Hang Up and Listen

Introducing Slate's sports podcast.

Listen to "Hang Up and Listen" with Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and Mike Pesca by clicking the arrow on the audio player below:

You can also download the program here, or you can subscribe to Slate's daily podcast feed in iTunes by clicking here.

In the tradition of the "Political Gabfest" and "Culture Gabfest," Slate's sports desk is proud to present "Hang Up and Listen," a hopefully regular conversation about the games we watch and why we watch them. Joining Slate's sports editor Josh Levin are Stefan Fatsis, the author of Word Freak and A Few Seconds of Panic, and Mike Pesca, who covers sports for NPR.

In this episode of Hang Up and Listen, Josh, Stefan, and Mike discuss the epic men's Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick, Manny Ramirez's triumphant return from a 50-game drug suspension, and what the future holds for American soccer.

Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned in the show:

David Foster Wallace's 2006 article "Federer as Religious Experience" from Play magazine
Charles P. Pierce's Slate piece arguing that Manny Ramirez could end baseball's steroids era
The Los Angeles Times' Bill Plaschke laments that fans are cheering for Ramirez
Zev Chafets' New York Times op-ed "Let Steroids Into the Hall of Fame"
Tom Verducci's Sports Illustrated cover story on Joe Mauer
Joe Posnanski's S.I. piece on Albert Pujols
The United States Soccer Federation's Project 2010
Stefan's SI.com column on Europeans' arrogance about American soccer
ESPN's new deal to broadcast English Premier League matches in Britain

"Hang Up and Listen's little dribblers (or short hops, or pooch punts):

Mike's dribbler: Magic Johnson's ads for Rent-A-Center
Stefan's dribbler: the rise and fall of high-school basketball star Lance Stephenson
Josh's dribbler: Tiger Woods' victory at the AT&T National

You can e-mail us at .

Stefan Fatsis is the author of Word Freak and A Few Seconds of Panic, a regular guest on NPR's All Things Considered and a panelist on Slate's sports podcast "Hang Up and Listen." You can e-mail him at and follow him on Twitter. Josh Levin is Slate's executive editor. You can e-mail him at , visit his Web site, and follow him on Twitter. Mike Pesca is a correspondent for National Public Radio who covers mostly sports.

Illustration by Robert Neubecker.

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