Hang Up and Listen: The Hours of Something Approaching Pleasure Edition
Slate’s sports podcast on the Deflategate report, Bill Simmons’ departure from ESPN, and the rise of daily fantasy sports.
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In this week’s episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Josh Levin, Mike Pesca, and Seth Stevenson talk about the Wells report on the Patriots’ underinflated balls and whether Tom Brady’s alleged ball crimes are more like a huge watermelon of a deal or a shriveled grape. They also talk about Bill Simmons’ imminent departure from ESPN, where he should land, and what it means for his website Grantland. Finally, they assess the rise of daily fantasy sports and what it could mean for the future of pro sports and of gambling.
Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:
- Ted Wells’ Deflategate report.
- The text exchanges between Patriots employees Jim McNally and John Jastremski.
- ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss runs through various questions about the Wells report.
- The website Your Team Cheats.
- The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir broke the news that ESPN would not renew Bill Simmons’ contract.
- Back in September, Deadspin’s Barry Petchesky reported on “How Bill Simmons Lost Bristol.”
- The “conflicts with ESPN” section of Simmons’ Wikipedia page.
- Slate’s Justin Peters pleads with ESPN to save Simmons’ website Grantland.
- In the New Yorker, Ben McGrath writes about the rise of daily fantasy sports.
- Major League Baseball has partnered with DraftKings, while the NBA has a deal with FanDuel.
Hang Up and Listen’s weekly Waggoners:
Mike’s Waggoner: Starting a movement to nickname the Mets the “Flushing Fastballs.”
Seth’s Waggoner: The Brooklyn Nets’ in-arena experience has not been up to snuff.
Josh’s Waggoner: Wrestling legend Captain Lou Albano appears on Fox’s Lie Detector in the dumbest moment in American history.
On this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Seth Stevenson, Josh Levin, and Mike Pesca are joined by Slate’s Will Dobson to discuss whether Paul Pierce’s bank shot was a classic sports moment. Visit slate.com/hangupplus and try it free for two weeks.
You can email us at hangup@slate.com.