The Jacobin Sports Show

Matthew on when losing is like fish sauce, the NBA's 3-body problem and how the Atlanta Hawks are Swedenborg's Hell. Kris Pursiainen talks today's sports media landscape as well as NBA play-in/playoff topics.

In this very special episode, part 1 discusses LSU/Iowa's Elite 8 blockbuster, the Minnesota T'Wolves fussin' billionaires, the EPL's 3-horse home stretch and the tsunami of sports gambling red flags. In part 2 Matthew interviews a very special guest and announces the show's new name.

The 99th episode centers on the impacts #99 has had on Matthew over the years.

Chris Herring talks Usher, a little NBA and Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. Sometimes titles are throwaways, but this episode's really did cover it all.

In this episode we visit four stories that highlight the age-old truth that $$$ isn't everything: why Malcolm Brogdon may rightfully refuse to be traded to a better team; how the NBAPA appears to have failed Joel Embiid and the rest of its members; Tony Snell gaining sympathies before losing them; and Michael Jordan making on octogenarian widow cry.

The Oakland A's are pure evil. Trevor Bauer thinks casual sex was the problem. Reminders that sometimes Draymond and Kyrie are a story's objects and not its subjects. Crina Mustafa touches on the impact of Canada's RJ Barrett returning home before diving into the structural WTFery of professional tennis today.

Quis ipsos custodes Draymond? How does Shohei Ohtani's record-setting contract reveal MLB stars are being short-changed financially? How could a QB as accurate as Patrick Mahomes be so off the mark with a failed apology? Then Noa Dalzell joins to talk Jayson Tatum, Kristaps Porzingis, Joe Mazzulla and all things Celtics, plus we explore how, why and where the NBA must show the fans it cares more about bodily autonomy than Ws & Ls.

Today's show centers on reminders of the sports world of the past (Florida State victimized by college football's corruption), the present (the NBA's In-Season Tournament & load-management hypocrisy shows the league couldn't care less about harming bodies) and the future (Juan Soto to the Yankees & Ed Cooley's righteous reaction after a tough Georgetown loss both offer reasons to hope the future is bright).

In which big news about the potential futures of the podcast arrives, and then it's on to stories from the world of sports (and one that isn't) that remind us some traditions are worth keeping in our lives, while others should be discarded as soon as possible with extreme prejudice.

A shout-out to a new marathon record-holder, who came out ahead in the Dame Lillard/Jrue Holiday arms race and an extended talk with Lyndsey D'Arcangelo about the WNBA. What to make of the Aces & Liberty, after Game 1 and moving forward? What's the status of the league's newly announced expansion -- the Bay Area is confirmed, but what about Portland? We also talk about Dearica Hamby's lawsuit against the Aces & the WNBA.

After Matthew spends the first minute of the episode unknowingly on mute, a colorful & comprehensive discussion of the WGA's recent strike success with longtime Law & Order: SVU/Law & Order: Criminal Intent showrunner and Tony Award-winning playwright Warren Leight. As a longtime writer/director/producer and one of the WGA's leading union members, Leight gives an insider's view both into the workers' conditions that led to the labor action & how the union not only achieved victory for its members, but is part of a growing solidarity across all kinds of different unions. We talked about why that happened, the unique role of social media in this strike and the union's insistence on an agreement regarding artificial intelligence. We also talk about Warren's life with & love for the Knicks and Mets.

From James Harden to Luis Rubiales to Mason Greenwood to Kylian Mbappé to Leo Messi, a series of stories whose headlines sometimes obscure something far greater in the dark depths below

We often define "seasons" in sports pretty neatly & tidily: they start in the preseason & generally end after the last game. But just like land is never as precise as the maps that seek to capture it, the end of seasons can be blurry. We hear from 3 different POVs regarding this transition: Howard Beck on how NBA media's rhythms have changed, Gigi Speer on a college athlete's end of days, and Brenda Prinzing on following a team 365 days a year even while the league they play in keeps finding ways to push you away.

Consider the carbon output tens of millions of fans produce driving to games to watch teams who take dozens of flights per season on jets that are environmentally a nightmare. The fans whose love & passion allow pro sports to thrive through all kinds of economic downturns repeatedly pay higher prices for lesser access. Most people in sports media are paid poverty wages, if they're paid at all. The allocation of wealth within the leagues themselves is criminal. The Mardy Fish/Steph Curry incident is just another hint at the coming gambling iceberg. Should pro sports even exist?

