Bandwagon Beach

The San Diego Padres fell to the Chicago Cubs by a score of 3-1, allowing the Cubs to take a 1-0 lead in the Wild Card series. To advance, the Padres will need to win tomorrow and Thursday at Wrigley Field without their best starting pitcher. John Gennaro, all by himself, chatted with fans after the loss to talk about what happened and where the team goes from here. Section 1904 is a community-sup...

A little later on today, the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs will play the first of two (or three!) games at Wrigley Field in Chicago to determine which team gets to move on and face the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Division Series. Darren Smith and John Gennaro had a lot of questions about the 2025 Cubs coming into this series, so they called up their old buddy Judson Richards (who...

Darren Smith and John Gennaro attempt to recap the sports weekend in San Diego but end up getting distracted by the potential changes that could be coming this offseason for the Padres. They also talk, at length, about their levels of optimism and/or pessimism heading into tomorrow's Wild Card Series in Chicago against the Cubs. (This is not the series preview podcast, that will be out tomorrow mo...

Hey y'all, it's John. Happy Saturday. I know it's been a while since I've done this, but I promised a few months ago that I would start a series of weekend podcasts called The Comment Section where I interviewed Section 1904 subscribers and got their story and/or perspective. With all of the talk about Jimmy Kimmel being taken off the air and the stress around late night comedy being attacked by t...

There's a lot riding on the next few days for San Diego's sports teams. The Padres have a chance to move their Wild Card series from Chicago to San Diego, the San Diego Wave need a win to stay in the NWSL playoff hunt, San Diego FC can break a handful of MLS records with a win in their final home game of the regular season, and San Diego State's football team needs a win on the road against Northe...

Darren Smith and John Gennaro discuss Ramón Laureano's broken finger and what it means for the San Diego Padres' hopes of making it to the World Series this year before welcoming in Jared Diamond from the Wall Street Journal, who explains why the Padres bunt so much, why it might not work as well in the playoffs, and the interesting debate over who should be American League MVP this season. After...

Darren Smith and John Gennaro kick off the show by talking about self care and paying for someone else to trim your beard, plus a couple of stories about sneaking alcohol into sporting events. The guys eventually get around to the San Diego Padres, who won their 4th consecutive game last night when Randy Vasquez twirled a gem against the Milwaukee Brewers. There are now paths for the Padres to pot...

Darren Smith and John Gennaro kick off the show by talking about the San Diego Padres, who clinched a playoff berth last night with their best player at home with an illness. The guys highlight some very honest quotes from A.J. Preller and Mike Shildt that showed what a tough year this has been, despite winning enough to make it to the postseason. After that, John jumps off and Steve Sands from NB...

Darren Smith and John Gennaro recap the sports weekend, starting with the San Diego padres taking two-of-three from the Chicago White Sox to get within one game of clinching a playoff berth. The team still has some worrying weaknesses, but back-to-back playoff appearances has to be considered a success....so is A.J. Preller going to get an extension? The guys move on to the 34-0 win for the San Di...

Darren Smith and John Gennaro talk about three San Diego FC players being on the U-20 USMNT and what it means for the rest of the team's regular season schedule, including tomorrow in Atlanta, before talking about the Padres dropping further behind the Dodgers to make the final nine games of the season all but meaningless. Then, the guys welcome on Rob Usry from Five Stripe Final to talk about Atl...

Darren Smith and John Gennaro get together during the San Diego Padres game to talk about the uneven nature of the team right now before transitioning into a very long review of America's Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys, a Netflix documentary about the Dallas Cowboys since Jerry Jones purchased the team. After that, the guys spend some time talking about Jimmy Kimmel being taken off the air for...

Darren Smith and John Gennaro open up the podcast with a conversation about Michael King's poor start against the New York Mets and whether it's a harbinger of doom for the San Diego Padres' chances to go deep in the playoffs. The guys also talk a bit about the top of the lineup and how it could be affecting Fernando Tatis Jr. They then open up the "mailbag", or at least dig through the #mailbag c...

On today's extra-long episode, Darren Smith and John Gennaro talk about everything (except the Cowboys' documentary) that they can possibly talk about, including: What to expect from the Baja Cup tonight at Snapdragon Stadium between San Diego FC and Club Tijuana Whether the Padres should push during the last stretch of the regular season or rest The most likely playoff scenarios for the Padres Th...

