The Press Box - John Feinstein and March Madness, News From The New Yorker, and Gutting the Voice of America

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

Hello, media consumers! Bryan and David kick off the week by discussing Donald Trump’s dismantlement of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees the Voice of America (0:45). Then they get into the Old Guy’s Still Got It Segment with sounds from Rick Pitino (8:40), Tom Izzo (10:30), and Dick Vitale (14:20). Afterward they discuss Michael Wilbon’s tribute to John Feinstein (16:20). Later in the Notebook Dump they discuss the changes happening at The New Yorker (38:42). Plus, the Overworked Twitter Joke of the Week and David Shoemaker Guesses the Strained-Pun Headline. Hosts: Bryan Curtis and David Shoemaker Producers: Jessie Lopez and Brian H. Waters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you hear the word Seattle Supersonics, what comes to mind? Maybe it's Sean Kemp, The Rain Man, or Gary Payton, the glove, or maybe an image of a tall and skinny 19-year-old rookie, Kevin Duran. For fans in Seattle, it's something else. It's tragedy. It's theft. An iconic team with an incredible fan base that packed its bags and shipped off for Oklahoma City. From Spotify and The Ringer, I'm Jordan Ritter-Con.

And in my podcast, Sonic Boom, I talk to players, politicians, owners, and fans about how Seattle lost the Sonics. You can listen to it on the Book of Basketball feed on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. David? Yes. I woke up Saturday morning to a New York Times news alert telling me that Donald Trump had dismantled some things. Yes. Some other things.

Which things are we talking about specifically here? There's kind of a list. Well, one was the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Oh, yeah. That's the agency that oversees the Voice of America. Right. Now, the gutting of the Voice of America means that a thousand journalists are on indefinite leave, which is a nice way of saying they're out of a job.

The Voice of America's job is to present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively. Yeah. I quote from their charter. And to counter state media in other countries. So Voice of American and sister agencies broadcast over the radio in places like Russia, China, Iran. The New York Times is David Enrich says they broadcast in dozens of languages and reach hundreds of millions of listeners. Now Trump naturally has called this, quote, radical propaganda. Not the thing those countries are producing, but the thing we are producing and beaming into those countries.

Yeah. And he appointed Kerry Lake to run the voice of America. Probably a good time to stop. He appointed her previous to the dismantling or to oversee the dismantling? Well, I don't think she knew she was overseeing the dismantling because she came in with a bunch of ideas. Right. But it's a good time to stop and wonder, wait a second. What does Trump think of a person that he gives a job to and then dismantles the agent?

agency out from under her. Well, you could ask Linda McMahon, too. Same question. Having to all the best and the brightest. Now, many, like many of the agencies in the crosshairs of Trump slash Doge, I have not spent a ton of time thinking about the voice of America. No. If you said those words to me, I might give you World War II.

Mm-hmm. And then not much more. Sure. Which is part of what Trump and Doge are doing here. They love to make statements like, why are we spending millions and millions of taxpayer dollars on this thing? And then even well-read Americans say, well, I don't actually know the answer to that.

Yeah. Because I don't totally understand what that agency does. And of course, Trump and his allies win when when that's the question. Because it's hard to just muster an explanation much less a defense. Well, and I mean, even if you know all about the voice of America, even if you were completely read into this,

if you were trying to make the case for it, unlike some of the other doge cuts that have been quickly rolled back, you know, like disease research and whatnot, you don't, if you're a firm believer in the power and the necessity of the voice of America, you can't point to the results in some sort of immediate way. You know, now this thing is no, longer happening. The upside of the voice of the upshot or whatever of the voice of America is,

is a sort of long-term international relations, like, trickle, upside trickle, sort of, right? I mean, it's like a, so sort of a supply side. It's not necessarily propaganda, although whatever, how Trump describes it is, I don't think, like, I don't think he's totally missing the point. Yeah, we're trying to get the American voice. We're trying to get the American point of view across to countries that are either totally dominated by state-run media or just, you know, have governments that are contrary, have, you know, have motives that are contrary to what America is trying to do. Totally.

And the Washington Post got a good quote from a former U.S. agency for global media officials saying people in America don't know a lot about USAGM and our networks because by law, we can't broadcast in the U.S. Yeah. We are not serious XM. So even if you support the idea that you talk about, that long-term play for U.S. relevance around the globe and truthful information,

or at least U.S. inflected information around the globe, you can't hear the broadcast. Yeah. So beyond examining whether Musk and company have saved as much money as they claim to, I think reporters are doing two things right now. Narrators' voice, they have. Pause for laughter.