Like an episodic dream, today's topics flow in and out of one another:

* The NY Times using The Athletic as an end-run about its sportswriters' union

* Victor Wembanyama + Britney Spears = ?

* When too much NBA is too much NBA

* The WNBA lets down its players re: travel -- again

* WNBA players use worker power to start a new offseason league

* Barca, Barca, Barca

With MLB ripping the As out of Oakland, Rob Manfred's chronic dickishness, the scapegoating of Pride Night and overhauling the rules of the game to solve a problem that doesn't exist, Matthew says goodbye to first sporting industry he loved

This pod has it all: Elizabeth Adetiba (Salon) on the oppression of & discussions around Caster Semenya & other intersex athletes from the Global South, plus the tragedy of the death of Tori Bowie; Man City's triumph & the anxiety it produces for some; hooray for the Denver Nuggets; the WNBA fails Brittany Griner for the second time; and there are no winners in the PGA/LIV merger, only -- truly -- losers.

Jonah Birch returns to the pod for a special reunion episode, recorded right after the Celtics won on the road to force a Game 7 back in Boston -- during the Philadelphia series, not Miami. We wanted to give you Jonah at his most optimistic, during his golden hour. M & J talk basketball and a bit of this and that in their first show together since Henry Kissinger died. Wait. He's still alive? Man, fuck that guy.

Acclaimed writer Frankie de la Cretaz joins the show to talk about intersections of gender, sexuality and sports. Why is Lia Thomas posed by some as a threat to women's swimming while Katie Ledecky isn't? What elements specific to swimming make it such fertile ground for transphobia? How is the Biden Administration trying to have its cake & eat it while doing nothing to protect young trans athletes? What part is the NFL not saying out loud as it invests millions of dollars in women's flag football while women's tackle football remains undersupported and unregulated? Can women's sports grow in a meaningfully positive way if we measure their progress by capitalist benchmarks? Tune in & find out.

Katie Heindl hops on to talk hoops, namely: James Harden & whether he has anything to prove; the FedExForum back door hitting Dillon Brooks' ass on the way out; why even Knicks fans can love Jimmy Butler; how the Big 3 Nets were the Fyre Festival; why sports fans may hold different standards toward their heroes' crimes than fans of other entertainers; how the growth of women's basketball is -- and isn't -- like shoulder pads; and when it's appropriate to lowercase a certain word.

Former D1 goalkeeper & current D1 coach Christina Sarokon joins the pod to talk about what it's like growing up as an elite athlete: how soccer came into her life, when she first knew she had a special talent, the challenges with transitioning from sports-as-fun to sports-as-your-whole-life, the challenges transitioning from being the best player on every team you've ever played for to one of many talented players in college, what led her to pursue coaching & what's different about the game today than when she played. Plus Matthew gushes (just a bit) about Man City beating Arsenal and the latest on the NBA playoffs!

Gaming law & sports betting attorney Daniel Wallach joins the pod as we discuss how:

* Dominion could've/should've held out for a bigger settlement with Fox

* the corrupt stankness of Daniel Snyder has infested the process of selling the Washington Commanders

* a gambling scandal halfway around the world could foreshadow a come-to-Jesus future for American sports leagues & gambling

* the "world's most famous arena" grows poorer as its bottom line grows richer

Plus an overview of the NBA playoffs to date. If you've ever hated the moment an interesting conversation takes a turn for the worse after someone says "I'm not a lawyer, but," this is the show for you. With an actual lawyer. Who knows of what he speaks!

Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic joins to discuss details of the new NBA/NBAPA CBA, including but not limited to: players being eligible to invest in NBA & WNBA teams -- but not directly; the new medical requirement of prospective employees (potential draftees) at the combine; and the new In-Season Tournament. We also talk about Steph Curry's newest deal with Under Armour, whether the NBA might punish the Dallas Mavericks for tanking the last two games and what Mike's looking forward to once the playoffs start.

In this episode: how a fan cursing out Bradley Beal after losing a bet is the canary in the coal mine for the dark side of sports gambling; why this may be the Golden Age of women's sports, and not in a good way; how Mets owner Steve Cohen is like the new vampires in Blade 2; a good deed by a sports owner!; and celebrating a W for labor at Temple University.

