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In this week’s episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and special guest Jack Hamilton talk about the NFL’s conference championship games, Matt Ryan’s great play and blah personality, and the nation’s long love/hate affair with the New England Patriots. Sports Illustrated’s Chris Ballard also joins the show to discuss the streaking Philadelphia 76ers and whether Sam Hinkie’s oft-lampooned “process” is actually working. Finally, they talk about the inductions of Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, and Iván Rodríguez into the Baseball Hall of Fame and examine how Ryan Thibodaux’s effort to make ballots public might change voting habits.
Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:
- ESPN on the Falcons’ dominant performance against the Packers.
- The Steelers’ loss to the Patriots was about more than just running back Le’Veon Bell’s injury.
- Matt Ryan is for real.
- Charles Bethea on the robotic Julio Jones in the New Yorker.
- Tim Layden’s Sports Illustrated story on Tom Brady’s relationship with his receivers.
- The Falcons’ $1.5 billion stadium opens this year.
- Follow Chris Ballard on Twitter.
- Ballard’s Sports Illustrated profile of Sam Hinkie.
- Pablo Torre’s 2015 story on “the process” and the Sixers’ winning strategy for ESPN the Magazine.
- Lee Jenkins’ Sports Illustrated profile of Joel Embiid.
- The Sixers have struggled without Embiid.
- Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, and Iván Rodríguez got voted in to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
- MLB.com’s profile of Ryan Thibodaux, the man behind the Hall of Fame Tracker.
- FiveThirtyEight on how “sabermetrics helped put Tim Raines in the Hall of Fame.”*
- Read more about how public ballots are changing Hall of Fame voting in Deadspin, the Ringer, False Start, and FiveThirtyEight.
- The NBA’s new All-Star voting system will have Russell Westbrook coming off the bench.
- Nate Silver explains the dangers of “herding” in elections.
Hang Up and Listen’s weekly Richaun Holmeses:
Jack’s Richaun Holmes: Isaiah Thomas is the NBA’s shortest superstar.
Stefan’s Richaun Holmes: Jim Bouton is auctioning off the materials from his seminal baseball memoir Ball Four.
Josh’s Richaun Holmes: A quick schedule fix for the NBA regular season: Make the Warriors and Cavs play each other three times.
On this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Stefan, Josh, and Jack Hamilton discuss saxophone player Mike Phillips’ national anthem performance at the NFC championship game and how it compares to the greatest sports anthems. Visit slate.com/hangupplus and try it free for two weeks.
Podcast production and edit by Mickey Capper.
You can email us at hangup@slate.com.
*Correction, Jan. 24, 2017: This page originally miscredited a story about Tim Raines to the Ringer. It was published in FiveThirtyEight. (Return.)
