House of Strauss

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comSpike Eskin got into it with Sopan Deb of the New York Times and became a character in my article on UBS blaming the NBA for Nike woes. We podcasted about this subject, Diana Russini resigning from the Athletic, and the playoff outcome that would best help the NBA. Topics! Include!* NBA popularity decline: Discussing why Finals viewership is the real NBA popularity indicator, and UBS report linking it to Nike’s struggles.* Sopan Deb’s tweet skepticism: Critique of the NYT writer’s demand for “concrete evidence” of crisis despite revenue claims, arguing data like ratings won’t sway entrenched views.* Load management and 65-game rule defense* Star power deficit: Casual fans name only aging stars (LeBron, Steph); current top players lack youth appeal or relatability, hurting Nike sales and broad interest.* Media defensiveness/politics: NBA coverage mirrors politics—denial of decline tied to anti-conservative pushback; OutKick overstates “woke” label post-2020.* Playoff hopes: Spurs-Thunder rivalry, Luka redemption arc, or Wemby breakout could help, but his height/French persona limits mass appeal vs. relatable stars.* Diana Russini scandal: Defending her reporting skill (e.g., accurate AJ Brown rumors matched by Schefter/Rapoport) amid Vrabel photos; industry favors relationships, not just ethics.* Donate to Spike’s great cause: The 2026 Walk for Paws

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comOur guy Tom Haberstroh is here to discuss an article of his that sent shockwaves throughout the NBA. What’s going on with this “alarming data” that suggests stars are increasingly prone to miss national TV games? We talk about that and much more. Topics! Include!* Record star injuries explode with 1,400+ games missed (up from 892 two years ago); stars like Lillard, Hal…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comThe greatest sports media podcast in all the land returns as Ryan and I get into some NBA heavy chatter, with a side of Roger Goodell’s Rooney rule defense. Enjoy!Topics include but aren’t limited to…* LeBron James’ likability in a golf video with Bob Does Sports and potential post-retirement renaissance.* Luka Dončić’s MVP case, improved conditioning, defense critiques, and discourse around Rachel Nichols.* Evolution of NBA MVP criteria from team success to individual stats, referencing Westbrook and Jokić.* Jaden Ivey’s release by the Chicago Bulls after erratic live streams criticizing NBA Pride events.* Conservative misinterpretations of NBA “wokeness” on Pride Month and player deference in the league.* Rising manic episodes among athletes on social media, linked to meds, weed, porn, and live streaming.* Puka Nacua’s rehab stint, potentially anti-Semitic remarks, and his elite performance despite issues.* Roger Goodell’s defense of the NFL’s Rooney Rule amid Florida AG’s legality challenge under Trump admin.* LeBron’s blunt quote dismissing playing for the Memphis Grizzlies and debates on small-market NBA viability.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comKyle Porter from Normal Sport is a thoughtful commentator who thinks about a lot more than just the sport he covers. So I wanted to press him on this topic, plus a few others: Is golf, with the PGA Tour now led by a former NFL exec, about to truly take off and conquer the culture? We get into the sport’s eccentricities and current moment. Topics include…* Post-Tiger Woods stars: Debate on who has “juice” in golf, including Scottie Scheffler’s dominance, recent struggles, and potential as the next face of the sport.* Golf’s niche status: Analysis of golf remaining mostly niche amid declining monoculture, contrasted with strong participation growth post-COVID and viewer overlap with players.* NBA-golf parallels: Connections between waning NBA regular season interest and rising personal golf fandom, including entrepreneurial YouTube golf content.* Family and aging into golf: How mid-life dads (around age 40) increasingly play golf with kids due to modern parenting trends, unlike past generations.* Player personalities: Comparisons of “boring” narratives around Scheffler, Rickie Fowler, Steph Curry, and Mike Trout; Scheffler’s media interactions and focus.* Golf’s watchability: Why golf suits casual viewing (especially with kids), constant action without stoppages, and unique moments like shots hitting birds.* Broadcasting challenges: Importance of shot selection, pace (e.g., pitch clock analogies), and simplifying stats like strokes gained for fans.* Skill breakdowns: Tiger Woods’ elite iron play and lag putting; Scheffler’s mid-round adjustments, course discipline, and avoiding risky shots.* Equipment and distance: Debates on tech advances (e.g., TrackMan aiding young players like Spieth), gear’s role in driving distance, and need for pro-level limits.* Rory McIlroy’s appeal: His humanity, vulnerability, and post-Masters career arc as the most relatable superstar, with older players sustaining power.

Some of you have asked where I am on politics these days, so my best friend and occasional main antagonist decided to objectively gauge it. In this episode, Matt and I go through every question of the famous Political Compass Test, reasoning out where we fall on the spectrum. Will WOKE MATT pull me towards his way of thinking? Listen and find out. For a taste of the questions we’re answering, see below: House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Thanks for reading House of Strauss! This post is public so feel free to share it. 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comOur man Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports is here to discuss how Ross Barkan and others are joining his MLB > NBA bandwagon. Is it true? What are the numbers to support the idea that MLB has surpassed the NBA? Topics! Include!* World Baseball Classic Buzz: Is our media rooting against us?* Rob Manfred’s Reforms* One fascinating theory on why March Madness is fading from culture* Why did the PGA Tour outlast Liv Golf?* The strange bedfellows in Iran War media coverage* JD Vance getting surpassed by Marco Rubio as next president on Kalshi?