On a cold and cloudy winter's day, Brian Menéndez (Baseball Prospectus) stops by to talk baseball, the game that foreshadows summer and warmth. Which World Baseball Classic players have caught his eye? Do our personal politics influence how we root in international competition? Who's the best team? (hint: it rhymes with Lapan) What MLB rule changes do we like, not like and just plain not get? Is Trevor Bauer signing with Yokohama in the Japanese league a sign that MLB's anti-sexual assault policy is working? Or isn't? Or does it not say anything about it, either way? Plus what is something totally legal and ethically righteous Steve Cohen could do that would drive the other owners out of their minds? Listen and learn!

Soccer coach and essayist Mike Idland joins the show as our focus turns to winter sports: Gary Lineker telling the truth, what a Man City fan is to make of the Premier League threatening to nullify a history, thoughts on the Stanley Cup favorite in general and the New York Rangers in particular & the NFL playing the villain rather than paying Lamar Jackson what he deserves.  

In which we struggle with several unanswered/unanswerable questions: what does the future hold for sports fans, digital streaming and cord cutting in light of MSG+'s new flawed model? What the hell are Alabama's Nate Oats and Brandon Miller doing in the wake of a young woman's murder? What makes Damian Lillard a hero for our age? Is billionaires exploiting millionaires a bad thing? All that, a tear for Tom Brady and more. 

When LeBron James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar this winter as the NBA's all-time leading scorer, will James also become the league's final all-time leading scorer? Are the Denver Nuggets & Philadelphia 76ers good enough outside their MVP-level centers to win a title? What theological truths can one tease out from the resurrection of the Sacramento Kings? How long can Luka Dončić abide Dallas making mistake after mistake around him? All this & more with Ian Levy, FanSided creative editorial direction and NBA aficionado. 

The last time Lyndsey appeared on our pod, she obliterated the record books as far as listeners. This time we talk WNBA teams and free agency. How does the New York Liberty trading for Jonquel Jones increase the chances of Breanna Stewart leaving Seattle for NY? Is there something funky going on in the Dallas organization that keeps leading players to want out? Where do the defending champion Las Vegas Aces stand as the league shifts and re-forms itself? We also talk about this week's NFL playoff games. The Cowboys won their first playoff game in 30 years, so naturally their bandwagon isn't speeding up or taking on more weight at all. Can Dallas beat San Francisco? Do the Giants have an edge having lost their prior two games vs. Philadelphia, or is it always better to be the better team? Can we envision Jacksonville upsetting KC? What about Buffalo vs. Cincinnati? And what about the last time those teams met, when Damar Hamlin nearly died on the field from a collision-induced heart attack. Nothing has changed since then. Why? What does that tell us about ourselves? All that & more.  

How does Carlos Correa signing in Minnesota bring schadenfreude to Atlanta fans toward the New York Mets? Is the Damar Hamlin story the biggest drop ever from a this-changes-things event to . . . nothing's changed? Plus Dana White reminds us some animals are more equal than others, does Trevor Bauer deserve a different punishment than if he were a blue-collar nobody, how the latest Messi/Ronaldo argument misses the meaningful truth to emerge from their rivalry, and a quick rundown of all the teams for sale around the world at a time when owners insist owning a sports franchise is a money pit. 

We look at every remaining World Cup matchup to determine who we should root for from an ethical perspective (Jonah's knowledge of history really shines through here). Then we shift to LeBron James' odd formality in wondering why reporters didn't construct a platform for him to speak on the recent Jerry Jones story. The show closes with some NBA talk, including Jonah scoffing at the Philadelphia 76ers for their most recent 40-year run.

Matthew does a solo dive into how FIFA's defense of the Qatar World Cup resembles 1930s Argentinian defenses of Hitler & Mussolini, why the biggest threat to MLB's cabal of owners is the richester one of them all, the reason rooting for the Knicks is like supporting socialism, the NHL's sadly predictable behavior in the Mitchell Miller scandal and the Brittany Griner injustice going from bad to worse.

Are socialists less selfish playing basketball than others? Which early NBA surprise teams are most likely to continue surprising? Why are Matthew & Jonah rooting for different sides in the World Series? Plus sympathy for Tom & Gisele and a challenge to Ye.

The wonderful New Yorker writer Louisa Thomas joins the show as we consider the significance of the interest & lack of more in Aaron Judge's home run chase, bask in the sunny decency of the majestic Roger Federer, consider the legacy of Venus Williams in light of Serena's career, and sympathy for the devil, i.e. Tom Brady. 

