LeBron is taking a break from social media. Should you? Are you ready to stop being performatively fascinating and get authentically dull? And is Bluesky the XFL of Twitter — or a refreshingly Musk-free community worth joining? Plus: "Re-Potting with Pablo," making lentil, fighting in Temecula, road rage, Mastodon, two ejaculating giraffes, a charging wildebeest and the actually hungry hippo (with suspenders and a pocket watch). Relevant reading: How Bluesky, Alternative to X and Facebook, Is Handling Explosive Growth (Mike Isaac) The Age of Social Media Is Ending (Ian Bogost) The Bluesky Bubble (Ian Bogost) "With so much hate and negativity in the world today..." (Rich Kleiman) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump won, Silicon Valley is Moneyballing everything, and the worldview of the most famous political nerd on Earth... is eating the world. But Nate Silver still wants to prove people wrong: on what the 2016 and 2024 elections really told us; his falling out with the Left; and how tech billionaires are more irrational than they like to admit. Also: Elon Musk totaling a car, Peter Thiel believing in destiny, and Neymar playing poker. Buy Nate Silver's new book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/529280/on-the-edge-by-nate-silver/ Subscribe to Silver Bulletin: https://www.natesilver.net/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are entrapped by an algorithm preying on our most terrifying human vulnerabilities. But inside us exists a cabinet of curiosities, and few are better at finding poetry in our past than Nate DiMeo of The Memory Palace, an award-winning podcast and new book. Pablo's kindred spirit conjures a time before Jason Giambi and the golden thong, when the least qualified Major Leaguer of all time was also, somehow, the luckiest. Plus: a new video about pigeons; swimming “lesser channels”; and, yes, raccoons failing to eat cotton candy. Buy the book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-memory-palace-true-short-stories-of-the-past-nate-dimeo/21177599 Subscribe to The Memory Palace: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-memory-palace/id299436963 And listen to the Prince episode of "Pablo Torre Finds Out": https://podcasts.apple.com/jm/podcast/when-docs-cry-inside-the-secret-netflix-masterpiece/id1685093486?i=1000672194989 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

She may be the most polarizing athlete on the planet, but whatever Caitlin Clark touches still turns to gold. Meadowlark Media CEO John Skipper is a lead investor in Unrivaled — a groundbreaking new 3-on-3 women's basketball league — and they're hot on the recruiting trail. Will Clark take the money and run? Plus: How might a second Trump administration affect the billionaires of the sports world? And can David Samson get the future Secretary of State to pick up the phone? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A staggering number of death-row inmates have used their last words to do the same thing: pay tribute to their favorite sports teams. So we sent correspondent Dave Fleming to a supermax prison in Texas to find out why. Charles Flores — Inmate No. 999299 at the notorious Polunsky Unit in Livingston — has maintained his innocence for over 25 years and counting… while living in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. And Flores agreed to take us inside his hidden world of game-day enchiladas, trash talk, and fantasy football. Where there isn’t always next year.= To learn more about the case of Charles Flores: https://www.freecharlesflores.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The national vibes are... fraught. So, Pablo asks: What do you watch to make yourself feel better? Plus: athshletes, Uncrustables, the world's largest kaleidoscope, thicc televisions, and Understanding It Now. Further soothing content: Björk talking about her TV Zombie Kid Likes Turtles The CEO of Corn Grape Lady falls Eve of Saint Crispin's Day SHOOTING GUMMIE BEARS INTO A WATER BOTTLE We Couldn't Be Derailed in Brooklyn LeBron James Rides the New York City Subway Wait, NFL players eat how many Uncrustables? (Jayson Jenks) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After lint-rolling through post-election coverage, Pablo tries to makes peace with Trump 2.0, with a little help from the future president of Grenada and the host of The Bulwark Podcast: Have Joe Rogan and the manosphere become the new fourth estate? How did a Suicide Squad of psychopaths become Washington's starting lineup? And how much is Elon Musk’s science fiction really fictional anymore? Plus: Grumpcoin, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Stephen A. Smith 2028, and Canon Curry 2052.  Further reading: About That Press Conference (Tim Miller) Elon Musk: The Evening Rocket (Jill Lepore) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Turning on the news right now feels utterly surreal. But it didn’t always have to be this way. Because Connie Chung — tenacious TV broadcaster and author of a new memoir — set a gold standard in the pre-internet era. For being unafraid of powerful men. For getting scoops at the bar. For trash-talking. For calling out Donald Trump’s childishness to his face. For withstanding the boorish behavior of Bobby Knight and unearthing the inner pain of Michael Jordan. And, yes, for shutting down the richest man on Earth... even after he jumped over a chair. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Election Day. And if there is anyone who saw this entire mess coming, it's the prophets behind the HBO series Veep — a 17-time Emmy-award-winning satire that feels, with each passing day, like a political documentary. So, today, we invite none other than actor Timothy Simons to join us, in studio, to relive what it was like to play Jonah Ryan: the Jolly Green Jizz Face, himself. Also: Draft Day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For 33 years, he was paid by the Denver Nuggets not to speak but to entertain — with unparalleled vitality and virality — as Rocky the Mountain Lion. Now, Kenn Solomon breaks his silence, on the bloody, back-breaking work of a very private profession. Plus: Rocky's flu game, his beef with Russell Westbrook... and what it feels like to get knocked unconscious by Charles Barkley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is a century-old legend wrapped in a basketball conspiracy: The Skirvin Hotel in Oklahoma City was the visiting team's resting place of choice. Except the 10th floor was also (allegedly) home to a housekeeper who's been spooking all-stars for more than a decade. In a crossover Halloween spook-tacular, Pablo sends Oddball hosts Amin Elhassan and Charlotte Wilder on a ghost-hunting sleepover to investigate the foremost paranormal story in sports. They returned with data from the hardcourt to the toilet seat, plus a feisty Paul Pierce... and one gigantic inflatable horse costume. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pablo travels to Minneapolis to spend a weekend with the player responsible for the best celebrations in the NFL: Vikings safety Cam Bynum, a rising star — and proud Filipino-American — whose story is about love at first sight, the value of patience and connecting two countries on opposite sides of our planet. Also: lumpia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is Jerry Jones a business savant or simply obsessed with fame? If your friend is dating someone you don’t like, are you obligated to say something? And is Mina Kimes physically capable of winking? All of this, and also: too many mentions of the word “lube.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We celebrate the spookiest time of the year with artist and filmmaker Mickey Duzyj, who brings us the true story of a varsity tennis champion who found glory after becoming what few jocks have ever been: goth. We also learn about a special coach; bleacher crows; The Sisters of Mercy; and not worshipping the devil. You can read Mickey's companion piece for Racquet magazine here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who's on the Mount Rushmore of American Idol? What's your go-to karaoke song? And did a Duke star's NBA Draft stock really get torpedoed by an alleged "grooming" scheme from his older Mormon girlfriend? Or was it just true age-gap love? Plus: swabbin' and finding your Thor. Further content: "We're not crying, you are…" (Celine Dion) "Kyle Filipowski's story went viral during the NBA draft. Now his mother shares her side." (Kevin Reynolds) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to The Sporting Class! Meadowlark Media CEO John Skipper and Nothing Personal's David Samson are back with another episode with host of Pablo Torre Finds Out ... Pablo Torre! Today we to you to the deep sea. The water world of the unjust. The streaming land of treacherous souls. We’re talking about the world of online pirates. Streaming Piracy has cost major sports leagues billions of dollars; so they say. Is there a way to put a stop to this? Are the pirates always going to win in the end? How angry are these major sports leagues about this issue? It’s time to find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You may remember Kazaam, the 1996 family film starring Shaquille O'Neal as a genie. But you may have also heard about Shazaam, another '90s family film starring Sinbad as a genie — allegedly. Correspondent David Gardner finds a true believer who remains convinced that she has seen this non-existent work of cinema, then puts Pablo's memory to the test of the Mandela Effect. And, yes, we got Shaq himself to debunk the myth of a movie that never was. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the midst of tectonic disruption for the NCAA, even college coaches — the all-seeing, all-knowing, overworked faces of America's second biggest sport — are addicted to the way things were. Jake Rosenberg, who recently left as a top exec with the Philadelphia Eagles to consult a couple of SEC powerhouses at The Athlete Group, says even the best programs are due for "a rude awakening" if they can't keep up with the strategic evolution of NFL franchises. But he also offers a cure for extinction: Build a front office already! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are sports just gossip with analytics? How did a man named Matt Farley manipulate the music streaming economy? And Google’s new A.I. tool is coming for our podcasting jobs. (It's legitimately terrifying.) Plus: bird deterrents, license plates, poop songs, WAGs, Stefon Diggs, and your sister. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We all have that person from our childhood we just knew was gonna be a star. And more than 20 years before she was a 13-time Grammy winner and a star of the new Joker movie, there was a girl visiting Pablo's all-boys high school named Stefani Germanotta, playing third-wave grunge songs in the corner. His classmate Patrick Wolf — from the band Goodnight, Texas — even asked her to sophomore semi-formal. And while Pablo was preparing for a debate tournament instead, Lady Gaga (and the Plastic Gaga Band) was born. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The director of the Oscar-winning O.J. documentary, Ezra Edelman, has completed one of the greatest films ever made: a nine-hour epic about Prince. So why won't the artist's estate let this movie out of the vault? Pablo and New York Times critic-at-large Wesley Morris are two of the only people to have seen it. And they're finally able to reveal what they learned: about the hypothetical cancellation of an icon; Prince's actual scouting report as a basketball player; the disease of pop stardom; the cost of genius; and whether you will ever see this masterpiece, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dirty lobster sex! Shirtless Glen Powell! Emily in Compost! Do we have your attention yet? If Hurricane Helene, a litany of facts and general guilt about global warming were enough, then we would've done something by now. Enter the climate culture war. Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson — co-founder of Urban Ocean Lab, marine biologist and author of "What if We Get It Right?" — envisions the future of planet Earth as a group project for 8 billion people, in which we deploy solutions, not dystopianism. How close to paradise can we get? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You have heard about the grocery store. And the photographs cannot be unseen. But the 1955 murder of a 14-year-old in Mississippi — a killing that sparked the Civil Rights Movement, that forever shaped America — has been criminally underreported. Until Wright Thompson, son of the Delta and sportswriter of the century, embarked upon a story about LeBron's Lakers... that became a mapping of intentionally constructed, deeply hard-wired silence, in his new instant bestseller and surrealistic people's history, The Barn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Trump was at the Alabama-Georgia game. Tim Walz was at The Big House in Ann Arbor, ahead of tonight's VP debate between a high-school coach and an Ohio State grad. College football has always been a passport to America that will never be too woke to go broke, but now the sport itself has become a battleground state. Jane Coaston — Republican whisperer, Michigan fanatic, new host of Crooked Media's "What a Day" podcast — considers whether the presidency might be decided by a disconnect between two formerly allied institutions. And an emerging strain of influencer conservatism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why are men so weird about celebrating their own birthdays? The ultramarathon wars waged on Wikipedia. And how former UNLV QB Matthew Sluka has weaponized college football’s redshirt system in the NIL era. Plus: doljabis, parenting advice, and Pablo vs. Mina. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The existential dread of going to work. The self-doubt born of 70,000 boos. The anxiety crank. The loneliness. There is no pressure quite like the expectations placed upon the top pick. And Alex Smith — 14-year NFL QB, ESPN analyst, and host of the new podcast Glue Guys — would know: He had one of the worst rookie seasons in football history. So Alex helps Pablo play armchair psychologist on the abject terror of being Bryce Young, Trevor Lawrence and Caleb Williams, with lessons for every leader on how to own your vulnerability — and develop the next Patrick Mahomes. Even if the paparazzi aren't watching you stretch every morning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two NASA astronauts are in the midst of an extended, headline-grabbing, eight-month stay in orbit. So we turned to Terry Virts, former commander of the International Space Station, as our official PTFO Outer Space Correspondent. Because he was stranded there for 200 days after his cargo ship blew up — low on underwear, polo shirts and his beloved borscht. Turns out, there are way worse places to be than staring out a Russian dorm-room window while watching bombs, auroras, typhoons and the very essence of human nature, from 250 miles up. Also: how to pee, dream and listen to Hans Zimmer without gravity. (Hint: Do not raw-dog the universe.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before he came down the golden escalator, Donald Trump was desperate to own a pro-football franchise on the cheap. So he dispatched a political emissary with a mission for five mischievous super-fans: ban Bon Jovi from Buffalo, so that Trump could purchase the Bills instead of him. Correspondent Noah Shachtman travels to an alternate universe where, associates say, Trump would have occupied the owner's box instead of the Oval Office — and finds evidence, on a literal bridge of the American divide, that we're still halfway there. Read the companion article at Rolling Stone: Is Trump's Whole Political Career Just a Cockeyed Revenge Plot Against the NFL? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How do you out-smart a survey of 100 average Americans? Who channels Jimmy V during the commercial break of a game show? Why didn't Mina Kimes show up on "Fast Money"? And what color is green? Pablo reacts to his epic appearance on this week's "Celebrity Family Feud" with buzzer-caressing Dan Le Batard, Celebrity Jeopardy! veteran Katie Nolan and super-fan Mike Golic Jr. Plus: talking sh*t about Harvard, handshaking vigorously with Steve Harvey, unbuttoning a shirt with John Legend, the "Hey Jealousy" torture experiment and Cam from Oklahoma. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It won’t be long before Domonique Foxworth — staff writer on American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez, premiering tonight on FX — will no longer grace us with his presence, because his ego will have grown too large. But until then, Domonique joins the show to talk to Pablo and David Samson about the difference between journalism and entertainment; how to dramatize players and coaches he’s encountered, in real life; and why his pants are so tight. Also: beat sheets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to The Sporting Class! Meadowlark Media CEO John Skipper and Nothing Personal's David Samson are back with another episode with host of Pablo Torre Finds Out ... Pablo Torre! Do you have DirecTV and you wanted to watch the US Open? Sorry! What about college football through the first two weeks on ABC or ESPN? Sorry! Well, what about Monday Night Football between Aaron Rodgers and the 49ers? SORRY! Let’s break down this dispute between DirecTV and Disney. Where does this end? What makes this dispute different than the one last year between Disney and Charter? It’s time to find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You may think you know how the Patriots drafted the greatest quarterback of all time: with the 199th pick in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft. But the real story — the story of exactly how the Patriots got to make that pick, in the first place — has never been made public… until now. Today, Pablo dives into the secret world of the NFL’s compensatory formula. And we unmask the identity of the free agent who flapped his wings, changing sports history forever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What if you let artificial intelligence invade your life — on purpose? And then set versions of yourself loose to prank-call everyone from telemarketers to soccer fans to your wife? For his new podcast, Shell Game, journalist Evan Ratliff did exactly that. And it turns out, sneaky transformation into a stammering half-robot isn't the end of the world so much as a sneak preview of our fake new world. Could a voice clone make Pablo's life easier, too? Only A.I. Pablo (and Cocaine Evan) can tell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is the transfer portal ruining the NCAA we all liked, or helping the NFL we love even more? Why is Cristiano Ronaldo suddenly the biggest sports-show host on YouTube? What's the status of friend requests IRL? And how's my guy? Further really original, organic content: UR • Cristiano https://www.youtube.com/@cristiano The Frendship Paradox (Olga Khazan) https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/09/loneliness-epidemic-friendship-shortage/679689/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There is nothing America loves more but understands less than the NFL, whose coaches, players, and analysts love jargon. But as Pablo discovered earlier this summer, you should be careful calling out this burgeoning fetish for linguistic complexity. So today, ahead of tonight’s season-opener in Kansas City, we ask former quarterback and NFL scout Nate Tice, the host of Football 301, to break the code — and finally explain how jocks got revenge on the nerds, taking over a national conversation. And how much Spider 2 is actually in your Y-Banana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thirty years ago, David Foster Wallace reported “The String Theory,” an essay about a pro tennis player named Michael Joyce. No, Joyce wasn’t as good as his fellow Americans (Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Michael Chang). But what Joyce taught Wallace — the best writer of his generation, and a former junior player himself — turned into the greatest tennis essay of all time. Today, in the middle of the U.S. Open, Pablo sits down with Michael Joyce — who’s since become a coach to players like Maria Sharapova — and they dissect the genius and the eccentricities of David Foster Wallace, who died in 2008. And we learn about the psychologies of two grotesque glories: writing and tennis.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

America generates an endless stream of opinions about Caitlin Clark, but there’s been almost no in-depth reporting about how her mind actually works. So before Clark’s Indiana Fever visit Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky tonight, Pablo sits down with Wright Thompson of ESPN: the only journalist who spent months getting to know Caitlin, her family, and her team at the University of Iowa, behind closed doors. And we find out what it’s like to live alongside a phenomenon who doesn’t process fear or emotion the way most human beings do… and how she’s been trying, privately, to change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to The Sporting Class! Meadowlark Media CEO John Skipper and Nothing Personal’s David Samson are back with another episode with host of Pablo Torre Finds Out ...Pablo Torre! We start in the NFL where private equity has come to play. Private equity is the king of buzz words in sports right now and every sport wants more of it. NFL valuations are sky high and teams need money. Enter PE. What is going on with the NWSL? The women’s soccer league has signed a new CBA. No more trades. No more draft. Guaranteed contract. Why now? Is Venu Sports done? That’s what it looks like. The partnership between ESPN, WBD, and Fox was shut down by the courts because of a lawsuit brought on by Fubo. Now what happens? We end today where we began…the NFL and Private Equity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When the Supreme Court ruled, in 2021, that college athletes can monetize their Name, Image, and Likeness, football recruiting changed forever. Organizations known as NIL collectives emerged to pay players de facto salaries, in coordination with universities. But soon, thanks to yet another legal development, those universities may be able to pay players, directly — raising many, many questions about what the hell is going on. So Meadowlark’s own University of Miami booster, Mike Ryan, takes us inside their NIL collective. And On3's Andy Staples — a former national champion o-lineman at the University of Florida — helps us understand the future of a not-quite-open market. Also: Jaden Rashada, LifeWallet, and stone crabs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Competitive eating is a sport. That’s the belief of Joey Chestnut, the greatest eater of all time — and man, do we agree with the 16-time Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest champion now. Ahead of his Labor Day duel against rival Takeru Kobayashi, Joey reveals everything we ever wanted to know about jaw exercises, coffee enemas, and what he refuses to eat. Also: chokeholds, milk chugging, the danger of endorsing veganism, and inadvertent excrement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You might think that calling a game is easy. That Tom Brady can do this in his sleep. Jon "Boog" Sciambi, announcer for the Chicago Cubs and "MLB: The Show," teaches Pablo why the human voice is an instrument that requires restraint and distinction to record the first draft of sports history, then pass it down like an heirloom. Come for the PTFO dictionary's debut in the broadcast booth; stay for Nic Cage murdering Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg with a Toyota Outback at Wrigley Field. This episode originally aired May 14, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The MVP is obsessed with the ancient sport of harness racing — because it may be hiding in plain sight as more exciting than the NBA playoffs. Acclaimed documentarian Mickey Duzyj talks to a GOAT and plays stable boy, then heads to the track to root on the official stallion of the show. This episode originally aired May 7, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the early 1970s, two pitchers for the New York Yankees agreed to the wildest trade in sports history: They switched wives. And children. And furniture. And pets. But this sex scandal cut way deeper than the tabloid headlines. David Mandel — veteran writer for Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Veep and The Simpsons — laments his big-screen adaptation that never was... even though the ultimate passion project could have starred Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. And we go deep inside a story that's equal parts swinging and missing. This episode previously aired April 30, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From the beaches of Los Angeles to the botanical gardens of New York City, we traveled the country looking for the best cannabis with an athlete’s name on it. And who better to smoke it with than Katie Nolan and Dan Soder? Pablo joins Dan and Katie in their NYC apartment to burn it down with special guests Magic Johnstoned, Gary Payton, Melo, and more. Come for the marijuana, stay for the cake Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When the Paralympics begin in Paris on Aug. 28, there will be no shortage of feel-good storylines. But two whistleblowers tell Pablo Torre Finds Out a very different story: about how widespread cheating has destroyed the integrity of the Games themselves. Paralympians are allegedly manipulating the system by exaggerating their impairments, lying to classifiers, and tanking tests — a fraud known as “classification doping.” But one athlete has decided, at long last, to fight this problem in court. American handcyclist David Berling sits down with PTFO correspondent Tim Rohan for an exclusive interview about the lawsuit that might change everything. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is Tim Walz’s coaching career the key to beating Donald Trump’s Republican Party? What does the NFL still get wrong about paying star quarterbacks? Is walking a mile in a fast food worker’s shoes better rehabilitation than jail time? Plus: Ozark Mina, non-tearful Dan, Judge Beast, Bill Barnwell, David Foster Wallace, and throwing burrito bowls at people’s faces. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An existential paranoia has been lurking beneath the surface at the Olympic Village, where the most pressing story doesn’t get talked about on TV. We field an urgent video call from Team USA diving coach Drew Johansen about the "unintended consequences" of the system quietly responsible for more than 1,000 Olympians who competed in Paris. And how the most recent update in the NCAA’s legal fight could sink your favorite Olympic sports back home on campus... and at the 2028 Games, in Los Angeles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Adolf Hitler gave the legendary runner a mysterious gift: four potted oak tree saplings — one for each of the four gold medals that Owens won, while surrounded by Nazis, in one of the greatest performances in the history of sports. Almost a century later, correspondent David Fleming examines what Owens decided to do with his so-called Hitler Oaks... and why that decision remains an enduring act of American defiance. Plus: tree people, myth-busting, redlining and witch-doctor science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to The Sporting Class! Meadowlark Media CEO John Skipper and Nothing Personal's David Samson are back with another episode with host of Pablo Torre Finds Out ... Pablo Torre! The NBA media rights deal saga is not over just yet. Warner Bros. Discovery is not going away quietly as they have now sued the NBA. What exactly does David Zaslav want from this? NBA games? Money? Both? What’s the deal with Charles Barkley? Is he going to stay with TNT? He said he was going to retire after the 2025 season, but now it doesn’t look likely. Let’s take a look at the judge in this case of WBD v. NBA. The judge hearing the case was a part of the Spirits of St. Louis and its lawsuit against the NBA. Should this knowledge from the judge matter? Comcast is one of the largest distributors in the country. What is TNT worth to Comcast if it loses the NBA? Let’s explain what these carriage fees are and the leverage Comcast has over the new fees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What got left on the cutting-room floor of The Last Dance? That shrugging security guard, Scottie Pippen's cattle prod, almost Obama — and so much more. Plus: the iPad trick, pulling a Stat Boy, what it feels like to be parodied/cancelled on SNL… and a pickup-line surprise featuring butterflies, a bulldog puppy and a newborn. Further reading: Watching the National Championship at a Georgia bar is what heartbreak looks like (Charlotte Wilder) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

