Hang Up and Listen: The Derecho Finals Edition
Slate’s sports podcast on the close-but-lopsided NBA Finals, the overtime-laden Stanley Cup Finals, and the U.S. Open at tiny Merion Golf Club.
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Hang Up and Listen is also brought to you by Audible. Get a 30-day free trial by signing up at audiblepodcast.com/hangup. Our pick of the week is Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies: On Myths, Morons, Free Speech, Football, and Assorted Absurdities by Chris Kluwe.
In this week’s episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and Mike Pesca discuss the high quality of the NBA Finals games despite the lopsided final scores. They also talk with Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshynski about the terrific endings from the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals and Doc Emrick’s fantastic announcing. Finally, they break down the U.S. Open, where players struggled and the USGA sacrificed revenue to hold the event at the tiny Merion Golf Club.
Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:
- The Spurs beat the Heat in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
- Danny Green has made 25 of 38 three-point attempts through Game 5, beating out any five-game span from Stephen Curry's 2013 season.
- Sports Illustrated reports that while David Stern recommends a tougher anti-flopping policy, the NBA’s Competition Committee will not make any changes.
- Mark Cuban gave SMU researchers a grant of more than $100,000 to study the physics of flopping in basketball and other sports.
- The Brooklyn Nets hired Jason Kidd as their next head coach.
- Kidd’s pending DWI case did not keep him from getting the Nets’ head coaching job. This was not the case for Wally Backman in Arizona, Tim Welsh at Hofstra, and Kenny Anderson at his high school coaching job.
- The triple-overtime Game 1 of the Bruins-Blackhawks series was the fifth-longest in Stanley Cup Finals history.
- The Boston Globe says goalie Tuukka Rask is just as good as former Bruins netminder Tim Thomas.
- Doc Emrick’s call at the end Game 1.
- Yahoo’s Puck Daddy blog played Emrick Bingo based on his amazing use of synonyms for the word pass.
- Greg Wyshynski explains why the Bruins won Game 2.
- Wyshynski also described a Hartford Whalers–themed wedding.
- Justin Rose won the 2013 U.S. Open.
- New York Times reports on Merion’s famed wicker baskets.
- ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski describes Merion as a golf course where “pars go to die.”
- Tiger Woods was not very good.
Hang Up and Listen’s weekly fescue:
Mike’s fescue: More from the Tales of Matt Bonner vault. This time Bonner discovers his doctor is a dentist.
Stefan’s fescue: 1975’s Rollerball was based on a short story published in Esquire. Before the movie’s release, Sports Illustrated predicted that pro rollerball would be the next big thing.
Josh’s fescue: Tahiti beat New Caledonia to win the 2012 Oceania Nations Cup. Now the team of amateurs—including PE teachers and a “climber”—plays on its biggest stage yet, the Confederations Cup.
Podcast production and edit by Mike Vuolo. Our intern is Michael Gerber.
You can email us at hangup@slate.com.