From James Harden to Luis Rubiales to Mason Greenwood to Kylian Mbappé to Leo Messi, a series of stories whose headlines sometimes obscure something far greater in the dark depths below

We often define "seasons" in sports pretty neatly & tidily: they start in the preseason & generally end after the last game. But just like land is never as precise as the maps that seek to capture it, the end of seasons can be blurry. We hear from 3 different POVs regarding this transition: Howard Beck on how NBA media's rhythms have changed, Gigi Speer on a college athlete's end of days, and Brenda Prinzing on following a team 365 days a year even while the league they play in keeps finding ways to push you away.

Consider the carbon output tens of millions of fans produce driving to games to watch teams who take dozens of flights per season on jets that are environmentally a nightmare. The fans whose love & passion allow pro sports to thrive through all kinds of economic downturns repeatedly pay higher prices for lesser access. Most people in sports media are paid poverty wages, if they're paid at all. The allocation of wealth within the leagues themselves is criminal. The Mardy Fish/Steph Curry incident is just another hint at the coming gambling iceberg. Should pro sports even exist?

Like an episodic dream, today's topics flow in and out of one another:

* The NY Times using The Athletic as an end-run about its sportswriters' union

* Victor Wembanyama + Britney Spears = ?

* When too much NBA is too much NBA

* The WNBA lets down its players re: travel -- again

* WNBA players use worker power to start a new offseason league

* Barca, Barca, Barca

With MLB ripping the As out of Oakland, Rob Manfred's chronic dickishness, the scapegoating of Pride Night and overhauling the rules of the game to solve a problem that doesn't exist, Matthew says goodbye to first sporting industry he loved

This pod has it all: Elizabeth Adetiba (Salon) on the oppression of & discussions around Caster Semenya & other intersex athletes from the Global South, plus the tragedy of the death of Tori Bowie; Man City's triumph & the anxiety it produces for some; hooray for the Denver Nuggets; the WNBA fails Brittany Griner for the second time; and there are no winners in the PGA/LIV merger, only -- truly -- losers.

Jonah Birch returns to the pod for a special reunion episode, recorded right after the Celtics won on the road to force a Game 7 back in Boston -- during the Philadelphia series, not Miami. We wanted to give you Jonah at his most optimistic, during his golden hour. M & J talk basketball and a bit of this and that in their first show together since Henry Kissinger died. Wait. He's still alive? Man, fuck that guy.

Acclaimed writer Frankie de la Cretaz joins the show to talk about intersections of gender, sexuality and sports. Why is Lia Thomas posed by some as a threat to women's swimming while Katie Ledecky isn't? What elements specific to swimming make it such fertile ground for transphobia? How is the Biden Administration trying to have its cake & eat it while doing nothing to protect young trans athletes? What part is the NFL not saying out loud as it invests millions of dollars in women's flag football while women's tackle football remains undersupported and unregulated? Can women's sports grow in a meaningfully positive way if we measure their progress by capitalist benchmarks? Tune in & find out.

Katie Heindl hops on to talk hoops, namely: James Harden & whether he has anything to prove; the FedExForum back door hitting Dillon Brooks' ass on the way out; why even Knicks fans can love Jimmy Butler; how the Big 3 Nets were the Fyre Festival; why sports fans may hold different standards toward their heroes' crimes than fans of other entertainers; how the growth of women's basketball is -- and isn't -- like shoulder pads; and when it's appropriate to lowercase a certain word.

Former D1 goalkeeper & current D1 coach Christina Sarokon joins the pod to talk about what it's like growing up as an elite athlete: how soccer came into her life, when she first knew she had a special talent, the challenges with transitioning from sports-as-fun to sports-as-your-whole-life, the challenges transitioning from being the best player on every team you've ever played for to one of many talented players in college, what led her to pursue coaching & what's different about the game today than when she played. Plus Matthew gushes (just a bit) about Man City beating Arsenal and the latest on the NBA playoffs!