BBCollective

Latest Episodes:

- The Lesser Marshall Brother Mar 02, 2021

Show notes

This week on the Bill Bradley Collective, your hosts dive into the Games of the XI Olympiad, better known as the 1936 Summer Olympics. Contested in Nazi-controlled Berlin, Germany, these games also exist at the precise intersection of sports and politics. The conversation focuses on American participation and the resistance of old friend Avery Brundage to a boycott. Contrary to Brundage’s stance that the Olympics stay out of politics, Hitler in turn uses the games as little more than a promotional tool for his antisemitic and racial supremacist ideology. The event is not without certain highlights, most notably Jesse Owens’ sublime performance on the track en route to four gold medals, Betty Robinson’s virtual return from the dead to the medal podium, and an opening ceremony conclusion befitting such a regime, where thousands of pigeons defecated upon the procession. But first we rant, as Zak recaps some of the inanity emanating from an Orlando Hyatt Regency this weekend; Ed asks the question of “why do we care what this guy says” with regard to a certain middling coach turned pundit and his MVP takes; and Andrew details a 13 year old feud rekindled Saturday concerning the impropriety of jean-wearing.

A Bad Strike Call Feb 23, 2021

Show notes

This week the Bill Bradley Collective present another installment of our Dollop-style bonus episodes. Join us as Ed documents the rise and fall of late MLUA (Major League Umpires Association) executive director Richie Phillips. Phillips’ ascent in the world of sports labor begins with working on behalf of NBA officials, before taking the reins of the MLUA in 1978. Ed details the circumstances behind the successful umpires strike of 1979 and the and what Phillips was able to achieve for his union members. Phillips’ run comes to an abrupt end in 1999, after calling for his umpires to resign en masse in an attempt to press MLB for a new labor agreement. The strategy backfires when the league instead accepts a number of the resignations, hires new umpires and ultimately leads to the decertification of the MLUA. Phillips’ arc and career in baseball is a fascinating one, but Ed’s narrative also presents a timeline of sorts for umpires in the last half century, their position in the game, and some of the controversies that have enveloped baseball officiating across this chronology. Come for a thoughtful portrait of an influential labor leader and his membership, stay for the detailed recounting of Zak’s brief but volatile pitching career.

- Why an All Star Game? Feb 16, 2021

Show notes

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week the panel examines the NBA’s decision to go forth with their annual All-Star game March 7, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Your hosts return an unanimous verdict opposing the game being staged, but not before detailing the economic factors responsible for the inevitability of the league’s decision to proceed with the event. The game’s integrity and watchability are put under the microscope when considering a weekend tailored to the fan being held before so few and the vocal indifference of many of the weekend’s expected participants. If you can’t prevent it, why not preview it, so the Collective conclude with some takes on who to expect to see suiting up for the East and West sides. But first the rants, where Zak attempts to autopsy the substandard performance of Super Bowl LV’s referees and the broader issues afflicting officiating across sports; Ed frames Urban Meyer’s latest in a long line of indiscretions in the context of continued malfeasance in the NFL hiring process; finally Andrew describes the sordid actions behind the resignation of a Biden deputy press secretary less than a month into the administration’s term.

- Trump 2: Impeachment Boogaloo Feb 09, 2021

Show notes

This week the Bill Bradley Collective present Trump 2: Impeachment Boogaloo, the most electrifying sequel since the famed 1984 companion to the motion picture classic, “Breakin’.” Donald Trump is the first president in history to be impeached twice, and his second trial is set to commence this week. Join us, as the boys dissect how insurrection brought us here; the “question” of impeaching a non-sitting president and the importance of holding Trump accountable; some key Senate members and what to expect from their votes; and finally a consideration of the related censuring of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and some of her pals on the congressional fringe. But first we rant, where Andrew takes on a prominent tour golfer for his financially convenient reversal on the ethics of the Saudi Kingdom; Ed decries a Utah charter school’s decision allowing racist parents to withdraw their children from Black History Month curriculum; and finally Zak details a former Jet’s first day on the job in Congress and his inability to outrun his former team’s legacy in avoiding getting smacked down by a member of the opposition.

Profile - Henry “Hank” Aaron Feb 02, 2021

Show notes

This week on the Bill Bradley Collective, your hosts consider the life, career and legacy of recently passed baseball icon, Henry “Hank” Aaron. The subject of this season’s individual profile, Aaron’s twenty-three year career is among the most accomplished across any sport. The panel delves into his many accolades and achievements, as well as his standing among the game’s other titans, but not before examining his youth in Mobile, AL, his entry into the pros with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League, and the circumstances that led him to the Braves instead of the Giants and a possible career partnership with fellow legend Willie Mays. The conditions of Aaron’s career and the conditions of this country over his lifetime lay at the center of conversation, as while he chased baseball’s most hallowed record, he experienced death threats, an voluminous amounts of hate mail and racist vitriol from all corners of the nation. Aaron’s professional merits are outshone only by his courage and resoluteness in overcoming the bigoted hostilities from so many of his fellow countrymen. Few athletes are almost too grand in stature and legacy to attempt to do justice with words in remembrance. Hank Aaron was one of them, and we’ll try our best to do just that, this week, on the Bill Bradley Collective.

