Hang Up and Listen

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. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin discuss Warriors-Rockets and Kevin Durant with the Athletic’s Marcus Thompson; the NFL draft with ESPN’s Mina Kimes; and ESPN’s new 30 for 30 documentary The Dominican Dream with director Jonathan Hock.

Warriors-Rockets (3:00): Houston is complaining about the referees. Kevin Durant is putting up huge numbers. What else can we expect in the Western Conference semis?

NFL draft (17:39): Why did Mina start screaming when the Giants selected Duke quarterback Daniel Jones?

The Dominican Dream (34:29): Felipe Lopez was a basketball phenom who didn’t become an NBA superstar. It’s not fair to call him a bust.

Afterballs (52:29): Stefan on bat-flipping and Josh on Kevin Garnett’s move from South Carolina to Chicago.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin discuss NBA playoff beefs with Slate’s Nick Greene. ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski joins to talk about the NHL playoffs. Finally, Sports Illustrated’s Jack Dickey assesses Jeopardy! genius James Holzhauer.

NBA beefs (4:07): Durant vs. Beverley.Dudley vs. Simmons. Westbrook vs. Lillard. What’s the best NBA beef, and which postseason beef needs more seasoning?

NHL playoffs (24:12): How did the Tampa Bay Lightning get bounced after putting together one of the best regular seasons ever?

James Holzhauer (40:52): The secrets of the quiz-show savant who’s destroying the Jeopardy! record books.

Afterballs (57:09): Stefan on Kate Smith and the Flyers and Josh on the first player to palm a basketball.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin discuss Tiger Woods’ Masters win with Slate’s Jim Newell. The New Yorker’s Vinson Cunningham joins to talk about Kyle Korver’s essay on white privilege. Finally, ESPN’s Jeff Passan explains the logic behind Ozzie Albies’ awful contract.

Tiger Woods (1:55): His win at the Masters was an all-time great sports moment. Here’s how we’ll remember it.

Kyle Korver (24:32): What he got right in his Players’ Tribune essay on race and the NBA and what he left out.

Ozzie Albies (44:55): If the young Braves star is happy with the “worst contract ever” then do other players have the right to complain?

Afterballs (1:01:09): Stefan on the photographer Robert Riger and Josh on the Claudine Longet Invitational.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin discuss the women’s NCAA tournament with Lindsay Gibbs of ThinkProgress. Sports Illustrated’s Chris Ballard also joins to talk about Giannis Antetokounmpo. Finally, Slate’s Jim Newell assesses Donald Trump’s cheating on the golf course.

NCAA tournament (2:01): How did Baylor beat defending champ Notre Dame? And what should we make of Baylor coach Kim Mulkey and Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw?

Giannis (25:59): How coach Mike Budenholzer helped transform the Milwaukee Bucks and gave the Greek Freak space to become the NBA MVP.

Trump and golf (40:44): Does Rick Reilly’s reporting on Trump’s cheating tell us anything about the president that we didn’t already know?

Afterballs(58:50): Stefan on the history of the participation trophy and Josh on burning infields.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stefan Fatsis and Mike Pesca break down the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four and are joined by Lindsay Gibbs of ThinkProgress to discuss the women’s tournament. Ben Lindbergh of the Ringer talks about the new Major League Baseball season. And author Wayne Coffey comes on to discuss his new book, They Said It Couldn’t Be Done, about the miracle New York Mets of 1969.

Basketball (2:40): Despite one of the greatest collections of young talent ever, Duke didn’t make the Final Four. Despite a perceived snub of a No. 2 seed, the Connecticut women did. 

Baseball (28:14): Major League Baseball has a labor problem: It has stopped overpaying older free agents but isn’t compensating its best young players at market rates.

Mets (48:38): Fifty years ago, the New York Mets went from one of the worst franchises in the history of pro sports to World Series champs.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin discuss Duke’s crazy NCAA Tournament win over UCF. They also talk about Michigan State coach Tom Izzo’s sideline behavior, and Ian Eagle joins the show to explain how play-by-play announcers call buzzer-beaters.

Duke-UCF (1:14): How the Blue Devils pulled it out, and how Zion vs. Tacko lived up to its advance billing.

Tom Izzo (14:20): Assessing the national conversation about Izzo’s anger issues and how coaches should treat players.

Buzzer-beaters (34:48): CBS’ Ian Eagle describes how he calls game-winning plays and explains the elements of a memorable call.

Afterballs(57:32): Stefan on the origins of the term “punch drunk” and Josh on Canadian superjocks and immigration.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.