Podcasts, podcasts, PODCASTS!

I love a podcast! For that matter I love Sports Talk radio. If it were up to me, I’d have it on all the time. But it isn’t so I have to rock with my podcasts. I listen to them at my desk, while going for a walk or sometimes just sitting on a coach. There is an intimacy to podcast that is similar to a radio show that you listen to. You feel close to the hosts and feel loyal to the show. Not sure why it happens but it does…. Posted below is my list in no particular ranking

SOCCER

Men in Blazers
My inspirational heroes! The Men in Blazers are two Englishmen based in New York who love football and cover it in a non-traditional way. It’s funny, entertaining and you can listen to it without caring about football. Roger Bennett, a jewish, left-wing liberal from Liverpool and Michael Davies, a successful television producer and supporter of the Queen trade barbs out of love and kindness for eachother. I love them.

Football Weekly from The Guardian
THE soccer podcast from England and The Guardian. Think sports reporters but about soccer. A rotating cadre of most English sports journalist cover all things soccer twice weekly. Pretty standard stuff but enjoyable enough.

Blue Moon Podcast
I don’t expect anyone to listen to this one… its a podcast by a couple of young local Manchester City supporters… Blue Moon is the song sung by Manchester City supporters and that where the pod gets its name from. They are pretty good.

BASKETBALL

The Bill Simmons Podcast
The podfather! Simmons covers all sports but is at his best when talking about basketball and his beloved Celtics. He has all sorts of guests on from sports thru celebrities and business…. but mostly sports. He most well known for tying in popculture into his columns and using sports tropes in culture pieces… (top ten lists, who’s better or verses). He’s had a big influence on me and I respect his work. He gets a lot of criticism for his failings, but I think over the course of his career, he’ll be remember more than most.

The Lowe Post
Zack Lowe was the best thing to come out of Grantland… a reporters reporter, Zack covers the NBA from the most honest standpoint and avoids the stupid narratives that are peddled by ESPN. He loves the game, and talks about THE GAME, not the bullshit. His pods are MUST listen to.

The Vertical with Adrian Wojnarowski
Woj! Know for his Woj-bombs on twitter, he is THE basketball insider. He’s the guy who breaks all the stories and has all the relationships inside the NBA. He’s the Adam Schefter of hoops. He has good guests and does a great job of covered the NBA. He’s a per guest guy. I don’t like to hear from players.

ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE

Marc Maron – WTF
The REAL podfather… Marc Maron is a standup comedian who started his podcast to save his career! He’s on 3 times a week and interviews comedians, muscians and filmmaters mostly. (these are the 3 thing he cares about most) The pods are long and the first 10-15 minutes are about Marc and his rantings… I always skip and go straight to the guests. He has a format that is pretty straightforward, but when he is good, it’s very good. Depends on the guest.

Larry Wilmore – Black on the Air
Comedian and writer who had a show on comedy central that go cancelled. Funny guy, clever guy, got picked up by Bill Simmons Ringer network. I like him. Gives a nice black perspective on current events.

The Moment with Brian Koppelman
Not podding regularly anymore… Brian is a screenwriter and producer. His current show “Billions” is doing great and appears to have taken up his time. Brian’s podcast focus on guests inflection points in their careers… the moment when they made a change or how they made that change. He’s a really good interviewer and has some good guests. Sometimes they can be a bit esoteric, but mostly they are good.

The Watch – The Ringer Network
A must listen for me. The Ringer editor, Chris Ryan and Popculture critic, Andy Greenwald review, the best in weekly televsion. Since these two are relatively my age, liked mostly the same music I did and are faux intellectual about television. their views reflect mine. If they like a show, invariably, I’ll like it too. (Save The Leftovers, which I could not get behind) They are my go-to source for finding new shows to watch and for… telling me what to think about TV! (I try not to, but it happens) I would recommend them.

EDUCATION/HISTORY

Stuff you should know
A goofy little pod that talks about different topics. they take a short dive in and pod. they are funny and light hearted.

Freakonomics Radio
Playing on the book of the same name, Steven Dubner and his motley crew cover the hidden costs of everything. This is really just a behavior economics pod, with a pop-culture slant. It’s a fun show

Revisionist History with Malcom Gladwell
Let me start by saying, I love Malcolm  Gladwell. Sure, he’s not perfect and he can simplyfy things a bit, but I like him. He wants to open doors, he is curious and his views are well thought. He’s two season podcast is a slick, well produced show about darker parts of history that he wants people to about. He’s focused on education, unfairness and race in America.

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History
This guy is EPIC! He does not pod very often… maybe once every three months? But when he does WHOA! He’ll release epic 3-5 hour in-depth podcasts on a particular event in history. His 3-parter on World War I is litterally the definitive history of the war. He is the Ken Burns of podcasts.

Fresh Air
The Legendary NPR program by Terry Gross, always delivers. I don’t always listen, but when she has a good guest on, I’ll give it a listen.

Honorable Mentions:

BingeMode, Ringer FC, The Nerdist, The football ramble, The Ringer NBA Show, SI Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch, Planet Futbol with Grant Wahl, Bill Burr’s Monday Morning Podcast