The Press Box The Ringer

Hello, media consumers! The NBA Finals begin this week, so Bryan brings you the podcast a day early, and he welcomes one of the most prolific voices in basketball history, Bob Costas.
They take a look back at Bob’s time with NBC, discussing the following:

The first year of the NBA on NBC and how Bob was wanted as a play-by-play announcer (2:02)

The art of putting together the story of the game (6:52)

Michael Jordan’s run during the beginning of the NBC era (16:22)

The O.J. Simpson chase during the 1994 NBA Finals (24:28)

Calling what we thought at the time was Michael Jordan’s final shot in the NBA (41:01)

The 1998-99 NBA lockout (45:22)


Plus, David Shoemaker Guesses the Strained-Pun Headline.
Host: Bryan Curtis
Guest: Bob Costas
Producer: Brian H. Waters
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Hello, media consumers! Bryan and David kick off the show with some notes on the coverage of the Trump verdict (1:09). Then, they get into the following topics:

What kind of story are the 2023-24 Dallas Mavericks (9:02)

Charles Barkley’s free agency and what could happen with the talent from ‘Inside the NBA’ (18:19)


Later in the Notebook Dump they discuss:

Reactions to Colin Cowherd’s monologue about Trump’s conviction (32:43)

The upcoming presidential debate and the advertisements that will be available for purchase (41:00)

Bryan and David are in LearnedLeague trivia (43:15)


Plus, the Overworked Twitter Joke of the Week and David Shoemaker Guesses the Strained-Pun Headline.
Hosts: Bryan Curtis and David Shoemaker
Producer: Brian H. Waters

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Hello, media consumers! Bryan welcomes the Ringer’s ultimate team player, Mallory Rubin. They kick off the show by discussing the live coverage of the Trump trial deliberations (4:47). Then they discuss baseball’s place in the media lineup as networks are willing to pay $2 billion for the NBA while ESPN is trying to get out of a $540 million deal with MLB (16:12). They close with a fun discussion about Mallory’s career, which includes a chat about the things she has done a nerd culture deep dive on (33:40).

Plus, David Shoemaker Guesses the Strained-Pun Headline.

Bryan and Mallory’s conversation was recorded before the jury of the Donald Trump trial was finished deliberating.

Host: Bryan Curtis
Guest: Mallory Rubin
Producer: Brian H. Waters
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Hello, media consumers! We lost a basketball and media legend this week, the one and only Bill Walton. Bryan and David kick off the show by reading some of his quotes and discussing how he was ahead of his time (0:20). Then, they get into the current reported plan to save The Washington Post, which includes subscription tiers and additional content for superfans (10:43).

Later, in the Notebook Dump, they talk about how the NBA playoff pregame shows have added a member to the panel (32:10), the Mavericks’ “commanding” lead in the Western Conference finals (40:02), and the latest on NBA media rights and how Turner could have maintained the rights without a bidding war (42:37).
Bryan closes the show with a fun story from the movies (47:29).

Plus, the Overworked Twitter Joke of the Week and David Shoemaker Guesses the Strained-Pun Headline.

Hosts: Bryan Curtis and David Shoemaker
Producer: Brian H. Waters

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Hello media consumers! We close out a busy week with two appearances! First, Howard Beck joins Bryan to discuss the NBA finalizing the rights deal (1:20), what is intriguing about NBC and Amazon’s coverage (9:30), and the NBA going back to broadcast television (18:00).

Then, Sheil Kapadia joins to discuss whether or not Charles Barkley would work with his ‘Inside the NBA’ teammates elsewhere (21:51), thoughts on ESPN’s number one announce team (25:23), ESPN’s ‘Up for Debate’ docuseries (36:55), and more.

Host: Bryan Curtis
Guests: Howard Beck and Sheil Kapadia
Producer: Brian H. Waters
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Last week, Bryan went to the Santa Fe International Literary Festival and was able to speak with Patrick Radden Keefe. They discussed a few things about Patrick’s career, including:

How Patrick discovered magazines in junior high school and what stood out about them (2:21)

How he pitches a story to The New Yorker today (12:20)

His attraction to crime stories (17:19)

Whether there are too many crime stories in the era of Netflix (25:07)

Write-arounds and no-access journalism (31:20)


Host: Bryan Curtis
Guest: Patrick Radden Keefe
Producer: Brian H. Waters
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