Pablo Torre Finds Out

We all have that person from our childhood we just knew was gonna be a star. And more than 20 years before she was a 13-time Grammy winner and a star of the new Joker movie, there was a girl visiting Pablo's all-boys high school named Stefani Germanotta, playing third-wave grunge songs in the corner. His classmate Patrick Wolf — from the band Goodnight, Texas — even asked her to sophomore semi-formal. And while Pablo was preparing for a debate tournament instead, Lady Gaga (and the Plastic Gaga Band) was born. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The director of the Oscar-winning O.J. documentary, Ezra Edelman, has completed one of the greatest films ever made: a nine-hour epic about Prince. So why won't the artist's estate let this movie out of the vault? Pablo and New York Times critic-at-large Wesley Morris are two of the only people to have seen it. And they're finally able to reveal what they learned: about the hypothetical cancellation of an icon; Prince's actual scouting report as a basketball player; the disease of pop stardom; the cost of genius; and whether you will ever see this masterpiece, too. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dirty lobster sex! Shirtless Glen Powell! Emily in Compost! Do we have your attention yet? If Hurricane Helene, a litany of facts and general guilt about global warming were enough, then we would've done something by now. Enter the climate culture war. Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson — co-founder of Urban Ocean Lab, marine biologist and author of "What if We Get It Right?" — envisions the future of planet Earth as a group project for 8 billion people, in which we deploy solutions, not dystopianism. How close to paradise can we get? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You have heard about the grocery store. And the photographs cannot be unseen. But the 1955 murder of a 14-year-old in Mississippi — a killing that sparked the Civil Rights Movement, that forever shaped America — has been criminally underreported. Until Wright Thompson, son of the Delta and sportswriter of the century, embarked upon a story about LeBron's Lakers... that became a mapping of intentionally constructed, deeply hard-wired silence, in his new instant bestseller and surrealistic people's history, The Barn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald Trump was at the Alabama-Georgia game. Tim Walz was at The Big House in Ann Arbor, ahead of tonight's VP debate between a high-school coach and an Ohio State grad. College football has always been a passport to America that will never be too woke to go broke, but now the sport itself has become a battleground state. Jane Coaston — Republican whisperer, Michigan fanatic, new host of Crooked Media's "What a Day" podcast — considers whether the presidency might be decided by a disconnect between two formerly allied institutions. And an emerging strain of influencer conservatism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why are men so weird about celebrating their own birthdays? The ultramarathon wars waged on Wikipedia. And how former UNLV QB Matthew Sluka has weaponized college football’s redshirt system in the NIL era. Plus: doljabis, parenting advice, and Pablo vs. Mina. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The existential dread of going to work. The self-doubt born of 70,000 boos. The anxiety crank. The loneliness. There is no pressure quite like the expectations placed upon the top pick. And Alex Smith — 14-year NFL QB, ESPN analyst, and host of the new podcast Glue Guys — would know: He had one of the worst rookie seasons in football history. So Alex helps Pablo play armchair psychologist on the abject terror of being Bryce Young, Trevor Lawrence and Caleb Williams, with lessons for every leader on how to own your vulnerability — and develop the next Patrick Mahomes. Even if the paparazzi aren't watching you stretch every morning. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two NASA astronauts are in the midst of an extended, headline-grabbing, eight-month stay in orbit. So we turned to Terry Virts, former commander of the International Space Station, as our official PTFO Outer Space Correspondent. Because he was stranded there for 200 days after his cargo ship blew up — low on underwear, polo shirts and his beloved borscht. Turns out, there are way worse places to be than staring out a Russian dorm-room window while watching bombs, auroras, typhoons and the very essence of human nature, from 250 miles up. Also: how to pee, dream and listen to Hans Zimmer without gravity. (Hint: Do not raw-dog the universe.