I know many sports sickos but Saam Esfandiari might be the sickest. The Light Years co-host has in depth opinions on basketball (of course), soccer, football, and even baseball. Today we decided to explore some connection points between these fields, so we can get a 30K view of what’s happening across sports.

Topics! Include!

* The bizarre Matt Miller fantasy-football scandal and what it says about the industry.

* Sam’s theory that LeBron won’t announce anything until he can completely own the media cycle.

* A historic NBA Summer League class

* Is American basketball about to reach a higher level of international dominance?

* Team USA keeps producing great players—but not MVP-level American superstars.

* The reason Spain and Argentina are soccer-dominant.

* The real reason the U.S. struggles to become a true soccer power—and why it goes far beyond youth-sports costs or athleticism.

* The emotional difference between watching a long touchdown run and a deep touchdown pass.

* Ethan’s frustration with the NFL using primitive statistics despite being America’s most complicated sport.

* Saam’s long held belief that quarterbacks are overrated

* How gambling partnerships may have pushed useful sports analytics behind proprietary paywalls.

* The hypothetical “James Harden of wide receivers” who could exploit pass-interference rules and make football unbearable.

* Saam’s argument for why he wants LeBron James on the Warriors

An entertaining and informative NBA CBA-based conversation with NBA agent and Move Insoles co-founder Nate Jones. Absolutely loved this one, and hope you will too. Topics! Include!

* Why Ethan doesn’t want LeBron on the Warriors.

* Nate’s theory that LeBron’s biggest business is attention.

* The lost art of celebrities who “exist when they exist.”

* Why the NBA’s new CBA isn’t actually costing players money.

* The hidden link between the 1999 and 2023 CBAs.

* How Kevin Garnett changed the NBA forever.

* Why stars are getting traded—and it’s not because owners are cheap.

* Adam Silver’s quest to turn the NBA into the NFL.

* How pro athletes are becoming their own hereditary class.

* Why NBA players keep saying millions of dollars isn’t that much money.

* How engagement-chasing clips are destroying context—and convincing fans that old stories are breaking news.

We’ve got a fantastic NBA-centric pod with SiriusXMNBA host and ever-candid broadcaster Justin Termine. So many subjects topics to cover as the NBA world comes to a boil. Topics! Include!

* Why are NBA teams suddenly treating Jaylen Brown like a risky asset instead of a franchise cornerstone?

* Has the new CBA quietly changed the definition of a superstar worth paying?

* Would LeBron’s farewell tour make more sense in Cleveland or Golden State?

* Why would a Warriors-LeBron partnership be more awkward than people realize?

* Why we love, but don’t believe in, the big Minnesota LaMelo swing

* Have NBA fans and media completely underestimated how brutal the new salary-cap environment has become?

* Could the Lakers’ recent moves age into a disaster?

We’ve got a great House of Glass for you today. Just look at the docket. You have to subscribe, just so you can hear how Ryan pronounces “Thierry Henry.” Topics! Include!

* (2:00) Tim Bontemps to the…Hawks?! Why would someone voluntarily leave ESPN for an NBA front office?

* (7:00) Could “take artists” be more valuable than analytics exp…

A glorious conversation with our PRIDE CORRESPONDENT Katie Herzog of Blocked and Reported on this whole San Francisco Giants Rainbow Hat Controversy and so much more.

Topics! Include!

* Is catcher secretly the strangest and most brutal position in all of sports?

* The San Francisco Giants Pride controversy and the problem with compelled participation

* Has Pride Month become too large for its own good?

* Why awareness campaigns can sometimes backfire on the causes they support

* The surprising way activist movements evolve after they achieve their biggest victories

* How internet fame and constant engagement seem to drive influential people (Bret Weinstein for example) off the rails

* The strange contradictions that emerge when progressive values collide with cultural differences abroad

* Is the “right wing fever dream” about Bay Area public schools true?

Dunc’d On Founder and co-host of my new favorite YouTube channel Nate Duncan, everybody.

* How huge is this Finals?

* Wembanyama temp check: Nate loves Wemby, but how does the public feel?

* Does Wembanyama’s unprecedented physical advantage make him more compelling—or less entertaining—to watch?

* Is Wembanyama actually a dirty player, or is he simply dealing with the challenges of being 7-foot-5?

* Should playoff basketball be officiated differently than regular-season basketball?

* Does today’s NBA Finals atmosphere compare to the league’s peak popularity during the 2016 Warriors–Cavs era?

* Does James Dolan care what anyone thinks?

* Why does Steve Kerr have a growing coaching tree?

* Did OG Anunoby’s chase-down block deserve more appreciation than De’Aaron Fox’s mistake deserved blame?

* Why does Nate view skiing as a more legitimate passion than golf?

* Effects of parents actually spending more time with their children than previous generations.

* Knicks–Spurs Finals comeback analysis and whether San Antonio collapsed or New York surged.

* How teams should manage volatility differently when protecting large leads versus playing from behind.

* Debate over NBA referee incentives, league interests, and the possibility of series-extension bias.

* SportsPredict’s World Cup Probability Cup and using prediction contests to identify analytical talent.

* Whether modern hiring should adopt a “Moneyball” approach by measuring forecasting skill instead of relying on traditional credentials.

* Is the big money in studying idiot sports predictors or geniuses?

Again, join our Probability Cup contest and perhaps win an iPad Pro ($1,000 value) or $200 Ticketmaster gift card. Accept the challenge and learn more at sportspredict.com/probabilitycup.

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Wow, do Ryan and I have much to discuss with all this Knicks-Spurs NBA Finals buzz. Topics! Include!

* Why the NBA Finals suddenly feel like a major cultural event again

* Glass man gives a tepid defense of New York’s most hated man (James Dolan)

* The controversy surrounding Trump’s appearance at the Finals

* Conflicting explanations for moving a Knicks watch party

* Whether sports media applies political standards consistently (No!)

* Adam Silver’s balancing act between politics and sports

* Why NBA players are less vocal about politics than before

* Victor Wembanyama’s growing dirty-player reputation

* How officiating and league priorities can shape playoff series

* Glasspiegel explains, with precision, why Pat McAfee got a $60 million payday

Delighted to be joined by Scott Agness, publisher of Fieldhouse Files and man of the hour. I asked him Scott the Indiana Fever are acting so strangely towards him and media writ large. Scott was fair and measured on this pod, as per usual, which makes what the Fever did especially inexplicable. Topics!

* Agness explains why the Fever revoked his credential over Caitlin Clark injury reporting.

* I argue that the Fever’s messaging around Clark has been confusing and inconsistent.

* Discussion of whether something deeper is going on behind the scenes in Indiana.

* Agness recounts his long-running access issues with the Pacers/Fever organization.

* The two examine how poor PR decisions have amplified controversy.

* Agness defends Clark as professional, mature, and media-savvy.

* Discussion over whether Clark and coach Stephanie White are actually at odds.

* How Clark’s arrival has transformed WNBA attention, ratings, and scrutiny.

* Agness dismisses many online conspiracy theories surrounding the Fever.

* Sophie Cunningham’s growing influence, personality, and popularity get a spotlight.

We love Neil Paine, our analytics-forward friend. He covers seemingly every sport with a data-driven zeal. Today we took at look at whether the foul-bait backlash to the Thunder is rooted in reality. Does this populist basketball anger result from a real difference between this team and all the others? Topics! Include!

* Thunder Derangement Syndrome is real (H/T Kevin O’Connor)

* Why SGA became the NBA’s villain

* The Internet’s obsession with “ethical hoops”

* That Tom Haberstroh article about how often SGA falls

* Why SGA is secretly a basketball teacher

* NBA discourse clip economy as confirmation bias warfare

* How social media manufactures sports outrage

* Draftism and Jalen Brunson disrespect

* Why stats lose to narratives in modern sports debates

* The NBA’s new era of fragile dynasties

On a personal note, I enjoyed this conversation because it’s different from all the others. I rarely get a chance to reflect specifically on what I do here. Thanks Teutonia!

Topics. Include.

* A loyal subscriber joins the show to audit the current “hot streak” era of House of Strauss. (1:09)

* The alleged Mike Vrabel–Dianna Russini saga becomes a case study in media obsession and rumor economics. (3:07)

* Why the Tiger Woods scandal felt like the first truly social-media-driven sports hysteria. (5:52)

* Debate over whether cheating matters less than lying when you’re leading an NFL team. (11:00)

* Parenting constraints accidentally create a hyper-efficient writing workflow. (17:42)

* Why the Ryan Glasspiegel episodes feel like comfort food — and the Spike Eskin episodes feel like combat sports. (16:34)

* How Elon Musk broke the old “viral article” economy and changed Substack strategy forever. (24:35)

* The long-running Adrian Wojnarowski feud gets unpacked — from leaked sources inside ESPN to the blog post that allegedly became a career time bomb. (33:19)

* Inside the NBA’s hidden power structure: sneaker reps, shadow agents, and the quiet influence of Warren LeGarie. (43:03)

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* 00:01:14 – Big question: Is taste objective or culturally constructed?

* 00:02:01 – Top-down vs. organic creation of hit music in the 50s–60s

* 00:03:36 – Why 1950s hits often centered on death and tragedy

* 00:05:01 – Data-driven approach: listening to every Billboard #1 song

* 00:09:47 – “Vibe shifts” in music (e.g., Kurt Cobain / Smells Like Teen Spirit)

* 00:11:20 – How technology shapes music evolution (from Jimi Hendrix to Frank Sinatra)

* 00:13:03 – Do lyrics actually matter? Case study: It Wasn’t Me

* 00:18:01 – Organic viral hits driven by DJs and accidents (pre-internet virality)

* 00:29:32 – “Uncanny” factor in hits (e.g., Pumped Up Kicks)

* 00:34:08 – Strange trends of the 90s (swing revival, genre fragmentation)

* 00:41:10 – Death of monoculture vs. rise of creator freedom in the internet era

* 00:52:38 – Taylor Swift as the “last monoculture superstar”

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We’ve got Jesse Singal in large part so we can discuss his quality as a basketball player. Of course, other less important topics were discussed. Such as!

* 49ers Draft Controversy

* The Michael Tracy/Jim Acosta Altercation

* The Jeffrey Epstein Files

* Social Media Bubbles vs. Normal People

* Hassan Piker and Modern Radical Chic

* Better career: Scottie Pippen vs. Kevin Durant?

* The “Post-Literate” Era

* Jesse’s Dirty Dirty Sexy New England Patriots

* Crisis PR Strategy Advice

* How sports shape the future of X/Twitter

* Caitlin Clark, the WNBA, and the business of controversy .

* Nike, ideology, and shareholder value

* The fragmentation of internet culture

* Erik Torenberg’s controversial, “Right-wing memes are displacing African-American Vernacular English as the most dynamic source of linguistic innovation” comment

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House of Glass is here to discuss an especially fertile week in sports media. Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports DARED DISAGREE with a few of my takes on Vrabel-Russini. We found considerably more agreement as we shifted to NBA television discussion, as per usual. Topics!

* Mike Vrabel-Dianna Russini scandal and press conferences

* What are the chances Vrabel actually gets fired by the Patriots?

* Whether Patriots knew about relationship pre-hire

* Russini’s career fallout and future prospects

* How the New York Post coverage (story on Vrabel’s wife) went too far

* Steve Kerr’s contract options (coaching vs. broadcasting)

* Kerr’s TV analyst potential at ESPN/NBC

* NBA playoff ratings trends and measurement disputes

* Nielsen vs. streaming metrics fragmentation

Trying something new and curious what you all think. Instead of separating this week’s articles into their own narrations, I combined them all into one narration. It’s an audio compilation of the following:

Eagles Fan Shows the Flaw in NFL Broadcasting

UBS Report: NBA Decline Hurt Nike

NBA’s Solution is More in Stakes Than Style

LaMelo Ball is an Idiot and a Savant

The WNBA Wants Attention—Just Not This Kind

Honestly, this was one of the most enjoyable podcasts for me. I credit the WNBA, everyone’s favorite league, and also give thanks to the incomparable Wos. We had a great time cathartically venting on what’s unsaid about recent NFL media and WNBA “coupling” scandals. Topics! Include!

* WNBA romance frenzy: Fudd-Bueckers #1 picks dating? Team hides dynamics amid HR risks, media gatekeeps.

* Have two NBA players ever “dated”? What would we guess?

* Russini Talk: Sex between media and sports stars is often incidental

* Teammate hookups convo: WNBA’s open lesbian ties baffle coverage norms.

* Bueckers as Caitlin Clark counter in WNBA culture

* Sophie Cunningham’s MAGA hints

* Insider sleaze exposed: Woj/Shams/Schefter all flatter sources

* Is Adrian Wojnarowski struggling in Olean, New York because he’s anti Trump?

* Is it bad that an MLB broadcaster used AI for questions?

* LeBron James and Memphis

Spike Eskin got into it with Sopan Deb of the New York Times and became a character in my article on UBS blaming the NBA for Nike woes. We podcasted about this subject, Diana Russini resigning from the Athletic, and the playoff outcome that would best help the NBA. Topics! Include!

* NBA popularity decline: Discussing why Finals viewership is the real NBA popularity indicator, and UBS report linking it to Nike’s struggles.

* Sopan Deb’s tweet skepticism: Critique of the NYT writer’s demand for “concrete evidence” of crisis despite revenue claims, arguing data like ratings won’t sway entrenched views.

* Load management and 65-game rule defense

* Star power deficit: Casual fans name only aging stars (LeBron, Steph); current top players lack youth appeal or relatability, hurting Nike sales and broad interest.

* Media defensiveness/politics: NBA coverage mirrors politics—denial of decline tied to anti-conservative pushback; OutKick overstates “woke” label post-2020.

* Playoff hopes: Spurs-Thunder rivalry, Luka redemption arc, or Wemby breakout could help, but his height/French persona limits mass appeal vs. relatable stars.

* Diana Russini scandal: Defending her reporting skill (e.g., accurate AJ Brown rumors matched by Schefter/Rapoport) amid Vrabel photos; industry favors relationships, not just ethics.

* Donate to Spike’s great cause: The 2026 Walk for Paws

Our guy Tom Haberstroh is here to discuss an article of his that sent shockwaves throughout the NBA. What’s going on with this “alarming data” that suggests stars are increasingly prone to miss national TV games? We talk about that and much more. Topics! Include!

* Record star injuries explode with 1,400+ games missed (up from 892 two years ago); stars like Lillard, Hal…

The greatest sports media podcast in all the land returns as Ryan and I get into some NBA heavy chatter, with a side of Roger Goodell’s Rooney rule defense. Enjoy!

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* LeBron James’ likability in a golf video with Bob Does Sports and potential post-retirement renaissance.

* Luka Dončić’s MVP case, improved conditioning, defense critiques, and discourse around Rachel Nichols.

* Evolution of NBA MVP criteria from team success to individual stats, referencing Westbrook and Jokić.

* Jaden Ivey’s release by the Chicago Bulls after erratic live streams criticizing NBA Pride events.

* Conservative misinterpretations of NBA “wokeness” on Pride Month and player deference in the league.

* Rising manic episodes among athletes on social media, linked to meds, weed, porn, and live streaming.

* Puka Nacua’s rehab stint, potentially anti-Semitic remarks, and his elite performance despite issues.

* Roger Goodell’s defense of the NFL’s Rooney Rule amid Florida AG’s legality challenge under Trump admin.

* LeBron’s blunt quote dismissing playing for the Memphis Grizzlies and debates on small-market NBA viability.

Kyle Porter from Normal Sport is a thoughtful commentator who thinks about a lot more than just the sport he covers. So I wanted to press him on this topic, plus a few others: Is golf, with the PGA Tour now led by a former NFL exec, about to truly take off and conquer the culture? We get into the sport’s eccentricities and current moment. Topics include…

* Post-Tiger Woods stars: Debate on who has “juice” in golf, including Scottie Scheffler’s dominance, recent struggles, and potential as the next face of the sport.

* Golf’s niche status: Analysis of golf remaining mostly niche amid declining monoculture, contrasted with strong participation growth post-COVID and viewer overlap with players.

* NBA-golf parallels: Connections between waning NBA regular season interest and rising personal golf fandom, including entrepreneurial YouTube golf content.

* Family and aging into golf: How mid-life dads (around age 40) increasingly play golf with kids due to modern parenting trends, unlike past generations.

* Player personalities: Comparisons of “boring” narratives around Scheffler, Rickie Fowler, Steph Curry, and Mike Trout; Scheffler’s media interactions and focus.

* Golf’s watchability: Why golf suits casual viewing (especially with kids), constant action without stoppages, and unique moments like shots hitting birds.

* Broadcasting challenges: Importance of shot selection, pace (e.g., pitch clock analogies), and simplifying stats like strokes gained for fans.

* Skill breakdowns: Tiger Woods’ elite iron play and lag putting; Scheffler’s mid-round adjustments, course discipline, and avoiding risky shots.

* Equipment and distance: Debates on tech advances (e.g., TrackMan aiding young players like Spieth), gear’s role in driving distance, and need for pro-level limits.

* Rory McIlroy’s appeal: His humanity, vulnerability, and post-Masters career arc as the most relatable superstar, with older players sustaining power.

For a taste of the questions we’re answering, see below:

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Our man Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports is here to discuss how Ross Barkan and others are joining his MLB > NBA bandwagon. Is it true? What are the numbers to support the idea that MLB has surpassed the NBA? Topics! Include!

* World Baseball Classic Buzz: Is our media rooting against us?

* Rob Manfred’s Reforms

* One fascinating theory on why March Madness is fading from culture

* Why did the PGA Tour outlast Liv Golf?

* The strange bedfellows in Iran War media coverage

* JD Vance getting surpassed by Marco Rubio as next president on Kalshi?

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It’s a convoluted world out there and I trust Stratechery’s Andrew Sharp to help us navigate it. In this podcast we humble former NBA media types dared entered the fraught topics of Anthropic vs. Trump, world affairs, reason for America’s Israel alliance, the Iran war, and always, fixing the NBA. Enjoy!

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Author, filmmaker and ardent basketball fan Sherman Alexie joins me to discuss one of my favorite topics: The 1990s. Though, to be honest, we stray from that subject and get into others subjects of interest. Such as!

* Rob Mahoney thinks “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is bad. Fair?

* Smells Like Teen Spirit changed everything

* What was the last great movie?

* Why, exactly, Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red White and Blue” became a hit again two decades later

* The cognitive dissonance for White Liberals seeing people who look and talk like them having different politics

* McDonald’s as blue collar space

* Sherman could plausibly be from half the world

* I’m mesmerized by how different the Canadians are

* Sports media’s been socially pressured into softness

* The laudable grandiosity of Timothée Chalamet

* The theory behind YouTube athletic stars

* Is more fictional content political or are we just more sensitive to political messages?

* Who are the ALL TIME “Pretendian” actors

Per the new Substack/Polymarket partnership, I’m posting an Eileen Gu involved competition. As someone incapable of accurately pricing Winter Olympics events, I’m interested in whether bettors reflect Gu’s true odds for winning the Ski Halfpipe. As of this writing, Polymarket has her favored to triumph. Fame halo effect, or accurate probability?

And onto the Pesca pod topics…

* Would we bet that Chuck Klosterman has a secret North Dakota accent?

* Eileen Gu is certainly beautiful, but does she also look a little terrifying?

* Is the lack of elite anger towards China rooted in corporate considerations?

* America is less patriotic now, especially among the young. Bad thing?

* Is the United States the best country?

* Per the Jeremy Carl congressional dustup, is there such a thing as White American culture?

* Stuffwhitepeoplelike was a great website

* Is there such a thing as a “white guy basketball assist”?

* Is it plausible that Spike Lee’s All-Star Game Palestine outfit had nothing to do with Deni Avdija?

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This pod was so hot, so provocative, that our man Ryan Glasspiegel was worried about career consequences. Personally, I believe we were just being reasonable about potentially fraught topics, such as…

* Not everyone loved Ryan’s reporting on the viewership drop during Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance

* Was the bigNBC viewership falloff another “Bud Light” style boycott, or simply lack of American median fan connection with the artist?

* Who SHOULD the halftime show artist be next Super Bowl?

* More people are criticizing Adam Silver these days

* A solution to the NBA All-Star game

* A solution to NBA tanking

* Artists are dropping Casey Wasserman due to Epstein files revelations. But what’s the specific allegation against him?

* I think there’s less to the Epstein story than Ryan thinks

First of all, congratulations to our SportsPredict Super Bowl winners SFZevi, Nathan Shea and Peter V. I had fun competing against all of you this NFL season, even though I reliably fell short of prize territory.

But before we completely say goodbye to football, I present this look back at the game/season with John Middlekauff, absolute contest BEAST for The Volume network. Of course, we got off topic into issues of interest, as tends to happen. Subjects include!

* How much is Michael MacDonald worth on the open market?

* Why are NFL coaches paid so low relative to impact?

* Why does nepotism work better in the NFL than the NBA?

* Should NBA GMs make more than NBA coaches?

* James Pearce Jr., coming off a 10.5 sack rookie season for the Atlanta Falcons, has been arrested and the details are horrific. How would you assess the pick and process if you’re the new GM of the team?

* NFL media seems happier than NBA media. Why?

* Is the NBA past its peak?

* John’s boss Colin Cowherd famously warned against hiring golfers. Does golf nut Middlekauff still find time to play rounds?

* Can Scottie Scheffler reach a higher echelon of fame?

* Why are pitchers better than hitters at golf?

* Is there a big market to watch non golf athletes compete playing golf?

Topics! Include!

* When one’s job is a bigger marker of identity than one’s race

* Is the NFL a more positive racial story than what gets relayed in media?

* Why did conservative media know football was coming back during Covid?

* Most retired NFL players have painful daily injuries. Most of the injured have no regrets

* How does NFL culture deal with certain positions being higher/lower Wonderlic?

* Libs are fine with young women doing Only Fans; Cons are fine with young NFL players damaging their brains

* Rob Henderson is fascinated by the gender implications of how the WNBA reacted to Caitlin Clark

* Why are NBA teammates rarely friends?

* Rob is interested in why soccer is an elite sport in America but working class sport elsewhere

* Rob and I both loved one particular passage in Klosterman’s book about how his dad reacted to Doug Flutie’s miracle play

* Are we primarily writers or podcasters?

* Many believe that young people are correct about the future, but few think they were smarter as young people

* Will opinions change less often now that we are publicly anchored to opinions?

* Would Chuck lie if his privacy was violated to procure damning information?

* Why do we want coaches to be scary assholes?

* Chuck asks me if I scream at my kids

* Why Mike Holmgren screamed at Andy Reid

* The media driven ego battle between Bill Belichick and Tom Brady

* Why television dominates our sports memories for games we saw in person

* Do we want football to stay American?

* Has history forgotten Roger Staubach?

* Chuck has been a closeted Dallas Cowboys fan

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Great conversation with Mike Pesca in which I, unfortunately, regressed to my old ways of pronouncing Chuck Klosterman’s name incorrectly. This is possibly our most controversial and free associative podcast yet.

* Was Alec Baldwin’s best Trump imitation actually Jack Donaghy?

* “Seinfeld sucks and isn’t funny”?

* Mike disagrees with certain Minnesota ICE takes from my podcast with Kat Rosenfield

* Berkeley made me biased against protestors

* We discuss Brian Phillips’ belief that Trump era chaos is all a devious strategy

* The oddness of initially not knowing whether the 2nd Alex Pretti video was AI

* Should the new Pretti vs. police video have any influence on how one feels about the possibly unrelated deadly encounter 11 days later?

* We aren’t conquering Canada and also, adding Alberta would look so stupid on the map

* Mike weighs in on whether the NFL should All 22 itself

* Most people agree that a man’s morality shouldn’t influence his NFL Hall of Fame case, but nobody will make the Hall of Fame case for serial rapist Darren Sharper

* Is Robert Saleh good or just good at playing the media game?

Kat Rosenfield has, as she often does, written brilliantly of late. I especially enjoyed her nuanced takes on the Minnesota shootings. We discussed intrusive thoughts on recent political events, millennials seeking meaning, the adultery based cancellation of Jay Asher, and whether James Franco was morally wrong to LARP as a college student so as to pick up college women. A great pod imo.

In this episode our friend Tyler Dunne from Go Long is here to discuss NFL. We also get a Glasspiegel cameo at the start of this episode which is, admittedly, HEAVY FOOTBALL. Topics!

* Why was the Sean McDermott firing controversial?

* Why did Ryan Glasspiegel want Matt LeFleur FIRED?

* Are young defensive coaches the next wave?

