Hang Up and Listen: The Too Many Panels Edition
Slate’s sports podcast on Fox Sports 1’s first week, the ESPN/Frontline split, and whether the “Battle of the Sexes” was on the up and up.
Listen to Hang Up and Listen with Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and Mike Pesca by clicking the arrow on the audio player below:
Become a fan of Hang Up and Listen on Facebook here:
Hang Up and Listen is brought to you by Audible. Get a 30-day free trial by signing up at audiblepodcast.com/hangup. Our picks this week are Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil’s Deal by Gerard O’Neill and Dick Lehr and Whitey Bulger: America’s Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice by Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy.
In this week’s episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and Mike Pesca review Fox Sports 1’s uneven first week. Next, they discuss ESPN’s decision to cut ties with Frontline, with whom they’d been cooperating on the documentary League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis. Finally, they talk with ESPN.com’s Don Van Natta Jr. about his story alleging that Bobby Riggs threw his “Battle of the Sexes” with Billie Jean King.
Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:
- John Koblin of Deadspin calls Fox Sports Live’s discussion of Ichiro’s 4,000th career hit “The Worst Sports Panel Discussion Ever.”
- The Toronto Star proclaims “Canadian sportscasters Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole a hit on Fox.”
- Chad Finn of the Boston Globe appreciates the “wry subversiveness” of Fox Sports Live anchors Onrait and O’Toole.
- Slate’s Willa Paskin documents the rocky start to FS1’s Crowd Goes Wild.
- ESPN will no longer cooperate on Frontline’s documentary, League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis.
- The New York Times reports that the NFL pressured ESPN to make this decision.
- ESPN has formally denied that it backed out of the documentary because of pressure from the NFL.
- Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk sides with the NFL and ESPN in this case.
- The trailer for League of Denial is available on Frontline’s website.
- Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated spoke with staff at ESPN who were “fearful something like this could happen with the Frontline-ESPN collaboration.”
- Don Van Natta Jr.’s story for ESPN.com, “The Matchmaker: Bobby Riggs, the Mafia, and the Battle of the Sexes.”
- ESPN’s Outside the Lines did a 14-minute feature on Riggs’ alleged match-fixing.
- Some highlights from the Battle of the Sexes.
- Before Riggs’ match with Billie Jean King, he defeated Margaret Court.
- Riggs was on the cover of Time leading up to his match with King.
- Earlier this year, Van Natta wrote a critical piece on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for ESPN the Magazine.
Hang Up and Listen’s Tarzan Rooms:
Mike’s Tarzan Room: The Lockout: A Musical is playing in Chicago through Sept. 15. It was co-written by NBA blogger Jason Gallagher, and Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey was a consultant.
Stefan’s Tarzan Room: Alex Bellos’ Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life includes the story of Aldyr Garcia Schlee, who designed the iconic jerseys for the Brazilian national team.
Josh’s Tarzan Room: Serena Williams lost a table tennis match to Mrs. Met. Who is this mysterious female Mets mascot?
Podcast production and edit by Mike Vuolo. Our intern is Michael Gerber.
You can email us at hangup@slate.com.