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Changes in Attitudes, Unchanges in Altitudes Nov 16, 2021

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Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts take the temperature of some of the recent changes in leadership across sports and politics. To the shock of no one, the expected returns are not great! Tune in, as we take Collective flamethrowers to UConn’s hiring of noted failson (but former NFL coach!!!) Jim Mora, Jr.; the Virginia gubernatorial election with a focus on victorious businessman/huckster Glenn Youngkin; fissure in New York’s Democratic Party following a Buffalo mayoral election pitting moderate incumbent and GOP-favored Byron Brown versus progressive socialist India Walton who had originally defeated Brown in the party’s primary; and finally Jason Kidd, a curious choice by the Dallas Mavericks as head coach for obvious on-the-court reasons but also considering Kidd’s history of domestic violence coupled with the organization’s recent problems regarding sexual harassment and improper workplace conduct. But it’s not all bad, as we conclude with a toast to Boston mayor-elect Michelle Wu following a victory that made her the first woman and person of color to be elected mayor of the city on a hill. But first some rants, as Zak leads us off with, to put as mildly as one can, a scathing rebuke of Dave Portnoy and his merry band of twisted sycophants for their efforts to downplay graphic accounts of sexual impropriety committed by the aforementioned scumbag; Ed details the hypocrisy of the Baseball Hall of Fame in the case of member Bud Selig and how it could be that many of his meal tickets, namely Barry Bonds, continue to sit on the outside of Hall induction; and finally Andrew comments on the myth of Coach Mike Krzyzewski and the shameless self-indulgence of the athletic farewell tour.

Workplace Culture in Major Sports Nov 09, 2021

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Welcome again to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts examine three organizations across three different sports all overtaken by scandal in recent weeks. We start with the Chicago Blackhawks, where an investigation into sexual assault allegations dating back to 2010 found that coaches and management chose not to address the matter until season’s end so as not to be a “distraction.” ESPN published a bombshell exposé on Phoenix Suns’ owner Robert Sarver, detailing a work environment enveloped by racist and sexist behavior perpetrated by Sarver. Finally, we weigh in on the Washington Football Team, and how a proven toxic workplace culture of sexual harassment, bullying and intimidation has here to this point yielded merely an insignificant fine and protection from accountability by Roger Goodell. We assess and compare how each league has or has not addressed these respective scandals and what to expect moving forward. But first we rant, as a Collective, on this week’s first release of the College Football Playoff rankings. Your hosts return a unanimous decision opposing undefeated Cincinnati’s exclusion from the top four slots, and cry foul on a committee made up of power-five kingmakers protecting their own in the face of competitive integrity.

George Steinbrenner: The original Trump Nov 02, 2021

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Welcome again to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week in deference to our season-wide theme of criminal justice and sports, your hosts examine the life and crimes of George M. Steinbrenner III. Like many bull’s-eyes on the proverbial Collective dartboard, Steinbrenner is born into the dual advantage of white privilege and inherited wealth. His beginnings as a shipping magnate of the Great Lakes eventually leads to ownership of the New York Yankees in 1973. Until his death in 2010, George assumes a massive celebrity persona in New York City, not unlike a certain businessman who failed all the way upwards to eventually become President. Like Donald Trump, Steinbrenner’s outspoken brand of cult of celebrity somewhat overshadows a life of serious white-collar crime. A tale of two cases: illegal contributions to then President Richard Nixon in 1974 under the veil of “bonuses” to shipbuilding cohorts that results in a paltry fifteen month suspension from commissioner Bowie Kuhn, and what was a mere 2-year suspension in 1990 from Fay Vincent for employing honorable gambler/snitch Howard Spira in a vain attempt to accrue unsavory information on future Hall-of-Famer and noteworthy Steinbrenner free-agent signee Dave Winfield. A “Seinfeld” caricature, Miller Lite pitchman and presiding “boss” of 7 world championship Yankee teams seems to mask a far more unsavory legacy. This is the story of George Steinbrenner: authoritarian, thug, bully and criminal, this week on the Bill Bradley Collective.

