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In this week’s episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Josh Levin, Mike Pesca, and Bryan Curtis are joined by Stefan Fatsis, who watched from Vancouver as the U.S. women’s national team beat Japan to win the Women’s World Cup. They discuss coach Jill Ellis’ tactical maneuvers, Carli Lloyd’s amazing performance, and where women’s soccer goes from here. They also talk about the strange economics of NBA free agency and consider the pros and cons of ESPN’s on-screen “K Zone” graphics, which display pitch locations in real time.
Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:
- Slate’s Jeremy Stahl documents the plays that led to the United States’ 5-2 win over Japan in the Women’s World Cup final.
- Telemundo’s Andres Cantor calls all five U.S. goals.
- Carli Lloyd almost always delivers in high-stakes games, but often frustrates fans with her inconsistent play in less important matches.
- For the Win’s Laken Litman praises coach Jill Ellis for making crucial lineup changes as the tournament progressed.
- More than 25 million people watched the Women’s World Cup final on Fox.
- The New York Times’ Andrew Keh wrote about Julie Johnston’s teammates supporting her after an error during the Germany game.
- Slate’s Jeremy Stahl argues that men’s sports can learn a lesson from the overwhelmingly sympathetic reactions to Laura Bassett’s own goal in the Women’s World Cup.
- The positive responses to Bassett’s mistake are sexist, the Telegraph’s Claire Cohen counters.
- Grantland’s Bryan Curtis on the NBA’s “trade rumor era.”
- DeAndre Jordan left the Los Angeles Clippers for the Dallas Mavericks and LaMarcus Aldridge left Portland for a four-year contract with the San Antonio Spurs.
- Chandler Parsons and Jordan had dinner five nights in a row.
- The Sacramento Kings sent actual NBA players to the Philadelphia 76ers in order to get more salary cap space.
- Free agent LeBron James has yet to re-sign with the Cavaliers, wielding his power as the team’s de facto general manager.
- Brendan Haywood’s $10.5 million non-guaranteed contract makes him a valuable NBA commodity.
- In April, sportsvideo.org reported that ESPN had committed to use its “K Zone” on-screen strike zone graphics for every pitch in its MLB coverage.
- Twitter users have expressed their disdain for the K Zone.
- Vice Sports’ Robert O’Connell on the downsides of K Zone.
- ESPN’s Buster Olney argues in favor of K Zone.
- The Atlantic’s Robinson Meyer writes that televised sports are starting to resemble video games.
- FOX used a new shot tracer tool during its coverage of golf’s U.S. Open.
Hang Up and Listen’s weekly M&M’s Cup:
Mike’s M&M’s Cup: The best basketball players in the history of Dallas aren’t all that great.
Bryan’s M&M’s Cup: Did former NBA star Wilt Chamberlain charge at rhinos in the zoo? Chamberlain reveals all in his 1991 memoir A View From Above.
Josh’s M&M’s Cup: Mike Ryan, the first coach of the U.S. women’s national soccer team, had some progressive and some not-so-progressive about women’s sports.
On this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Josh Levin, Mike Pesca, and Bryan Curtis discuss the tradition of baseball metaphors in American politics. Visit slate.com/hangupplus and try it free for two weeks.
Podcast production and edit by Mike Vuolo. Our intern is Emma Zehner.
You can email us at hangup@slate.com.
