Press Pass Podcast

Erik Horne is a breaking news editor for The Athletic. He joined the Press Pass podcast to discuss the path he took to get to this point. Horne touches upon the line he has to walk as a breaking news editor to entice readers to subscribe to The Athletic without giving up too much of his writers' work, the subscription-based model in sports media at large, and the importance of the connections he made with the National Association of Black Journalists as a young reporter. He also explained why Little Caesar's Arena in Detroit has the best setup for media members, what restaurants in OKC he's excited to back to once the world is normal again, and more.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski is perhaps best-known for his breaking news alerts, which have created their own Noun of Mass Destructions. But the venerable reporter has a long history in storytelling, which he was able to revisit with The Giannis Draft, a three-part narrative podcast debuting Nov. 16 for ESPN. He spoke to The Big Lead about the project, the lessons he learned in doing it, and if there may be more of these in the future. 

Kara Spak, a five-time Jeopardy champion and creator of one of the show's most viral clips ever, joined the Press Pass podcast to talk about her run and remember Alex Trebek. 

The versatile Adam Amin joined Fox Sports in July after ascending up ESPN's impressively crowded depth chart over a number of years. He jumped in with both feet, calling MLB games before getting his first opportunity to call the NFL.

In a free-ranging hour-long conversation, Amin, the son of Pakistani immigrants, told The Big Lead how he deals with the racist vitriol he receives online, looks back on the path that brought him here, revisits an old Sports Night podcast, and clarifies what system settings he used when playing hockey video games in the 1990s. 

Ira Winderman has been covering the Miami Heat for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel since the franchise was founded in 1988. He took the time to chat with The Big Lead about his college days covering basketball (including a profile of a then-unknown SUNY point guard named Stan Van Gundy), his early years on the boxing beat for the Sun-Sentinel and moving up to Gainesville and covering University of Florida sports before moving on to cover the Heat. The longtime journalist shares his thoughts on the state of the industry, the rise of the Twitter reporter, and the experience of covering the extremely high peaks and low valleys of a basketball franchise since its inception.

Ira also discusses the possibility of Giannis Antetokounmpo joining the Heat come 2021, his best Pat Riley story, why Jimmy Butler is perfect for this franchise, the magic of Erik Spoelstra, why the Heat's Finals run deserves a footnote (but not an asterisk), and what to expect from the exciting young duo of Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo. Listen to the full podcast below or follow the link here.

Andrew Marchand of the New York Post is one of the most prolific sports media reporters on the beat. Perhaps no other reporter has been aggregated as frequently by The Big Lead. So how does he do it? What does the job entail? 

In a wide-ranging discussion, he discussed how crucial his baseball beat writing days were, dealing with big egos, and juggling a vast arrays of sources, all of whom have an agenda. 

Nicki Jhabvala is the Washington Football Team beat reporter for the Washington Post. She took the time to chat with The Big Lead about how she got there, starting with an optimistic attempt to be a doctor that quickly turned into a journalism degree and an internship with Sports Illustrated For Kids. From there, she joined SI.com on the production and editing side before working at the New York Times as a copy editor. She then moved out to Denver, where she quickly was elevated to the Broncos beat and experienced covering a Super Bowl victory in 2016. Jhabvala briefly joined The Athletic and continued to write about the Broncos before deciding to make another change and headed to the nation's capital to cover the Football Team for The Post.

Jhabvala also discussed the deeper thinking behind Dwayne Haskins' benching, if Chase Young is the real deal, the strength of Ron Rivera as he battles cancer to coach this season while playing personnel manager and PR man, if the Football Team will become a permanent name, and what she believes are the chances they actually win the putrid NFC East.

Nicole Yang is one of the New England Patriots beat writers for the Boston Globe. She joined the Press Pass Podcast to discuss how she got there, starting from a co-op internship on Morrissey Boulevard to the general assignment desk to arguably the biggest beat in Boston. Only two weeks into her new gig, Nicole discusses how the early days have been, what it's like working for the Globe, and working alongside Ben Volin and Jim McBride. Nicole also touches upon the first few weeks of the Patriots season, how Cam Newton has looked in a Pats uniform, the likelihood of him staying past this year, what games on the schedule she's most excited for, what position this team might be in come season's end, why she played Settlers of Catan with Boston Celtics forward Grant Williams, and more. Listen to the full episode below or follow the link here.

Chris Cotillo is the Boston Red Sox beat writer for MassLive. He joined the Press Pass Podcast to discuss how he got his start in the business, going all the way back to his high school days when he was a teenage MLB insider breaking news on Twitter. Chris profiles his journey from there to working his way up the SB Nation rankings and finally ending up at MassLive as a proper beat writer for the Red Sox. He also discussed his latest project, an online journalism workshop for anybody and everybody who is interested in entering the sports media industry. Chris also discusses the no-good, very bad 2020 season for the Red Sox, how realistic an Alex Cora return might be, who they could target for their open managerial position, where expectations should be for the 2021 season, what the draft will look like, his favorite baseball memory, and more. Listen to the full episode below or follow the link here.