Avsnitt

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    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?!

  • Thrilled to have Chris on for the first time. Like me, he’s a former NBA beat writer. Unlike me, he’s the co-host of a successful sports debate show. Chris is a very grounded guy who resisted the life as newsbreaker for his current role as commentator. We get into why he made that choice, his call on LeBron’s 2010 Decision, what it’s like to be repped by Klutch, the Harrison Butker controversy and baseball’s current status in America.

    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?

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  • Saknas det avsnitt?

    Klicka här för att uppdatera flödet manuellt.

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    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

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    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

  • Again we’ve got Andrew Sharp of the GOAT podcast, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, and perhaps some other podcasts I’m not listing. Needless to say, the man wears many hats, though covering the NBA is his main background (Yes, I can relate to this). Today we’re obviously discussing the Mavs-Celtics NBA Finals, exploding NBA rights fees as a business story and this bizarre Adrian Wojnarowski vs. Shams Charania proxy war over whether the next Laker coach will be Dan Hurley or JJ Redick. Oh, and we get into the following Sharp quote:

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

    Enjoy!

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    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.houseofstrauss.com/subscribe
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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

  • Our resident announcer Guy Haberman is back, and sounding much better since the last time we chatted. We went as deep as we could go on the profession of sports broadcasting. What’s the greatest call of all time? What’s Joe Buck’s style, distilled?

    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.

    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 a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.houseofstrauss.com/subscribe
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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”

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    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?

  • Nate Jones is one of the most thoughtful commentators on all things NBA. For some insane reason, he still tweets his honest thoughts. We get into those, starting with the end of Turner’s Inside the NBA, transitioning to ESPN’s recent NBA issues and fanning out to Jones’ perspective on sharing normie political tendencies on Twitter/X.

    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 a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.houseofstrauss.com/subscribe
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    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

  • Grant Cohn is a) The originator of the now multimillion dollar media ecosystem known as “49ers Youtube” b) Most prolific critic of 49er coach Kyle Shanahan and, now, c) In a beef with Athletic reporter David Lombardi.

    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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    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.houseofstrauss.com/subscribe
  • Ben Kaplan and Danny Parkins are best friends and co-creators of this particular passion project. It turns out that the ranks of NBA decision makers and coaches are replete with guys who cut their teeth in obscure Division 3 college programs. The sheer amount of influence out of D3 is pretty incredible, as the book chronicles and conveys. So why has this happened? How come the lowest level of college competition is fueling the highest level of decision making in pro competition?

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

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    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.houseofstrauss.com/subscribe
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    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?

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    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

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    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

  • Jason Timpf of Hoops Tonight on the Volume Network seemingly appeared out of nowhere, thriving at the top of NBA media. Of course, like many an “overnight success story,” his rise was many years in the making. This was a great conversation wherein we discussed, among other things…

    * 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.



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.houseofstrauss.com/subscribe
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    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

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    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

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    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