Episodes

  • What NFL Owners Don't Want You to Know, with Don Van Natta Jr.

    What NFL Owners Don't Want You to Know, with Don Van Natta Jr.
    Feb 7 2025
    It's obvious that the NFL is the most powerful institution in American culture. But far less clear is what the league's power looks like from the inside. Which is why our guest before the Super Bowl is three-time Pulitzer-winner Don Van Natta Jr., whose investigative work for ESPN has offered a rare glimpse at a group that refers to itself as The Membership. Not to mention commissioner Roger Goodell, a human shield who's protected owners from a series of once-catastrophic scandals — and a boardroom that resembles an episode of Succession. Plus: the defenestration of Dan Snyder, the desperation of Bob Kraft and the superpower (and flip phone) of shadow commissioner Jerry Jones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    51 mins
  • The Room: Behind Closed Doors of the Messiest Ritual in Sports

    The Room: Behind Closed Doors of the Messiest Ritual in Sports
    Feb 6 2025
    Luka Dončić is just the latest athlete to be deemed too expensive by their employer. But Major League Baseball has a special solution to this problem that is at once top-secret, excruciating and embarrassing. Because when a player and his team disagree on the new salary he deserves, baseball puts them before a tribunal of judges... and lets them argue over how much that player sucks... in front of that player. All-Star second baseman Dan Uggla and journeyman outfielder Cody Ross re-confront David Samson, the former Florida Marlins president who stood between them and their millions. And they have a lesson for every athlete who dares to enter The Room. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    48 mins
  • Pizzagate: We Investigate the (Real) Government Plot to Stuff You with Cheese

    Pizzagate: We Investigate the (Real) Government Plot to Stuff You with Cheese
    Feb 4 2025
    A very popular theory alleges that the U.S. government spent billions of taxpayer dollars to buy cheese ... then stored millions upon millions of pounds of that cheese in underground caves ... and then planted scientists inside fast-food chains ... where they invented new products, such as stuffed-crust pizza ... in order to get Americans to eat said government cheese. Correspondent David Gardner gets to the gooey center of the truth — including, but not limited to: farmers, shadow agencies, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Supreme Court, MrBeast, James Harden's beard and Pete Rose. So, yeah. You should probably listen to this, before joining the rest of America in ordering 12.5 million pizzas on Super Bowl Sunday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    51 mins
  • The Sporting Class: The Chiefs' Dynastic Moment

    The Sporting Class: The Chiefs' Dynastic Moment
    Jan 31 2025
    Is the NFL's total domination good for the business of other sports? Is it OK to watch games alone? Is every dynasty villainous? And how can Fox resolve Tom Brady's conflict of interest with the Raiders? Plus: The Lever of Power, The OnlyCast, the Galukes vs. the Monhonks vs. the Mohunks, rec-erectollections — and an executive leap into the abyss. Subscribe to Nothing Personal with David Samson https://www.youtube.com/@NPDS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    54 mins
  • Share & Halftime & Tell with Wyatt Cenac and Sarah Spain

    Share & Halftime & Tell with Wyatt Cenac and Sarah Spain
    Jan 30 2025
    Remember when "In Living Color" tried to steal the Super Bowl — and changed it (seriously) forever? How do you compare boners while not dying? And why did the NWSL dare to abolish the draft? Plus: payment-processing gargoyles, Jim Carrey, mascot auditions, Winter Magic, Taylor Swift, Richard Gere's alleged gerbil intimacy... and The Turgid Place. Further content: "In Living Color": 1992 Live Super Bowl Show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EY-7OuP8uE Bryan Johnson and the Birth of the Blueprint Religion (Ashlee Vance) https://www.corememory.com/p/bryan-johnson-and-the-birth-of-the A Tectonic Shift in the American Sports Landscape (Good Game with Sarah Spain) https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-good-game-with-sarah-spai-185664375/episode/a-tectonic-shift-in-the-american-209236895/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    49 mins
  • Pitinos of the Mind: How Silicon Valley Hacks Your Attention Span, with Chris Hayes

    Pitinos of the Mind: How Silicon Valley Hacks Your Attention Span, with Chris Hayes
    Jan 28 2025
    Ever since the invention of the written word, there have been moral panics about how new technology corrupts our brains. But now — as the richest companies in the world pour billions into an all-out war for eyeballs — something very different is happening. So we talked to the author of a new book, "The Sirens' Call," about why a satirized nerd on MSNBC is an ideal authority on how Silicon Valley is exploiting the human condition. Plus: the significance of spam, the Cocktail Party Effect, HammerKing75, a court of Infinite Jest, the piglet advantage... and a hot take from Socrates. Get Chris Hayes' book, "The Sirens' Call": https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/719661/the-sirens-call-by-chris-hayes/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    54 mins
  • Share & Party & Tell with Mina Kimes, Katie Nolan and Patricia Mahomes

    Share & Party & Tell with Mina Kimes, Katie Nolan and Patricia Mahomes
    Jan 24 2025
    Is TikTok the one social-media platform that makes you feel good, or is it an algorithmic wasteland of culturally insignificant content? Are we partying hard enough? And was the pre-Taylor Swift version of Travis Kelce actually hot? Plus: second-person IG love letters to your child, a boombox-holding panda/dog... and the tragic end of Party City. Further content: Americans Need to Party More (Ellen Cushing) https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2025/01/throw-more-parties-loneliness/681203/ Subscribe to "Casuals with Katie Nolan" https://www.youtube.com/katienolan Subscribe to "The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny" https://www.youtube.com/@minakimes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    46 mins
  • Three Yards and a Cloud of Grandpa: We Helped Scatter the Ashes of a Die-Hard Fan

    Three Yards and a Cloud of Grandpa: We Helped Scatter the Ashes of a Die-Hard Fan
    Jan 23 2025
    We are living in the era of Peak Cremation, and fans have turned to our true American cathedral as a final resting place: the sports arena. PTFO death correspondent David Fleming reports on a cottage industry for die-hards in the afterlife — from team-branded urns and exploding golf balls to franchises that want the on-field ceremonies gone (and forgotten). And then, of course, we help a woman named Edna spread her husband's ashes... while riding a convertible, on a racetrack, flooring it into eternity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show more Show less
    44 mins