The Cooper and Rupert Podcast: A Sports Conversation

It is a question nobody wants to touch, why is it, really, that African Americans make up about 75 percent of the NBA and about 70 percent of the NFL?  We ask experts Jon Entine, Dr. Charles K. Ross, and Dr. Joseph L. Graves Jr. why they believe this is the case.

In this episode we try to figure out how social media effects our minds when discussing sports news today.  Then, we apply that knowledge to sports stories of the past.  Special guests: Dr. Marco T. Bastos, Postdoc researcher at the University of California at Davis; Dr. Cliff Lampe, associate professor in the School of Information at Michigan University  

Why do people take it so personally when their favorite athlete fails to meet their expectations off the field?  Dr. Lynn E. McCutcheon, the editor in chief of the North American Journal of Phycology, talks about and answers questions on all aspects of celebrity / athlete worship, and Doug finds out if he is in fact a celebrity worshiper by taking the Celebrity Worship Survey. 

The guys discuss their new show they will be doing going forward, the value (or lack thereof) of doing a bracket these days and parody in the NCAA tournament. They also discuss the Northern Iowa collapse, the greatness that is Spurs vs Warriors, and why Dwight Howard is a dumb doofus.

The guys breakdown the NCAA tournament, discuss the bracket leak, and whether we care about teams on the bubble. We also discuss which mascots would win the tourney in battle, and how cynical the NFL has become.

The guys talk about the utter brilliance of Steph Curry and the historical greatness of a Warriors team that is probably the best ever. They also recap the Oscars and Chris Rock's hosting performance.

The guys discuss Gronk Cruise 2016, the idea of Deflategate going to the Supreme Court, the NBA trade deadline, and the Kurt Rambis' twitter fail.

The guys breakdown all the reasons why shortening the NBA season would skyrocket the NBA's popularity, make the product dramatically better, and make them more money in the process. Sports economist Dr. David Berri and data journalist Jim Pagels from Forbes join the show to help us find the answers.

The guys change roles on today's show to discuss out-of-the-box ways to fix the NBA All-Star Game and the potential Melo trade brewing in New York. They also play a new game called "Loaners" and share a special Valentine's Day moment.

Doug and Mikey’s good friend Karen Guzelian comes to the studio apartment to talk about the Super Bowl halftime controversy, and the most entertaining Super Bowl halftime shows that never were.

The guys breakdown Superbowl 50 including Cam Newton's post-game press conference, a Budweiser-swilling Peyton Manning, and why the Broncos were able to win. Plus, Derek Fisher gets canned and Alabama gets manned.

What would happen in sports if players had 1000 year primes? Chief Science Research Officer of the SENS Research Institution, Aubrey de Grey, comes on to talk about his rejuvenation research and how it could help us live forever. Then, the guys wildly speculate about what that would do to the world of sports.

The guys talk about the media's infatuation with Cam's blackness, the strangest SuperBowl prop bets, the enduring pain of The Revenant, and what's wrong with Leonardo DiCaprio.

In the first ever episode of the Friend Zone series, in studio apartment guest Logan Swaim, producer of the show "Game Changers" is on the show to discuss Blake Griffin punching the face of assistant equipment managers, The Warriors and their awesomeness, and Russel Wilson's Googling ability.

The guys talk about Peyton Manning's return as the sheriff of Mile High, what the loss means for Brady and the Patriots, Carolina smashing the Cardinals, and the Cavaliers firing David Blatt.

In light of Robert Sarver's derogatory comments about millennials, we do our first "Deep Dive" episode to find an answer. We talk to Dr. Stacey Campbell about whether or not the stereotypes about millennials are true (self-absorbed, narcissistic, lazy) and then discuss the history of Robert Sarver's selfish and shady behavior.

The guys discuss NFL playoff madness in Arizona, Peyton Manning's crippled man hands, the Rams moving to Los Angeles, and the ascension of the San Antonio Spurs.

While Doug is away, Mikey talks to Doug's favorite person ever, Dale Hansen.  Dale famously broke the scandal at SMU in the late 80's and currently is the weeknight sports anchor at the ABC affiliate WFAA in Dallas.  He also hosts Dale Hansen's Sports Special Sunday nights at 10:35pm.  Mikey talks to Dale about SMU, why Johnny Manziel to Dallas won't surprise him, why Dale has no more respect for Jerry Jones and what it would take for Jones to earn it back, and the culture of sports being at the forefront of everything, even politics.

The guys discuss the National Championship game and whether or not Nick Saban is now the greatest college coach of all-time, the Cincinnati Bengals epic meltdown and whether or not Marvin Lewis should be fired, and if the Seattle Seahawks are the luckiest team in football.

Mikey and Doug get a little tipsy to celebrate their 100th episode and talk about the College Football Playoff disaster(?), Peyton Manning using HGH(?), and the Phoenix Suns' owner calling out millennials. Plus, Doug and Mikey's favorite listener and fellow podcaster Ramona Rice comes on to talk about her show The Sports Gal Pal.

The guys discuss Odell Beckham Jr.’s Sunday antics, they take wild guesses at each other’s biggest sports pet peeves, if NFL officiating is in shambles, and give their year end “Top Ten” lists.

The guys discuss the amount of injuries in the NFL and whether it could kill the sport, the Warriors' undefeated streak coming up to an end, how to save the 76ers in five minutes, and Heisman Trophy bias.

Doug and Mikey are joined by movie review podcaster, Frank Mengarelli, from "Podcasting Them Softly" to do a thorough analyzation of the movie, Creed.  Also a precise ranking of all Rocky movies in order from best to worst. Spoilers all over the place.

The guys discuss College Football's final playoff selections, Clemson's pizza party, whether or not alcoholism is a disease, LeBron's lifetime Nike contract and what you'd wear for a million dollars.

Lorne Rubenstein, the man who interviewed Tiger Woods for Time comes on to talk about the interview. Also, Doug and Mikey discuss the future for Tiger Woods.