Sports With Friends

This podcast was recorded on September 6, 2023, at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Center as part of the 2023 US Open Championship. The U.S. Open conducted a mental health forum, "Mental Health and Sport: Why It Matters." It featured Olympic champion swimmer Michael Phelps, former WTA #1 Tennis Player Naomi Osaka, and the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. Phelps is the world's most decorated Olympic c...

This episode focuses on several topics involving the business of sports. Eric Fisher is a newsletter co-author at Front Office Sports. Fisher is a nearly three-decade veteran of the news business, having previously covered sports business in editing and reporting roles with SportBusiness, Sports Business Journal, and The Washington Times, and he started his career with the Easton (Md.) Star Democr...

The second season of the HBO series about the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty is currently airing Season 2. Series basketball producer Idan Ravin joined the show to discuss his role in the creation of the new season. Ravin was charged with transforming the Lakers cast and other notable players into the silhouette of their...

Bryan Ruby is a career minor-league baseball player. Many of those seasons have been in the Independent Leagues, most recently with the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. In September of 2021, he became the only active professional baseball player to come out as gay, and his story was featured in USA Today as well as 100+ other media outlets around the world including CBS, Yahoo, Bleacher Report, and Teen Vo...

This episode features 9 of the top tennis players in the world. Recorded live on Media Day before the 2023 US Open Tennis Tournament, Coco Gauff, Frances Tiafoe, Carlos Alcarez, Iga Swiatek, Novak Djokovic, Jessica Pegula, Taylor Fritz, Ons Jabeur, and Caroline Wozniacki all appear on this podcast. The US Open this year is bringing in record-breaking crowds, and no shortage of storylines. Russ Tha...

In August 2023, Baltimore Orioles TV play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown was taken off the air after the team owner thought he was too negative on the broadcasts. Brent Axe not only knew Brown when he was a student at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University but he was involved in an all-too similar situation himself. In July 2023, Axe was fired from ESPN Syracuse for being too critical of the Sy...

When USC and UCLA announced their intentions to leave the Pac-12 for the Big 10 in 2022, Andy Staples joined the podcast to discuss realignment (Episode 361). This year, Washington and Oregon followed them to the Big 10. Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah State announced they were leaving for the Big 12 in 2024. That leaves the Pac-12 with only four schools remaining. This all deals with s...

Sarah Langs is currently a research/reporter for MLB.COM. She has also been featured on MLB Network and countless other game broadcasts. She began her career in 2015 as a researcher for ESPN. An avid baseball fan, she is known for demonstrating that “Baseball is the Best.” Her belief is that the people that make up the sport, from players to coaches to scouts to media members make the sport the be...

Dwight "Doc" Gooden played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball. He pitched for the New York Mets from 1984-1994. During that span, he was National League Rookie of the Year in 1984, NL Cy Young Award winner in 1985, and was a part of the 1986 Mets World Championship Team. He is a 4-time All-Star. His career was derailed by his issues with drug use and was suspended multiple times, including the en...

Jonathan Mayo has been with MLB.COM since 1999. He primarily covers the MLB Draft and the minor leagues, with expertise on prospects. He recently completed his second book entitled "Smart, Wrong, and Lucky: The Origin Stories of Baseball's Unexpected Stars." It is a unique take on how first impressions measure up to their aftermaths: the draft, years of progression, and for a talented few, major l...

The League is a feature-length documentary, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Sam Pollard, and executive produced by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. The film recounts the dramatic rise and fall of the Negro Leagues – providing a lens on the dazzling parallel world of Black baseball which was created by African Americans during the Jim Crow years. The League reveals the true story of Black baseball is fa...

From 1988-2023, Angelo Cataldi was the host of the WIP Morning Show. He retired in Spring 2023. His show was an instant hit and maintained popularity throughout his tenure. Cataldi never shied away from controversy, and would criticize anyone in the Philadelphia sports market that he felt warranted it. Cataldi was joined on the radio show by Al Morganti, and later by Rhea Hughes and former NHL pla...

In the early 2000s, Mark Mulder was part of the “Big 3” with Barry Zito and Tim Hudson. He pitched for the A's from 2000-2004. He was then traded to the St. Louis Cardinals where he pitched through 2008. After his playing career, Mulder began pursuing golf. He won the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe, a celebrity golf tournament, three times from 2015-2017. In this episode, Mulder recou...

