House of Strauss

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comMy old boss, Athletic superstar and overall King of Bay Area Media stops by to talk Warriors and Niners. Obviously, the Warriors’ end to the Wiseman era gets some play here, but the conversation goes in a variety of directions. This podcast discussion includes, but is not limited to:* On how we should aspire to be like Steph Curry in terms of delegation* What happened with James Wiseman? When was it really over? * Can Joe Lacob be cajoled?* Tim’s Mailbag columns at The Athletic are incredible and he’s dropping news bombs within them* Why’d it end ugly between Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo?* How Brock Purdy seemed for real before getting thrown into action* Warriors GM Bob Myers: Is he leaving? Tim makes a bold prediction* Which team is bigger in the Bay, Warriors or Niners?* A theory or two on why Myers might be antsy to go* What does it mean that I declined to ask about the San Francisco Giants?* As a guy who serves readers expertly, but is often fighting with them, how does Tim feel about sports fans?

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comMaggie Gray, CBS radio star and co-host of Maggie and Perloff, seems prone to unleashing a totally reasonable opinion that you’re not seeing elsewhere. Recently, it was the viral take that sports figures shouldn’t feature their children during press conferences (gasp!). On this episode, we get into the fallout from this heresy, plus address why James Dolan once went scorched earth against Maggie and her company. Topics on this podcast include but are not limited to:* Twitter made the media hate its customers* The evil anti kid take* Why the take is reasonable though scorned* Maggie interviewed Joe Montana the day this Wright Thompson piece dropped. * Cool Joe deflects, with honesty* How all great athletes fade from public memory* LeBron scoring title takes* The Rule of LeBron Cringe* Maggie vs. James Dolan* How’s the NBA doing right now?

Ross Barkan, proprietor of the best newsletter on New York politics, returns to discuss whether Knicks owner James Dolan might go down in flames. But before we get to that, he has a bone to pick with certain anti woke intellectuals. This conversation includes, but is not limited to:* The battle of ideas between Matt Yglesias vs. Wesley Yang* Ross’ critique of Yang’s recent focus* Can both Yglesias and Yang feel validated by history?* The Wokes, the Anti Wokes, and the Anti Anti Wokes, plus how nobody defines themselves as such* On how the cultural focus on Covid is fading out* Has James Dolan finally messed with the wrong crowd?* Dolan’s completely insane media tour This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.houseofstrauss.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comI’m on a big Richard Linklater kick right now, so Freddie’s Top 20 ranking of his movies came at the right time. Given the personal timing and Freddie’s excellent analysis, I just had to reach out and get some additional thoughts on the rankings, the director, and why his time-sensitive work endures. Yes, we also manage some modern media criticism in this episode. The conversation we have broaches, but is not limited to:Freddie’s review of TárMy dislike of HBO’s Inside the Episode features Why Freddie doesn’t write pure Culture WarHow the Boomers misled us on the finite nature of timeHow people who miss aspects of the past get stigmatized as owning all of itMalcolm Gladwell’s dirty trick against Matt Taibbi in the Munk debate If Dazed and Confused is a perfect movie, then why isn’t it Number 1 on Freddie’s list?The mystical nature of Matthew McConaughey’s charisma in Dazed and ConfusedWhy Freddie ranked his Before Sunrise trilogy the way he didDid Boyhood work? Was there anything deeper to School of Rock? Freddie discusses his piece on how the creative underclass is still raging

Meet Tyler Dunne, author of The Blood and Guts: How Tight Ends Save Football, and proprietor of the Go Long Substack. I’m a big believer in the principle that, the more specific the analysis, the broader the implications, and that’s why I was excited to read Tyler’s incredibly specific book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and, as happens, felt myself inspired to ask the author some follow up questions. On this pod, we discuss how tight ends unveil the meaning of life, represent the apotheosis of football player, get severely underpaid, and tap into a “sacred” tradition of permitted violence. Enjoy, unpaywalled. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.houseofstrauss.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comRyan is back, discussing events of the moment. The NFL playoffs is an unholy juggernaut, crushing all comers. We try out theories as to why it gained on the other leagues this past half decade. Then we pivot to “Canada’s top trending story,” a Russian defenseman, playing for an American team. This podcast discussion includes, but is not limited to:* The NFL’s golden decade, which has been largely unexplained in sports media* Are there any lessons to learn from its dominance? * What should the NBA have done? * Ryan loves the Joe Buck + Troy Aikman announcing combo?* Ivan Provorov, a Russian guy we’d never heard of, didn’t wear his NHL team’s Pride Night warmup shirt: Media anger ensues * Is the media freakout concentrated among Canadian journos, or are U.S. sports writers just as hyperbolic? * Ryan and I both aren’t in favor of punishing pregame abstentions like this, be it Colin Kaepernick, or this guy we just learned about* Why is the NHL, of all leagues, getting involved in controversies of late? * Bill Simmons had a fascinating interview with WWE CEO Nick Khan* Nick Khan has a theory on what ESPN might take from Turner in the next round of NBA television rights