Reporters are doing two things. One is they've turned page one of our newspapers into a giant explainer. Yeah. So if Trump and Linda McMahon get rid of half the people who work at the Department of Education, what happens to those student loans?

Mm-hmm. Which Trump said shouldn't be under the department's purview. Yeah. You just transfer those to another agency? Well, I think that's why there's kind of like slow walking it at this point, I mean, if you just blow up the Department of Education, then I think some people have theorized that those loans just or just disappear, right? That they're sort of like de facto forgiven because there's no one to govern them.

So you have to figure out a way to dismantle an agency while transferring all the parts that you want to other agencies. The online form did not work last week. But I think that doesn't qualify. That's like a Brian and David youthful dream of, oh, well, the thing didn't work. So my obligation here is forgiven. Yeah. Anyway, that's one thing the press is doing. The other thing they're trying to do is connect the Trump-Mus cuts to their real-world consequences.

Sure. Okay. Trump and his allies did this. Now, what is actually happening? You will read no more harrowing story, no more harrowing example of this than Sunday's New York Times column by Nick Christoff. So we know Trump has touted. cuts to foreign aid. Elon Musk has claimed

no one has died as a result of a brief pause to do a sanity check on foreign aid funding. Well, Christoph went to South Sudan and Kenya and wrote a column noting,

here are the people that have died due to this, specifically. And I'll read you a couple of paragraphs here. Akhal Ding, an eight-year-old girl, was also infected with HIV at birth, and likewise remained alive because of American assistance.

Then in January, Aco lost her ID card, and there was no longer a caseworker to help her get a new card in medicines. She too became sick and died, according to a local health worker that Christoph talked to. Another example from this column. Another household kept alive by American aid was that of Jennifer Inya, a 35-year-old single mom and her five-year-old son, Evan Anzu, both of them HIV-positive.

Last month, after the aid shutdown, Inia became sick and died. And a week later, Evan died as well. Again, according to a health worker, Christoph, talked to. He writes, Decisions by Billionaires in Washington quickly cost the lives of a mother and her son. I encourage everybody to go read that column if you want to see the things the media is trying to do in the face of all these cuts.

All right, David, coming up on the podcast, we got a bunch of stuff from March Madness, including a couple of old coaches who still got it. We've got more on the legacy of John Feinstein. Plus, when golfers tell reporters they don't owe them anything, and not to gross anyone out, but the New Yorker has a very bad case of dioresis. All that and much more on the press box.

A part of the Ringer podcast network. Hello, media consumers, Brian Curtis, David Shoemaker, and producer Jesse Lopez here. He's sitting in for Brian. All right, David, the March Madness Preliminaries start tomorrow. And listener Gustavo Inn had an old guy's still got it sighting.

Now, if you're new to this podcast, the old guy still got it is one of the media's favorite stories to write. It occurs when, what, a great movie director has one final picture. That's the common one that we talk about a lot. Yes.

But it happens all over the place. The Coppola old guy still got it kind of got foiled last year because nobody liked the movie. Well, but that's sort of the beauty of the old guy still got it piece, right? Is that like you do it on the way in when even if you don't have anything, you know, listen, if Megalopolis was the greatest American movie ever made, then that would be the piece, right? But absent that sort of framing, you say, oh, look, here's a way in. The old guy still got it. Those guys come back from, you know, he could have been, he could have been retired.

then he's making us one more movie, you know, which could be, you know, 10 more movies, but you know, it's... Was Dylan the real old guy

still got it? Given that he was played by Timothy Shalamee last year? Well, that's not a Dylan performance. I'm sure there have been a number of Dylan concert tours over the past 20 years or so that were...

Yeah, yeah, he does. He still has it in pop cultural terms, I guess. If people are streaming Dylan songs on Spotify, can you stream Dylan song on Spotify? To, you know...

Let's go with that. Yeah, he does still got it. We still care. All right, old guys that still got it there. We're spotted on basketball courts this week. Rick Patino, David. Oh. 72 years old.

And what a Wikipedia page Rick Patino has. These are just one way to put it. Yeah. Boston U. Providence. Yeah. The Knicks. Kentucky.

Yep. the Celtics, Louisville, Greece, or a job in Greece. He was not coaching the entire country. Iona and now St. John's, which just won the Big East tournament. Congratulations, nephew, Kyle. Coach Petino with a Wikipedia page like that, what are you going to do next? Coach, how do you celebrate tonight? How do you celebrate tonight?