* Tyler’s take on that whole Jaguars journalism controversy

* Is football great because it’s hidden from us?

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First, congratulations to Kevin Turner for winning NFL Playoffs Week 1 of our Sports Predict contest. He receives a $250 Ticketmaster prize, and I have it on good authority that there’s more money to be won (by Kevin or whoever) this week. I’d encourage all of you to join for the Divisional Round and beyond, given that the contest is free of charge and it’s a lot of fun.

This podcast was initiated by our man Tom Haberstroh breaking a story on a drastic dive in NBA offense, attributed by many in the league to a sudden secret shift in referee practice. What’s going on with this? Why is it happening?

Many a great topic in this discussion, such as:

* Is Rich Paul correct to lobby for Austin Reaves getting traded?

* Is it close minded to say an out of shape Luka can’t be the best player on a title team?

* Is it crazy to consider dealing Luka instead of Reaves?

* Is Deni Avdija getting unfairly accused of being a foul grifter?

* My dislike of the great (and necessary) Victor Wembanyama

* Is a substation is getting 49ers injured.

Enjoy!

I spent much of Monday listening to Spike on the WIP livestream as Philly digested the Eagles playoff loss to the 49ers. What I encountered did not necessarily fit Philadelphia’s reputation for brutality but it did validate its stereotype for sports passion. I was spellbound and needed to converse with Mr. Eskin.

In this pod, Spike Eskin and I discuss the Eagles disaster, head coach Nick Sirianni as Tim Robinson character, the media controversy stemming from that nice Jacksonville reporter’s question of Liam Coen, and, of course, LeBron James’ commemorative 23 jersey patch. Enjoy!

WARNING: This is an NFL heavy House of Strauss podcast.

DOUBLE WARNING: You should really join the free of charge HoS Sports Predict NFL Playoffs Contest. You can win $1000 in prizes based on making NFL predictions with no money risked.

So, Dieter and I believe the overachieving 49ers have finally arrived at an impasse. We discuss this, my fraught parasocial relationship with Kyle Shanahan, whether Robert Saleh is a FRAUD, plus sports uniforms aesthetics. Oh, and of course I defend Brock Purdy in advance of a game where he might not produce great results. Enjoy!

In this pod, I discuss an exciting reveal: The official NFL Playoffs House of Strauss contest! Beyond the contest, Sports Predict co-founder Steve Kuhn and I also get into our nerdy NFL strategy obsessions and whether the league is starting to mirror the “mixed strategy” approach that took the poker world by storm.

But, once again, ladies and gentlemen, we’ve an NFL Playoffs SportsPredict.com contest for all of you. It’s all upside, no downside. We are doing sports prediction, not gambling addiction. Okay, it’s a little addictive. But I digress. The point is you just have to make picks, with no capital risked. Come one, come all, see if you can predict your way to some generous prizes.

From Sports Predict:

The NFL postseason strips things down. Fewer games, tighter decisions, less margin for error. If you want to know how good your reads actually are, this is the moment.

HoS is running a dedicated NFL postseason prediction challenge. Each playoff game comes with ten prediction markets. You can answer as many or as few as you want. There’s no penalty for skipping, and scoring is based purely on accuracy.

There are two ways to compete.

Predictions across all rounds count toward an overall postseason leaderboard, while each playoff round also has its own standalone competition. You can jump in late and still win a round.

The prize structure follows that format: a $1,000 prize for the overall postseason champion, plus additional prizes for Wild Card weekend, the Divisional round, the Conference Championships, and the Super Bowl.

It’s a straightforward way to engage the playoffs without betting mechanics, just decision-making under pressure.

Link to the Event: https://play.sportspredict.com/LobbyDetails?id=f067dad7-cff5-46c4-8680-92faea924561&eventId=95c1be3f-7927-4a9f-8f0b-2bdc6259caf2

Thanks to everyone who joined in on the Sports Predict contests this season and look forward to playing you over these next few weeks. It salves my negativity over the hyper injured 49ers attempt at a playoff run.

Congrats to ZigZag for again winning a SportsPredict NFL Week. The prize is a 30 minute phone conversation with yours truly, and I’m happy to re-up on that. In the spirit of NFL content, this week’s pod is with the ever granular Dieter Kurtenbach of the Dieter and Hutch YouTube channel. The overarching topic is an exploration of a) Why the 49ers went from analyzed to ignored by national media and b) How NFL national media arrives at its collective takes.

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* National NFL games dictate a TON of NFL media takery

* Football games should only be played in domes?

* Jon Gruden’s big secret on what makes plays work

* A smidge of Wemby slander

* An insane aspect of a Brock Purdy interception the Monday Night Football TV broadcast didn’t show you

* The suddenly surging 49ers are being ignored?

* The Rams are the top team. One guy insists they have a fatal flaw?

* Dieter tries and fails to sell me on getting into the San Jose Sharks

* Interceptions are overrated

* Is Jalen Hurts protecting his rep by avoiding INTs?

Our guy Spike has been at ground zero of the Great Jalen Hurts Debate, which might be coming to a head following an astounding Eagles collapse in Dallas. We discuss this, plus many other subjects. Topics include…

* Dumb NFL narratives

* Jalen Hurts’ teammates don’t like him

* Remember when Rush Limbaugh got fired by ESPN for race-ing the Donovan McNabb debate?

* Film geeks too often blame coaches

* Jalen Hurts’ golden moment that immediately went away

* Am I correct that Draymond Green has annoyed people into underrating him?

* Twitter shows what country you’re in now. An aspect of this saddened Spike

* Did Tom Brady really come close to dropping the n-bomb?

* Spike reacts to my pod reacting to Pablo Torre’s pod

The Peach Fish is back, for a very special episode. The great Mike Pesca and I have a bunch of thoughts regarding a Pablo Torre podcast about the activist Riley Gaines that kicked up much dust online. We also discuss how Sally Jenkins might save college sports. Enjoy!

Here’s the audio for the YouTube show with Wos on, primarily, what we glean from Steph Curry’s DIVORCE…from Under Armour. Like, subscribe, listen…

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

My conversational shortcomings aside, it’s been great speaking with subscribers who’ve won so far. Getting to know you through these weekly NFL competitions has been edifying.

Starting this week, we’re making prizes more tangible by adding $100 Ticketmaster gift cards for weekly winners, and the prizes will grow as the crowd does. So if you’ve enjoyed playing, invite your friends to join the HoS NFL and NBA lobbies and let’s make this community even bigger.

Perhaps Tom P and I will discuss this latest podcast with top level NBA reporter Yaron Weitzman, author of A Hollywood Ending. Yaron’s new book on the awkward/sordid LeBron Laker Era has my total recommendation. For a sense of how hot the material is, the Lakers preemptively threatened to sue over the contents, alleging that the author’s description of now former owner Jeanie Buss was “misogynistic.” My contention is that Magic Johnson comes off far worse in the book than Jeanie, a topic we get into in this episode. Enjoy…

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Great House of Strauss friend Bomani Jones joins the show to discuss his perspective on the NBA’s gamble scandal, the predicament of modern leagues and how complicity impacts us media types. Topics include!

Is it weird that the Portland Trailblazers haven’t had a press conference about this?

* Why the conflict of interest with media and sports betting isn’t JUST about the money

* Weirdly, sports gambling isn’t THAT much of the sports league revenue pie

* Would Adam Silver redo his infamous 2014 sports gambling New York Times Op Ed

* Good risk calculators can’t understand bad risk calculators

* Does the public care at all about these scandals? Or does the media just pretend scandal away?

* Why isn’t sports betting a right/left issue?

* Are we no longer able to be scandalized?

* Does Bomani Jones feel swindled by NBC not having Michael Jordan in studio?

* Did the leagues NEED to do sports gambling?

* Did the sports media NEED to do sports gambling?

2Way founder Mark Halperin was a big time journalist in network television media, originally making a name for himself covering the Bill Clinton campaign. The Game Change co-author is now a YouTube success, having produced what was, in my opinion, the best coverage of the 2024 election. I know of no other person better positioned to comment on what’s happened in political media, with a 30K foot vantage. And so I asked him a range of stupid questions, mostly under the banner of, “What the hell is going on?”

Topics include but aren’t limited to!

* When did the Media drift into party advocacy?

* The lasting impact of the 2016 election on media

* What killed the earnest practice of “both sidesism”?

* Were you nervous on Election Day?

* Two entertainment ecosystems, boomer and everyone else

* Did the Media used to be better?

* Are conservatives more open to debate right now?

* News as act of curation (Twitter can spotlight racialized police killings, or it can spotlight immigrant crime)

* Graham Platner’s bad week and the new skeletons in candidate closets

* What do you make of the male flight from the Democratic Party?

* What do you make of potential senior flight from the Republican Party?

* What do you make of the No Kings protests?

* Why is traditional media still hard to crack for Republicans?

* Why would anyone place a bet on Terry Rozier?

* How much gambling money is in the NBA and NBA media?

* Why is LeBron James getting brought up?

* Why we think LeBron is probably innocent here

* What the hell is Chauncey Billups involved in?

* Political component to Trump’s FBI going after the NBA?

* Does the public care?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

* Shoutout to Sid Kali for winning last week in NFL picks. Email me at houseofstrauss@substack.com if you wish to collect a prize

* What’s my overall strategy for making NBA picks now that I’m not deep in the weeds?

* Steve is trying to break the NBA with an idea that, in my opinion, broke the MLB

* The Rockets’ style is gaining traction, but is it good for the sport?

* That Houston Rockets O/U

* I have a non analytical reason to love the Orlando Magic OVER

* Steve and I disagree on the Lakers

* Is weather is a HUGE underrated influence on quarterback performance?

Oh, and again, details for entering the contest:

The NBA Smart Predictor Challenge

Think you’ve got one of the sharpest NBA minds around?

Here’s your chance to prove it — and maybe pocket up to $1,000 while doing what you already love: thinking deeply about basketball.

How It Works

This is the Season Win Totals Challenge — a simple but revealing test of who really understands the league.

You’ll see the projected win totals for all 30 NBA teams for the 2025–26 season.

Your job: for each team, pick Over or Under. Before the first game begins of the season begins. That’s it.

Scoring

• Winner: Whoever gets the most correct picks.

• Tie-breaker: If multiple people nail the same number of teams, we go to total net wins differential — meaning how right you were and by how much. It’s a clean way to separate luck from skill.

I’ve known Matt Bilinsky for years, knew he had an audience, but didn’t quite understand how big a deal he’d become. Today Matt schools me on how he blew up in the Instagram sphere, but this isn’t the meat of our conversation. Instead, I’m asking this newcomer to right-coded media spaces to explain how and why the Online Right went crazy over Israel/Jews.

Yes, to repeat, the conversation touches on Israel, which is a topic I’m wary of for reasons discussed on the pod. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* JEWS

* Instagram was jock power invented by nerds

* You succeed in the mediums that fit you best

* Matt rebuts idea that Twitter monetization is to blame for rise in antisemitism

* What motivates Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens?

* Why Trump’s victory led some on the right to turn towards Israel

* How big is the red shift among Jews

* The right’s crackup over Israel/Jews is CRAZY

* The appeal of conspiracy theories

* Why I think I never got invited back on Megyn Kelly’s show

* Jordan’s insider perspective on my Nike’s End of Men

* “It’s not the consumer who decides. It’s the shareholder who decides”

* “Undecided Whale” explains Bad Bunny doing the Super Bowl halftime show

* When internal ideology gets in the way of the business

* Why Jordan thinks men should work in a female dominated marketing space

* What I learned from the women in my industry

* Is there an upside to “Enragement is Engagement”?

* Why the Kobe 4 is one of history’s most important athletic shoes

* Why the successful signature athlete is an impossible feat

* If A’Ja Wilson can’t move units now…

* How Nike botched the Caitlin Clark moment

* The devaluing of “signature athlete”

* The awkwardness of corporations marketing a female athlete’s looks

* Did Nike actually botch the Steph Curry situation?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Kyle Porter, ever thoughtful proprietor of the wonderful golf newsletter Normal Sport, stops by to answer my DUMB golf questions. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Is golf the most alien of major sports?

* Why do Euros CRUSH Americans in the Ryder Cup?

* It’s not about wanting it more. It’s that those who want it more prepare more

* Are American golf fans…bad?

* Is there a political component to recent American fan bad behavior?

* Why do pro golfers trend conservative?

* What’s with country clubs being SO expensive?

* Why isn’t Scottie Scheffler getting sold to us better?

* Do we want athletes as ambivalent about success as Scheffler?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This week’s pod with Steve was a fascinating look at how this season’s NFL kickoff change has turbocharged the value of a select few kickers. Are these unsung peripheral performers actually now among the sport’s most valuable players? Could such a thing be true? We get into that, plus secrets behind my unsustainably high SMART score, the “Death of Expertise,” and whether the ability to predict truly equals expertise. Enjoy!

Oh and I should mention that we’ll be discussing some of these topics and more on the BCC Chat.

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Amin has been hysterical in his commentary role for these Pablo Finds Out episodes on BallmerGate. With a brand new one out on Clippers Media Day, we had to discuss. Topics include but not limited to…

* Amin haunts my grieving dog death process

* Jim Rome went into Old Jim mode ripping Ballmer

* Why can’t the Clippers just explain why they’re innocent?

* Uncle Dennis, the scapegoat

* Did we think Kawhi knew?

* Why couldn’t journalists within the NBA have been the ones to report this story out?

* Why is Pablo rubbing some media people the wrong way?

* Does the reality even matter anymore on whether Ballmer is guilty?

* Amin and I tackle David Cross ripping fellow comedians for doing the The Riyadh Comedy Festival

* Would Amin and I do the Riyadh Comedy Festival

* Kimmel Kontinues (with Sinclair allowing him back on the air)

* Disney’s rock and a hard place

* Brendan Carr really botched it

* Is Trump’s battle for network media…irrelevant?

* Can the boomers be propagandized in either direction by traditional TV?

* Are there…too many athlete podcasts?!

* Caitlin Clark’s Nike models….don’t exactly look like Caitlin Clark?

* Roger Goodell denies Tom Brady’s conflict of interest

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In this version of NFL Market Inefficiencies, Steve and I address my unsustainably high NFL picks SMART score. The nation wants to know: What’s my secret? We also get into whether it’s easier to gamble on prop bets versus game outcomes, explain a revolutionary new kickoff invented by the Rams, and get into whether punting strategy should be informed by how aggressive the opponent is. Enjoy…

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Subscriber CJ sent me the following email:

Good Evening Ethan,

I’ve got a potential podcast suggestion given current events: Rob Henderson

Cancel culture reversal

Censorship and self censorship changes

Vibe shift

Speech and debate on campuses

Young men

Also Rob met and recorded a never (or likely never) to release podcast with Charlie Kirk before his passing. Might would have some insights or thoughts to share regarding him.

Just a thought, I’ve enjoyed y’all’s conversations in the past and think it could be a good chat that has some new and revisited topics with updated lenses.

I’m nothing if not sensitive to subscribers, so I reached out right away to the great Rob Henderson. Our conversation mirrors that topic list and it is a good one. Thank you, CJ.

FOOTBALL AMERICA! host Dave Dameshek has long had his own idiosyncratic voice and style. He’s got a unique Pittsburgh flair, not that Blue Collar Steel Town would embrace having flair. He’s also, above all, a fantastically authoritative arbiter. And so I invited Dave on to “arbit” on a range of topics including but not limited to…

* What’s America’s Mount Rushmore of regional accents?

* Which American accent would you want your hypothetical wife to have?

* We want Southern accents in pilots?

* Dave Portnoy as Michigan homer on Fox? Fair or foul?

* The problem with athlete broadcasters

* Great pro athlete, bad broadcaster?

* Moralizing sports terms like “Don’t get pass happy!”

* Domes for NFL teams, yay or nay?

* Can tiny Floyd Mayweather be the GOAT fighter if so many could kick his ass?

* Ban the tush push?

* Field goals are too easy (unless you’re Jake Moody)

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support

In this pod we discussed, among other matters…

* What’s the effect of the new NFL kickoff rules that Donald Trump hates?

* My “I don’t know anything and neither do YOU” picks strategy

* The impact of kickoff rules on 4th down decision making

* Onside kicks used to be MONEY

* Minnesota did a CRAZY white flag punt

* Should a coach employ trick plays based on randomness?

* What trends are we seeing early?

* House of Strauss subscribers and Chat BCC participants are really…SMART?

* Micah Parsons’ successful impact in Green Bay

* Why does Kyle Shanahan want a predictable running back over a talented running back?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Ya, I think you have an idea of what we’re going to discuss. And it’s one of my favorite conversations yet.

Reminder: Every week of the NFL season, we’re doing a prediction contest at SportsPredict.com (Password: HOS). It’s not gambling, it’s free of charge, and it will involve prizes. You just pick game events and track your status on a leaderboard. So far it’s been a lot of fun, even if I’m badly trailing my audience members.

Thanks for reading House of Strauss! This post is public so feel free to share it.

With that in mind, I’m proud to announce a new sponsor at House of Strauss: Sportspredict.com. The goal of my new advertiser is to host a place for sports predictions that isn’t gambling. There are no bets made here, but there are picks. The idea is to compete and demonstrate predictive ability absent insidious financial downside. I encourage HoS subscribers to join the NFL picks pool this season, free of charge, and compete for a prize (to be determined later). If nothing else, you can demonstrate NFL intellectual superiority over an idiot who liked Dallas’ Micah Parsons trade. Oh, and access code is: HOS.

Steve is the founder of this company but I wouldn’t have him on just due to that. He’s also a House of Strauss subscriber, and lurker in the BCC Chat. Put simply, he’s one of us. He’s prone to novel theories of his own and believes that a lot of money is left on the table by our most prominent sports franchises. In this pod we discuss topics that include, but aren’t limited to…

* The appeal of a non gambling sports prediction site

* What makes for a good predictor?

* My two NFL picks in Week 1, and the market inefficiencies targeted with them

* NFL coaches are still committing 4th down malpractice

* Major college coaches are still committing “Go for 2” malpractice

* Steve’s “Fourth and Smart” idea that could revolutionize special teams play

* NBA teams are declining in “2 for 1” usage

* Steve loves the BCC Chat

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I really enjoyed Freddie deBoer’s NFL preview and wanted to discuss America’s favorite sport with him. Neither of us are all that associated with football analysis and yet we can’t stop thinking about it. So we went for an NFL download as the season approaches…

Freddie’s Micah Parsons trade take

How NFL stars are dictating terms to teams like NBA stars

Freddie’s perspective on the wildly divergent pay scales between NFL positions

Can you be a bad locker room guy just by having a podcast?

Are we being honest about the level Patrick Mahomes is actually at right now?

Racial ghosts and the Lamar Jackson Discourse

How Lamar defenders oddly can underrate him

Freddie have a take on Pablo Torre’s Kawhi Leonard reporting?

We’ve had the Man Who Would Ban Sports Betting and now we have the Sports Betting Man. Raheem Palmer is the co-host of the Ringer Gambling Show.

He says he’s gone broke before and made millions. He leads a life most of us can’t imagine. He just moved to Las Vegas. I had questions. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* The problem with the Sharp Lifestyle

* What is Raheem’s “model” for making bets

* Is losing also addictive?

* Should prop bets be banned?

* Raheem watches every pro basketball league and believes the NBA is unique in superstar coddling

* Josh Allen is great, not a choker, and also “not who people want him to be”

* Do we need a new term for “point shaving” now that players tank for props?

* Is Pro Football Focus astrology for dudes?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

We talk around it a lot on HoS but writer Charles Fain Lehman has just come out and said it: He thinks the legalization of sports betting is bad and wants it reversed. Plenty have expressed misgivings, but this man has actually staked out a position.

I’m not sure anyone is as prominent in America’s burbling anti-vice movement as Charles is currently, so I wanted to get his perspective. How bad is sports gambling and will there ever be a public appetite to bring back prohibition? I found this talk fascinating and hope you will too. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Will Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce getting married result in an actual baby boom?

* What’s the legalization of sports betting done to society?

* Rank the young male vices in terms of damage: sports betting, porn, weed

* Do porn and weed use curb criminality?

* Did the American public want this sports betting legalization?

* How popular is sports betting with the American public?

* Would young men vote to protect access to sports betting and/or porn?

* Charles’ thoughts on Richard Hanania’s Do We Need Sports Betting to Get to Mars? Maybe theory

* Charles writes a lot about psychedelics but refuses to do any

* Charles and I are both skeptical of ayahuasca shamans

* Is alcohol use a net negative or net positive for society?

* Zoomers are anti weed?!

I’ve been struggling to figure what what time we’re in, post Vibe Shift. Pirate Wires founder Mike Solana finally articulated what I’d been thinking without knowing I was thinking it: We’re in a Culture Cold War. I felt a burning need to discuss this, and so we did, plus many other media/culture topics. Subjects include but aren’t limited to…

* Christopher Rufo vs. Doreen St. Félix leading to nothing = Culture Cold War

* Why nobody is able to cancel anyone else now

* Are we in a Culture Cold War forever?

* Is culture NOT zero sum?

* How the Internet breaks our moral intuitions

* PTSD for those of us who remained sane in 2020

* The “you can’t criticize me” defense from those who just lost cultural power

* We will never have a shared reality ever again

* Culture War matters

* How Mike would advise Disney on how to win back Zoomer males

* Why does “moral inversion” exist and why is it prevalent now?

* Why Mike supports hearing Aella out, but understands the backlash to her

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Wos is back from Europe, armed with a fresh perspective on all goings on stateside. BCC chatters took bets on what he’d talk about and now we learn the truth. Perhaps this was the most candid Wos/HoS yet. Topics include!

* We are jealous of NBA podcaster Nate Duncan

* Wos was in Barcelona when everyone there decided they hated tourists

* My Guy Haberman podcast got spliced in an unflattering way, which I deserved

* The time Wos saved me from getting humiliated and fired

* The moment Nick Wright won me over as a person

* Has Paige Bueckers market corrected Caitlin Clark?

* Why Paige Bueckers can’t be Caitlin Clark fame-wise

* Wos admits to attending the 2016 Women’s March. No word on whether he wore one of those hats

* Trump vs. Taylor Swift means celebrities have limited political power

* Did The Media decide to savage Bill Belichick’s girlfriend due to her politics?

* Wos is OUT on sports gambling

Topics include…

* Should NFL teams just never practice in preseason because Full Health would be a massive Week 1 advantage?

* Are injuries luck?

* Does my defensive shrinkage theory explain why NFL offense is slipping?

* Am I a FOOL for wanting an NFL defense with 11 fast totally interchangeable guys?

* Is Kyle Shanahan actually a genius?

* Am I biased against Shanahan because he’s inarticulate?

* What determines which NFL positions get money? Is it merit based?

* Bill Belichick, Tom Brady skeptic?

* Why did the 49ers lose the Super Bowl by not expecting a predictable play?

* It’s about Acceptable Quarterback, not Exceptional Quarterback

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Andrew Sharp from Sharp Tech (and many other pods) is here to break down why the hell Paramount Plus paid the UFC over a billion dollars per year. We cover that and..Trump DC crime takeover? This episode goes places.

Topics include…

* Why Andrew Sharp thinks Air Pods = Massive Apple scam

* The shocking UFC/Paramount deal

* Is this the best or the worst time to be a sports fan?

* Why the NFL has a secret interest in keeping ESPN alive

* Was Game of Thrones the last monoculture show?

* Is White Lotus monoculture?

* What’s wrong with Apple TV’s “Stick”?

* Trump’s DC crime takeover

* Andrew CRUSHES journalist Peter Baker

* Why did Taylor Swift choose to announce her album on New Heights?

* The real problem with showing Taylor Swift so often during NFL games

It’s time for some sports biz with Move Insoles entrepreneur and NBA agent Nate Jones. We don’t have traditional sponsorships here, but House of Strauss certainly endorses Move and Chat BCC.

Huge happenings in the world of ESPN this week, and I needed Nate’s insider perspective. We discuss…

* The NFL formally joining forces with ESPN, getting a 10% equity stake

* Roger Goodell saying his competitor isn’t the NBA, but instead Google

* The WWE and ESPN agreeing to a five-year, $1.6 billion deal

* How has pro wrestling gotten more popular after publicly revealing its fakeness?

* Is danger key to pro wrestling maintaining popularity despite scripted nature?

* The Agency Model, where Klutch or some other agency runs an NBA team

* Are the Spurs wrong to give De'aaron Fox a massive contract after (an assumed) prior handshake deal?

* Is coaching via LLMs really the future of youth sports?

