House of Strauss

Latest Episodes:

HoS: Adam Mares on the Coach Prime Era Sep 26, 2023

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.com

Adam Mares is the brilliant impresario behind the DNVR sports media empire, a local institution, rooted in a literal Denver bar, that he’s building out to new cities and ventures. While the Denver Nuggets have been central to Adam’s personal coverage and the rise of DNVR, the arrival of Deion Sanders as coach of Colorado has been entirely different sort of windfall. This episode is about how one captures the current Deion moment, Sanders’ brilliance as modern media strategist, and, as always, some gripes about the current NBA state. Topics include but aren’t limited to…

* The idea behind creating a physical space for digital fans

* The arrival of Coach Prime

* The impact of Prime on the media landscape

* Has Deion been good for college football?

* How Deion Sanders is like Donald Trump

* The sneaky success of Deion’s son as personal social media manager

* Is Sanders’ success sustainable longterm?

* Adam’s take on the internationalization of the NBA

* The patriotic reason fro why Adam’s going to root against Team USA

* Is nobody learning from Nikola Jokic?

* How the NBA needs more leadership and fewer rules

HoS: Tim Kawakami Sep 22, 2023

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.com

Buyer beware, this might be the sports-iest HoS yet. Tim Kawakami, greatest Bay Area sports writer of the last two decades and my former boss, stops by to talk San Francisco 49ers. That’s right, I’m a football guy now, and I need TK to refine my takes. We also get into some Niners-Warriors parallels, Andre Iguodala’s new assessment of Jordan Poole, and where the San Francisco Chronicle erred in its Warriors coverage. Topics on this podcast include are not limited to…

* Former Warriors GM Bob Myers is a Niners nut

* What positions really matter in football?

* Is Left Tackle or Pass Rusher more valuable?

* The Brock Purdy Conversation: Why so continuously doubted?

* What is Purdy good at? What is he not so good at?

* What do we make of Purdy’s Thursday night football performance?

* Andre Iguodala gave an interesting recent appraisal of Jordan Poole

* Poole and TK had some friction

* Why the San Francisco Chronicle messed up the Warriors’ rise

Spike Eskin, Podbudsman, Tough Love Dispenser Sep 19, 2023

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.com

I needed a talking to by the HoS Podbudsman, otherwise known as Spike Eskin of Rights to Ricky Sanchez and WFAN fame. Boy, did I get one in an appearance where Spike explains how I’m being a whiner and what I must do to fix it. Despite whatever emotional injury I withstood, I always value Spike’s advice because he’s an astute radio/pod professional and well intentioned friend.

Podcast discussions include but aren’t limited to the following topics…

* The aftermath of Aaron Rodgers’ disaster on the New York talk radio scene

* What it sounded like when a host was dangerously optimistic about the Jets

* Why Spike thinks I’m being a “whiny baby” about Elon Musk suppressing links on X

* What I must do stop being a whiner and thrive

* Is Spike jealous that I got to (briefly) meet the ladies of Red Scare?

* A beef that Spike has with a commentator of mine about politics

* Deion Sanders’ popular college football ascent and its search for opposing forces

* Adam Silver both sidesing players not honoring their contracts

HoS: The Striking Matt Klinman Sep 15, 2023

Show notes

Great friend of pod and great friend in life Matt Klinman is back so we can compare notes on our respective industries getting throttled. Does this (currently striking) comedy writer and Internet prophet feel some “I told ya so” now that I’m going through something similar to his past experiences at Funny or Die? We get into that plus a lot more as the future of all entertainment and culture hangs in the balance. Topics in this podcast include but are not limited to…

* I attended the “Has the Sexual Revolution Failed?” debate in Los Angeles. I give my debate scene recap.

* How Matt discovered that Funny or Die and everyone else in comedy content was about to get destroyed by Mark Zuckerberg’s strategy

* The divorce between Elon and Substack has consequences

* Regis and Kelly narrating 9/11 live

* Matt talks about the writers/actors strike and addresses my customers having reservations about his ilk

* Outcome of Charter vs. Disney dispute

* Is Bill Maher strike breaking?

* Are there female degenerate sports gamblers?

* The time Matt saved my life from a gang beating in Irvine, CA

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.houseofstrauss.com/subscribe

HoS: Lee Fang Sep 11, 2023

Show notes

And now for something completely different! We have top level investigative reporter Lee Fang, talking about how getting stranded at Burning Man. Okay, that’s not the entirety of the discussion, but it’s a jumping off point into many cultural and political subjects. I’ll warn that this one isn’t as sports centric, it’s still a great conversation in my humble opinion.

