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In this week’s episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Stefan Fatsis and guest host Mike Pesca discuss the start of the NBA conference finals and the debate over the debate over who’s the greatest, Michael Jordan or LeBron James. Then, Stefan talks to Roger Bennett of Men in Blazers about Wayne Rooney’s reported move to America and Roger’s new book, Men in Blazers Present Encyclopedia Blazertannica. Finally, Stefan and Mike are joined by Nate DiMeo to discuss his essay in Mike’s new book, Upon Further Review, about the alternate history of tug of war, which was kicked out of the Olympics in 1920.
Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:
- Follow Mike Pesca on Twitter, buy his new book, Upon Further Review: The Greatest What-Ifs in Sports History, and subscribe to the Upon Further Review podcast.
- The Boston Celtics blew out the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals, 108–83.
- In Slate, Nick Greene explained how to argue about whether LeBron James is better than Michael Jordan.
- Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal shouted at each other on television.
- Follow Roger Bennett on Twitter and buy his new book, Men in Blazers Present Encyclopedia Blazertannica: A Suboptimal Guide to Soccer, America’s Sport of the Future Since 1972.
- English footballer Wayne Rooney reportedly has agreed to play for D.C. United of Major League Soccer.
- Rooney would become one of the league’s highest-paid players. He has “more Twitter follows than all of D.C.’s sports combined.”
- The Guardian blog the Fiver said Rooney’s past suggests he might be “a grown man who could not handle any kind of change of culture.”
- Zlatan Ibrahimović scored two goals in his debut for the Los Angeles Galaxy but the team has struggled since.
- Watch Ibrahimović on the The Late Late Show With James Corden and on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
- Follow Nate DiMeo on Twitter and subscribe to his podcast, The Memory Palace.
- Tug of war was an Olympic sport from 1900 through 1920. It applied to be in the 2020 Games but didn’t make the cut.
Hang Up and Listen’s weekly Constantin Henrique de Zubieras:
Mike’s Constantin Henrique de Zubiera: The Bay Area sportscaster who stole a Golden State Warriors team jacket got Mike thinking about sports-related things he has stolen.
Stefan’s Constantin Henrique de Zubiera: On Stefan’s essay in Mike’s new book: What if Bucky Dent hadn’t homered over the Green Monster in 1978?
On this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Stefan and Mike talk about Chinese nicknames for NBA players.
Podcast production and edit by Patrick Fort.
You can email us at hangup@slate.com.
