Sports bet discourse continues to burble on the BCC Chat, and I’m adding more fuel…

We’ve had the Man Who Would Ban Sports Betting and now we have the Sports Betting Man. Raheem Palmer is the co-host of the Ringer Gambling Show.

He says he’s gone broke before and made millions. He leads a life most of us can’t imagine. He just moved to Las Vegas. I had questions. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* The problem with the Sharp Lifestyle

* What is Raheem’s “model” for making bets

* Is losing also addictive?

* Should prop bets be banned?

* Raheem watches every pro basketball league and believes the NBA is unique in superstar coddling

* Josh Allen is great, not a choker, and also “not who people want him to be”

* Do we need a new term for “point shaving” now that players tank for props?

* Is Pro Football Focus astrology for dudes?

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We talk around it a lot on HoS but writer Charles Fain Lehman has just come out and said it: He thinks the legalization of sports betting is bad and wants it reversed. Plenty have expressed misgivings, but this man has actually staked out a position.

I’m not sure anyone is as prominent in America’s burbling anti-vice movement as Charles is currently, so I wanted to get his perspective. How bad is sports gambling and will there ever be a public appetite to bring back prohibition? I found this talk fascinating and hope you will too. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Will Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce getting married result in an actual baby boom?

* What’s the legalization of sports betting done to society?

* Rank the young male vices in terms of damage: sports betting, porn, weed

* Do porn and weed use curb criminality?

* Did the American public want this sports betting legalization?

* How popular is sports betting with the American public?

* Would young men vote to protect access to sports betting and/or porn?

* Charles’ thoughts on Richard Hanania’s Do We Need Sports Betting to Get to Mars? Maybe theory

* Charles writes a lot about psychedelics but refuses to do any

* Charles and I are both skeptical of ayahuasca shamans

* Is alcohol use a net negative or net positive for society?

* Zoomers are anti weed?!

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

I’ve been struggling to figure what what time we’re in, post Vibe Shift. Pirate Wires founder Mike Solana finally articulated what I’d been thinking without knowing I was thinking it: We’re in a Culture Cold War. I felt a burning need to discuss this, and so we did, plus many other media/culture topics. Subjects include but aren’t limited to…

* Christopher Rufo vs. Doreen St. Félix leading to nothing = Culture Cold War

* Why nobody is able to cancel anyone else now

* Are we in a Culture Cold War forever?

* Is culture NOT zero sum?

* How the Internet breaks our moral intuitions

* PTSD for those of us who remained sane in 2020

* The “you can’t criticize me” defense from those who just lost cultural power

* We will never have a shared reality ever again

* Culture War matters

* How Mike would advise Disney on how to win back Zoomer males

* Why does “moral inversion” exist and why is it prevalent now?

* Why Mike supports hearing Aella out, but understands the backlash to her

Audio for Random Offense with Amin is up on the HoS feed, though the mic is a little distant. Great episode in my humble opinion!.

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.houseofstrauss.com/subscribe

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Wos is back from Europe, armed with a fresh perspective on all goings on stateside. BCC chatters took bets on what he’d talk about and now we learn the truth. Perhaps this was the most candid Wos/HoS yet. Topics include!

* We are jealous of NBA podcaster Nate Duncan

* Wos was in Barcelona when everyone there decided they hated tourists

* My Guy Haberman podcast got spliced in an unflattering way, which I deserved

* The time Wos saved me from getting humiliated and fired

* The moment Nick Wright won me over as a person

* Has Paige Bueckers market corrected Caitlin Clark?

* Why Paige Bueckers can’t be Caitlin Clark fame-wise

* Wos admits to attending the 2016 Women’s March. No word on whether he wore one of those hats

* Trump vs. Taylor Swift means celebrities have limited political power

* Did The Media decide to savage Bill Belichick’s girlfriend due to her politics?

* Wos is OUT on sports gambling

Guy Haberman, who’s filling in right now for the legendary Greg Papa, is busy, but he made time for us. Since Guy considers me a “football outsider,” we decided to have fun with that status. In this podcast, I operate as Football Skeptic, wondering why the sport is how it is, and questioning if indeed it should be. Because you can tell me I’m an idiot here or in the Group Chat.

Topics include…

* Should NFL teams just never practice in preseason because Full Health would be a massive Week 1 advantage?

* Are injuries luck?

* Does my defensive shrinkage theory explain why NFL offense is slipping?

* Am I a FOOL for wanting an NFL defense with 11 fast totally interchangeable guys?

* Is Kyle Shanahan actually a genius?

* Am I biased against Shanahan because he’s inarticulate?

* What determines which NFL positions get money? Is it merit based?

* Bill Belichick, Tom Brady skeptic?

* Why did the 49ers lose the Super Bowl by not expecting a predictable play?

* It’s about Acceptable Quarterback, not Exceptional Quarterback

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.houseofstrauss.com/subscribe

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Andrew Sharp from Sharp Tech (and many other pods) is here to break down why the hell Paramount Plus paid the UFC over a billion dollars per year. We cover that and..Trump DC crime takeover? This episode goes places.

Topics include…

* Why Andrew Sharp thinks Air Pods = Massive Apple scam

* The shocking UFC/Paramount deal

* Is this the best or the worst time to be a sports fan?

* Why the NFL has a secret interest in keeping ESPN alive

* Was Game of Thrones the last monoculture show?

* Is White Lotus monoculture?

* What’s wrong with Apple TV’s “Stick”?

* Trump’s DC crime takeover

* Andrew CRUSHES journalist Peter Baker

* Why did Taylor Swift choose to announce her album on New Heights?

* The real problem with showing Taylor Swift so often during NFL games

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

It’s time for some sports biz with Move Insoles entrepreneur and NBA agent Nate Jones. We don’t have traditional sponsorships here, but House of Strauss certainly endorses Move and Chat BCC.

Huge happenings in the world of ESPN this week, and I needed Nate’s insider perspective. We discuss…

* The NFL formally joining forces with ESPN, getting a 10% equity stake

* Roger Goodell saying his competitor isn’t the NBA, but instead Google

* The WWE and ESPN agreeing to a five-year, $1.6 billion deal

* How has pro wrestling gotten more popular after publicly revealing its fakeness?

* Is danger key to pro wrestling maintaining popularity despite scripted nature?

* The Agency Model, where Klutch or some other agency runs an NBA team

* Are the Spurs wrong to give De'aaron Fox a massive contract after (an assumed) prior handshake deal?

* Is coaching via LLMs really the future of youth sports?

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

Sarah Hepola is here for one of my favorite conversations of the year. It ranges from Brent Musburger’s public horniness to American beer advertising to honest analysis of the nation’s attractiveness insecurities. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Who else? Sydney Sweeney: A complete analysis

* What did “sex sells” go away in advertising?

* “Hot, Not Pretty” vs. “Pretty, Not Hot” actresses

* If we’d known nothing about the controversy, would we find the jeans ad weird?

* Aren’t ads supposed to tickle our horrible base impulses?

* Las Vegas sexy jobs that aren’t “sex work”

* The cartoonish sexism of social media era beer ads

* And the twiiiinnnns

* What’s with blondes?

* Uncomfortable realities of who’s popular in the dating market

* Green dildos on WNBA courts

House (of Strauss) keeping here. My Random Offense with Mike Pesca is up, file included in this email.

Subscriber Craig T. Schwerin thoughtfully built off my “LLMs will be Ozempic for Golf” post.

Sarah Hepola pod was just recorded, that’s incoming.

In the meantime, I’ll be chatting about green WNBA dildos on BCC, so sign up for that.

House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.houseofstrauss.com/subscribe