Casual Diehard

Colleen and Chrystal finish the Billy Martin story with the part of his career that people are most familiar with, the managerial years. But don't worry, there's plenty you haven't heard before, because when it came to Billy Martin, there was always another story, and all the stories are good. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colleen and Chrystal bring you the next installment of their exploration of iconic baseball character Billy Martin, this time exploring more of the 1950s Yankees and Martin’s departure, the end of his playing days with seven teams from 1957-61, and Martin’s entry to the world of scouting and coaching and the birth of Billyball.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colleen and Chrystal bring you the next installment of their exploration of iconic baseball character Billy Martin, getting into his playing days, starting with the Idaho Falls Russets in the Pioneer League, going up through the tear gas-soaked minors, and continuing to New York with the Yankees in their 1950s glory days and his bawdy friendship with Mickey Mantle. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colleen and Chrystal bring you the story of Billy Martin, a story with so many layers, twists, and turns that this is just Part 1, covering his early years — and that means really early, starting with the tale of his birth at home in 1928, and how he found out his actual name, Alfred Manuel Martin Jr., and his colorful Northern California youth. Once he got into baseball, Martin became one of the game’s most interesting characters. What shaped him into the player and manager he became? Find out as we journey from a kitchen table circumcision to a slaughterhouse job to his first pro contract.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Addy, Britt, and Jesse are back to take in a new world in F1 where McLaren leads the constructors standings after Oscar Piastri's victory in Baku over Charles Leclerc. With rookies Oliver Bearman and Franco Colapinto scoring points, it feels all the more like everything is changing, but one thing is the same: Sergio Perez's season from hell continues. When Kevin Magnussen returns to the track in Singapore, is anyone safe with the Dane having nothing to lose? And is the WDC really in play with Max Verstappen's lead shrinking, or is the three-time reigning champion simply on defense with Lando Norris having the better car? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chrystal and Colleen bring you the story of Big Sexy, the one and only Bartolo Colón! From Cleveland to Montreal to Chicago to Anaheim to Boston to New York to Oakland to Atlanta to Minnesota to Texas, one of the era’s biggest arms, bodies, and personalities made a name for himself wherever he went. Signed for $3,000 as a Dominican teenager, Colón went from throwing at soup cans to winning a Cy Youg Award and spending more than than two decades in the major leagues, leaving his mark as a cult hero even after his prime years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Addy, Britt, Jesse, and Katie all are here after a wild two weeks in F1 saw Lando Norris win a race to really put pressure on Max Verstappen in the race for the world driver's championship, then Norris getting passed from another pole start, slipping behind Oscar Piastri and eventual winner Charles Leclerc, and having to wonder if his window is smaller than it first appeared. Leclerc's win excites us most as Ferrari fans, of course, but are we gearing up for a championship chase with eight races left in the season? Meanwhile, NASCAR heads to the playoffs after wrapping up the regular season, the Mets are flying, the Yankees are pulling a Red Bull, and one of us is already in "season over" territory on a sport that only just began its season, leading to a search for new fandom in another league. Kevin Magnussen also will have time to watch football thanks to his one-race ban. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colleen and Chrystal welcome documentary filmmaker and New Yorker Heather Quinlan to talk about the last team to bring a World Series championship to Queens, one of the most colorful squads of all time, the 1986 Mets. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colleen and Chrystal are back to wade through the swamp of Washington, D.C., and its history of mostly failed attempts to make it in the major leagues, culminating with today's cellar dwellers of the National League East, the team that came as a result of MLB's shenanigans with Montreal (as heard in Dugout of History 14). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jay Arnold from The Get Back Coach and Apollo Media joins Britt, Jesse, and Katie to get ready for the resumption of F1 season and the start of college football by selecting teams from the two sports that match each other's vibes heading into fall. We're also talking about the NASCAR race at Michigan and an 1850s land dispute between the United States and then-British Canada. Find Jay on Twitter! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