J.D. Scholten is a state representative from Iowa who went viral for the ultimate call to the bullpen: He left a music festival, a beer-and-a-half deep, to suddenly sign a minor-league contract and pitch into the seventh inning — at 44 years old. But that's just the beginning, because this J.D. might be the opposite of J.D. Vance. In fact, he's unlike most elected officials from either party: He fights punch-down politics. He is selling a real form of populism. Hell, he's running for re-election and says he doesn't even like politics. And, yes, he's still starting for the Sioux City Explorers. Further reading: "You're Probably Getting Screwed" Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is Kamala Harris’s “memeability” the key to her winning the presidential election in November? Or are Zoomers just having a laugh? How does one develop their “rizz”? Or are we sociopaths for even asking? And would you fight your parents if they named you Arthur (sorry to any Arthurs out there)? Also: Mina goes goth, Pablo has a secret nickname, and Dan wears pants. Further Reading: Could Kamala Harris’s “Brat summer” win her the presidency? (Vox) Is ‘Rizz’ the Secret to Getting Ahead at Work? (WSJ) AITA for fighting with my mom over my nickname? (Reddit) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Michelle Wie was hyped as nothing short of the next Tiger Woods. As a kid, she was a global sensation: competing against not just adult women but the men, at PGA Tour events — signing seven-figure sponsorship deals in the process. But now, two decades later, Michelle tells Pablo what child stardom was really like, behind the scenes. And she appraises a career unlike any other. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From a college dorm room to an 18-car garage, there is no "psychological mindf**k" quite like becoming a millionaire overnight. But a supermajority of athletes continue to squander their compressed window of lottery-like earnings. On the 15th anniversary of his seminal story for Sports Illustrated, "How (and Why) Athletes Go Broke," Pablo gets an honest re-appraisal from wealth-management advisor Todd Burach — and brave testimony from Justin Pugh and Antoine Walker — on where stars really are just like us when it comes to financial literacy, haves and have-nots... and pre-nups. Plus: Magic Johnson's one simple rule for staying rich, a heat-check on the entourage bullsh*t meter and the French Bulldog Cold War brewing in NFL locker rooms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to The Sporting Class! Meadowlark Media CEO John Skipper and Nothing Personal’s David Samson are back with another episode with host of Pablo Torre Finds Out ... Pablo Torre! It’s time for more NBA TV rights talk! It looks like NBC, ESPN, and Amazon have won the battle, even though Warner Bros. Discovery is trying to fight. What does the big money mean? Let’s take a look at the valuations of media rights deals and what comes next for sports leagues. Why is Knicks owner James Dolan so mad about it? He sent a letter to the league and is furious with the new NBA media rights deal. Why was he the only owner to vote against this new deal? We finally have seen some numbers on what’s happening with the WNBA. It’s a major increase. Welcome to the billion club! How will this new money impact the league? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is joining a club the key to healing our fractured nation? Would a robot be better than Katie Nolan at bartending? Would you cover your face in fish sperm for dermatological reasons? PLUS: the worst drink to order from a bartender, Dr. Dupixent, frankincense, myrrh, and late-breaking country music news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What do Mike Tyson, Lawrence Taylor, Darryl Strawberry and Herschel Walker have in common? They were Donald Trump's New York superstar allies in the 1980s — and they remain his time-warped avatars for Black American voters in 2024. Semafor political reporter Kadia Goba transports us from selling handbags at Trump Tower to receiving calls from these aging MAGA all-stars on a nostalgic, notorious and downright criminal journey toward interviewing Trump himself at Mar-a-Lago. Further reading: 'They see strength': The Black sports icons shaping Donald Trump's take on race, politics, and masculinity (Semafor) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders actually what they say they are? (And are they underpaid?) Also, how does a retired NFL player coach his own children without turning into Earl Woods? Plus: a fire alarm, a milking, a moonlighting meteorologist, a hard-to-get kung-fu master and the Hug-a-Bros. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before his best friend got him mixed up in the biggest story in baseball, Shohei Ohtani was a kind of child star caught in a state of arrested development. Enter the Japanese interpreter: part live-in nanny, part spouse in a trans-Pacific shotgun marriage. Correspondent Tim Rohan takes us inside an intimate profession that's closing ranks, post-scandal. Turns out, actual translating isn't the half of it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We tumble down the rabbithole of the global match-fixing scandal that’s quietly tearing apart the U.S. Olympic fencing team, ahead of their trip to Paris this month. And we investigate how it all connects to a spiraling refereeing crisis that takes us from Harvard and Princeton to the very top of the International Olympic Committee — and Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Where one of the world’s 100 richest people, Alisher Usmanov, has allegedly exported a culture of bribery and corruption that’s scared pretty much everybody in sabre fencing away from talking, on the record. Until now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pablo has unearthed a long-rumored, previously unpublished, for-your-eyes-only video from the summer of 2010, featuring a committee of A-list New Yorkers recruiting free agent LeBron James to the Garden. It may feature one of the biggest revelations in TV history, but let's just say — between a couple former politicians and another convicted rapist — that this tape has aged very, very poorly. Knicks superfans Jason Concepcion (@netw3rk) and Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) gaze into the ark of the covenant... and cringe. This episode originally aired April 16, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rex Chapman, former Great White Hope and author of the new memoir "It's Hard for Me to Live with Me," traces the fading of an endangered sports species, from his personal history as a basketball prodigy in the American South to the rise of the international game. This episode originally aired March 22, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Do athletes, coaches, and GMs give a s*** about what sports gasbags like Mina, Dan, and Pablo say about them? Early returns say: yes. Does Google suck now? Mina’s Reddit usage indicates: also yes. And most importantly, could you rawdog a 7-hour flight? Or, do we just like saying the word “rawdog”? Also: enshittification, Mina gaslights her husband, and the grief-eating truffle pig returns. Is Google S.E.O. Gaslighting the Internet? (Kyle Chayka) Why Men Are ‘Rawdogging’ Flights (Kate Lindsay) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The greatest trick the Buffalo Sabres ever pulled was convincing the world that Taro Tsujimoto really existed. Correspondent Michael J. Mooney takes us from a mysterious call in western New York to a hockey rink in the Himalayas — and explains why this completely made-up human has never felt more alive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is it better to remember or forget? Why do luxury car companies compete at Le Mans, a 24-hour race in a French town? And why do you watch streams of video games like Elden Ring (even if you’ll never play them)? Also: Michelin, Mongolia, core memories, downloadable chodes, and, as always, horse-punching. Further reading: I Have a Terrible Memory. Am I Better Off That Way? (Katy Schneider) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Forty years ago this week, the Chicago Bulls drafted Michael Jordan — giving rise to the holiest of basketball grails. Twenty-three autographed Jordan rookie cards would be scattered across the globe, in the form of Wonka-esque golden tickets. But at last check, nine of these cards had vanished. Correspondent Bradley Campbell gets to the bottom of a seven-figure mystery — spanning four decades, three continents, black-market conspiracies and an armored-car robber — that presaged the modern era of sports collectibles as an asset class. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At a time when so many are struggling with the regulation of expression, from Elon Musk's X to college campuses to the workplace, why did mixed-martial arts, of all things, rebrand itself as America’s leading bastion of free speech? Ariel Helwani, the sport's preeminent journalist and host of The MMA Hour, traces an evolving policy — from getting censored himself to a homophobic rant going viral — and explains how UFC boss Dana White has made a fortune in the name of “freedom.” This episode originally aired January 30, 2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He could be drawing up plays for superstars, after interviewing with the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, and more. But the ESPN commentator and "Old Man & the Three" podcaster has been leading a group of middle-schoolers in Brooklyn, with the same passion and perfectionism that he brought to Duke and then 15 seasons in the pros. If you thought you hated JJ Redick, just wait 'til you get inside the greatest mind in the history of fourth-grade basketball. This episode originally aired January 11, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You may remember Smush Parker from his very public, lopsided beef with the late Kobe Bryant, but there is so much more to the arc of Smush's life story — from being a toddler raised inside "The Cage," in New York City, to bringing up the ball right before "The Malice at the Palace" began. And now, it turns out, Smush Parker is committed to another shocking quest: become the fourth former NBA player, ever, to become an NBA referee. This episode originally aired December 19, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On one level, standup comedian Gary Vider’s childhood was a dream come true. He and his father, Manny, had virtually unlimited access to some of the biggest games and athletes and celebrities in the world. The only problem is that the whole thing was built on a complete lie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What’s the best way to pay tribute to a Hall of Famer whose spirit transcends both time and space? By calling up his tipi-crafting spiritual advisor — and, additionally, Oregon’s own Ian Karmel. Who himself poses an important question: why is Hollywood so bad at creating overweight characters? Also: the Bill of Bill, Katie’s Bible study, and Shlomo Puddingtits. Buy Ian's new book, T-Shirt Swim Club, here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The superstar once condemned as the most notorious anti-Semite in American sports is playing nice, even though he now works for the most influential pro-Israel donor in American politics, who happens to have Donald Trump in her pocket. Which is exactly why the NBA doesn't want you to know more about Miriam Adelson. New York magazine's Elizabeth Weil introduces the sports world to the king-making, history-altering extremist queen of courtside. Further reading: Miriam Adelson's Unfinished Business (Elizabeth Weil) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why can't America stop arguing about Caitlin Clark? (And who's actually right?) How much harder is raising a son these days? When should kids get cellphones? (AND DO YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN US?) Also: pinky shelves, and if we could have avoided all of this. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Oakland A's are leaving Oakland, but not before a rebel force of die-hards can remind billionaire nepo-baby John Fisher — the Kendall Roy of Major League Baseball — what it really means to be a fan. Slate's Joel Anderson embeds with the boycott movement and stops at nothing to unravel the conspiracy known as WristbandGate… even when it takes him to the depths of a notoriously sewage-infested stadium. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A magician — or mentalist — never reveals their secrets. But there’s a lot more to the illusion industry than meets the eye. Magician and New York Times puzzle constructor David Kwong joins Pablo to explain how the magic business polices itself like Major League Baseball; whether anyone legally owns a trick; and why he doesn’t claim to actually have superpowers. Also: yellowface, Harry Houdini, spiritualists, burying 52 playing cards in a backyard, professional liars, and the art of trying really, really hard. Pre-order David Kwong’s How to Fool Your Parents here: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/how-to-fool-your-parents-david-kwong?variant=41399439491106  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why do human beings seek vengeance? (And is it really a dish best served cold?) Can you really be friends with the opposite sex while married? (And is single-sex education a good idea?) Does intermittent fasting actually work? (And what does it mean to be hangry?) Also: ruining a real estate guy; canoodling at The Bear; threatening four-year-olds; fiber jealousy; Pout-Pout Fish; and Mina's many impersonations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