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before he came down the golden escalator, Donald Trump was desperate to own a pro-football franchise on the cheap. So he dispatched a political emissary with a mission for five mischievous super-fans: ban Bon Jovi from Buffalo, so that Trump could purchase the Bills instead of him. Correspondent Noah Shachtman travels to an alternate universe where, associates say, Trump would have occupied the owner's box instead of the Oval Office — and finds evidence, on a literal bridge of the American divide, that we're still halfway there.Read the companion article at Rolling Stone:Is Trump's Whole Political Career Just a Cockeyed Revenge Plot Against the NFL? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you out-smart a survey of 100 average Americans? Who channels Jimmy V during the commercial break of a game show? Why didn't Mina Kimes show up on "Fast Money"? And what color is green? Pablo reacts to his epic appearance on this week's "Celebrity Family Feud" with buzzer-caressing Dan Le Batard, Celebrity Jeopardy! veteran Katie Nolan and super-fan Mike Golic Jr. Plus: talking sh*t about Harvard, handshaking vigorously with Steve Harvey, unbuttoning a shirt with John Legend, the "Hey Jealousy" torture experiment and Cam from Oklahoma. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It won’t be long before Domonique Foxworth — staff writer on American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez, premiering tonight on FX — will no longer grace us with his presence, because his ego will have grown too large. But until then, Domonique joins the show to talk to Pablo and David Samson about the difference between journalism and entertainment; how to dramatize players and coaches he’s encountered, in real life; and why his pants are so tight. Also: beat sheets. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Sporting Class! Meadowlark Media CEO John Skipper and Nothing Personal's David Samson are back with another episode with host of Pablo Torre Finds Out ... Pablo Torre! Do you have DirecTV and you wanted to watch the US Open? Sorry! What about college football through the first two weeks on ABC or ESPN? Sorry! Well, what about Monday Night Football between Aaron Rodgers and the 49ers? SORRY! Let’s break down this dispute between DirecTV and Disney. Where does this end? What makes this dispute different than the one last year between Disney and Charter? It’s time to find out. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You may think you know how the Patriots drafted the greatest quarterback of all time: with the 199th pick in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft. But the real story — the story of exactly how the Patriots got to make that pick, in the first place — has never been made public… until now. Today, Pablo dives into the secret world of the NFL’s compensatory formula. And we unmask the identity of the free agent who flapped his wings, changing sports history forever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if you let artificial intelligence invade your life — on purpose? And then set versions of yourself loose to prank-call everyone from telemarketers to soccer fans to your wife? For his new podcast, Shell Game, journalist Evan Ratliff did exactly that. And it turns out, sneaky transformation into a stammering half-robot isn't the end of the world so much as a sneak preview of our fake new world. Could a voice clone make Pablo's life easier, too? Only A.I. Pablo (and Cocaine Evan) can tell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is the transfer portal ruining the NCAA we all liked, or helping the NFL we love even more? Why is Cristiano Ronaldo suddenly the biggest sports-show host on YouTube? What's the status of friend requests IRL? And how's my guy? Further really original, organic content:UR • Cristiano https://www.youtube.com/@cristianoThe Frendship Paradox (Olga Khazan) https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/09/loneliness-epidemic-friendship-shortage/679689/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There is nothing America loves more but understands less than the NFL, whose coaches, players, and analysts love jargon. But as Pablo discovered earlier this summer, you should be careful calling out this burgeoning fetish for linguistic complexity. So today, ahead of tonight’s season-opener in Kansas City, we ask former quarterback and NFL scout Nate Tice, the host of Football 301, to break the code — and finally explain how jocks got revenge on the nerds, taking over a national conversation. And how much Spider 2 is actually in your Y-Banana. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thirty years ago, David Foster Wallace reported “The String Theory,” an essay about a pro tennis player named Michael Joyce. No, Joyce wasn’t as good as his fellow Americans (Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Michael Chang). But what Joyce taught Wallace — the best writer of his generation, and a former junior player himself — turned into the greatest tennis essay of all time. Today, in the middle of the U.S. Open, Pablo sits down with Michael Joyce — who’s since become a coach to players like Maria Sharapova — and they dissect the genius and the eccentricities of David Foster Wallace, who died in 2008. And we learn about the psychologies of two grotesque glories: writing and tennis. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

