Season 4 Episode 19- Ben Reiter, Blake J. Harris, Michael Beller

On the nineteenth episode of the fourth season of The Sports-Casters hosts Steve Bennett and Don Russ welcome Ben Reiter (Sports Illustrated, SI.Com), Blake J. Harris (Author) and Michael Beller (Sports Illustrated, SI.Com). Kicking off the show with 3Things, Steve and Don talk about the heartbreaking end to the World Cup for the United States, recap a busy first day of NHL free agency, and look back at all that happened while the guys were on summer vacation. Also on the show, the guys close out a busy month for the book club, talk mock drafts on five on fantasy, and end the show with one last thing. -Ben Reiter is making his seventh appearance (00:21:39) on the podcast to talk about this Sports Illustrated cover story on the Houston Astros rebuild. Reiter talks about pitching his longest story at SI to his editors and the Astros, his unprecedented access to the Astros draft room, and how their rebuild comparers to the Washington Nationals and Tampa Bay Rays. Reiter also chats about appearing on Chris Russo's show, hows the fans in Houston are dealing with a slow rebuild, and doing some work for the Sports Illustrated Fantasy Football magazine. -Blake J. Harris is making his first appearance on the podcast (00:41:25) to discuss his book, "Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation. Harris talks about his book being about business just as much as it is about video games, turning the book into a documentary, and how having the support of Seth Rogen and Evan Greenberg helped get the book published. Blake also geeks out with Steve and Don on the future of video games, explains why he doesn't think Nintendo will make apps, and talks about the impact EA Sports has had on video games. -Michael Beller is making his first appearance on the podcast (1:26:18) to discuss the release of the 2014 edition of the Sports Illustrated Fantasy Football magazine. Beller talks about the role that the fantasy football magazine has in 2014, explains why he thinks people still buy fantasy magazines, and how the depth of staff at SI makes their magazine great. Beller also talks about a new daily fantasy game that SI will be debuting with their upcoming Fan Nation app, explains how SI will increase their fantasy coverage this year, and drops a few sleepers for the upcoming season.