Phantom Island

Steven Godfrey returns to take questions from Phantom Island listeners on a variety of subjects, including the Brendan Sorsby gambling saga, flag football's emergence as a college sport, the reasonable outlook for Rich Rodriguez in his second year back in Morgantown, and a partial review of Godfrey's collection of Atlanta Braves hats. This is a preview of the full episode, which is available to pa...

Rodger Sherman, writer of Sports! , joins Ryan Nanni to discuss the sale and impending move of the Connecticut Sun to Houston, which will end nearly a quarter century of WNBA play in the Nutmeg State. How does the Sun move evoke painful memories of Hartford losing the Whalers? Statistically, where does Connecticut fall amongst other cities and states in the pro sports pecking order? And is the abs...

Ryan Nanni sits down with Steven Godfrey to review a classic of offseason sportswriting: the coach profile. Examining the work Godfrey did interviewing coaches from James Franklin to Tom Herman to Geoff Collins, this episode explores how these pieces come together, what agendas they serve for both sides, whether you can get actual journalism from these stories, and why Godfrey eventually decided t...

Steven Godfrey is joined by Hector Diaz to discuss recent WWE Hall of Fame inductee AJ Styles and how his path in the world of wrestling reveals about the business – the fights over the "right" kind of body frame, the challenges of promoting talent outside of WWE, and the reality that all bumps count the same. Phantom Island is presented by Homefield and produced by Michael Surber.

Typically, the Single Wing is where Steven Godfrey answers questions from Phantom Island subscribers about football, the media, and life in general. But today, Ryan Nanni steps into the parasocial chair to discuss whether Indiana will be the exception or the rule, why lawyers love to get into sports media, mourning the end of being a parent to just one child, and important SEC breakfast comparison...

Ryan Nanni is joined by David Covucci to discuss FOIAball's recent story comparing actual attendance at college football games to the claimed numbers. When is a sellout not really a sellout? Why don't colleges give accurate information when technology gives them much better headcounts? And what was behind the NCAA's initial push to track – and potentially punish – programs with low turnout? Phanto...

Kevin Van Valkenburg of The Fried Egg joins Ryan Nanni to review how Tiger Woods came to be so essential to the existence of the modern golf industry, why he's persisted as a foundational figure despitely largely disappearing from competition, what makes golf particularly ill-suited to moving on from him, and what a healthier relationship between Tiger and the game might look like. Phantom Island...

April started with three things that point towards the possible future of college athletics - a White House executive order, an Ivy League court win, and Alabama AD Greg Byrne pondering whether the SEC will have to kick out cheaters in the future. Ryan Nanni and Steven Godfrey discuss how these all intersect and who actually wants to be in charge of intercollegiate sports in the future. This is a...

On this edition of the Single Wing, Steven Godfrey answers questions from Phantom Island listeners on topics from Sonny Dykes talking transfer interceptions to grill and smoker strategies to when and why a program might consider dropping from FBS to FCS. This is a preview of the full episode, which is available to paid subscribers – go to phantomisland.show to sign up today. Phantom Island is pres...

D.J. Byrnes, proprietor of The Rooster and frequent burr in the saddle of Important People in Ohio, joins Steven Godfrey to talk about his reporting on The Ohio State University, the media landscape in Ohio and around the Buckeyes, and the many bombshells Ohio State is trying to smother. Phantom Island is presented by Homefield and produced by Michael Surber.

Ryan Nanni sits down with Steven Godfrey to explain what happened at the end of stoppage time in the Senegal-Morocco AFCON Final and the lengthy appeals review that followed. This turns into a conversation about whether or not Godfrey would accept the overturning of the 28-3 Super Bowl in Atlanta's favor and the time the Hawks and Heat had to replay part of a game weeks later because the officials...

Rachel Bachman, senior sports reporter for the Wall Street Journal, joins Steven Godfrey to talk about the comparative economics of March Madness for men's and women's basketball. Did the NCAA shortchange the women by continuing to bundle their rights with other sports? Why does the current setup force fans to choose between one tournament or the other? And could/should we host both Final Fours in...