America generates an endless stream of opinions about Caitlin Clark, but there’s been almost no in-depth reporting about how her mind actually works. So before Clark’s Indiana Fever visit Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky tonight, Pablo sits down with Wright Thompson of ESPN: the only journalist who spent months getting to know Caitlin, her family, and her team at the University of Iowa, behind closed doors. And we find out what it’s like to live alongside a phenomenon who doesn’t process fear or emotion the way most human beings do… and how she’s been trying, privately, to change. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Sporting Class! Meadowlark Media CEO John Skipper and Nothing Personal’s David Samson are back with another episode with host of Pablo Torre Finds Out ...Pablo Torre! We start in the NFL where private equity has come to play. Private equity is the king of buzz words in sports right now and every sport wants more of it. NFL valuations are sky high and teams need money. Enter PE. What is going on with the NWSL? The women’s soccer league has signed a new CBA. No more trades. No more draft. Guaranteed contract. Why now? Is Venu Sports done? That’s what it looks like. The partnership between ESPN, WBD, and Fox was shut down by the courts because of a lawsuit brought on by Fubo. Now what happens? We end today where we began…the NFL and Private Equity. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When the Supreme Court ruled, in 2021, that college athletes can monetize their Name, Image, and Likeness, football recruiting changed forever. Organizations known as NIL collectives emerged to pay players de facto salaries, in coordination with universities. But soon, thanks to yet another legal development, those universities may be able to pay players, directly — raising many, many questions about what the hell is going on. So Meadowlark’s own University of Miami booster, Mike Ryan, takes us inside their NIL collective. And On3's Andy Staples — a former national champion o-lineman at the University of Florida — helps us understand the future of a not-quite-open market. Also: Jaden Rashada, LifeWallet, and stone crabs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Competitive eating is a sport. That’s the belief of Joey Chestnut, the greatest eater of all time — and man, do we agree with the 16-time Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest champion now. Ahead of his Labor Day duel against rival Takeru Kobayashi, Joey reveals everything we ever wanted to know about jaw exercises, coffee enemas, and what he refuses to eat. Also: chokeholds, milk chugging, the danger of endorsing veganism, and inadvertent excrement. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You might think that calling a game is easy. That Tom Brady can do this in his sleep. Jon "Boog" Sciambi, announcer for the Chicago Cubs and "MLB: The Show," teaches Pablo why the human voice is an instrument that requires restraint and distinction to record the first draft of sports history, then pass it down like an heirloom. Come for the PTFO dictionary's debut in the broadcast booth; stay for Nic Cage murdering Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg with a Toyota Outback at Wrigley Field.This episode originally aired May 14, 2024. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The MVP is obsessed with the ancient sport of harness racing — because it may be hiding in plain sight as more exciting than the NBA playoffs. Acclaimed documentarian Mickey Duzyj talks to a GOAT and plays stable boy, then heads to the track to root on the official stallion of the show.This episode originally aired May 7, 2024. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the early 1970s, two pitchers for the New York Yankees agreed to the wildest trade in sports history: They switched wives. And children. And furniture. And pets. But this sex scandal cut way deeper than the tabloid headlines. David Mandel — veteran writer for Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Veep and The Simpsons — laments his big-screen adaptation that never was... even though the ultimate passion project could have starred Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. And we go deep inside a story that's equal parts swinging and missing.This episode previously aired April 30, 2024. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the beaches of Los Angeles to the botanical gardens of New York City, we traveled the country looking for the best cannabis with an athlete’s name on it. And who better to smoke it with than Katie Nolan and Dan Soder? Pablo joins Dan and Katie in their NYC apartment to burn it down with special guests Magic Johnstoned, Gary Payton, Melo, and more. Come for the marijuana, stay for the cake. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When the Paralympics begin in Paris on Aug. 28, there will be no shortage of feel-good storylines. But two whistleblowers tell Pablo Torre Finds Out a very different story: about how widespread cheating has destroyed the integrity of the Games themselves. Paralympians are allegedly manipulating the system by exaggerating their impairments, lying to classifiers, and tanking tests — a fraud known as “classification doping.” But one athlete has decided, at long last, to fight this problem in court. American handcyclist David Berling sits down with PTFO correspondent Tim Rohan for an exclusive interview about the lawsuit that might change everything. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is Tim Walz’s coaching career the key to beating Donald Trump’s Republican Party? What does the NFL still get wrong about paying star quarterbacks? Is walking a mile in a fast food worker’s shoes better rehabilitation than jail time? Plus: Ozark Mina, non-tearful Dan, Judge Beast, Bill Barnwell, David Foster Wallace, and throwing burrito bowls at people’s faces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An existential paranoia has been lurking beneath the surface at the Olympic Village, where the most pressing story doesn’t get talked about on TV. We field an urgent video call from Team USA diving coach Drew Johansen about the "unintended consequences" of the system quietly responsible for more than 1,000 Olympians who competed in Paris. And how the most recent update in the NCAA’s legal fight could sink your favorite Olympic sports back home on campus... and at the 2028 Games, in Los Angeles. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Adolf Hitler gave the legendary runner a mysterious gift: four potted oak tree saplings — one for each of the four gold medals that Owens won, while surrounded by Nazis, in one of the greatest performances in the history of sports. Almost a century later, correspondent David Fleming examines what Owens decided to do with his so-called Hitler Oaks... and why that decision remains an enduring act of American defiance. Plus: tree people, myth-busting, redlining and witch-doctor science. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Sporting Class! Meadowlark Media CEO John Skipper and Nothing Personal's David Samson are back with another episode with host of Pablo Torre Finds Out ... Pablo Torre! The NBA media rights deal saga is not over just yet. Warner Bros. Discovery is not going away quietly as they have now sued the NBA. What exactly does David Zaslav want from this? NBA games? Money? Both? What’s the deal with Charles Barkley? Is he going to stay with TNT? He said he was going to retire after the 2025 season, but now it doesn’t look likely. Let’s take a look at the judge in this case of WBD v. NBA. The judge hearing the case was a part of the Spirits of St. Louis and its lawsuit against the NBA. Should this knowledge from the judge matter? Comcast is one of the largest distributors in the country. What is TNT worth to Comcast if it loses the NBA? Let’s explain what these carriage fees are and the leverage Comcast has over the new fees. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What got left on the cutting-room floor of The Last Dance? That shrugging security guard, Scottie Pippen's cattle prod, almost Obama — and so much more. Plus: the iPad trick, pulling a Stat Boy, what it feels like to be parodied/cancelled on SNL… and a pickup-line surprise featuring butterflies, a bulldog puppy and a newborn.Further reading:Watching the National Championship at a Georgia bar is what heartbreak looks like (Charlotte Wilder) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

J.D. Scholten is a state representative from Iowa who went viral for the ultimate call to the bullpen: He left a music festival, a beer-and-a-half deep, to suddenly sign a minor-league contract and pitch into the seventh inning — at 44 years old. But that's just the beginning, because this J.D. might be the opposite of J.D. Vance. In fact, he's unlike most elected officials from either party: He fights punch-down politics. He is selling a real form of populism. Hell, he's running for re-election and says he doesn't even like politics. And, yes, he's still starting for the Sioux City Explorers.Further reading:"You're Probably Getting Screwed" Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is Kamala Harris’s “memeability” the