In his Hall of Fame basketball career, Boston Celtic Kevin McHale scored more than 17,000 points and won three NBA Championships. On St. Patrick's Day, Kevin joins the show to talk about his playing career, today's NBA, a breakdown of the top NCAA teams competing in March Madness - and his hilarious guest appearances on "Cheers."

ESPN's Andy Katz is the top NCAA basketball analyst in the country. Katz joins the "Mean" to talk about the best players and teams to watch in the 2017 NCAA tournament, his eight years of filling out brackets with President Obama, and the hilarious story about how he got the ESPN job in the first place!

How much knowledge do we really have about subjects that impact our lives? Why do we think we're right on facts about issues? The author of the new book, "The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone," Steven Sloman, joins the show to talk about how individuals process information. The cognitive scientist explains how the "mind is constructed to channel the beliefs of our community," often resulting in Americans across the political spectrum having trouble separating fact from fiction.

Washington Post national reporter Robert Costa is the "insider" when it comes to covering D.C. and President Donald Trump. As a journalist and NBC analyst, he offers people a front row seat to the inner workings of the Trump presidency. On this episode of the "Mean," Bob talks to Michael about the "one-man hurricane" in the White House, what "Trumpism" is, why the president lies, and how the media can remain true to its mission when covering the administration.

Dan Proft is a political writer and commentator who hosts a morning radio program on the conservative WIND-AM 560 "The Answer." Dan ran for governor in the Illinois Republican primary in 2010 and is the founder of the Illinois Opportunity Project. On this episode of the "Mean," Dan talks to Michael about what it means to be a conservative, the Trump agenda, and what he thinks the GOP should do in its effort to "replace" Obamacare.

Jack Crittenden is the author of "Wide As The World" and spent three decades as a political science professor at Arizona State University. In this episode of the "Mean," Jack and Michael cover millennial participation in democracy, the electoral challenges facing the Democratic Party as well as upcoming decisions facing the GOP Congressional Majority, and the surreality of a sitting U.S. president's assault on the free press.

In the U.S. Senate, why does it take more than a majority - a 60-vote threshold - to pass legislation? What are the "filibuster" and "cloture" rules? Where did they come from? Are these rules unconstitutional? What's the "nuclear option?" Will the Senate "go nuclear" and restore majority rule when it comes to passing laws and consenting to Supreme Court nominations? One of the premier lawyers in the country, Emmet Bondurant, breaks it all down and makes his case for how the U.S. Senate should operate.

Former U.S. Senator Adlai Stevenson III has spent his life in public service, much like his father, the former Illinois Governor, and his grandfather who also served in the Senate. The non-partisan Stevenson Center on Democracy has named Michael Golden as a Senior Fellow where he is working with Adlai III on a new Agenda for Democracy Reform. On this episode of the "Mean," Michael and Senator Stevenson talk about his legendary family history, how politics have changed, and specific planks in the Agenda for Reform platform!

EPISODE 27: KEVIN BAKER, AUTHOR & COLUMNIST by Michael Golden

Amanda Matti, former NSA analyst in Iraq and the author of her amazing true life story, "A Foreign Affair," joins the Mean to cover it all!

From A Foreign Affair: "When 22-year-old US Navy Intelligence Analyst Amanda Matti deploys to Baghdad, Iraq in the summer of 2005, she does her best to prepare mentally and physically to face the horrors of war. What she isn't prepared for is to fall in love...with someone on the "other side." For Amanda and her Iraqi translator Fahdi, it's love at first sight. While serving together near the front lines of the Iraq War, the two realize their connection transcends cultures, countries and politics. Amanda knows she may have to choose between Fahdi and her career in the military, but actually finds herself at the center of an international criminal investigation spearheaded by a trifecta of US government agencies - the NSA, CIA and NCIS."