F1 isn't back from its summer break yet, but Britt, Jesse, and Katie are, and we're excited that when racing returns, it'll be alongside college football (more on that next week, subscribe!) ... We're talking about NASCAR's MarioKart finish from Richmond, fun sports to see in person, baseball heading to Bristol Motor Speedway, debunking a Syracuse urban legend, a dream gridwalk guest for Martin Brundle, an Olympic tiebreaker on the racetrack, protecting Ollie Bearman at all costs, Oscar Piastri's casual broken rib, and the Tom Cruise of it all. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chrystal and Colleen bring you the story of the Montreal Expos, from their beginnings as Canada's first MLB team in the 1969 expansion wave to their demise 20 years ago after a series of unfortunate events including having their best seasons in the shadows of labor disputes, a dream ballpark that never materialized, and some of the worst ownership the sport has ever seen, all with an assist from one of the worst owners in baseball today. No one is free from Jerry's anti-Midas touch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

They're not playing baseball in Paris, but the diamond and the Olympic rings have a rich history. Colleen and Chrystal are here to talk about it! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chrystal and Colleen go back to 1973, when Yankees pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich announced a one-of-a-kind trade in baseball history: their wives. Unlike the deals at the trade deadline, no advanced analytics are necessary to figure out whether Susanne or Marilyn wound up with the better deal. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Addy, Britt, and Jesse go over another wild week in F1, with crack shot Lewis Hamilton picking up Mercedes' third win in the last four races thanks to teammate George Russell being disqualified, while silly season gets into full swing with Carlos Sainz agreeing to join Williams and Esteban Ocon's move to Haas for next season confirmed. Sergio Perez? He's sticking around at Red Bull somehow. To fix that, we're playing a trade deadline-inspired game to figure out the best setups if F1's top teams could add a third seat for the second half of the season. We also love the Olympics! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Addy, Britt, and Jesse find that Sunday's events were written in the stars, as late developments saw Oscar Piastri pass Lance Stroll for his maiden win in F1, Brad Keselowski surrendering the lead in NASCAR overtime, and even Fernando Alonso ceding a position to Lance Stroll, all on the day when a much bigger transition from second-in-line to top-of-the-charts took place with Joe Biden announcing his departure from the presidential race and endorsement of Kamala Harris. We're also looking forward to the Olympics as F1 has just one more race left before summer break, and NASCAR gets out of the way of NBC's Paris coverage. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colleen and Chrystal look back at Marge Schott, who made history by becoming the first woman to buy a major league team (Joan Whitney Payson inherited the Mets), then made more history by being an absolute scoundrel, and costing herself control of the team. Infamous enough for smoking that she appeared with a cigarette on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and for her dog who loved pooping on the field at Riverfront Stadium, her true vice – and the source of her downfall – was racism. Schott’s praise for Hitler and use of the N-word are why her legacy remains toxic today, making her the benchmark for terrible sports owners. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Addy, Jesse, and Katie arrive at the end of F1’s tripleheader with more joy than we could’ve expected amid Ferrari’s continued struggles. We’re mostly thrilled for Lewis Hamilton’s record ninth win at a single track, but also for a truly exciting race weekend at the British Grand Prix. We’re also excited for the Lando Norris-Max Verstappen battle simmering, the new depths being explored weekly by Sergio Perez, and the funniest places Lance Stroll could win a race. We also saw the trailer for Brad Pitt’s F1 movie, VROOM VROOM MONEYBALL, and know how we’ll find out if the Expensify APX-GP social media account is real.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chrystal and Colleen bring you tales of the short-lived Senior Professional Baseball Association, the "Boys of Winter" who played in Florida from 1989-90 with such teams as the Orlando Juice, Bradenton Explorers, and Fort Myers Sun Sox. The even had a baseball card set, but the league for pros over the age of 35 (and slightly younger catchers) didn't catch on. It was a fun idea, so why didn't it catch on? Well, that's why we're here... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Katie is back from Spain, where she got some unexpected help to fight the sun's rays and also saw Max Verstappen's final win before his current slump (finished fifth in one race, still 17 seconds ahead of his teammate despite a crash and penalty), and brings all the details to share with Addy, Britt, and Jesse. Thanks to Verstappen wrecking himself and Lando Norris, we've got a fifth F1 race winner of the season in potential future England soccer manager (or maybe USMNT manager???) George Russell. The Baguettes are still fighting, even though the French Civil War is over, and Ferrari remains adrift for another week. Plus, NASCAR sponsorship news has us Hootin' and maybe even hollerin' as much as during a five-overtime race after a rain delay, and everyone's faves giving way one by one before Joey Logano clinched his playoff spot. And for the record, the Mets scored six runs in the 10th inning of their game in Washington after we finished recording... then gave up four, but four is less than six so they still won. LET'S GO METS BABY!!! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colleen and Chrystal dive into the trials and tribulations of the Chicago Cubs, from the collapse of 1969 after a black cat ran on the field at Shea Stadium, to the 1945 billy goat incident, to the foul ball in 2003 that changed one man's life, "helped" along by national broadcasters playing into the decades of Cubs failure lore that only dissipated thanks to a freak rainstorm in Cleveland in 2016. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Happy Pride! Chrystal and Colleen bring you the queer side of baseball history, with plenty of stories and more to check out once you listen: catch the trailer for A Secret Love, learn about The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, read Outsports, watch The TJ House story, and always, always, always stay Proud To Be In Baseball! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ace, James, and Jesse are back after an NBA Finals that lived up to everyone's expectations except for the so-called experts who picked the Mavericks to take down the Celtics... were the experts simply wrong, or is there something more sinister? Speaking of sinister, the Chicago Bulls decided to make a strange trade as offseason movement gets underway. What do the Celtics need to do to repeat? What do the Knicks need to get the shot at Boston that they weren't healthy enough for this year? Whose time as a contender is running out? And is it possible that every free agent on the market makes sense for the Spurs? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Addy, Britt, and Jesse find out who the headliner was when Max Verstappen raced in a one-season Florida circuit in 2014, proving that sports works in mysterious and comical ways. Nothing is more mysterious and comical than a baseball team being inspired to join the playoff hunt by a fast food character, and of course it's the Gay Grimace Mets who are running rampant and setting a new vibe. Aston Martin could certainly use a vibe shift -- perhaps a first Fernando Alonso win since before Max Verstappen was in the Florida Winter Series? Spiritually closer to Florida, but actually in Iowa, NASCAR shifted to NBC for the second half of the season and we always appreciate a good broadcast -- especially in baseball, where Mets and Giants voices were perfectly equipped to deal with the death of Willie Mays. It's quite a lot of baseball for a racing podcast, but don't worry, football season starts soon enough (and we're saving all the Iowa jokes from Sunday's race until Katie gets back). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fifty years ago this month, Cleveland had a promotion that simply couldn't fail, until it did, spectacularly and utterly predictably. The result of Ten Cent Beer Night was a victory for the Texas Rangers, and only for the Texas Rangers, as it was one of five Major League Baseball games to be forfeited in the expansion era, and half a century later, brings Colleen and Chrystal back together after their spring vacations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Addy, Britt, and Jesse are back together after F1's race in Montreal (and a wild NASCAR weekend in Sonoma) to chat about a Ferrari disasterclass, the silliness of Red Bull extending Sergio Perez, the rise of McLaren, the continuing Lance Stroll of it all, Max Verstappen vs. Kyle Larson for the title of best driver in the world, the dwindling options for Carlos Sainz, and the need for Kevin Magnussen to join the Indiana Fever. Meanwhile, in NASCAR, Martin Truex Jr. uses a slur and Ross Chastain gets his groove back dumping Kyle Busch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Britt and Jesse are joined, as the episode title suggests, by Zack from The Gay Racing Podcast, for a chat about all kinds of motorsports happenings, from death threats over an IndyCar crash in Detroit, to the somehow still ongoing Kyle Larson waiver saga in NASCAR, to the percolating F1 silly season after the news of Esteban Ocon and Alpine parting ways. We're also doing a little draft to build race teams with a Pride theme.Check out our Vroom Vroom shop! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ace, James, and Jesse are back and ready for the NBA Finals between the Celtics and Mavericks, a matchup that was not officially official until the end of the episode, but the way that Game 5 went... it was set at halftime. After dominant shows by both conference champions, who's going to take home the Larry O'Brien Trophy? And who is the third-best player in the Finals? We're also talking about the Knicks' offseason and whether they should run it back or shoot for the stars, the possible end of the Nuggets as serious title contenders so quickly after they looked primed to repeat, whether LeBron James will ever again be a factor at this time of year, and fond thoughts about the late Bill Walton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Charles Leclerc (finally) won the Monaco Grand Prix, and Addy, Britt, Jesse, and Katie all are here to celebrate after the most nervewracking incredibly boring race in history, a 77-lap parade of very expensive cars through the streets of Monaco. The key difference between Monaco and a parade being that parades don't generally start with multiple car crashes, we also have a lot of drama to talk about that helped set up Leclerc's victory, from Carlos Sainz's mulligan of a lifetime, to the latest blowup of the Battling Baguettes, to a Red Bull crushed like a can, to, eventually and naturally, the Lance Stroll of it all. Dig in like it's a burger from the Steak-n-Shake in Sector 1 on auto racing's most famous street circuit! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amber Balcaen, driver of the No. 22 Toyota, joins Addy, Britt, and Jesse to talk all kinds of racing, starting with this Friday's General Tire 150 in Charlotte, where Amber enters third in the ARCA Menards Series standings while racing with a broken foot. We're also talking about fight night at North Wilkesboro after the NASCAR All-Star race, the incredible Kyle Larson going for the Indy 500/Coke 600 double, the Lance Stroll of it all (natch), and the experience of being a woman in the male-dominated world of American stock car racing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Addy, Britt, and Jesse are here to continue dreaming about Adrian Newey coming to Ferrari, while Imola is coming up with updates on deck for the Scuderia. We're also enjoying the antics of last week's winner Lando Norris, as well as the food reviews that Denver Broncos part owner Sir Lewis Hamilton MBE did for the NFL team's schedule release video, only for his own team to get cooked by the Chargers. Nothing new in a Hamilton team struggling in 2024, but what about Sergio Perez losing a boat race to Marc Anthony, Rafael Nadal, and Tom Brady? Also in America, Michael McDowell is voluntarily affiliating himself with the Chicago White Sox, which is not a choice any of us would make (the car is super cool), and a reminder that Logan Sargeant still has all of his NCAA eligibility. Plus, the play-in matchups for the F1 In-Season Tournament that doesn't really exist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ace, James, and Jesse are back amid the second round of the NBA playoffs, where the Finals matchup they've envisioned for months is falling apart rapidly -- largely because the Nuggets dropped the first two games of their series against the Timberwolves at home, and looked completely overmatched in the process, not to mention physically fading. Meanwhile, the Celtics are still in a safe enough position to believe that they'll survive the Cavaliers, but that's only because we're now all so used to Boston mixing an outright stinker into every series. With the way the rest of the East looks, including the red-hot but also Icy Hot-slathered Knicks, it still feels like the Celtics are the team to beat. Problem is, they keep showing why they're beatable. That's got James thinking about a team that isn't even in the playoffs, but figures to be a spring fixture again soon enough, the San Antonio Spurs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Britt, Jesse, and Katie are back for a midweek F1 episode, since last episode we had a guest and had a lot of leftover discussion topics from the Miami Grand Prix. In addition to Lando Norris notching his first F1 win, we've got Kevin Magnussen racking up penalties, sorrow for Logan Sargeant, Alpine finally getting points this season and immediately having a driver announce he's leaving, and Yuki Tsunoda up to 10th in the standings at the expense of sometimes main character and sometimes NPC Lance Stroll. Plus, Lewis Hamilton at the Met Gala, upgrades on the way for Ferrari, and which drivers could give us the best Keon Coleman/Joe Burrow-style content. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Addy, Jesse, and Katie welcome Taylor Hagler, the driver of the No. 77 Hyundai in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and the No. 19 Lamborghini in ADAC GT Masters, to talk about the differences racing in Europe and America, the similarities between auto racing and show jumping, and the challenge of making your way as a racer without generational wealth. Plus, we hear from NASCAR and ARCA drivers Ryan Ellis, Parker Retzlaff, Zachary Tinkle, Lavar Scott, and Connor Zilisch about the experience of driving a regular car, away from the track. Oh, yeah, and Max Verstappen hit a bollard and lost an F1 race. LOLando. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chrystal and Colleen bring you another episode of Dugout of History, with tales of the San Francisco ballpark that was trouble from the very beginning, from a Teamsters strike to heated seats that never were, and through to Dianne Feinstein’s failed dome plan and the World Series earthquake. It’s not just tales of woe and folly, there were plenty of highlights… just, not a whole lot for the Giants during their time there — San Francisco didn’t win a World Series until moving to McCovey Cove. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ace and Jesse could taste the second round on Tuesday night as the Knicks led late, but it's James who got to see his team advance to the second round on Wednesday when the Celtics took care of business against the Heat with a gentleman's sweep. Is advancing out of the first round with a 34-point blowout enough for a Boston fan to be happy about? Can the Knicks bounce back and continue their playoff dream? We're also pondering the Nuggets-Timberwolves series, and whether Minnesota's sweep of Phoenix is more meaningful that dismantling a flawed team might appear. The championship picture is starting to take shape. Get more notes on our newsletter! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Addy and Jesse went to Dover for Casual Diehard’s first live race coverage, and return to discuss it with Britt and Katie. You’ll hear from drivers Ryan Ellis and Parker Retzlaff from the NASCAR Xfinity Series, as well as ARCA drivers Toni Breidinger, Lavar Scott, Zachary Tinkle, and Connor Zilisch. We’re also looking forward to the F1 race at Miami, and not looking past Denny Hamlin’s third win of the NASCAR Cup Series season, and the continued development of the heel persona for one of the greats who still has a big hole in his resume. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chrystal and Colleen bring you the tale of Moe Berg, and plenty of source material to dive into after hearing them tell it...Books:“The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg” - Nicholas Dawidoff“The Bastards Brigade” - Sam KeanArticles:Who Was Moe Berg? A Spy, a Big-League Catcher, and an Enigma (NYT)Moe Berg: Catcher and Spy (ESPN)Moe Berg, Class of 1923: Baseball Player, World War II Spy (Princeton University)The Baseball Player Turned Spy Who Went Undercover To Assassinate The Nazis' Top Nuclear Scientist (Smithsonian)Moe Berg's Life In Baseball (Baseball Hall of Fame) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ace, James, and Jesse all expect that Boston still will advance past Miami, even after the Heat's stunning Game 2 win over the Celtics. But did that game expose the Celtics, and prove that James has been right about them all along? Even if they sweep their way from here to the Finals? Maybe. For the resident Knicks fans, it's just fun to ride the wave of New York's own success, with hating on Boston just a benefit. For the record, the Celtics have lost by double figures on their home court seven times in the last three-plus postseasons. The Celtics have bounced back from losing by 10-plus at home in the playoffs before, but those title runs with significant speed bumps were in 1960 and 1968. We're all over the rest of the playoffs, too, but the person writing the show notes really wants to shine a light on the Celtics here because it's really funny to see this happening again. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Formula 1 returned to China for the first time in five years, and despite absolutely no drama in Max Verstappen winning, he's running a different race than everyone else, and everyone else has plenty of drama -- to the delight of Addy, Jesse, and Katie in this episode. Charles Leclerc is driving his ass off for P4s, Daniel Ricciardo is driving for his job, and Lando Norris is driving everyone wild with his champagne popping skills. We're all still not quite at bingo on our preseason cards, if only someone would finish 10th. Maybe Lance Stroll? No, he's gone full heel. Meanwhile, in NASCAR, the Toyota teams find power in a union? Addy and Jesse get ready to stir the pot on their trip to Dover, and maybe an old NASCAR rule could benefit F1? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This could have been all yours, Milwaukee. Or Tampa Bay. Perhaps it still could be yours, Nashville. Or perhaps the White Sox belong in Chicago and will be there forever, no matter how bad their owners are, what kind of weirdos want to buy them and move them, or what damage they do to their own stadium in the name of hating disco music. You think 2024 is bad for the Pale Hose? Let's take a trip back to the 1970s with Chrystal and Colleen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ana, Janice, and Jesse share their reactions to the WNBA draft, from Caitlin Clark officially becoming the face of the Indiana Fever to the Las Vegas Aces putting together a sparkling draft class without a first-round pick. Did the Liberty outsmart everyone, including their own fans? What are reasonable expectations for Clark, not just adapting to the WNBA level, but playing the most basketball of her life -- especially if she's on Team USA for the Olympics? Finally, something good happened for long-suffering Chicago Sky fans. And is the balance of power in the league shifting westward? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit willetspen.substack.com

