Stuff I Learned from Podcasts: Issue 2

Another eclectic mix of podcasts, as is often the case with my listening habits. What follows is Stuff I Learned from Podcasts Issue 2.

From Episode 311 of 99% Invisible, entitled “The Barney Design,” I llearned:

• The National Basketball Association (NBA) had very boring uniforms heading into the 90s. Then the new expansion team, the Charlotte Hornets, introduced teal uniforms. This was a big deal because it was not a traditional uniform color and sales of the jerseys took off.
• The NBA hired Tom O’Grady as a marketing director and he transformed uniforms in the 90s. The use of dye sublimation allowed for wild designs since they didn’t have to be embroidered and the desire for updated designs to boost uniform sales.
• This led to the crazy designs of the Atlanta Hawks, Phoenix Suns and the namesake of this episode, the Toronto Raptors. Their uniform was purple with a red cartoonish dinosaur. It was often referred as the Barney design.

On the most recent episode of the Ungeniused podcast, I learned a lot about the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars.

• Ice cream trucks were used in Glasgow, Scotland to not only sell ice cream to neighborhood kids, they also sold and transported drugs for local gangs.
• A turf war erupted between the gangs, leading to shootings, damage to vehicles and even some killings.
• One man in particular was killed after refusing to sell anything other than ice cream. This led to huge court case that spanned almost 20 years.

The History of Fun podcast from December 11, 2017 was all about the history behind Chuck E. Cheese, the popular pizza/fun/animatronic mouse and his band restaurant. I learned some fascinating stuff including:

• The founder or Atari, Nolan Bushnell, also founded Chuck E. Cheese.
• His main competitor was Showbiz Pizza, who started out as an investor in Chuck E. Cheese.
• The company behind the animatronics, sold them to both companies.
• When Bushnell resigned in the mid 80s, the company then went bankrupt soon after and was bought out by, you guessed it, Showbiz Pizza.
• The animatronics were replaced in 2012 by a 3d animated mouse. The voice actor for the new Chuck E. Cheese is Jaret Reddick, the lead singer of the pop-punk band, Bowling for Soup.

My notes for today were written in my Dollar Tree composition book using a Wing Sung piston filler fountain pen with a fin nib. I used Noodler’s Heart of Darkness ink.

See you next time for more Stuff I Learned from Podcasts!