116: On sports culture, 'Wembymania', & the 2024 Paris Olympics with historian Lindsay Krasnoff

Aside from the last episode of last season, which was more about the President than the World Cup, I’ve almost never talked about sports on this show. And that’s strange given the role it plays  in local culture. When I learned about the work of today’s guest, I knew it was time to record a special episode. Lindsay Krasnoff is a historian and sports diplomacy expert who teaches at NYU and wrote a book called Basketball Empire: France and the Making of a Global NBA and WNBA that will be released in September. She’s a regular global sports commentator for CNN, France 24, ESPN and many other outlets and has a new project that puts the spotlight on French and American sports voices through the prism of sports diplomacy. We’re going to talk all about that, about the big NBA draft this month that has the sports media going mad for Victor Wembanyama, and what the forthcoming Olympics in Paris can tell us about Franco-American diplomatic relationship. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Lindsay Krasnoff

FranceAndUs

Victor Wembanyama and the NBA draft lottery

Paris Université Club

Rudy Gobert

Sports Diplomacy

Paris Olympics

Thanks to Matthew Jordan for recording and sound editing on this episode.