Derek Lowe pitched in the major leagues from 1997-2013. He is a 2-time All-Star, and a member of the Boston Red Sox 2004 World Series Championship Team. He threw a no-hitter on April 27, 2002. He was the American League Saves leader in 2000 and also was the NL Wins Leader in 2006. He is a member of the Boston Red Hall of Fame. Lowe is an avid golfer and is participating in this year's American Cen...

The Ocean Race is a yacht race around the world, held every three or four years since 1973. The 11th Hour Racing Team is an American team competing in the 2023 Ocean Race, the first since 2017. Charlie Enright is the skipper of the 11th Hour Racing Team. At the time of the release of this podcast, the 11th Hour Racing team is currently in the lead. At the age of 36, Charlie has two round-the-world...

On Tuesday, June 6, 2023, there was a shocking announcement in the golf world that the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and the DP World Tour would operate under one umbrella. LIV Golf is run by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, and the future of both the PGA and LIV is in question. Ian O'Connor is a 5-time author, and longtime columnist for ESPN, the New York Post, and others. His books include The New York T...

Mike Vaccaro has been a columnist at the New York Post since 2002. Recently, he underwent a harrowing medical procedure where his lower left leg was amputated. He recently wrote about it in a Post column and came on the podcast to tell his ordeal. He tells it triumphantly as this was the best option for him to return to as much of a normal life as possible, and he recently returned to the golf cou...

In March 2023, Damon Bruce had the #1 sports radio show in the San Francisco market. He was unceremoniously laid off as his show was eliminated from Audacy's lineup. Damon took his massive radio and social media following and created “Damon Bruce Plus,” a daily YouTube show that is converted to a podcast. https://www.youtube.com/@damonbruceplus In this episode, Bruce talks extensively about how he...

Matt Loughlin has been with the New Jersey Devils organization for 27 years. The last 17 have been as the radio/audio broadcaster. First, on WFAN Radio, and now on the Devils Hockey Network. Loughlin started with the team as their pre/post-game host on SportsChannel, FOX Sports Net, and ultimately MSG Network and did that for 10 years before transitioning to play-by-play. On TV, he also worked on...

Jack Curry is an award-winning sports journalist. He spent 20 years covering baseball for the New York Times before shifting to television to work for the YES Network, where he has worked since 2010. He is the co-author of three New York Times bestsellers and has recently authored a new book on the 25th anniversary of the 1998 Yankees, a team that won the World Series and a total of 125 games. The...

Mitch Evans has been a Formula-E driver for Jaguar TCS Racing since 2016, which happened to be Jaguar's initial season in the circuit. Evans is originally from New Zealand, and at the time of this episode, is currently 4th in the championship standings through nine races out of a total of 16. He has two first-place finishes and three podiums this season alone. In this episode, Evans goes in-depth...

Longtime College Basketball Insider Jon Rothstein has been with CBS Sports since 2010. Since 2021, he's been a part of the CBS/TNT coverage of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Rothstein also hosts the “College Hoops Today Podcast” via Compass Media, the only college basketball podcast that runs 52 weeks out of the calendar year. He is also an in-studio correspondent for both WFAN and CBS Spor...

For the 400th episode of Sports with Friends, 2-time Super Bowl Champion Eli Manning returns to the podcast for his 6th appearance. This appearance ties Manning with LaTroy Hawkins for the most appearances in the history of this show. Eli previously appeared on the first-ever episode of the podcast. He also appeared on Episodes 74, 99, 139, and 200. This is his first appearance since his playing c...

During the 2022-2023 NHL Regular Season, all 30 Teams held a Pride Night, during which players wear jerseys celebrating the LGBTQ+ community either during warmups or games -- or both. This season, various players and a few teams objected to the activity and refused to participate for a variety of reasons. Tara Slone recently completed her first full season as a content contributor for the San Jose...

Since joining the Boston Red Sox in 1983, Joe Castiglione has been the lead play-by-play announcer for over 40 years. In 2023, Castiglione announced that he was scaling back and would only do 81 scheduled games. At 76, he has been part of the fabric of Red Sox baseball for four decades. In 2022, he was honored by the club and named to the Red Sox Hall of Fame. In this episode, Joe opens up about h...