Sarah Hepola is here for one of my favorite conversations of the year. It ranges from Brent Musburger’s public horniness to American beer advertising to honest analysis of the nation’s attractiveness insecurities. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Who else? Sydney Sweeney: A complete analysis

* What did “sex sells” go away in advertising?

* “Hot, Not Pretty” vs. “Pretty, Not Hot” actresses

* If we’d known nothing about the controversy, would we find the jeans ad weird?

* Aren’t ads supposed to tickle our horrible base impulses?

* Las Vegas sexy jobs that aren’t “sex work”

* The cartoonish sexism of social media era beer ads

* And the twiiiinnnns

* What’s with blondes?

* Uncomfortable realities of who’s popular in the dating market

* Green dildos on WNBA courts

Subscriber Craig T. Schwerin thoughtfully built off my “LLMs will be Ozempic for Golf” post.

Sarah Hepola pod was just recorded, that’s incoming.

In the meantime, I’ll be chatting about green WNBA dildos on BCC, so sign up for that.

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Chat about it and other topics on BCC.

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Narrations of articles are back! This one in particular kicked up a lot of conversation in the House of Strauss group chat on ChatBCC, which I’d encourage all to join.

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Next week, when I’m back from vacation, we should have regularly scheduled HoS pods back in production. Have a nice weekend, everybody.

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

A great talk with Jay Caspan Kang on his viral, “Heir Ball: How the Cost of Youth Sports Is Changing the N.B.A.” We also discuss Jay’s BULLYING of Christine Brennan over her defense of Caitlin Clark. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Why youth sports is insanely competitive right now

* Jay’s own misgivings about becoming a competitive sports dad

* Why is t…

Light Years co-host Saam Esfandiari is here to explain his perspective on NBA free agency, parenting, and Iran. Massive range in this pod. A great talk as always, including but not limited to…

* Is there much to say about beloved Kevon Looney leaving GSW?

* Why, oh why, is the “cuck chair” Saam’s preferred metaphor for GSW roster moves?

* Why is Saam desperate to deal Jonathan Kuminga?

* What is the chance Kuminga flourishes elsewhere?

* Are millennial stars doomed to get injured?

* Sam Presti shuts down Adam Silver’s BS on injuries!

* We love what Denver did (Cam Johnson fro MPJ)

* Western perspectives on the Middle East?

* What’s with the American White Guy NBA moment right now?

* Israelis in the NBA?

* How to approach youth sports as a parent

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Mike Silver, senior NFL writer at the Athletic, has written a remarkable book. “The Why Is Everything” is, in my opinion, the type of work that will no longer happen in the modern access-constrained world. So we get into it, exploring the coaching rivalries that shaped modern football and analyzing the friend/enemy relationships involved. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Why is the “why” important for players to understand?

* “It’s a crazy business. I’ve seen people fire their brothers.”

* Five future head coaches worked on one 2013 Washington Redskins staff: Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, Matt LaFleur, Raheem Morris, and Mike McDaniel

* Is Sean McVay a big hypocrite? Or just uncommonly vulnerable?

* Mike McDaniel was Kyle Shanahan’s right hand man, to the point where Kyle undermined Mike’s dreams

* What was working at the Daily Cal like for Mike and myself?

* Will sports writers be replaced by AI technology?

* Why the hell isn’t Mike Shanahan in the NFL Hall of Fame?!

After angering Stratechery’s Daman Rangoola in private about his JOY over Wednesday’s Lakers team sale, I decided to allow his grievances to be aired in public. Or at least behind this paywall. Beyond being highly informed about the tech world, Daman is a Laker obsessive, with ties to people in the know. And so we discussed topics including but not limited to…

* Was I improperly throwing cold water on Laker fan excitement?

* What’s up with the trend of hyped ownership changes going poorly?

* Did Mark Cuban negotiate a bad team sale price?

* How can Daman compliment Jeanie and be so damned thrilled?

* Is Luka Doncic an OWNER KILLER???

* End of NBA mom and pop shops

* What should even get improved by the new Lakers?

* Is Rob Pelinka guaranteed to be fired?

* Why does the NBA allow the interruption of its Finals with this stuff?

* Should the NBA overtly take over the WNBA?

Our old friend and Yahoo!/Substack NBA writer Tom Haberstoh is here for some analytical diving. Great talk in my humble opinion. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Tom and I made Tim MacMahon famous and he owes us big time

* Is a Thunder-Pacers Finals good for the NBA?

* Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the new Tim Duncan

* Does SGA not have a signature move? Which stars have what signature moves?

* If you take away the steroid peak, is current Aaron Judge better than Barry Bonds?

* Is Tyrese Haliburton not a superstar?

* Are NBA coaches less valuable than ever?

* How many draft picks would you trade for your team to acquire Sam Presti?

* It’s time for NBA coaches to wear suits again!

Our man Glass is here to discuss an oddly contentious week in sports media. Prominent names are fighting, so we decided to give our takes on what the hell is happening. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Is Bill Simmons right that ESPN will fuck up Inside the NBA?

* Ryen Russillo draws ire of Mina Kimes over a harmless joke

* Towel snapping maleness of Inside

* Bill Simmons vs. Pablo Torre (A B.S. report with Pablo was released right after we recorded, so perhaps not history’s most contentious feud)

* LeBron James vs. Brian Windhorst

* How successful is LeBron’s Mind the Game podcast?

* Is there are a big audience for basketball strategy in a podcast?

* “NBA ratings don’t matter,” say people who seem to love when they’re up

* The “High Floor, Low Ceiling” theory of NBA viewership

* How big is the impact of small markets on viewership?

* Is Pride Month now Pride Day in sports?

* Why do sports teams tweet more about Pride than other corporations?

* Elon Musk going at Trump’s bill on Twitter/X

I’ve heard buzz about a memoir by Ed Latimore, who’s a former professional boxer and current professional writer. Ed’s developed a following for his life advice and his upcoming book is titled, Hard Lessons From the Hurt Business.

I loved getting to know Ed on quite a free range assortment of topics. These topics include but aren’t limited to...

* Having kids is the choice that later doesn’t feel like a choice

* There’s a town in Canada that’s inundated with polar bears

* What lessons you learn from getting knocked out on live television

* Ed worries that anyone who’d attack him would likely have a gun

* I sort of choked when opening up my live YouTube show

* Why are we so afraid of public shame?

* The story you can tell yourself to get over a breakup

* Losing weight requires a “why” and mine is embarrassing

Btw, Mike and Bomani Jones will be joining me for my inaugural launch of Random Offense on YouTube, Friday 4pm ET (1 pm PST). Here’s a link for that. Join up.

Idea of Random Offense is it’s a bit like the old Callin show I used to do, with listener involvement, only more visual. You guys can call in, ask questions, submit article ideas for the Substack. See you Friday.

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* We were bullied into doing this episode by my only female subscriber

* Woke Matt doesn’t think HBO’s The Pitt is woke

* Did I accidentally trick a writer into thinking I’m a robot?

* Max goes back to HBO Max

* Old people are still running the show

* “The creator economy is a scam”

* Sports asserted their dominance at Upfronts

* Are Group Chats going public?

* Woke Matt defends universities

Thanks for reading House of Strauss! This post is public so feel free to share it.

House of Glass alert! Topics include but aren’t limited…

* Nike not optimizing shareholder value

* NBA lottery history suspicious but probably not rigged

* Is Cooper Flagg a top tier prospect historically? Would you trade him for Giannis?

* Why nobody cares about Anthony Edwards’ off court issues

* Sad Bill Belichick situation

* Does Bill Belichick really still have sex?

* Meadowlark Media crossroads

* Why the other media moguls have issues with Dan Le Batard

You people emailed me, wanting Spike Eskin’s commentary on JJ Redick’s playoff flameout. This tweet was but a taste…

We discuss Spike’s anti Redick theory and so much. more. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* “Farting in church” basketball takes like wanting more from Popovich’s coaching tree

* Is it fair to suggest that Redick’s choking as a player can carry over into coaching?

* Why everyone loves James Harden as choking archetype

* What Redick misses about coaching

* Why NFL film watching is “astrology for dudes”

* A good sports pundit is right a lot. A great sports pundit is constantly wrong and it never matters

* Does Spike feel betrayed by Dasha Nekrasova hiding her imminent marriage?

* Why the public likes Giannis’ defeat monologues

* Is Antetokounmpo at all at fault for the Milwaukee disaster?

* NBA playoff ratings have juice

* What’s up with all TV ratings these days? Are they real or fake?

* Aaron Rodgers is insufferable in totality but not in bite sizes

* Why NBA superstars try to change too many things around them

* How to deal with celebrities

* How many NBA players earn more than Adam Silver?

* Todd McShay > Mel Kiper

* Mike defends Mel Kiper

* My ONE big rule of drafting NBA and NFL players

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Who’s at fault for Jimmy Butler getting injured?

* Did Ime Udoka make a mistake by using his move of putting Alperen Şengün on Moses Moody two weeks before the season ended?

* Does Bogut think that Draymond Green really tried to kick Steven Adams in the balls back in the 2016 WCF?

* What’s up with Steve Kerr scolding the Houston crowd for chanting “Fuck Draymond”?

* Was Evan Mobley the right choice for DPOY?

* We are not fans of how Jonathan Kuminga’s been playing

* Our theories on why the Mavericks did their disastrous Luka Dončić trade

* Would Pro take a bunch of money to do the Luka trade if ownership demanded

* How Andrew feels about Mavericks president Rick Welts bringing up his name when trying to justify the infamous trade

* Andrew swears that the Milwaukee Bucks had the option of taking Steph Curry instead of Monta Ellis in that 2012 trade

* Will Andrew ever coach an NBA team?

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Why Jordan Brand’s “Bad Luka” ads work

* Laker Luka’s potential to become the face of the league

* Why is Laker Luka such a hotter cultural commodity than Dallas Luka

* Why I don’t believe in the Lakers

* Steph Curry as Houston Boogie Man

* Rudy Gobert as constant scapegoat

* The controversy over the Braves TV guy getting a girl’s phone number

* Kay Adams is skilled at professionally flirting and that’s OK

* Shannon Sharpe might have a new sex tape?

* The sorts of women NBA players “date”

I never get to talk one-on-one with Light Years co-host and overall Warriors provocateur Andy Liu, but today is my lucky day. In this episode we cover why, exactly, Andy quit the sports writer path for whatever he became. We also discuss how I got fired from Yelp. Oh, and the Warriors made the playoffs finally.

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Why did Andy quit formal sports media?

* What did I learn about life from working at Yelp?

* Why Steve Kerr gets the big things right

* How does Andy feel about Kerr antagonist Jim Park?

* The heroism of doing a job you hate

* Is there a lot of entitlement in the media union movement?

* Is the sports media wrong about Warriors vs. Rockets?

* Why is the Jonathan Kuminga idea popular with national media?

* Who do we want the 49ers to draft?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

An ideal time to podcast with fellow indie media man Andrew Sharp, King of the Generalists. In addition to podcasting about the NBA, Andrew also co-hosts podcasts on technology and China. Obviously, there were topics to discuss. Subjects include but aren’t limited to…

* Are America and China at war?

* The precarious nature of what we need from Taiwan

* “America is the biggest customer and the customer is always right”

* Are we actually friends-friends with Canada?

* Luka Dončić whines too much and we don’t feel bad that he got mistakenly ejected

* Does Luka have a fetish for arguing against correct calls?

* The Dallas Mavericks’ tone deaf effort to welcome Luka back

* Do Andrew and I believe in the Warriors?

* I do a mea culpa about Ime Udoka

Congratulations to Freddie, who’s a new father. Having just come up for air, he’s got takes on the state of our possibly melting down world, NBA corner 3 elimination, and the Jackie Robinson DEI imbroglio. For those who don’t want financial crisis/tariff talk, we begin with it and it ends at around the 25 minute mark. Enjoy!

* The Event Level NBA takes are so much harsher than public takes

* Agents can threaten everyone in your media org

* Players Justin has pissed off

* Why is it Old NBA heads vs. Current Players?

* How do we feel about Kirk Goldsberry’s plan to ban corner 3s?

* Why is Justin voting Nikola Jokic for MVP?

* Justin recounts the time Jerry West eviscerated JJ Redick over “plumbers and firemen”

* Why do Justin and I complain about the great LeBron James?

* Nike origins of “More than an athlete”

* The point of LeBron James as a “voice” that regular NBA media won’t say

* Why the Warriors could be a tricky future matchup for the world beating Thunder

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Many great topics today with our favorite sports media reporter! Items include but aren’t limited to…

* LeBron’s massive hour-plus sit down with Pat McAfee

* Is LeBron uniquely annoying among all time greats?

* LeBron’s straw man arguments

* Why is McAfee egging LeBron on to take shots at Stephen A. Smith and Brian Windhorst?

* The GOAT debate as needless dumping on the past

* The NBA has an anti-nostalgia problem

* Last week’s Jackie Robinson DEI flap and whether I was unfair to Mina Kimes

* The WNBA’s big issue with negotiating a new deal

* We discuss whether there’s an ideological component to why Hannah Hidalgo hasn’t gotten much spotlight

* The Trump administration didn’t handle their Signal snafu well

Jay Caspian Kang writes about a little bit of everything and so, in our conversations, we discuss a little bit of everything. Today’s main topic is whether the Analytics Movement is past due in sports. Related, per new data-based analysis of Democratic Party woes, is politics about to get a visit from the analytics movement? Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Are Michael Jordan’s shoes actually objectively good looking?

* Why did bloggers adopt analytics as a cause?

* Was the analytics era about the truth, or about asserting dominance over jocks?

* Did fans like the era of NBA strategy blogging?

* Why Fantasy Sports sells a fantasy of what it’s like to be a GM

* The folly of thinking data analysis can reveal how to run a political party

* Ezra Klein stepping into the void to take charge of the Democratic Party

* Does Gavin Newsom have a shot at the presidency or is it just the right that’s warming to him?

* Is 80 percent of politics just who runs Twitter?

* Are the millennial NBA stars like America’s boomers (in holding back progress through longevity)

Liz co-hosts the Just Asking Questions podcast, which earnestly investigates the day’s most pressing political and cultural issues. She’s also, in no particular order, a Catholic, mom, surfer and natalism evangelist.

I really enjoy Wolfe’s approach to conversations and public intellectual life so this pod is a long time coming. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Why you should have kids

* Whether it’s bad that Berkeley is so old now

* Somehow, we also get into the topic of whether we should explore why we’re disgusted by certain forms of deviancy

* How Liz and I feel about living next to Watch List neighbors

* My son embarrassed me at Warriors practice by being exactly like me

* Aella, the rationalist prostitute

* That time Kyrie Irving and other NBA players were being compelled to take the vax

* Why Jason knew the Jimmy Butler trade would work for the Warriors

* The “blood and bones” perspective on basketball vs. analytics

* The “why” function of Youtube

* How players fit With and Without

* Does Jason believe in the Thunder?

* Why Jason doesn’t believe in the Bucks

* The underrated MAIN problem with the NBA product right now

* Why we’re doing MVP wrong these days

* Why NBA players are so jealous

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I can’t deny it. I’m really excited about the Jimmy Butler Warriors. I just had to discuss with Light Years hosts Saam Esfandiari and Andy Liu. If you’re a GSW fan, this is the episode for you. If you like NBA legacy talk…this might also be the episode for you.

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Do we believe?

* Reasons for belief

* Was Bob Myers throwing cold water on the Warriors in the ABC broadcast?

* Do I regret not being around for the entire Steph Warriors story arc?

* If Draymond’s wild championship prediction is right…LeBron legacy implications

* How Gregg Popovich and LeBron James are similar in GOAT debates

What the hell went on in Dallas to cause this infamous trade of a superstar? What are the media stories connected to it? Also, how do Kirk and I rank those to blame for the trade in terms of culpability?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Could history ever validate this decision?

* Apparently I’ve joined the conventional wisdom in hating Adam Schefter’s tweet about the trade

* Are we now secretly rooting for Nico Harrison to somehow win this bad trade?

* Were there cultural tensions between Nico and Luka?

* Why was Nico perhaps ill suited for taking over the reins from Cuban

* How much it annoys GMs when a player gets FAT

* Why is Luka getting fat

* Luka and…beer?

* The issue with Nico being schooled in the Mamba Mentality

* Luka is Zion Williamson with results

* Did the Mavs make a “win now” move?

* Media squeamishness around discussing the DEI issue

* How do we feel about A'ja Wilson’s sneaker release?

Razib Khan, beyond being a fine friend of pod, is an excellent genetic historian. He’s written a fascinating article about how Europe once had a burgeoning civilization…thousands of years before history as we know it began. We just haven’t understood much about a once thriving continent because these societies were largely wiped out by the people who became “Europeans”. These revelations turn a lot of conventional historical wisdom about ancient history on its head.

Quoting Razib:

Neolithic Europe was one of Eurasia’s most advanced regions 5,000 years ago, nearly on par with the Near East, matching India and surpassing China in material terms. In some domains, like gold-work, Europe was the pioneer. We may have forgotten this Europe, but it was hardly a backwater. It was a central engine of world civilization 5,000 years ago.

Through the magic of modern technology, we’re getting new insights into this lost world. With increasing clarity, we’re also seeing just how brutal human life was in pre modernity. It’s not sports or media exactly, but I just had to discuss this all with Razib. I believe it’s important information and I can’t stop thinking about it.

Topics include:

* Where everybody came from

* How nobody is really from anywhere

Thanks for reading House of Strauss! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Freddie stopped by and we had a great conversation about hating Chiefs dominance despite its evident merits, and all these other aspects of popular sports fandom. Oh, and we discussed his fantastic essay, “After Liberal Cultural Hegemony.” Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Are NFL dynasties bad for the game?

* Why do we feel sorry for Josh Allen, winner at life?

* Is Josh Allen to blame for what happened?

* Benjamin Solak did not “read the room”

* Travis Kelce Fatigue

* You’re allowed to hate teams as a fan

* Stop telling fans to “appreciate greatness”

* Is the vibe shift bad for our respective businesses?

* What was the period before liberal hegemony ended? What was the point?

Author/Podcaster Nancy Rommelmann stops by to discuss a myriad of subjects both morbid and inspiring. This is the week I am, out loud, sorting out the current cultural moment. Nancy, in all her wide ranging curiosity, is an ideal thought partner in this venture. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Freddie’s “After Liberal Cultural Hegemony”

* Last Boys at the Beginning of History

* Will legacy magazines become interesting again?

* What young men see in Trump

* Meghan Markle's dry pie

* Why Mark Halperin has the best political podcast

* Cannibalism

* Why do people do political violence?

* Why is Nancy interested in violence as a writing topic?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Great talk that’s anchored by this week’s cancellation of Very Bad Eagles Fan. As WIP host, pod friend Spike Eskin is our ambassador to all things Philly culture, plus a myriad of other pressing topics.

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Does the NBA have a “massive negativity problem”?

* The viral Eagles fan who called a Packers fan an “ugly dumb cunt”

* This Eagles fan seems bad, but was the moment contrived?

* We’re cancelling randos off viral videos again

* Philly fans have a negative reputation. Do they like that reputation?

* “History is fake”

* There once was an ancient, burgeoning European civilization that was wiped out

Independent NBA Podcast Beast Nate Duncan chastises me over my pronounciation and takes. He also offers his solution to what ails the NBA, but there’s a lot more. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Am I right to want hand checking above the arc?

* What good reforms has the NBA made?

* Are 3-pointers even the main issue?

* Does Nate send soup back?

* Is there a way to prevent Jimmy Butler situations?

* Do NFL quarterbacks get paid too little?

* Are dating apps good for society?

* Is it more uncomfortable to strike up a conversation with a random woman in a bar, or a surly athlete you have to interview?

* Nate doubts the power of conservative backlash against Caitlin Clark

In all seriousness, the visa issue has revealed fascinating dynamics within American politics and culture. Our guest Lee Fang wrote a fantastic article on the business dynamics behind a controversial policy that’s pitted Elon Musk against more traditional MAGA types. In this pod, our topics include but aren’t limited to…

* What the hell are H-1B Visas?

* Why is the “Tech Right” struggling to make a case for them?

* Is Elon Musk’s loyalty to America or Mars?

* I read the now infamous Vivek Ramaswamy tweet

* What’s wrong with 90’s sitcoms and sleepovers?

* “Market dominant minorities” and modern anti Indianism

* Is the Tech Right against racism? Or just highly specific forms of it?

* What are people in tech really like?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Ryan thinks you can guess the two major discussion points here. Topics include…

* Why is a Gregg Popovich Trump rant going viral in conservative media over a month after it happened?

* Why is NBA ratings discourse so overwhelming all of a sudden?

* Did Adam Silver not use soft power like David Stern used it?

* Are we more pessimistic about the NBA’s cultural future than Bill Simmons is?

* The NBA’s America problem

* Why is the NBA a WOKE piñata in conservative media?

* How do we feel about Caitlin Clark clearly lying (Ryan seems fine with it)?

* Does Clark’s TIME feature influence how fans relate to her?

* Why is Hannah Hildago a potential future WNBA controversy generator?

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Why there was a “Sydney Sweeney is mid” discourse on social media

* Is modern dating terrible?

* Why the dating app market is bad, even for its big winners

* Single men should buy dogs

* Does becoming Republican shrink male dating options?

* Are nearly all marriages “politically mixed” marriages?

* Is the political gender divide hurting society?

* Is the Wifejak good?

* Is “toxic femininity” a real thing?

* Is the WNBA the only institution still on Earth 2? Or are there others?

* What’s with people who voted for Kamala enjoying the outcome of Trump winning?

* The meaning of Luigi Mangione support

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Non sports media edition, because a) I’m morbidly captivated by the Healthcare CEO assassination fallout and b) Any excuse to host Sarah Haider is a good one.

Beyond being intelligent and brave, Sarah has some personally informed thoughts about ayahuasca, a topic of the moment given certain rumors about the CEO killer. Conversation includes but is not limited to…

* High status people celebrating the murder of CEO Brian Thompson?

* It’s underrated how frequently high functioning people lose their minds

* Did ayahuasca compel Sarah to quit her own podcast?

* If ayahuasca kills motivation, then why did Sarah do it?

* Does living under threat of assassination, as Sarah might, inform perspective?

* Are we completely honest in our public transmissions?

* Are we more honest in real life or as writers/podcasters?

* Why don’t professors, whose system saddles young people in debt, see themselves as oppressors?

* What do we think of the politically minded tech libertarian types?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

* Is Andrew buying or selling the future of BlueSky?

* The Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight

* What is Netflix’s sleazy strategy with this sort of live event?

* Andrew explains how the NBA made way more TV money while in viewership decline

* What’s driving the NBA viewership drop? Andrew wrote a list

* Are we excited about Inside the NBA coming to ESPN? Are there downsides?

* Has the vibe shifted such that Charles Barkley can talk about San Antonio women?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

* Did Ryan lose his life savings betting Kamala Harris on Kalshi?

* The French polymarket whale who bet on Trump using the “neighbor method”

* Has the election inspired a vibe shift in sports media?

* The Ben Strauss argument that FS1 is more woke than ESPN

* The “Democrats need a Joe Rogan” trope

* Is the “Dem-friendly Rogan Bill Simmons”?

* Is Shannon Sharpe the Dem-friendly Rogan?

* The sports journo exodus to BlueSky and why it won’t work

* I don’t think the shift to the right among Zoomers has much to do with “incels”

* Inflation or culture war: What settled the election?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Topics include but aren’t limited to:

* Nick says our guy Freddie deBoer is mad at him.

* I just bow down to the Kansas City Chiefs now. It’s easier.

* Has the analytics movement devalued winning?

* How does Nick feel about having a different politics than a lot of Kansas City Chiefs fans?

* Would Nick have traded another Chiefs Super Bowl for his Bears pick working out?

* How does Nick feel about having a different politics than Chiefs players?

* Is politics any kind of proxy for how good a person is?

* The NBA is flush with TV money, but is it struggling as a product? Do they need Nick’s reforms?

* The MLB has some juice right now. Can baseball be made into a national sports talk show topic?

* Can you hate your co-host and do a great sports show in the modern age?

And much more…

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Topics include…

* Parlays and other tricks apps use to keep you hooked

* How the limiting of winners makes sustained success nearly impossible

* Tout scams, busty pick advice, and other ways to get rich off worthless tips

* Sports bet advertising that targets youth

* Betting on games vs. events that are determined by inside info (Draft picks)

* Can games be rigged in this era due to gambling?

