BBCollective

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OJ & America Jul 06, 2021

Show notes

This week the Bill Bradley Collective ushers in season five on location before a live audience of friends, family and listeners at New London’s own Draft Choice. The topic of conversation centers around the many lives of O.J. Simpson. One of the great collegiate and professional football players in modern history, Simpson’s second act saw him stay immersed in the public limelight as a network commentator, screen presence and Madison Avenue pitchman. His celebrity hits a crescendo in 1994, as he stands trial for the murder of both his ex-wife and an acquaintance of her’s in what may have been the most publicized criminal trial in history. Simpson’s life is a microcosm of the collision of sports, politics, fame and race in America, and this conversation seeks to unearth what coverage of Simpson across each of his different acts says about society and how we reconcile the intersection of those forces. But first we rant, as Ed examines some of the recent transgressions of Florida’s highest elected official; Andrew delivers a mid-season eulogy for his New York Yankees and laments the underlying forces behind their failure, and finally Zak considers the results of C-SPAN’s Presidential Historians Survey and offers a harsh critique of the selection at number 29. A huge thanks to our fantastic hosts at Draft Choice and to everyone who came out and joined us live. The Bill Bradley Collective is humbled by your continued patronage, and hope you will join us next week and beyond for this, now our FIFTH, season with you.

- Worst People In Politics Draft Results Jun 29, 2021

Show notes

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week we close the curtain on season four and revisit our selections from January 2nd of the worst people across politics. It would not be a proper Collective draft without a little competition, so the format is as follows. 18 politicos were drafted in total, representing three six-member teams. Each host defends their pick in the order they were originally plucked, on the grounds of where they stood six months ago, what has happened since to perhaps enhance they’re reprehensible standing, and the relative value of the pick: i.e., bonus regard for a selection perhaps drafted later that may have moved their way up the pecking order of political abhorrence in 2021. The other two panelists grade each pick on a 10-point scale using said criteria, and the average of the total is used as a grade. Super producer Brandon then tallies the grades for each pick by team, and the host with the highest cumulative point total takes the crown for their prowess in evaluating political abomination. The contest is decided by the narrowest of margins, proving there is no shortage of atrocities occupying political office or media soapboxes. Feel free to score along with your hosts and share your opinions on our Facebook page, or even better yet, join us live and in person this Saturday, July 3rd at New London’s own Draft Choice and pepper us to our face with your dissent or accord. We will be kicking off season number *5* with a similar live draft, this one of the worst people across sports. Join us for great food, craft beers, or whatever you fancy and the kind of conversation that has kept you engaged enough to keep us going strong into a fifth season. Hope to see you all then, and thanks as always for listening, to the Bill Bradley Collective.

Bonds’ Bushes and...Balls’ Jun 22, 2021

Show notes

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where it is Father’s Day weekend and we are here to commemorate it with a deep dive into paternalism at work across the spectrums of both sports and politics. We lead with a mini-draft of sorts, as each of your hosts highlight a series of father/son pairs in seeking to find the most athletically accomplished duo of them all. The positive and negative impacts a “sports dad” have had historically on their gifted progeny at the highest athletic level lead out the sports end of our conversation to the political. Fathers/offspring both achieving high reaches of elected office may not be terribly common, but is always newsworthy. A pair of libertarian “physicians” who between them combined approximately 15 minutes as beacons of GOP hipsterism, and a war criminal and the somehow nouveau riche de la résistance sharing his last name and record on foreign policy are singled out. We shift to the concept of the American political dynasty, and the machinations that have allowed singular bloodlines to influence our politics and the politics of high office across multiple generations. But first the rants, where Zak eviscerates the retired “Round Mound of Rebound” for his condemnation of cancel culture despite Sir Mound’s own growing physical resemblance to a compound and an inglorious run on cable that should have seen him cancelled many years ago; a tandem run at COVID-protocols across sports in our as-yet-not-realized vaccinated future, as Ed examines an NBA superstar on the precipice of his greatest professional achievement and the positive test that has set that back for the foreseeable future and Andrew reconciles with the aggressive anti-vaccination position of a certain gritty, scrappy, high football/low real-life IQ guy in the wake of announced NFL COVID-protocols. In two weeks, ring in your 4th of July Weekend by joining us on July 3rd at New Londons own Draft Choice, where your hosts will both usher in a new season and will draft whom we believe to be the very worst people across sports. Hope to see you then, and as always, thanks for joining us on the Bill Bradley Collective.

