Season 3 · Episode 26
Episode 95: “Don’t Catch Crabs,” or David Halbertstam’s The Amateurs, Part I
October 10, 20251h 13m
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Show Notes
We continue Bagg’s “Revenge of the Jock-Nerds” series (the last series of Season Three!), with David Halberstam’s The Amateurs, which tells the story of four men competing for the single solo sculling spot on the 1984 Olympic team. Halberstam, who usually worked on more popular sports and in bigger political arenas, offers a nuanced glimpse into the small, hermetic, oral world of American rowing, where athletes compete in a sport where “the rewards cannot justify the efforts.”