Big Ten Network’s Chris Malcolm joins us to talk digital media, sports, the fading newspaper business, the identity of Bagboy and the respective power of facial hair and a bad haircut.

Also this week: A new Bumble Brief, fresh DickPicks (and a DP Hall of Famer)

Chris Malcolm is the director of digital content for the Big Ten Network, the premier television network dedicated to Big Ten college sports, seen in over 60 million homes. He also oversees content for BTN.com. He wrote for, edited and helped develop the Chicago Tribune’s popular RedEye and previously contributed to FoxSports.com and ChicagoSports.com, the Tribune’s original web site dedicated to the city’s sports news. Chris is a graduate of the University of Illinois and a rabid Chicago Blackhawks fan.

Over 38,000 people follow Chris’ alter ego on Twitter, where he writes as Coach Q's Mustache, giving voice to the hair on the upper lip of Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville.

www.BTN.com

www.twitter.com/CoachQsMustache

MIDDLEGROUND: The Podcast – Midlife. Midwest. Middle of Everything. Chris & Chris are a couple guys trying to sort shit out and find some balance.

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Brian Sterling, lead TV anchor in Grand Rapids, Michigan defends the value of local TV news, the media’s coverage of Trump, and **bonus** does the Humpty Dance.

Now that we're back from a mid-summer break, we've got DickPicks and are putting The Tinder Update out of its misery, replaced by a promising young upstart.

This week's guest is a good friend of the podcast. Brian Sterling, is the primary news anchor and investigative reporter for NBC affiliate WOOD TV 8.

He’s served as a regional correspondent for the Associated Press, NBC News and LIN Media and covered the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, the 2015 US Supreme Court hearings on gay marriage, and Pope Francis's visit to Philadelphia last fall. His work has been recognized by the Associated Press and Michigan Association of Broadcasters for breaking news and reporting.

A Detroit-area native, Brian is a graduate of James Madison College at Michigan State University. He started his career as a radio news anchor and sports anchor for the Michigan News Network and was the chief political reporter for WILX-TV in Lansing, Mich.

Watch Brian on WOOD-TV, Channel 8 in Grand Rapids or catch him at:

www.woodtv.com

twitter.com/bristerling

MIDDLEGROUND: The Podcast – Midlife. Midwest. Middle of Everything. Chris & Chris are a couple guys trying to sort shit out and find some balance.

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Gary Reid, a radio and broadcasting legend in Michigan, built the country’s most successful college radio station. He sat down with us to talk the future of radio, the trouble with millennials and seismic shifts in the way we consume music.

Also this week: Chris knocks the universe off kilter by going on TWO dates and gets a can’t-miss lesson in dating.

Starting as a professional rock drummer and disc jockey in the 60s, Gary Reid began teaching radio production at Michigan State University in 1977 and was eventually handed the reigns of the entire TV and radio broadcasting operation. He’s seen broadcasting grow from the black and white, personality-dominated days of Walter Cronkite to the banning of George Carlin’s 7 Dirty Words to the explosive growth of services like Spotify and Pandora. Today, he is Director Emeritus of Broadcasting and General Manager of WKAR-TV, WKAR AM/FM, affiliates of PBS and NPR and WDBM-FM. He is an inductee in the Michigan Broadcast Hall of Fame and received their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.

Listen to WDBM, Impact 89 at http://impact89fm.org/

WKAR at www.wkar.org

MIDDLEGROUND: The Podcast – Midlife. Midwest. Middle of Everything. Chris & Chris are a couple guys trying to sort shit out and find some balance.

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Matt and Cheri Kelly yanked their 15-year old son Malcolm out of school and hit the road for the trip of a lifetime. They left their home in Durango, Colorado earlier this month bound for their first stop in northern California, and they won’t be home for over a year. You think your family road trips seemed long? Poor Malcolm. Don’t make us pull this car over, young man! Will Malcolm make it? Will their Toyota van make it? Will Matt and Cheri’s marriage make it? We’re checking in with them on the road.

Also: The British need to get over themselves, Trump wants to be Prime Minister, the NBA Finals were fixed, the NRA sucks, and all of them show up in this week’s DickPicks.

The Kelly Family can be found at:

www.ChefMalcolmKelly.com

IG: chefmalcolmkelly

twitter.com/chefmalcolmk

MIDDLEGROUND: The Podcast – Midlife. Midwest. Middle of Everything. Chris & Chris are a couple guys trying to sort shit out and find some balance.

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Jim Harold is the king of tales of the bizarre and unexplained. He is America’s foremost paranormal podcast host. With not one, but two popular podcasts, The Paranormal Podcast and Jim Harold’s Campfire, Jim’s stories have been heard and read all around the world, with over 20 million downloads. In October 2015, both of Jim’s podcasts reached the Top 100 of ALL podcasts on iTunes. This guy’s our friggin hero.

Jim is also the author of the Campfire book series. The first four books in the series have been #1 Supernatural Best Sellers on Kindle and Campfire 5 comes out this fall. Jim has worked in the radio and technology industries and lives in Ohio with his wife and two daughters.

Also this week: Mr. Hockey, The Greatest, Hillary, a Tinder Update, DickPicks and a quick Family Feud.

Check out Jim at:

jimharold.com and jimharold.net

twitter.com/THEJimHarold

facebook.com/jimharold

email: [email protected]

MIDDLEGROUND: The Podcast – Midlife. Midwest. Middle of Everything. Chris & Chris are a couple guys trying to sort shit out and find some balance.

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She’s a “fem-dom humiliatrix” and at 27, Ceara has built a career of fulfilling men’s fantasies by degrading, punishing and humiliating them. But here’s the crazy part – not only does she do it while clothed, she sells those soiled, nasty ass clothes and underwear to those same men, along with any other bodily waste or fluid they want. You too can have a pile of her toenail clippings. But it’ll cost you.