- The Long National Nightmare is OVER!!! Jan 26, 2021

Show notes

This week on the Bill Bradley Collective, your hosts put the first four days of the Biden administration under the microscope and evaluate some of the early returns. The inauguration itself is given a quick review, before the boys get to examining some of Biden’s cabinet nominees and political appointees, including Marty Walsh, Janet Yellen and Merrick Garland, among others. In a week where the newly minted President signed 30 executive orders and actions, the panel weigh in on the repeal of Schedule F, as well as the immediate enactment of many COVID-19 and environmental policies. But first the rants, where Andrew considers where sports will fit in the on-going streaming wars following the shuttering of NBC Sports Network; Ed upbraids NFL owners as another hiring cycle appears set to close with virtually no progress achieved on diversity; finally Zak probes the troubling lionization and seeming absolution of George W. Bush in the wake of an inauguration chat with Rep. Jim Clyburn. The Bill Bradley Collective was honored this week to be joined by a man at the center of the week’s news and meme cycles, hero of the progressive movement, and the pride of Midwood, Brooklyn, the one and only Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sen. Sanders was kind enough to carve out a couple of minutes for us, so be sure to tune in for his takes on our new President, men’s winter hand fashions, and his hometown Nets and their new cadre of superstars.

Things that have Gone on Tooooooo Long Jan 19, 2021

Show notes

As we eagerly count down the final days, hours and minutes of Donald Trump’s first and god-willing last term as President, in tribute, the Bill Bradley Collective presents their desired collection of the things in sports, politics and media, that have gone on far too long and should simply go the fuck away. In this first intra-season bonus episode, join your hosts as they each describe in detail why certain athletes, coaches, institutions, members of the media and a certain multi-billion dollar movie franchise would be best served to make both like a tree and the Trump administration (just a day from now), and kindly leave. You, our loyal listener, we ask that you do the exact opposite. Stay tuned for what’s to come in season FOUR of the Bill Bradley Collective, as we will soon be getting deep into topics ranging from the newly minted Biden administration, the Super Bowl, where the NBA stands going forth in the wake of the still ravaging COVID-19 pandemic and another installment of our seasonal individual profile

- Insurrections and Interceptions Jan 12, 2021

Show notes

This week, the Bill Bradley Collective presents its 2020 NFL regular season in review. Join us as each of your hosts nominate a best and worst moment, as well as the moment that best encapsulated the year 2020. A star QB’s close brush with premature evacuation, the return to the field of another signal caller from a catastrophic leg injury, and the league’s continued race problem in hiring practices are among the high- and lowlights of a season that for better and (mostly) worse will not soon be forgotten. The conversation then turns to the post-season, where your anchors handicap what to expect over the next two weeks of play and whom will be left standing to compete for a trip to Tampa and the Lombardi Trophy. In lieu of our normally presented rants, The Collective allots that time to discuss the events of January 6, where an armed insurgency of Donald Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol in disgraced defiance of the result of the 2020 Presidential election. The emotions of watching this display as it unfolded; upon whom and where to lay the blame for this deeply disturbed and ruinous demonstration; how our politics has been and will be affected moving forward are just a few of the themes the panel considers following a tragic day in American history.

- The Supreme Court Jan 05, 2021

Show notes

It’s Tuesday. You know what that means. That’s right, season four of the Bill Bradley Collective is off and running and how else to ring in the new year than with a conversation about our nation’s Supreme Court. On the heels of two historically unqualified appointments and an election fallout dominated by the question of whether or not the court would back efforts to challenge the veracity of the results, the focus on the Supreme Court’s composition, size and tenure has never been more in question. Join your hosts as they weigh in with their thoughts on that, just how influential the body is relative to other branches in government, and what to expect from the court going forward within the Biden administration, with special consideration given to the pending NCAA v. Alston case pertaining to the compensation of collegiate athletes. But first we set the table with the rants, where Zak attempts to make some sense of a sham penalty called in a sham playoff semifinal within a sham college football campaign; Ed throws cold water on the fetishizing of an increasingly immaterial box-score benchmark; finally Andrew examines the career and legacy of an ace southpaw following the recent release of a documentary on the pitcher’s life.

14. Rantapalooza Dec 29, 2020

Show notes

This week on the Bill Bradley Collective, the hosts round out season three with the very first installment of “Rantapalooza.” Inspired in part by the eclectic annual concert festival bearing a similar name, Rantapalooza is the proper embodiment of the two words it combines. The rants: the backbone of this catalogue and the concentration of this episode. What of a-palooza? Well, it “emphasizes or exaggerates the element of a situation.” Because this week for your listening pleasure, Ed, Zak and Andrew rant not once, not twice nor thrice, but four individual times; covering our intertwined landscape of the athletic, political and whatever the fuck it is that chaps one’s ass over the course of a particular week. These dispatches are, quite literally, on the clock, as super-producer Brandon has the stop watch set for two minutes on each of the twelve Collective dissertations. A one-minute reply/endorsement/rebuttal is permitted for each host in response to two of their cohort’s diatribes. The COVID-19 pandemic has made much of 2020 a devastating burden on all of us. Producing this podcast in a safe, distanced and sometimes remote environment has been quite the opposite; a pleasure and something for the four of us to look forward to in this otherwise dystopian year, and it is because of you, the listener. Your hosts and producer thank you for sticking with us for these now three, (yeah, THREE) seasons. We look forward to kicking off season four and 2021 next week. Until then, cheers, and Happy New Year.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected