ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy and a sports media roundtable with Kavitha Davidson of The Athletic and Chad Finn of The Boston Globe

Episode 163 of the Sports Media Podcast features three guests. First up is Jeff Van Gundy, the lead NBA analyst for ESPN and ABC’s NBA game coverage. He is followed by a media roundtable with Kavitha Davidson, a sports and culture writer for The Athletic and the host of Culture Calculus podcast, and Chad Finn, the sports media writer and columnist for the Boston Globe. In this podcast Van Gundy discusses how he prepares for an upcoming season; why he thinks he has lasted in broadcasting as long as he has;  if having money in the bank gives you freedom to say things; his reaction to Kyrie Irving not playing or practicing with the Nets until he is eligible to be a full participant; his thoughts on players doing their own vaccination research; whether the Raptors can attract transcendent free agents; how forthcoming he finds coaches in pregame production meeting; why the NBA hates when you criticize referees  and much more.

Davidson and Finn discuss Jon Gruden resigning as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders following reports that emails he wrote over a 10-year period included racist, misogynistic and anti-gay language; what ESPN’s responsibility is here if any; what’s next with the reporting of this story; NFL’s national viewership and why the numbers are up in 2021; the idea of momentum scheduling by the league; the connection between quarterbacks and viewership; Sage Steele being taken off ESPN’s airwaves; what the future holds for Steele at ESPN; how we think ESPN and Turner Sports will do with the NHL; what Wayne Gretzky might be as a studio analyst for Turner;  who should be the future play by play broadcaster for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball; why Alex Rodriguez is much better served as a studio analyst and much more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify and more.

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