Hang Up and Listen

Josh Levin and Stefan Fatsis discuss the musical Small Ball with Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey. ESPN’s Bill Barnwell joins to talk about why the NFL is bad at scouting quarterbacks, and The Good Place’s Mike Schur explains his love for Dan Le Batard.

Small Ball (1:55): The day after the Rockets’ win in Game 1 of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, general manager Daryl Morey talks about his passion for musical theater, which led him to commission a basketball-themed musical.

Quarterbacks (18:00): Why can’t the NFL separate the Akili Smiths from the Carson Wentzes? Bill Barnwell crunched the numbers for ESPN and joins the show to theorize about why the league can’t figure out which signal-callers to draft.

Dan Le Batard (37:39): Mike Schur, the creator of Parks and Recreation and The Good Place, discusses why he’s obsessed with the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz and what makes it such a special radio show.

Afterballs(57:17): 

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Josh Levin and Stefan Fatsis discuss Patrick Reed’s Masters win with Slate’s Jim Newell. The Toronto Star’s Bruce Arthur also joins to talk about the Humboldt bus crash, and the Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh helps assess Shohei Ohtahi’s amazing week.

Masters (1:36): Jim Newell explains why first-time major champion Patrick Reed is so widely loathed, and they discuss whether we should be repulsed by Reed or feel bad for him.

Canadian hockey tragedy (20:43): The bus crash in Saskatchewan that killed 10 youth hockey players and five adults joins a long list of horrifying sports accidents. Bruce Arthur and the hosts talk about the legacy of those events and the special place junior hockey holds in Canadian society.

Baseball (31:26): Ben Lindbergh prognosticates about whether Los Angeles Angels phenom Shohei Ohtani can keep up his amazing pitching and hitting. They also chat about Giancarlo Stanton’s slow start and Gabe Kapler’s bizarre managing decisions.

Afterballs(51:37): 

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Josh Levin and Stefan Fatsis discuss the women’s NCAA tournament with Jere Longman and Kara Lawson. Patrick Fort also joins to talk about emergency hockey goalies, and they interview Jack Alexander and Bill Bunten about sports before Brown v. Board.

NCAA Tournament (2:20): The New York Times’ Jere Longman and ESPN’s Kara Lawson come on the show for a conversation about the last three games of the women’s basketball tournament, all of which were decided at the buzzer. 

Emergency Goalies (29:18): How did a full-time accountant end up playing goalie for the Chicago Blackhawks? Should baseball, football, and other sports have rules that allow non-professionals to suit up in an emergency?

Sports Before School Desegregation (43:07): Jack Alexander played basketball for the all-black Ramblers. Bill Bunten played for the all-white Trojans. The two men reflect on sports before school desegregation, and how coaching legend Dean Smith helped integrate the Topeka High School basketball team.

Afterballs(56:18): 

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Josh Levin, ESPN’s Joel Anderson, and NPR’s Gene Demby discuss March Madness. They also talk about the sports world’s response to the police killing of Stephon Clark and how Kevin Love and DeMar Derozan started a conversation about mental health. NCAA Tournament (2:00): Josh, Joel, and Gene examine Loyola-Chicago’s Cinderella run to the Final Four, Duke’s ouster in the Elite Eight, and whether any women’s team other than the UConn matters. Stephon Clark (24:00): The hosts assess the sports world’s response the police killing of an unarmed black man in Sacramento, how activism is different in the NBA and NFL, and what it means that Eric Reid hasn’t yet been signed by an NFL team. Mental health in sports (38:00): Will Kevin Love’s Players’ Tribune piece help change the way we talk about athletes and masculinity? Should Royce White get more credit for starting the conversation about sports and mental health? Afterballs (52:30): 

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Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin are joined by the New York Times’ Marc Tracy to discuss UMBC. Deadspin’s Dom Cosentino comes on to talk about Kirk Cousins’ new contract. Plus: Dave Kindred on covering girls’ high school basketball.

NCAA (1:27): Stefan, Josh, and Marc Tracy of the New York Times recap the first weekend of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, including 16-seed UMBC’s historic win over 1-seed Virginia.

Kirk Cousins (23:30): Stefan and Josh are joined by Dom Cosentino of Deadspin to discuss whether NFL players and agents will be emboldened by free-agent quarterback Kirk Cousins’ groundbreaking guaranteed contract with the Minnesota Vikings.