* Pro social gambling vs. anti social gambling

* How do we feel about betting on the 2024 election? Good opportunities there?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is the foundation of our conversation in this pod: What’s up with young people? What programs are they gravitating to and why? And are their habits upending traditional notions of what “mainstream” media even is? But first, true to Bay Area form, we start with expressing our annoyance at the conventional takes of Purdy-hating, “NFL Film Watchers.”

Topics include…

* “Film Watchers” don’t have an edge on the data

* Is NFL Twitter worse for the fake smart takes than NBA Twitter

* How the beat writer has to pretend to not care if the team loses

* Ya, I cared when the Warriors lost

* My regret over my ESPN the Magazine Draymond “hit piece”

* How ESPN cut the Nike loses Steph Curry article from the Magazine

* Will Compton farting at the Washington Post over his Bussin’ with the Boys Trump interview

* Legacy media trying to recap these Trump and Harris Youtube show interviews

* The filming over everything makes athletes more paranoid in the locker room now.

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

* A variety of ESPN NBA moves (Woj leaving, Lowe ousted, Shams hired)

* Shams on First Take shows why we didn’t really need Woj anymore

* Why does ESPN value news breaking so much!

* I can now freely say that Brian Windhorst is great

* The friendly fire of an ESPN article attacking ESPN host Kendrick Perkins over his NIL business

* Is Perkins’ business sleazier than SOP for college education loans?

* Will we see more Matthew Sluka situations where players simply quit over NIL issues?

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When Tim Kawakami and I get together, we’re going to talk sports media. Considering that Tim just recently left the Athletic, where used to be my boss, and joined the ambitious SF Standard, we’ve got much to discuss. Also, for those who like Niners talk, we’ve got a whole lot of it in the back half of this pod. My teaser is that Tim dispels a commonly believed false notion or two. Enjoy!

Oh, and we also discuss why the hell Nike’s not making more of the Caitlin Clark moment. Enjoy..

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This podcast is roughly two hours, one of which we’re making free. For whatever reason, we found the World War 2 revisionism controversy of Daryl Cooper on Tucker Carlson to be a fruitful subject. Why did the political horseshoe arrive at trashing Winston Churchill?

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Today’s protestors are physically weak compared to the high T 60’s protestors

* How television shook up America in the 1960s

* Jonestown

* The Martyr Made Hitler vs. Churchill imbroglio

* The “theyification” of Tucker Carlson

* Can a “founding myth” be mostly real?

* We’ve exited peak “wokeness.” Is that simply the result of Elon Musk buying Twitter?

* What are the free speech implications of American culture getting shifted by one guy’s impact on one social media platform?

* Can Michael draw a line between his old shop Vice collapsing and Republicans doing better with young males?

* Jesse Jackson

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* Sam Ponder: Was there any politics aspect to the ESPN firing?

* Defending Pat McAfee against Awful Announcing

* Trump/Kamala gambling odds

* What's more important in elections: vibes or policy?

* I am fascinated by the character that is Tim Walz

* FS1 shakeup

* Simmons/Klosterman and the gambling topic

* Ryan has another WBD/NBA lawsuit prediction

* Am I a Caleb Williams skeptic amid the hype?

The NFL is back, and so is Warren Sharp with his massive 2024 Football Preview. Given that Warren is so well versed on NFL data and trends, I wanted to pick his brain on what America’s most analyzed league is currently missing. Obviously NFL coaches are highly informed, but is there something they’re doing wrong? Is football in its early stages Moneyball era, like baseball in the early 2000s? And why the hell have teams stopped scoring in this supposedly pass friendly epoch? We discuss these topics plus so much more. Enjoy!

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Kat Rosenfield is an author and Free Press columnist who often boldly covers matters of cultural controversy. I was fascinated by her “What the Childless Among Us Leave Behind” essay, which anchors a lot of the pod. We also got into Nike’s new direction and a range of other subjects related to the modern gender wars. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Is there such a thing as objectively good style?

* Is the meme of “unhappy childless woman” true?

* The divide in perspective between parents and the childless

* Kids give you existential relief

* Why are cats symbolic of female loneliness?

* Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” vs. JD Vance’s “cat ladies”

* Why are Gen Z men shifting Republican?

* Why are older women overrepresented at Kamala Harris rallies?

* Why did Obama resonate with young millennial males?

* What is the visual Social Justice Aesthetic?

* Nike shift and the current sanitized culture

* Men expressing what they find attractive as underground movement

For instance, in recent years, American youth basketball has become something between a sport and exercise in social media brand building. Team USA just won gold in spectacular fashion, but is this the last truly dominant American basketball generation? Is that just natural as the sport gets more internationally popular, or has something gone wrong in how we cultivate future superstars?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I was reminded of this once again while reading his new book, On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything. It’s an engrossing exploration of risk and probability, as applied to those who live with making difficult choices. We get into many of its fascinating topics and also discuss what had just happened: On Tuesday, Kamala Harris announced Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her presidential running mate, passing over Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro.

Topics discussed but not limited to…

* Was Josh Shapiro’s Jewishness a deciding factor in losing out on the VP spot? Can we set odds on this?

* Why presidential candidates are sometimes inclined to pick worse VPs

* What it was like to hang out with Sam Bankman-Fried during his legal troubles

* What’s with the Effective Altruists? Why do some think AI will kill us all?

* Why are the Effective Altruists so disproportionately childless?

* Profiling guys like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen

* Is there a dispassionate way to cut through media noise and assess when Trump is helping his own cause?

* Will Trump outperform the polls again? Should that be expected?

* Can the NFL be Moneyball’d?

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OK, I’m back from vacation, leaping out of cold Lake Tahoe and into this particular hot water.

The women’s Olympic boxing controversy is an absolute mess from a media perspective. When Angela Carini of Italy quickly tapped out against Imane Khelif of Algeria, it kicked off a cultural firestorm. Initially, some of those outraged by what they witnessed in the match were operating off of incomplete information. But in the follow up, many conventional media outlets were misleading in their corrections.

Given all this confusion, I’ve enlisted evolutionary biologist Colin Wright to make sense of what’s likely happened, why it’s happened, and where the public conversation went wrong. We also discuss what determines “male” vs. “female,” and the impact of testosterone on the human body. Fascinating stuff, in my humble opinion.

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Imane Khelif as subject of controversy

* What is a DSD (Differences of Sexual Development) condition?

* Where the “right” went wrong in the immediate aftermath of this controversy

* Where the “left” is wrong in their correction of the right, especially in media

* What’s with the impulse to morally shame people who seek an ethical guideline here?

* How the IOC really dropped the ball

* Does XY = male?

* Does it matter at all that the International Boxing Association has Russian ties?

* Odd ways that testosterone impacts the human body, right down to the fingers

Nate Jones, current NBA agent and insole entrepreneur, has a lot of smart thoughts on our favorite topics. Today we discuss the big news in NBA media: Warner Bros (Turner Sports) is insisting it has the right to match a TV rights deal and the NBA says it doesn’t. Is this about to get ugly? Why must fans be deprived of Inside the NBA?

Topics include but aren’t limited to...

* The dispute between beloved fan favorite TNT and an NBA that wants to move beyond its old standby

* Are broadcasters overpaying for the NBA? Or is this the path to riches?

* David Stern is a McDonald's guy. Adam Silver is a Taco Bell guy

* Why Nate thinks the NBA needs stars playing more years of college ball

* Men’s college basketball is well known; Women’s college basketball is known well

* Why NCAA basketball doesn’t help the NBA like NCAA football helps the NFL

* Nate tells us whether he believes Jaylen Brown’s contention that he was left off Team USA due to Nike

* Nate and I discuss what is sure to be a highly contentious election discourse, anchored in the political gender gap

* Nate wishes the Democrats elected their candidate through a primary

* I can never predict which issues will matter to people

* Trump’s impact on the people around Nate and myself, in our Blue World lives

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Glass man alert! Our favorite sports media expert has broken news, and so we discuss his stories, plus a range of other topics. To copy Ryan’s notes, here’s our loaded topic docket:

* Skip Bayless leaving FS1

* Success after ESPN

* Shannon Sharpe’s ascension and impact as a megastar

* NBA TV deal scuttlebutt with some informed speculation on big news

* New York Knicks owner James Dolan's warnings about modern NBA

* Trump assassination conspiracy theories

* The right weaponizing cancel culture (as the left once did) to cost ordinary people their jobs

* Shams Charania free agency bonanza

* Colin on being not just a businessman, but a business, man

* Colin reflects on Barstool’s success

* How does Colin know who’ll work out as a podcaster?

* Twitter/X is easy; Making content is hard

* When is OK to talk politics in sports broadcasting?

* Colin on Nike and LeBron/Klutch both misusing their power

* The difference (and similarity) between how Steph and LeBron handled their careers

* The difference between Kevin Durant and Steph Curry

* Is KD like Aaron Rodgers?

* Klay Thompson’s grumpy end with the Warriors

* People are more likely to admit reality on sports than in politics

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* The data driven case for Caitlin Clark getting left off Team USA

* If Clark’s teammates are consistently dropping the passes, are the turnovers her fault?

* Differences between the WNBA and NBA

* Was Tim Duncan underrated?

* Should NFL player stats be more respected by NFL analysts?

* A sneaky reason for why Tom Brady is the GOAT

* Will announcer Brady teach us about his greatness?

* Why can’t teams beat the NFL Draft?

* Do we actually know beforehand when an NBA Draft is a “weak draft”?

* Does MLB showing us “catch probability” undermine our enjoyment?

* Why can’t Canadian teams win a Stanley Cup?

* Are some great players actually chokers?

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Freddie’s back, after writing a glorious rant titled Fuck the Modern NBA. For once I get to be the guy defending the league (and some of my friends). We also discuss the current potential Biden succession chaos.

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Why fuck the modern NBA?

* Why has criticism of the NBA sharpened after the announcement of its big TV deal? Does the money mean the league is on the right track?

* I defend what the champion Boston Celtics represent

* Freddie and I disagree on whether the “fans as GMs” phenomenon is bad

* ESPN’s coverage of LeBron/Bronny is weird

* Dismissing Michael Jordan = Being angry at your dad

* Freddie hates Nick Wright and I do not

* Freddie on The Kamala Conundrum

* Why are we here, right now, we these two presidential candidates?

This month, Jesse Singal’s beloved Boston Celtics won the NBA championship, and he was made happy forever. In between discussing the 2024 title and his widely hated Boston fan base, we of course talked about The Media.

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Jesse was at the Game 5 Finals clincha (This is how Boston people talk, right?)

* We saw Game 2 together at a Boston sports bar. Does the guilty liberal side of Jesse feel bad about joining in on anti Kyrie chants?

* Is the journalism industry doomed mostly by structural or ideological issues? (woke vs. broke)

* What’s with Jayson Tatum copying other peoples’ famous memes?

* Audience capture is like James Harden

* Is my Criticism Capture concept more explanatory than Audience Capture?

* Should Jesse have tried to talk to Bill Simmons at Game 5?

* I recommend a little place called the Grand Canyon

* Is the Grand Canyon more elite than Yosemite?!

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Broussard was early to report that LeBron was going to Miami in 2010

* The pressure to be a newsbreaker following The Decision

* Chris is repped by Klutch but believes that Michael Jordan is the GOAT

* What did NBA beat reporting used to be like?

* What are we losing now that beat reporting is on the way out?

* Does the media make the NBA big time?

* The Harrison Butker controversy: Is faith in conflict with corporate/modern culture?

* Why I think Butker made his speech too political

* Has baseball lost out in our modern era?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In this visit from our favorite sports media critic, we stop worrying and learn to follow the WNBA. Or Ryan does. I, like many a casual, mostly track the Caitlin Clark aspect. Seems like she’s…really good?

Topics on this pod include but aren’t limited to…

* A nerd could have predicted that Caitlin Clark was better than the initial numbers

* The decision to keep Clark off the Olympic team is starting to look worse.

* Ryan sees the Fever media situation up close

* Do we dare discuss how the WNBA has shifted its marketing to advertise, uh, image?

* WNBAer Natasha Cloud speaks out on Gaza, but few athletes join in on that topic

* Why aren’t athletes backing Joe Biden in ways Dems have usually gotten support in the past?

* Why aren’t athletes criticizing Donald Trump as used to happen?

* JJ Redick gets hired by the Lakers. Shocker!

* Speaking of politics, the Lakers under Jeanine Buss = one of the major political parties

When there’s an ESPN + Adrian Wojnarowski driven controversy, Amin Elhassan and I delight in our ability to discuss the issue unfettered. And so we addressed this whole Woj + Danny Hurley + Lakers mess, while also talking about, what else? A Bay Area meetup that included many brilliant rationalists, featuring some of their peculiarities. Oh ya, and also the Boston Celtics.

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Manifest Festival in Berkeley was such a unique setting. I run it all by a skeptical Amin

* What’s with the Effective Altruists and polyamory?

* Nate Silver as questions-besieged Nerd King

* Do I love the Boston Celtics? I explain my affection for this much maligned now heavy NBA Finals favorite

* Amin and I get into the absolutely bizarre Adrian Wojnarowski driven story where the Lakers seemed about to hire Danny Hurley (45 Minute Mark)

* Was this a leverage play for Hurley? Or a different kind of Woj driven conquest?

* How my being fired shaped Amin’s perception of the leading news breaker

Everything this Celtics team stands for represents everything I don’t want basketball to be

Enjoy!

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We can hardly keep track of all the sports media controversies pouring forth from Caitlin Clark’s debut WNBA season, so we enlisted WNBA fan and certified #GirlDad Ryan Glasspiegel. What the hell is happening here? Why is Stephen A. Smith doing battle with ESPN personality Monica McNutt? Why is Pat McAfee apologizing for calling Caitlin Clark a “white bitch”? Why is Sean Hannity attacking Pat McAfee over this? We answer all these questions and more.

Topic Docket:

* A whole lot of hilarious WNBA-related subjects (We’re allowed to laugh)

* Much of the sports media is gaslighting us on what’s happening

* Why do players hate Caitlin Clark? What’s the percentage breakdown?

* Sean Hannity going after Pat McAfee? In a non political way? What?

* The Negro Leagues + MLB stats integration topic

Also discussed: Guy’s time with the great Bill Walton, my thoughts on how writing is different from podcasting, and how you should prepare for anything you do. Oh, and some 49ers stuff at the end, of course.

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A hearty welcome to American Soccer Man Alexi Lalas. He’s sometimes discussed as “controversial” in sports media, but is he? We get into how and why he expresses his views, how the culture is shifting, and how athletes are different from us. We also look back at his and Carli Lloyd’s viral 2023 World Cup commentary. Enjoy topics that include but are not limited to…

* How does Alexi feel now about suddenly becoming a famous Gen Xer in 1994?

* Alexi’s problem with soccer fans who “gate keep” soccer fandom

* America’s the only nation where soccer fan can be coded as “well educated snob”

* Why Lalas posted a 1993 photo of himself with the caption:

Yup, in 1993 you would have seen this dude was flying down the 5 freeway into the warm golden California sun, with the windows down cranking Rush Limbaugh....and Ratt

* Are athletes, including soccer players, more small “c” conservative than media?

* How the NBA (cynically) stopped involving itself in politics

* That time Alexi tweeted, “'Don’t kill the messenger. This #USWNT is polarizing”

* Looking back on Bill Walton

* Alexi thinks society would heal if all group chats were made public

* His view on Megan Rapinoe

* “Not everyone is wired like Carli Lloyd”

Wosny Lambre wears many hats and today we accidentally went heavy on politics. For that I apologize, given that sports > politics, but I did throughly enjoy the conversation (which even included some spirited arguing). The caveat is this is just two guys shooting from the hip on controversial matters. We are not experts. To quote Charles Barkley, “God’s the only expert.”

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* This bizarre Isaac Chotiner interview with Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg where the latter tries to flee midway through.

* Why is Joe Biden struggling in the polls relative to the Democratic Party?

* Why has a slice of the public forgiven Trump relative to 2022, when Dems performed above expectations?

* Do people now overwhelmingly vote for cultural reasons over economic reasons?

* Wos is fascinated by how Bill Maher is regarded on the left

* Stan Van Gundy accuses Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker of “cloaking bigotry under religious beliefs.” I’ll admit that I discussed this part before knowing the full context of SVG’s religion-critical commentary.

* Is religion on a textual level compatible with modern culture?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

We are joined by Mike Pesca, host of The Gist, and (much to his great shame), House of Strauss super fan. On today’s pod we unpack the various overlapping dramas surrounding Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s commencement speech. The NFL has disavowed Butker’s words. But has “the NFL” really disavowed his words? Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Mike and I like a good hypocrite

* Is there any throughline to the social justice causes (Why is Greta Thunberg now protesting an Israeli singer’s inclusion on Eurovision?)

* The Harrison Butker media freakout

* Can fervently followed religion co-exist with the secular ideology of institutions?

* The modern issue with telling women to “be a homemaker”

* Bill Simmons succeeds because he still has takes (and others don’t)

* A take or two on Glenn Greenwald

* Mike questions me on my NBA takes over the years

We start with that last part, because it’s an intriguing entry point. Why are Cohn and Lombardi openly fighting? Does Grant represent the gate crashing threat of New Media? Or is Lombardi heading him off at the pass by taking team-friendly coverage to Grant’s Youtube territory?

We get into all of this, plus discuss hurting athlete’s feelings, Kevin Durant’s personality type, my least favorite 2024 Niner draft pick, and, who else? Brock Purdy. Enjoy!

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We get into that, plus question big shot Chicago radio host Danny about Caleb Williams…

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Ryan, our nation’s preeminent sports media critic, is here to discuss reports that NBC wishes to offer the NBA a tremendous amount of money. What does this mean, other than that Adam Silver is our lord and savior?

Topics…

* Can Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT) possibly come up with a competing offer?

* What’s with WBD CEO David Zaslav sitting at Knicks-Sixers with Goldman Sachs tycoon Lloyd Blankfein?

* Do Barkley and the other TNT guys join NBC in this scenario?

* Irony of WBD needing the NBA most, but being most likely to be forced out

* Oddness of young Thunder players doing that “What a pro wants” ad

* Which TNT halftime guy is least essential?

* NBA playoff ratings are all over the map. New Nielsen system or something else?

* That traditional space at end of pod where we talk Israel/Gaza campus protests

* Are these protests being received by the public in a totally different way had Elon not bought Twitter?

Ace New York politics reporter, all around culture writer and crazed baseball fan Ross Barkan objected to my “Is Baseball Dying?” article. Naturally I had him here to say his piece and boy did we hit on a range of other topics.

* Contra conventional wisdom, is baseball more international than basketball?

* Why might baseball survive the future?

* Pete Rose was insanely famous in the 1970s, and we’ve forgotten

* Is household name sports celebrity over, post LeBron James and Steph Curry?

* Is Patrick Mahomes anywhere near as famous as prime Tom Brady was?

* Taylor Swift and parasocial fandom

* Will Swift exist outside her time?

* Travis Kelce’s obvious bid for fame

* Tucker Carlson vs. Bari Weiss on Israel

* Campus fight over Israel

Joe is really smart about the sports + business overlap, as evidenced by his viral story about Glen Taylor thwarting his own sale of the Timberwolves to the ARod + Lore duo. We got deep into that deeply reported article and hit other topics of interest, such as…

* The Pat McAfee + Bill Belichick combo

* Robert Kraft’s Dynasty hit job on Belichick backfiring

* Roger Goodell expanding the NFL season

* NBA TV rights reports

* The paradox of why NBA broadcasters might pay more while asking for less inventory

* The Minnesota mess

* Glen Taylor’s sneaky trick to recapture team control

* Those Forbes team valuations matter more than you’d think

* Why the WNBA can’t pay Caitlin Clark a lot of money

* The articles arguing that Clark got a big Nike deal in large part because she’s White

* How Jason used 2020 era Twitter Spaces as the battering ram to break into media

* Why Jason, as the counterpoint to Spike Eskin, loves JJ Redick

* How Jason’s career was decided by Colin Cowherd’s 5 seconds of judgment

* Reducing a game to a story

* How much should we blame or credit luck and variance in an outcome?

* Dre Greenlaw’s Super Bowl Achilles: Luck or something else?

* Analytics-leaners dismiss the midrange at their peril

* Steve Kerr’s secret to NBA playoff success

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Prominent foreign policy writer Eli Lake, currently posting at The Free Press, dropped by HoS to talk basketball. I, of course, wanted to discuss Lake’s views on politics, culture and the ever fraught topic of Israel. I’m not sure which of us won the battle for topic allocation, but I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation (and I’ve made the NBA part of it free).

Subjects include, but are not limited to…

* Why Eli is “my least favorite kind of intellectual”

* Eli’s beloved Sixers…getting mighty intriguing?

* How to fix the Warriors

* Eli, much like fellow Philly Jew Spike Eskin, has issues with LeBron’s public persona.

* Why LeBron vs. Daryl Morey on China turned into a crisis at my then place of work

* Is Eli, post October 7th, still friendly with Glenn Greenwald?

* The Zionist case for America ceasing to fund Israel’s military

* Protestors who block bridges against Israeli military action…is there a logic to what they’re doing?

* Are today’s protestors imitating the legend of the 60s? Or doing their own thing?

* Trump at the bodega

We’ve got Andrew Bogut and Mike “Pro” Procopio of the Rogue Bogues podcast to discuss the eliminated and possibly dead Golden State Warriors dynasty. Obviously we talked about a lot of other subjects with these first grade ballbusters. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* The Warriors. What should they do?

* Draymond Green as player-podcaster

* Did the Warriors really screw up the James Wiseman pick? Or were there just few good options?

* Jontay Porter getting banned from the NBA for prop bets

* The way assistant coaches scheme against one another for power

* The time I got yelled at by a media member in front of Steph Curry

* Players and coaches leaking secret information to reporters

* Gilbert Arenas slighting Nikola Jokic

* Is it an issue at all if Luka Doncic is chubby?

* Pro is the King of Feminism because he was pro WNBA before it was cool

Top flight Audio Man Spike Eskin is here to discuss the newest NBA podcast hits. Spike’s gotten a lot of mileage out of humorously critiquing LeBron and JJ Redick’s “Mind the Game” pod, but perhaps he should be focusing more of his energy on Michael Porter Jr.’s “Curious Mike” product?

Topics discussed:

* Is Spike a hater for laughing at LeBron’s Internet-lauded NBA strategy podcast? What’s wrong with two dudes drinking fancy wine and talking hoops?

* Why did Spike’s “LeBron caught himself in a lie” clip go this viral?

* Is the broader media afraid to have fun with LeBron’s foibles?

* LeBron’s child star origins on display

* Michael Porter Jr. interviewed porn star Lana Rhoades and the results are very entertaining

* “Poop cookies” and the controversy surrounding Porter Jr.’s Rhoades interview

* A case of “locker room” talk infuriating segments of social media

* Athletes as political/social omnivores

Boy do we have a loaded topic docket with America’s preeminent sports media critic and New York Post newsbreaker Ryan Glasspiegel. Honestly discussed fraught topics abound.

As Ryan would frame this rundown:

* All things Caitlin Clark (ratings, will it translate to WNBA, the backlash from women's basketball players and the backlash to the backlash)

* Why Norby Williamson's out at ESPN/who he is/what it means

* Dawn Staley/Outkick: What’s with the prestige media anger over the biological male in women’s sports question?

* Why Timberwolves ownership dustup should be a bigger story

* Ryan loves WrestleMania. I don’t understand WrestleMania

Topics include:

* What does a vocal cord surgery do for a broadcaster?

* Which sports announcers qualify for Top 5 “All Pipes” Team

* Do New York announcers have the best accent for the job? Do Midwesterners have the worst?

* Why did the elite duo of Guy + John Middlekauff break up?

* Is Brandon Aiyuk going to be traded?

* My crazy contrarian NFL takes

* Does the NFL have a good understanding of which positions actually matter?

* Who should the Niners draft?

* How good is the talent around Brock Purdy? Better than what the Lions have around Goff?

* Why paying your QB big money is no death sentence

* Oh, and subscribe today!

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Our friend Amin Elhassan went negatively viral with his jump shot, but it’s only made him stronger.

Many a fraught topic discussed in this one, including whether it’s easier to say things now vs. the recent past. Subjects include but aren’t limited to…

* Amin’s crazy co-workers argued that Michael Jordan lacked charisma

* Amin’s moment as Internet main character, based on a jump shot

* Ben Bolch of the LA Times becomes main character over calling LSU women’s team “Dirty Debutantes,” and something about hot sauce? What happened here?

* Don’t search “Dirty Debutantes” on a work computer

* Is the Basketball Race War good for society?