“The Arrival of the Golf Hooligan” Oct 26, 2021

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Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where it is a bonus week! That’s right, join us for the newest addition to our catalogue of critically acclaimed Dollop-inspired installments. This week Andrew submits the definitive history of the 1999 Ryder Cup Matches. The bi-annual golf exhibition/corporate outing, profiled in broader strokes on a recent Collective episode, hit an unprecedented fever pitch in ’99 at the Country Club of Brookline, Massachusetts. On the course it is a tale of two events. The underdog European side rode sublime play in the team sessions to get out to a seemingly insurmountable lead by the eve of the concluding singles session. But the Americans flipped the script on that final Sunday, matching the European level of play at the start of the week and then some en route to a historic come-from-behind victory. Yet the golf is merely part of the story, as this Ryder Cup is remembered well beyond the 14.5-13.5 outcome. The major talking points include: financial grievances from top American stars in the run-up to the event; the abhorrent conduct of some patrons in the direction of the European contingent; the putt that ensured American victory and the indecent celebration that followed, and American captain Ben Crenshaw deploying a video message from fellow Texan and future president George W. Bush for inspiration on the eve of the final day. The 1999 Ryder Cup will forever have a complicated legacy in the annals of golf history, and the legacy of that week is the story here, on the Bill Bradley Collective.

The Myth of the Moderate Oct 19, 2021

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Welcome again to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts channel their combined furor in the direction of the elected political moderate of 2021. Manchin. Sinema. Romney. Collins. Murkowski. Chances are you’ve been inundated with the names of these five U.S. senators through the Trump/Biden presidential news cycles, but why? Because they allegedly straddle the lines of left and right, of liberal and conservative, much to the admiration of modern news outlets and political journos, merely to fulfill the false narrative that “moderates” broker deals and “moderates” bridge the gap between the opposed sides of the political aisle. A complete fallacy, and one your noble hosts aim to explain this week, but not before submitting a pair of somewhat collective rants aimed at two principals: an enigmatic pariah who formerly ran the Brooklyn Nets backcourt and the NFL’s most influential scribe/hypeman. Join us, as Zak and Andrew break down the details of and fallout from Kyrie Irving’s removal from the Nets’ 2021-’22 campaign amidst vaccine refusal and nonsensical explanation via Instagram; and Ed brings us home with a takedown on of ESPN’s Adam Schefter in the fallout of the Jon Gruden termination and recently brought to light editorial malfeasance performed at the seeming behest of the Washington Football Team’s upper management.

Urban Blight Oct 12, 2021

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Welcome again to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts deep dive the career and present legacy of collegiate and for the time-being NFL coach Urban Meyer. His tremendous on-field success at the reigns of Utah, Florida and Ohio State are perhaps only overshadowed by Meyer’s unseemly departures from the latter two programs. A tenure in Gainesville that yielded two national titles is blown up at the end by the toxic culture cultivated by Meyer’s lack of accountability or oversight for rampant off-field transgressions by his players. He later bolts Columbus following an explicit cover-up of domestic abuse by a prized assistant. This leads us to his maiden challenge in the pro’s as the current head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, a tenure just months in that is in serious jeopardy on the heals of an 0-5 start and much worse a post-game interaction with a female patron in Meyer’s own restaurant that appeared to be no less than wildly inappropriate and perhaps bordering on predatory. The question of Meyer’s future is a question about the very soul of college football, the media and how accountable we hold so-called “leaders of men.” Will the heretofore failure, both on and more importantly off the field, of an NFL Meyer experiment coupled with disgraced exits from multiple college jobs expel he and his shamed legacy from the sideline and/or commentary table going forward? First we rant, as Zak continues his offensive on the billionaire ruling class with a look into the Panama Papers and the contemptible means being taken to hide and withhold wealth; Ed considers the perilous state of what it is to be female in Texas and the unconscionable evil of those behind the Texas Heartbeat Act; Andrew examines a racist faux pas committed on-air during a nationally televised postseason contest and how Major League Baseball has no one to blame but themselves.

A Cocaine Car Wash Oct 05, 2021

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Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week as part of to our season-long theme of criminal justice in sports we deep-dive the life and crimes of baseball ne’er do well, Lenny Dykstra. Coming to you from the intersection of the BBCollective and E! True Hollywood Story, “Nails’” footprint in our sporting culture is one of both brief on-field excellence and protracted off-field delinquency. Born into the great cocaine and ego-fueled Mets’ of the mid-to-late ‘80s and later the overachieving Phillies of the early-‘90s, Dykstra’s baseball career excels and declines as a product of injury and platoon, while off the field it is, to paraphrase Zak’s hopeful conquering hero of Florham Park: all gas, no brakes. Dykstra’s post-career rap sheet is one that would make some of the 20th century’s most esteemed gangsters blush. A supremely accomplished con-artist and white-collar criminal par excellence, Dysktra’s offenses run a proverbial gauntlet: sexual assault/harassment amok, drug abuse and DWI, economic impropriety and fraud, racial abuse, and on and on we go. And yet, Lenny Dykstra remains welcome on Howard Stern’s airwaves and in the Barstool media sphere. Criminal justice, the cult of white blue-collar celebrity, and the fallacy of accountability: It is all this week, on the Bill Bradley Collective.

