Can rockstar sportswriters be friends with superstar athletes? How do you measure a good episode of sports TV? And what's so great about being an old dad? Plus: playing the human jukebox, brokering the Jordan-Barkley peace, writing about Holyfield's ear on deadline... and the word "podcast" as a racial slur.

Further content:

• "Ear Today, Gone Tomorrow" (1997)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1997/06/29/ear-today-gone-tomorrow/3f93d30d-2606-4adc-aeb4-1bf26c9b9bb9/

• "Mission Impossible: African-Americans & Analytics" (2016)

https://andscape.com/features/mission-impossible-african-americans-analytics/

• South Beach Sessions: Michael Wilbon (2023)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdUV2FxatwQ

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