Bryan hits on headlines from the week from ESPN’s new billion-dollar deal with Penn Entertainment to the Orioles’ miscalculation with announcer Kevin Brown. Then, The New York Post’s Mike Vaccaro joins to discuss his career as a sports columnist for 20+ years. He talks about the power of a sports columnist, writing about sports in New York, and his relationship with Adrian Wojnarowski and experiencing his first Woj Bomb.

Host: Bryan Curtis

Guest: Mike Vaccaro

Producer: Erika Cervantes
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ESPN Bets on Itself and the Orioles’ Massive Blunder. Plus: The New York Post’s Mike Vaccaro on Two Decades of Column-Writing

The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis and David Shoemaker catch you up on the biggest media stories, from sports to politics and everything in between.

Sports

Hello, media consumers! David kicks off the show with a fun story for you (0:40), then he and Bryan get into NBA playoff talk with the following:

How much does sports media know about Minnesota (7:05)

Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns's reactions to being told they are supposed to lose (12:25)

Stephen A. Smith and ESPN’s love for the New York Knicks (15:01)


Later in the Notebook Dump they discuss:

Scarlett Johansson’s voice being used for AI (26:42)

Netflix and the NFL (31:00)

Cam’ron’s appearance on CNN with Abby Phillip (38:05)


Plus, the Overworked Twitter Joke of the Week and David Shoemaker Guesses the Strained-Pun Headline.
Hosts: Bryan Curtis and David Shoemaker
Producer: Brian H. Waters
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ESPN Loves the Knicks, Scarlett Johansson and AI, Reporters Discover the T-Wolves, and the Media Acid Test

Hello media consumers! On the Final Edition, Bryan is joined by Max Tani, media editor at Semafor, to discuss the following:

Biden and Trump agree to two presidential debates on CNN and ABC (01:33)

What to make of the NBA media rights negotiations (19:13)

JJ Redick: podcaster and coach? (28:20)

The succession plan for The New Yorker’s next editor (35:31)

Joe Kahn and the young reporters at NYT (44:23)

Covering the media beat (48:15)

Then, David Shoemaker Guesses the Strained-Pun Headline.
Host: Bryan Curtis
Guest: Max Tani
Producer: Eduardo Ocampo
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Presidential Debate Strategizing, the NBA Rights Endgame, and New Yorker Editor Succession With Semafor’s Max Tani

Hello media consumers! Bryan and David kick off the week by checking in on the Trump trial and discussing how we have been getting updates without it being televised, including real-time updates from the New York Times (0:21). They then get into a few things from NBA playoff weekend, including the following:

Shaq telling Nikola Jokic that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander deserves to be NBA MVP (7:51)

Some very interesting sounds during Luka Doncic’s press conference (10:41)

How do NBA analysts judge teams when they keep getting blown out (12:47)

JJ Redick's intrigue over the Lakers’ coaching vacancy and whether or not he would still keep his podcast (24:22)


Later, in the Notebook Dump, they discuss the 25th anniversary of ‘Phantom Menace’ and how it changed media (35:12). Plus, the Overworked Twitter Joke of the Week, Only in Journalism, and David Shoemaker Guesses the Strained-Pun Headline.

Hosts: Bryan Curtis and David Shoemaker
Producer: Brian H. Waters
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Checking in on the Trump Trial, Weekend Sounds from the NBA and How “The Phantom Menace” Changed the Media

Hello media consumers! On the Final Edition, Bryan is joined by Julia Turner—one of the hosts of Slate's Culture Gabfest! They get into the following topics:

Jack Shafer’s story in Politico about “journalistic swagger” (1:20).

Ben Smith of Semafor’s interview with New York Times executive editor Joe Kahn regarding the 2024 election (20:26)

The Apple ad about the new thin iPad (32:56)

An ‘Office’ spinoff, but for a newspaper company (35:26)

Reggie Miller has learned something from Bryan and other podcasters (40:00)

Kyle Chayka's, of The New Yorker, story: "The Revenge of the Home Page" (42:59)

Then, David Shoemaker Guesses the Strained-Pun Headline.Host: Bryan Curtis
Guest: Julia Turner
Producer: Brian H. Waters
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The Death of Journalistic Swagger, Apple Is Crushing It, ‘The Office’ For Newspapers, and "The Revenge of the Homepage" With Julia Turner

Bryan and David start by recapping Bryan’s experience at the roast of Tom Brady. Then, they discuss the reports and negotiations around the upcoming NBA media rights, and what it could mean for the ‘Inside the NBA’ on TNT (23:37). They also talk about Milwaukee Bucks guard Patrick Beverley not allowing a media member to participate in a media scrum for not subscribing to his podcast (29:11). Later in the Notebook Dump, they talk of Kristi Noem being “misquoted” in her memoir, followed by The Old Guy’s Still Got It, The Tad Friend Rule, and Only in Journalism (39:02).Plus the Overworked Twitter Joke of the Week and David Shoemaker Guesses the Strained-Pun Headline.

Hosts: Bryan Curtis and David Shoemaker
Producer: Isaiah Blakely
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ESPN Bets on Itself and the Orioles’ Massive Blunder. Plus: The New York Post’s Mike Vaccaro on Two Decades of Column-Writing

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