key to her winning the presidential election in November? Or are Zoomers just having a laugh? How does one develop their “rizz”? Or are we sociopaths for even asking? And would you fight your parents if they named you Arthur (sorry to any Arthurs out there)? Also: Mina goes goth, Pablo has a secret nickname, and Dan wears pants.Further Reading:Could Kamala Harris’s “Brat summer” win her the presidency? (Vox)Is ‘Rizz’ the Secret to Getting Ahead at Work? (WSJ)AITA for fighting with my mom over my nickname? (Reddit) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michelle Wie was hyped as nothing short of the next Tiger Woods. As a kid, she was a global sensation: competing against not just adult women but the men, at PGA Tour events — signing seven-figure sponsorship deals in the process. But now, two decades later, Michelle tells Pablo what child stardom was really like, behind the scenes. And she appraises a career unlike any other. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From a college dorm room to an 18-car garage, there is no "psychological mindf**k" quite like becoming a millionaire overnight. But a supermajority of athletes continue to squander their compressed window of lottery-like earnings. On the 15th anniversary of his seminal story for Sports Illustrated, "How (and Why) Athletes Go Broke," Pablo gets an honest re-appraisal from wealth-management advisor Todd Burach — and brave testimony from Justin Pugh and Antoine Walker — on where stars really are just like us when it comes to financial literacy, haves and have-nots... and pre-nups. Plus: Magic Johnson's one simple rule for staying rich, a heat-check on the entourage bullsh*t meter and the French Bulldog Cold War brewing in NFL locker rooms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Sporting Class! Meadowlark Media CEO John Skipper and Nothing Personal’s David Samson are back with another episode with host of Pablo Torre Finds Out ... Pablo Torre! It’s time for more NBA TV rights talk! It looks like NBC, ESPN, and Amazon have won the battle, even though Warner Bros. Discovery is trying to fight. What does the big money mean? Let’s take a look at the valuations of media rights deals and what comes next for sports leagues. Why is Knicks owner James Dolan so mad about it? He sent a letter to the league and is furious with the new NBA media rights deal. Why was he the only owner to vote against this new deal? We finally have seen some numbers on what’s happening with the WNBA. It’s a major increase. Welcome to the billion club! How will this new money impact the league? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is joining a club the key to healing our fractured nation? Would a robot be better than Katie Nolan at bartending? Would you cover your face in fish sperm for dermatological reasons? PLUS: the worst drink to order from a bartender, Dr. Dupixent, frankincense, myrrh, and late-breaking country music news. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do Mike Tyson, Lawrence Taylor, Darryl Strawberry and Herschel Walker have in common? They were Donald Trump's New York superstar allies in the 1980s — and they remain his time-warped avatars for Black American voters in 2024. Semafor political reporter Kadia Goba transports us from selling handbags at Trump Tower to receiving calls from these aging MAGA all-stars on a nostalgic, notorious and downright criminal journey toward interviewing Trump himself at Mar-a-Lago.Further reading:'They see strength': The Black sports icons shaping Donald Trump's take on race, politics, and masculinity (Semafor) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders actually what they say they are? (And are they underpaid?) Also, how does a retired NFL player coach his own children without turning into Earl Woods? Plus: a fire alarm, a milking, a moonlighting meteorologist, a hard-to-get kung-fu master and the Hug-a-Bros. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before his best friend got him mixed up in the biggest story in baseball, Shohei Ohtani was a kind of child star caught in a state of arrested development. Enter the Japanese interpreter: part live-in nanny, part spouse in a trans-Pacific shotgun marriage. Correspondent Tim Rohan takes us inside an intimate profession that's closing ranks, post-scandal. Turns out, actual translating isn't the half of it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We tumble down the rabbithole of the global match-fixing scandal that’s quietly tearing apart the U.S. Olympic fencing team, ahead of their trip to Paris this month. And we investigate how it all connects to a spiraling refereeing crisis that takes us from Harvard and Princeton to the very top of the International Olympic Committee — and Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Where one of the world’s 100 