What the Fuck is the Debt Ceiling? Sep 28, 2021

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Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts attempt to answer the question many economic neophytes have had through our latest news cycle: what the f--- is the debt ceiling? At the center of recent political discourse amidst our latest Congressional standoff, the debt ceiling is something many find hard to grasp (including one of our very own), but fear not, for our resident politicos Zak and Ed are here to outline the debt ceiling’s history and relevance to modern politics and economic policy. Exploited for electoral gain and manipulated for political expediency, the names change throughout the last half-century. Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich and his Republican controlled house, and most recently Trump; as one party decries government spending under the auspices of blue-controlled executive and legislative bodies, the very same party in fact raises the arbitrary spending allowance of our government to the extent that it fits their opportunistic intentions. But first we present a trio of appetizers in rant form, as Zak details the Geno Auriemma-cosplay of West Virginia’s failed highest elected official; Andrew examines NBA COVID protocols with a nod to a former number one pick’s refusal to take the most efficient shot of his underwhelming career; and finally Ed spotlights the irrelevancy of the man behind FiveThirtyEight via the lack of accountability taken by his oft-failed predictive models.

The "Winona" Ryder Cup Sep 21, 2021

Show notes

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week, in the run up to this year’s event, we examine the Ryder Cup matches, a biannual contest between the United States and Europe featuring the top-12 golfers from each side. The Cup’s unique format, where for three days perhaps the world’s foremost individual athletic pursuit is contested collectively, is put under the microscope. The event’s history, with a nod to 1979’s introduction of continental Europe, 1991 as the year the Cup as we know it today came to be, and the manner in which the event has transitioned from American dominance to European supremacy is also highlighted. This year’s host course, Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, and what to look forward to from the forthcoming 43rd Ryder Cup matches fill out the conversation Andrew’s been waiting to have before a live mic his entire life. But first we rant, as Ed considers a Pennsylvania school district’s outrageous decision to ban materials critical about race and racism, Andrew details a cringe-worthy 2018 campaign video that inexplicably led to victory for old Collective nemesis Brian Kemp, and finally Zak arraigns usual pod-hero Ms. Ocasio-Cortez for her bit of performative politics in her choice of wardrobe at this year’s Met Gala.

To Catch an “Alleged” Murderer Sep 14, 2021

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Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts examine the 2000 murder trial of future Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis. Lewis’ acclaimed career and distinguished on-field place among the game’s greats are briefly detailed before moving to the events of January 31, 2000, where following a post-Super Bowl XXXIV party in Atlanta, a brawl involving Lewis broke out resulting in the stabbing deaths of Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar. Shortly thereafter, Lewis and two associates were arrested on murder charges. Despite some evidence and suspicion pointing strongly in his direction, charges against Lewis are dropped in exchange for testimony against his companions from that night, Reginald Oakley and Joseph Sweeting, testimony that proves useless as both men are acquitted that summer. The discussion turns to Lewis’ life and career following that night. A year removed he is the MVP of Super Bowl XXXV and over the next two decades his celebrity in the game grows exponentially and in retirement he receives major studio exposure on ESPN and elsewhere. Controversial on-air and in-print statements from Lewis have also been a notable part of his post-NFL career, but strangely, much like the murky circumstances surrounding the night of January 30, 2000, seemed to have done little to diminish Lewis’ legacy and place in the game. Why? That’s what the panel attempt to flesh out by conversation’s end. But first, as we are wont to do, a trilogy of rants: Andrew assesses the damage being levied to boxing by Triller’s commitment to bogus contests and spurious grifters; Zak rails against the 12-figure theft in the name of tax evasion perpetrated annually by our top 1%; and finally Ed heaps a fresh round of shame on a certain $40 million dollar punching bag and Collective favorite following the commish’s continued refusal to take even the slightest bit of action regarding Deshaun Watson.

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