Sneakers: An American Tale Guest: Nicholas Smith, author of “Kicks: The Great American Story of Sneakers” Sneakers were created not to protect the human foot, but to protect the lawn, the croquet lawn to be precise, from the human foot. The story of sneakers is tied to the famous name Goodyear, and the business wouldn't be what it is today without the phenom Michael Jordan.  Bodybuilding Guest: Conor Heffernan, Assistant Professor in Kinesiology and Health Education at the University of Texas at Austin Early European gymnasiums, strong-men performances, and bodybuilding gyms brought physical culture into the mainstream in the United States.