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Pablo Torre Finds Out
Drawn and Quarter-Zipped: The Death of Sports Fashion, with Wesley Morris
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The four NBA coaches who made the Conference Finals this season all have something in common: a pullover. Because unlike Pat Riley in Armani, or even Larry Brown in overalls (yes, overalls), modern basketball authority rejects individual style in favor of sideline uniformity. So we summon New York Times critic-at-large Wesley Morris (and his two Pulitzer Prizes) to help us explain how we got here. What we’ve really lost, amid this pandemic of athleisure. And why women’s college basketball has the heroes we desperately need. Also: mutating into a muppet; Don Zimmer vs. Pedro Martinez; Hubie Brown as Philippe Petit; and the most delicious glass bowl of chocolate pudding you could ever hope to taste.
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Exclusive: How The Onion Finally Shut Up Alex Jones for Good
53:44|The notorious conspiracy theorist profited from his vile Sandy Hook conspiracy. Then America's finest (fake) news source decided to troll the world's greatest troll. Ben Collins — who transformed from reporting on the historic Infowars defamation trial to buying out his "ideological enemy" in a Storage Wars-style auction saga — tells Pablo why The Onion committed to the ultimate bit: doing the right thing.(Pablo Torre Finds Out is independently produced by Meadowlark Media and distributed by The Athletic. The views, research and reporting expressed in this episode are solely those of Pablo Torre Finds Out and do not reflect the work or editorial input of The Athletic or its journalists.)
We Got Inside Knicks Surveillance — and MSG's Deep State Is Stranger Than You Think
55:42|Tracking players. Monitoring kids. Allegedly watching a fan enter the bathroom. The panopticon of notorious owner James Dolan has been caught in glimpses. But a WIRED investigation — revealed in collaboration with PTFO — lifts the veil on the Orwellian scope (and occasional clown show) of MSG security, from The Garden and The Sphere to the streets of New York and out across America. Correspondent Noah Shachtman and Pablo hear from spooked insiders, read snooping group chats, scour a second-by-second confidential report, plus view the facial-recognition database itself — only to discover that paranoid billionaires... are all around us.• Read the full digital cover story at WIRED• Subscribe to Pablo's newsletter for exclusive access, documents and invites(Pablo Torre Finds Out is independently produced by Meadowlark Media and distributed by The Athletic. The views, research and reporting expressed in this episode are solely those of Pablo Torre Finds Out and do not reflect the work or editorial input of The Athletic or its journalists.)
The Right-Wing Takeover of Combat Sports Is Upon Us
58:18|Donald Trump's comfort zone. Coercive deals. Saudi funding. In the era of American favor-trading, a company called TKO Group Holdings is dominating the fight game. (Welcome, Zuffa Boxing.) And as longtime MMA dean Luke Thomas dares to explain, UFC boss Dana White may be in denial — and it may not be good for fans or fighters — but it pays to be in bed with a transactional regime.• Subscribe to "Morning Kombat" with Luke Thomas
The Fandom of the Opera: A Linebacker, a White Whale... and a Secret
41:31|We get it: As Timothée Chalamet said, "no one cares" about opera. But you should listen, instead, to former college linebacker Brandon Jovanovich — whose impossible rise from cater waiter to Captain Ahab proves that the artform that used to rule the world has way more in common with sports than you realize. (And that's even before you realize what he's been playing through, onstage.) Also: what a castrato is, Bugs Bunny, actual divas, Modell's and monster trucks.Further content:• "Inhabiting Ahab" (Patrick J. Sauer)• Vote for PTFO at The Webby Awards: Best Sports Podcast + Experimental & Innovation
Bobbleheads on Spikes: The (Selfish) Case for Rules, with David Epstein
40:02|Whether it's A.I. companies pirating millions of books or NBA owners violating the salary cap, the most powerful entities in America are trying to circumvent laws created to restrain them. Bestselling author and investigative journalist David Epstein (no relation!) makes the case for why rules are not obstacles to progress, but the opposite: the very things that make a society — and a market — free. • Pre-order David Epstein's new book, Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better
The Banned Prince Documentary: Director Ezra Edelman Speaks (PTFO Vault)
43:40|America's best documentary filmmaker spent nearly five years making a nine-hour masterpiece for Netflix. Which you'll never see. Edelman sits down with Pablo in search of catharsis — if not closure — in the battle for truth and control over the life story of one of the biggest control freaks ever.(This episode originally aired March 4, 2025.)• Previously on PTFO: When Docs Cry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qi6x3QF-v8• Subscribe to Pablo's newsletter for exclusive access, documents and inviteshttps://pablo.show/
Perhaps Our Last Hour on Earth, with Katie Nolan and Michael Cruz Kayne
58:46|Civilization had a pretty good run. Will the astronauts be the last ones living? Will Jordon Hudson sue Pablo and/or beat him in a foot race? Could Sam Altman be bigger than Madoff and/or complete our curse on A.I.? And is your fiancé in the Epstein files? WHO KNOWS? But we f'd around and took your questions, live. So, come with us if you want to live. So mote it be.• Vote for PTFO at The Webby Awards: Best Sports Podcast + Experimental & Innovation• Subscribe to "Casuals with Katie Nolan"• Watch Michael Cruz Kayne's special, "Sorry for Your Loss" — now streaming on Dropout TV • Further reading: "Sam Altman May Control Our Future — Can He Be Trusted?" (Ronan Farrow & Andrew Maran
Share & Squirrel & Tell with Elle Duncan and Desus Nice
40:34|Do we need robot umpires more than we thought? Is Netflix the Yankees of media? What's the best kind of catfishing? And have we finally evolved beyond pizza rat? Plus: Aaron Judge choking, Teanna Trump choking, an old man smoking with a crowd... and the price of free p*rn.• Vote for PTFO at The Webby Awards: Best Sports Podcast + Experimental & Innovation
"Don't Go to the Lakers": We Unraveled the Case of the Mob Hit That Saved Vegas
45:23|When the body of a Vegas power broker showed up in the back of a Rolls Royce in 1979, the new sports capital of America was born. Why the hell did superstar UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian's guy really get whacked? Correspondent Sean Carey unearths police reports, a thrown fight against Sugar Ray Leonard... and a bag man on the skim who re-legitimized Sin City — and proves HBO's hit show wrong.(Additional reporting by Kris Belman)