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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 take listeners’ questions in a special Labor Day call-in show. Topics include whether you can use logic to choose which sports teams to root for, artificial crowd noise at stadiums and arenas, how to behave when cheering for the away team, if soccer promotes a socialist agenda, the economics of college athletics, and a breakdown of the hosts’ athletic skills.

Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:

• In 2006, Bill Simmons documented his logical approach to picking an English Premier League team to root for.
• Mark Cuban wants the in-game experience at Mavs games to evoke a great wedding.
• The Heads Up Football program is trying to keep tackling alive in youth football.
• Stephen Baldwin was brought in as the 25-point-shot specialist at MTV’s Rock N’ Jock B-Ball Jam, announced by Steve Albert and Jon Stewart.
• In a classic Seinfeld episode, Elaine Benes would not take off her Orioles hat in Yankee Stadium.
• The New York Times recently documented how ESPN has aided Louisville’s rise to athletic prominence.
• Patrick Hruby wrote a story for Sports on Earth on “the gold-plating of college sports.”
• Brian Phillips wrote for Slate on the capitalism of European soccer and the socialism of American sports leagues.
• David Plotz explains why Slate will no longer refer to the Washington NFL team by its offensive nickname.
• In 2002, Sports Illustrated published a poll on how Native Americans feel about Native American nicknames. The National Annenberg Election Survey released a similar poll in 2004.
• Earlier this year, Dave McKenna wrote about the fake American Indian chief who made it on to Dan Snyder’s Redskins Nation.
• Stefan Fatsis brushed up on his stickball skills while writing “The Wiffle Kings” for the Wall Street Journal in 1999.  

Podcast production and edit by Mike Vuolo. Our intern is Michael Gerber.

You can email us at hangup@slate.com.