The Jacobin Sports Show

A shout-out to a new marathon record-holder, who came out ahead in the Dame Lillard/Jrue Holiday arms race and an extended talk with Lyndsey D'Arcangelo about the WNBA. What to make of the Aces & Liberty, after Game 1 and moving forward? What's the status of the league's newly announced expansion -- the Bay Area is confirmed, but what about Portland? We also talk about Dearica Hamb...

From James Harden to Luis Rubiales to Mason Greenwood to Kylian Mbappé to Leo Messi, a series of stories whose headlines sometimes obscure something far greater in the dark depths below

We often define "seasons" in sports pretty neatly & tidily: they start in the preseason & generally end after the last game. But just like land is never as precise as the maps that seek to capture it, the end of seasons can be blurry. We hear from 3 different POVs regarding this transition: Howard Beck on how NBA media's rhythms have changed, Gigi Speer on a college athlete&#...

Consider the carbon output tens of millions of fans produce driving to games to watch teams who take dozens of flights per season on jets that are environmentally a nightmare. The fans whose love & passion allow pro sports to thrive through all kinds of economic downturns repeatedly pay higher prices for lesser access. Most people in sports media are paid poverty wages, if they're paid at...

Like an episodic dream, today's topics flow in and out of one another: * The NY Times using The Athletic as an end-run about its sportswriters' union * Victor Wembanyama + Britney Spears = ? * When too much NBA is too much NBA * The WNBA lets down its players re: travel -- again * WNBA players use worker power to start a new offseason league * Barca, Barca, Barca

With MLB ripping the As out of Oakland, Rob Manfred's chronic dickishness, the scapegoating of Pride Night and overhauling the rules of the game to solve a problem that doesn't exist, Matthew says goodbye to first sporting industry he loved

This pod has it all: Elizabeth Adetiba (Salon) on the oppression of & discussions around Caster Semenya & other intersex athletes from the Global South, plus the tragedy of the death of Tori Bowie; Man City's triumph & the anxiety it produces for some; hooray for the Denver Nuggets; the WNBA fails Brittany Griner for the second time; and there are no winners in the PGA/LIV merger,...

Jonah Birch returns to the pod for a special reunion episode, recorded right after the Celtics won on the road to force a Game 7 back in Boston -- during the Philadelphia series, not Miami. We wanted to give you Jonah at his most optimistic, during his golden hour. M & J talk basketball and a bit of this and that in their first show together since Henry Kissinger died. Wait. He's still ali...

Acclaimed writer Frankie de la Cretaz joins the show to talk about intersections of gender, sexuality and sports. Why is Lia Thomas posed by some as a threat to women's swimming while Katie Ledecky isn't? What elements specific to swimming make it such fertile ground for transphobia? How is the Biden Administration trying to have its cake & eat it while doing nothing to protect young t...

Katie Heindl hops on to talk hoops, namely: James Harden & whether he has anything to prove; the FedExForum back door hitting Dillon Brooks' ass on the way out; why even Knicks fans can love Jimmy Butler; how the Big 3 Nets were the Fyre Festival; why sports fans may hold different standards toward their heroes' crimes than fans of other entertainers; how the growth of women's bask...

Former D1 goalkeeper & current D1 coach Christina Sarokon joins the pod to talk about what it's like growing up as an elite athlete: how soccer came into her life, when she first knew she had a special talent, the challenges with transitioning from sports-as-fun to sports-as-your-whole-life, the challenges transitioning from being the best player on every team you've ever played for to...

Gaming law & sports betting attorney Daniel Wallach joins the pod as we discuss how: * Dominion could've/should've held out for a bigger settlement with Fox * the corrupt stankness of Daniel Snyder has infested the process of selling the Washington Commanders * a gambling scandal halfway around the world could foreshadow a come-to-Jesus future for American sports leagues & gambling...

Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic joins to discuss details of the new NBA/NBAPA CBA, including but not limited to: players being eligible to invest in NBA & WNBA teams -- but not directly; the new medical requirement of prospective employees (potential draftees) at the combine; and the new In-Season Tournament. We also talk about Steph Curry's newest deal with Under Armour, whether the NBA mig...