richest people, Alisher Usmanov, has allegedly exported a culture of bribery and corruption that’s scared pretty much everybody in sabre fencing away from talking, on the record. Until now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pablo has unearthed a long-rumored, previously unpublished, for-your-eyes-only video from the summer of 2010, featuring a committee of A-list New Yorkers recruiting free agent LeBron James to the Garden. It may feature one of the biggest revelations in TV history, but let's just say — between a couple former politicians and another convicted rapist — that this tape has aged very, very poorly. Knicks superfans Jason Concepcion (@netw3rk) and Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) gaze into the ark of the covenant... and cringe.This episode originally aired April 16, 2024. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rex Chapman, former Great White Hope and author of the new memoir "It's Hard for Me to Live with Me," traces the fading of an endangered sports species, from his personal history as a basketball prodigy in the American South to the rise of the international game.This episode originally aired March 22, 2024. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do athletes, coaches, and GMs give a s*** about what sports gasbags like Mina, Dan, and Pablo say about them? Early returns say: yes. Does Google suck now? Mina’s Reddit usage indicates: also yes. And most importantly, could you rawdog a 7-hour flight? Or, do we just like saying the word “rawdog”? Also: enshittification, Mina gaslights her husband, and the grief-eating truffle pig returns.Is Google S.E.O. Gaslighting the Internet? (Kyle Chayka)Why Men Are ‘Rawdogging’ Flights (Kate Lindsay) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The greatest trick the Buffalo Sabres ever pulled was convincing the world that Taro Tsujimoto really existed. Correspondent Michael J. Mooney takes us from a mysterious call in western New York to a hockey rink in the Himalayas — and explains why this completely made-up human has never felt more alive. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is it better to remember or forget? Why do luxury car companies compete at Le Mans, a 24-hour race in a French town? And why do you watch streams of video games like Elden Ring (even if you’ll never play them)? Also: Michelin, Mongolia, core memories, downloadable chodes, and, as always, horse-punching.Further reading:I Have a Terrible Memory. Am I Better Off That Way? (Katy Schneider) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Forty years ago this week, the Chicago Bulls drafted Michael Jordan — giving rise to the holiest of basketball grails. Twenty-three autographed Jordan rookie cards would be scattered across the globe, in the form of Wonka-esque golden tickets. But at last check, nine of these cards had vanished. Correspondent Bradley Campbell gets to the bottom of a seven-figure mystery — spanning four decades, three continents, black-market conspiracies and an armored-car robber — that presaged the modern era of sports collectibles as an asset class. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At a time when so many are struggling with the regulation of expression, from Elon Musk's X to college campuses to the workplace, why did mixed-martial arts, of all things, rebrand itself as America’s leading bastion of free speech? Ariel Helwani, the sport's preeminent journalist and host of The MMA Hour, traces an evolving policy — from getting censored himself to a homophobic rant going viral — and explains how UFC boss Dana White has made a fortune in the name of “freedom.”This episode originally aired January 30, 2024 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He could be drawing up plays for superstars, after interviewing with the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, and more. But the ESPN commentator and "Old Man & the Three" podcaster has been leading a group of middle-schoolers in Brooklyn, with the same passion and perfectionism that he brought to Duke and then 15 seasons in the pros. If you thought you hated JJ Redick, just wait 'til you get inside the greatest mind in the history of fourth-grade basketball.This episode originally aired January 11, 2024. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You may remember Smush Parker from his very public, lopsided beef with the late Kobe Bryant, but there is so much more to the arc of Smush's life story — from being a toddler raised inside "The Cage," in New York City, to bringing up the ball right before "The Malice at the Palace" began. And now, it turns out, Smush Parker is committed to another shocking quest: become the fourth former NBA player, ever, to become an NBA referee.This episode originally aired December 19, 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.