Howard Beck (Sports Illustrated; The Crossover pod) joins us as we consider the evolving Ime Udoka story, how Robert Sarver's conclusion in Phoenix could have impacted Boston's with Udoka, why would the Cs issue such a strict punishment but not fire him, morality clauses for owners, how the Brooklyn Nets are a footnote unto a footnote unto a footnote, and which will New York City see first: a good Knicks point guard or a good mayor?

The NBA slaps Suns' owner Robert Sarver on the wrist after decades of racist/sexist/bullying behavior. Hockey Canada somehow finds a way to embarrass itself even beyond paying hush money to victims of rape. And listener emails wanna know what we make of the Toronto Raptors organization plus how much money can someone have before inevitably becoming a rich asshole.

Matthew & Jonah consider the overreaction to the Queen's death in both sports and the world at-large. That plus feelings re: MLB's new rule changes, the MLBPA joins the AFL-CIO and it's hard to see why that even matters, our admittedly premature NBA feels as far as title contenders, and a reminder that Margaret Court is basically Marge Schott with a forehand. 

Matthew praises the now-retired Serena Williams as the greatest athlete they've ever seen. We then move on to less admirable characters, including Gilbert Arenas & the bizarre slander directed Giannis Antetokounmpo's way, the callous look of the Buffalo Bills in light of the Matt Araiza rape charges, Barcelona soccer modeling how different the world of debt is for the rich than the rest of us, and BYU's demonstrated lack of perspective or empathy after racial slurs and threats of violence against a visiting volleyball player.

Subscribe at patreon.com/jacobinsportsshow

We share our feelings after the deaths of two sports icons. We lament the continuing grotesquerie that is Pete Rose. Are the Arizona Cardinals racist for telling Kyler Murray he needs to study more? Plus the EPL season gets underway, the marvel that is Sabrina Ionescu and more, including Jonah singing the Hartford Whalers song.

Why are the Knicks the only team in sports that bans the press from press conferences? How realistic are the Donovan Mitchell trade rumors? How is Russell Westbrook becoming like Jason Voorhees? Plus beating the dead horse that is MLB's All-Star Game and Matthew & Jonah discuss whether it's fair to bodyshame Elon Musk.

Matthew talks with Jonathan Macri of Knicks Film School fame about life as a working sportswriter. What led Jonathan to trade practicing law for pontificating about basketball? How do the professional demands of the job create incursions into one's personal life? How are the biggest positives & negatives he's encountered in the business one and the same? The last few minutes we talk about the strange behavior of late by the L.A. Lakers and a bit more NBA. 

NBA free agency is underway & we have you covered, including but not limited to: Kevin Durant & Kyrie Irving's long-running soap opera introduces a new twist as both now want out of Brooklyn -- but is either player likely to yield the return the Nets seek?; in defense of Jalen Brunson to the Knicks; where do the Celtics stand after adding Malcolm Brogdon; loving the Rudy Gobert trade more for one team than the other; and more. Also: we answer questions from Patreon subscribers; would Brittany Griner be more vigorously sought after if she were a male American sports star; and which governments around the world would benefit from using certain drugs? 

The NBA Finals are over, but there's plenty to dissect. Jonah tells the story of nearly coming to blows with a Warriors fan at Game 4. Matthew dreams of a better world, one where the athletes and coaches who actually do the work get their hands on the trophy before their billionaire bosses. Plus information on the JSS Patreon page. Please subscribe if you can! 

Tommy Pham slapping Joc Pederson -- and the reactions to the story -- show how in one way sports media has grown over the years, and in another nothing's changed. What's at stake for Golden State and Boston in the NBA Finals? How are the two NHL conference finals not at all alike? How did English footballers strike an unintended blow for the nerds against the jocks? And what to say of an ugly scene from Bulgaria.

Matthew & Jonah debate the sporting & human implications of Man City winning another EPL title. The Celtics and Heat are midway through alternating blowouts; where might the series turn? Plus the question of whether Arsenal missing out on 4th place in England may have impacted the Denver Nuggets' front office, and who does Josh Donaldson think he's kidding after calling the White Sox Tim Anderson "Jackie"?

This episode dives into the results of the NBA's second round of the playoffs while looking ahead to its final four. We also talk about British politicians attacking Liverpool fans for daring to boo a monarchy that's repeatedly screwed them over, Jonah's dismissal of Pep Guardiola's complaints about the English press and Matthew's eternal flame of joy at Man United's struggles. There's also an event that could only happen in baseball.