I'm going to drink a quarter of Jameson. That was a fantastic edit on that soundbite. The guffaw cutting off halfway through. Yeah, you know, it's better than saying, get it going, take a warm bath and drink some Ovalteen, I guess. I mean, the coaching old guy still got it is a little bit different than, you know, the old guys so got it of the arts, right? Most of the old guys that so got it in the coaching world

are like old guys that won't stop doing it. that won't let go of it. But it's great, but good job by Rick Petino to, you know, be coaching a team that he can actually do something with. It's fun. Don't we love old guys or gals just a little more if they're drinking or smoking late in life?

Yeah, well, they came from a world in which such things were commonplace, you know, not nearly as stigmatized as they are today. So good for them. First, the Graydon Carter book, Cover now Rick Petino. Another one, David. Michigan states Tom Izzo.

Tom Izzo is 70 years old. And this year an Izzo coach team is going to be in the NCAA tournament for the 27th time in a row. 27. Alas, Tom Izzo's. It's unbelievable. It really is. That's a lot of history. Just think of what you and I were doing 27 years ago.

Alas, the Tom Izzo led Spartans lost to Wisconsin and the semis of the Big Ten tournament. But see if you don't hear some old coach still having it, even in defeat. It's just that never-ending battle where I've heard a lot of people in media. I've heard a lot of parents over my 30 years. I've heard a lot of players. You're never happy. You're damn right. I don't plan on being happy until we accomplishes.

what I think Michigan State University should accomplish. So, I guess number one on the list, I got to do a better job. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart. So I will, there'll be a staff meeting tonight.

We'll talk about, well, it's fresh. I love that so much. Because another go-to in these stories, it's the old guy who's not just still coaching, but is pissed off if he's not winning championships. Yeah. We're going to have a staff meeting today. night, David.

Is I do think that's when the staff is hearing at it for the first time? Or is it just, is it just expected on an Izzo team that the staff meetings don't end just because the season has? You think they're watching the feet

of the press comments? They're like, oh, damn it. Yeah. Don't make any dinner plans. He sounded the same note in an Adam Rittenberg profile on ESPN.com.

You don't hang banners for milestones. He just set a Big Ten record. You hang banners for championships. We also had some old announcer still got it this weekend. Yeah. 85-year-old Dick Fytal. It's been battling cancer. Here he is at the end of the ACC title game.

It's been like to me, a miracle, really? You sit here for you guys. I can't tell you how much it's meant to me. It's been unbelievable. You're the best, pal. You're the best. Tough three years. those four cancer battles, but I don't wish on anybody cancer sucks.

I'll tell you this, anybody battling cancer, please, listen. Think positive always and have faith. Dang. That is, that's heartfelt, you know, Dick Fytow, a man who gets laughs out of us at just about every turn and really tug on the heartstrings. He's been a part of our lives forever, right? ever. You asked what we were doing 27 years ago.

I just got back from Washington, D.C. We're probably 20, 20, 25 years ago. We were watching March Madness games, be it, I don't even, I don't remember where we would have watched it. We're, I don't think, I'm not sure if the eagle and child at a TV, or if it was just built, made, so you just had to stare at your tall glass of gin the whole night long. This is the place we learned to drink gin at? Yeah, I think so.

I think it was the eagle and child. But the or is that just Yeah yeah there It's not not there anymore for sure But yeah I mean we Dick Vital has been around For the Dick Vital was like

An old hand in the you know College basketball announcing circles When we were coming up it feels like Yes And a huge star at ESPN Mm-hmm Like a Berman level of And maybe beyond

Because of his commercials Of just cultural penetration Yeah Like you didn't have to know anything about college basketball to know who Dick Vital was. Yeah. Speaking of another voice of college basketball, I want to talk a little bit more about John Feinstein.

Oh. Sports writer and author. He died last week at age 69. You know, it's funny where Joel and I were talking about him on Thursday. And you think not only of the books John Feinstein wrote, but how big college basketball was during a certain period of time. Yeah. And people like Rick Petino and Tom Ezo are links,

back to that age when Coach K walked the earth and Dean Smith and Bobby Knight, Feinstein's subject, they were so, so big. Here's Feinstein's longtime Washington Post colleague Michael Wilbon on PTI saluting his friend. I've known Johnson's I was 20. I was an intern this summer after he was an intern. And so my life was very much directed by my relationships with John Feinstein and Anthony Cornheiser. And so you look at that all these years later.

and it's hard to put into it. And we just get this word about John suddenly passing away this morning. And it coaches, everybody's calling each other in the industry to talk to tell stories about John. And again, they're complicated because he could be the most charming guy in the room and the guy you wanted to throw out the room. But he was always a compelling figure. I want to focus on that last note for a second because I'm always fascinated at how Obitz work. How quickly you get to the difficult parts of a successful person.