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comI’ve known Bomani for about as long as I’ve been in this business and yet I never know what to expect when we catch up, beyond a great conversation. On this pod, he was candid about his adventures in sports television and insightful on a wide range of other subjects. The conversation includes, but is not limited to:* What it’s like to host a show* The time Bomani called me after I got fired* What prediction on his show is Bomani most proud of?* Sports and the crypto collapse: Why were athletes main characters? * Why doesn’t the NBA do promos like this? * We reflect on Bomani’s contention, “College basketball was better when Duke was the official team of White America.”* Does America benefit from sports rivalries as proxies for ethnic conflict?* Why did White America give up on basketball?* Why didn’t High Noon totally work and why was Bomani open about that reality? * What it’s like to perform your friendship for an audience when things aren’t working* Bomani’s thoughts on Skip Bayless vs. Shannon Sharpe* Bomani’s thoughts on his (perhaps) imitators* Is Chat GPT-style technology going to replace musicians? * Can the human love for music be wholly gamed by robots?

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comBig sports media news week so we called in Ryan Glasspiegel to make sense of it all. This conversation includes, but is not limited to…* The odd media reactions to the tragic (though recently encouraging) Damar Hamlin situation. * Is it okay to do a story on how many people watched the scary situation? * The Football Hatin’ New York Times* Skip Bayless as the moment’s memetic scapegoat* Ryan and Ethan…don’t quite see how Skip’s tweet was that bad. * The building divorce between Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe* Ethan is against “disgusting” and “gross” Twitter responses* Stephen A. Smith addresses UFC impresario Dana White’s wife slap incident * Do we think reigning USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter’s going to lose his 2023 position over a 1991 kicking of his now wife? * Is Ryan’s affiliation with Ethan going to ruin his Madison Square Garden plans?

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comHad the brilliantly idiosyncratic Athletic writer Marcus Thompson on to discuss if he came from the last generation of beat writers (then we took it from there). This is an industry chat, with the guy who served as my mentor as I entered the industry. Topics discussed in this podcast include, but are not limited to…* Beat writers…is that still a thing? * Is “no cheering in the press box” dead?* The Jenna Laine vs. Giovani Bernard controversy. Should Laine have apologized? * What are the unspoken rules in reporter vs. athlete locker room interactions? * How is covering NFL players different from covering NBA players?* How to ask questions of sports industry people* Why in person media access is humbling* What Marcus would ask players when they said “we’re friends.”* The darkness of humanity that superstar players see

HoS Pod welcomes Luke Burgis, author of the fascinating book Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life. I read it before our interview and can’t stop thinking about it. Not only is the book entertaining, but it gave me a different perspective on life. I can’t say that happens all too often. Luke is also the proprietor of the Anti-Mimetic, which continues on his book’s pertinent themes. A Substack devoted to one book’s themes might sound constraining, but perhaps after you listen to the podcast, you’ll see how Luke’s focus happens to be endlessly generative. Our conversation included, but was not limited to…* What is “mimetic desire”? * Why is understanding mimetic desire a skeleton key for understanding life?* Why Luke was researching professional sports (football specifically) for his book* To understand an athlete, you need to know what they desire* How the 1990s San Diego Chargers rejected the Denver Broncos imitative trap* How Steve Kerr used football coaching as a model for his basketball team* “I guess I believe in you more than you do,” as motivation* How similarity breeds rivalry more than difference does* What’s the most powerful mimesis engine: Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or Instagram?* The “training wheels truth” that Twitter is an echo chamber isn’t totally true* The scapegoat as a deep human need* “Torches of Freedom,” a 1920s example of social justice capitalism This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.houseofstrauss.com/subscribe