WEIU Sports & Media podcast Joe Gisondi

In a large city, a story about a junior college women’s basketball team going to the national finals would likely not get covered, or, at the least, would get overwhelmed by stories about the NFL Draft, NBA playoff runs, a dozen or so daily MLB games, and, of course, college football in the South. But local sport are the heart and soul of any news organization. Those not abiding by this notion will stop connecting with their communities. Jeff & Joe discuss this topic as well as Lake Land women's basketball winning the national NJCAA championship. 

Women athletics get a bad rap. Women's basketball is perceived as inferior to the men's tournament even though they pull in good ratings, they fill stadiums for tourney games and they play excellent basketball. Plus, the NCAA offered the women competing at the national championship only a few curl bars and some yoga mats to train, far less than what the men received. We talk about this topic, why cliches yield lazy, uninteresting writing, and more, in this week's podcast.

Are fans fatigued by politics in sports? U.S. Soccer says players no longer have to stand for the national anthem, Texas football is caught in a crossfire from alum over a school spirit song, "The Eyes of Texas," some call racist, the WNBA's Atlanta squad was sold by Sen. Kelly Loeffler after players openly campaigned against her – and a certain Potato Head is losing his honorific title of "Mr." Plus, J.J. Watts has signed with the Cardinals, Mike Greenberg will host ESPN's live NFL draft coverage, a fan paid more than $5.2 million for a Mickey Mantle rookie card, and more.  As always during the season, Jeff Owens and Joe Gisondi talk about their favorite show, "The Walking Dead," which featured a pretty good first episode since the pandemic struck.