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We can hardly keep track of all the sports media controversies pouring forth from Caitlin Clark’s debut WNBA season, so we enlisted WNBA fan and certified #GirlDad Ryan Glasspiegel. What the hell is happening here? Why is Stephen A. Smith doing battle with ESPN personality Monica McNutt? Why is Pat McAfee apologizing for calling Caitlin Clark a “white bitch”? Why is Sean Hannity attacking Pat McAfee over this? We answer all these questions and more.

Topic Docket:

* A whole lot of hilarious WNBA-related subjects (We’re allowed to laugh)

* Much of the sports media is gaslighting us on what’s happening

* Why do players hate Caitlin Clark? What’s the percentage breakdown?

* Sean Hannity going after Pat McAfee? In a non political way? What?

* The Negro Leagues + MLB stats integration topic

Our resident announcer Guy Haberman is back, and sounding much better since the last time we chatted. We went as deep as we could go on the profession of sports broadcasting. What’s the greatest call of all time? What’s Joe Buck’s style, distilled?

Also discussed: Guy’s time with the great Bill Walton, my thoughts on how writing is different from podcasting, and how you should prepare for anything you do. Oh, and some 49ers stuff at the end, of course.

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

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

A hearty welcome to American Soccer Man Alexi Lalas. He’s sometimes discussed as “controversial” in sports media, but is he? We get into how and why he expresses his views, how the culture is shifting, and how athletes are different from us. We also look back at his and Carli Lloyd’s viral 2023 World Cup commentary. Enjoy topics that include but are not limited to…

* How does Alexi feel now about suddenly becoming a famous Gen Xer in 1994?

* Alexi’s problem with soccer fans who “gate keep” soccer fandom

* America’s the only nation where soccer fan can be coded as “well educated snob”

* Why Lalas posted a 1993 photo of himself with the caption:

Yup, in 1993 you would have seen this dude was flying down the 5 freeway into the warm golden California sun, with the windows down cranking Rush Limbaugh....and Ratt

* Are athletes, including soccer players, more small “c” conservative than media?

* How the NBA (cynically) stopped involving itself in politics

* That time Alexi tweeted, “'Don’t kill the messenger. This #USWNT is polarizing”

* Looking back on Bill Walton

* Alexi thinks society would heal if all group chats were made public

* His view on Megan Rapinoe

* “Not everyone is wired like Carli Lloyd”

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

Wosny Lambre wears many hats and today we accidentally went heavy on politics. For that I apologize, given that sports > politics, but I did throughly enjoy the conversation (which even included some spirited arguing). The caveat is this is just two guys shooting from the hip on controversial matters. We are not experts. To quote Charles Barkley, “God’s the only expert.”

Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* This bizarre Isaac Chotiner interview with Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg where the latter tries to flee midway through.

* Why is Joe Biden struggling in the polls relative to the Democratic Party?

* Why has a slice of the public forgiven Trump relative to 2022, when Dems performed above expectations?

* Do people now overwhelmingly vote for cultural reasons over economic reasons?

* Wos is fascinated by how Bill Maher is regarded on the left

* Stan Van Gundy accuses Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker of “cloaking bigotry under religious beliefs.” I’ll admit that I discussed this part before knowing the full context of SVG’s religion-critical commentary.

* Is religion on a textual level compatible with modern culture?

Nate Jones is one of the most thoughtful commentators on all things NBA. For some insane reason, he still tweets his honest thoughts. We get into those, starting with the end of Turner’s Inside the NBA, transitioning to ESPN’s recent NBA issues and fanning out to Jones’ perspective on sharing normie political tendencies on Twitter/X.

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

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

We are joined by Mike Pesca, host of The Gist, and (much to his great shame), House of Strauss super fan. On today’s pod we unpack the various overlapping dramas surrounding Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s commencement speech. The NFL has disavowed Butker’s words. But has “the NFL” really disavowed his words? Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* Mike and I like a good hypocrite

* Is there any throughline to the social justice causes (Why is Greta Thunberg now protesting an Israeli singer’s inclusion on Eurovision?)

* The Harrison Butker media freakout

* Can fervently followed religion co-exist with the secular ideology of institutions?

* The modern issue with telling women to “be a homemaker”

* Bill Simmons succeeds because he still has takes (and others don’t)

* A take or two on Glenn Greenwald

* Mike questions me on my NBA takes over the years

Grant Cohn is a) The originator of the now multimillion dollar media ecosystem known as “49ers Youtube” b) Most prolific critic of 49er coach Kyle Shanahan and, now, c) In a beef with Athletic reporter David Lombardi.

We start with that last part, because it’s an intriguing entry point. Why are Cohn and Lombardi openly fighting? Does Grant represent the gate crashing threat of New Media? Or is Lombardi heading him off at the pass by taking team-friendly coverage to Grant’s Youtube territory?

We get into all of this, plus discuss hurting athlete’s feelings, Kevin Durant’s personality type, my least favorite 2024 Niner draft pick, and, who else? Brock Purdy. Enjoy!

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

Ben Kaplan and Danny Parkins are best friends and co-creators of this particular passion project. It turns out that the ranks of NBA decision makers and coaches are replete with guys who cut their teeth in obscure Division 3 college programs. The sheer amount of influence out of D3 is pretty incredible, as the book chronicles and conveys. So why has this happened? How come the lowest level of college competition is fueling the highest level of decision making in pro competition?

We get into that, plus question big shot Chicago radio host Danny about Caleb Williams…

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

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

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?

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

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