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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 discuss why Tiger Woods keeps getting worse and whether it’s time for him to call it quits. They are also joined by James Andrew Miller, author of Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN, to talk about the recent departures of three high-profile names at ESPN. Finally, they interview Molly Knight, author of The Best Team Money Can Buy: The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Wild Struggle to Build a Baseball Powerhouse, about the different team-building strategies of the Dodgers and the Houston Astros.
Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:
- Tiger Woods missed the cut at the British Open.
- Onlookers laughed at Woods’ poor performance.
- In early June, Woods completed the Memorial Tournament in a career-worst 302 strokes.
- In the 19 rounds Woods and Jordan Spieth have both played in this year, Spieth is a combined 110 strokes better than Woods.
- The Guardian called Tiger Woods the “Mike Tyson of golf.”
- Vice’s Greg Couch calls for Woods to quit.
- ESPN’s Kevin Van Valkenburg says that the “weight of expectations” has ruined Woods’ career.
- Golf Digest’s Shane Ryan argues that Woods is “totally, completely, unequivocally, and utterly done.”
- While Woods has played well recently in practice, he can’t seem to translate his swing to competitions.
- After media accusations surfaced in 2009, Woods admitted to having affairs while married to his ex-wife, Elin Nordegren.
- Woods has had several injuries throughout his career, including a pinched nerve in 2014 that required back surgery.
- It took several years for Woods to start playing well again after he adjusted his swing in the early 2000s.
- ESPN has lost 3.2 million cable subscribers in about a year, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
- James Andrew Miller is the co-author of the book Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN.
- Miller explains why Keith Olbermann wasn’t satisfied at ESPN.
- ESPN said Olbermann’s departure was a “business decision.”
- Colin Cowherd is leaving ESPN to join Fox Sports.
- The sports network didn’t renew Bill Simmons’ contract.
- Throughout his ESPN tenure, Simmons got himself into trouble for taking shots at NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
- ESPN’s Mike & Mike was scheduled to move to New York, but the network canceled the plans in late June.
- Molly Knight is the author of the book The Best Team Money Can Buy: The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Wild Struggle to Build a Baseball Powerhouse.
- Knight wrote about the Houston Astros’ reliance on their farm system to gradually build their lineup.
- Deadspin lists the payrolls and salaries for MLB teams in 2015.
- Both the New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs have built their teams around young players.
Hang Up and Listen’s weekly Simon Brodkins:
Mike’s Simon Brodkin: What’s more unexpected than a walk-off balk? A walk-off balk on an intentional walk.
Stefan’s Simon Brodkin: The conclusion of the Women’s World Cup highlighted more problems with FIFA’s treatment of women’s soccer, including the disparity in pay for female and male champions. Now the women have a chance to use their newfound stardom to make meaningful changes, especially with regard to concussion protocols.
Josh’s Simon Brodkin: Josh is watching football watch lists so nobody else has to. In particular, he has his eyes on the watch list for the Dodd Trophy for coach of the year, which might be the dumbest thing in all of sports.
On this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Josh Levin, Mike Pesca, and Stefan Fatsis discuss Grantland’s Bill Barnwell’s proposal for an MLB loan system. Visit slate.com/hangupplus and try it free for two weeks.
Podcast production and edit by Zack Dinerstein. Our intern is Emma Zehner.
You can email us at hangup@slate.com.
