Hang Up And Listen

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin talk about the latest NFL hiring cycle, where just one Black coach got hired to run a team. They also assess Australia’s tennis quarantine and discuss whether Curt Schilling will break the baseball Hall of Fame. NFL coaches (01:52): What if anything can be done to get Black coaches more opportunities? COVID (20:52): Sports in Australia vs. sports in the pandemic-ravaged United States. Curt Schilling (35:56): Should writers consider his “character” when casting their Hall of Fame ballots? Afterballs (54:14): Josh on Jackie Robinson vs. sportswriter Bill Keefe and Melissa Kaplan on the Phillie Phanatic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin talk about the Packers’ mystifying field goal attempt and the Chiefs’ run for a second straight title. They also discuss the life and legacy of baseball legend Henry Aaron, who died last week at the age of 86. NFL (01:35): What was Packers coach Matt LaFleur thinking? What’s the secret to the Chiefs’ success? Henry Aaron (21:55): Remembering Aaron’s upbringing, his career, his chase of baseball’s home run record, and everything he needed to overcome to be great. Afterball (01:02:24): Stefan on the sad and courageous story of Black baseball players Leander and Jim Turgeson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson, Josh Levin, and special guest Damon Young talk about the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. They also discuss the Brooklyn Nets’ trade for James Harden and Kyrie Irving’s absence. Finally, they review the HBO documentary Tiger. NFL (01:49): Drew Brees, the concussion protocol, and the Chiefs’ gutsy fourth-down call.  Nets (21:51): Is Kyrie Irving just misunderstood? Tiger (41:15): What the two-part doc reveals about Tiger Woods’ life and career. Afterball (59:29): Joel on the time Hakeem Olajuwon wanted out of Houston. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin talk about Alabama’s win over Ohio State in the college football title game. They also assess how athletes and leagues reacted to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Finally, they discuss the NFL’s Super Wild Card Weekend. College football (01:39): What will we remember about this season, and what should we make of the Alabama dynasty? Insurrection (21:29): Why did the NBA and NFL powers that be stay silent? NFL (38:02): The Cleveland Browns won and Nickelodeon made its playoff broadcasting debut. Afterball (52:38): Stefan on Marine AFC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin talk about Washington’s win over Philadelphia on Sunday Night Football. They also discuss Alabama and Ohio State’s victories in the College Football Playoff and ESPN’s Mechelle Voepel joins for a conversation about the Duke women’s basketball team opting out of the season. NFL (01:28): Did the Eagles commit fraud in their loss to Washington or was it all just a big laugh? College Football Playoff (19:27): On Justin Fields, Ryan Day, Dabo Swinney, Nick Saban, DeVonta Smith, Najee Harris, Brian Kelly and the other heroes and villains of the CFP. Duke women’s basketball (37:14): Why did the players opt out? What happens next? Afterball (55:58): Stefan remembers Penn Quaker Kevin Warren. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin field listener questions about how sports changed the national response to COVID, whether the pandemic sowed mistrust between owners and players, their personal players of the year, and a whole lot more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin talk about the end of college football’s regular season and the College Football Playoff matchups. They also discuss Giannis Antetokounmpo’s decision to re-sign with the Bucks. Finally, they ponder what pandemic-era changes will become permanent and which will be forgotten. College football (2:23) Did the committee get it right? Is it possible to make the sport more equitable? Giannis (22:18): Why did he decide to run it back with the Bucks? Is his decision good for the NBA?  Pandemic-era changes (41:44): How will players, leagues, and fans shift to a post-pandemic age? Afterball (1:00:32): Josh on how Michael Jordan could’ve been a Dallas Maverick. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this bonus episode preview, Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin discuss “The Last Last Dance,” Joel’s special podcast on Michael Jordan’s tenure with the Washington Wizards. Topics discussed include why Jordan chose to go to D.C., how he treated Kwame Brown, and whether Jordan’s time in Washington makes him a more or less sympathetic figure. Sign up for Slate Plus here to hear this bonus episode in full. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special episode of Hang Up and Listen, Joel Anderson tells the story of Michael Jordan's second comeback. How did Jordan end up in Washington, D.C.? Why couldn’t he make the Washington Wizards into winners? And what does the final chapter of Jordan’s career reveal about him as a player and a person? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin talk about the latest humiliation of the winless New York Jets. They also discuss the Russell Westbrook-John Wall trade, and Russell Dinkins joins for a conversation about his quest to save college track programs. Jets (03:55): Are they trying to lose on purpose? Should Trevor Lawrence stay away? Westbrook and Wall (23:57): The thin line between NBA superstardom and basketball sadness. Track (39:32): Why are men’s track programs disappearing, and what does race have to do with it? Afterball (58:21): Joel on the end of the Southwest Conference and the decline of the Houston Cougars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin talk about the Broncos playing without a quarterback and other NFL COVID chaos. They also discuss the life and death of soccer legend Diego Maradona. Finally, they assess the debut of kicker Sarah Fuller, the first woman to play in a Power 5 football game. NFL (02:03): Should the Broncos have been forced to play? Will the NFL make it to the playoffs? Maradona (22:14): Could there ever be another player like him? Sarah Fuller (40:51): What should we make of her historic achievement and her performance on the field?  