Jerry, Ryan and Sam McGee Deliver Laughs, Tears and More in “Sidelines & Bloodlines: A Father, His Sons and Our Life in College Football”
Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:19:24 — 72.9MB)
In this episode 168, we visit with Jerry McGee, Ryan McGee and Sam McGee, co-authors of “Sidelines & Bloodlines: A Father, His Sons and Our Life in College Football.”
For ESPN’s Ryan McGee and attorney Sam McGee, football is a lifelong passion formed from growing up as the sons of Dr. Jerry McGee, a man who wore stripes for decades as one of the most highly-decorated officials in college football history. In Sidelines and Bloodlines, Ryan and Sam team up with their father Jerry to share lessons learned between the white lines, featuring a cast of characters that runs from no-name small college athletes and coaches to one-name legends such as Holtz, Paterno, Tebow, and Bo.
The McGees provide a rare and often hilarious glimpse inside the lives of college officials, detailing how a love for the game convinces accomplished professionals from all walks of life to voluntarily endure ceaseless insults, public criticism, and the expressed goal of doing one’s job on a very public stage in a way that will hopefully NOT draw any attention to how that job is done.
From stories of brawling high school referees and making awkward small talk with George Lucas and Darth Vader at the Rose Bowl to the heart-tugging story of young sons in the stands on a Saturday as a stream of profanity-laden insults directed at their father drowns out the marching band, “Sidelines and Bloodlines” delivers laughs, tears, and
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About the Authors:
Jerry McGee
Author Jerry McGee is the star of the book Sidelines & Bloodlines: A Father, His Sons and Our Life in College Footballand the father to co-authors Ryan and Sam McGee.
He officiated at the college level for many years and was selected to do so in a number of high profile games. He is a member of 8 Halls of Fame including the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.
When not calling games on the gridiron, Jerry McGee served as a senior level administrator of 4 private colleges and universities in the Carolinas including 23 years as President of Wingate University. He served two terms on the Presidents Council of the NCAA, chaired 2 Football Issues Committees for the NCAA and represented college football on the board of directors of the National Sports Officials Organization for 6 years.
Ryan McGee
Author Ryan McGee is an ESPN Senior Writer and New York Times Best-Selling “with guy”, co-authoring Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Racing to the Finish in 2018. He started with ESPN on the production staff of the show RPM2Night, during which time he began contributing to ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com. He produced Totally NASCAR on FOX Sports Net for three seasons and for five years served as -editor-in-chief at NASCAR Media Group before returning to ESPN full-time.
Ryan is a five-time Sports Emmy winner, six-time National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year, and penned the script for the documentary film “Dale”, narrated by Paul Newman. He has covered all forms of motorsports and college sports, as well as Major League Baseball, NFL and everything from space jumping to snowmobile racing. He co-hosts Marty and McGee on ESPN Radio and the SEC Network with Marty Smith.
Sam McGee
Sam McGee is an author, trial lawyer and fisherman from North Carolina. He met his wife Marci while he was an undergrad at Wake Forest University, married her immediately after graduating Yale Law School, and later convinced her to let him attend Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College. Sam and Marci are the proud parents of Hannah Cole McGee (15) and Brooks McGee (13), both of whom speak Mandarin and love sports and travel. Theirs is a household of four people who completely adore one another and spend most of their limited time supporting each other’s pursuits.
Despite Sam being busy with trials, swim meets and baseball tournaments, his family allows him to write and fish, too. In addition to co-authoring Sidelines and Bloodlines with his father and brother, his debut novel Cartledge Creek is forthcoming from Fireship Press, 2021, a book inspired by his family’s true Civil War story.
Endorsements
“I came on these hilarious stories about the strange place referees occupy in our sporting world and found myself pulled deep into a tale of family, fathers and sons, and how we never forget the way back home.”
– Wright Thompson, ESPN Senior Writer
“No one knows college football better than McGee – why it matters, what it’s all about. “Sidelines and Bloodlines” is a love letter to the game and to the ties that bind fathers and sons – but it’s about more than that. It’s classic McGee.”
– Jeremy Schaap, ESPN Reporter
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