Sports With Friends

New York Times best-selling author Jane Leavy has written amazing biographies of some of baseball’s all-time iconic players. She’s written books about Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle, and the legendary Babe Ruth. When looking for a fourth biography, she found that the sport she had loved and covered for decades had undergone drastic changes. Rather than profile one particular subject, she interviewed...

This week marks week one in the 2025 college football season. The NFL season is a week away. As football takes center stage, Yahoo Sports senior writer Jay Busbee previews both seasons and tells us the teams to watch in 2025. Busbee is an accomplished author. His latest book, “Iron in the Blood: How the Alabama vs. Auburn Rivalry Shaped the Soul of the South,” was released the week this...

The week of this episode’s release is the same week that ESPN is launching its long-awaited streaming app, which is a direct-to-consumer product that does not require a cable subscription. Still, how many customers will pay for ESPN without bundling it with other streaming service options? On August 5th, 2025, ESPN acquired the NFL Network and other NFL media assets, including the linear rights to...

Hall of Fame baseball writer Bill Madden has covered the Yankees and Major League Baseball for over 50 years, including more than four decades with the New York Daily News. He is a bestselling author and the 2010 recipient of the Baseball Hall of Fame’s BBWAA Career Excellence Award. His new memoir is entitled Yankees, Typewriters, Scandals, and Cooperstown: A Baseball Memoir. Tracing through the...

Longtime ESPN New York host Don La Greca is making his second appearance on the podcast. His first, Episode 336, came when he had two totally different jobs. In July 2025, La Greca was named the new television voice of the New Jersey Devils on MSG Network. He is also currently the host of afternoon drive on ESPN New York with Alan Hahn and Peter Rosenberg. In his first appearance, D...

On July 31, 2025, for one night only in theaters, there is a new documentary entitled “Nothing But a Winner – The Alabama Football Story.” It chronicles the incredible history of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide Football Team. Alabama has dominated college football in the last century: 18 national championships, 30 Southeastern Conference (SEC) Championships, and 447 players drafted into the...

Longtime New England Patriots fullback James Develin is taking part in a fascinating swim challenge in the Hudson River. On Saturday, August 16, 2025, more than 350 participants will participate in the seventh annual New York City SEAL Swim, a demanding multi-sport challenge that spans 3.5 miles across the Hudson River. Starting at Liberty State Park in New Jersey and ending at the World Trade Cen...

On Saturday, July 19, 2025, the WNBA will hold its All-Star Game. The sport has seen exponential growth in audience and popularity since the emergence of second-year star Caitlin Clark. Still, when Clark missed time due to injury, ratings fell. Dr. Tywanna Smith is a former pro basketball player and President of The Athletes’ Nexus. She, along with retired NBA star Sonny Weems, co-founded the Athl...

FIFA World Cup 2026™ will be the biggest sporting event ever — three Host Countries, 16 Host Cities, 48 teams, and 104 matches will unite an entire continent to showcase a momentous new tournament format. The event will culminate with the Final at New York New Jersey Stadium (MetLife Stadium) on July 19, 2026, complemented by unprecedented fan experiences throughout the NYNJ region. Co-host City M...

One hundred episodes after his first appearance, former Oakland A’s and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Mark Mulder returns to the show. He previously appeared in Episode 410. Mulder pitched for the A’s from 2000-2004. He was then traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, where he pitched through 2008. In the early 2000s, Mark Mulder was part of the “Big 3” with Barry Zito and Tim Hudson. He is a two-ti...

In the sports business, there are a slew of headlines that get covered in this episode. The Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics were recently sold. Is this a trend where other legacy sports owners will try to get out of owning franchises? In baseball, the Rays and A’s have untenable stadium situations. How big an issue is this for baseball? Baseball is also trying to do new media deals and...

Former NFL quarterback and broadcaster Joe Theismann returns to the podcast for the third time. His previous appearances were Episodes 306 & 461. In 306, he spoke about his incredible football career and the catastrophic leg injury that ended it. In 461, he discussed helping Alex Smith recover from his own terrible, similar injury. This appearance references those moments but te...

Anish Shroff is a play-by-play commentator for various sports on ESPN and its partner networks, including college football, college basketball, college baseball, and lacrosse. He is also a proud alumnus of Syracuse University. Shroff is the current radio play-by-play announcer for the Carolina Panthers NFL team, joining in March 2022. Shroff also worked the NFL preseason in the summer of 2021...