Rantapalooza II Jun 15, 2021

Show notes

Welcome back...to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week you are cordially invited to the second installment of what we call Rantapalooza. That’s right, three fists to the face of sports and politics in our rawest form: the rants that typically set the table for a singular conversation on a broader topic are the chef d’oeuvre on this Saturday where our individual grievances and musings are the headline attraction. Join us for this bi-annual tradition unlike any other, where Zak (without the use of Spider Tack!) retires the latest New York Yankee bilk on called strikes, buries a pair of big money bro donors and and the purported Dem they have their fangs sunk into, and finally details what happens when an Eagles fan in high elected office, a bankrupt reality TV business maven and a billionaire massage enthusiast walk into a bar; Andrew highlights an unfortunate double-standard in accountability within top-level women’s athletics, calls bullshit on the “motivation” behind expanding the College Football Playoff, and sends Bob Knight’s foremost apprentice off in a a blaze of ignominy; Ed exposes a dark racial underbelly to an institution better known for blue fields and underdog football theatrics; decries the categorization of “non-profit” to an entity with vast compensatory inequity betwixt member and charity, and a hopefully final thank you, fuck you, bye to the (VERY literally) old resident of BBCollective rants still representing 1% of our not-so-greatest deliberative body. Come for rants galore, stay for the details of our next remote: 4th of July weekend, Saturday the 3rd we will be live on location at New London’s own The Draft Choice. We hope to see you all there and hope you join us this week and in the interim, at the Bill Bradley Collective.

- La Lutte pour les Droits des Athlètes Jun 08, 2021

Show notes

Welcome once again to the Bill Bradley Collective, where the topic de la semaine concerns the rights of athletes, specifically their rights as laborers, performers and/or contractors and how they are acknowledged and treated as such across sports by different leagues and institutions. Among the angles explored include the franchise/athlete dynamic in today’s NBA era of player empowerment; the racial overtones that exist there in contrast to the current self-inflicted situation a discontented present and all-time NFL great finds himself in; the power of player unions in affording their members their rights; and the circumstances behind a star female tennis player’s forced withdrawal from a Grand Slam event following her refusal to adhere to arbitrary media obligations in the name of mental health awareness. But first nous fulminons, as Zak highlights the repugnant convenience behind a social media behemoth’s decision to censure the disgraced 45’s presence for a mere *2* years; Andrew recounts some social media grenades, an all-time great (albeit scrubbed) post-round Q&A and a newfound macro-brew promotional effort in telling the tale of golf’s latest petty war; and Ed circles back to Zak’s Trump touchback, with an evisceration of our mainstream print news media’s legitimization of falsehoods and fallacies from the desk of the shift manager at Mar-a-Lago. Thanks as always for joining us, and vive la Bill Bradley Collective!

- # “resistance” Jun 01, 2021

Show notes

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week we dive into the deep-end of The Resistance. Formally adopted as liberal opposition to the Trump presidency, the #resistance movement grew to include many who have otherwise exclusively served GOP and conservative interests. Their credibility and bonafides in taking up the anti-Trump fight are examined, as is how an anti-Biden resistance is beginning to take shape five months into his administration. The conversation concludes with thoughts on resistance efforts in sports, with special consideration given to a WNBA team and their ability to turn a Senate election and the potential for Olympic boycotts both this and next year in opposition to social messaging censorship and human rights’ crises. But first we rant, as Ed details the creepily puritanical and blatantly sexist motives behind a Florida school board’s decision to digitally alter high school yearbook photos; Andrew rails about unruly fan behavior in NBA arenas casting a dark cloud over a week where the return of near-capacity crowds may otherwise have been cause for celebration; and Zak levies the blame for the Senate’s failure to pass an investigation into the January 6th Capitol insurrection at the feet of a pathetic West Virginian’s baseless optimism.

- “Playoffs?! Playoffs?! You kidding me?” May 25, 2021

Show notes

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, “Yes Jim Mora, we are talking about THE playoffs.” your hosts preview the now-underway NBA and Stanley Cup Playoffs. The matchups to watch, the narratives to monitor, and the picks to advance and eventually hoist the both the Cup and Larry O’Brien trophy in the next twelve weeks outline a conversation that also shines special light on two of the Collective home teams: one a pre-tournament favorite off to a hot start in a series holding the early clubhouse lead for “best,” and the other seemingly destined to ignite and then quickly extinguish the outsized expectations of their aggrieved fanbase. First we come-a-ranting, as Zak (briefly) checks in on America’s favorite choirboy and the merit of the latest addition to his sterling professional résumé; Andrew connects the dots between Tony LaRussa, unwritten rules, “respect for the game,” and the decline of baseball in the present day; Ed details the abhorrent race-norming being employed by an again odious NFL in how they have chosen to determine eligibility for payouts of the league’s billion dollar settlement for brain injury claims.

