Josh Levin and Stefan Fatsis discuss the U.S. national team’s win over Spain at the Women’s World Cup. Josh and Joel Anderson are then joined by David West to talk about the NBA draft and the Historical Basketball League. Finally, Josh and Joel assess the plan for the Tampa Bay Rays to play half the season in Montreal.

Women’s World Cup (01:24): Stefan reports on his view from the stands in Reims, France. Plus: Did England go too far in denouncing Cameroon?

David West (18:50): The NBA all-star on whether the draft should be abolished and how his college experience convinced him to try to establish a professional college basketball league.

Tampa Bay / Montreal Rays (38:53): Could a two-city solution ever work in pro sports?

Afterball (53:22): Joel on UConn football and Josh on Toby Kimball.

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Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin are joined by Canadian soccer player Diana Matheson to discuss the Women’s World Cup; Sports Illustrated’s S.L. Price talks about agent Rich Paul and Paul’s client Anthony Davis; and the Athletic’s Ethan Strauss ruminates on the possible end of the Warriors dynasty.

 Women’s World Cup (2:27): Did we learn anything from the U.S. women’s national team’s two blowout wins? Did the Americans’ celebrations go too far?

 Rich Paul and Anthony Davis (21:59): How the agent orchestrated the deal that brought Davis to L.A.

Warriors (43:35): Who’s to blame, if anyone, for the injuries to Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson? What’s next for Golden State?

 Afterball (1:04:34): Stefan on the death of Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen.

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Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin are joined by the Athletic’s Marcus Thompson to discuss the Raptors’ rise and the possible end of the Warriors’ dynasty. Louisa Thomas of the New Yorker also joins to talk about the French Open. Finally, Thompson returns for a conversation about analytics and race.

NBA Finals (2:38): Can Kevin Durant save the Warriors’ season? Are the Raptors just the better team?

French Open (16:03): How Ashleigh Barty won her first grand slam and Rafael Nadal took his 12th title at Roland Garros.

Analytics and race (32:19): Are advanced stats making the league’s front offices whiter?

Afterballs (50:32):  Josh on Mariano Puerta’s contaminated water glass and Stefan on Ada Hegerberg.

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Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin are joined by ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz to discuss the NBA Finals. ESPN’s Julie Foudy also joins to talk about the Women’s World Cup, and Ben Lindbergh comes on the show for a conversation about his book The MVP Machine.

NBA Finals (2:55): Why the Warriors won Game 2, and how both teams are playing great defense.

Women’s World Cup (23:40): How the U.S. stacks up against the world, and how the fight for pay equity will play out during the tournament.

The MVP Machine (47:34): The player development revolution in baseball, explained.

Afterballs (1:05:01): Stefan on the spelling bee and Josh on aluminum bats as scrap metal.

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Stefan Fatsis, and substitute co-host by Gene Demby, are joined by Bruce Arthur to talk about the Raptors, Lindsay Gibbs to talk WNBA and Howard Bryant to talk about black players in the MLB.

NBA (2:42): Are the Warriors worried about the Raptors? Should they be?

WNBA (19:42): Women's leagues have always been an overlooked part of the sports world. But there is some hope for change.

MLB (36:15): A conversation about black players in baseball.

Afterballs (58:29): Stefan on Bill Buckner and the mistake from the 1986 World Series that he never really lived down. 

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Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin are joined by The Athletic’s Ethan Strauss to discuss the Warriors and Zion Williamson. NFL retiree and mathematician John Urschel also joins to talk about his book Mind and Matter. Finally, Louisa Thomas assesses tennis player Nick Kyrgios.

NBA (4:21): Are the Warriors better without Kevin Durant? Should Zion Williamson spurn the Pelicans?

John Urschel (29:14): Why he decided to leave pro football to focus on his math career.

Nick Kyrgios (52:10): The tennis star is enigmatic and temperamental. Should he quit the sport?

Afterballs (1:10:04): Josh on old people who make lots of free throws and Stefan on the dean of old-man-softball players.

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Linda Taylor was a con artist, a kidnapper, maybe even a murderer. She was also America’s original “welfare queen,” the villain Ronald Reagan needed to create a vision of a country being taken advantage of by its poorest citizens. In this new mini-series, Josh Levin reveals the never-before-told story of a woman whose singular life was forgotten in the rush to create a vicious American stereotype. Subscribe to The Queen in Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. 

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Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin discuss Kawhi Leonard’s Game 7 buzzer-beater with ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz. Slate’s Joel Anderson also talks about Warriors-Rockets and Blazers-Nuggets, and the New York Times’ Rory Smith analyzes the state of English soccer.

Kawhi’s game-winner (1:51): What it was like in the arena when that shot bounced and bounced and bounced and bounced on the rim.

Western Conference playoffs (19:10): Do the Rockets have a mental block against the Warriors? How annoying is Chris Paul? How good is C.J. McCollum?

Soccer (42:25): An amazing week in the Premier League and the Champions League, assessed.

Afterballs (59:18): Stefan on The Professor and the Madman and Josh on the word swatsmith.

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Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin discuss the Kentucky Derby with Sports Illustrated’s Tim Layden; author David Epstein talks about the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ruling on Caster Semenya; and Slate’s Nick Greene discusses Kawhi Leonard and Nikola Jokic.

Kentucky Derby (2:46): Did officials at the Kentucky Derby make the right call in disqualifying Maximum Security and giving Country House the victory?

Caster Semenya (19:14): Everything you need to know about the controversial ruling that could end the Olympic champion’s career as an 800-meter runner.

Kawhi and Jocic (40:11): A conversation about two of the NBA’s oddest superstars.

Afterballs (58:38): Stefan on a disqualification at the 1968 Kentucky Derby and Josh’s 50 story ideas for ESPN the Magazine.

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Josh Levin talks with Aymann Ismail, the host of Man Up, the new Slate podcast about masculinity in the modern world. The two discuss Ep. 1 of Man Up, which features Eric Kelly. Kelly was so successful at fighting off bullies as a kid in Brooklyn, that he grew up to become an Olympic level boxer, until a bar fight ended his career.

Subscribe to Man Up in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or search for Man Up from Slate in your favorite podcast app. 

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