Afterball (57:28): Stefan on the “Greek Maradona,” Vasilis Hatzipanagis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson and Josh Levin are joined by Yahoo’s Seerat Sohi to talk about the latest NBA deals. Jessica Luther then joins Joel, Josh, and Stefan Fatsis to discuss LSU’s mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations. Finally, Grant Wahl comes on to talk about American Prodigy, his new podcast on soccer phenom Freddy Adu. NBA (03:17): What moves will make the biggest impact on the coming season? And is Giannis going to stay in Milwaukee? LSU (21:57): What Yahoo’s investigation revealed, and what should come next. Freddy Adu (44:54): Why was he so hyped? Was his career a failure? Afterball (01:06:43): Joel on Utah high school football amid the coronavirus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin are joined by FanGraphs’ Meg Rowley to discuss the Marlins’ hiring of Kim Ng as baseball’s first woman general manager. They also talk about the putrid NFC East and why the sports world has failed to adjust as the COVID crisis worsens. Kim Ng (02:54): Why did it take so long for her—or any woman—to get a job running a major-league team? NFC East (21:55): How pro football’s showcase division got so bad. COVID (39:42): Will the games still go on this winter? And why are leagues still insisting on having fans in the stands? Afterball (57:14): Josh on domestic abuse allegations against tennis star Alexander Zverev. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin discuss the differences between election TV and sports TV, and whether election forecasters should be criticized. They also compare how a great sports victory compares to a political one. And they discuss Notre Dame’s win over Clemson and the field-storming that followed. Election TV (4:12): Can cable news learn something from how sports are covered? Sports victories vs. political victories (24:23): Do we prefer landslides/blowouts or the thrill of a last-second win? Notre Dame-Clemson (43:16): A great college football game feels different in 2020. Afterball (58:36): Stefan on the heroism of Nebraska state senator Ernie Chambers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin discuss the positive COVID tests for the Dodgers’ Justin Turner and Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence. WNBA player Renee Montgomery then joins to talk about the More Than a Vote campaign. Finally, they revisit Ruth Shalit Barrett’s article about rich parents and niche sports, which the Atlantic has now retracted.  Positive COVID tests (03:17): Why are outbreaks spreading in college football? And how have fans responded to Justin Turner’s maskless on-field celebration? Renee Montgomery (23:03): Why she opted out of the WNBA season and how she approaches social activism. Ruth Shalit Barrett (40:52): What lessons should be learned from the Atlantic’s decision to assign the story to Barrett, and then to retract it in its entirety? Afterballs (01:00:56): Joel on Billy Tubbs and Josh on an NFL rule that needs to change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin discuss the likely and unlikely heroes of the 2020 World Series. ESPN’s Myron Medcalf also comes on to talk about how the pandemic is affecting college sports “have nots” like UC Riverside. Finally, the hosts are joined by … a mystery guest! World Series (02:02): Where did Brett Phillips come from? And how did Clayton Kershaw transform his postseason legacy? UC Riverside (20:34): Why this Division I school is considering eliminating sports entirely. Mystery guest (37:31): A sports innovator joins the show. Will Joel and Stefan be able to guess who he is? Afterball (55:14): Josh on Andrew Giuliani’s failed lawsuit after he got kicked off the Duke University golf team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin are joined by the Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh to discuss the World Series matchup between the Dodgers and the Rays. They also discuss Billy Beane reportedly leaving the Oakland A’s and Daryl Morey departing the Houston Rockets. Finally, they assess an Atlantic piece on rich white parents using niche sports to get their kids into Ivy League schools. World Series (02:12): What do the Dodgers and Rays have in common, and what are the differences between baseball’s best teams?  Beane and Morey (21:09): What’s the legacy of the sports world’s best-known analytically inclined executives? Rich parents and niche sports (39:12): On the culture of high-level squash and college admissions. Afterball (58:20): Joel on Derrick Henry, the rare star high school running back who made it in the NFL. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Louisa Thomas discuss the end of the NBA’s bubble season, quarterback Alex Smith’s return from a gruesome 2018 leg injury, and the French Open victories of Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek. NBA finals (02:42): LeBron James won his fourth NBA title, this one with the Los Angeles Lakers. NFL (20:29): Is Alex Smith’s return to the NFL an inspiring comeback or a moral dilemma? French Open (37:32): Rafael Nadal won his 20th major and Iga Swiatek won her very first tournament.  Afterballs (52:44): Louisa on the mysterious life of tennis great Alice Marble and Stefan on when athlete deaths start to hit home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin talk about Jimmy Butler’s masterful performance in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. They also discuss the NFL’s first big coronavirus outbreak and the opening week of the baseball playoffs. Finally, they’re joined by Chantel Jennings of the Athletic for a conversation about the WNBA Finals. NBA (02:47): What makes Jimmy Butler tick? Will he lead the Heat back against the Lakers? NFL (13:03): How has the league responded to its first big COVID challenge? MLB (25:19): Assessing the weird, unprecedented pandemic postseason. WNBA (37:01): Why are the Seattle Storm so dominant? Afterball (54:11): Josh on the strange endurance of Norm Van Brocklin’s single-game NFL passing yardage record. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin talk about the NBA Finals matchup between the Heat and the Lakers. They also discuss why they’re watching college football and life inside the NHL bubble. Finally, they’re joined by Father Edwin Leahy to discuss the documentary series Benedict Men. NBA (02:11): How did the Heat rebuild after LeBron left? And do they have a chance against LeBron now? College football and the NHL (16:22): Why we can’t shake an immoral sport, and what we’ve learned about the pro hockey postseason. Benedict Men (33:44): Why does a critic of big-time high school basketball preside over one of the nation’s top basketball programs? Afterball (47:54): Stefan on Brian’s Song, which has not aged well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices