The Lead

Ten years ago today, Phillies ace Roy Halladay made baseball history by throwing just the second perfect game in team history and 20th perfect game in Major League Baseball history. The Athletic's Matt Gelb joins us to remember that remarkable performance, to talk about Halladay’s tragic death in a plane crash three years ago, and to discuss the unexpected gift that the star pitcher gave to teamma...

On Tuesday, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced that the regular season was officially over, and the league would go directly to a new playoff format when play resumes -- perhaps as early as late July or early August. The Athletic’s Craig Custance joins us to discuss this new, 24-team postseason format, which teams could benefit, and why the level of play actually might be higher than what fan...

Newcastle United is in the process of being purchased by a new ownership group, led by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman. MBS, as he is known, is widely believed to have ordered the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, an incident that sparked international outrage. James Montague, an author and contributing writer for The Athletic, joins us to discuss the highly polar...

At the start of Memorial Day weekend, the basketball world lost an icon when Hall of Famer Jerry Sloan died at the age of 78. Sloan coached the Utah Jazz for 23 years, leading them to 19 postseason appearances, and back-to-back trips to the NBA Finals against Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. Today, we're joined by Tony Jones of The Athletic to discuss Sloan's life and legacy, including the legendar...

Warning: This episode contains graphic material related to sexual assault that may not be suitable for all audiences. Sarah Klein is one of the first known victims of former gymnastics team physician and serial sexual predator, Larry Nassar. As an adult, Sarah struggled with anxiety, depression, and a range of physical ailments. Then, Sarah connected with a therapist named Dr. Liz Goldman, who als...

After winning a championship with the Chicago Bulls in 1998, Dennis Rodman closed out his NBA career two years later with the Dallas Mavericks, a team that had been the laughing stock of the league for quite some time. It was a short, strange period during which Rodman lived in new team owner Mark Cuban's guest house and attracted unusual groups of fans to games. The Athletic's Saad Yousuf joins u...

There’s a race going on to bring back pro sports, and the state of Florida is in the lead. The Sunshine State declared sports to be an essential service earlier this year, and is now recruiting leagues and teams far and wide. The Athletic’s Chris Perkins joins us from Miami to talk about who is pulling the strings behind the scenes in Florida, how people there feel about the possibility of pro spo...

Major League Baseball players have had some extra time on their hands recently. And, it turns out, they've gotten into some pretty interesting activities. The Athletic's Brittany Ghiroli fills us in on how a few different MLB players have been spending their time, in ways that are surprising, inspiring, and colorful. Read Britt Ghiroli and Eno Sarris's story about MLB players actions during lockdo...

On Sunday night, after 10 hours of sports TV nostalgia, The Last Dance — the documentary series about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls — reached its conclusion. Today, we’re joined by The Athletic’s David Aldridge — who was featured throughout the series — to look at what set Jordan apart from other all-time greats, and to explore what the series showed us about MJ’s human side. Foll...

The Bundesliga became the first major sports league to return to play this weekend. Lucky for soccer fans, it has also been arguably the most exciting league in Europe this season. The Athletic’s Raphael Honigstein joins us to explain how a well-organized pandemic response helped Germany become the first European nation to bring back major sports, the strange spectacle of games with no fans and so...

At the start of the NFL offseason, the Houston Texans made a stunning trade, sending All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for a return headlined by running back David Johnson. The man behind that decision, and all of Houston's moves, is their coach and general manager, Bill O'Brien. Today, we're joined by Aaron Reiss of The Athletic to look at O'Brien's erratic tenure wit...

Major League Baseball owners have a proposal for the 2020 baseball season that includes empty stadiums, regional competition, and more teams making the playoffs. But it hasn't exactly been welcomed with open arms by the players. The Athletic’s Jayson Stark joins us to talk about what exactly this shortened season would look like, how a debate over players’ salaries is playing out in the court of p...

The NCAA recently accepted new recommendations involving college athletes' NIL (name, image and likeness) rights. That means some athletes will soon be making significant money for things that have long been banned, including promoting products on social media. The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach joins us talk about what exactly will and won’t be allowed, when college athletes could start making m...

Last week, the NBA took a tiny step toward returning to play, as some teams opened the doors to their practice facilities and began allowing individual player workouts. Today, the Athletic’s Sam Amick joins us to talk about how the NBA is slowly but surely trying to resume the season, where and how a completion of the 2019-2020 season might work, and what's at stake for the league as it navigates...

Last night on The Last Dance, we got the chance to re-live Michael Jordan’s time as a minor league baseball player, for the Double-A Birmingham Barons, in 1994. Today, we’re joined by James Fegan — who covers the White Sox for The Athletic — to hear some behind the scenes stories from Jordan’s time in Birmingham, including a wave of celebrity appearances, and a local pickup basketball ga...

UFC 249 is going down on Saturday in Florida, a state where stay-at-home restrictions have been eased and sports like professional wrestling and MMA have been deemed essential. The Athletic’s Shaheen Al-Shatti joins us to discuss how this fight came to be, the extreme measures being taken to ensure that the fighters do not contract coronavirus, and what to expect from up-and-comer Justin Gaethje a...

The Athletic has named Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne as its Premier League player of the year. Before the season was suspended, the Belgian star was closing in on Thierry Henry's record for assists in a season and had been directly involved in more goals than any other player. The Athletic’s Sam Lee joins us to talk about what makes De Bruyne so special as a player, his future with Manchester...

After the notorious "helmet hit" against Myles Rudolph last November and an ESPN interview gone awry a few months later, Myles Garrett took off for a while. Specifically, he went to Tanzania to spend time with a water charity that he has worked with for quite some time. The Athletic's Tom Reed went to the East African nation and joins us to talk about his conversation with the Cleveland Browns sta...

Professional baseball is back! In South Korea, that is. The Korea Baseball Organization kicked off its season on Tuesday a little differently: empty stadiums and officials, coaches and players wearing masks and gloves. It's a completely different atmosphere for a league that's used to raucous crowds, dramatic bat flips and full-throated sing-alongs. South Korea was able to flatten its COVID-19 cur...

Last night on The Last Dance, ESPN’s documentary series about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, we heard the origin story of the Air Jordan, and its impact on everyone from Nas to Justin Timberlake. Today, we’re joined by The Athletic’s Wosny Lambre, who doubles as a reporter and a sneaker head, to discuss the impact of Jordan’s shoe revolution, which NBA player is the most sneaker obsessed, a...

Draymond Green has been sounding off on his former teammate, Kevin Durant, lately. Green has talked about a dustup between the two, and how Durant’s contract situation and general behavior affected the team. The Athletic’s Ethan Strauss has followed the Warriors up close for years and has a new book about the team called The Victory Machine. He joins us to discuss what was going on behind the scen...

The Green Bay Packers shocked the football world when they selected Utah State quarterback Jordan Love in the first round of this year's draft. The pick was immediately compared to 2005, when the Packers selected Aaron Rodgers in the first round while Hall of Famer Brett Favre was still the undisputed leader of the team. Rodgers is even the same age Favre was when he was selected. Today, we're joi...

Earlier this month, the top high school basketball prospect in the 2020 recruiting class, Jalen Green, decided he would skip college and sign with a new program operated by the NBA's G League. The new initiative is the NBA's first academy-style operation within the league, and the goal is to keep homegrown talent in the U.S. rather than seeing them play overseas in places like Australia, China or...

Last week, Major League Baseball handed down its punishment to the Red Sox for using video replay to steal signs. Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic broke the news about the Red Sox back in January. Today, Ken joins us to discuss the details of the punishment, the replay operator who ended up as Boston's fall guy, and whether Major League Baseball got this whole thing right. Read Ken...

Last night on The Last Dance, we heard more amazing stories about Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson, Dennis Rodman and the legendary 1997-98 Chicago Bulls. Today, we’re joined by Joe Vardon of The Athletic, who collected untold stories from former NBA players about their first encounters with Jordan, including unexpected tales from Dwyane Wade, Dominique Wilkins and Jordan’s former teammate, Ron Harper...