In 2003, ESPN had it all: the NBA returned to the network, the "embrace debate" era was booming, poker became a TV sensation, and they almost hired an exceptionally gifted sports anchor named Josh Green. Ultimately, ESPN chose NOT to hire Josh, and they have been cursed ever since. Luckily, someone who did work for ESPN in 2003, long-time anchor Scott Reiss, joins the podcast to describe what it felt like to be part of the most exclusive club in sports broadcasting.  

It's a special Rosh Hashanah episode of Take A 20! The boys return from their summer hiatus to ring in the new year with legendary broadcasting voice Gary Thorne. Gary was on the mic for the 2003 ALCS between the Red Sox and Yankees, and he relives the drama of that epic series, as well as other moments from his remarkable career.  Sit back, dip your apples in honey, and try to say nice things about Aaron Boone (although he definitely does not deserve it!).

John Gagliardi won more football games – 489 – than any college coach, ever. Gagliardi set the wins record in 2003, which was his 51st season as the head coach at St. John’s College of Minnesota. Gagliardi was famous for his list of “No’s," which included no hitting in practice, no playbook, no mandatory weight lifting and never allowing players to call him "Coach." He was simply John. And his keep-it-simple approach just might be the best thing that ever happened to football.  Former St. John’s quarterback Tom Linnemann joins the podcast to speak at length -- and in highly entertaining fashion -- about the remarkable life of Coach Gagliardi, or John.

Take A 20 is taking the "L" to the North Side of Chicago. And speaking of "L’s," we are embracing the pain to discuss the Chicago Cubs and everything that went wrong on October 14, 2003. To this day, one word comes to mind when you mention the 2003 Cubs. That word is “Bartman," the superfan who became a super villain. 

In this episode, we speak with a different Cubs superfan, Jeff Shook, Professor of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh, who was in the stands that fateful evening when the Cubs were on the cusp of advancing to the World Series. Until it all shattered, like a Sammy Sosa corked bat.  

Take A 20 makes its triumphant return for Season 4! We are deep in our bag(gy suits) to break down the 2003 NBA Draft, which featured LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and countless fashion violations. Ben Osborne, former editor-in-chief of SLAM and Bleacher Report, joins the show to provide his first-person perspective of covering that Draft and those superstars over the years. 

It's a first for Take A 20: a surprise ending! In this episode, we talk about Tom Brady’s very first Super Bowl in 2002. And his very first retirement -- and unretirement -- 20 years later. Boston Globe sport columnist Chris Gasper joins us to share his perspective on covering Brady and the Patriots' dynasty. When we began recording the episode Brady was no longer playing football. Now, he is. And that makes Josh very happy.

Josh Green and Mark Davidson are rolling deep into Season 3 of Take A 20. And speaking of #3, we are “Talking About Practice.” That’s the phrase that Allen Iverson passionately repeated 22 times 20 years ago. It’s one of the most famous press conference moments in sports history, and like everything involving Iverson, there’s a lot more to the story than we realized at the time. We have lots of questions about The Answer, and we’ll ask them to Matt Fine, a former TV sports anchor in Philadelphia and an Associate Professor in the Department of Media Studies and Production at Temple University.

Welcome to Season 3 of Take A 20! All season long, Mark Davidson and Josh Green will take you back to 2002. And we begin by going for gold. It's the 2002 Olympic Men's Hockey Gold Medal Game between Team USA and those darn Canadians. It was a milestone moment in Salt Lake City, staged in a raucous atmosphere and played with teeth-gritting intensity. We’ll dig into it with special guest, Aaron Miller, a 14 year NHL veteran, who was a defenseman for that USA squad.

In this episode, we celebrate some amazing "firsts" in the history of New York sports, beginning with Venus and Serena Williams facing-off in the 2001 U.S. Open Final, their first time meeting for a Grand Slam title. ESPN tennis analyst and Hall of Fame player, Pam Shriver, joins the pod to share her perspective of that magical night at Arthur Ashe Stadium, where Pam had a courtside view of the action. We also pay homage to another transcendent moment that altered the sports universe forever: the New York Knicks winning their first playoff game in 8 years.  This episode has it all. Legends! Champions! Trailblazers! Heroes!...and the Knicks.

We miss stadiums! So much so that we dedicated an entire episode to them. The retro stadium boom was in full bloom in 2001, highlighted by the opening of PNC Park in Pittsburgh -- a really great place to watch really bad baseball. Journalist and author Neil deMause, one of the foremost experts on how stadiums get built, joins the podcast to shed new light on the dark side of public financing  for these facilities. Neil's book, "Field of Schemes," exposes how team owners get all the benefits from this arrangement, while tax payers get stuck with the bill.