Dave Kindred (40:06): After retiring home to Illinois seven years ago, Dave Kindred began covering the local girls’ basketball team for fun. Then his wife suffered a massive stroke. Dave talks about the experience with Stefan and Josh.

Afterballs( 56:30): 

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Josh Levin and Stefan Fatsis talk with Slate’s Ben Mathis-Lilley about the NCAA Tournament, Slate’s Jim Newell joins to talk about Tiger Woods’ comeback, and ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz assesses the Toronto Raptors and Houston Rockets.

March Madness (1:31):Slate’s Ben Mathis-Lilley chats with Josh and Stefan about how to be a college basketball fan without being a huge hypocrite. Plus: Can Penn become the first No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 in the history of the men’s tournament?

Tiger Woods (19:47):Slate’s golf correspondent Jim Newell analyzes Woods’ second-place finish at the Valspar Championship, discusses Woods’ strange vocabulary, and looks at whether golf courses should be more patriotic.

Raptors and Rockets (35:01): Kevin Arnovitz joins for a conversation about the NBA’s (maybe) two best teams. Are Toronto and Houston for real, and what explains their regular-season success?

Afterballs (52:00):

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Guest hosts Daniel Engber and David Epstein talk with Carl Bialik about robot line judges in tennis, Mike Pesca joins for a review of NBA tanking, and Florentina Hettinga discusses the science of the Paralympics. Robot umpires (1:47): Carl Bialik discusses the latest innovation in line-calling technology and how it might affect tennis. Tanking (18:25): Hang Up host emeritus Mike Pesca chats about why there’s more tanking than ever in the NBA and what might be done about it. Paralympics (36:09): Sports scientist Florentina Hettinga sheds light on debates over classification in the world of disability sports. Afterballs (45:39):

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Stefan Fatsis welcomes Slate’s Justin Peters and NBC Nordic skiing commentator Chad Salmela to recap the Winter Olympics. And journalist Ben Strauss and sports economist Andy Schwarz examine the government probe of NCAA basketball recruitment.

Winter Olympics (1:42): Stefan and Justin Peters recap the final week of the Winter Olympics including the United States men’s curling team gold medal, Canada’s Olympic heartbreak, Mirai Nagasu’s post-skate comments, and more. 

Chad Salmela (22:23): Stefan and Justin interview NBC commentator Chad Salmela, who called the dramatic finish of the first-ever American gold medal in cross-country skiing.

NCAA Basketball (37:12): Ben Strauss and Andy Schwarz join Stefan to explain the latest developments in the FBI’s investigation into men’s college basketball.

Afterballs (57:30)

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Josh Levin is joined by Slate’s Justin Peters and the Wall Street Journal’s Ben Cohen to talk about Elizabeth Swaney, Ester Ledecka, Nathan Chen, and more from the Olympics. PhillyVoice’s Kyle Neubeck also joins to discuss what’s wrong with Markelle Fultz.

Winter Olympics (:59): Josh, Ben Cohen, and Justin Peters talk about the United States’ relatively tiny medal count in Pyeongchang and Norway’s enormous haul. They also discuss Nathan Chen’s “quad-ification” of figure skating and the rights and wrongs of Olympic tourism.

Markelle Fultz (37:37): PhillyVoice’sKyle Neubeck talks with Josh about the mystery of the Philadelphia 76ers’ No. 1 draft pick Markelle Fultz. Does he have a shoulder injury or has he forgotten how to shoot?

Afterballs (55:32)

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Josh Levin and Stefan Fatsis talk with Slate’s Justin Peters about the top stories from the Olympics, Jack Hamilton joins to look at the Cleveland Cavaliers’ roster shake-up, and Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl discusses what’s next for U.S. Soccer.

Pyeongchang 2018 (1:00):Josh, Stefan, and Slate’s Justin Peters break down the start of the 2018 Winter Olympics, touching on figure skater Adam Rippon, North Korean propaganda, the shameful handling of Russia’s participation in the games, and snowboarding gold medalist Red Gerard.

 Cleveland Cavaliers (21:24):Slate’sJack Hamilton joins the hosts to talk about the Cleveland Cavaliers’ deadline deals, and whether LeBron was playing badly to force the team to make a move.

U.S. Soccer (38:34): Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated chats with Josh and Stefan about why and how Carlos Cordeiro won the election for president of the United States Soccer Federation.

Afterballs (55:36):

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