In this week’s episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin discuss the first two episodes of The Last Dance, ESPN’s documentary series on the end of the Chicago Bulls’ NBA dynasty. They also talk about basketball prospect Jalen Green, and what his decision to go straight to the G League means for pro and college basketball. Finally, they look at the state of sports media during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Hang Up and Listen Quarantine Magazine Club is back next week with the May 4, 1998, Sports Illustrated cover story on athletes and out-of-wedlock children, “Where’s Daddy?” We’ll talk about the article and the controversy it kicked up.

• Support Hang Up and Listen by subscribing to Slate Plus.

• An interview with the director of The Last Dance, Jason Hehir.

• ESPN wrote about how the mothballed footage of the Bulls’ 1997-98 season finally was turned into a movie.

• Slate’s Nick Greene on Jerry Krause, the villain of The Last Dance.

• In the Wall Street Journal, Jason Gay noted that the 10-hour series is “one more episode than Ken Burns needed to sift through the Civil War.”

• SB Nation’s Ricky O’Donnell writes that “Jalen Green is the perfect G League prospect to take down the NCAA.”

• ESPN’s Jeff Borzello on what Green’s move means for college basketball.

• The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis on the ruination of Sports Illustrated and FanGraphs in peril.

• Ben Strauss in the Washington Post and the Kansas City Star’s Pete Grathoff on the tenuous state of sports media.

Hang Up and Listen’s weekly Rusty LaRues:

Stefan’s Rusty LaRue: The pandemic forced cancellation the 2020 youth Scrabble championship, but miracles happened at an online replacement tournament.

Josh’s Rusty LaRue: The twisted tale of KO Pete McBride, who may have been the worst boxer in history.

On this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Stefan, Josh, and Joel continue their conversation about ESPN’s Bulls documentary The Last Dance.

Podcast production and edit by Melissa Kaplan.

You can email us at hangup.com.

Source: Slate.com

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