In this episode: how a fan cursing out Bradley Beal after losing a bet is the canary in the coal mine for the dark side of sports gambling; why this may be the Golden Age of women's sports, and not in a good way; how Mets owner Steve Cohen is like the new vampires in Blade 2; a good deed by a sports owner!; and celebrating a W for labor at Temple University.

On a cold and cloudy winter's day, Brian Menéndez (Baseball Prospectus) stops by to talk baseball, the game that foreshadows summer and warmth. Which World Baseball Classic players have caught his eye? Do our personal politics influence how we root in international competition? Who's the best team? (hint: it rhymes with Lapan) What MLB rule changes do we like, not like and just plain not get? Is T...

Soccer coach and essayist Mike Idland joins the show as our focus turns to winter sports: Gary Lineker telling the truth, what a Man City fan is to make of the Premier League threatening to nullify a history, thoughts on the Stanley Cup favorite in general and the New York Rangers in particular & the NFL playing the villain rather than paying Lamar Jackson what he deserves.  

In which we struggle with several unanswered/unanswerable questions: what does the future hold for sports fans, digital streaming and cord cutting in light of MSG+'s new flawed model? What the hell are Alabama's Nate Oats and Brandon Miller doing in the wake of a young woman's murder? What makes Damian Lillard a hero for our age? Is billionaires exploiting millionaires a bad thing? All that, a tea...

When LeBron James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar this winter as the NBA's all-time leading scorer, will James also become the league's final all-time leading scorer? Are the Denver Nuggets & Philadelphia 76ers good enough outside their MVP-level centers to win a title? What theological truths can one tease out from the resurrection of the Sacramento Kings? How long can Luka Dončić abide Dallas mak...

The last time Lyndsey appeared on our pod, she obliterated the record books as far as listeners. This time we talk WNBA teams and free agency. How does the New York Liberty trading for Jonquel Jones increase the chances of Breanna Stewart leaving Seattle for NY? Is there something funky going on in the Dallas organization that keeps leading players to want out? Where do the defending champion Las...

How does Carlos Correa signing in Minnesota bring schadenfreude to Atlanta fans toward the New York Mets? Is the Damar Hamlin story the biggest drop ever from a this-changes-things event to . . . nothing's changed? Plus Dana White reminds us some animals are more equal than others, does Trevor Bauer deserve a different punishment than if he were a blue-collar nobody, how the latest Messi/Ronaldo a...

We look at every remaining World Cup matchup to determine who we should root for from an ethical perspective (Jonah's knowledge of history really shines through here). Then we shift to LeBron James' odd formality in wondering why reporters didn't construct a platform for him to speak on the recent Jerry Jones story. The show closes with some NBA talk, including Jonah scoffing at the Philadelphia 7...

Matthew does a solo dive into how FIFA's defense of the Qatar World Cup resembles 1930s Argentinian defenses of Hitler & Mussolini, why the biggest threat to MLB's cabal of owners is the richester one of them all, the reason rooting for the Knicks is like supporting socialism, the NHL's sadly predictable behavior in the Mitchell Miller scandal and the Brittany Griner injustice going from bad t...

Are socialists less selfish playing basketball than others? Which early NBA surprise teams are most likely to continue surprising? Why are Matthew & Jonah rooting for different sides in the World Series? Plus sympathy for Tom & Gisele and a challenge to Ye.

The wonderful New Yorker writer Louisa Thomas joins the show as we consider the significance of the interest & lack of more in Aaron Judge's home run chase, bask in the sunny decency of the majestic Roger Federer, consider the legacy of Venus Williams in light of Serena's career, and sympathy for the devil, i.e. Tom Brady. 

Howard Beck (Sports Illustrated; The Crossover pod) joins us as we consider the evolving Ime Udoka story, how Robert Sarver's conclusion in Phoenix could have impacted Boston's with Udoka, why would the Cs issue such a strict punishment but not fire him, morality clauses for owners, how the Brooklyn Nets are a footnote unto a footnote unto a footnote, and which will New York City see first: a good...