Yes. When Henry Kissinger dies, there's no gap, right? We don't need to have like a two-day morning period. Like the obit's just come out right away with everything in them. Yeah, but some of that's baked in, right? And not just Kissinger because of his, you know, problematic history in terms of public affairs, but some people, their personalities are such that the, you know, both sides are baked in, right? Certain celebrities.

Problematic, by the way, been more strained than. Oh, man. Well, I just don't want to anger the Kissinger fan. Certainly true. But you're right. I mean, there is sometimes, especially in the modern era where some people's private lives or even just their commercial works don't necessarily line up with modern expectations. It's sometimes there's a waiting period. Sometimes it's right out of the gate.

And when it is right out of the gate, sometimes it feels a little bit off. We've discussed this before. Yes. It feels, you know, journalistically sound, but not humanly sound. Like, wait, we're just going to do this right now. Yeah. But often the day two,

oh bits are more interesting than the day one oh bits. I thought about this too because Dan Steinberg, a long time Washington Post sports section editor and writer and blogger, had a great threat about John Feinstein. And I'll read to you a little bit of this because he really did capture him. He said, I saw someone praise Feinstein yesterday by saying he never made it about himself. By the way, what a generic bit of obituary praise that is. If you read that, it's almost never true.

Anyway, Steinberg writes, by saying he never made it about himself, which struck me as just about exactly wrong, he always made it about himself. It's who he was at least as long as I knew him. That's why he would pursue his crusades, like against the NCAA's corporate champions. and student athletes in packed rooms with everyone watching, why he would blow past helpless security guards to talk to his famous friends. And it's why just about every piece he wrote about a retiring or dead sports grade flashed back to a tale involving John Feinstein by like the fifth graph. It was a running joke.

How many graphs in this John Feinstein appreciation until we find the word I? It was never very many. But that, of course, is also what made him a powerhouse. He wasn't polite. He truly didn't care what anyone thought about him. And he was going to talk to whomever he damn well wanted to, which is also why he knew everyone. Ever. Steinberg continues in a world of neurotic writers consumed by self-doubt, he would file a column, call me, and say, it's very good.

He concludes, for five years, I became his editor and he drove me crazy. But he was unforgettable in the best way. not many people are. It's true, and I would wager for, you know, I know a lot of journalists listen to this podcast, I'd wager for a lot of the sports writers who grew up wanting to be sports writers. A lot of the journalists in general

that grew up wanting to be sports writers. Everybody has a John Feinstein book, right? Everybody has a book. And I would wager that everybody has, not just season on the brain, not just like the big ones. Like everybody has the one that came out when they were 19 that they just for some reason are attached to.

This guy was a machine. I was just, like I said, in D.C. this weekend back at politics and pros where I worked for a little while. And I don't know if it was, what would have been the last shot, or the last amateurs, uh, maybe that I would have hand sold then. I certainly hand sold a good walk spoiled when I work at Barnes and Noble in high school, you know, like there is, there is like, but there is like, you know, these, you identify periods of your life by the John Feinstein book that came out that year. He was putting him out like almost annually at a time. He had an endless supply of golf books that had to crank out at

Father's Day and like every, you know, I mean, he, he was an industry. I think even, and I don't mean that in a dismissive way. I mean, he had a career that so many of us would aspire to. And to have that kind of career, it has to be about yourself. You're selling, I mean, every single pitch at every single publishing house was the new book by John Feinstein, right? I mean, it, it hardly matters what his eye was, what his target was trained on at that moment. Totally true. I cannot tell you how many tweets I saw from younger sports writers last week. They were like, I wanted to become a sports writer when I read and I was like, oh, wow, I was kind of off the Feinstein train by that point. Yeah. But that's when they got on. Yep. And discovered what he could do. So also I was thinking

about this too when I read Steinberg's thread, investigative reporters. I'm not sure I would put fine scene totally in that camp. But let's call him that for now. Yeah. It would be nice to think. David that a reporter who annoyed the living hell out of powerful people would then return to the newsroom or their own living room and just purr like a kitten. That is usually not the case. They can annoy the hell out of people they live with and they work with too. It's like the qualities that make you a great reporter are also the qualities that make you a difficult human being. Yep. At least at times.

