closes with a powerful message on patience for young players chasing instant results: every day is one step forward, even when it doesn't feel like it. A must-listen for players and parents navigating the grind of player development, anyone who's faced a sudden career upheaval, and fans who want the real story behind a decade-plus of bouncing between big league clubhouses.

  8. Sep 15

    Straight Lines Eastern Pennsylvania | Tom Housenick: Nineteen Years Covering Lehigh Valley Sports for The Morning Call

    On this episode of Straight Lines Eastern Pennsylvania, presented by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, host Tim Neiman sits down with veteran sports journalist Tom Housenick, senior writer for The Morning Call covering the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Phillies prospects, and regional high school sports for nearly two decades. Tom traces his own anything-but-straight path — a false start as a pre-pharmacy major, a switch to communications, and a career built almost entirely on being in the right place at the right time rather than chasing opportunities. He shares a formative childhood memory of inventing homemade dice-and-cards baseball games with a neighbor, a chance meeting as a teenager with a Lakers beat writer that shaped his approach to journalism, and the hard lesson of finding his own voice instead of imitating other writers' styles. Tom opens up about his unlikely rise to sports editor, how his wife Mandy finally pushed him to speak up for himself at The Morning Call — leading to his current beat covering IronPigs and Phillies prospects — and shares behind-the-scenes stories of watching young players like Mark Appel and Andrew Painter navigate the mental grind of professional baseball with maturity and professionalism, win or lose. A must-listen for aspiring journalists learning to find their authentic voice, baseball fans curious what really goes on behind the scenes with prospects, and anyone who's ever needed a reminder that the best opportunities rarely arrive on a straight path.

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5
out of 5
16 Ratings

About

Straight Lines is for leaders, entrepreneurs, and everyday grinders chasing big dreams. Hosted by legendary coach Tim Neiman, it’s about alignment—getting your values, goals, and actions in sync, even when the road gets rough. Drawing on decades of coaching, scouting for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers, and building championship cultures, Coach Neiman shares proven tools, real stories, and winning strategies to help you inspire your team, maximize talent, and create lasting success. About the Host Tim Neiman is a 14-time Coach of the Year and Hall of Fame baseball coach with 36 years at DeSales University, 868 career wins, and 13 players who’ve gone pro. From NCAA tournaments to the College World Series, scouting for MLB teams, and broadcasting AAA baseball, Tim’s career is built on winning cultures and inspiring people to reach their full potential.

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