Outline by the astute Sam Schuette…

* Lee’s Burning Man article

* Enjoying himself amongst the mass media hysteria

* How it represents an escape from the politics and partisanship of the world

* The human condition of cruelty

* Has it always existed? Is social media just revealing it?

* The fun of dehumanizing thousands of people online

* The appeal of simplistic enemies

* Why people wanted a controversial Burning Man story to be representative of the event’s shortcomings

* Lefty meetings vs. Burning Man: are they really similar?

* The fancy, elitist talk on the left versus the simple, welcoming Burning Man

* Why does much of the left dislike an event that creates momentary lefty utopia?

* The uncertainty of the Bay Area

* Is it too big to fail?

* The role of radical groups in the city’s downturn and the billionaires that fund them

* The internet’s role in making people unlikely to admit they’re wrong

* People not learning from their mistakes because of reputation risk

* The fear of admitting that the bad guy is right

* What would happen if the left and right swapped places?

* Would a liberal in a rural community or a conservative in a big city offer solutions?

* The horseshoe effect of complaining without a solution that plagues both sides

* Why do people accuse the other side of being horrible people?

* Choosing performative morality over fixing the issue

* The loss of touch in society

* How can a person feel connected when their politicians never deliver?

* How name-calling and internet beef fill the social hole people feel nowadays

* Lee’s experience with lefty journalism

* How his work with the establishment revealed the corruption within it

* The disconnect between liberal groups and the people they supposedly serve

* Lee’s political orientation

* What’s Lee’s political compass?

* The importance of analyzing power and holding people accountable

* What are the people inside the leftist circle like?

* Lee gives the download on his social circle

* The us versus them mentality that remains even after the issues they’ve won

* What’s going on with Tucker Carlson?

* Has he positioned his journalism out of resentment?

* His fallout with Fox

* Elon Musk’s conflict with the ADL

* What the ADL gets wrong about their methodology?

* Why Elon’s pushback deserves an asterisk

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.houseofstrauss.com/subscribe

HoS: Kyle Boddy Sep 07, 2023

Show notes

If you’re a baseball fan, you’ve probably heard of Driveline founder Kyle Boddy. If not, here’s your intro to one of the most revolutionary figures in sports, and a great podcast guest to boot.

Kyle’s revolution is taking the Moneyball hunt for market inefficiency to the realm of improving players. After demonstrating an impressive proof of concept with pitching and hitting, he’s taking his storied abilities into the other major sports.

Outline from the astute Sam Schuette…

* Revolutionary changes in sports

* Manu Ginobili’s Eurostep

* How much is tradition worth following?

* Can AI find new strategies that haven’t been tapped into?

* Making sports less enjoyable by optimizing it

* It pays for batters to play “boring”

* How to look for the glitch and exploit it

* What teams miss when they solely focus on big-name prospects and not undrafted players

* If you’re great, throw it right down the middle

* Why it’s un-American to ignore the under-the-radar players with untapped potential

* What variables separate good organizations from bad organizations?

* The importance of purpose and direction

* Why Heat Culture is so prominent

* How they hold their players accountable while other teams do not

* Does the player-driven league limit accountability?

* What constitutes good hitting?

* Bat speed vs. smash factor vs. swing decision

* What people misunderstand about the key to good hitting

* Applying baseball sports science concepts to basketball

* What Hawkeye player tracking can reveal that Second Spectrum cannot

* Why basketball is harder to analyze than baseball and football

* Secrets to pitching improvements

* The role of overload-underload training in increasing pitch speed

* Should you really keep your eye on the ball?

* What recent research shows about how hitters make contact without looking at the ball

* What kids’ love for video games reveals about players’ love for their sport

* The importance of immediate feedback in video games and sports training

* Making a player’s improvement into a quantifiable video game

* Telling someone they’re getting better isn’t enough unless there’s data to support it

* The importance of having a coach who wants it as bad as the player

* Proving your worth through work ethic

* What Kyle learned from Reds pitcher Michael Lorenzen

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.houseofstrauss.com/subscribe

HoS: ESPN vs Charter with Ryan Glasspiegel Sep 05, 2023

Show notes

We had to have Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post on to discuss Disney/ESPN vs. Charter, the face off that might kill sports viewership as we know it. Or get resolved soon. Ryan has a take on his initial take and many other takes. We get into it.

Topics include but aren’t limited to:

* Why Charter has leverage over ESPN

* Why Ryan thinks this gets resolved

* Is there an ideological component to the position Disney finds itself in?