* Caleb Williams’ Nail Polishgate

* Is the younger generation of athletes more into Williams’ style of personal expression?

* Male feminist writers aren’t helping women’s sports when getting too defensive on behalf of players

In the Elon X era, no article ever goes viral. At least that’s what I used to think. But now, of late, articles in New York Magazine and The Cut have broken through as a sort of rage bait. To assess what’s going on, we’ve called in honest and trenchant culture writer Kat Rosenfield. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Pre mourning your old dog

* Getting “serious” with your significant other early

* The Andrew Huberman cover story in NY Mag

* How the Huberman story, while well written, fails to hit its target

* It’s hard to publicly shame a man over having six girlfriends

* Kat’s piece on how nobody cares about the Christine Blasey Ford memoir

* The weirdness of the Brett Kavanaugh moment

* Journalists taking out high school resentments on public figures

* I’m “ethnically liberal”

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

* How America and Europe are on opposite timelines with sports betting

* Is the sports betting boom going to harm young peoples’ sports fandom?

* Why you can somewhat easily beat the books (except they won’t allow it)

* Should sports books be forced to take the bets of winners?

* Should sports gambling be made illegal again?

* Contradictory signals on the NBA’s TV rights prospects

* What do we think really happened with Shohei Ohtani?

* The future is athletes getting in trouble like Ohtani did

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Thrilled to have Chris Vernon on because I’ve long been curious about his career as an NBA + overall sports podcaster. The best way I can summarize Verno for those who do not know: Think if Sam Kinison was really into the Memphis Grizzlies.

Topics include but are not limited to…

* Vernon used to hilariously CRUSH Pau Gasol

* How Chris chose the Grizzlies as his success vehicle

* Why Robert Saleh is the reason 49ers Youtube exploded

* JT The Brick saved Chris’ career with some unforgettable advice

* Why Tony Allen is a better NBA player podcaster than some others

* Why Vernon thinks the NBA will be profitable despite losing full game watchers

* Gas station boner pills?

* Do the kids like the NBA?

* Will this LeBron + JJ Redick podcast be a success?

Tom Haberstroh has written an explosive article in The Finder about just how improbable the NBA’s post All-Star break scoring drought is. I think it’s impossible to look at these numbers and reach any conclusion other than that the NBA directed referees to call games differently. But does Tom himself think this? Discussion includes but is not limited to…

* A wild free throw stat, unseen in 2000 games, happens twice on the same night

* Tom gets into the numbers on a dramatic drop in fouls called

* GMs don’t believe the league’s position that this is random and non directed

* I say it really really really really looks like the NBA is lying

* Why would the NBA lie about something so (allegedly) obvious?

* Tom reveals a sneaky big benefit to the lack of foul calls

* “Trying to get pregnant” is a funny euphemism.

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The preeminent sports media critic is here, right after breaking sports media news. We discuss, in notes cribbed from his X feed:

* Ryan’s Pat McAfee vs. Stephen A. Smith story

* Shannon Sharpe, digital juggernaut

* The media lets it slide that Mark Cuban rips Trump nonstop yet sold his baby to partner with statistically the world's largest Trump supporter

* A vibe shift where nobody cares about athletes like Joe Burrow hanging with Trump

* The viral moment of LeBron getting very friendly with Lakers owner Jeanie Buss

* I cost Ryan money on unders picks with my NBA scoring drop article.

* National NBA media can't stand most of the stars being in small markets

I’m not sure how to describe this free flowing conversation with geneticist and writer Razib Khan, which was to be expected since Zeeb’s one of the most brilliant/idiosyncratic people I’ve ever met. Naturally, this talk is all over the place after beginning with, and I’m not sure there’s another way to describe this, social media reaction to “Aella’s birthday gangbang”.

Topics discussed:

* Razib knows the infamous Aella, who’s a rationalist data scientist between orgies.

* Razib is friends with Aella, but is viscerally disgusted by her lifestyle.

* Is human “disgust response” logical?

* Is gene editing going to destroy sports?

* Very tall people are rarer than it seems

* Michael Jordan’s “mailman” theory on his own parentage

* “Female sperm is heavier”

* “The Sports Gene”

* Why do men get autism and schizophrenia more frequently than women?

* Ashkenazi really do have Middle East ancestry

* Is the tech scene right wing? Left wing?

* Why Microsoft is killing Google

* An analysis of problems at Google

Pod discussion includes, but is not limited to:

* How advice from comedian Al Madrigal helped Larry build The Krueg Show

* Larry is so granular with his analysis and yet it works on a big scale

* The massive gap between America’s passion for football and actual knowledge

* Why people feel comfortable second guessing football coaches vs. other sports

* Larry’s disagreement with Grant Cohn

* Larry’s since resolved fight with “The Coach”

* We both object to a Dan Patrick take on Kyle Shanahan in the Super Bowl

* How the Warriors handle the media

* Larry gives us his take for dream 49ers 1st round pick and realistic 1st round pick

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

What have I been doing with my life, waiting this long to have Frank Isola on? Frank’s a famously bold New York Knicks beat writer turned multi media star. You can find him on ESPN and Sirius radio, talking NBA and a range of other subjects. Frank comes from the era (and region) where media was confrontational. The overall modern lack of confrontation was just one subject we addressed in this podcast.

Topic docket:

* Frank and the other Knicks beat writers seemed totally insane to me back in the day

* Is Andre Iguodala an obvious Hall of Famer?

* Andrew Wiggins is missing. Surrounding media gonna look into it?

* Coaches should wear suits

* CAA-Knicks: Is agency influence real?

* Frank tortures me with 49ers Super Bowl second guessing

* Draymond Green vs. Bonta Hill

* Can Caitlin Clark save the WNBA?

* How the lack of accepted criticism hurts the WNBA

Richard Hanania is, I believe, the most controversial person to appear on this podcast (though I’m curious if the subscribers can offer up some competitors for that title). Based on his public profile one might think his book, The Origins of Woke, would be a searing polemic. But it’s not. It’s really more of a law history with a focus on how legal decisions determine institutional policy and cultural norms. I think most people assume law to be downstream of culture. This book asserts that it’s mostly the other way around.

Some of these legal decisions, like sports-relevant Title IX, you’ve heard of. Others are more obscure and yet massively influential. Whatever one’s political persuasion, the idea of judicial ruling as skeleton key to culture is worth discussing. And so we discuss that, plus other topics. For example…

* Why did Richard want to appear on House of Strauss?

* I met Richard, did not like his manner, but was intrigued

* Can Richard define “woke”?

* Discussing The Origins of Woke

* How we overrate the importance of peoples’ secret motives

* What’s the deal with Title IX?

* I explain how Kenny Smith got pilloried during Sabrina Ionescu vs. Steph Curry

* The Hanania vs. Yarvin debate (Democracy vs. Monarchy)

* One major thing the most outraged critics of Hanania and Yarvin are right about

* Republicans come off like weirdos now

* Richard, Glenn Greenwald and others who fight against their own audiences

* Does Matt Yglesias secretly like Richard?

Spike Eskin of Rights to Ricky Sanchez is here because a few of his favorite characters are in the news. Frankly, there’s no better person to cover Doc Rivers vs. JJ Redick as it plays out in the media. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Does Spike hate JJ more than JJ hates basketball fans?

Topics...

* Spike on where Doc is lying

* ESPN’s hilariously unbelievable reporting on Doc taking the Bucks job

* Why did Redick get blasted for his correct take on Doc?

* Redick’s bizarre meta media critique and “54K pageviews” humblebrag

* Redick’s appeal as Twitter mirror

* JJ’s postseason vulnerability

* Why does Spike hate JJ?

* How Tony Romo went from great to less great announcer

* I failed my customers by doing too much football this season

* What’s with writers fearing AI replacement?

We discuss Gould, the past era of personal essay she spawned, millennials, feminism, and whether I should have Richard Hanania on the podcast. Many topics broached here, sports not so much. Enjoy…

This one is a lot of politics/culture, so pure sports lovers be forewarned. We also had to paywall it for standard Wos reasons.

Personally, I believed this to be a very fruitful conversation with HoS favorite Big Wos. We agreed, disagreed, and eventually got to common ground on what the House of Strauss foreign policy should be. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* What’s wrong with ESPN’s coverage of the tragic shooting in Kansas City?

* What specific gun law do journalists reacting to these incidents want?

* Jon Stewart’s Daily Show return

* Stewart’s comments about Biden’s decline and reaction in media

* Does Biden at the top mean the status quo is strong right now or weak? Wos says “strong,” I say “weak.”

* Tucker Carlson’s post-Fox decline in influence

* Tucker in Russia

* Wos wasn’t aware of the “Fidel is Trudeau’s dad” conspiracy theory

* Is that conspiracy more or less believable than Frank Sinatra as Ronan Farrow’s father?

Late collapse against the Clippers on Wednesday notwithstanding…the Warriors suddenly look pretty good. Given the recent vibe shift, I figured I’d ring up Light Years co-host Saam Esfandiari to discuss the Draymond-fueled run of good play plus a variety of other topics in media. Discussion includes but is not limited to…

* Which hurt Bay Area fans more: The 2024 Super Bowl loss, or the Warriors losing Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals?

* Draymond Green, the man you cannot quit

* Reflecting on Draymond’s career and how so many expected him to be washed up by now

* What’s with this report about the Warriors exploring a LeBron trade?

* Pat McAfee vs. Bill Simmons feud and why Youtube can’t work on television

* Has Youtube overtaken television?

* Is this actually a bad time for aspiring sports media creators? Or are there more opportunities?

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Ryan Glasspiegel, our nation’s preeminent sports media critic, is back, and trying to explain this “ESPN, Fox and Warner Team Up to Create Sports Streaming Platform” story. We’ve both got some questions, but the main one is this: What type of person is going to pay for this service?

In the second half of the pod, we’re talking…

* Super Bowl prop bets, including a sneaky long shot from radio legend Larry Krueger

* Why capital J journalists perceive a politicization of the Big Game

* What’s with this insane Taylor Swift + Chiefs + Biden conspiracy theory? And will I convince myself of it if Nick Bosa is held absent any calls?

* Will Steven Ruiz of the Ringer really quit his job if the Niners win?

* Glasspiegel presents an impressively hot take on Brock Purdy’s ranking among quarterbacks.

* My take on Tom Brady replacing Greg Olsen in the Fox NFL booth

* What are the Top 5 public teams in the NFL? Steelers falling down the list?

One of my favorite conversations on this site, if I do say so myself (Subscribe today!). Many of you are familiar with Kmele Foster’s work on The Fifth Column and other platforms, but I’d say it’s rare to get him in an interview setting. Obviously, Kmele did not disappoint. Few in media think deeply on as wide a range of available subjects as Kmele does, which is why we were able to discuss all of the following:

* Does Kmele believe aliens exist?

* Should you consider yourself a “vector of history”?

* Is it less fashionable to contemplate the meaning of existence these days?

* Does Kmele believe in God?

* “Our behavior determines the content of our minds”

* Why did Friedrich Hayek influence a college aged Kmele’s thinking?

* Can Kmele reconcile his freedom-forward perspective with the unmanaged chaos he sees in Oakland and San Francisco?

* Is libertarianism a philosophy that leaves normies behind?

* Should all drugs be legal?

* Does Big Tech share some blame for the problems in the Bay and the world?

* Why should we be optimistic about technology if it outpaces our ability to adapt to it?

* Is wokeness, whatever it is, downstream of law?

* Are governments giving way to the tech overlords?

Last time the great Rob Henderson was on we discussed his incredible memoir, Troubled. In it, he takes you on a journey from his youth in foster care to and through his Yale admission. An inspiring story, right? Turns out that not everyone wants to be inspired.

So why are certain bookstores blocking Rob, a guy with a large following, from holding events? We get into the mystery, talking about class, ideology and whether the issue is Rob’s content or his associations.

Bomani took issue with my “What if Brock Purdy Had Jordan Love's Saturday Performance?” article, which was a good excuse to bring back an HoS favorite. What followed was, in my opinion a highly enjoyable conversation. Topics included but weren’t limited to…

* Why Bomani has more hardcore fans than similarly well known entertainers

* Bo’s take on Brock Purdy, having seen him play at Iowa State

* Does the public care about Jordan Love?

* Race and the paradigm shift on quarterbacks

* The power of football announcers to shape the narrative we debate

* Bomani’s past Josh Allen takes vs. his present Josh Allen takes

* Is Buffalo coming up short the fault of Josh Allen?

* Doc Rivers going from Adrian Griffin’s advisor to his replacement as Bucks coach

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The world’s preeminent sports media critic was ATTACKED by Dave Portnoy for breaking a story. We talk to Ryan right after he defended himself on Kirk Minihane’s Barstool-affiliated show. Topics mentioned: Ryan’s defense under fire, journalism best practices, Barstool as a business, plus my theories on incoming Peacockification.

Friend of Pod Amin Elhassan is here to discuss the following:

* A vigorous defense of Jerry Krause

* Is it acceptable for Warriors fans to boo this team?

* Is Michael Jordan to blame for anti Krauseism?

* Zach Lowe giving up his NBA awards vote. What’s the secret reason?

* Taylor Swift on the football broadcast vs. Eminem

Wos alarm and this one is turbo-paywalled. We start off talking different sports and the perils of drafting QBs high. We eventually move on to Aaron Rodgers vs. Jimmy Kimmel, what Pat McAfee vs. ESPN means, DEI and Harvard, genius of Druski, plus Bon Appétit breakup retrospective.

Enjoy!

Erich is a star entertainment reporter for the Wall Street Journal, Friend of Pod, and fascinating thinker on these modern issues. This is the first podcast I’m submitting to the Youtube channel and I’d encourage you all to subscribe. Enjoy!

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Had to send word to our favorite New York Postman. Had to do it in lieu of ESPN’s Pat McAfee using his show as a platform to attack ESPN brass, by name. What the hell is happening here? What direction is ESPN going? Who is this “Norby” guy McAfee’s mad at? We get into it.

* My shaky foray into tweeting, in defense of ratings talk

* Spike and I discussing what it’s like to have a negative take and how it tilts what you want

* NFL writer Bill Barnwell takes a shot at the Eagles fans

* A subscriber emails me a Sam Hinkie takedown for Spike to address

* Can civilians do real NFL analysis?

* A reader agrees with Spike and hates on the Bear.

* Would Mad Men be better with New York accents?

Jay Caspian Kang is a great writer and astute observer of Media Culture. Today, the genesis of our conversation is his podcast on whether politics has a place in sports anymore. Jay and I both agree that the Trump Era politics in sports moment has ended for now (I’m more in favor of it ending than he is). We also get into his contention that NBA media is unusually soft/cheerleading among media sectors. Jay might even be more critical of NBA media culture than I am, so naturally we get into this. Enjoy and Happy New Year…

Our preeminent sports media critic is back! Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post is here for a discussion that includes but isn’t limited to…

* Yes, Brock Purdy vs. analysis from Steven Ruiz and others

* Do we dare do a “What if Purdy was Black?” hypothetical?

* Why are NFL quarterbacks usually conservative and religious?

* Is Mark Cuban selling his majority Mavs stake an NBA red flag?

* How the Posey San Francisco comments played out in local media

* The Defector goes after Bill Simmons over the sports gambling boom.

* Is Pat McAfee’s ESPN show struggling?

I love Tyler Dunne’s approach to covering the NFL, which you can find on his Go Long Substack. Tyler chases a deeper understanding instead of low calorie clicks, so it was surprising/hilarious to see his 21,000 word deep dive on the Bills coach go viral due to one embarrassing anecdote (Hint: It has something to do with 9/11). We get into the story, the fallout, Josh Allen, and so much else about modern football in this episode.

The Gist host Mike Pesca made an embarrassing confession to me, supported with evidence: In 2023, House of Strauss was Mike’s most listened to podcast. Not only did Mike air this shameful admission, but he graciously agreed to do a Year in Review pod with me about HoS. In it, we get into many topics, including how certain interviews went, how other interviews should have gone and how much basketball do I actually watch nowadays. Enjoy…

Star Substacker Rob Henderson has written a spectacularly haunting memoir of his own life, titled Troubled. Consider this podcast a sneak preview, as the book is coming soon and you won’t want to miss it. Rob is not only among America’s leading millennial intellectuals, but his upbringing is among the roughest I’ve ever heard. It’s a miracle that he’s self sustaining, to say nothing of achieving so highly as a writer and thinker.

With all that in mind, we discuss the vast chasm between his native Red Bluff, CA and the Ivy League campus he eventually arrived at. Rob, who coined the term “luxury beliefs,” has a lot of thoughts on how higher status Americans are broadcasting the wrong messages to those who live elsewhere. Oh, and we get into the issue of university presidents in hot water over the “genocide hearing.” Enjoy…

In this episode we discuss “The Revolution,” a podcast series on Newt Gingrich’s rise to power. Kornacki’s series argues that the Newt-fueled 1994 Republican takeover of the House is crucial to understanding our current era. Before the 1994 midterms, we were in one political reality; Afterwards, the country fundamentally changed. Steve and I talk about all this, plus get into why he avoids sharing any of his own politics. Oh, let’s tease this: Steve gets into what the 2022 midterms meant and why he believes the Dobbs effect is overstated.

Enjoy…

Coming off Sunday’s thrashing of the Eagles, the San Francisco 49ers are riding high. Naturally, we had to have 49ers +/- host Tim Kawakami on to discuss a variety of Niners and Niners adjacent topics. Of course, given Tim’s status as the best sports writer in the state over the last two decades, we also had to get into why the industry isn’t doing a better job delivering a product TK’s succeeding with. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Why LA-based sports writers tend to leave sports writing

* Tim wrote a Brock Purdy column that might be his most read ever

* TK’s thoughts on 49ers fans getting mad at Purdy doubters like Steven Ruiz

* Is Trent Williams the most valuable Niner? Do offensive linemen get their proper due?

* If customers are flocking to this Niners content and John Canzano is crushing it in the Pacific Northwest, then what is the sports writing industry missing?

We booked Bogut. Then Australian NBA news items popped up and the Warriors lost a 24 point lead on national TV. Just as we got Henry Kissinger killed earlier in the week, it seems HoS has had a negative impact on all issues adjacent to our wonderful guest.

No matter. It was a great talk, especially when we went down Warriors memory lane. Before all that, we, of course, discussed whether this is the end for that storied core Bogut once played alongside. Oh, and we also talked Josh Giddey, the firing of Daniel Moldovan, and Gregg Popovich grabbing the PA microphone to scold his crowd.

Michael Moynihan is one of my favorite podcasters. I always enjoy him at his Fifth Column home and, of course, when he visits HoS.

The genesis of this pod is Michael’s 2018 Vice interview with Open AI CEO Sam Altman, which was on the topic of UBI (Universal Basic Income). To give a sense of how the interview went, here’s Moynihan’s recent Instagram description of the exchange, posted in the aftermath of Altman’s firing (and before his rehiring):

So OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was fired. This is apparently news requiring a New York Times homepage takeover, with three (!) stories speculating about the reason for his ouster. Allow me to offer an alternate theory: Altman was fired because he’s an insufferable asshole. I interviewed him back in 2018…one of the most pompous, absurd, unpleasant people I’ve ever spoken to on camera. You see, Altman suffers from that most common Silicon Valley delusion…the one convincing billionaires that because they are very clever with computer code, they can also solve the world's most vexing social problems. Altman is a proponent of universal basic income and believes that when jobs are automated away, a more socialist government can make it all better with UBI-like transfer payments to the newly unemployed. I gently pushed back on this idea. He didn't handle it well. Here are two clips from the tail end of my interview with Altman.

So that’s our jumping off point to questions about the damage well meaning utopians can cause, whether AI will replace journalists, and, obviously: Would people prefer AI Sports Illustrated writers or AI Sports Illustrated swimsuit models? Also we get into an Israel/Gaza detour and address whether the culture war has ended. Great talk, hope you enjoy.

If you wanted to follow the Open AI debacle in depth, Ashlee Vance’s articles in Bloomberg have been mandatory. Lucky for us, he took a moment out of his busy reporting schedule to hop on HoS and discuss the bigger picture questions connected to the corporate crackup. Also, there’s quite a reason for his proximity to the situation, which he reveals in the podcast.

I’m not even sure how to timestamp this one, as the conversation jumps around to a lot of abstract places. I’ll just say that it’s a discussion I personally can’t stop thinking about since we had it. Vance is my favorite writer on the topic of the imminent future and there are some staggering possibilities afoot. Should we be terrified? Should we be inspired? Can we, fairly soon, become immortal? Do we want that? We discuss all this, plus talk about Ashlee hanging out with a community of brain-implant augmented monkeys

I’m aware that not everyone necessarily comes to HoS for this conversation, but I aim to channel what’s interesting to me, in hopes it might be interesting to you. Oh yea, and towards the end, Ross and I discuss his confusion about the In Season Tournament. Enjoy…

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

We talk to Pablo, host of Pablo Finds Out, proprietor of the Pablo Torre Substack, and all around media man. I’m very intrigued by his recent interviews, including but not limited to Larsa Pippen + Marcus Jordan. We discuss this inquiry into forbidden love, Dan Le Batard’s Trump tapes, Stephen A. Smith’s sex advice and much more regarding the modern sports media landscape.

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This podcast is unlike the other podcasts. Why? Because Super Producer Anthony Mayes spliced in our reaction to Adam Silver talking on another podcast. Beyond and because all that, a great conversation among pod friends. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* We all watch Adam Silver talking about the ways NBA Twitter influences league policy (2:40)

* We spend many minutes doing a Mystery Science Theatre 3000 on this Adam Silver interview with JJ Redick

* Redick + Silver on the science changing with load management (12:35)

* The NBA’s “Hawkeye” issue is pissing teams off (33:00)

* Why are Warriors fans so interested in the Chris Paul addition? (40:00)

* How do the Light Years boys feel about Media Bob Myers? (56:40)

* Klay and the Warriors going to breakup? (104:14)

* Andy doesn’t like how Jordan Poole is getting blamed for last season (110:30)

* Lack of Warriors developing young players not Kerr’s fault? (112:10)

* Why did Saam and Andy both tweet about the Mean Girls reboot? (115:00)

Big Wos wears many hats, but chief among them is all encompassing NBA analyst. So I brought back the gimmick I used for Nate Duncan and asked the man some dumb normie questions. Then, because it’s Wos, we couldn’t help but break away from that conversation and touch on a range of sports culture topics (including the insanity of the LeBron Decision Era, college football culture and pro athletes cheating on their wives). No time stamps because this one flew around a lot. Also, we recorded prior to Victor Wembanyama using Thursday night to warp everyone’s sense of what’s possible in the sport. Enjoy!

Andrew Sharp is the co-host of three great and wholly different podcasts. He’s an NBA diehard, but also an Adam Silver Era skeptic, which makes him unusual among current podcasters. Obviously, I share something in common with such a perspective.

In this episode, we end up cathartically venting about the Silver era, discuss the in season tournament experiment that’s upon us and consider whether LeBron James is viewed positively by normies. Podcast topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Is ESPN more uptight than FS1? (0:00)

* Why is Andrew so negative on the NBA’s in season tournament? (10:00)

* Why can’t the NBA be like England’s FA Cup? (16:00)

* At what point is a sport’s brand diluted? Is the NBA risking it? (23:10)

* Does a new tournament need a raison d'etre? (34:00)

* Does the NBA’s new CBA hurt the ability for teams to feel familiar? (46:00)

* The James Harden trade saga (53:50)

* Why don’t Steve Ballmer and the Clippers get ripped by media? (58:50)

* How the NBA should have handled its War on Flopping (109:30)

* Does the normie love LeBron James? (119:00)

We discuss that, plus get into the NBA’s “care deficit” problem, how sports need an illusion of realness, the myth making of LeBron vs. Kobe, Deion Sanders, and, of course, Taylor Swift’s modern dominance. Enjoy the pod, which includes but is not limited to the following topics:

* Whether Chuck is shocked by college football gaining audience while getting overtly transactional (6:00)

* NBA’s “care deficit” (19:00)

* How we now expect coaches and players not to care about their college teams (23:00)

* The MLB playoff format and the illusion of sports as “real” (28:00)

* Chuck’s initial Victor Wembanyama take (38:00)

* Chuck on the improbability of LeBron James fulfilling his destiny (40:05)

* Chuck and I argue a bit on if LeBron has a real flaw as a sports figure (43:00)

* Kobe as more flawed figure but better myth maker than LeBron (46:04)

* Chuck on Taylor Swift as cool, indicating a shift in what’s cool (48:50)

* The modern oddness of parents enjoying Taylor Swift alongside their kids (53:40)

* In retrospect, was Deion Sanders a bigger deal than Chuck knew? (58:00)

* Is the Generation Gap ending as a concept? (106:00)

* What is it about Taylor Swift that resonates with this exact era? (116:50)

Timestamps come via the Astute Sam Schuette:

What’s Driving Hollywood’s Collapse? (1:30)

* Convincing the audience that products are worth less through monthly subscription services

* Netflix as the intermediary offering your product below market value and divvying it up to shareholders: how do you make a profit?

* The interests of streaming services are contrary to Hollywood’s

The Level of TV isn’t Good (12:50)

* How it relates to newspaper subsidizing and ESPN charging twice the fees of their competitors

* Concentrating more money in the hands of fewer people

* The streaming boom sucks money out of the system

Is Economics or Ideology to Blame for the Downfall? (21:10)

* Reboot fatigue

* Streaming has shaken up the entire structure of Hollywood

Substack’s Economic Model and the Pros and Cons of Unbundling (26:40)

* How the unbundling of media affects Substack creators like Ethan & Freddie and the audience that supports them

* The independence and freedom that unbundling allows, that big bundled outlets don’t allow

* Can traditional journalism survive in the 21st country?

What Models Work (32:00)

* Local papers & media Twitter being overtaken by the New York Times

* The struggles of the Washington Post, The New Yorker, etc

* The Ringer succeeds by subsidizing with an overload of analysis content rather than reporting content. Is this the blueprint?

The Antagonism Towards Paying for Things You Enjoy (36:20)

* The Napster concept of devaluing media and content by inflating their access and supply

* People are unwilling to grapple with real prices because they’re used to such bargains via streaming

* Why Freddie plans to soon retire from his Substack

Freddie’s Differences with The Free Press (43:30)

* Why aren’t they covering students who’ve gotten jobs rescinded over their criticism of Israel?

* Why is it important for nations and people to be considered the underdog?

Freddie’s Recent Piece: Mimetic Collapse (55:50)

* Why is David Foster Wallace still a boogeyman years after he died?

* How TikToks about the annoyingness of Gen Z “lit bros” went viral

* Why do people criticize lit bros when they don’t exist?

People falling victim to refinement culture (1:06:00)

* Refinement culture and customers experiencing the same product from different competitors.

* How does this apply to people sharing the same universal opinion?

* Hating certain archetypes is fashionable within the wider culture

Do People Like Anything? (1:12:10)

* It’s now important to agree on what you hate more than what you like

* Do lefty creatives like anything?

* Stan culture vs hater culture – which is more dominant?

What Sports Freddie Enjoys (1:16:30)

* Why the NBA should cut the season amidst the load management crisis

* The NFL injury dilemma: how the injury frequency ironically gives the NFL appeal

What Drives Opinions in Sports? (1:22:10)

* Small margins swing NFL opinions so heavily. Is this good or bad?

* Does the NFL media reward hot takes even when they’re baseless?

* Brock Purdy, Josh Allen, Bryce Young, Justin Herbert and distorted quarterback opinions

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post is here, following an avalanche of NBA and ESPNbusiness news. In this episode, we attempt to separate real from rumor, possibility from wishcasting. I believe we succeeded in yet another informative and entertaining podcast.

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

Amazon with a Thursday NBA package? (2:00)

* Is this an appealing option to anyone outside the NBA?

Is the NBA going to cash out and get the last helicopter out of Saigon? (7:00)

* Talking about the sports TV business environment

* Will Commenter JF be the Michael Burry of the NBA’s collapse?

What if ESPN just let NBA rights expire? (20:00)

* Would ESPN save money overall if they let the NBA go?

Dave Portnoy vs. the New York Times (22:50)

* Portnoy going on an offensive in anticipation of an NYT hit piece

* NYT’s Israel reporting and Portnoy’s critiques

* Portnoy’s “normal people political instincts”

* Israel/Hamas in the journalistic and campus institutions vs. public opinion

Why is college football so hot right now? (43:00)

* Why does CFB work better with NFL than CBB work with NBA?

* Ethan has a Caleb Williams take

Travis Kelce’s world domination path (50:20)

* How Travis Kelce is like chicken breast

Explaining the AI newspaper (4:00)

* What is DeepNews?

Can an AI Successfully Write my Last Article? (6:50)

* Can a machine ape my idiosyncrasies?

* Can the AI be a contrarian?

Nikolai: “I got into a bit of horse archery” (12:00)

* Are Mongol skills having a moment??

Could an AI be like hit song maker Max Martin? (24:00)

* Can machines succeed in art?

Can an AI Unlock Human Creativity? (37:00)

* How the machine can help us find inspiration by taking over boring tasks?

Could DeepNews avoid the New York Times’ Gaza rocket mistake? (42:00)

* If AI is aggregating off the Internet, how does it avoid its errors?

Does Michael Lewis deserve to be in hot water over his portrayal of Sam Bankman-Fried? (48:00)

* What Michael Lewis might be focusing on that led him astray

First Things First is my favorite favorite sports show on TV and with the NFL season in full swing, FTF is as well. So, I figured this would be a good occasion to get more insights from co-host Nick Wright on why this is the rare sports TV show that works. We also debate that Brock Purdy guy he’s down on. Great pod all around, Nick was quite generous with his time and takes.

Timestamps provided by the astute Sam Schuette:

Nick’s clever Brock Purdy strategy (5:40)

* Where does Purdy rank?

* How Nick Wright learned the strategy from a local show debating gun control

* Making the argument by partially agreeing with the opponent 

What makes First Things First successful (12:15)

* Broussard being able to put up with Nick’s persona

* Straddling the line between sports and non-sports for viewers who want both

How Nick Wright resembles the opposite of Warriors Monta Ellis (16:00)

* The difference between watching snippets and highlights versus the whole show

Doing shows for the clicks or for the good of the show (21:00)

* How Nick transitioned from one to the other

* Nick’s viral MJ clip

* Should you get your true opinion out when it’s not for the good of the show?

Production Genius of PTI and Inside the NBA (28:40)

* The techniques PTI created that the rest of the industry now uses

* How Inside the NBA succeeds as a personality-driven show

* Production of Inside the NBA 

Eric Mangini Story (33:30)

* How Nick’s advice to Mangini pissed Nick off 

* The need for antagonists in sports talk show

* Which things make Nick the most mad?

Quarterback Assessments (44:40)

* How Justin Herbert resembles Karl-Anthony Towns

* Which quarterbacks are improperly discussed? 

* Josh Allen getting compared to Patrick Mahomes

Nick Defends Having Purdy as the 18th-best Quarterback (51:30)

* How similar are Jimmy G and Purdy?

* How much credit does Purdy’s supporting cast deserve for his success?

* How much does size limit him in terms of injury and performance?

Why the Niners Might be Playing Too Hard (1:11:50)

* Are the Niners’ injuries bad luck or reflective of who they are?

* Randomness in sports

NBA Outlook (1:15:50)

* Bucks or Celtics as the favorite in the East

* Why Giannis gets misunderstood

* How strong is the Nuggets’ hold over the West?

Why Doesn’t National Sports Talk do Baseball? (1:24:20)

* Do MLB fans not want to hear about other baseball teams?

Nick’s Boxing Proposal (1:29:00)

* Making boxing into a multi-billion dollar business inspired by UFC and figure skating

* What’s currently killing the sport

I’ve been sick this week, but thankfully the great Marcus Thompson is here to help me discuss both local and national sports topics of interest. I really enjoyed this ep, even if it nearly killed me.

Timestamps provided by the astute Sam Schuette:

Pat McAfee and Aaron Rodgers (2:55)

* McAfee paying Rodgers millions to be on podcast

* Is it scandalous or friends being friends?

If you could pay a million dollars to have any player on the pod, who would it be? (6:50)

* The prospects of George Kittle, Tom Brady, and more

* How much would it take to get Kevin Durant?

Marcus’ old regular pod with Draymond (13:00)

Bryce Harper-Orlando Arcia Incident (17:10)

* How it resembles the Warriors-Jazz situation from six years ago

* Why were the Phillies so angry?

Does the MLB regular season even matter? (22:50)

* The randomness of the MLB playoffs

* Is it a good product if the underdog has the same chance to win as the heavy favorite?

Colorado’s glamor (28:20)

* Why Colorado’s environment resembles an NBA Finals game more than a CFB game

* Shedeur Sanders’ watch situation

The Taylor Swift and Beyonce Sports Theories (42:15)

* At home, does Marcus see evidence of Taylor Swift brining in NFL fans?

* Why Beyonce would have to leave Jay-Z for an athlete to match Taylor Swift’s hype

The Rise of Brock Purdy (47:15)

* How Brock Purdy hate fuels Bay Area radio

* How much of his success should be attributed to him versus his surroundings?

* Why his look makes people underrate him

* Which teammates praise him the most?

Seeing athletes in person versus on TV (1:10:10)

* What watching in person reveals about players like Trent Williams

* NBA players look thinner in person

Do the Warriors miss being the center of attention against the Niners? (1:12:15)

* Relishing the opportunity as an underdog

* Why a 49ers Super Bowl would dominate the Bay 

Katie Herzog, the funny and insightful co-host of Blocked and Reported is back 1) Because she has an open invite to appear on HoS and 2) Because BAR covered the Trevor Bauer saga, as I did too. Our conversation starts on the media coverage of Bauer and then gets into other journalism topics. Pod subjects timestamped by the astute Sam Schuette include…

Trevor Bauer Saga (1:10)

* Why did mainstream outlets quash the story’s epilogue?

* Social incentives overtaking financial incentives when covering controversial stories

The media’s role in sexual assault cases (14:30)

* Does it matter if the accuser is named?

* “Say her name” vs preserving anonymity

* How much does partisanship affect these cases?

The outside influences on journalists (21:07)

* How the desire to sound right-thinking influences a journalist’s coverage

* What’s worse: Audience capture or colleague capture?

Has more smoke cleared for MeToo or BLM? (34:10)

* How assumptions on race and gender influence perspectives

* Which can we talk about more, issues that cross over with #MeToo or BLM?

* Ibram X Kendi’s ESPN segment and why it got released after the window of interest closed

The Reality of NFL Players’ Views on their Careers (43:00)

* Why do so many players not regret playing amid all the pain it caused?

* Why it’s difficult for the journalists to accept

Sixers Beat Reporter Fired For One Tweet: Fair or Unfair? (46:15)

* Is it fair to fire an employee over a bad Tweet?

* Can you support freedom of expression while recognizing that one tweet can reveal incompetence?

X’s Role in the Israel/Palestine War (56:00)

* Would the prior Twitter have censored the Hamas attack?

Delayed Aftershock of Me Too in the Sports World (1:02:05)

* Why did it come for public radio and not sports?

* The role of sensitivity among the audience

Now that the NBA’s offseason has wrapped up, we’ve enlisted Kevin O'Connor to make sense of the chaos. Really, it’s just a platform for KOC to take a victory lap over the hardball tactics he advocated for Portland in his last HoS appearance.

Given that KOC was correct in that assessment, I’m open to more convincing from him on other topics. So today’s podcast is themed, “Sell me on.”

In this podcast, we discuss…

Why KOC was right about how the Blazers should handle Dame’s trade demand (4:20)

How the Heat were singled out for spite, but still wouldn’t have had the best deal (7:20)

KOC sells me on Jrue Holiday as a playoff performer despite his recent issues (10:00)

KOC sells me on Celtics as favorites in the East (14:00)

KOC sells me on Kristaps Porzingis (16:09)

KOC sells me on Tyler Herro being a bad contract (22:00)

We discuss whether the popular derisive reaction to Miami’s media is fair (25:00)

KOC sells me on Tom Brady over Patrick Mahomes (30:00)

KOC sells me on the Cybertruck (35:00)

We talk about whether the new CBA has broken the NBA as we know it (42:20)

KOC sells me on The Sphere (53:00)

What’s it like to be podcast married to Chris Vernon? (1:00:25)

Puck News co-founder and The Town host Matthew Belloni is my go to on show business goings on. Nobody is better versed on this fast moving industry during a particularly turbulent epoch, and he conveys it all with panache. So, in this episode, I picked Belloni’s brain Timestamps provided by the astute Sam Schuette….

Writers strike and the role of Twitter social pressure (1:40)How did Twitter facilitate the strike?Why is streaming such a bad business? (16:10)How the vanishing of windowing and bundling made revenue more difficultTaylor Swift and 4 Quadrant Marketing (22:05)Is Taylor Swift leveraging the NFL to get guys to see her movie?Barbenheimer Shattering Expectations (24:46)Why Barbie’s success was a triumph of the brand, not the genre of comedyThe difficulty of making “new” (30:00)The same people who run Hollywood now are the same people who ran Hollywood decades agoESPN vs. Fox – Who Fails First? (36:55)Why the stakes are higher for ESPNWill the Leagues get Saved by Big Tech? (40:45)ESPN’s problem with renting the leagues instead of owningNetflix dipping their toes into the sports worldIs Wrexham’s Popularity Real or Fake? (47:25)How it may set a trend for celebrities in sportsWinning Time’s Death (49:55)The expenses of getting non-sports fans to watch the showPeople not taking sports seriously (51:10)The complexities of covering sports that get ignored

Nancy Rommelmann is one of my favorite journalists, so I looked to her on the question of whether there are any actual rules in journalism. She did not disappoint.

In this pod, we discussed Portland expert Nancy’s live reaction to the Damian Lillard trade, her take on WaPo vs. Portnoy, and that “Has the Sexual Revolution Failed” debate down in Los Angeles. Topics in this podcast include by aren’t limited to….

* Aforementioned Lillard live reax

* What Emily Heil did wrong when confronted by Dave Portnoy

* How you handle the subject of a “hit piece”

* How Nancy was denied comment when she was the subject of a hit piece

* LA Times vs Bari Weiss’ Sexual Revolution Debate

* Nancy’s take on the “Has the Sexual Revolution Failed?” question

* Is the trans kids in sports topic a real subject? Or a boogeyman subject?

* What’s wrong with certain cities right now? And what’s with the denial?

* Why don’t Portland men want to have sex?

Adam Mares is the brilliant impresario behind the DNVR sports media empire, a local institution, rooted in a literal Denver bar, that he’s building out to new cities and ventures. While the Denver Nuggets have been central to Adam’s personal coverage and the rise of DNVR, the arrival of Deion Sanders as coach of Colorado has been entirely different sort of windfall. This episode is about how one captures the current Deion moment, Sanders’ brilliance as modern media strategist, and, as always, some gripes about the current NBA state. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* The idea behind creating a physical space for digital fans

* The arrival of Coach Prime

* The impact of Prime on the media landscape

* Has Deion been good for college football?

* How Deion Sanders is like Donald Trump

* The sneaky success of Deion’s son as personal social media manager

* Is Sanders’ success sustainable longterm?

* Adam’s take on the internationalization of the NBA

* The patriotic reason fro why Adam’s going to root against Team USA

* Is nobody learning from Nikola Jokic?

* How the NBA needs more leadership and fewer rules

Buyer beware, this might be the sports-iest HoS yet. Tim Kawakami, greatest Bay Area sports writer of the last two decades and my former boss, stops by to talk San Francisco 49ers. That’s right, I’m a football guy now, and I need TK to refine my takes. We also get into some Niners-Warriors parallels, Andre Iguodala’s new assessment of Jordan Poole, and where the San Francisco Chronicle erred in its Warriors coverage. Topics on this podcast include are not limited to…

* Former Warriors GM Bob Myers is a Niners nut

* What positions really matter in football?

* Is Left Tackle or Pass Rusher more valuable?

* The Brock Purdy Conversation: Why so continuously doubted?

* What is Purdy good at? What is he not so good at?

* What do we make of Purdy’s Thursday night football performance?

* Andre Iguodala gave an interesting recent appraisal of Jordan Poole

* Poole and TK had some friction

* Why the San Francisco Chronicle messed up the Warriors’ rise

I needed a talking to by the HoS Podbudsman, otherwise known as Spike Eskin of Rights to Ricky Sanchez and WFAN fame. Boy, did I get one in an appearance where Spike explains how I’m being a whiner and what I must do to fix it. Despite whatever emotional injury I withstood, I always value Spike’s advice because he’s an astute radio/pod professional and well intentioned friend.

Podcast discussions include but aren’t limited to the following topics…

* The aftermath of Aaron Rodgers’ disaster on the New York talk radio scene

* What it sounded like when a host was dangerously optimistic about the Jets

* Why Spike thinks I’m being a “whiny baby” about Elon Musk suppressing links on X

* What I must do stop being a whiner and thrive

* Is Spike jealous that I got to (briefly) meet the ladies of Red Scare?

* A beef that Spike has with a commentator of mine about politics

* Deion Sanders’ popular college football ascent and its search for opposing forces

* Adam Silver both sidesing players not honoring their contracts

* I attended the “Has the Sexual Revolution Failed?” debate in Los Angeles. I give my debate scene recap.

* How Matt discovered that Funny or Die and everyone else in comedy content was about to get destroyed by Mark Zuckerberg’s strategy

* The divorce between Elon and Substack has consequences

* Regis and Kelly narrating 9/11 live

* Matt talks about the writers/actors strike and addresses my customers having reservations about his ilk

* Outcome of Charter vs. Disney dispute

* Is Bill Maher strike breaking?

* Are there female degenerate sports gamblers?

* The time Matt saved my life from a gang beating in Irvine, CA

Outline by the astute Sam Schuette…

* Lee’s Burning Man article

* Enjoying himself amongst the mass media hysteria

* How it represents an escape from the politics and partisanship of the world

* The human condition of cruelty

* Has it always existed? Is social media just revealing it?

* The fun of dehumanizing thousands of people online

* The appeal of simplistic enemies

* Why people wanted a controversial Burning Man story to be representative of the event’s shortcomings

* Lefty meetings vs. Burning Man: are they really similar?

* The fancy, elitist talk on the left versus the simple, welcoming Burning Man

* Why does much of the left dislike an event that creates momentary lefty utopia?

* The uncertainty of the Bay Area

* Is it too big to fail?

* The role of radical groups in the city’s downturn and the billionaires that fund them

* The internet’s role in making people unlikely to admit they’re wrong

* People not learning from their mistakes because of reputation risk

* The fear of admitting that the bad guy is right

* What would happen if the left and right swapped places?

* Would a liberal in a rural community or a conservative in a big city offer solutions?

* The horseshoe effect of complaining without a solution that plagues both sides

* Why do people accuse the other side of being horrible people?

* Choosing performative morality over fixing the issue

* The loss of touch in society

* How can a person feel connected when their politicians never deliver?

* How name-calling and internet beef fill the social hole people feel nowadays

* Lee’s experience with lefty journalism

* How his work with the establishment revealed the corruption within it

* The disconnect between liberal groups and the people they supposedly serve

* Lee’s political orientation

* What’s Lee’s political compass?

* The importance of analyzing power and holding people accountable

* What are the people inside the leftist circle like?

* Lee gives the download on his social circle

* The us versus them mentality that remains even after the issues they’ve won

* What’s going on with Tucker Carlson?

* Has he positioned his journalism out of resentment?

* His fallout with Fox

* Elon Musk’s conflict with the ADL

* What the ADL gets wrong about their methodology?

* Why Elon’s pushback deserves an asterisk

Kyle’s revolution is taking the Moneyball hunt for market inefficiency to the realm of improving players. After demonstrating an impressive proof of concept with pitching and hitting, he’s taking his storied abilities into the other major sports.

Outline from the astute Sam Schuette…

* Revolutionary changes in sports

* Manu Ginobili’s Eurostep

* How much is tradition worth following?

* Can AI find new strategies that haven’t been tapped into?

* Making sports less enjoyable by optimizing it

* It pays for batters to play “boring”

* How to look for the glitch and exploit it

* What teams miss when they solely focus on big-name prospects and not undrafted players

* If you’re great, throw it right down the middle

* Why it’s un-American to ignore the under-the-radar players with untapped potential

* What variables separate good organizations from bad organizations?

* The importance of purpose and direction

* Why Heat Culture is so prominent

* How they hold their players accountable while other teams do not

* Does the player-driven league limit accountability?

* What constitutes good hitting?

* Bat speed vs. smash factor vs. swing decision

* What people misunderstand about the key to good hitting

* Applying baseball sports science concepts to basketball

* What Hawkeye player tracking can reveal that Second Spectrum cannot

* Why basketball is harder to analyze than baseball and football

* Secrets to pitching improvements

* The role of overload-underload training in increasing pitch speed

* Should you really keep your eye on the ball?

* What recent research shows about how hitters make contact without looking at the ball

* What kids’ love for video games reveals about players’ love for their sport

* The importance of immediate feedback in video games and sports training

* Making a player’s improvement into a quantifiable video game

* Telling someone they’re getting better isn’t enough unless there’s data to support it

* The importance of having a coach who wants it as bad as the player

* Proving your worth through work ethic

* What Kyle learned from Reds pitcher Michael Lorenzen

Topics include but aren’t limited to:

* Why Charter has leverage over ESPN

* Why Ryan thinks this gets resolved

* Is there an ideological component to the position Disney finds itself in?

* The re-bundle could be upon us.

* What does it mean for the NBA? If cable dies, are they in trouble as an inventory sport?

* Reader JF (JK!) is doing the Big Short on sports TV rights. Is he going to be correct?

* Skip Bayless’ new Undisputed lineup vs. ESPN’s First Take

* How streaming dilutes audience from an advertiser perspective

Our favorite guest is here (don’t tell the others), prompted by a certain Substacker’s contention that there’s negative demand for sports writers to engage in conventional political commentary. Wos is the ideal guy for this topic because he somehow does both sports and political talk while retaining the goodwill of most reasonable people. What’s his secret? Is there a secret?

This podcast includes but is not limited to the following topics:

* How Wos avoids the “sardine in the vending machine” issue

* Is the problem talking politics when you’re in sports? Or is the problem that the sports talker adopts an annoyingly predictable politics?

* The Trump-based litmus test for whether you’re too ideological

* Can Wos become an NFL pundit?

* Wos is fully in love with the New York Jets

* Aaron Rodgers: Where’s the media at on this guy now?

* The NFL’s comeback

* Wos had takes on this controversial article about Obama’s past and present

And now for a man who needs no introduction, but we will be re-introducing on account of technical difficulties last time. It’s the great Bob Costas, legendary broadcaster of all things, and current baseball announcer for TBS and the MLB Network. In this episode, we’ve sent over friend of pod and big time WFAN muckety muck Spike Eskin to Bob’s place to deal with any tech issues. The result? A quality podcast wherein we discuss, among many topics, learn that HoS is a fine product!

Pod outline written by the astute Sam Schuette:

* Why are so many New Yorkers prominent broadcasters?

* The lineage of Costas, Cosell, Breen, Albert, Tirico, and more

* The law of averages and New York as the mecca

* Talking Shohei Ohtani

* How Ohtani resembles Michael Jordan (but LeBron does not)

* The one thing he’s missing

* Should Ohtani get surgery now or later?

* The trajectory of the MLB

* The association between a team and its stars

* The imbalance between teams like the Rays and the Dodgers

* Informed commentary vs. hot take commentary

* Avoiding egregiously hot takes and personal blows

* How exclusively positive commentary can make you seem less authentic

* Why Costas regrets speaking to ESPN about leaving NBC

* Clickbaity titles and the distortion machine made his Super Bowl removal a bigger deal than it was

* How it created a false “Bob vs. NBC” storyline

* “Your prerogative vs. their prerogative”

* Trying to be honest vs. making trouble for your bosses

* The bar for controversial commentary has gotten so low that anything can cause a fallout

* Bob’s Pat Riley story

* How a botched teleprompter let Bob save Pat during a broadcast

* How David Stern and Roger Goodell differed as commissioners

* Goodell ducked an interview with Bob

* Stern enjoyed the fight and accepted contentious interviews

* The gambling tsunami taking over pro sports

* The moral issues behind it

* Legalization and convenience enlarging the scope of its damage

* Does it take away the authenticity of being a fan?

* The Pete Rose Hall of Fame controversy

* If steroid users are on the ballot, should Rose deserve a spot?

* Does the influx of gambling in the MLB make the Rose lifetime ban unwarranted?

* Bob appearing on Bill Maher

* Not having to prepare for it

* The difference between Real Time and Club Random

* Aggregators mistranscribing podcast words

* How the internet misrepresents everyone’s words

* Bob’s defense of network TV

* The edginess and intelligence it offered to the average viewer despite its timidness

A House of Strauss favorite is here for our Second Substack Anniversary (Subscribe today!). Amin Elhassan of Meadowlark stops by to, among other things, give me a lot of shit. Podcast topics include by are not limited to…

* Amin examines whether the Toronto Raptors really stole secrets from the New York Knicks?

* Is cheating the final boss of analytics?

* Amin loves how baseball is the cheatingest sport by far

* Amin roasts my 2nd anniversary post

* In the sports doc boom following The Last Dance , only Quarterback is an undeniable hit. Is Patrick Mahomes our era’s MJ?

* Tom Brady: Tim Duncan if he had 7 rings?

* I have a new, unwelcome neighbor

* Amin felt validated by Lizzo’s fall from grace

* Would a Woj vs. Shams movie actually be good?

* Years later, I finally reveal the real reason my stoned interview with Don Nelson went south

Saagar Enjeti is co-host of Breaking Points, one of America’s most popular news podcasts (Congrats to them on reaching 1 million subscribers on Youtube as an independent venture). He’s also a guy with strong opinions on why successful creators shouldn’t sell out. In this pod, we discussed his takes on the corporate sagas of Barstool and 538, plus we addressed the following question: Is Fox News or ESPN more doomed going forward?

Conversation in this episode includes, but is not limited to the following topics listed by the astute Sam Schuette:

* Why Saagar is anti-selling out`

* The importance of standing for the content and the audience

* Why Breaking Points is not the model

* Being nuanced and normal is the exception to the rule of mainstream media

* Getting to talk about what you want because you work for yourself

* The Chris Matthews Interview that went bad

* The clash of old media vs new media

* The potential, imminent crash of Fox News

* Their diminishing cultural power over the public 

* Why the era of incubating network stars (Carlson, Maddow) is over

* How does Fox survive without Carlson?

* Monoculture old media vs new media

* There’s no more universal cultural reach among celebrities

* “Fame is dead”

* The Internet’s influence seeping into politics

* Vivek Ramaswamy and Andrew Yang rising the ranks via the internet rather than through mainstream legacy

* How Ramaswamy went from virtually unknown to competing with the former Vice President

* The downfall of New Yorker profiles

* The dysfunction Ronan Farrow’s Elon Musk profile accidentally reveals

* Politics shifting toward lifestyles

* How it shifted away from personal beliefs towards aspirational class

* How hate fuels political involvement

* Why the left loves talking about Trump and the right loves talking about wokeness

* Richard Hanania controversy: How did his book survive?

* What factors shielded him from an unearthing that would have recently been a death knell for others?

* How it’s difficult for the media reaction to process Hanania’s fundamental weirdness

* The shifts in fashion among the general public

* Is it narcissistic to dress casually and expect respect?

* When Ethan wore a suit with athletic shorts and sneakers for TV work

In this episode we take a trip down memory lane, back to when Tom was a hot shot 24-year-old reporter, commissioned to cover the most controversial team in the world. Was Tom the object of some hatred, by proxy of LeBron James? Upon reflection, was a little of it perhaps justified?

Then we fast forward to today and have Tom make sense of modern situations like James Harden vs. Daryl Morey. We also get a sense of why he thinks that sports gambling is a bigger problem for the NBA itself than I do. Enjoy!

Jay Caspian Kang of the New Yorker drops by and we revisit his tremendous Barstool Sports New York Times article from 2017. Jay was around the Barstool operation during the infamous blowup of what was to be a merger with ESPN/Disney. Now, there’s a new connection point between the companies as Barstool’s main gambling sponsor leaves to join ESPN. We look back on the article and ask the following: Did Barstool win in the end?

But that’s merely a jumping off point. Many topics were covered in this pod, as outlined by the astute Sam Schuette. Those topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Revisiting Kevin Durant’s exit from Golden State

* Why Ethan has sympathy for Durant

* The NBA Dark Web

* The group of fans who love Monta Ellis and call Kevin Durant’s rings fraudulent

* The race to be the most normie

* The James Harden Daryl Morey Duel

* Why Jay wanted Harden to be in the right

* Harden’s Chinese wine selling

* Barstool’s Big Move

* Revisiting Jay’s Barstool article six years later

* Why Barstool’s broad political reach worked in their favor

* Why content doesn’t drive gambling as much as people think

* Penn leveraging Barstool’s gambling-eager audience still couldn’t compete with the gambling titans

* The importance of authenticity on betting apps

* How BetMGM made bad PR because they didn’t want to pay a teacher $200k

* The difficulty and ethicality of sports betting

* Being good isn’t one big secret, it’s 1,000 little secrets

* How many people actually win big?

* Jay’s move to Berkeley

* Why he enjoys it despite weird residents and stressed out students

* Ethan thinks Berkeley is a “spiritually dark place.”

* Self-segregation at UC Berkeley

* The illusion of shared understandings

* What drives people to choose who they hang out with?

* The lack of interest surrounding Asian-Americans

* Why do Asians get overlooked in cases like Affirmative Action which concern them?

* The controversy surrounding Jay’s book

* Understanding why people disliked it but not understanding why they didn’t 

* Getting less hostile on Twitter

* Jay’s history of “bullying” on Twitter 

* How not being the underdog anymore makes him argue less

* The “Redhead Beard Guy Song”

* How the right uses music to own the libs

* Why it’s effective because the left gives it attention

Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post is here and we start by discussing the big sports business story of the day: PENN Entertainment’s exit from Barstool and its entry into ESPN. From there, we can’t resist the USWNT flameout discourse, discourse, discourse….

Our jumping off point is Nate’s new Substack, Silver Bulletin, which I thoroughly enjoy. That site covers topics ranging from poker to politics and, of course, pro sports. So we talk about that, plus discuss what the “Indigo Blob” is.

This podcast outline, put together by the astute Sam Schuette, is of a conversation that includes but is not limited to the following:

* Silver’s memorable Poker tournament experience

* How he deduced people by observing their mannerisms

* Famous YouTube video of winning a massive bluff

* How sports parallel poker

* Using stereotypes about yourself to your advantage

* Why Ed Reed intercepting Peyton Manning is like a poker player predicting an opponent’s next move

* Why shouldn’t there be an ideological purity test for pollsters?

* Separate the art (polling) from the artist (political lean of pollster)

* Activism as journalism and the PR-ification of everything

* Writers using moral authority to tell audience what to think about Taylor Swift’s boyfriend

* Has it been successful for the Democrats to make their journalism more progressive?

* Advancing political arguments via buzzwords like “the science” and “misinformation”

* The semantics and effects of wokeness

* Has “woke” been overused? Is it time for a new name?

* How wokeness created a conservative equilibrium (Bud Light boycotts)

* Terrible Twitter before Elon vs terrible Twitter with Elon

* The increased equilibrium of current Twitter

* Which arguments are safe to make on Twitter when questioning institutional consensus gets framed as right wing?

* The importance of political parties for normies

* Why Nate hasn’t given up politics yet

* Importance and uncertainty of the 2024 election

* Aligning what he does with his interests

* Reflecting on FiveThirtyEight

* Its missed potential for a subscription opportunity

* What ended his run there?

* His issues and differences with the new guy running 538, G. Elliott Morris

* Silver’s Sloan panel with Bill James

* James’ talent for making crazy takes seem plausible

* Why Bill James thinks the NBA has the worst athletes

* The Pac-12’s dissolution to the Pac-4

* Why sports are so much bigger in the Midwest and South

In a way it’s been too long because we should have had Kevin O'Connor on sooner. The man delivers coverage that’s both comprehensive and prolific, plus he amiably powers through any backlash. I’m curious about how he does his thing and so I asked. Oh, and we discussed Elon Musk too.

The following outline comes courtesy of our resident intern, the astute Sam Schuette:

* What’s the best way to watch games as an analyst?

* Watching one by one in the morning vs watching five different monitors all at once

* Clips vs full games

* Reacting to draft hits and misses

* Killian “The French Cam Payne” Hayes

* How to react to a miss on a prediction/ranking

* Going from covering one team to becoming the NBA generalist

* The added pressure of knowing everything about all 30 teams

* Getting thick skin by growing up on the internet

* How arguments on online forums and comment sections can teach mental resilience

* Yes, the goddamn Lillard trade standoff we can’t avoid in any pod

* Similar situation to Durant in Brooklyn

* Waiting it out is more appealing to Portland than it seems

* Changing team allegiances as a journalist

* Rooting for the Lakers and Heat as a Celtics fan?

* The temptation to root based on how the outcome validates a take

* Controversy over KOC’s Elon tweet

* When Musk responded to a troll tweet about Kawhi Leonard’s trade destination

* Separating what a person does from what they say

* Liking someone’s actions more than their words

* Kevin Garnett as a basketball muse

* The power of the individual player in changing a team’s culture

* J. Kyle Mann, Caitlin Cooper, and underrated NBA writers

* KOC’s on-air partners

* Big Wos the “takesman”

* Chris Vernon’s Dolan-Putin analogy

I enjoy Freddie’s perspective, so when he reached out about appearing on this podcast to talk about, well, podcasting, I was delighted to take him up on it. The end result was a pod about podding, but also so much more regarding the modern content game. Turns out Freddie had some NBA culture angles too.

The following outline comes courtesy of the astute Sam Schuette:

* What makes an interesting podcast?

* Why people with massive followings like Steph Curry and Obama aren’t popular podcasters

*  The media’s role in creating storylines for players

* What the NBA bubble lacked

* The post LeBron “Decision”overcorrection of the media covering player mobility

* How the media went from ridiculing a free agency decision to being content with mid-contract trade requests

* What’s the NBA’s appeal to a fan of a small market team?

* Smaller teams struggle to contend when their stars request trades

* Bill Simmons

* What’s his secret to podcast success?

* What’s the Ringer’s method of creating successful podcasts

* Variance and ephemerality in podcasting

* The barrier to creating content is lower than ever

* So many people have the resources to make content, regardless of their skill

* Has it gone too far?

* Creative jobs vs “boring” jobs

* How long should you follow your dreams?

* The 45-year old screenwriter who can’t sell a script vs the office drone

* Max Read and Matt Ygelisias’s blogging success 

* Is success a product of being in the right place at the right time or sticking it out?

* The disintegration of the ladder up the ranks

* Can an aspiring sports writer still work their way up to ESPN or The Athletic?

* DeBoer’s Pixar post

* The convergence of adulthood and childhood

John Middlekauff, former NFL scout and recreational golf nut, podcasts on both football and golf. In this episode, we draw on that combined expertise to get into whether there’s an overlap between these two worlds. Additionally, we discuss Colin Cowherd’s take on Tony Romo’s golf addiction, get an informed opinion on whether Steph Curry could really go pro on the links, and talk about whether running backs are actually getting screwed salary-wise (John has a contrarian take here).

This was a more sportsy podcast than usually happens on HoS, and there’s nothing wrong with that…

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Beyond being a noted animal lover, Spike Eskin is one of our favorite guests. As co-host of the successful Rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast and Vice President of Programming at storied WFAN, he’s always got great insights on the world of sports content. This podcast was no exception and I found myself having too good a time to end it on schedule. Topics include, but aren’t limited to:

* Politics in sports and audience expectations

* What Spike learned from a brief time in con radio world

* Following Nate Silver’s theories on why many predictions are wrong

* Is Harden constantly requesting trades really player empowerment?

* Jeff Teague and the power of honesty in player podcasts

* The decline of consensus opinions on TV shows

* Spike has issues with The Bear

* Did it matter if Mad Men wasn’t a completely accurate portrayal of the past?

* Every TV show has its version of Dorne in Game of Thrones

* How liking Oppenheimer can get you accused of being a communist

* AI Music Covers

* Things you would say with friends at a barbecue that would start a Twitter war

Bomani Jones is here and suddenly without constraints. We had a great conversation on sports industry topics, many of which we were able to get to by using the Damian Lillard/Le Batard/Woj situation as a jumping off point. Oh, and below we’re testing out a more complete podcast outline, put together by Sam Schuette.

Pod subjects include but aren’t limited to:

* Individual branding

* After leaving ESPN, becoming your own brand as a journalist

* ESPN equity stakes to NBA and NFL

* Desperation? Inability to compete with big tech

* Chess move? Leagues could be going for established networks after failed NBA TV

* NFL has leverage over ESPN, no need to make deal

* NFL’s popularity over other leagues

* Good balance of variance and predictability in the NFL makes it exciting

* Regular season matters more in NFL which piques interest all year long

* Lillard trade/Woj drama

* How did Woj’s relationship with Lillard’s agent influence his reports?

* Lillard’s situation reflective of shift in players’ status in how they get to pick their next destination even when under contract

* Different types of journalism (Windy vs Woj)

* Windhorst: brings fans behind the scenes

* Woj: more focused on breaking the big news first

* White guys in the NBA

* Tyler Herro undervalued because he’s white?

* Whiteness can be a detriment to how a player’s perceived when he’s below average, but an asset when he’s good (x-cubed analogy)

* White Americans vs white Europeans (guys who connect with media vs foreigners perceived as outsiders)

* Many white Americans grow up in predominately white areas (where it’s more socially acceptable for a white guy to aim for the NBA)

* Taylor Swift male audience

* Recent influx of male audience members at Swift concerts, particularly among Gen-Z

* Do guys actually care about her music or is it just a way for them to get a date?

* Jonathan Ogden story (some guys simply enjoy the music, even those you’d least expect)

* Messi in Miami

* Miami is an ideal location because of Argentine population

* It’s an “events” city

* Will be tough to because few fans care about the team, only Messi himself

* Running back salary

* Running backs supposedly underpaid

* Complicated by the fact that RB’s often leave their primes when they’re up for free agency

* In multiple sports, CBA’s complicate players salaries and create disconnect between max contract players versus role players

* Bomani addressing naysayers

* TV show ratings

* Unpredictable takes (sometimes traditionally left-wing, sometimes not)

* What’s it like to have your career discussed as a proxy for wokeness

The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions is about Rosen’s childhood best friend, Michael Laudor and what became of this once boy genius. The short story: Laudor goes from brilliant Yale undergrad, to well compensated yuppie, to an institutionalized schizophrenic adult, to celebrated and accommodated Yale Law student, to being the subject of a Ron Howard movie wherein he’s played by Brad Pitt, to, finally, the killer of his pregnant fiancé.

Just on the basis of that story alone, the book could be completely absorbing. But Rosen does something more with it all and we discuss so much of that in this podcast: His is a work that serves as a mirror for an era: Its ambitions, assumptions and tragic mistakes, all seen through the prism of one man’s journey.

I feel like Big Wos and I podded at the perfect time, given that Monday delivered a lot of sports media drama. Beyond all that, we went long on symbolism-as-politics, the Dame Lillard trade standoff, and, of course, The Bear.

* This pod includes but is not limited to discussion of the following topics:

* Dan LeBatard vs. Adrian Wojnarowski

* Dan LeBatard vs. Stephen A. Smith

* Is Woj wrong factually or just tonally?

* We revisit Jemele Hill’s comments on what got her fired from ESPN

* Political symbolism: What does it accomplish?

* Wos has takes on the Heat vs. Blazers standoff over Damian Lillard

* Is The Bear truly a great TV show? Is a backlash brewing?

* Wos has become a great NBA analyst

Kat Rosenfield is an author and writer who often boldly covers matters of cultural controversy. So what does this podcast have to do with sports? Not much, beyond the following: So many people I ran into at NBA Summer League couldn’t shut up about Jonah Hill. Given that Kat has covered the Hill situation on her podcast, I wanted her additional takes on the topic. First question: Why the hell is this private matter made public such a story?

Subjects on this podcast include but aren’t limited to…

* Kat thought I might tie this to sports somehow

* How this private drama got such public traction

* Airing dirty laundry for the “win”

* “Professional Surfer”?

* Why are pro-therapy people anti “therapy talk”?

* Rationalizing bullying as righteous

* Can famous people really ever find love, post fame?

* Looks as often unacknowledged social advantage (or disadvantage)

Puck News co-founder and Ringer podcast host Matthew Belloni presents the most comprehensive view of whatever’s happening in showbusinss, both big and small picture. Naturally, I wanted his takes on the role of modern sports docs (Such as Quarterback on Netflix), ESPN, and the death of tentpole comedies post 2014. We got all that, plus a lot more, within a highly efficient podcast. Topics include but aren’t limited to:

* Should I paywall this?

* Is the much hyped Quarterback on Netflix actually good? Maybe not?

* Matt’s take on the new Steph Curry doc and what isn’t in it.

* Why is ESPN unable to afford sports docs that Netflix gobbles up?

* What’s ESPN’s future in this dark hour?

* How’s the NBA getting involved in streaming?

* Is the NFL on Amazon a success?

* The decline of comedy movies: How much does social media sensitivity play a role?

When Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports and the Volume podcasting network stopped by HoS, I wanted to pick his brain on industry subjects. As expected, he was a stupendously entertaining font of behind scenes takes.

As a TV sports talk king and a podcasting network founder, he sees the modern content economy from different perspectives all at once. So we get into that, plus a lot more, as we freestyle 90 minutes of loose talk. Enjoy.

This podcast includes but is not limited to discussion of the following topics…

* Choosing storytelling over big names in sports talk

* On talking politics in sports media and whether ESPN had too much of it

* How Colin manages his podcast personalities

* Why did Colin bet big on Nick Wright early on?

* How does Colin balance Draymond Green being on his network with Draymond being an occasional sports talk subject?

* Could Colin ever employ Aaron Rodgers as a podcaster given how frequently he’s critiqued the finicky quarterback?

* Why can’t baseball be part of the sports conversation?

* Are tight ends massively underpaid?

* Tony Romo’s broadcast struggles

* Does Colin really screen potential hires to make sure they aren’t golf nuts?

Matt Welch from the great Fifth Column podcast stops by to discuss his role in that 3 man monster, his history in the business, and issues of the day. Podcast topics include, but are not limited to:

* Is Matt the Ernie Johnson of Fifth Column or its Paul McCartney?

* Are you now, or have you ever been a libertarian???

* Is Fifth Column libertarian? Or something else?

* What was Matt doing in Hungry during the 1990s?

* The post Berlin Wall era vs. the post 9/11 era

* We talk about my article on the 9/11 era in sports vs. today’s team-endorsed messaging

* Leagues and teams are externalizing their internal issues with workforce homophobia

* Welch is, sadly, an Angels fan. How does he feel about these calls to trade Ohtani?

* Is Ohtani really like if Patrick Mahomes was also Nick Bosa? Or is it different?

* The A’s are sad (Was Moneyball as a business strategy missing the forest for the trees?)

A chaotic day in sports media as ESPN timed up their news of major layoffs exactly with the starting gun for NBA free agency. Given all that happened and his New York Post reporting on the matter, we needed Ryan to swing by on short notice and deliver his insights. From there, we bounced around to many a sports media issues. This podcast includes discussion of, but is not limited to the following topics….

* Was this round of ESPN layoffs a sea change in sports media?

* My article on Jeff Van Gundy getting axed.

* Did NBA commissioner Adam Silver have a hand in Van Gundy’s ouster?

* Why did Mark Jackson survive?

* Why did so many TV people get axed, including Steve Young?

* The financial factors pressuring ESPN and Disney

* Ryan’s out on NBA free agency

* “Windy” Season

* Bill Simmons vs. Kyrie Irving

* Is golf hot right now?

* How did the New York Times win the big war over the future of media?

* Jonah Peretti vs. Nick Denton (Buzzfeed vs. Gawker)

* Was Nick Denton a genius?

* Why Ben thinks that the Facebook app and Twitter app are dying

* Is the NBA media more corrupt than other kinds of media?

* Why are individuals gaining and institutions are losing?

After years of relative stasis, the Warriors have just seen their longtime General Manager quit, and, on Thursday, completed a trade of that saw the ouster of Jordan Poole and the introduction of Chris Paul. We talk about this, talk draft and eventually start drifting away from the pure basketball discussion. This pod includes discussion of, but is not limited to:

* How do you feel about dumping Jordan Poole for Chris Paul?

* How does Chris Paul feel about it?

* Are we going to rip Bob Myers on the way out, Boston media style?

* The Warriors never really develop their draft picks. Their fault?

* Are draft picks a shakier (less successful) proposition in this era?

* What’s the take on Zion Williamson’s porn-tinged fall from grace?

* Is Zion getting too much grief for the porn lady’s accusations?

* Was Ja Morant’s suspension too light?

* Who’d you rather trade for: Zion Williamson or Ja Morant?

* All good draft analysts should be weirdos

* We’re all obsessed with Dean on the Draft, who once wrote a paper on dating market inefficiencies

Specifically, baseball’s awkward embrace of Pride celebrations and the broader societal conversation about trans in sports are both current hot topics. So we get into those and a lot more.

This podcast discussion includes but is not limited to…

* We talk about my dumb controversy vs. the Cavinders

* The trans sports issue is popping up a lot. Is it a Waterloo for one political side?

* Are there influential people who really don’t know that males have a sports advantage?

* Pride Nights in baseball and player resistance

* “Acceptance isn’t enough”

* The Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

* Who’s offended by nipples at the White House?

* Why are the Zoomer Internet stars non institutional?

* Why can Jake Paul love Trump and it means nothing?

* Was the ads-based cable bundle an unfair bilking of the customer? Was it the best of bad systems?

* Are the social media platforms bad vehicles for ads-based content?

* Why are all the old media institutions collapsing? Where is the money going?

* What does it mean that popular sports sites need gambling to sustain?

* I say “Thanos” wrong.

* Is Youtube the best platform?

* Australia as a warning from the sports gambling future

One of the great aspects of my job, whatever it is, is that I can arrange a conversation with people whose work I enjoy. Good vibes legend Joe House is such a person and has been since back before I’d even heard of Twitter.

You might know House from his frequent B.S. Report guest appearances, or perhaps his Fairway Rollin’ golf show. The latter provided…

John’s also a frequent critic of sports media tendencies, and we get into some of that over the course of this conversation. Near the end, John wants some of my takes on the Bob Myers’ exit from the Warriors.

For those curious about LIV/PGA specifically, we start at the 36 minute mark and I eventually derail much of the conversation to express shock over the media framing. Enjoy!

Michael Moynihan of Fifth Column fame is, in my opinion, one of the best podcast talents out there. Additionally, The Fifth Column is, beyond being hilarious, one of the great sanity-validating resources in this crazy era. We meant to talk some sports, and hopefully will next time. In this case, discussion included, but was not limited to:

* On enjoying getting ousted by Vice News

* Why the Fifth has more credibility when ripping Tucker’s Twitter show launch than prestige media outlets do

* Tucker’s “Theyification” of everything

* But wait. Is there a “They” out there, controlling our lives? How does it all work?

* The Karl Popperification of Everything in media

* Is social media good on balance? I argue no

* “Don’t Look Up” worldview vs. a “Don’t Look Down” worldview

Was bed-ridden sick last week, now I’m finally back to fulfill your content needs. Today we have the return of the New York Post’s Ryan Glasspiegel and we kick off our sports media talk by discussing a very curious number: 11.9 million.

This podcast discussion includes but is not limited to:

* The Game 1 NBA Finals viewership number finally, loudly confirms a theory I’ve been baking. Circumstantially at least

* Does my conclusion mean that the NFL is about to see its viewership numbers radically change?

* Ryan breaks down Shannon Sharpe leaving Undisputed and divorcing from Skip Bayless

* I bring up Tucker Carlson leaving Fox because I momentarily forgot where Ryan works

* Is there a Pat McAfee backlash now that he’s at ESPN?

* The opaque nature of how people make millions on YouTube and can have it taken away

Our favorite combo is back as the NBA Finals kicks off. This episode may have even gotten a bit basketball-ish. In it, conversation touches on, but is not limited to…

* Action Bronson’s brilliant decision to become a Food Vlogger

* The NBA’s future depends on marketing the Denver Nuggets. How do they do it?

* Why is soon to be former Warriors GM Bob Myers really quitting

* The new Collective Bargaining Agreement will change the NBA as we know it. Nate Jones breaks down what’s going to happen

* Why the best choice is just to pay Jaylen Brown

* Steve Ballmer is so much richer than all these other owners

One day Nate quit being a lawyer and started an NBA podcast empire. Still, the urge to litigate remains, so he’s arrived at HoS to prove NBA commissioner Adam Silver innocent of my grievous charges. We debate Silver’s thus-far legacy and then move on to the other main event: Can Nate smartly answer some of my dumb NBA questions?

Podcast discussion includes but is not limited to:

* About a 7 minute preamble where Nate and Ethan discuss our awkwardness around in person greetings

* I put Adam Silver on trial; Nate defends him

* On what basis do we judge a sports commissioner?

