Slate Culture Feed

Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin are joined by Dallas Wings star Liz Cambage to discuss the state of the WNBA. VeloNews’ Frederick Dreier talks about the Tour de France. Finally, Keith Barnes of the Mamie Johnson Little League talks his history-making team.Liz Cambage (1:42): The All-Star center has spoken out against basketball's gender wage gap and WNBA officiating. Will the league listen?Tour de France (19:25): What do we know about Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas? Is it good for cycling that the Chris Froome era is winding down? And what should we make of Lance Armstrong’s latest apology?Little League (38:04): A squad representing the Mamie "Peanut" Johnson Little League just became the first all-black team to win the Washington D.C. city championship. The league president explains how they got there. Afterballs(51:15): Stefan on a beloved Boston journalist who wrote about the ravages of the NFL and Josh on what LeBron James Jr. can learn from Michael Jordan’s kids. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes of shows like Dear Prudence and Slow Burn. Sign up now to listen and support our work.What are the real reasons people go on reality TV? This episode follows the story of Ann Hirsch and Cathy Nardone, two women cast on VH1’s “Frank the Entertainer...In a Basement Affair”, a show about an adult man looking for love—while living in his parent’s basement. How did one performance artist and one accidental performance artist make it onto the show? And how did they behave once they made it there? Their story highlights the ways that reality television distorts narratives, obscures intentions and stereotypes women, yet is still irresistible to audiences and performers alike.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest performers have existed since, literally, the beginning of the pop charts—the first Billboard No. 1 hit had a featured vocal by Frank Sinatra. Throughout the rock era, some very starry guests have helped out with hits by everyone from the Beatles to Carly Simon to Chaka Khan. But for a long time, those guests received no credit at all. Today, their names are all over the pop charts. On this episode, we trace the evolution of the guest performer, from Mick Jagger to Bobby Brown to Cardi B. Email: hitparade@slate.com   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the six years since Tig Notaro's famous comedy set about her cancer diagnosis and her mother's death, a lot has changed.Find the playlist of listener-generated episodes we love here. Subscribe to our weekly email newsletter, if you haven't already. Every Wednesday we send out podcast listening recommendations, fascinating letters from our inbox and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter.And follow the show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Got a story to share? Email us any time at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin are joined by ESPN’s Howard Bryant to discuss the militarization of sports, Slate’s Christina Cauterucci talks about Jaelene Hinkle, and Deadspin’s Dom Cosentino assesses the future of flag football.Sports and the military (1:56): From flags the size of football fields to veterans throwing out the first pitch, sports and the military have become so closely tied since 9/11 that some forget it wasn’t always this way. What do veterans think of these patriotic pre-game displays?Jaelene Hinkle (19:08): Last year, the pro soccer player turned down a spot on the women’s national team because she didn’t want to wear a rainbow jersey during LGBTQ Pride Month. What should we make of U.S. Soccer’s decision to extend her another invitation?Flag football (36:39): The American Flag Football League just concluded its first complete season. As more and more kids are choosing not to play tackle football, is the flag version the future of the sport? Afterballs(56:12): Stefan on the Icelandic club Vikingur Reykjavik F.C. and Josh on Mississippi State’s search for a “ball coach.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since we first talked, Jessie emailed to confess something about her dating life that she didn't tell me before. Plus, June's off Tinder!All summer, we're following a group of listeners as they date in real time around the country. We're calling this series Hot Dates—if you missed the introductory episode, go back and listen to it first.Subscribe to our weekly email newsletter, if you haven't already. Every Wednesday we send out podcast listening recommendations, fascinating letters from our inbox and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter.And follow the show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Got a story to share? Email us any time at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Henry Grabar and Josh Levin are joined by Men in Blazers’ Roger Bennett to discuss the World Cup. Racquet Magazine’s Caitlin Thompson talks about Wimbledon. And Sports Illustrated’s Emma Baccellieri assesses the terrible Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals. World Cup (2:33): France won the World Cup with an average age of 25 years and 10 months. Is this the beginning of a French soccer dynasty? Wimbledon (20:12): Is Serena Williams’ remarkable comeback truly unprecedented: Also, Kevin Anderson and John Isner’s semifinal match lasted 6 hours and 36 minutes. Is it time to bring fifth-set tiebreakers to Wimbledon? Should men play three sets instead of five? Baseball (39:40): The Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals are on pace to be some of the worst teams of all time. Is that a problem the major leagues needs to try to solve? Afterballs(55:18): Henry on horse racing tracks and Josh on the bizarre shooting of Cubs shortstop Billy Jurges. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second part of our two-part episode about the B-52’s and R.E.M.—the bands that put Athens, Georgia on the map, and helped define new-wave rock in the early ’80s—we trace how they transformed themselves from hipsters to hitmakers. One band waited years to graduate from an indie label to the majors. The other almost quit after an AIDS-related tragedy, before their pop breakthrough. By the end of the ’80s, their hits—from “Orange Crush” to “Stand,” “Channel Z” to “Love Shack”—brought them squarely into the mainstream, just as “alternative rock” was coming to define a new sound for the ’90s. Email: hitparade@slate.com  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we continued our conversation about being a man today with a live national special, featuring CNN's W. Kamau Bell and your calls.For more of our stories about manhood today, including a list of books, articles and podcasts that have helped our listeners think about masculinity, visit deathsexmoney.org/men.Subscribe to our weekly email newsletter, if you haven't already. Every Wednesday we send out podcast listening recommendations, fascinating letters from our inbox and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter.And follow the show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Got a story to share? Email us any time at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earlier this week, we got a voice memo in our inbox, from a husband and wife inspired to talk about masculinity together. So we asked them if we could share it with you.This conversation is part of our look at masculinity today. Find all of our coverage, including our live national call-in featuring CNN's W. Kamau Bell, at deathsexmoney.org/menSubscribe to our weekly email newsletter, if you haven't already. Every Wednesday we send out podcast listening recommendations, fascinating letters from our inbox and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter.And follow the show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Got a story to share? Email us any time at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.