And I always think about that. Every time I read something about an investigative reporter or a great reporter who was doing such swashbuckling work, there's always like a B story of like, here's what it was like to edit this person. Here were the small moments in the newsroom or the battles in the newsroom. Because it takes that kind of personality much of the time. Yeah, I mean, I think you could probably make the same case about fiction writers, too. I mean, I think that in some, there's, there is a drive to succeed and there's also a degree to which, and I'm sorry if it gets woo-woo here, where like this, a certain level of insight is a burden, right? A certain level of perception just weighs on you and you can't tolerate other people's bullshit to a certain degree. Or at least you end up telling yourself that as the checks start rolling in. But it's, you know, I think you're right. I think that it would surprise me.

more if a fine scene had been a purring kitten, as you put it. I was reminded of those too because I was reading a piece that Michael Wolfe wrote for the Hollywood reporter about how he was having trouble getting booked on cable news networks to talk about his new Trump volume. And it was, you know, an interesting piece about how cable news and how the media works now in the age of the Trump lawsuit, but also at bottom of a piece. piece about why he isn't getting booked to talk about his newest work on cable news.

Yeah, exactly. Just that fascinating combination. I got a golf story for you, David. Okay. It's an interesting story from the Players' Championship. It is not about the antics of the golf channel's Johnson Wagner, who's been lighting up my Twitter feed either. Story goes like this.

Colin Morikawa, 28 years old. won a couple of majors already. Colin Morikawa lost last week's tournament by one stroke, didn't play well on Sunday. And then he left without talking to the media. He did sign autographs, so that was Menchy,

but he did not give interviews. So Colin Morikawa shows up this week at the player's championship. And Brody Miller notes in a very good piece in the athletic, that he answered all the reporter's questions there about what had happened the previous week. But when he was asked why he didn't talk to the media immediately after his loss, he said this, yeah, just heated, just pissed,

like I don't owe anyone anything. No offense to you guys, but for me in the moment of that time, I don't want to be around anyone. Like I don't want to talk to anyone. I didn't need any sorries. I didn't need any good planks. Like you're just pissed.

So for that answer and particularly for that line, I don't owe anyone anything. He got crushed. They went after Colin Morikawa on the Golf Channel on Sirius XM. And then he comes back to the media after his round on Friday to address those criticism. I just want to add one more thing. You know, might bite my tongue after saying this. but, you know, to the Brandlchamblees, to the Paul McGinleys, to the Rock Amediates of the world, I don't regret anything I said.

You know, it might have been a little bit harsh that I don't owe anyone, but I don't owe anyone. You know, I respect the fans. I'm very thankful for them. I'm grateful. You know, it makes me emotional, but it's just, it hurts to hear people say this, and especially you guys, because I finished the round and I went to go sign for, 10 minutes, 15 minutes for all the people after. Not a single person for media want to go follow me because I don't know, but that's

me. So for people to be calling me out is it's interesting. You know, it just doesn't show anything. I mean, look, I get what you guys are saying, but I was there. I was signing for every single person right after the round, whether they wanted

it or not. I finished second. They could care less. But yeah, I'm going to leave it that. All right. So thank you guys. I'm not sure whether whether they wanted it or not, Bart really applies to. Is it an autograph collector? Let me tell you. They wanted

it. Yeah. It's funny because the initial quote, I mean, like so many quotes that we, they ended up making their way onto our podcast, it didn't really seem that difficult to wrap one's head around to me and didn't really seem like it was wrongheaded in any

sort of way. Why did you not talk to the media? It wasn't because I don't owe anybody anything, it's because I was, you know, in the moment you feel like you don't owe anyone anything, right? It's just like you're just pissed off. He said it over and over again. It seems like a personally,

perfectly rational explanation for what you would have done. And I think anyone can understand that. I mean, I just, uh, having to explain yourself. I mean, it's just kind of,

isn't it funny to think of golf as being a sort of overheated hot take space, you know, just like golf journalism. But that really is the exact conversation we would get into about a quarterback or, you know, a basketball player. It's just like, what? He thinks he doesn't owe anybody anything? Who do you think's paying it? It's a TV rates

deals or paying for his, paying his check. Like, who cares, man? He was pissed off. That's your, and of course, we all know the secret. I mean, the hidden truth, which is that us arguing about him on the air is the best thing you could have possibly done for the sport, right, to give us something to go on about.

Yeah. I mean, I'm trying to think of like Lamar Jackson after losing to the bills had blown off his postgame media availability. Well, I think there's some, I mean, there's other sports would be a lot more difficult to blow off your post game media availability, right? I mean, you were being led in there, you know, by the hand. And I'm just thought of him because I remember his. because there were a lot of people online defending him after the game.