Before you judge, listen to a whip smart, articulate young woman give solid dating advice and talk about the business she runs and the world that makes it feasible. Lurid? Sure. Disgusting? To most. But somewhere right now, some dude is jerking off to a Ceara video, piece of clothing, or… well, you’ll see. And you’ll never forget it. Trust us.

Also this week: Transgenders, our date with the zombie, a visit from our IT guy and of course DickPicks.

Check out Ceara at: www.cearalynch.com

twitter.com/cearalynch

IG: cearalynch

Ceara’s Kickstarter Film Project: www.kickstarter.com/projects/ruinme/ruin-me

MIDDLEGROUND: The Podcast – Midlife. Midwest. Middle of Everything. Chris & Chris are a couple guys trying to sort shit out and find some balance.

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The response to “M” (Ep. 8) and her relationship was overwhelming, so we turn to V to give us her perspective from the eyes of woman who happily grants to her husband all power and authority over her and her body.

Also this week: Weekend plans with a zombie, those Brits hosting American latenight talk shows (WTF), and DickPicks!

But V is the highlight for sure. In her 40s, married for 15 years, with one child, and living in Texas, she has given herself over to the “most fantastic man in the world.” And yes, she would lick his feet if he asked (seriously), but he’s so fantastic, he would never ask. V is a staunch proponent of a woman’s freedom to choose how she lives her life and she feels no need to defend hers. She’s sassy, sexy, smart and yes, she has sisters, but dammit, we have dibs.

BDSM may sound nuts to you, but V makes it seem like we’re the ones that’re missing out on something. After this, you may want to put your vanilla-ness behind you.

MIDDLEGROUND: The Podcast – Midlife. Midwest. Middle of Everything. Chris & Chris are a couple guys trying to sort shit out and find some balance.

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He's a dreamer and a schemer who just thinks harder than most people. Working in IT and turning 40 combined to bring on a midlife crisis that inspired his creative spirit and changed his life and the lives of his wife and four children. After five years and over 80 performances, The Pig and Weasel is going strong and so is its creator - making ideas pop and dreams fly.

Also: A Tinder Update, DickPicks and Donald Trump calls in to the show! (I know, right?!)

TODD ROGERS has learned to apply the collective knowledge of the first half of his life to enrich and propel him through the second half. He sees potential and motivation where most people never bother to look. Yeah, he works in corporate America as a 9-to-5er, but that’s not going to keep him from starting a puppet troupe, or living in an artist commune, or making his own bowties, or inventing a better crap digester or starting a hotel chain for neo-nomads.

We told you. This guy thinks harder than you and me. And you’re going to like him.

www.thepigandweasel.com/

www.facebook.com/thepigandweasel/

www.twitter.com/pigandweasel

The Pig & Weasel featured on WBBM-TV, Chicago

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/04/19/skokie-couple-turns-living-room-into-performance-venue/

Jenn Grinels Live at The Pig & Weasel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBk2zldb9CM

MIDDLEGROUND: The Podcast – Midlife. Midwest. Middle of Everything. Chris & Chris are a couple guys trying to sort shit out and find some balance.

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Former MSU great Blair White talks about earning his way on to Michigan State’s football team, becoming a star and then playing with Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts before giving it all up to go back to school to become an orthodontist.

Also: The Tinder Box, building fences, and DickPicks (Jay-Z cheated on Beyonce? WTF!)

BLAIR WHITE

Not highly recruited coming out of Saginaw, Michigan, Blair White went to Michigan State as a freshman in 2005 hoping for a spot on the football roster. He got one – listed 8th on the depth chart as a receiver. By his junior season he was a fulltime starter who became a star. His senior year, he was the Spartans leading receiver and tied for the Big Ten lead in touchdown catches.

Undrafted out of college, the Indianapolis Colts signed White in 2010. That season, he caught his first pass in his first game for a touchdown from future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning. It would prove to be one of the highlights of a short career, as Blair suffered back injuries that forced him into retirement at age 25 during only his second season in the NFL.

Undaunted, he returned to school to become a dentist and next month will graduate from University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry. Dr. Blair White will go back to school for two more years to become an orthodontist.

There is no better example of perseverance and successfully reinventing oneself in the face of adversity. Blair shares some stories of playing with Manning - one of the all-time greats, the bitter rivalry between MSU and UM, playing for Coach Jim Caldwell (now head coach of the Detroit Lions), and finding out there’s more to life than football.

MIDDLEGROUND: The Podcast – Midlife. Midwest. Middle of Everything. Chris & Chris are a couple guys trying to sort shit out and find some balance.

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We’re charmed by (and flirt with) actress/comedian/singer/model/social media maven/waitress and expert networker AMANDA GAVIN. We also talk Trump, Tinder, and roll out a new segment: DickPicks!

You don’t want to miss this one because Amanda’s on the cusp – that’s right, the g*ddamn cusp of fame and untold riches and we caught her while she'll still return our calls.

She hangs around LA’s Comedy Store and Laugh Factory, but everywhere she goes is cool, because she makes it cool (unless Andy Dick is there and offers to let her sleep at his place. Sooo not cool.) She’s currently working backstage on NBC's THE VOICE and she's a new friend of MiddleGround. We’re proud to introduce her to you Groundlings. (John Stamos, eat your heart out.)

Follow Amanda on Twitter: twitter.com/atothegav

MIDDLEGROUND: The Podcast – Midlife. Midwest. Middle of Everything. Chris & Chris are a couple guys trying to sort shit out and find some balance.

Now on iTunes AND Stitcher - Subscribe to MIDDLEGROUND!

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Email us! [email protected]