LEGO is, in many ways, the biggest education company on the planet — an influential form of learning about the world around us, whether you're a kid, or an NBA star like Victor Wembanyama, or the Emmy-winning comedian Wyatt Cenac, who spent months researching how the famously yellow faces on millions of mini-figures… became so racially confounding. Pablo and Wyatt unbox a gigantic foosball table and explore a plastic world where the Civil War and January 6 never end. More on race and LEGOs from Wyatt Cenac and Pineapple Street Media: https://www.wyattcenac.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The four NBA coaches who made the Conference Finals this season all have something in common: a pullover. Because unlike Pat Riley in Armani, or even Larry Brown in overalls (yes, overalls), modern basketball authority rejects individual style in favor of sideline uniformity. So we summon New York Times critic-at-large Wesley Morris (and his two Pulitzer Prizes) to help us explain how we got here. What we’ve really lost, amid this pandemic of athleisure. And why women’s college basketball has the heroes we desperately need. Also: mutating into a muppet; Don Zimmer vs. Pedro Martinez; Hubie Brown as Philippe Petit; and the most delicious glass bowl of chocolate pudding you could ever hope to taste.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who was disrupting Luka Doncic’s postgame playoff presser with sex noises? (We present our findings to Elle Duncan and Katie Nolan.) What’s it like encountering Kim Kardashian in the wild? (Elle reports.) And have you heard that thing about Ginuwine and Justin Timberlake from Britney Spears’ audiobook? (Katie has.) Also: an array of sounds that will be used against Pablo and Cortes for eternity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

No, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are not a government psy-op. But Shaun Raviv from "Sports Explains the World" joins us to tell the story of a sports figure who actually was: The CIA sent Jay Mullen to Uganda, undercover, in the 1970s. His job was to spy on the Soviet Union. But when one of the most notorious dictators in world history made Mullen the head coach of the Ugandan national basketball team, a different mission presented itself. So did The Russian Hulk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is what happens when three X-Men superfans wait roughly three decades to devour a cake made of nostalgia. Unapologetic, horny nostalgia — with important lessons for the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe therein. Also: Casual Gambit, Magneto being right, adamantium strategy, thruples, and Metal Jason Whitlock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who's your oldest friend — and why isn't it one of your parents? What makes the ideal best man — and is it because you're actually proud of your friends? Do boring podcasts help you fall asleep — or just incept your dreams? En route to the White House in an allegedly badass cardigan, sockless Pablo visits the co-hosts of The Domonique Foxworth Show to discuss sports parenting, the Papi writers' room, situational wedding-speech awareness, the Laremy Tunsil Standard… and sh*t-inducing sit-ups. Further reading: Are You in an Age-Gap Friendship? (Deborah Netburn) Is This the Most Boring Man in the World? (Spencer Jakab) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Millions of us hide in a ubiquitous sorrow. And pretty much all of us are horrible at talking about it. But Michael Cruz Kayne, Peabody-award winning writer for "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," has a theory about why death feels unspeakable. And how we can all get better at dealing with the most universal fact of life. In a behind-the-scenes look at his one-man show, "Sorry for Your Loss," Michael teaches Pablo about normalizing a taboo — and doing some seriously mind-blowing math in the process. Related links: "Sorry For Your Loss" (via Audible) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You might think that calling a game is easy. That Tom Brady can do this in his sleep. Jon "Boog" Sciambi, announcer for the Chicago Cubs and "MLB: The Show," teaches Pablo why the human voice is an instrument that requires restraint and distinction to record the first draft of sports history, then pass it down like an heirloom. Come for the PTFO dictionary's debut in the broadcast booth; stay for Nic Cage murdering Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg with a Toyota Outback at Wrigley Field. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It appears that, as a (crumbling) society, we have arrived at Peak Roast. With Tom Brady, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and Taylor Swift all recording their own versions of diss tracks. And the viral messages are both conspicuous and — even better — concealed. So, are Swifties and Rap Geniuses the same? Is it impossible to be a pop star if you’re old? Are fish just a gateway pet? Also: compliment competitions, beta or betta, Charlotte’s Mario impression, and why octopuses are ideal sex partners. Further reading: Justin Timberlake’s Air of Desperation (Esther Zuckerman) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the court, the Minnesota Timberwolves are making an astounding NBA Finals run, as Anthony Edwards becomes the next Michael Jordan before our very eyes. Behind closed doors, though, the sale of this skyrocketing franchise has devolved into civil war, as would-be owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore get betrayed by a "bumbling" and "diabolical" 83-year-old incumbent. Pablo's month-long investigation gives a rare glimpse at a soap opera within the most exclusive club of American life — one that is equal parts Game of Thrones, Succession and Fargo... and straight-up torture for Wolves super-fan Zach Harper. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The MVP is obsessed with the ancient sport of harness racing — because it may be hiding in plain sight as more exciting than the NBA playoffs. Acclaimed documentarian Mickey Duzyj talks to a GOAT and plays stable boy, then heads to the track to root on the official stallion of the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shea Serrano and Jason Concepcion are back! And this time they’re combing through all the NBA news from the past week and handing out six pop culture-themed trophies to six basketball-related activities. Every week, superlatives will reign down on basketball culture like Steph Curry threes when Jason and Shea dish out hoops honors like they’re Stockton to Malone running a pick & roll. Was that too many analogies for one sentence? Hell yes, but get used to it! In this NBA pop culture show from Wondery, the guys will honor the most magical and messy moments from the NBA and beyond by handing out hardware like “The Step Brothers Catalina Wine Mixer” Trophy for the matchup they’re most excited about. Or “The Liam Neeson ‘I Have a Very Particular Set of Skills’ Trophy given to an aging player who proves they still got it. And on and on. Till the break of dawn. Enjoy Six Trophies with Shea Serrano and Jason Concepcion wherever you get your podcasts, or listen here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is Jerry Seinfeld complaining about the culture wars, or just the fallout of mid TV? What's the deal with books? And what happens if Charles Barkley becomes a free agent? Plus: machetés, memoir titles and the return of Dan's favorite tile-matching castle video game. Further reading: The Scholar of Comedy (David Remnick) No One Buys Books (Elle Griffin) Charles Barkley: The Richest Free Agent in Sports TV History? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jon Bois, the internet's most creative documentarian, somehow uses Google Earth to take you on a journey from Viking longships, to Bob Gibson, to Ross Perot. His new docu-series, REFORM!, is the forgotten story of political quacks, wonks and clown cars. Its lessons are just as relevant today as they were in the '90s — in large part because some of those same cranks are still around, daring us to remember how we got here... and why we can't escape. Watch REFORM! https://www.patreon.com/SecretBase Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the early 1970s, two pitchers for the New York Yankees agreed to the wildest trade in sports history: They switched wives. And children. And furniture. And pets. But this sex scandal cut way deeper than the tabloid headlines. David Mandel — veteran writer for Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Veep and The Simpsons — laments his big-screen adaptation that never was... even though the ultimate passion project could have starred Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. And we go deep inside a story that's equal parts swinging and missing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How are so many people still falling in love with fake people online? What happened to all the sh*thead kids? And is cable TV somehow making a comeback? Plus: poopy, boobies, Billy Koch and flipping the puck to the fat kid. Further reading: The TV Show That Predicted America's Lonely, Disorienting Digital Future (Maya Salam) The Undertaker: A Seven-Year-Old Named Bjorn Threatened to Shoot Me in the Face and Called Me a Democrat (Jeremy Lambert) Americans' New TV Habit: Subscribe. Watch. Cancel. Repeat. (John Koblin/Goblin) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We find ourselves at a rare moment in human history, facing an undefinable industry worth trillions, which happens to be concentrated in the hands of a few billionaire stewards like the doomsayer Elon Musk, the evangelist Sam Altman and MMA enthusiast Mark Zuckerberg. Are they just super-villains plotting our own destruction? Washington Post columnist Josh Tyrangiel’s entire beat is artificial intelligence. So we ask him to contemplate the odds of extinction — and why A.I. might just cure James Harden's addiction to strip clubs. Further reading: How A.I. Could Transform Baseball Forever Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A viral video of a weeping Caleb Williams, the top prodigy in this week’s draft, “scares the sh*t out of a lot of NFL teams.” So correspondent Dave Fleming breaks out the tissues — and a stack of research — to discover what the science of crying disproves about the pseudo-science of scouting; why a Super Bowl locker room was like a scene out of “The Notebook”; and how even the Darth Vader of football (allegedly) choked up. Plus: Domonique Foxworth names names — and changes our basic understanding of the most masculine of sports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Comedian Dan Soder has come a long way since the seeds-and-stems days of kitty-litter gravity bongs. After quitting drinking and cigarettes and tethering many super-high people back to Earth, he has — at least temporarily — taken a weed sabbatical, ahead of the amateur holiday for dorks. His fiancée and Pablo... not so much. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you want to trace the normalization of weed in sports and America, there is no better ambassador than NBA champion and "All The Smoke" host Matt Barnes. Taking gravity-bong rips to go full "Teen Wolf" in high school? Check. Beating drug tests in college and, uh, having a narc watch him pee — and poop! — during a test in the NBA? Yeah. Smoking with Woody Harrelson on his head coach's balcony, during the playoffs? Really. But the NBA came late to the cannabis party, as "more than half the league… from the superstars to the rookies" got caught in pro basketball's race-baiting, steroid-fearing war on drugs. In a new era of acceptance, marijuana might just help hoopers stop the next Kobe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pablo has unearthed a long-rumored, previously unpublished, for-your-eyes-only video from the summer of 2010, featuring a committee of A-list New Yorkers recruiting free agent LeBron James to the Garden. It may feature one of the biggest revelations in TV history, but let's just say — between a couple former politicians and another convicted rapist — that this tape has aged very, very poorly. Knicks superfans Jason Concepcion (@netw3rk) and Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) gaze into the ark of the covenant... and cringe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's one of the greatest TV shows in America right now: The Caitlin Clark effect of being David and Goliath at the same time. Angel Reese's ability to provoke and emote. The wisdom and 4D chess of Dawn Staley. And yet, for a TV writer and stand-up comic who's been evangelizing the women's game for decades, this season has been like showing a friend The Sopranos for the first time. Having witnessed March Madness and in anticipation of next week's WNBA Draft, Morgan Murphy and Pablo determine that the ensuing hot takes from sports media's "empire of garbage" may signal that normalization is here to stay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Should you believe astrologers who only say what you want to hear? Is there a better way to enjoy life with Gmail, if you're not at Inbox Seven? And what happens when you stop "living nowhere"? Plus: The Strip-Mall Chain Institution Draft, deodorant, Brozempic, tree-knocking, and Other Pablo. Further reading: Sports Astrology (Andrea Mallis) Happy 20th Anniversary, Gmail. I'm Sorry I'm Leaving You. (Ezra Klein) What the Suburb Haters Don't Understand (Julie Beck) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sports video games pride themselves on their simulation of reality. But the most popular ones that Americans know and love — Madden, FIFA, NBA 2K, MLB: The Show — cannot compete with an intensely specific and uniquely important game called Football Manager. Which got so good at simulating soccer that it converted a worldwide army of real-life players, coaches, and executives into genuine obsessives — changing the multi-billion dollar soccer industry itself. PTFO’s London correspondent, Kieran Morris, embarks on a global quest to explain the Football Manager revolution… and jeopardizes his impending marriage in the process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How should we react to sex scenes now? Has MrBeast mastered the modern algorithm? And what is the secret formula to ultimate beauty? Plus: Dan's secret iPad game addiction, Papi's hairy belly and dirty fantasies of Quin Snyder. Further content: The Death of the Sex Scene (Sophie Gilbert) The 'Beastification of YouTube' May Be Coming to an End (Taylor Lorenz) $INCEL Technology Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pablo's detective agency is back, with serious #journalism for the internet's most burning sports questions: Can halftime acrobat Red Panda get into the Hall of Fame? (Yes! But only with your help.) Why are athletes so good at spitting? (Yuck.) Where did "juicing" start? (Double yuck.) And will "One Shining Moment" ever be replaced? (Wait for it….) Sign the Red Panda petition NOW: https://www.change.org/RedPandaHOF Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mat Ishbia is a housing tycoon, and he was supposed to insulate the NBA's house from disgrace. But eye-opening new reporting from investigative startup Hunterbrook Media alleges that Ishbia's company became the country's largest mortgage lender with "a lie." Hunterbrook's Sam Koppelman examines how the owner's competitive management style parallels his approach to basketball and why Ishbia could even be forced to sell the Suns, while Pablo explores how Ishbia's childhood hero — Isiah Thomas — fits into how both the Suns and United Wholesale Mortgage have been operating, behind closed doors. Further reading: "The Lie That Made UWM America's Largest Mortgage Lender" (Hunterbrook Media) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One of the greatest writers in America has a new book, "There's Always This Year," that is ostensibly about LeBron James. But this bona fide MacArthur Genius contains multitudes — and big feelings. About sneakers; sunsets; his probation officer; the revelations of pick-up basketball; Game Sevens; the meaning of "making it"; and why it's totally fine to jump in the air without a plan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What do pickup artists get totally wrong about successfully attracting women? Should you get a QR code on your gravestone? And did the three of us make a horrible, horrible mistake by talking about our old blogs in public? Sarah Spain, Charlotte Wilder, and Pablo discuss. ALSO: Mystery's sun necklace; scouting HB9's; crossfit; why your twenties are overrated; Pablog; gender dynamics in media; and the Dan Orlovsky of incels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Think about the thing you’ve practiced more than anything else in the world. Maybe it’s painting. Or writing. Or playing the piano. Now imagine you wake up one day and you just can’t do it. You’re not sick. You’re not injured. But that one thing is impossible. It’s called the yips, and even the most talented people in the world experience it. What could cause them to lose their superpowers? And is there anything they can do to get them back? Today, a special bonus episode from our friends over at Unexplainable, a Vox Media podcast that explores scientific mysteries, unanswered questions, and all the things we learn by diving into the unknown. New episodes of Unexplainable are available every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pablo convinced Katie Nolan and Amin Elhassan to do something he’s wanted to do ever since PTFO launched: play Spider-Man 2 using the giant LCD screen that normally sits right behind him. And have an entire conversation — about punching through Ikea furniture; Rocket League; AOL screen names; multitasking; the Spider-Man canon; and our personal journeys through video games — while doing it. Which is all to say that this episode is a bit of an experiment. And you can watch it all on our YouTube channel, please: https://www.youtube.com/@pablotorrefindsout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rex Chapman, former Great White Hope and author of the new memoir "It's Hard for Me to Live with Me," traces the fading of an endangered sports species, from his personal history as a basketball prodigy in the American South to the rise of the international game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s been years since these three friends saw each other, in person. Or even virtually. And so it is our distinct pleasure to relive Pablo’s second-favorite thing that happened during the pandemic. As well as Amin’s most recent global viral humiliation, which now comes with important religious context. And also the digital foundation of Katie’s eternal love for Dan Soder. ALSO: being left on read by celebrities; Crazy Puffs; hand abstinence; the Chinese government; and vaguely racist voice filters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The death blow to the NCAA won't be dealt by college athletes unionizing, as historic as that movement is. It will come from a seemingly anonymous man named Jeffrey Kessler: an attorney who also happens to be the greatest sports lawyer of all time. Kessler has fought for everyone from Tom Brady to the U.S. women's national soccer team — and now, after winning in front of the Supreme Court, he's busy changing the very nature of college sports. Pablo invites Kessler into the PTFO studio and pressure-tests whether college athletes could finally wrest what's allegedly owed to them: billions, plural, in past damages from the NCAA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is the line beyond which we need to say Aaron Rodgers shouldn't be taken seriously? And why won't crows pick up trash? Plus: Bone Tomahawk, Inspectah Charles Johnson, the QAnon of architecture, and Project Acoustic Kitty. Further reading: RFK Jr.'s VP prospect Aaron Rodgers has shared false Sandy Hook conspiracy theories in private conversations (Pamela Brown and Jake Tapper) Here's all the dumb sh*t Aaron Rodgers recently said on a conspiracy theory podcast (Sean Keeley) The Magic of Bird Brains (Ben Crair) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The story of the NBA cannot be told without Oscar Schmidt, the most prolific scorer in the history of the world. But that hasn't stopped our fellow Americans from trying to do exactly that. So today, with LeBron James on pace to break Oscar's record of 49,737 career points, Pablo travels to glorious Orlando, Florida and sits down with the legend who refused to play in the league, despite getting drafted. And we find out why Oscar's impact on basketball — like his laugh — still echoes through the game today.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Prepare yourself for the warm glow of late-'90s nostalgia: In the era of boy-band supremacy (and a little Korn), the 'TRL' countdown was America's high-school cafeteria — a daily election of cool for youth culture. Until one fateful day in music history, twenty five years ago this week, when a chain letter set off a movement to hack the vote. Correspondent Yourgo Artsitas examines whether MTV's shadow government was protecting the the sanctity of our culture... with a lie. Learn more: https://trolldoc.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What can we learn from the power-grab by NFL prodigy Caleb Williams and his stage dad? Why does Pablo always feel so bad about saying "no"? And how does one begin to argue better? Plus: Uncle Dennis, giant babies and literally sticking to sports. Further reading: Caleb Williams and Team Intend on Owning the Process (Kalyn Kahler) https://theathletic.com/5301341/2024/02/28/caleb-williams-quarterback-nfl-draft-ownership/ The Mind-Boggling Simplicity of Learning to Say 'No' (Leslie Jamison) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/well/mind/saying-no.html Overwhelmed? Just Say 'No.' (Arthur C. Brooks) https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/02/saying-no-science-happiness/677579/ How Happy Couples Argue (Derek Thompson) https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/02/how-to-fight-conversation-advice/677594/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How did the only person who’s ever won multiple Pulitzer Prizes for Criticism develop his sense of taste? Who needs a movie review when we’ve got Rotten Tomatoes and streaming algorithms? And do we even have real movie stars anymore? Wesley Morris, New York Times critic at large, makes the case for professional criticism over customer service. (And why Stephen A. Smith belongs to the proud tradition of camp.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The legendary basketball coach has made a comeback at St. John's, which paints him as a role model. But Pitino's past has only become more and more mysterious, beyond the Adidas bribery scandal, a love triangle and so-called Strippergate. Correspondent Tim Rohan speaks to the private investigator who gave Pitino a lie-detector test... then gets a bizarre letter, a late-night phone call and a trip down a rabbit hole that leads all the way toward dirt on the Clintons and the federal investigation into Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A PTFO listener sends Pablo on a mission to figure out which athlete-branded booze is best. Is it James Harden’s wine? Steph Curry’s bourbon? Can we finally end the LeBron v. MJ debate with a tequila tasting? Pseudo-expert Katie Nolan and real expert Jason Wilson help Pablo get drunk very quickly, and also get to the bottom of whether athlete alcohol is delectable or douchey. Also: spitting, dumping, loam, and a champagne HR violation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is sex a performance-enhancing drug? Pablo and Domonique insert themselves into the debate over "post-nut clarity" with exhaustive research, from a pre-game onesome in the locker room and abstinence as a coaching philosophy, to the stamp of approval from Drake, Megan Rapinoe and actual doctors — Pablo's dad included. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Do you trust the sanctity of data and proof of objectivity? What if we told you that a guru at the forefront of the analytics revolution... had cooked the books of the NBA, to boost stars of the Jordan era? Correspondent Tom Haberstroh confronts a statistician with an invisible hand — and reveals that the pumping-up of our historical record is more widespread today than even nerds like Pablo had accounted for. The human element, after all, can always grease the wheels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We’ve found a dose of optimism amid America’s exhausting gun debate. And it’s located in the incredible life story of Jason Kander: a former Army intelligence officer and political prodigy, knighted by Barack Obama himself, who had to drop out of politics, entirely. But now, one week after the mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade, Kander — a fifth-generation Kansas Citian — tells us how the gun industry’s biggest scam is also its greatest legal strength. And why one relatively unknown piece of legislation, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, is the key to changing everything. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why did Jennifer Lopez self-fund an allegorical $20 million “movie” about her life? (And why did all three of us watch it?) How good are we at the Dutch art of doing nothing? (And should we reimagine the concept of “something”?) And, finally, who’s on our personal Enemies Lists? (And why is it FS1’s Nick Wright?) Further reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osu2N9gysYk https://variety.com/2024/film/features/jennifer-lopez-this-is-me-now-musical-film-ben-affleck-love-story-1235908364/ https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/feb/07/the-art-of-doing-nothing-have-the-dutch-found-the-answer-to-burnout-culture https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/17/well/bed-rotting-hurkle-durkle.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's easy to shot-shame a player at the free-throw line and athletes who throw funny. From the depths of that bullying and loneliness, though, a revolution is brewing, with adaptations so innovative that they may shame sports themselves. Pablo goes bowling with Jason Belmonte — the two-handed Tiger Woods of the lanes — and learns how to succeed in life while looking kinda stupid. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is Tom Brady just going to be a cranky bastard in the broadcast booth? Is Jon Stewart just SUPPOSED to be a cranky bastard on The Daily Show? Will Joe Biden just inevitably be the cranky bastard we need for democracy to survive? And have group chats replaced hanging out? Further reading: Why Americans Suddenly Stopped Hanging Out (Derek Thompson) Return to Bullsh*t Mountain (Sam Adams) For Voters, When Does Old Become Too Old? (Nate Cohn) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was either everything that's right or wrong with America, but the very public relationship between Scottie Pippen's ex-wife and Michael Jordan's son is very much over — deleted Instagram posts, passive-aggressive polls, and all. Miserable Pablo and cowardly Cortes take a victory lap, revisiting how they may have triggered the biggest celebrity breakup of the year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

