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In this week’s episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin talk with ESPN’s Howard Bryant about the recent racist heckling at Fenway Park and the history of racism in Boston sports. Damon Young of Very Smart Brothas also joins to discuss his recent article on LaVar Ball and the “black basketball dad.” Finally, ProPublica’s David Epstein weighs in on Nike’s (barely) failed attempt to break the two-hour-marathon barrier.
Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:
- Howard Bryant’s book Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston.
- An interview with Bryant about the book in the Hardball Times.
- The Red Sox gave the Orioles’ Adam Jones a standing ovation a day after a Boston fan shouted a racist epithet during a game at Fenway Park.
- Deadspin on WEEI’s Gerry Callahan and others who doubted Jones was telling the truth.
- The Washington Post on what the Adam Jones incident says about “the dearth of black players in baseball.”
- Former player Doug Glanville on the history of racism surrounding the Red Sox organization.
- CC Sabathia said black baseball players expect racism in Boston.
- A 2008 piece in Boston magazine on why the city’s racist reputation persists.
- Damon Young’s piece on LaVar Ball and the “black basketball dad,” published in Very Smart Brothas and on Slate.
- Lonzo Ball’s new ZO2 basketball shoes cost $495.
- LaVar Ball defended the price.
- Sneakerheads are passing on the expensive shoes.
- Stop paying attention to LaVar Ball, Jason Gay urges in the Wall Street Journal.
- Follow David Epstein on Twitter.
- Epstein’s book The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance.
- FiveThirtyEight on Eliud Kipchoge’s near-miss in his attempt to break the two-hour-marathon barrier.
- TechCrunch on the brilliance of Nike’s Breaking2 as a marketing campaign.
- Ross Tucker of The Science of Sport argues that drafting made a huge difference in Saturday’s Breaking2 attempt, while Nike’s shoes likely changed little.
- Alex Hutchinson in Runner’s World on what comes next.
Hang Up and Listen’s weekly parting shots:
Stefan’s parting shot: A lot of people used Eliud Kipchoge’s blistering marathon as an opportunity to talk about their own mediocre running feats.
Adam’s parting shot: Is Klay Thompson a robot? An investigation.
Josh’s parting shot: Tennys Sandgren is a star on the rise in the world of tennis. What are some other appropriately named athletes?
On this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Josh and Stefan are joined by Howard Bryant and Slate’s June Thomas to reflect on 29 years of ESPN’s The Sports Reporters.
Podcast production and edit by Patrick Fort.
Our intern is Adam Willis.
You can email us at hangup@slate.com.
