What Makes A Good Sports Podcast?

 I could have written an article about the five or ten best sports podcasts. But I'm not going to. Why? It's because I have enough confidence in podcasting fans (you're a bright bunch unlike, say, social media trolls -- yes, that's right. I mean you, fecalvomit142) to simply offer you some tips on how to discover the best sports podcast.

Before I discuss sports podcasts, I must, of course, do a "23andMe" on and discuss the lineage of sports audio. Unfortunately, it all starts with sports talk radio. For sports podcasts, that's like having parents so bad, family services comes to the house every day. 

Just about every major and minor market has a sports talk station. Before Rush Limbaugh made political talk shows the stuff of the socially alienated, eternally aggrieved, and hopelessly hypocritical, sports talk stations held the monopoly on "crazy" over the radio waves. Whether it was the fans calling in demanding the violent execution of some manager or head coach, or the sports talk DJ drumming up ratings with some "Trump-like" conspiracy theory about Tom Brady and footballs secretly imported from the third moon of Saturn, sports talk was where logic and reason went to die.

Sports talk radio was all young men with a taste for IPAs, tall tales of their high school legendary athletic achievements, and a bromance with their sports teams. They many not have girlfriends, partners or wives, but they console themselves with face painting their team's logo, and winning the competition for the most obnoxious at the sports bar.

Then podcasting became more popular and sports talk migrated to that platform. Podcasting had several distinct advantages over sports talk radio. First, phone calls from the fervently faithful and fulsome fanatics largely disappeared. Second, more professionalized podcast networks have replaced local sports DJs with their faux Stephen A. Smith decibel-supercharged rants.

For example, Vox-owned SB Nation owns over 300 community sports podcasts for teams in baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer. The podcasts have names such as Behind The Steel Curtain, Detroit Bad Boys, Corn Nation and even European soccer (football) teams such as Managing Madrid.

Unless you are searching for a specific team podcast, let's discuss what makes an "ear worthy" sports podcast?

First, a good sports podcast cannot be audio clickbait. Any sports show with the term "Hot Take" is a silly euphemism for trying desperately to be as controversial as possible to juice ratings. The ratings rhetoric strategy has been polished to a shine by people like Skip Bayless, Stephen A. Smith, and Shannon Sharpe. Sports audio or video journalism is too often all loud voices, anger released fire hose style, and sports insights that are designed to offend. Counterpoint these ratings-rumblers with Greg Cosell, who often guests on the Ross Tucker NFL Podcast. Cosell is not loud, controversial and often bland. But his devotion to watching game films and explaining the intricacies of the game to listeners makes him a unique repository of knowledge for those who really want to understand how NFL football is played.

Second, a good sports podcast should not be about the game itself. You know, a re-hash of the article about how a team scored. Who would ever think of The New York Times having an excellent sports section, especially their Sunday edition? Instead of focusing on sports between the lines, the Times will print stories on major league baseball players and their relationship with their gloves. Or a story on how this special mud is applied to baseballs. Or a story about the evolution of football uniform design. Slate's Hang Up And Listen has done recent stories on the recent use of psychedelic drugs by athletes, the Brett Favre welfare scandal, interviews with little-known tennis pros Daria Saville and Maxime Cressy, and even the rise of pickleball.

Third, a good sports podcast should not be front-loaded with former players. Former players can make great announcers and podcasters -- Ron Darling, Tony Romo, Chris Webber, and Doris Burke. But sports podcasts -- and TV shows -- filled with former players and coaches often ends up being a memory lane of the "glory days." Podcast journalists like Bomani Jones, who has a degree in Economics, and Bill Rhoden, who did play college football, and has worked for The Baltimore Sun, Ebony, and The New York Times, bring social awareness, cultural relevance, and insightful dialogue on sports and its role in our world.

Fourth, a good sports podcast does not recreate the sports bar or locker room in language, attitude or intelligence level. If you want to hear crazy sports talk, head down to the nearest sports bar. A sports podcast should not approximate jock talk in the locker room and devolve into audio "high-fives” or “belching and boobs” jokes.  A good sports podcast shouldn't be designed for frat boy follies. Sure, sports podcasts do not have to sound like the Harvard Business Review podcast, but also not appeal to those who spend time on new "knock-knock" jokes and deciding on their latest whoopee cushion purchase.

Finally, my favorite sports podcasts include Slate's Hang Up And Listen, Sports? With Katie Nolan, 30 For 30, and The Right Time With Bomani Jones. 

If there is an "in memoriam" award for sports podcast, it has to go to Only A Game on WBUR for 27 years. It's the GOAT of all sports podcasts.  Hall Of Fame awards go to host Bill Littlefield, correspondent Charlie Pierce and producer Karen Given. Check out the archives here.