BBCollective

Mastering the Greens: A Lone Star's Dynasty

Take a journey back in time with this vintage episode from the vault, as the Bill Bradley Collective delves into a wide range of topics that continue to resonate today. Join us as we explore pressing issues such as Global Warming, Donald Trump, the pay gap in US Women's Soccer, and cheating in Major League Baseball.

903-Rising Stars in SnP

ESPN Layoffs

901-The Kennedys

Rantapalooza VI

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LIV & Let Die

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Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts seek to define what constitutes an “every-man” (or -woman) and then examine some notable examples of these every-day folk both in sports and in politics. Club professional Michael Block recently captivated the golf world with his 15th-place finish at the PGA Championship, remarkably outplaying most of the game’s elite. His week and common-man bonafides are discussed, as well as the the back stories of a pair of notably ideologically opposed young congresswoman, a controversial figure skating champion from famously humble beginnings, and a similarly underdog boxer who found fame and success against improbable odds. But first, we rant: as Ed takes on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ sorry capitulation to Christian interest groups in the wake of a Pride Night celebration; