Hang Up and Listen: The I Bought a Hippo Edition
Slate’s sports podcast on whether baseball games are too slow, how Anderson Silva trolled UFC 162, and the dire state of highlight shows.
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In this week’s episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Josh Levin and Mike Pesca welcome new Deadspin editor Tim Marchman to discuss the slow pace of baseball games, Chris Davis’ rise from struggling slugger to hitting 37 home runs by the All-Star break, and Tim Lincecum’s no-hitter. They also review Anderson Silva’s loss at UFC 162 and the long-time champ’s trolling tactics. Finally, they consider if the sports highlight show has outlived its usefulness.
Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:
- According to the Wall Street Journal, a three-hour baseball game will have 17 minutes and 58 seconds of action.
- Our guest, Tim Marchman defends baseball’s lazy pace.
- Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe explains why baseball games take so long.
- Joe Kay of the Associated Press breaks down game times at different ballparks.
- In 2010, Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com wrote that Major League Baseball would like to change “the culture of slow mannerisms and routines.”
- In 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported that in the average NFL game, the ball is on the field and in play for only 11 minutes.
- Chris Davis hit his 37th home run of the season on Sunday.
- Grantland’s Jonah Keri examines Davis’ rise from a “reclamation project at best” to a record-chasing All-Star.
- Rick Reilly writes about Davis and steroid rumors.
- Tyson Gay tested positive for a banned substance and says he was “let down” by someone he trusted.
- Tim Lincecum pitched a no-hitter against the Padres.
- In April, Keri asked, “What’s Wrong With Tim Lincecum?”
- Despite his loss to Chris Weidman, Marchman proclaims that Anderson Silva “wins again.”
- ESPN’s Josh Gross provides a contrasting opinion.
- Following the fight, Sports Illustrated held a roundtable discussion asking if the fight could have been fixed.
- Weidman and Silva will have a rematch on Dec. 28.
- John Ourand of Sports Business Journal reports on low ratings for sports highlight shows.
- Awful Announcing asks, “Do we really want an old school highlights show?”
Hang Up and Listen’s weekly Vodka Drunkenskis:
Mike’s Vodka Drunkenski: In 1954, legendary sportswriter Red Smith wrote about the claim that a baseball is only in play for 12 minutes during a three-hour game.
Tim’s Vodka Drunkenski: Baron Davis confesses that he was abducted by aliens, though he hesitates to call it an abduction.
Josh’s Vodka Drunkenski: World champion Frisbee dog Ashley Whippet was called the “Professor Naismith, the Babe Ruth and the Michael Jordan of his sport all rolled into one.”
Podcast production and edit by Mike Vuolo. Our intern is Michael Gerber.
You can email us at hangup@slate.com.