* My Dumb Normie Questions for Nate, such as…

* Why is Erik Spoelstra the best coach? 

* Was Anthony Davis unfairly maligned

* What’s Nate’s view on how good this Nuggets team is historically?

* I’m hearing that the new CBA is designed to ruin the Warriors. Is this true and what does this mean?

* Why was Nikola Jokic the biggest draft steal ever?

* Why is Jimmy Butler so good?

* Nate’s take on the most overrated food

* My case for pepper as a coattail-riding condiment

Thrilled for this well timed visit from Adam Mares of DNVR, in the immediate aftermath of the Denver Nuggets clinching their first ever Finals berth. A few years ago, Adam staked his independent media claim out in Colorado, a small market, where the NBA theoretically comes last. Now, the Nuggets are what’s hot and his DNVR site is where the national media comes for answers on the NBA’s latest phenomenon. On this pod, we discuss the incredible high he’s feeling as his grand plan comes to a shocking, though natural, fruition. Pod discussion includes, but is not limited to:

* “ALL THE NUGGETS ARE GOOD“

* Where does the bunny eat?

* Did Adam cause all this to happen with his vision?

* Adam vs. the NBA’s Him-ification

* Why wasn’t this Nuggets juggernaut marketed well?

* Would the Nuggets have been more mainstream in the recent past, like, let’s say, 2012?

* Adam’s take on the idea that fewer people will watch a Denver Finals than a Los Angeles Finals

* What stories did the media miss about this team?

* LeBron was amazing this postseason; He also tried to control the narrative again.

* Which media members are bending the knee to Jokic?

Have I read these books yet? Well, not exactly, to my great shame. And yet the conversation we had about these works, and related subjects, happened to be fantastic. The conversation includes but is not limited to…

* The privatization of space is a huge thing. Major implications

* Can space exploration actually make money though?

* Elon Musk…what’s his deal, man?

* How did Vance wear down Elon Musk

* Is sending rockets into space easier than simply saying what you think?

* Why did tech stop awing us?

* British sports media has more class solidarity; America sports media sniffs jocks

* Ashlee extends me some compliments and testimonials!

Saam Esfandiari and Spike Eskin are, respectively, co-hosts of the Light Years podcast (Warriors) and The Rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast (76ers). Both teams had their seasons end in searing disappointment over the weekend, which can be a tricky outcome to handle if you’re running a fan pod. Both guys handle failure expertly though, so we got into the nitty gritty of how that goes, plus some of their theories on players and media. Conversation topics include but aren’t limited to…

* The Ricky fans are broken; The Warriors fans…less so

* How to make fans characters in your pod universe

* I hate being wrong about sports takes. Saam and Spike think it’s key to not fear this

* Is “loser energy” real? Are certain highly paid, incredibly successful athletes…losers?

* Can it be possible that the fans care more about the outcome than players?

* Does Doc Rivers have loser energy?

* Was Joel Embiid maliciously taken out of context when quoted saying, “Me and James, we can't win alone”?

* Is the normie take correct and Draymond Green really did doom the Warriors’ season by punching Jordan Poole?

* At 1:04:45 we discuss an accidentally hilarious article by an SF Gate writer who attended a Dave Chappelle show in San Francisco and was aghast.

Great to have the New Y Post’s Ryan Glasspiegel on because there’s so much sports media to discuss. And we get into it, from the uncomfortably seedy (Media’s treatment of the accused), to the hilariously bumbling (Mark Jackson treatment of Jokic). This conversation includes, but is not limited to:

* Matt Araiza media coverage (why did almost everyone get the story so wrong?)

* Mark Jackson and his MVP snub of Nikola Jokic. Accidental? Forgiveness time?

* Kevin Durant’s legacy. Should I have opened my mouth about it on Cowherd?

* The non apology apology form Pat McAfee to Brett Favre

* Will Tucker Carlson on Twitter work? Or is Twitter just not TV?

* Why Bud Light got hurt by a conservative boycott but Nike is impervious to red backlash

The myth, the man, the Meadowlarker returns for more conversation and takes. This pod begins with my sincere compliment of a guy who’s become, in my opinion, essential to that LeBatard operation. So without further ado, this podcast includes but is not limited to the following topics:

* A former NBA player told Amin he loves his HoS appearances; This makes Amin suspicious of said player

* I LARP’d as Keith Olbermann in 2012 because my bosses kept treating me better after tantrums

* We theorize what happened with the Glen Kuiper n-bomb error

* I display my sociopathic PR skills, reveal how I would have saved Aziz Ansari in 2018

* How players get over or underrated over time (Did Kobe’s tragic demise influence the way he’s discussed?)

* Some NBA hipsters say Scottie Pippen was a top 2/3/4 1990s player. We start a list of guys we’d take over the admittedly great Pip.

* Shawn Marion as another “hipster revisionism” guy

* Amin talks about the time Marion was force fed the star role he always begged for

* Did Amin and Ethan cry on recent podcasts? Or merely pause?

* Amin reads his childhood diary entries.

* We love the Cam'ron and Mase sports talk show

We’ve ombuds’d with Spike. Can we ombuds’d with Mike? We tried to stay on topic with Mike Pesca, public radio/sports podcasting legend, but we ended up hitting so many subjects outside this here website. Subjects include, but aren’t limited to:

* I just came back from Florida. What’s the deal?

* There once was a banana that everyone ate and it was called The Big Mike. Now it’s extinct.

* I went on Pesca’s podcast to discuss Giannis Antetokounmpo’s “there’s no failure in sports” moment. We analyze why his listeners hated our take.

* Is it helpful to exaggerate certain societal threats?

* Mike’s NBA vs. Senate salary comp became a random controversy

* I’m trying to outsmart Elon Musk. Good luck to me.

* Is, “Go Woke, Go Broke?” true or false?

* Mike wonders why I didn’t cover certain stories, like Jon Gruden’s Raiders ouster

* The conversation about women’s sports isn’t very nuanced

* Mike asks for my most progressive sports media opinion

Though I’d never met Sarah in person, she was one of my bosses at Salon.com in 2009 and 2010, and I’d had no idea she was going through any of what was detailed in her book. In this pod, we talk about her enduring hit, and her unusually candid writing style, but also get into a lot more. As a pop culture obsessed young GenXer, Sarah has a particular perspective on the culture and how it’s moved over the last couple decades.

We wanted to talk some sports, but got too wrapped up in the conversation at hand. Next time!

Discussion on this podcast includes, but is not limited to:

* Kitchen myths

* What I’m doing wrong

* How I’m not a natural point guard

* The magic of pausing

* Spike has takes on Rogan’s recent podcasts

* We try to break down what makes Red Scare a hit pod

* We get into the media going crazy over Giannis’ “failure” speech

* No Spike podcast would be complete without takes on JJ Redick’s ESPN heel act

* Additionally, no Spike visit would be complete without takes on ESPN’s “appreciate LeBron” messaging

The sports/econ/culture/whatever combo returns to HoS and boy do we have a good one for you. The launching pad topic is the NFL’s latest sports gambling scandal, but this podcast goes in a lot of NBA directions. This conversation with Wos and Nate touches on, but is not limited to…

* Somehow we start on the past inaccessibility of porn

* Young Nate Jones was a vice salesman

* Is sports going all in on gambling bad for sports?

* Can sports gambling make sports more popular?

* Can players be tempted to throw games?

* Phil Jackson had some comments about the NBA bubble

* Is it unfair that people punish the NBA for political hypocrisy?

* What’s up with the Blazers having so much admiration for Draymond Green?

* Is Draymond the greatest defensive player, post Bill Russell?

Anthony Slater has always been great at this job, to the point of changing it for everyone else. The cinematic Warriors-Kings (Or should it be Kings-Warriors?) series is a perfect excuse to have an in the weeds conversation with The Athletic veteran and now new father. This podcast discusses but is not limited to the following topics:

* Who else? Draymond Green

* Slater should write a book about what’s happening

* What was it like being 23 years old and covering the Oklahoma City Thunder?

* Why does Slater appreciate that Russell Westbrook is an asshole to every media member?

* Warriors GM Bob Myers has more than one foot out the door

* Did Myers sort of screw the Bay Area media by complimenting their soft coverage of Andrew Wiggins’ absence?

* The difficulty of discussing a players’ personal issues

* Covering Thunder GM Sam Presti vs. Warriors GM Bob Myers

* How Slater changed the industry for everyone and quite suddenly

I kept hearing it from some unexpected sources in my life: You gotta get Grant Cohn on the pod. With the NFL Draft coming up, it was finally time.

No person in the sports media appears to have more disdain for the sports media than Grant. And that makes sense, even if his father Lowell was a longtime local columnist. Cohn has made it outside the mainstream circuit, pitching his bold takes to a Youtube audience. He’s been publicly attacked by multiple 49ers players, dismissed by other media outlets and yet, his channel just keeps growing and going. We get into it all.

This pod includes, but isn’t limited to discussion of:

* Grant thinks I’m more controversial than he is?!

* We recall a past lunch wherein Grant confessed he was struggling to make it professionally

* What happened to turn his career around?

* Why does Grant have disdain for the sports media of today?

* The Javon Kinlaw incident

* Why did the media take Kinlaw’s side? Why did they call Grant a “troll”?

* 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan is a fascinating study in coach psychology

* Why do the 49ers care so much about his takes?

* Andrew Wiggins being rusty cost the Warriors in Game 1. What’s up with the absence of commentary?

Amin is back and taking this 1 hour 47 minute podcast into unexpectedly fraught territory. Beyond examining however my persona has evolved, we touch on some landmine topics. Discussion in this podcast includes, but is not limited to:

* We riff on whether it’s moral to eat lion

* Amin has thoughts on my (political? apolitical?) persona and how people assess it

* We reflect on how normies vs. extremely online types reacted to the Rachel Nichols situation

* We talk about, yes, the trans sports issue

* We hear what Amin would tell his daughter per that particular issue

* The MOM Rule, which is different from the DADD rule

* We honestly discuss Warriors GM Bob Myers’ foray into podcasting and whether it’s working

Beyond his show premiering on 4/20, this was an ideal time for us to chat, given recent Musk vs. Substack machinations. We get into that, while also arguing a lot.

This pod discussion touches on, but is not limited to:

* High Science as the show where it’s fun to learn

* Trippy marine science facts

* Matt thinks Musk attacked Substack because he “does things that suck because he sucks.” I demand a more granular explanation and we argue

* Glass Onion is the most salient Musk satire. It’s also highly annoying to me

* Matt lashes out at Matt Taibbi for being Gen X

* Matt thinks our artistic nadir is more related to economics than Wokeness. I think Matt’s onto something but also in denial

* Will AI kill us all? Do the nerds want to make it kill us all?

HoS pod is quite happy to welcome Blocked and Reported co-host Katie Herzog. I’m a big BAR fan and believe it to be somewhat misunderstood, especially at this juncture. We get into how the podcast has evolved into a more journalistic and narrative driven product, plus touch on the ways an Old Public Radio golden age fell apart.

This discussion touches on, but is not limited to:

* Katie allegedly knows nothing about sports but somehow knows the relevant details of Meyers Leonard saying “kike” while gaming.

* Shouldn’t the dumb jock defense help Leonard here?

* White American NBA player politics

* How Prestige 2000s Radio fell apart and why those carrying its torch are the people public radio hates

* When you realize that the truth won’t set you free, what happens next?

* Katie’s lost friends over what she’s written but I, oddly, don’t seem to have?

* The challenge of sports with a lot of homophobia among players trying to advance Pride Nights

* The Bon Appetit vs. Reply All Latinx Standoff Ouroboros

* The Great Katie vs. Jesse debate about his leaving Twitter

Discussion on this pod includes, but is not limited to:

* What’s a “fur missile”?

* Moral issues in doing play by play of car chases

* Rob regularly watches up to nine NBA games simultaneously, at full volume. How?

* Why the International NBA fans are getting burnt out on the sport’s controversies

* What the hell was NBA Top Shot?

* What specific NBA stories did Rob turn viral?

* Is Rob the pig, or is he Gwyneth Paltrow?

* What’s with the surprise firing?

* Does Damon miss solo hosting?

* Going toe-to-toe with Steve Kerr on James Wiseman

* Damon vs. Gary Radnich, what happened there?

* Talking about the long arc of Warriors success

* How did having a stroke save Damon’s life?

* Would Damon ever go back to KNBR?

We welcome back Big Wos and Nate Jones, two of my favorites in the NBA business/culture space. Today we discuss a range of hot button issues, including this forbidden zone that is the Andrew Wiggins situation.

* Air fryers? A perfect life hack or a monstrosity?

* Wos “Žižek” Lambre on why sports ceasing to care about fans is, indeed, capitalism

* Wos with a take on the cringe/fake way LeBron becoming an owner would be advertised as representationism

* Nate speaks on how the surrounding NBA organizational pressure is why players miss games that fans want them in

* We get into the Andrew Wiggins situation with the Warriors. What expectations are fair and under what circumstances?

* Are the NCAA women’s players more famous now than the men’s players?

* Nate with a theory on how the NCAA women overtook the men

* We get into how NIL changed the women’s game

* Is the selling of sex appeal a problem for the NCAA? Or a benefit to those sports?

* The “hoop dollar” vs. the “horny dollar”

* Nate talks about what recruiting athletes for NIL is like.

I once worked with expert NBA writer Rob Mahoney in what felt like impossible circumstances. Looking back, I want to know: Did he really handle it as easily as it looked from the outside? We get into that, take a look back on the industry and discuss his burgeoning podcast power. The episode touches on but is not limited to:

* How did NBA writing become Rob’s life?

* Why does he still do it?

* Our insane experience of working at Bleacher Report in 2012

* When the robots demanded that we say LeBron and D-Wade “choke because they’re mentally weak”

* Did we experience the Chat GPT future in 2012?

* How Sports Illustrated fumbled the bag

* Who is the new Al Horford?

* Can Rob explain Denver Nuggets title contention to a normie?

* Rob’s Top 3 TV shows

* Is Rob a nerd or a cowboy?

My old friend Tom Haberstroh stops by to break an NBA omerta or two. We get into his viral thread on how he ranked NBA referees and get deeper into one of the more protected subjects in sports. Podcast discussion includes, but is not limited to:

* I saved my dog’s life, right before we started recording

* Clearly I’m a hero

* How did Tom figure out which referees the NBA favors most?

* The NBA says they want half the refs to be female, but doesn’t appear to trust anyone in this cohort with big games

* What’s up with players going after the refs in public?

* Why did the refs submit a cringe apology to LeBron?

* A lot more is known about the the Tim Donaghy scandal than is typically discussed

* How Donaghy fixed games and how he helped the NBA by being an unreliable narrator

* The scale of all the money that was chasing Donaghy’s picks around the world

* “Nick Wright has a shockingly attractive wife”

* Why is local media now softer than ever on the teams it covers?

* Should there be public funding of the media?

* Are former athletes over indexed on sports television?

* Nick takes issue with JJ Redick’s approach in his argument with Kendrick Perkins

* Is there racial bias in MVP voting?

* The original sin of Russell Westbrook winning MVP

* With voting public, do NBA awards voters tail Zach Lowe’s opinions?

* Nick and Ethan argue LeBron vs. Michael Jordan

Big Wos is back and he did not disappoint. We spent a good deal on Ja Morant aspects that have been undercovered and we riffed on a variety of topics that include, but aren’t limited to:

* A check in on Wos’ popularity + ability to polarize

* Has the money gotten too big in the NBA?

* On why it’s impossible for Ja Morant to fumble the bag

* A civilian vs. soldier dichotomy that isn’t related to the military

* On the perils of Morant renouncing life as a “civilian”

* NBA commissioner Adam Silver is only about business, and why that’s suboptimal

* Adam Silver forces teams be the bad guy with punishments, which they resent

* Has American basketball lost a step?

* The NBA’s challenge in marketing the Europeans

* Takes on Jon Stewart’s new gambit of interrogating extremely small time, small state politicians

Among other big projects, Adam recently trekked out to Serbia to film an excellent documentary on the complicated origins of Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic. We discuss all this and much more. The pod talk includes, but is not limited to:

* How did Adam find this burgeoning niche?

* What was it like to discover that you’re a bigger deal in Serbia than in Denver?

* There’s a Serbian word that’s difficult to translate and it’s the skeleton key to understanding Jokic and their sports culture in general

* What’s going on with all the allegations of racial bias within the critique of Jokic’s third straight bid for MVP?

* Is the media biased towards Jokic? If not, was it biased towards Steve Nash for a different reason?

* Did the media apply a different standard to Giannis Antetokounmpo’s bid for a 3rd MVP? Is that wrong?

Audio version of this article is up.

This time Ryan and I start off on the conventional topics before spinning off into strange directions. His tweet nicely summarizes the docket but I’d add that we touch on the Deion Sanders controversy as well. Enjoy.

Beyond being co-host of the successful Rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast and Vice President of Programming at storied WFAN, Spike Eskin is a keen observer of what works in the audio format. Given that, I wanted his NBA takes, but also his insights into what makes a sports talk personality succeed.

In this episode, we looked at the NBA’s disastrous All-Sta…

Three weeks ago, Shadi had a stray tweet about football fandom that drummed up some outrage at sports media sites. That’s not exactly why we’re talking, even if it is, in a roundabout way, how we came into contact. The anti NFL fan sentiment is a good jumping off point, though, to a broader discussion about sports, culture and whether it’s a force for good in society.

Our conversation touches on, but is not limited to:

* Football: Good for America?

* Is football uniquely American?

* How football in America is like hookah in the Middle East

* The allure of nervous crowd energy

* Shadi’s book on how liberalism and democracy are not synonymous

* The difficulty of accepting a system in which you can lose, big time

* The Cathedral, Yarvin, and the democracy-skeptical rightists

Our returning champ Ryan is back from Arizona, to discuss sports media goings on in the Super Bowl aftermath. We get into his experience of doing a Colin Cowherd profile, whether Brett Favre has a case in his suing of Pat McAfee and Shannon Sharpe, plus some LeBron James takes. This conversation broaches, but is not limited to:

* Super Bowl viewership. A disappointment?

* What’s Skip Bayless like in person?

* The aforementioned Brett Favre: Why he’s not charged for a crime, why he’s suing Pat McAfee and Shannon Sharpe

* Ryan’s annoyance at how Celtics-Bucks became a load management game

* Can the NFL make women’s flag football a thing?

* Bill Simmons and Spotify. Ryan gives some expository there

* I oh so bravely stand up for Michael Jordan’s legacy vs. LeBron James

My old boss, Athletic superstar and overall King of Bay Area Media stops by to talk Warriors and Niners. Obviously, the Warriors’ end to the Wiseman era gets some play here, but the conversation goes in a variety of directions. This podcast discussion includes, but is not limited to:

* On how we should aspire to be like Steph Curry in terms of delegation

* What happened with James Wiseman? When was it really over?

* Can Joe Lacob be cajoled?

* Tim’s Mailbag columns at The Athletic are incredible and he’s dropping news bombs within them

* Why’d it end ugly between Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo?

* How Brock Purdy seemed for real before getting thrown into action

* Warriors GM Bob Myers: Is he leaving? Tim makes a bold prediction

* Which team is bigger in the Bay, Warriors or Niners?

* A theory or two on why Myers might be antsy to go

* What does it mean that I declined to ask about the San Francisco Giants?

* As a guy who serves readers expertly, but is often fighting with them, how does Tim feel about sports fans?

Maggie Gray, CBS radio star and co-host of Maggie and Perloff, seems prone to unleashing a totally reasonable opinion that you’re not seeing elsewhere. Recently, it was the viral take that sports figures shouldn’t feature their children during press conferences (gasp!). On this episode, we get into the fallout from this heresy, plus address why James Dolan once went scorched earth against Maggie and her company.

Topics on this podcast include but are not limited to:

* Twitter made the media hate its customers

* The evil anti kid take

* Why the take is reasonable though scorned

* Maggie interviewed Joe Montana the day this Wright Thompson piece dropped.

* Cool Joe deflects, with honesty

* How all great athletes fade from public memory

* LeBron scoring title takes

* The Rule of LeBron Cringe

* Maggie vs. James Dolan

* How’s the NBA doing right now?

Ross Barkan, proprietor of the best newsletter on New York politics, returns to discuss whether Knicks owner James Dolan might go down in flames. But before we get to that, he has a bone to pick with certain anti woke intellectuals. This conversation includes, but is not limited to:

* The battle of ideas between Matt Yglesias vs. Wesley Yang

* Ross’ critique of Yang’s recent focus

* Can both Yglesias and Yang feel validated by history?

* The Wokes, the Anti Wokes, and the Anti Anti Wokes, plus how nobody defines themselves as such

* On how the cultural focus on Covid is fading out

* Has James Dolan finally messed with the wrong crowd?

* Dolan’s completely insane media tour

I’m on a big Richard Linklater kick right now, so Freddie’s Top 20 ranking of his movies came at the right time. Given the personal timing and Freddie’s excellent analysis, I just had to reach out and get some additional thoughts on the rankings, the director, and why his time-sensitive work endures. Yes, we also manage some modern media criticism in this episode. The conversation we have broaches, but is not limited to:

Freddie’s review of Tár

My dislike of HBO’s Inside the Episode features

Why Freddie doesn’t write pure Culture War

How the Boomers misled us on the finite nature of time

How people who miss aspects of the past get stigmatized as owning all of it

Malcolm Gladwell’s dirty trick against Matt Taibbi in the Munk debate

If Dazed and Confused is a perfect movie, then why isn’t it Number 1 on Freddie’s list?

The mystical nature of Matthew McConaughey’s charisma in Dazed and Confused

Why Freddie ranked his Before Sunrise trilogy the way he did

Did Boyhood work?

Was there anything deeper to School of Rock?

Freddie discusses his piece on how the creative underclass is still raging

Meet Tyler Dunne, author of The Blood and Guts: How Tight Ends Save Football, and proprietor of the Go Long Substack. I’m a big believer in the principle that, the more specific the analysis, the broader the implications, and that’s why I was excited to read Tyler’s incredibly specific book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and, as happens, felt myself inspired to ask the author some follow up questions. On this pod, we discuss how tight ends unveil the meaning of life, represent the apotheosis of football player, get severely underpaid, and tap into a “sacred” tradition of permitted violence. Enjoy, unpaywalled.

Ryan is back, discussing events of the moment. The NFL playoffs is an unholy juggernaut, crushing all comers. We try out theories as to why it gained on the other leagues this past half decade. Then we pivot to “Canada’s top trending story,” a Russian defenseman, playing for an American team. This podcast discussion includes, but is not limited to:

* The NFL’s golden decade, which has been largely unexplained in sports media

* Are there any lessons to learn from its dominance?

* What should the NBA have done?

* Ryan loves the Joe Buck + Troy Aikman announcing combo?

* Ivan Provorov, a Russian guy we’d never heard of, didn’t wear his NHL team’s Pride Night warmup shirt: Media anger ensues

* Is the media freakout concentrated among Canadian journos, or are U.S. sports writers just as hyperbolic?

* Ryan and I both aren’t in favor of punishing pregame abstentions like this, be it Colin Kaepernick, or this guy we just learned about

* Why is the NHL, of all leagues, getting involved in controversies of late?

* Bill Simmons had a fascinating interview with WWE CEO Nick Khan

* Nick Khan has a theory on what ESPN might take from Turner in the next round of NBA television rights

I’ve known Bomani for about as long as I’ve been in this business and yet I never know what to expect when we catch up, beyond a great conversation. On this pod, he was candid about his adventures in sports television and insightful on a wide range of other subjects. The conversation includes, but is not limited to:

* What it’s like to host a show

* The time Bomani called me after I got fired

* What prediction on his show is Bomani most proud of?

* Sports and the crypto collapse: Why were athletes main characters?

* Why doesn’t the NBA do promos like this?

* We reflect on Bomani’s contention, “College basketball was better when Duke was the official team of White America.”

* Does America benefit from sports rivalries as proxies for ethnic conflict?

* Why did White America give up on basketball?

* Why didn’t High Noon totally work and why was Bomani open about that reality?

* What it’s like to perform your friendship for an audience when things aren’t working

* Bomani’s thoughts on Skip Bayless vs. Shannon Sharpe

* Bomani’s thoughts on his (perhaps) imitators

* Is Chat GPT-style technology going to replace musicians?

* Can the human love for music be wholly gamed by robots?

Big sports media news week so we called in Ryan Glasspiegel to make sense of it all. This conversation includes, but is not limited to…