You know, we get into this whole discourse about quarterbacks all the time, perhaps particularly Lamar Jackson. And he was out of his post game going, man, I blew it today. I wasn't as good as I wanted to be today, like answering those questions and saying those things. I think, I think so there's so many things here that are interesting. One is like, there is a long history of athletes just being like, I'm pissed off. I'm not talking today. Yeah.

I had a terrible day. I talked to you all the time, but not. not today. And that is generally forgiven. Yeah. By the press. Now, it'd be one thing if it were a major.

I think they would probably take a little bit harder. This was Bay Hills. This isn't the top tier tournament, but a big one. Yeah. I think it's what you said. It's that one sentence when you remove it from the paragraph, like I don't owe anyone anything.

Yeah. Because you know, retired golfers. older members of the golf media, you stand up on your high and legs as soon as you hear that. Wait a second. You don't owe anyone anything.

All these reporters who are coming and covering you all the time, this media apparatus has built you up and gotten you all these various endorsement deals, which you're making millions off of. You don't owe anyone anything. And the fact that he did come down

and double down on it afterwards. Not even just, say like, oh, that was some unfortunate wording. I mean, I'm one of these things where I'm like, I can, I will stand up every time for, look, you should answer questions after a loss. Mm-hmm. Because you're answering questions after a win. And the same reporters are there.

They don't care if you want or lost. They're going to show up and want to hear from you at your best moment and at your not best moment. Yes. So there is a certain, I don't know if it's a responsibility. or owing anyone anything. But if you're an athlete, like if he won that tournament,

he'd be sitting there talking to him forever. So why not give them a little bit when you lose? Well, that's why they have these policies in effect, right? Because it's, of course, you want to talk to them if you win and you should,

you know, we would like our players who are paying, who are earning vast sums of money to be talking to the media even when they lose. That said, one,

A, I think that more people should respond to criticism of things they've said by not, by basically saying, why don't you go back and read what I said or listen again to what I said, as opposed to just like letting them engaging in the back and forth. And two, I mean, listen, there's a piece of this and this is like, this is why people, and I use people, you know, in whatever loose way you want me, you want to take it. This is part of this for the journalists.

This is why people hate journalists, right? Because they're just like, well, I can understand why you're upset, but why are you upset with me? You know, like it's like as if you, you're just going to. be there asking questions that are so divorced from reality that like you're and you know that's that's the journalistic institution that people can rule the rise at and for the ex-players and stuff that are involved especially the talking heads i mean they're more listen they're getting paid directly you know by the by the by the you actually do owe me firmament right i mean they're like they're like that's that's that's that's signing those checks you know if you're a player you could be you can be you

you assume you would be a little bit more dismissive of it. I'm out there swinging my club. You know, like that's, that's, that's what's getting, that's, that's,

that's, that's bringing home the money. But yeah, I think that they should talk. I also just think that like, on the, like I've already said, like you said,

there's going to be times where you don't want to talk, you know, and there's going to be times where, I mean, and that becomes the story, like in this case, I think it becomes a better story. You know,

I mean, you have to complain about it to really like, make it, work, but come on. I mean, you know, imagine if the, I mean, I can't, what is that? Lamar Jackson is an interesting,

I mean, is a good point of reference, but like, I don't know, I mean, just think of all the things from our childhood. Remember the, like the Pistons walking off the floor famously during the Bulls playoff series? Like, imagine if they just walked straight and got in their cars and drove away. Like, yeah, that would be crazy, right? But it also was like, good, great material.

Like, that is an incredible story to tell. Yeah, this is much more boring than that than the bad boy Pistons being like, see ya. No quotes for the free press today after we lost to the Bulls. Brody Miller made two good points here. And again, your point about this is why people hate journalists, this really is because people are just like, why are you just, why are you hounding him at this terrible time in his life? Yeah. And you almost feel obliged to explain.

And Miller says this. one is that readers are the people who want to know what happened. If you're a golf fan, if you're a Moracawa fan, if you're a Ravens Lamar Jackson fan, shout out Brian Waters, you want to read that story. Yeah, of course. And hear what they had to say. And maybe it just turns into a big old bag of cliches and, you know, we were off today. That's going to say, you want to hear the, but actually what you want to hear the truth.

And you may not be, you probably won't be getting it. time like that. But regardless, that's what we're used to. Maybe a better way to say is you want someone to ask. Yeah, you do. You want someone to try to figure it out. Miller's second point is this. He says, when confronted about their setbacks, athletes often perceive criticism where none exist, failing to recognize that thoughtful reporters aim to illuminate these moments of vulnerability not to exploit them. Also, such a good point. If you went to Colin Morikawa and said, hey, you know those features

written about you after you won majors? Those are great. But these are the ones that will humanize you. The feature is written after you lost. They will make you more. Remember we're talking about Tom Brady announcing that Tom Brady was great at everything except seeming human. These are the things that will make you seem human. In the long run, this will all accrue to you.

