Hang Up and Listen: The Wildcat Doth Protest Too Much Edition
Slate’s sports podcast on NFL quarterback concussions, the Lakers’ coaching carousel, and John Calipari’s Kentucky machine.
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In this week’s episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and Mike Pesca discuss the NFL’s concussion protocol and the hits that knocked out quarterbacks Michael Vick, Alex Smith, and Jay Cutler. They also talk about the Lakers’ stunning decision to replace coach Mike Brown with Mike D’Antoni instead of the legendary Phil Jackson. Finally, they compare Kentucky coach John Calipari’s one-and-done recruiting strategy to Mike Krzyzewski’s four-year plan at Duke.
Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:
- Quarterbacks Alex Smith, Michael Vick, and Jay Cutler suffered concussions on Sunday.
- After Cutler was knocked out, Cris Collinsworth praised the quarterback’s toughness.
- Fox Sports’ Greg Couch questions the NFL’s concussion protocol.
- Paul D. Anderson writes about the NFL’s improved concussion protocol on nflconcussionlitigation.com.
- Lions receiver Calvin Johnson recently admitted that he did not sustain a concussion in September.
- Mike D’Antoni is replacing Mike Brown as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
- Phil Jackson was “stunned” when he found out the Lakers chose D’Antoni.
- Jackson was demanding a stake in ownership, according to the Los Angeles Times’ Mike Bresnahan.
- Firing Brown after only five games is “lunacy,” writes Zach Lowe in Grantland.
- Basketball Prospectus’ Kevin Pelton said Brown was a scapegoat, but firing him made sense.
- Kobe Bryant says goodbye to his ex-coach in a Facebook post.
- Bill Simmons is not a fan of Brown.
- Episodes 1, 2, and 3 of ESPN’s All-Access Kentucky series, which is the work of Hang Up friend Jonathan Hock.
- Florida coach Billy Donovan says the series gives Kentucky an unfair recruiting advantage.
- In Slate, Matt Feeney explains why he’s jumping off the Coach K bandwagon.
- UCLA freshman Shabazz Muhammed was declared ineligible by the NCAA.
Hang Up and Listen’s weekly Little Red Shoes:
- Mike’s Little Red Shoes: Former athletes like Jimmy Farris didn’t fare well in this election cycle. Expect to see some Latino baseball stars running as Republicans in 2016.
- Stefan’s Little Red Shoes: Concussion euphemisms include “dinged up,” “shaking off the cobwebs,” “getting your bell rung,” and … seeing candles.
- Josh’s Little Red Shoes: CBS’ Verne Lundquist made 36 mistakes during Saturday’s broadcast of the Texas A&M-Alabama game. For one thing, he got confused before this touchdown pass by Johnny Manziel.
- Podcast production and edit by Mike Vuolo. Our intern is Eric Goldwein.
You can e-mail us at hangup@slate.com.
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