Titleless in Seattle May 18, 2021

Show notes

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts grant super-producer Brandon’s request for the weekend off following his FUCKING COLLEGE GRADUATION(!!!) with another pre-recorded Dollop-inspired bonus presentation. That’s right, tune in as Andrew tells the story of the 1994 NBA Western Conference first-round playoff tilt between the Seattle SuperSonics (Brandon’s childhood NBA team of choice and who can blame him) and Denver Nuggets. One of the great upsets in modern sports history, the 8th seeded Nuggets took the last 3 in a best-of-5 series where the heavily favored Sonics squandered perhaps their clearest window to an NBA championship in a full season where the league was devoid of Michael Jordan. The personas of the primary on-court figures and contexts of both franchises within the window of the spring of 1994 set the table for a conversation about a week in time where a dynamic Seattle trio failed to reach their apex collective outcome, an out-sized star made it mainstream and parlayed what began in this series into a HOF career as player and insurance pitchman, and a coach “successful” in many locales; fired in all the same locales; with enough self-believe to think none of these terminations are any fault of his own achieved his grandest failing. The discussion shifts to the political end for the homestretch, as the collegiate and social legacy of one of the Nuggets’ stars of 1994 are dissected. His sublime collegian scoring record on an LSU team that never was, a conversion to the Nation of Islam, and an ill-received national anthem boycott made Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf a sports cautionary tale in his time but perhaps served as a table-setter for Colin Kaepernick, Eric Reid and countless others in their similar protests in the interest of social awareness to racial progress. The post-career business partnership of The Glove and The Reign Man provide a much-needed positive chaser to a story otherwise ridden with failure, under-achievement and a buried figure in the history of sports activism.

Live @ The Social... Time to Clean our Inbox May 11, 2021

Show notes

Coming to you via remote from the back patio of New London’s own The Social Bar and Kitchen, we welcome you back to the Bill Bradley Collective. In the outdoor company of friends, listeners and a wonderful stewardess, this week your hosts empty out our mailbag full of questions and return correspondence with some of our most ardent listeners. The questions are great and they span the breadth of the Collective universe. Who is the sporting equivalent to the most noteworthy imbecile amongst Georgia’s elected officials? What would be the one change we’d make to the many archaic mandates that exist in our politics and government? Whom would each panelist surround themselves on a like-minded podcast assuming their other two co-hosts Marty McFly’d themselves before the Enchantment Under the Sea-dance climax of Back to the Future? That and much more, plus one reunion and one cameo appearance featuring the worst in New York and Boston media sports takes. First cometh some rants, where Andrew examines the bigger picture of the NHL’s bungling of the fallout of a heinous on-ice assault, Zak brings us up to speed on the estranged great grandmother of this podcast in the wake of her latest bit of octogenarian drivel, and Ed is forced to exhume old foil Avery Brundage in a critical takedown of the IOC’s move to ban Black Lives Matter apparel from the forthcoming Summer Olympic Games. To the Social for being such a terrific host and to all of you who came out and made your presence felt both as friends and as fans, the four of us express our deepest gratitude. We thank you for listening and engaging, and can’t wait to be with you again next week, here, on the Bill Bradley Collective.

Our First Collective Q & A May 10, 2021

Show notes

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where we present yet another bonus Monday installment as something of an appetizer for what’s to come in tomorrow’s regularly scheduled release. Listen in for a Collective Q&A, as some of our wonderful friends who joined us live on the patio of New London’s own The Social Bar & Kitchen probe your hosts with a serious of thoughtful queries. The potentially broader angle of the Deshaun Watson situation; great unrest in the fanbase of an EPL mega-power; the personal culpability of fighters and footballers entering their respectively violent fields; gambling advice for both European club soccer’s pre-eminent championship and a massive boxing title-unification bout; and an inquiry from the poised leader of the as-yet unofficial Collective’s junior fan-club are the proverbial offerings at the heart of this intellectual potluck. Be sure to join us tomorrow as we present another special Q&A-themed episode recorded outdoors along the beautiful New London coast/Shore Line East rail line, all here at the Bill Bradley Collective.

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