Steven Godfrey takes questions from the Phantom Island audience and turns them into this, the Single Wing, where he discusses Coach Transition Etiquette, the theoretical rise of G6 super scheduling, whether NIL will change professional rookie finances, Godfrey's Letterboxd top four, and plenty more. This is a preview of the full episode, which is available to paid subscribers – go to phantomisland...

How does an episode go from Ryan Nanni and Steven Godfrey discussing the Toyota Corolla to Ryan bringing on Rodger Sherman to consider why there is no simple term for "an athlete who competes in skeleton?" When it's time to discuss the differences between how the U.S. funds its Olympic athletes and how most other countries do it, of course. Phantom Island is presented by Homefield and produced by...

Early in the evening of April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered at the Lorraine Motel. The NBA and NHL were in the middle of the playoffs, Major League Baseball was nearly to Opening Day, and many other sports had space lined up on the calendar. Steven Godfrey and Ryan Nanni review how each league responded to the assassination of the civil rights leader, where the relationship athletes...

Somehow, Louisiana Tech's lawsuit against Conference USA leads to a discussion about scheduling irregularities involving the MAC, the Mountain West, and various FCS programs. (Ryan is still not confident he understands what's going on.) This is a preview of the full episode, which is available to paid subscribers – go to phantomisland.show to sign up today. Phantom Island is presented by Homefield...

On this edition of Phantom Island's regular mailbag, Steven Godfrey answers listener questions about the anxiety of rooting for TCU, the weariness of pulling for Wisconsin, how oddball coaches function with boosters and players, what Godzilla teaches us about parenting, and Minor League ballpark advice. This is a preview of the full episode, which is available to paid subscribers – go to phantomis...

Expansion in the Big Ten and SEC gets analyzed through a football-first lens, but what have Oregon, Washington, UCLA, USC, Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Missouri done to raise the fortunes of their conferences in other sports? Ryan Nanni walks Steven Godfrey through the last couple years of gymnastics, soccer, basketball, volleyball, baseball, and softball to see which conference wins this p...

A Phantom Island subscriber asks Ryan Nanni and Steven Godfrey whether labor discussions in sports will change the way we think about the topic in the broader world, and that prompts a much longer conversation between the two about media work as advocacy, sports as an escape from the burdens of politics, and, yes, the Josh Pate interview of Trump. This is a preview of the full episode, which is av...

NIL may feel like a completely unregulated economy, but, formally, it's under the supervision of a relatively new group: the College Sports Commission. And reviewing NIL deals for "fairness" isn't the only piece of their jurisdiction. Steven Godfrey and Ryan Nanni discuss the scope and makeup of the CSC before Ryan interviews David Covucci of FOIAball about the pitch decks he got a hold of which r...

Steven Godfrey takes questions from paid subscribers to Phantom Island on topics including Dabo Swinney's next act, the future at USC if Lincoln Riley flops, who might embrace artificial intelligence in playcalling, a brief rant about Wicked , and an Indiana Football Philosophy of Dating. This is a preview of the full episode, which is available to paid subscribers – go to phantomisland.show to si...

In December 2025, Steven Godfrey and Ryan Nanni sat down with one simple task: to use the ongoing struggles of the Buffalo Sabres to discuss the frustration of rooting for a team that starts with success before wasting away into mediocrity, usually under bad ownership. But then the Sabres had the gall to completely turn their season around. So you're still getting the original episode, with some h...

Chances are the 2026 Pro Bowl Games came and went without you even noticing, and the NBA's All-Star Weekend is dredging up the usual arguments about format and motivation and so on. Steven Godfrey and Ryan Nanni look at these two events and their counterparts in Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, the WNBA, and Major League Soccer to examine whether All-Star events still serve their...

Mike Golic Jr., former Notre Dame offensive lineman and current TV/podcast/etc. delight, joins Ryan Nanni to talk about the job of an offensive line coach. What can you watch for that suggests a line is probably well-coached? How do OL coaches work with tight ends? How is the job different in college versus the NFL? And do defensive linemen and offensive linemen really see the world differently? P...

On this edition of the Single Wing, host Steven Godfrey takes questions from the Phantom Island audience about topics from his thoughts on the shuttering of the sports desk at the Washington Post, strategies for thriving as a member of the sandwich generation, and his feelings on the current state of pro wrestling. This is a preview of the full episode, which is available to paid subscribers – go...