* The re-bundle could be upon us.

* What does it mean for the NBA? If cable dies, are they in trouble as an inventory sport?

* Reader JF (JK!) is doing the Big Short on sports TV rights. Is he going to be correct?

* Skip Bayless’ new Undisputed lineup vs. ESPN’s First Take

* How streaming dilutes audience from an advertiser perspective

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.houseofstrauss.com/subscribe

HoS: Wosny Lambre Sep 01, 2023

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.com

Our favorite guest is here (don’t tell the others), prompted by a certain Substacker’s contention that there’s negative demand for sports writers to engage in conventional political commentary. Wos is the ideal guy for this topic because he somehow does both sports and political talk while retaining the goodwill of most reasonable people. What’s his secret? Is there a secret?

This podcast includes but is not limited to the following topics:

* How Wos avoids the “sardine in the vending machine” issue

* Is the problem talking politics when you’re in sports? Or is the problem that the sports talker adopts an annoyingly predictable politics?

* The Trump-based litmus test for whether you’re too ideological

* Can Wos become an NFL pundit?

* Wos is fully in love with the New York Jets

* Aaron Rodgers: Where’s the media at on this guy now?

* The NFL’s comeback

* Wos had takes on this controversial article about Obama’s past and present

HoS: Bob Costas Aug 28, 2023

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.com

And now for a man who needs no introduction, but we will be re-introducing on account of technical difficulties last time. It’s the great Bob Costas, legendary broadcaster of all things, and current baseball announcer for TBS and the MLB Network. In this episode, we’ve sent over friend of pod and big time WFAN muckety muck Spike Eskin to Bob’s place to deal with any tech issues. The result? A quality podcast wherein we discuss, among many topics, learn that HoS is a fine product!

Pod outline written by the astute Sam Schuette:

* Why are so many New Yorkers prominent broadcasters?

* The lineage of Costas, Cosell, Breen, Albert, Tirico, and more

* The law of averages and New York as the mecca

* Talking Shohei Ohtani

* How Ohtani resembles Michael Jordan (but LeBron does not)

* The one thing he’s missing

* Should Ohtani get surgery now or later?

* The trajectory of the MLB

* The association between a team and its stars

* The imbalance between teams like the Rays and the Dodgers

* Informed commentary vs. hot take commentary

* Avoiding egregiously hot takes and personal blows

* How exclusively positive commentary can make you seem less authentic

* Why Costas regrets speaking to ESPN about leaving NBC

* Clickbaity titles and the distortion machine made his Super Bowl removal a bigger deal than it was

* How it created a false “Bob vs. NBC” storyline

* “Your prerogative vs. their prerogative”

* Trying to be honest vs. making trouble for your bosses

* The bar for controversial commentary has gotten so low that anything can cause a fallout

* Bob’s Pat Riley story

* How a botched teleprompter let Bob save Pat during a broadcast

* How David Stern and Roger Goodell differed as commissioners

* Goodell ducked an interview with Bob

* Stern enjoyed the fight and accepted contentious interviews

* The gambling tsunami taking over pro sports

* The moral issues behind it

* Legalization and convenience enlarging the scope of its damage

* Does it take away the authenticity of being a fan?

* The Pete Rose Hall of Fame controversy

* If steroid users are on the ballot, should Rose deserve a spot?

* Does the influx of gambling in the MLB make the Rose lifetime ban unwarranted?

* Bob appearing on Bill Maher

* Not having to prepare for it

* The difference between Real Time and Club Random

* Aggregators mistranscribing podcast words

* How the internet misrepresents everyone’s words

* Bob’s defense of network TV

* The edginess and intelligence it offered to the average viewer despite its timidness

HoS: Amin Elhassan Aug 23, 2023

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.com

A House of Strauss favorite is here for our Second Substack Anniversary (Subscribe today!). Amin Elhassan of Meadowlark stops by to, among other things, give me a lot of shit. Podcast topics include by are not limited to…

* Amin examines whether the Toronto Raptors really stole secrets from the New York Knicks?

* Is cheating the final boss of analytics?

* Amin loves how baseball is the cheatingest sport by far

* Amin roasts my 2nd anniversary post

* In the sports doc boom following The Last Dance , only Quarterback is an undeniable hit. Is Patrick Mahomes our era’s MJ?

* Tom Brady: Tim Duncan if he had 7 rings?

* I have a new, unwelcome neighbor

* Amin felt validated by Lizzo’s fall from grace

* Would a Woj vs. Shams movie actually be good?

* Years later, I finally reveal the real reason my stoned interview with Don Nelson went south