Darren Smith and John Gennaro got together, a little earlier than usual on a Monday, and kicked off today's show by talking about the shifting landscape of media through the lens of the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards. After that, the guys get into the San Diego Padres taking a home series against the woeful Colorado Rockies and if there's something to be taken away from the hot hitting of Jackson Merr...

Ahead of what should be a very fun weekend for San Diego sports fans, Darren Smith and John Gennaro get together to chat about San Diego FC (and Anders Dreyer) being on the verge of making MLS history, break down the scandal currently unfolding involving Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers, and then play another game of Try This! where they each give out a recommendation that could be used...

WARNING: Today's podcast handles some heavy topics, including conversations about murder, politics, war and mental health. If you're just here for some Padres talk, feel free to skip ahead to the 34:00 mark. Darren Smith and John Gennaro spend the first half of today's podcast talking about the assassination of Charlie Kirk and why it feels like a specifically historical moment that could lead to...

Darren Smith and John Gennaro kick off today's show wondering why Manny Machado isn't getting criticized for celebrating a player on the opposing team hitting a home run off of San Diego Pares pitcher Michael King, who returned last night and looked about as good as could be hoped for. Then, Eric Gomez from ESPN joins the show to talk about the U.S. Men's National Team, preparations for the 2026 W...

Darren Smith and John Gennaro recap the San Diego Padres' third consecutive win, this one courtesy of a walk-off sac fly from Fernando Tatis Jr. that was followed by a lengthy hug between player and manager. Was the hug too long? Was it needed? Is Tatis finally embracing "Tatis 2.0"? Did "rally kid" give the team the juice they needed? The guys get to the bottom of it all before Michael King's ret...

It's Monday, which means Darren and John are back to recap the sports weekend and that today's episode is completely unlocked and free for everyone to enjoy. On today's show, the guys talk about the Padres avoiding a disaster in Colorado, the appeal of the Savannah Bananas, Alex Morgan's impact on women's soccer in America (and John's cynicism), thoughts from SDSU's loss to Washington State, Carlo...

Darren Smith and John Gennaro are ready for a weekend with minimal plans so that they can watch all of the tennis, football, soccer and baseball that will be going on.....plus the Netflix documentary on the Dallas Cowboys that Darren is obsessed with. The guys talk about tonight's Savannah Bananas' game at Petco Park, Mike Shildt having another grumpy interview with Ben & Woods this morning, w...

The San Diego Padres have lost 8 of their last 10 games and seem to be in some sort of death spiral. They also don't play a game today. As such, it seemed like a great time to invite Dylan from Letters to A.J. back onto the show to talk about what the numbers tell us about this team and what the path forward is without Jason Adam and Xander Bogaerts. But, first, Darren talks about the Jerry Jones...

This podcast starts off with Darren Smith and John Gennaro trying to decipher what, if anything, is wrong with the San Diego Padres (2-7 in their last 9 games) and what can be done to fix them. But then the guys quickly move off of sports.... Chris Kluwe is a former NFL punter who made some news back in February when he was arrested at a Huntington Beach City Council meeting... Since then, Kluwe h...

It was a hell of a (long) weekend for sports in and around San Diego, but Darren Smith and John Gennaro only have about an hour to get into the San Diego Padres, who appear to be dealing with an identity crisis as the injuries pile up, and San Diego FC, who walked into one of LAFC's biggest moments in team history and took it for themselves. Mondays are unlocked and free for everyone! Enjoy! Secti...

Before Darren Smith heads off to San Diego FC training, he gets together with John Gennaro to discuss all of the sports that there is to watch this weekend. But first, the guys recap their individual adventures in trying to watch the SDSU Aztecs football game last night. This being the first real weekend of college football, and just the third week of the EPL schedule, it has added quite a lot of...

College football kicks off in a big way tonight, including San Diego State welcoming Stony Brook to Snapdragon Stadium, and the guys talk about their excitement before discussing Lee Corso's upcoming goodbye to College GameDay . Later, fantasy expert Andy Behrens of The Deep Shot and The Athletic joins the show to give Darren and John some advice on how to deal with an autodraft, which new coaches...