I visited the friendly confines of Basketball Illuminati, only to be at a severe rhetorical disadvantage versus Amin Elhassan. He was strongly anti Luke Kornet’s criticism of now cancelled Magic City Night, and argued that case with energy. I was more understanding of Kornet’s position, but wasn’t inclined to vigorously defend it. Still a great talk that included, but wasn’t limited to, Adrian Wojnarowski’s troubles in college basketball, and Pablo Torre vs. Adam Silver. Enjoy!House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comIt’s a convoluted world out there and I trust Stratechery’s Andrew Sharp to help us navigate it. In this podcast we humble former NBA media types dared entered the fraught topics of Anthropic vs. Trump, world affairs, reason for America’s Israel alliance, the Iran war, and always, fixing the NBA. Enjoy!

This audio article is up. Happy Friday, folks. House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comAuthor, filmmaker and ardent basketball fan Sherman Alexie joins me to discuss one of my favorite topics: The 1990s. Though, to be honest, we stray from that subject and get into others subjects of interest. Such as! * Rob Mahoney thinks “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is bad. Fair?* Smells Like Teen Spirit changed everything* What was the last great movie?* Why, exactly, Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red White and Blue” became a hit again two decades later* The cognitive dissonance for White Liberals seeing people who look and talk like them having different politics* McDonald’s as blue collar space* Sherman could plausibly be from half the world* I’m mesmerized by how different the Canadians are* Sports media’s been socially pressured into softness* The laudable grandiosity of Timothée Chalamet* The theory behind YouTube athletic stars * Is more fictional content political or are we just more sensitive to political messages?* Who are the ALL TIME “Pretendian” actors

Mike Pesca wrote a fine piece for the Free Press on how oddly not controversial the supposedly very controversial Eileen Gu is. She’s from the United States, but competes for China, and yet receives…mostly glowing mainstream American coverage? What’s with that? And beyond Gu, what’s the elite American consensus on China? But before the topics are introduced…Per the new Substack/Polymarket partnership, I’m posting an Eileen Gu involved competition. As someone incapable of accurately pricing Winter Olympics events, I’m interested in whether bettors reflect Gu’s true odds for winning the Ski Halfpipe. As of this writing, Polymarket has her favored to triumph. Fame halo effect, or accurate probability? And onto the Pesca pod topics…* Would we bet that Chuck Klosterman has a secret North Dakota accent?* Eileen Gu is certainly beautiful, but does she also look a little terrifying? * Is the lack of elite anger towards China rooted in corporate considerations?* America is less patriotic now, especially among the young. Bad thing?* Is the United States the best country?* Per the Jeremy Carl congressional dustup, is there such a thing as White American culture? * Stuffwhitepeoplelike was a great website* Is there such a thing as a “white guy basketball assist”? * Is it plausible that Spike Lee’s All-Star Game Palestine outfit had nothing to do with Deni Avdija? House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comThis pod was so hot, so provocative, that our man Ryan Glasspiegel was worried about career consequences. Personally, I believe we were just being reasonable about potentially fraught topics, such as…* Not everyone loved Ryan’s reporting on the viewership drop during Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance * Was the bigNBC viewership falloff another “Bud Light” style boycott, or simply lack of American median fan connection with the artist? * Who SHOULD the halftime show artist be next Super Bowl?* More people are criticizing Adam Silver these days* A solution to the NBA All-Star game* A solution to NBA tanking* Artists are dropping Casey Wasserman due to Epstein files revelations. But what’s the specific allegation against him? * I think there’s less to the Epstein story than Ryan thinks

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comFirst of all, congratulations to our SportsPredict Super Bowl winners SFZevi, Nathan Shea and Peter V. I had fun competing against all of you this NFL season, even though I reliably fell short of prize territory. But before we completely say goodbye to football, I present this look back at the game/season with John Middlekauff, absolute contest BEAST for The Volume network. Of course, we got off topic into issues of interest, as tends to happen. Subjects include!* How much is Michael MacDonald worth on the open market?* Why are NFL coaches paid so low relative to impact? * Why does nepotism work better in the NFL than the NBA?* Should NBA GMs make more than NBA coaches? * James Pearce Jr., coming off a 10.5 sack rookie season for the Atlanta Falcons, has been arrested and the details are horrific. How would you assess the pick and process if you’re the new GM of the team?* NFL media seems happier than NBA media. Why?* Is the NBA past its peak? * John’s boss Colin Cowherd famously warned against hiring golfers. Does golf nut Middlekauff still find time to play rounds? * Can Scottie Scheffler reach a higher echelon of fame?* Why are pitchers better than hitters at golf?* Is there a big market to watch non golf athletes compete playing golf?