It may be a pain in the ass to sit there for 10 or 15 minutes. Talk about why you lost. Yeah. Trust me, if you only care about self-image, There's no duty to the press, no, you know, we owe it to the sports writers who are out there week after week at every tournament. Don't give a crap about any of that. There is something accruing to you. Yeah.

Which you will seem like a human person. That is important. Yeah, I'm not sure if Tom Brady would have done anything different, though, is the thing? I mean, in the modern age, is there any, like that, I could not agree with you more. I don't know who that's professional athlete that's compelling to but hopefully I mean but maybe it would be compelling to Morric Howard. That's

that's yeah I just can't yeah I agree with you completely. I mean this is the things that we want to hear at the same time as a human being I can understand being in a terrible mood and not wanting to talk to anybody and we've all had bad days at work where like if there was a mandatory meeting

that might have been the end of our time our employment right? you know, because you're just like, I'm not walking in there. I'm not looking at anybody else in the face today. No. We have a shitty podcast. I would not like to give an interview afterwards. I'm going to be honest.

Just like to go eat a bunch of cheese and crackers and forget about it. All right, coming up in 30 seconds, David, there are massive changes happening at the New Yorker, by which I mean, website is no longer two words. But first, let's do the overworked Twitter joke of the week where we celebrate a gag. It was so obvious that all. All of media Twitter made it at exactly the same time. Send your nominees to at the press box pot on Twitter or Blue Sky, where they will always,

always be gratefully received. David, this joke, I believe originated as a CNBC Chiron. Uh-huh. Pointed out by none other than Stephen King, who's very online. I love that about Stephen King.

Mm-hmm. But nonetheless, it became an overwork Twitter joke. Elon Musk, as we mentioned, trying to chop away at the executive branch. Meanwhile, the stock market has gone down. Yeah. It was an overworked Twitter joke to call it

the Tesla chainsaw massacre. Also, there is helpful B-roll of Elon actually holding a chainsaw out in the world. Yes. That was from CPAC, right? That was right. It wasn't, yeah, I think he carries a chainsaw around in his trunk. Whenever he needs one for a prop, he has it.

Some people like having a chainsaw handy. Anyway, thanks to the count of Monte Grypto. If you think Terry Funk is rolling over in his grave right now, congrats. You made the overwork Twitter joke of the week. All right, in the notebook dump, we've got news from the New Yorker. Always enjoy some news from the New Yorker. Uh-huh.

David, you know when you're reading a sweeping narrative from a David Gran or Patrick Radden-Keefe, All of a sudden you tap the brakes and ask, wait, does the word traveler have two Ls in it? Well, according to the New Yorker's head of copy, Andrew Boynton, there's going to be some changes to New Yorker style, a reexamination, if you will. Oh, God. Now, in very New Yorker fashion, they had a group meeting to discuss these style changes. Unlike the ringer where Craig Gaines rules with an iron fist. Shish. You're lucky if you get a slack memo with that guy.

Along with other changes, inbox has been changed, David. Before it was in hyphen box. Now it's inbox. Yeah. Website was two words and web was capitalized. Yes. Now it's just website. Mm-hmm.

Capitalized Internet is now lowercase Internet at the New Yorker. I remember writing for Slate early in my career, and we capitalized Internet. Mm-hmm. Cell phone was two words. Now it's just cell phone. But the old New Yorker is not dead after 100 years. Teenager is still going to be hyphenated. Teenager.

It's an institution. Percent is still two words. pur and cent. That was always one of the ones that just blew my mind when reading a New Yorker story. Boynton writes, no one wanted to change some of the longstanding quirky styles. And the diaricist, David, will remain.

In fact, the word reexamination because of those two vowels together. You got a thingy on top, yeah. It included one. All right, what the New Yorker calls the Department of Amplification and the rest of was called corrections. We got these via listener and journalist Michael Moynihan.

Trump had his visit last week with the Irish leader who was in the Zelensky seat in the Oval Office. And reporter Brian Glenn, America's zaniest White House correspondent, asked this question. Ireland is known for very happy, fun-loving people, great attitude, many in this room right now that I've met.

Why in the world would you let Rosie O'Donnell Move to Ireland. I think she's going to lower your happiness level. What a moment for journalism. I did like the lead-up. Ireland is known for fun-loving people. Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody. Did we really need to butter up the Irish leader?

Oh, my God. Anyway, some corrections here. Sadly, this is Moynihan writing. Sadly, Tisha, I, I, I, pronounce the name of the Irish leader is Tisha. It is actually Tishuk. Okay. Tishuk.

And Mr. Martin's first name is pronounced Mihal. That is the Irish. I had said Michael Martin, but Mihal Martin. I also asked Joel last week, when do you think the last time the Irish leader consumed Rosie O'Donnell content?

Like, where was he in the cultural matrix when he was thinking about how to answer that question. What? Yeah. Where was your last, Rosie O'Donnell content, Brian? I know mine.

Twitter? Oh, I don't even know if I just know it was yours. Just curb your enthusiasm rerun. There's going back. Okay. This is, but it's been a while.

Moynihan writes, I'm confident Rosie O.D. has not insorcelled only in journalism. Mr. Martin says sleepless in Seattle. anyway, thank you so much for working all that in there. I hope I can thank you in person one of these days for that.

Listener, Chris or whatever on Blue Sky also sent this in. It says, It dawned on me. Trump and J.D. Vance are simply hosting a video podcast with Brian Glenn as the on-mic producer lobbing up prompts set up and support the hosts. It does feel like the Howard Stern show, became a model for just everything.

Yeah. First it became a model for every podcast. We're like, oh, let's bring on the crazy producer. What do you got? You know, let's bring on Gary Delabate. Here we go. But now it is actually spread to the White House press conference or the White House media availability as well.

That's great. We're just getting closer to the 24-7 live broadcast of the Oval Office. I'm all about it. So I'm only in journalism before we go. These are words you read all the time in news stories. but never actually hear in human speech. Trump delivered a bellicose speech at the Department of Justice last week.

Thanks to Train Angi for that one. Rob Pollard sends us a great one, lambased. Yeah, yeah. Lambast? Is it lambased? Ooh, lambast? What do you say? I would always say lambast, but again, it's not one you really hear in the wild that much. I was going to say, never out of human mouths just on the page.

and Art Minor found this one in a master's golf preview. Tiger Woods caged a club from his father. Oh, my God. Caged. That is a fantastic. I'm pretty sure I've used that one only because I've seen it in other stories. All right.

It's time for a feature that cages only from the best of them. It's time for David Shoemaker. Guess is this headline. Yeah. Monday's headline about those. annoying hotel fees in Sin City was fee and loathing in Las Vegas. Yeah. I mean, listen, there's no end to the fear and loathing ripoff headlines that you

could do, it seems, but that's a good one. David, did you follow Steph Curry hitting his 4,000th three-pointer in the NBA? I saw that he did, yeah. Very exciting. Well, today's headline is about that. It comes to us from the great sports writer Ivan Maisel. it's from the San Francisco Chronicle, Chronicle not only noting the 4003-pointer,

but you could say, David, Steph Curry made the three-pointer cool. What was the San Francisco Chronicles strained-pun headline? I immediately am going to cotton 4K because of the 4,000 thing, but I'm thinking that doesn't fit with what you said. How about... Yeah, that's a good one. Trey...

Oh, you're right. you're right there. Trey cool. Is that it? Isn't that a person? Trey. Trey, oh, Tray Sheik. Trey Sheik.

Yeah. Curry's long arc to 4,000. Very nice work by everybody involved there. He is David Shoemaker. I'm Brian Curtis, but I can see magic. By Jesse Lopez. Thank you, Jesse.

Joel's going to be here Thursday. And then, David, I'm going on a vacation. Hell yeah. I'm taking my family on a road trip across the American Southwest. Wow. What are you going to hit Santa Fe, Albuquerque? Flagstaff.

The four corners. Is that the southwest? The four corners is the southwest, yeah. Do you ever take that picture when you were a kid? No, I never went. We were talking about going this summer, to be honest with you. But I don't really know what you do there. Is there like a nice foot, foot, arm, arm, and then take the picture. That is the four corners. I guess you could do more, but I think that's what most people do. There's been a kid request to go to the four corners.

We're going to see if that gets fulfilled. But, you know, Grand Canyon, Bryce Zion, St. George, Utah. Yeah. Just an old-fashioned family vacation. But here's what's going to happen on the press box. We will have full press box programming. We're going to have a few pre-recorded things on Mondays. Joel is going to be holding you on Thursday.

So there's a very special guess, which will be announced by him, I suppose, at some later point. And you, Shoemaker, I'll talk to you in a couple weeks. and we will have more lukewarm takes about the meeting. See you then, David. See you later, bye.