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Jay Caspian Kang is a great writer and astute observer of Media Culture. Today, the genesis of our conversation is his podcast on whether politics has a place in sports anymore. Jay and I both agree that the Trump Era politics in sports moment has ended for now (I’m more in favor of it ending than he is). We also get into his contention that NBA media is unusually soft/cheerleading among media sectors. Jay might even be more critical of NBA media culture than I am, so naturally we get into this. Enjoy and Happy New Year…

HoS: Jay Caspian Kang

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Ryan, our nation’s preeminent sports media critic, is here to discuss reports that NBC wishes to offer the NBA a tremendous amount of money. What does this mean, other than that Adam Silver is our lord and savior?  Topics… * Can Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT) possibly come up with a competing offer? * What’s with WBD CEO David Zaslav sitting at Knicks-Sixers with Goldman Sachs tycoon Lloyd Blankfein? * Do Barkley and the other TNT guys join NBC in this scenario?  * Irony of WBD needing the NBA most, but being most likely to be forced out * Oddness of young Thunder players doing that “What a pro wants” ad * Which TNT halftime guy is least essential? * NBA playoff ratings are all over the map. New Nielsen system or something else? * That traditional space at end of pod where we talk Israel/Gaza campus protests  * Are these protests being received by the public in a totally different way had Elon not bought Twitter?

HoS: Ryan Glasspiegel on NBA TV Deal

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Ace New York politics reporter, all around culture writer and crazed baseball fan Ross Barkan objected to my “Is Baseball Dying?” article. Naturally I had him here to say his piece and boy did we hit on a range of other topics.  * Contra conventional wisdom, is baseball more international than basketball?  * Why might baseball survive the future?  * Pete Rose was insanely famous in the 1970s, and we’ve forgotten * Is household name sports celebrity over, post LeBron James and Steph Curry? * Is Patrick Mahomes anywhere near as famous as prime Tom Brady was?  * Taylor Swift and parasocial fandom * Will Swift exist outside her time?  * Travis Kelce’s obvious bid for fame * Tucker Carlson vs. Bari Weiss on Israel * Campus fight over Israel 

HoS: Ross Barkan Defends Baseball's Future

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Joe is really smart about the sports + business overlap, as evidenced by his viral story about Glen Taylor thwarting his own sale of the Timberwolves to the ARod + Lore duo. We got deep into that deeply reported article and hit other topics of interest, such as… * The Pat McAfee + Bill Belichick combo * Robert Kraft’s Dynasty hit job on Belichick  backfiring * Roger Goodell expanding the NFL season * NBA TV rights reports  * The paradox of why NBA broadcasters might pay more while asking for less inventory  * The Minnesota mess * Glen Taylor’s sneaky trick to recapture team control * Those Forbes team valuations matter more than you’d think * Why the WNBA can’t pay Caitlin Clark a lot of money * The articles arguing that Clark got a big Nike deal in large part because she’s White

HoS: Joe Pompliano on who REALLY owns the Minnesota Timberwolves

Jason Timpf of Hoops Tonight on the Volume Network seemingly appeared out of nowhere, thriving at the top of NBA media. Of course, like many an “overnight success story,” his rise was many years in the making. This was a great conversation wherein we discussed, among other things… * How Jason used 2020 era Twitter Spaces as the battering ram to break into media  * Why Jason, as the counterpoint to Spike Eskin, loves JJ Redick * How Jason’s career was decided by Colin Cowherd’s 5 seconds of judgment * Reducing a game to a story * How much should we blame or credit luck and variance in an outcome?    * Dre Greenlaw’s Super Bowl Achilles: Luck or something else?  * Analytics-leaners dismiss the midrange at their peril * Steve Kerr’s secret to NBA playoff success House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.  

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HoS: Jason Timpf

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.com

Prominent foreign policy writer Eli Lake, currently posting at The Free Press, dropped by HoS to talk basketball. I, of course, wanted to discuss Lake’s views on politics, culture and the ever fraught topic of Israel. I’m not sure which of us won the battle for topic allocation, but I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation (and I’ve made the NBA part of it free).  Subjects include, but are not limited to… * Why Eli is “my least favorite kind of intellectual” * Eli’s beloved Sixers…getting mighty intriguing?  * How to fix the Warriors * Eli, much like fellow Philly Jew Spike Eskin, has issues with LeBron’s public persona.  * Why LeBron vs. Daryl Morey on China turned into a crisis at my then place of work * Is Eli, post October 7th, still friendly with Glenn Greenwald?  * The Zionist case for America ceasing to fund Israel’s military * Protestors who block bridges against Israeli military action…is there a logic to what they’re doing? * Are today’s protestors imitating the legend of the 60s? Or doing their own thing? * Trump at the bodega

HoS: Jay Caspian Kang

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