Bristol Rovers, aka the Gas, played Chelsea in the League Cup Tuesday night. George was in London and met up with Dummy’s own Gashead, David Goldblatt, for a chat before the game. Since 2010, the Gas have been relegated twice and promoted twice. They began life as the Black Arabs (David will try to explain) and their fans yell “Arrrrgggghhh” (because pirates). Recorded on location in and around Stamford Bridge, this episode also features David’s mate and fellow Gashead Tim as well as Dom Bliss, a writer for the mag. No tiki talka this week, but stay till the end for George’s review of the mushroom soup in Stamford Bridge’s press room. ARRGGHHHGHHHH!!!!
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
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Having a Gas in London

Howler editor George Quraishi interviews soccer journalists, managers, players, and activists. Dummy is about everything except what happened on the field last week: the business, politics, history, personalities, and social issues that touch the world’s favorite game.

Sports

New editor Dennie Wendt and founding editor George Quraishi discuss the contents, creative process and—incredibly, and at long last—the completion of Howler 15. 
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The Editors converse

Iceland has been one of the best stories in world soccer over the last few years—a tiny nation that is riding a golden generation to its first ever European Championship and then World Cup in the span of just two years. (We published a big feature on Icelandic soccer by Davis Harper that came out in the first half of 2016—so we were either ahead of the hipsters or super duper hipsters, depending on your point of view.)
For this episode, George traveled to Iceland to speak with the technical director and president of the Icelandic FA—plus the president and first lady of the country itself.
Next week, Andrew Downie will return to discuss his book Doctor Socrates. Pick up a copy here (Howler gets a small cut when you purchase with this link). And then drop any questions or comments you’d like Andrew to address into this form.
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How Iceland Does It

Amos Barshad last came on Dummy to discuss his story about a spate of soccer murders in Argentina. Now he's back to talk about his story in last week's New York Times Magazine about the Players' Tribune and where it lives in the modern sports journalism ecosystem.

What Happens When Athletes Do the Sports Writing? by Amos Barshad
Doctor Socrates is the latest Howler Book Club selection—pick up a copy here (Howler gets a small cut when you purchase with this link). Andrew will be back in about a month for a more expansive conversation about the life of Socrates.
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What to make of the Players' Tribune

George and Ryan (host of the Dirty Tackle podcast and an occasional writer for the mag) are in London at a big Nike marketing event, and of the many players present—including Alexis Sanchez, Neymar, Christian Pulisic, and Marcus Rashford—they got two very short interviews with Eden Hazard and Tobin Heath. In this episode, a discussion about how commercial events like this one have come to drive so much of the soccer media, a quick look at the very funny piece Ryan wrote for the latest issue of Howler, and, of course, three minutes each with Hazard and Heath.
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Eden Hazard, Tobin Heath, and Ryan Bailey

This week, George chats with Robert Andrew Powell, who has been writing about Beckham and Miami for Howler for several years. (Read his profile of Beckham’s business partner, the Bolivian billionaire Marcelo Claure, here.) They discuss the announcement, on Monday, that MLS had accepted the Beckham group’s bid to join the league—outside of the ongoing expansion process. The announcement closely mirrored a similar press conference four years ago: no team name, colors, or locked-down stadium location. What’s new? The addition to the ownership group of the Mas brothers, sons of an iconic Cuban exile who left behind a controversial legacy as one of Miami’s most prominent anti-Castro figures. Read Robert’s latest update for Howler here.
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Having a Gas in London

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