The "win or bin" concept is not our own, but Addy, Jesse, and Katie do find some similarity between their faves here, whether it's at Ferrari, in NASCAR, or on the baseball diamond. On a between-races episode in the F1 season, there's plenty of room to speculate about silly season ahead, and lots of fun scenarios to imagine as we get ready for the first Chinese Grand Prix since 2019 -- a rare race on the calendar that's never been won by Max Verstappen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit willetspen.substack.com

Jesse and Youppi go for a walk in Prospect Park with Jennie Egerdie, the author of Frog And Toad Are Doing Their Best and the upcoming Oh, Bother: Winnie the Pooh is Befuddled, Too, to enjoy a beautiful spring day and talk about the Sesame Street atmosphere of Park Slope, trees growing in Brooklyn, monster trucks, and, of course, the biology of Mr. and Mrs. Met as relates to their old SportsCenter commercial. There was also discussion about the metric system and tricking Michiganders about Canada, but there were sound problems with that part. If you want to hear that part through the sound of microphone rubbing on hoodie, it's available on the dedicated Youppi Show podcast feed, because Youppi sure didn't mind. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit willetspen.substack.com

Ace, James, and Jesse are back together to transition from the NBA regular season to the playoffs, tackling all the big questions. Could the bracket have worked out any better in the East for the Celtics? Is Dame Time already up in Milwaukee? Can the Knicks really make a run without Julius Randle? Is Oklahoma City for real as a top seed? Is Denver inevitable as a repeat winner of the West, if not the whole thing? Can the Clippers avoid going full Clippers? We've got a lot of thoughts and a lot more basketball to watch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit willetspen.substack.com

Ace, Jesse, and debuting guest Martin Rickman ready for the playoffs by examining potential intriguing matchups and what might come to pass as the regular season winds down toward its conclusion. We now know all 20 teams that will be involved in the play-in and playoffs, but not their seeding order. Is it as simple as being a two-month march to an inevitable Denver-Boston collision in the Finals? Maybe, but that’s why they play the games, and Nuggets-Celtics would be a heck of a matchup if that’s how it does wind up. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit willetspen.substack.com

After a snooze of a racing weekend between F1 at Suzuka and NASCAR at Martinsville, Addy, Britt, and Jesse are tackling big questions, like whether Max Verstappen or Mike Trout is a more interesting person, what's going on with Lance Stroll's hair, and whether Charles Leclerc would get designer glasses made for viewing a solar eclipse. Oh, and does Williams have enough cars to actually make it through the season? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit willetspen.substack.com

It’s never a good thing when Pete Rose is back in the news, and he has been lately because of the alleged theft of $4.5 million from Shohei Ohtani to cover gambling debts. That story has yet to fully unfold. Rose’s has, to the point where the Washington Post ran not one, but two big stories looking back at it… 10 years ago. This year is the 35th anniversary of the death of then-commissioner Bart Giamatti, who banned Rose, even though so much of what happened feels so recent. Nope, it was 1989. It’s just that Rose, who agreed to his own lifetime ban, has never once shut up about it, and he probably never will. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit willetspen.substack.com

Walking in Riverside Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with Sophie Vershbow and her dog, Simon. It's a great park for dogs, a great place for walking, and little did we know, a great place to look across the river to New Jersey right before an earthquake, which struck less than an hour after we finished recording. That would have been some kind of conversation topic. As it is, a great time was had by all! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit willetspen.substack.com

Ana and Jesse are joined by one of women's basketball's best writers, Jackie Powell, to celebrate a momentous NCAA Tournament won by South Carolina, and to look ahead to the 2024 WNBA draft, which of course will be headlined by Caitlin Clark after she led Iowa to the national title game against the Gamecocks. If "reality is coming," as Diana Taurasi said, what does that mean? The challenges that WNBA rookies face are enormous, starting with making it to a roster in a league where, every year, incredibly talented players don't make it out of training camp. While one player was driving the headlines and one team was driving to a championship, who drove their draft stock in the right direction? One thing is for certain: we all love Dawn Staley. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit willetspen.substack.com