America's stratospheric sports power couple joins our Valentine's Day episode — part unnecessary couples therapy, part post-retirement exit interview — with down-to-Earth perspective on marriage, kids, the evolution of acceptance, the limitations of love language, and how to get some in a long-distance relationship. Plus: Trump, kneeling, the tragic humor of a career-ending injury, the metronome ringing in an athlete's brain, and the joy of not working out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pablo's detective agency is back, just in time for Super Bowl Sunday, with the face-melting concert that puts Usher to shame, the flag-football fantasy draft, the most shameless celebrity endorser of all time, and yet more shameless content for the Swifties. Plus: That @ArtButMakeItSports guy has gotta be using A.I., right? What does Pablo's laugh sound like? And is the Miami Heat mascot on drugs? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're all desperately seeking self-improvement, so Pablo puts aside the spiritual mumbo-jumbo, puts his friends to the test, and emerges with something like service journalism: how to breathe correctly, exercise better, appreciate your career choices, accept failure, thank your feet, and learn to love your own superpower. (Even if that superpower is using a Jedi mind trick to singe your own thumb down to ash.) Further reading: The World's Happiest People All Share These 15 Things in Common (CNBC) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jet packs! Double kickoffs! Protest! The helmet-less, hungover superstar with a dynasty at stake! A killer game clock! Unconsciousness! The first Super Bowl was a sh*tshow. So why hasn't anyone seen it? Because the footage vanished for a half-century, only to resurface — with a million-dollar bounty — from an attic in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, and get thrown in a vault under lock and key. Until correspondent Devin Gordon entered the time machine to witness the progenitor of Travis Kelce, feel the primordial ooze from which Taylor Swift may have been formed… and, yes, to open a Playgirl centerfold featuring a man called The Hammer. Special thanks to Richard Sandomir for his reporting. For more, visit: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/03/sports/football/super-bowl-i-recording-broadcast-nfl-troy-haupt.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is the right wing ganging up on two huge things — Taylor Swift and sports itself — precisely because they're huge? Can you go with the flow and still be productive? Why is Elmo — and the internet — making us so sad? Plus: Dan Le Batard's screaming female orgasm. Further reading: Why Is the Right So Weird About Taylor Swift? (New York) How to Have a More Productive Year (The New Yorker) Elmo Asked an Innocuous Question (The New York Times) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Float like a butterfly, sting like... a standup comic? Sixty years ago, long before the current golden age of smack talk, a 21-year-old Cassius Clay was nominated for a Grammy, for what should be considered the first diss album — a poetic, heavyweight takedown of Sonny Liston in the lead-up to their epic 1964 title bout. Andscape's Justin Tinsley tracks how this forgotten record led to the name Muhammad Ali, to national conversations around Black Muslims, to Ali protesting the Vietnam War, even to the birth of hip-hop... and the prevention of tooth decay. Further reading: The Grammy-nominated Cassius Clay (Andscape) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At a time when so many are struggling with the regulation of expression, from Elon Musk's X to college campuses to the workplace, why did mixed-martial arts, of all things, rebrand itself as America’s leading bastion of free speech? Ariel Helwani, the sport's preeminent journalist and host of The MMA Hour, traces an evolving policy — from getting censored himself to a homophobic rant going viral — and explains how UFC boss Dana White has made a fortune in the name of “freedom.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The third installment in the historic trilogy that is Katie Nolan vs. Celebrity Jeopardy! is a real journey. A journey through word games, organic chemistry, and love itself. Also: video game injuries, Woke Rodney Dangerfield, and not that Lisa Ann. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For all of the Aaron Rodgers-ization of psychedelics, they remain revolutionary, and the co-creator of Chapelle's Show turned standup comic has the ultimate endorsement: Sure, Amazonian plant tea might make you cry for two hours after drinking it with Chris Rock. But ayahuasca is a mental-health medicine that will also help you fall in love and, you know, feel the presence of God. So relax about the throwing up. Fear not the toad venom, and embrace the white void before the Big Bang. Ignore the football players yammering about "ego death," and consider the possibilities of a road-to-Damascus experience. Or not. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Quarterbacks yell it. Gamers revel in it. Bros text memes and hashtags of it. And as displayed on live TV in the NFL regular season AND playoffs, even Travis Kelce's girlfriend loves it. How did a simple phrase transform from a Jumbotron clap-along into such a ubiquitous exclamation? With apologies to Tom Brady and Lil Jon, correspondent Jeremy Taché searches for the real GOAT of "Let's Go!" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pablo Torre is known for finding out about things, but in this episode, The Cooligans find out about him!  We're hyped to have fellow Meadowlarker and host of Pablo Torre Finds Out, Pablo Torre, join the show! Pablo, Christian, and Alexis discus Pablo's beef with Marcus Jordan and Larsa Pippen, getting roasted by Dan Le Batard, and being racially ambiguous to other Latinos and Asians. The guys also tease Pablo for his lack of soccer knowledge on ESPN and debate whether it was worth it to miss Messi's first Inter Miami goal for some chicken fingers. Exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/SoccerCooligans This is where we put everything we shouldn't say 😉 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He is one of the most talented stand-ups in America. But Roy Wood Jr. is also of the most deliberate thinkers about his craft. Roasting Joe Biden? Nerve-wracking as hell. Hosting an awards show? Like performing for LeBron in the locker room before Game Seven. The former Daily Show correspondent explains the affirmation of not succeeding Trevor Noah, the Taylor Swift-proof takeaway from Jo Koy's Golden Globes monologue, the point of getting booed, the power of free jokes... and how he almost ended up as a baseball umpire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who was the human inside the viral bowl-game mascot, and is said mascot still alive? We investigate VERY seriously. Plus: Why are so many women drinking out of the Stanley cup? And what does your depth chart of friends look like? Also: aggressive familiarity, the most arousing mascot alive, raccoon hands, Gronk's beach party, and Pablo's Pogs. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/g9h-AbjQaXQ Related (non-beastiality-adjacent) content: Thirsty after you catch on fire? (TikTok) What your water bottle says about you (The Los Angeles Times) How much time does it take to be a close friend? (The Wall Street Journal) The buddy boost: how 'accountability partners' make you healthy, happy and more successful (The Guardian) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From LeBron to Deion and Wall Street to Washington, one pervasive term has come to encapsulate a human desire for domination. Correspondent Bradley Campbell heads into the wild — with aerial wolf-hunting, bespoke bear-drugging, and more — to discover that the science behind the "alpha" … is based on a mistake. The new truth, however, may teach even and especially the most gentle among us how to become better leaders. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Cx8spsfoUjo (If you are having thoughts of suicide, you can call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How does Katie keep dominating at trivia on national television? Is it vase or vahhze? And what in the Nick Saban was that young man doing stuck in an urn? Plus: animal idiom brainteasers, the road warriors of handsome, Kristi Yamaguccimane, going Fahrenheit 451 on "Wings," and climbing the Mortal Kombat totem pole that inevitably leads to Ice-T. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7uRc7SbVbkw Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He could be drawing up plays for superstars, after interviewing with the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, and more. But the ESPN commentator and "Old Man & the Three" podcaster has been leading a group of middle-schoolers in Brooklyn, with the same passion and perfectionism that he brought to Duke and then 15 seasons in the pros. If you thought you hated JJ Redick, just wait 'til you get inside the greatest mind in the history of fourth-grade basketball. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5m4OQBOhfOM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A battle over academic freedom is boiling over, beyond Harvard, and Florida governor Ron DeSantis and his cronies have already taken over one college in their effort to win the culture war. But the wildest part is how they're weaponizing an absolutely enormous baseball team to do it. Correspondent Jeb Lund reports on accusations of unconstitutionality — and mascot duplicity — at his alma mater, with a warning about how right-wing activists might use their sports blueprint next. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IqNPY0pnQ2E Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why is Travis Kelce the most famous player in the NFL? How much should you miss booze during Dry January? Where can you get away from everything? Should you trust anyone with really nice teeth? Plus: dorky cussing, human fists, Big Masseuse, 16-beers-deep Chris Cote, and a casual aside about allegedly murdering your roommate. Further reading: Kicking the Habit (Slate) The People Who Brought You Travis Kelce (The New York Times) They Sold Everything to Go on a 3-Year Cruise. How It All Unraveled. (The New York Times) Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/17UhD1blqNE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Underground in a Bond-esque bunker. Inside a private club with a league commissioner. Across the table from an executive with a parrot on his shoulder. And, finally, at the courthouse for a global legal drama centered around "a corrupt organization" operating "outside the law": This is how Pablo's boss at Meadowlark Media — and the former president of ESPN — went from a high-stakes, handshake deal... to a knock on the door from the feds... to becoming a government witness. Also: the future of the World Cup, and yachts. Lots and lots of yachts. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Gwo4X8XTAVw Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They were raised to chug whipping cream and turn every meal into an all-you-can-eat buffet. But somehow, America’s most popular New Year’s resolution is most embodied by the extreme transformation of none other than offensive linemen. In retirement, these pioneers of gluttony have reverse-engineered themselves physically but also evolved mentally. And as former 315-pounder Mike Golic Jr. peels away the layers beyond the six-pack, with reflections from former colleagues Joe Thomas and Nick Hardwick, he reveals that sustainable personal change goes way beyond the weight. (If you are having thoughts of suicide, you can call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.) Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hl8b1iYP5c8 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the Denver Broncos crumble all around Russell Wilson, the superstar quarterback has never been more fascinating. Or more unknowable. But Nate Tice was Wilson’s backup, roommate, and occasional speechwriter at the University of Wisconsin. And to hear these college confessions — about a shirt-tucked, Timberlake-loving try-hard, who is possibly from outer space — is to finally understand the weirdest athlete on Planet Earth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This year, Emmy-winning screenwriter Cord Jefferson (Watchmen, Succession, The Good Place, Master of None) has become a major Oscar contender for his directorial debut movie, American Fiction. So we wanted to ask Cord the truth about awards, competitiveness, race, external validation, and happiness. Also, the Men In Black soundtrack. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4O3jaJ1TN94 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You may remember him as the paternity-test king of fever-pitch daytime television. But this renaissance man has seen it all — the JFK assassination, Waco, a woman who's afraid of aluminum foil — and he has emerged an optimist. Climb into your TV for wisdom on courage, vulnerability, and reassurance from the OG who held up Pro Bowlers at practice... and introduced the world to Cotton Ball Man. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pablo only understands the true meaning of making this show, not the holiday season. So the ghosts of Christmas break pay him a visit, to pay it forward with recommendations for reality shows and Christmas songs, plus an important investigation into the truth about Santa Claus. May bonus content bless you, everyone. PTFO-approved xmas playlists: Charlotte Wilder's Christmas-Song Christmas Songs Cortes's Holiday Mix Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/DlGMJ4GO7Oo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" is the PTFO Movie of the Year™ but how does all this comic-book content feel so new, when constraint is supposed to be the mother of creativity? Also: Will Marvel explain away Jonathan Majors? Can you actually draft an all-white Pro Bowl roster, with so much "reverse racism" against cornerbacks? And how can we all be a little nicer next year? Further content: "I'm sick of average white guys commenting on football...." (@R_Mendenhall) The Spider-Man Problem (Planet Money) Marvel, Disney drop actor Jonathan Majors after he's convicted of assaulting his former girlfriend (AP) Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4hiz7wbx6ws Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You may remember Smush Parker from his very public, lopsided beef with the late Kobe Bryant, but there is so much more to the arc of Smush's life story — from being a toddler raised inside "The Cage," in New York City, to bringing up the ball right before "The Malice at the Palace" began. And now, it turns out, Smush Parker is committed to another shocking quest: become the fourth former NBA player, ever, to become an NBA referee. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZWFEMq7prXc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What if the afterlife sounded like a pro wrestler? Does Vivek Ramaswamy have the nuts for a pay-per-view debate with Pablo? And how the hell do you get out of a gym membership? Plus: enormous dildos, dong tennis, cock-adjacent merch, Harry Houdini's quads, and several special ringside appearances. Further reading: NJ Bill Would Allow Consumers to Cancel Gym Memberships Online and Easily (Asbury Park Press) Using A.I. to Talk to the Dead (The New York Times) Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-SwgmSvrpwU Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As a teenage prankster crashing the football transfer window, Kieran Morris juiced the Wikipedia page for an obscure player across the globe, and word spread from London to the MLS of a legend in the making: The Honduran Maradona. Ten years later, our correspondent finds out what really happened to Alexander Lopez. (Adapted from an episode of Sports Explains the World) Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-QzVmd8TEjw Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hersh Goldberg-Polin was devoted to an Israeli football club fighting for peace. Supporters of its rival include far-right Israeli politicians like a national-security minister hellbent on war — and a racist mob. If you want help understanding the Israel-Hamas conflict, Hersh's abduction by terrorists is a window to the world. Correspondent Amos Barshad interviews his loved ones and finds a silver lining. (Read the companion article at The Lever) Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/R0IoouIfXNc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why are we allowing the most flagrant liar in American politics to shamelessly Cameo-wash himself with direct-to-consumer content? Is it so unreasonable that Shohei Ohtani isn't handling his free agency like the American sports media wants him to? And about that sports media: Are the olds — and words — about to get left behind? (Plus: farts in a jar and the ballad of the teacup Maltese.) PTFO-approved reading: Shohei Ohtani's Secretive Free Agency Is a Missed Opportunity for Him and MLB (Buster Olney) How Gen Z Is Killing Sports Media as We Know It (Alex Reimer) Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/puOmElQS7R8 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The comic, actor, and Daily Show correspondent/president shovels out content with the best of 'em. But he also believes in bombing onstage to learn the optimum level of failure. He believes in using anger to win over an audience — or to find a new favorite team, or to find love. Ronny Chieng believes. Also: watching thousands of hours of Patriots documentaries, torrenting "Around the Horn," dialing up NBA Live, getting Covid based on your fandom... and the best foul-mouthed Bill Belichick impersonation you've ever heard. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fX5AnWhP65s Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A fierce debate — about no less than the meaning of intelligence itself — has broken out in the world of football scouting, as star quarterback C.J. Stroud puts together one of the best rookie QB seasons ever... after bombing the new Wonderlic test. But can this S2 Cognition exam actually predict how your brain impacts athletic performance? Pablo puts himself to the ultimate test of mental agility, with a little help from Alex Smith — and with a LOT of expletives. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/inuwR73XKw0 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

No conference-championship weekend in the history of the College Football Playoff has higher stakes than the one upon us right now. And so we turn to John Urschel — newly liberated CFP selection committee member; ex-NFL lineman; and current MIT mathematician — to shed the cloak and drop the dagger. And we learn what actually happens, behind closed doors, as hordes of furious fans demand the favor of a cabal that might be more Office Space than Eyes Wide Shut. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/EjkxEv7nIBY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is the Sports Illustrated A.I. scandal dystopian, funny, or just plain sad? Depends whether you think art has a soul. Are champion athletes predisposed to addictive tendencies? Depends if you think you've gotta be a workaholic a$$hole to create great art. And what's with that commercial for a futuristic hostel on the NFL games? Depends if you're willing to live in a fake utopia. Plus: powdered wigs, Piña coladas, chum buckets, bone saws, flying cars, Faulkner, DiMaggio, the Michael Jordan of being present, and a parliament of owls. Further PTFO-approved content: Sports Illustrated Published Articles by Fake, AI-Generated Writers (Futurism) An Addictive Personality Can Facilitate Sporting Greatness — but What Are the Consequences? (The Athletic) This Is NEOM (YouTube) Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8FFp_wqjs5o Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who runs Magic's extraordinarily earnest Twitter account? Is Wu-Tang really that good at chess? Just how racist is the Oklahoma Sooner mascot? Is Victor Wembanyama the end of human evolution? Also: cotton balls, buttholes, and trolls. You asked, we investigated — with a little help from Rob Lowe, Method Man, Masta Killa, and Killers of the Flower Moon author David Grann. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zAJhIrX1vBs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Politicians don't want transgender people dominating girls' sports. But Ember Zelch just wanted to play softball, and nobody else seemed to mind. She was, after all, the ONLY trans girl officially even PLAYING girls' varsity sports in her ENTIRE state. Pablo travels to Ohio to learn why Ember fought for her right to love sports anyway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pablo investigates a story including, but not limited to, a Duke basketball champion, a World War II treasure hunt, an alleged con man, Bob Marley, Dan Snyder, and an attempt to make history by purchasing the Washington Commanders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The FTX founder was a "martian" to the sports world. Why did he spend so much on arena naming rights and superstar endorsements? And how the hell did SBF become friends with TB12? Authors Michael Lewis (Going Infinite) and Zeke Faux (Number Go Up) witnessed the rise and fall of a crypto king. Now we can do the postmortem: “Moneyball, on steroids, gone wrong.”  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is Bill Belichick now the grandfather you need to take the car keys away from? Is OnlyFans just selling loneliness? Is OnlyDans a thing? And how close did Dan get to death's door on ketamine? Also: a rooting baby, the jist, and premature dismounts.  PTFO-approved reading: Inside an OnlyFans empire: Sex, influence and the new American Dream Bill Belichick Is About to Get Fired, and Nobody Cares What If Psychedelics’ Hallucinations Are Just a Side Effect? Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xpwLxtAbVnU Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What happens when restaurants become gas stations and farts disappear? You don't take food or fragrance for granted, especially around Thanksgiving. David Samson — host of Nothing Personal, gourmand, notorious lover of candy — didn't back down when Covid robbed him of his senses. He adapted, with phantom taste buds and a hedonistic calculus change to make his brain start tasting for him. He even took a Michelin-star vacation to Italy. And he put hot sauce on pretty much everything. So, of course, Pablo challenged him to the ultimate tasteless taste test, courtesy of Hot Ones. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/f3udcjwHpHU Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The former co-host of Desus & Mero is also a former strip-club manager, crackhouse re-builder, domain-name seller, dead-rat picker-upper, and, by his own admission, a bit of a sad clown. Now, after the end of a beloved duo, "Hollywood Desus" wants to do every job in entertainment as a soloist. Plus: joints in the stairwell, porn in the library, NYC mayor Eric Adams in the club, robots in the kitty litter, how to use therapy as an operating system, and how to export the misery of being a Knicks fan. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/YhydpKJHrkE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Action Bronson raps, cooks, paints, hosts, and acts (for Martin Scorsese, at least). He also has philosophical explanations for why A) he never wears pants, B) his go-to move is the headbutt, and C) nothing is better than a VHS tape. But Action Bronson had still never heard of the Accidental Bronson tribute account. Until now. Plus: AOL screennames, robot vacuum murder, and saggy balls. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Y8o52aFn1Wc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Can magic mushrooms help you see God? Are parents more of a danger to their kids than the world? Are we creating a garbage patch in space? Plus: Courtside seats with Jesus, CrossFit vs. witchcraft, bunnies vs. predators, Master Splinter, and mattresses. Lots and lots of mattresses. Also: When we flush, where does the poop go? Further reading: God, Magic Mushrooms, and Me (Esquire) Childhood Independence Is a Mental-Health Issue (The Cut) Befouling the Final Frontier (The New York Times Magazine) Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QUDvY5Ls_Eo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Johnny McEntee went viral before virality, as a trick-shot QB at UConn. He foresaw the rise of Donald Trump, while ordering him KFC on the campaign trail. He was straight out of central casting, but suddenly "Johnny Mac" the quarterback became enforcer-in-chief for the commander-in-chief, running a presidential "Gestapo" and hand-picking cabinet secretaries. Correspondent Devin Gordon meets a Trumpworld action figure and asks: How did this in-over-his-head loyalist get so powerful? And could it happen again? Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/JZGb3Z3Qk68 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Would you clone your dying dog? Why are burner accounts still a thing? And how much do you REALLY care about what other people think about you? Also: Stephen A. Smith mispronouncing Pablo's name (twice), Dan sobbing shirtless in a convertible, and Pablo defending the relative scale of his narcissistic, psychopathic Machiavellianism. Further reading: Are Pet Cloners Happy With Their Choice? The Atlantic HBO Bosses Used ‘Secret’ Fake Accounts to Troll TV Critics Rolling Stone The Sociopaths Among Us — and How to Avoid Them The Atlantic Dark Triad Personality Test (If You Dare) Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xZvtRCuNdPs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This fall, Emmy-winning screenwriter Cord Jefferson (Watchmen, Succession, The Good Place, Master of None) has become a major Oscar contender for his directorial debut movie, the forthcoming (and deeply funny) American Fiction. So we wanted to ask Cord the truth about awards, competitiveness, race, external validation, and happiness. Also, the Men In Black soundtrack. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4O3jaJ1TN94 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Shakespearean. It's Freudian. It's a Greek myth with a Real Housewife. Yes, sports fans: Marcus Jordan and Larsa Pippen are getting married. But are they just a reality-TV couple engineered to goose the algorithm? Or is this true romance? Pablo, Cortes, and "Oddball" host Charlotte Wilder listen to their podcast so you don't have to... then confront the Romeo and Juliet of our time with the awkward and essential questions about Michael and Scottie. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/VOaPwe6d0W8 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is the NBA's TV bubble about to burst? Is how we consume sports about to change forever? Hear from the man who reshaped the business itself. Plus: Who’s to blame for our misinformation minefield? And what the hell happened to retirement? The jamokes from The Sporting Class explain. PTFO-approved reading:  House of Strauss: I'm Not Sure How the NBA Triples Its Rights Fees in a TV Recession https://www.houseofstrauss.com/p/im-not-sure-how-the-nba-triples-its Vanity Fair: Inside the New York Times Debate Over Its Gaza Hospital Bombing Coverage https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/10/new-york-times-gaza-hospital-story The Washington Post: Older Americans Are Dominating Like Never Before, but What Comes Next? https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/10/24/older-americans-working-longer-aging-impact/ Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GsSzvwXkpLE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Next week, the White House is releasing the first executive order on A.I. in U.S. history. So we asked David Epstein, bestselling author of Range and the best sports-science writer in America, to explain the state of our union. And what humans can do that the best computers still cannot. Even though A.I. still might, uh, wipe out 10 percent of the global population. Plus: Why robots need to be more like First Take — and why our future depends not on humans or computers... but a centaur playing chess. PTFO-approved reading David Epstein's Range: https://bookshop.org/p/books/range-why-generalists-triumph-in-a-specialized-world-david-epstein/12472879 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zbgKzE7SztI Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The most important Joker on the court isn't Nikola Jokic or Novak Djokovic. Indeed, the most popular tattoo among our sports heroes is a villain, and PTFO correspondent Wyatt Cenac is here to interview them about it... as Batman… with a mask on. Could Joker Mode become the new Mamba Mentality? Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Sc3d9M3jLGI Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why did Ariel Helwani, our planet’s leading combat sports reporter, use ring girls as human shields at a televised Logan Paul melee? What video game is Katie Nolan mostly living inside? Do you remember the time The Rock actually broke the news that Osama bin Laden had been assassinated? And more. PTFO-approved content: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/shams-charania-nba-insider-the-athletic-new-york-times-profile.html https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2023/10/16/were-more-ghosts-than-people/ https://arielhelwani.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The author of the definitive new book on gender in sports, Katie Barnes, explores how The Right ran up the score on progressives in a political messaging war — then offers a modest proposal, from pronouns to hormones and statehouses to schools, that most sane people can agree upon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Michael Schur is a legendary comedy writer who calls his TV reboot of the classic baseball film "the best thing I've ever written." (He's written for SNL, The Simpsons, The Office, Parks and Rec, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place...) So why didn't his version of "Field of Dreams" ever get made? Also: what happened to the actual baseball field that he built, out there in the cornfields of Iowa? Sports-movie nostalgia has never felt quite so painful. Or surreal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What does it feel like to kick a$$ on a game show? Like an athlete in the Albanian brain zone who can't do math. Why doesn't Bill Belichick have to defend his conditional genius? Because we owe him the benefit of sudden doubt. Are you convincing yourself that you don't need therapy? You gotta place your vulnerability somewhere, you know. Plus: Pablo's Process (again), Christopher Meloni's mad energy, Dan's digestive tract... and some tears. PTFO-approved content: Final Jeopardy!: Rallying Cries https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YEqEYAxvo4 If You Think Robert Kraft Wouldn't Fire Bill Belichick, You're Wrong https://theathletic.com/4950228/2023/10/11/new-england-patriots-bill-belichick-robert-kraft/ What I've Learned: Patrick Stewart https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a45328198/patrick-stewart-what-ive-learned/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You may remember him as the paternity-test king of fever-pitch daytime television. But this renaissance man has seen it all — the JFK assassination, Waco, a woman who's afraid of aluminum foil — and he has emerged an optimist. Climb into your TV for wisdom on courage, vulnerability, and reassurance from the OG who held up Pro Bowlers at practice... and introduced the world to Cotton Ball Man. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Quarterbacks yell it. Gamers revel in it. Bros text memes and hashtags of it. Even Travis Kelce's girlfriend loves it. How did a simple phrase transform from a Jumbotron clap-along into such a ubiquitous exclamation? With apologies to Tom Brady and Lil Jon, correspondent Jeremy Taché searches for the real GOAT of "Let's Go!" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What really makes coaches good at motivating players? Why does Captain America long to be a dog? And how infuriated is Domonique by Pablo’s case of Content Brain? Also: secret notebooks, celebrity friendships, and (figurative) ball-licking. PTFO-approved reading: https://theathletic.com/4926881/2023/10/03/alabama-football-nick-saban-coaching-style-players/ (Kennington Smith III) https://www.gq.com/story/chris-evans-october-cover-profile-2023 (Zach Baron) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

That guy from Parks & Rec, The Afterparty, and Sonic the Hedgehog has a side-hustle superpower: playing point guard at long-form improvisation. He and Pablo also happened to lose way too much money on NBA Top Shots of Miles Bridges and Bismack Biyombo. Plus: Why Blake Griffin isn’t just funny for an athlete and why Kobe never would’ve made it in comedy. Oh, and a mid-interview poo … and a post-coital orgy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the inaugural edition of our non-mailbag mailbag, Pablo answers audience voicemails with the truth about his TV doppelgänger, Stugotz's bong hits, A-Rod's centaur, Stanford's mascot, poisoned Miami Heat fans, and one of the greatest sports tweets of all time. Are you looking for answers? Call (513) 85-PABLO Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One year ago, Draymond Green detonated the Golden State Warriors dynasty with a single punch at practice that left a million takes in its wake. Now, Oscar-winning filmmaker Ezra Edelman has an explosive "tip" — the insult you can't hear in TMZ's viral video — to test the bounds of Pablo's journalistic ethics... and set off the sports-media screaming machine all over again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What does it feel like to watch football at an NFL head coach's house? Should you really be posting photos of your kid? And... all praise to the scammers? Also: ghost takes, flying slices of cheese, swampa$$ as a resting state, and what happens to the food on reality shows. PTFO-approved reading: If I Embarrass My Baby on TikTok, Will He Stay My Baby Forever? (Amanda Hess) https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/25/arts/babies-cheese-eggs-tiktok.html Gen Z Falls for Online Scams More Than Their Boomer Grandparents Do (A.W. Ohlheiser) https://www.vox.com/technology/23882304/gen-z-vs-boomers-scams-hacks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the Denver Broncos crumble all around Russell Wilson, the superstar quarterback has never been more fascinating. Or more unknowable. But Nate Tice was Wilson’s backup, roommate, and occasional speechwriter at the University of Wisconsin. And to hear these college confessions — about a shirt-tucked, Timberlake-loving try-hard, who is possibly from outer space — is to finally understand the weirdest athlete on Planet Earth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Deshaun Watson is playing terribly. Does that make it easier to talk about his sexual-misconduct scandal again? Russell Brand is mid-scandal right now. Will his following follow him everywhere? And in happier news: Yes, even if you don't have a kid, you can still be friends with people who do. Further reading: Deshaun Watson Not Acting or Playing Like a Franchise Quarterback (Michael Rosenberg) https://www.si.com/nfl/2023/09/20/browns-deshaun-watson-not-acting-playing-like-franchise-quarterback The Uncomfortable Reality of Tyreek Hill's Success (Mina Kimes) https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/18446978/the-unavoidable-dilemma-talking-kansas-city-chiefs-tyreek-hill Can Parents and Childless People Be Friends? (Allison P. Davis) https://www.thecut.com/article/adult-friendships-vs-kids.html Russell Brand Accused of Rape, Sexual Assaults and Abuse (Rosamund Urwin, Charlotte Wace, Paul Morgan-Bentley) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russell-brand-rape-sexual-assault-abuse-allegations-investigation-v5hxdlmb6 Russell Brand: In Plain Sight (Dispatches) https://www.channel4.com/programmes/russell-brand-in-plain-sight-dispatches Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The ESPN host and ex-NFL union president explains why he's not worried about his eulogy, what happened to his candidacy for NFLPA executive director, and what he learned at Harvard Business School. Also: the milk check, the original MySpace, expensive mahogany, and more of Pablo's tortured metaphors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Politicians don't want transgender people dominating girls' sports. But Ember Zelch just wanted to play softball, and nobody else seemed to mind. She was, after all, the ONLY trans girl officially even PLAYING girls' varsity sports in her ENTIRE state. Pablo travels to Ohio to learn why Ember fought for her right to love sports anyway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are you part of the silent majority of bad sleepers? Try dressing up like Darth Vader already! What ever happened to the steroid police? We are here for a lower moral high ground! And are you, by chance, cinematically in love? Because the hardest things in life make you feel right. Also: centaur portraits, mouth-breathers, A-Rod’s teeth, and holes. Further reading: Why sportspeople are taping over their mouths (Sarah Shephard) https://theathletic.com/4844743/2023/09/11/why-sportspeople-taping-over-mouths/ The Biogenesis Files (Mike Fish) https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/36055058/biogenesis-america-tony-bosch-peds-fallout-10-years-later Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

PTFO SOURCES: The new Lando show isn't actually a show. Pablo hangs with the screenwriter and rapper to find out how real life inspired he and his brother Donald's award-winning art — and why they're not afraid of internet backlash. Also: evil fortune-tellers, jail baloney, Spider-Man Cartoon Maker, and Jim Carrey's Riddler. Hollywood! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We found the guy who kicked Mark Zuckerberg’s a$$ on viral video — and the trainers who might've tried to overturn the ref's decision. But did the most powerful unelected man in America really get choked unconscious? And how did Silicon Valley fall in love with Brazilian jiu-jitsu? PTFO correspondent Jay Caspian Kang reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pablo investigates a story including, but not limited to, a Duke basketball champion, a World War II treasure hunt, an alleged con man, Bob Marley, Dan Snyder, and an attempt to make history by purchasing the Washington Commanders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What happens when the guy you played Madden against in high school… is actually *in* Madden? Why does the U.S. Open smell like weed? And who the hell is Pinkydoll? Also: huge calves, saucy shoes, and Dan Le Batard’s wedding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Did you know that before Donald Trump was president, he was Dan Le Batard’s alleged long-time viewer and first-time caller? Pablo debuts his show on the third rail by confronting Dan — for the first time — with their company’s missing vault of interviews featuring Donald from Queens. And these tapes are as prophetic (cough cough pee tape cough) as they are humiliating. Journalism! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are the Arizona Cardinals constructing the most blatant tank job in the history of tank jobs? Are weight loss drugs the future of dieting? And are those noises you’re hearing coming from the depths of hell, or is it just the sounds of the latest episode of Undisputed? Here’s a 2nd sneak preview of “Pablo Torre Finds Out,” coming September 5.  Show Notes  www.pablo.show  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/17/health/weight-loss-drugs-obesity-ozempic-wegovy.html  https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/undisputed-hosts-skip-bayless-shannon-sharpe/atobdzudpu86qodnxfy5cvh7  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is James Harden playing 4-D chess? Will A.I. steal your job? Can Dan trick Mina into pissing off Dolphins fans? Here's a sneak preview of "Pablo Torre Finds Out," coming September 5. (Also: Daryl Morey singing.) Show Notes https://www.pablo.show/ https://time.com/6301288/the-ai-jokes-that-give-me-nightmares/ https://theathletic.com/4765589/2023/08/14/tua-tagovailoa-dolphins-jiu-jitsu-training/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So, Pablo Torre has a new podcast. It's all about f**king around — but also finding out, by exploring sports rabbit holes and journalistic curiosities with his friends... and occasional enemies. Here's how a surprising celebrity helped inspire the name for Pablo Torre Finds Out, coming soon wherever you get your podcasts. To find out even more, sign up for Pablo's free (!!!) newsletter at WWW.PABLO.SHOW Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices