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| Bill Simmons recording The BS Report from his Grantland studio. |
A few years ago a buddy of mine introduced me the world of podcasts. If you’re not familiar with them, podcasts are digital audio or video recordings that you can download 100% free at places like iTunes, Sticher Radio and podomatic. The vast majority are audio because people typically listen to them on iPods or smart phones with small screens. Some are produced specifically as podcasts while others are previously aired radio and TV shows.
There are a lot of good radio programs out there that might air at a time that doesn’t work for you or may not be available in your area. Plus, commercials suck and you can start, pause and rewind podcasts anytime you want.
Because anyone with a computer and a microphone can produce one, there are pods on anything you can imagine from anyone you can imagine. There’s pop culture podcasts, political podcasts, religious podcast, technological podcasts, fried shrimp, shrimp scampi, shrimp gumbo……sorry, got carried away there. And of course, if you’re a sports junkie like me, you’re going to spend most of your time in the sports podcast arena. Here are the 10 best available.
#10 Fantasy Focus: They make no qualms about it; this show is 90% nonsense. It slides in at the 10 spot simply because it’s a daily show with the latest news and notes from the NFL, specifically related to fantasy, from ESPN’s fantasy experts—including licensed physical therapist Stephania Bell, the company’s injury expert. They also have a daily baseball version that follows the same formula.
#9 Fantasy Underground: This is a new podcast from ESPN that has 3 weeks deep so far. ESNP’s Christopher Harris and Field Yates break down, in detail, the nuances that stand out to them from the previous week’s games. After breaking down game tape, they discuss trends, guys who are over and under rated. They look beyond the stats to what’s really going on. It’s pretty solid work. I hope they start doing them more than once a week.
#8 The Evening Jones: If you never listened to The Morning Jones on Serius you have no idea the greatness you missed out on. Bomani Jones is the answer to the question, 'What would happen if you mixed an extremely intelligent dude—with masters degrees in both Economics and Political Science—with a southern swag and vocabulary, the perfect radio voice and made him super opinionated?' The Morning Jones was perfect because it was 3 hours long—giving Bo time to break down stories/events in sports from the angle of an economist and just generally insightful guy. With it’s amazing characters of regular callers like Mike in Chicago (who lives like a pimp but insists he is not) and Rod in Charlotte (host of The Black Guy Who Tips comedy podcast) you always got multiple, unique, insightful perspectives on stories that would often spin off into legendary editions of story time. Unfortunately, The Score radio was dropped from Serius and the ended in September of 2011. The Evening Jones is a live, one hour, interactive video chat between Bo and the public. It’s a new format hosted by VOKAL that incorporates some unique aspects by just doesn’t hold a candle to TMJ. Bo is great but the show being only once a week and only an hour cuts down his ability to elaborate on topics drastically. Hopefully someone will realize how talented this dude is and give him a lucrative radio deal although I think he is focusing more on TV these days as a regular on ESPN’s Around the Horn and DLHQ.
#7 NBA Today: Hosted by Ryen Russillo—and occasionally less talented fill ins—ESPN’s NBA Today podcast drops multiple times per week summarizing everything you need to know about recent NBA games and stories. Russillo’s just a talented dude that knows his shit. He stays away from the overreactions and breaks down a lot of the nuances that the average fan misses when watching games. If you’re a fan of basketball, or just enjoy good radio, you’ll love this podcast.
#6 Dan Le Batard/DLHQ: A writer for The Miami Harlod, Dan Le Batard might be the best journalist in sports. He’s a brilliant, insightful writer and brings his multitude of talents to radio on The Dan Le Batard Show and TV on DLHQ (Dan Le Batard is Highly Questionalbe). Both would be considerably higher on the list were it now for the minor flaws in each. DLHQ, which his host with his Cuban-American father “Papi,” is amazing. The problem is, it’s just not made for the podcast world. Half of what makes the show great is the body language, gestures and looks that hosts give each other. It’s a shame too because Le Batard is the best I’ve ever seen at interviewing a guest. He has a way of relating to people on a very human level, he’s never fishing for a quote or speaking in hyperbole, there’s something extremely sincere about him and the interviewees can tell. People just open up to him in a way they don’t to other TV journalists. The Radio show is great because it’s the full 3 hour show without commercials. That gives Le Batard time to speak on things in depth which is an amazing platform for someone with so much perspective and the ability to speak with great eloquence. The only real negative is the 5 or 6 South Beach style songs they play during every episode—but it’s a podcast so you can just fast forward though them or salsa dance with them if you’re feeling Victor Cruz-ish.
#5 Rich Eisen Podcast: Eisen is just one of the great broadcasters of our generation. The dude just gets it. He’s the face of The NFL Network so naturally the show usually revolves around the NFL. He gets all the big stars—both past and present, coaches, analysts and celebrities as guests. Very enjoyable to listen to.
#4 The Basketball Jones: Like a lot people, I stumbled across this little gem via The Grantland Network’s podcast channel earlier this year and it grew on me like a beard on James Harden. Monday through Thursday during the NBA season, TBJ has a shorter NBA wrap up show with hosts J.E. Skeets and Tas Melas—of NBA TV fame, then an “Overdose”1 show on Friday where they’re joined by a few of their buddies to recap all of the week’s events.
There’s just something about how good of a time they’re having recording the show that resonates through your headphones. Even the “Pun Gun” game that they play on Fridays, where Skeets throws out an NBA players name and the team fires off puns using the name. It might be the dumbest, lamest, corniest game in the history of the world but becomes oddly enjoyable because they’re having so much fun that you can’t help laughing along with them.
It’s the classic formula for a great show: Hosts that are know what they’re talking about—in this case basketball, have great personalities and actually like each other. Either Toronto is the friendliest place on earth or these guys genuinely like one another. They joke back and forth like they’ve been boys all their life without anyone taking it personally. They coined the phrase “Cool Story Bro” which I’m sure you’ve heard of because I’ve seen it on random T-Shirts. They say that or drop sound bites to clown on each other. The best is the Yao Ming “Don’t be like a baby” drop.
These guys are the real deal when it comes to basketball analysis but they’re definitely comedians at heart. The [Blank] Jones is a show they do a couple times a week during the summer on whatever topic they can come up with. They did shows on parenting, phobias, random advice, create a screenplay and if you had to start a small business. It’s basically improve radio and kind of awesome.
#3 The Jalen Rose Show (on Grantland): One of the latest in a long line of genius moves by Bill Simmons was teaming Jalen Rose up with Jacoby for a weekly podcast that drops every Monday. Jalen, former member of Michigan’s Fab Five and 12 year NBA vet, is a gritty, opinionated personality with a ton of highly entertaining stories that Jacoby is an expert at pulling out of him. In one of the first episodes Jalen told the story of the time he stole Patrick Ewing’s TV/VCR combo because they beefing at the time and he hated the Knicks. Last week, while talking about the biggest unwritten rule in basketball is sliding your foot under a player when he shoots a jump shot, Jalen admitted to pulling the cheap shot on Kobe Bryant in the 2001 NBA Finals. Jalen has a very thin filter, he’s not afraid to talk about anything, past or present and always brings unique insight. The Jalen Rose Show is a must have in your podcast rotation.
#2 SVP & Russillo: Scott Van Pelt and Ryen Russillo are simply the best in sports radio. They’re great as duo but both also possess the incredibly difficulty to host a radio show solo at an extremely high level. While Van Pelt is a good 10 years older than Russillo, they both have that “I’m 30+ but listened to hip hop when I was growing up” type of flavor that never comes off as over the top or corny. They’re not afraid to make fun of themselves but most importantly they’re the best in the business at keeping things in perspective and staying away from hyperbole. The only real on knock on The SVP Show is that it’s a condensed version of their 3 hour radio show instead of the show in its entirety.
#1 The BS Report with Bill Simmons: Hands down the best podcast out there and has the hardware to prove it*. If you don’t know who Bill Simmons is you must have been living under a rock for the past 10+ years. He’s the creative genius behind ESPN’s 30 for 30 series, author of the critically acclaimed books Now I Can Die In Peace and The Book of Basketball, one of the most entertaining sports writers of our generation and Editor-in-chief of ESPN’s sports and pop culture website Grantland.com. Simmons combines his unique blend of journalist, sports historian, unabashed Boston sports fandom with a guest list littered with sport, celebrity and Hollywood A-Listers. He beautifully blends never heard of guys—like his college buddies House From DC and “the Czar of Reality TV” Jacoby and ESPN’s Kevin Wildes with impossible to get figures like David Stern, Rodger Goodell and Dee Smith—even had POTUS Barack Obama on the show earlier this year. If anything happens in the world of sports and pop culture that’s worth talking about, you can count on it being discussed in a fun and in depth way with knowledgeable, insightful guest on the BS Report. There are also staples in the show like Simmons and Cousin Sal guessing the lines on every Monday of the NFL season. The “Half Baked Ideas”2 shows where Bill and Kevin Wildes hash out ideas that are not yet all the way thought through—Like Songless Karaoke, where people who don't enjoy singing can read movie monologues, famous speeches, press conferences or things that Ron Artest said. Or a Pop-Culture Coach that tutors you everything in music, television and celebrity news that you might have missed living a life so that you don’t look like an idiot at cocktail parties.
1 At first I was pretty certain that they were all high because it’s always a nonstop giggle-fest but I've lowered that to 72% certainty now. I now give it a 28% chance they’re there just that happy to in Canada.
2 Which could just as easily be referring to ideas they game up with while being baked on weed as much as the idea itself not yet being fully cooked.
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