As I told Chuck Klosterman, I planned to do a pod on his Football book with non sports fan Rob Henderson. So what did our favorite sports agnostic intellectual think of such a deep dive into America’s favorite game? Topics! Include!* When one’s job is a bigger marker of identity than one’s race* Is the NFL a more positive racial story than what gets relayed in media?* Why did conservative media know football was coming back during Covid?* Most retired NFL players have painful daily injuries. Most of the injured have no regrets* How does NFL culture deal with certain positions being higher/lower Wonderlic?* Libs are fine with young women doing Only Fans; Cons are fine with young NFL players damaging their brains* Rob Henderson is fascinated by the gender implications of how the WNBA reacted to Caitlin Clark* Why are NBA teammates rarely friends?* Rob is interested in why soccer is an elite sport in America but working class sport elsewhere* Rob and I both loved one particular passage in Klosterman’s book about how his dad reacted to Doug Flutie’s miracle play 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

I highly recommend Football, Chuck Klosterman’s latest book. In this podcast, we discuss his trenchant and personal exploration of the sport, along with the following topics…* Are we primarily writers or podcasters?* Many believe that young people are correct about the future, but few think they were smarter as young people* Will opinions change less often now that we are publicly anchored to opinions?* Would Chuck lie if his privacy was violated to procure damning information?* Why do we want coaches to be scary assholes? * Chuck asks me if I scream at my kids* Why Mike Holmgren screamed at Andy Reid* The media driven ego battle between Bill Belichick and Tom Brady* Why television dominates our sports memories for games we saw in person* Do we want football to stay American?* Has history forgotten Roger Staubach?* Chuck has been a closeted Dallas Cowboys fanHouse of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comGreat conversation with Mike Pesca in which I, unfortunately, regressed to my old ways of pronouncing Chuck Klosterman’s name incorrectly. This is possibly our most controversial and free associative podcast yet. * Was Alec Baldwin’s best Trump imitation actually Jack Donaghy?* “Seinfeld sucks and isn’t funny”?* Mike disagrees with certain Minnesota ICE takes from my podcast with Kat Rosenfield * Berkeley made me biased against protestors* We discuss Brian Phillips’ belief that Trump era chaos is all a devious strategy* The oddness of initially not knowing whether the 2nd Alex Pretti video was AI* Should the new Pretti vs. police video have any influence on how one feels about the possibly unrelated deadly encounter 11 days later? * We aren’t conquering Canada and also, adding Alberta would look so stupid on the map* Mike weighs in on whether the NFL should All 22 itself* Most people agree that a man’s morality shouldn’t influence his NFL Hall of Fame case, but nobody will make the Hall of Fame case for serial rapist Darren Sharper* Is Robert Saleh good or just good at playing the media game?

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comKat Rosenfield has, as she often does, written brilliantly of late. I especially enjoyed her nuanced takes on the Minnesota shootings. We discussed intrusive thoughts on recent political events, millennials seeking meaning, the adultery based cancellation of Jay Asher, and whether James Franco was morally wrong to LARP as a college student so as to pick up college women. A great pod imo.

The House of Strauss SportsPredict playoff contest continues, so make some picks for this weekend. For the championship round, the prize is a $500 DICK’S gift certificate, plus, of course, bragging rights. So join in.In this episode our friend Tyler Dunne from Go Long is here to discuss NFL. We also get a Glasspiegel cameo at the start of this episode which is, admittedly, HEAVY FOOTBALL. Topics!* Why was the Sean McDermott firing controversial?* Why did Ryan Glasspiegel want Matt LeFleur FIRED?* Are young defensive coaches the next wave? * Tyler’s take on that whole Jaguars journalism controversy * Is football great because it’s hidden from us?House of Strauss is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comFirst, congratulations to Kevin Turner for winning NFL Playoffs Week 1 of our Sports Predict contest. He receives a $250 Ticketmaster prize, and I have it on good authority that there’s more money to be won (by Kevin or whoever) this week. I’d encourage all of you to join for the Divisional Round and beyond, given that the contest is free of charge and it’s a lot of fun. This podcast was initiated by our man Tom Haberstroh breaking a story on a drastic dive in NBA offense, attributed by many in the league to a sudden secret shift in referee practice. What’s going on with this? Why is it happening?Many a great topic in this discussion, such as: * Is Rich Paul correct to lobby for Austin Reaves getting traded? * Is it close minded to say an out of shape Luka can’t be the best player on a title team? * Is it crazy to consider dealing Luka instead of Reaves?* Is Deni Avdija getting unfairly accused of being a foul grifter?* My dislike of the great (and necessary) Victor Wembanyama* Is a substation is getting 49ers injured. Enjoy!

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.houseofstrauss.comI spent much of Monday listening to Spike on the WIP livestream as Philly digested the Eagles playoff loss to the 49ers. What I encountered did not necessarily fit Philadelphia’s reputation for brutality but it did validate its stereotype for sports passion. I was spellbound and needed to converse with Mr. Eskin. In this pod, Spike Eskin and I discuss the Eagles disaster, head coach Nick Sirianni as Tim Robinson character, the media controversy stemming from that nice Jacksonville reporter’s question of Liam Coen, and, of course, LeBron James’ commemorative 23 jersey patch. Enjoy!