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Had the brilliantly idiosyncratic Athletic writer Marcus Thompson on to discuss if he came from the last generation of beat writers (then we took it from there). This is an industry chat, with the guy who served as my mentor as I entered the industry. Topics discussed in this podcast include, but are not limited to…

* Beat writers…is that still a thing?

* Is “no cheering in the press box” dead?

* The Jenna Laine vs. Giovani Bernard controversy. Should Laine have apologized?

* What are the unspoken rules in reporter vs. athlete locker room interactions?

* How is covering NFL players different from covering NBA players?

* How to ask questions of sports industry people

* Why in person media access is humbling

* What Marcus would ask players when they said “we’re friends.”

* The darkness of humanity that superstar players see