Are You Not Entertained?

Roger Mitchell: In this episode of The Confessional, Roger Mitchell sits down with Tal Brown — Israeli-born Silicon Valley AI entrepreneur, former army intelligence tech architect, and the man behind Zone7’s groundbreaking injury-prediction platform — for a deeply human conversation about integrity, sacrifice, and what it costs to chase your ambitions across continents. A true “third culture kid,” Tal reflects on leaving family behind to go build in the Bay Area, and the reality of being an Israeli and a Jew in 2026. Tal (and Roger) also reflect on selling B2B sportech into a sector that often doesn’t actually have the desire to change. This alone is essential listening  for all those hoping to make a career in sport innovation. Raw, honest, principled, and quietly philosophical — this one stays with you. Brought to you by Lockroom.

Grant and Roger christen Roger’s new den, then use Grant’s Roadrunner “Genius Act” newsletter and his eerily on‑point drones piece to link cartoons, stablecoins and modern warfare.  From NIL and the slow death of college sports to 18‑mile “marathons,” cooling breaks, Club World Cup bloat and sanitized Premier League crowds, they argue sport is being rebuilt for fair‑weather customers while Germany quietly proves there’s a better way. Brought to you by PEDL Labs.

Grant and Roger open with a heartfelt tribute to Matty Cutler, the quietly brilliant sports‑biz pioneer who helped spark this whole project. From there they dive into shadow banking and private equity creeping through sport’s finances, before landing on the U.S. Olympic hockey furore, media echo chambers, DEI rollbacks and a brutally honest question: has multicultural “integration” actually worked, or is sport just the latest battlefield in a culture war nobody’s winning? Brought to you by PEDL Labs.

In this episode of The Confessional, Roger Mitchell sits down with Caroline Rowland – one of sport’s most decorated storytellers and the creative force behind New Moon, and now archive disruptor Egoli – for a conversation about ambition, cost, and conscience. Caroline reflects on the toll of her perfectionism on colleagues and family, why asking forgiveness of yourself can be the hardest step, and what it feels like to push a team to do “the impossible” while wondering if the price was fair. She opens up about being undermined and dismissed in the venture capital world, how much harder the game can be for female founders, and the heavy responsibility she feels to every shareholder who backed her vision. It’s a deep dive into standards, sacrifice, and what integrity looks like when the business plan doesn’t go to script. Brought to you by PEDL Labs.

Grant and Roger tackle declining NBA appeal and fractured sports media rights at breakneck speed. But the real meat: Why are we tanking fan engagement everywhere? VAR theatre, empty stadiums, ticket chaos, polarized discourse—all while missing the actual product. F1 drivers in revolt and Chelsea chant blowups creating the Streisand Effect. Then the Olympics hit different: women dominate (Brida, the skiers, curling drama with the Canadians), but one catastrophically unqualified Italian commentator reminds us that merit’s dead. And traffic betting—because why not? Short version: sport’s eating itself. Brought to you by PEDL Labs.

Grant and Roger return with Roger in peak “miserable old bastard” form, tearing into Elon Musk’s latest stunt, a so‑called 10‑sigma gold crash, and Djokovic’s absurd epic over Sinner. From gimmick “sports” like bull poker and car‑jitsu to the very real quality of women’s volleyball in Italy, they ask what’s authentic, what’s trash, and whether Gen Z will ever care about real sport. Brought to you by PEDL Labs

Grant and Roger kick off 2026 in chaos—Brooks returns to the PGA, Bryson demands are eye watering, and the golf majors are now the only game that matters. Football’s imploding: VAR’s still broken, Chelsea’s new manager’s already doomed, Tottenham can’t stop losing, and the MCO’s circling the drain. Scottish football hires a charity worker, tennis gets weird, Luke Littler turns heel, and Walter Payton breaks hearts. Classic GOG: here for the madness. Brought to you by PEDL Labs

Grant and Roger wrap the year. Festive cheer giving way to grim reality checks on sport’s grift economy. Goals celebrate Lindsey Vonn, Max Verstappen, Rory McIlroy, Thierry Henry, and Kate Abdo; Own Goals hammer FIFA, Messi, Tether’s Juventus bid, and WNBA absurdities. It all peaks in a candid clash over Roger’s tough-love Confessional with Eddie Pepperell. Classic GOG: witty, worried, waving goodbye to 2025’s madness. Brought to you by PEDL Labs

In this episode of The Confessional, Roger Mitchell sits down with Eddie Pepperell, one of golf’s most thoughtful and unconventional voices, for a searching and challenging conversation about the game, and his own motivations within it. Both Roger and Eddie are known for speaking the truth without filter, and this comes out fully in what is a remarkable conversation, that will for sure polarise opinions. Sponsored by PEDL Labs

Roger checks in from his childhood bedroom in Glasgow, bacon roll on standby, as he and Grant rattle through a packed slate of goals and own goals from darts, golf, football and cricket. All of it wrapped in classic GOG fashion: sharp, funny, grumpy, and quietly worried about what modern sport is turning into. Brought to you by Pedl Labs.