Ethan Cooperman has worked for over 25 years doing stats for various sports television broadcasts. He rose to fame in the industry when he paired with the late Greg Gumbel on CBS NFL broadcasts.  Since 2004, he has worked on the #1 CBS team with Jim Nantz and Tony Romo. He also does college football for FOX and Monday Night Football on the radio for Westwood One. There isn...

In 2000, New York City was at the center of the baseball world as the New York Mets faced off against the New York Yankees in the 2000 World Series. Author Chris Donnelly has penned a new book that chronicles both the Mets and Yankees in the late 90s, leading up to that Fall Classic. “Get Your Tokens Ready: The Late 1990s Road to the Subway Series” chronicles both teams from 1997, the dawn of...

Pat Kirwan is currently co-host of SiriusXM NFL Radio's Movin' the Chains with Jim Miller. His broadcast career followed a successful career in the NFL coaching and front office ranks. He also works on the CBS NFL pregame show “The NFL Today,” and has for decades. Pat started his career in coaching at the high school and college levels. After stints with the Phoenix Cardinals and Tampa B...

Longtime baseball writer Scott Miller returns to the show to discuss his new book, “Skipper: Why Baseball Managers Matter and Always Will.” Miller’s book is a deep dive into the ongoing struggle for control that often takes place behind the scenes between Major League Baseball managers and the ownership groups, and now, their data analysts. Through stories about managers past and present, Mil...

On May 3rd, 2025, the city of Denver, Colorado, saw two of their teams play Game 7 of their respective first-round playoff series… at the same time. The Denver Nuggets hosted the Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA playoffs while the Colorado Avalanche (who share a home arena with the Nuggets) visited the Dallas Stars in Game 7 of their Stanley Cup Playoff first-round series. While the Nuggets we...

Longtime football coach Jay Paterno joined the show. Originally, he was part of a pitch to discuss recent political implications of Title IX on college sports. He is the author of multiple books, including his most recent release titled “Blitzed! The All-Out Pressure of College Football’s New Era.” Paterno is the son of the longtime Penn State coach Joe Paterno. The elder Paterno was the coach of...

Sports with Friends has reached its 500th episode. Iconic play-by-play announcer Sean McDonough is our special guest. Sean is currently the voice of the NHL on ESPN and college football. He was the voice of Monday Night Football, the Big East Tournament, MLB on CBS, and countless others. He’s a 1984 Newhouse School at Syracuse University graduate and a WAER Radio Hall-of-Famer.  In...

Tim Kurkjian was the 2022 recipient of the BBWAA Career Excellence Award presented annually by the Baseball Writers Association of America and is part of the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. His tenure at ESPN began in 1998 after stints at the Dallas Morning News, Baltimore Sun, and Sports Illustrated. He is a regular contributor to Sportscenter and Baseball Tonight as well as game c...

Len Elmore, former NBA player and Senior Lecturer in Sports Management at Columbia University School of Professional Studies, joined the show to discuss the evolving role of athlete activism and the stakes in today’s political and social climate. Elmore has served as a college basketball analyst for ESPN and Fox Sports and has served in the same capacity for CBS Sports' coverage of the NCAA T...

This episode focuses on Major League Baseball, as the traditional Opening Day is set for shortly after this show’s release. Despite having two games in Japan, most teams start now amidst a changing sports climate. The A’s and Rays are playing this season in minor league ballparks. 10 teams are having their games broadcast and produced by MLB. Payroll disparity is at an all-time high. Despite this,...

Elliott Kalb is a 13-time Sports Emmy winner as a writer/producer/researcher/editor. He is a noted sports historian and storyteller (known nationally as “Mr. Stats”). Kalb covered 16 Super Bowls, 18 World Series, 13 NBA Finals, and 7 Olympics games. Kalb was an Editorial Consultant for NBC Sports for first 12 years of Football Night in America, a writer for HBO's “Inside the NFL” from 1990-2008, a...

Commemorating Women's History Month in March 2025, media mogul Jessica Robertson joined the show. She is a co-founder and chief content officer of Togethxr, a media and commerce company founded by four of the world's greatest athletes: Alex Morgan, Chloe Kim, Simone Manuel, and Sue Bird. In 2023, Togethxr was named one of Fast Company's ten most innovative companies in sports and won Media Company...