The Neil Haley Show Featuring Dennis Hopson, Mina Valentin, Anthony McMahon, and Grace Lynx Jenkins

The Neil Haley Show Featuring Dennis Hopson, Mina Valentin, Anthony McMahon, and Grace Lynx JenkinsNeil opened with NBA champion, former Ohio State career scoring leader, and 1986-87 second team All-American Dennis Hopson on the Total Celebrity Show. Dennis traced his journey from a young man growing up in Toledo, Ohio who originally committed to Cincinnati before flipping to Ohio State, to averaging 29 points per game his senior year under new head coach Gary Williams (finishing second in the nation in scoring) and helping put Ohio State basketball on the map. Drafted third overall by the New Jersey Nets in the legendary 1987 draft (alongside Scottie Pippen, Reggie Miller, Kenny Smith, and Armon Gilliam), Dennis played three years for the Nets through four head coaches before being traded to the Chicago Bulls, where he guarded Michael Jordan every day in practice and won an NBA championship in 1991. He shared candidly how a contract dispute pushed him to Sacramento and then overseas, with successful runs in Spain, France, and Israel. After retiring he returned to Ohio State at age 40 to finish his degree, then began an assistant coaching career at Northwood University under Rollie Massimino and at Bowling Green State University. Find him on Twitter @dennishopson.Author Mina Valentin then joined for The Mina Valentin Show simulcast to walk listeners through her novel writing process. Mina, a historical romance author and former dean, explained how she keeps a dedicated composition book for every novel with detailed character profiles covering everything from a male lead's height and fears to the female lead's favorite foods, hobbies, and relationship phobias, plus full backstories for household staff and travel patterns. She emphasized identifying the trope (forced proximity, fake relationship, damsel in distress) before writing, and she shared the surprise of discovering her own villain mid-draft on her first book. Mina is currently building a lead magnet for her Four Horsemen series after publishing the series, and stressed Hemingway's principle: you must read to write. She also offered a sharp observation that older people who talk about what is going on (rather than reminiscing about what went on) stay mentally young. Visit MinaValentin.com.The Cutting Edge Benefits simulcast with Anthony McMahon of ClaimLinx returned to a powerful misconception many business owners hold: that they are locked into their health insurance plan until the next January 1 or July 1 renewal date. Anthony explained that adding a Medical Expense Reimbursement Plan (MERP) constitutes a qualifying life event, which reopens the enrollment period for the company at any point during the year. He has switched many businesses off January 1 renewals to ClaimLinx's solution effective February 1, March 1, April 1, and May 1, and he warned that many brokers sit on renewals and send them 30 to 45 days before the effective date to box clients in. Anthony walked through ClaimLinx's three-pronged value: cost (lower premiums for the business and reduced payroll deductions for employees), benefits (fully customizable deductibles, co-pays, and visitation limits rather than off-the-shelf carrier plans), and service (a dedicated in-house admin service manager and field service manager so employees no longer need to call 1-800-Aetna or pester HR). Visit claimlinx.com.Neil closed with a return appearance from author Grace Lynx Jenkins, whose new novel Sight releases May 26. Grace gave listeners a deeper look at Noah, the protagonist, whose power allows him to literally see through other people's eyes at the cost of absorbing their emotions. She explained how strong personalities can pull Noah in unintentionally as he passes by, leaving him emotionally exhausted, and previewed the symbolic weight of the "other self" and the monster in Noah's nightmares as a representation of his internal struggle with self-worth. Grace emphasized that she builds characters not as homages to other fictional figures but by capturing personalities from real people in her life, including traits she recognizes in herself. Pre-order signed copies at GraceLynxJenkins.com.