Tashan Reed and Evan Drellich of The Athletic

Episode 279 of the Sports Media Podcast features Tashan Reed, a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Las Vegas Raiders and the host of the upcoming podcast series from The Athletic, “Between The Lines.” He is followed by Evan Drellich, a senior writer who covers the business of baseball for The Athletic and is the author of a new book, “Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess.” In this podcast, Reed discusses his narrative podcast about what it means to be Black in the NFL and explains how race impacts each level of the league’s organization chart; why this was a topic he wanted to immerse himself in; the processing of reporting and the interview subjects for the piece; whether the NFL has any incentive to change on race, and more. Drellich discusses why the story of Astros cheating scandal is important; Mike Fiers as a whistleblower and his impact on the reporting; whether baseball is truly interested in policing this; MLB condoning Jim Crane and why so many have been protective of him; the Wall Street–ization and McKinseyization of front offices and of player personnel decision-making; if the ends justify the means in sports; the smart book-buying public, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and more.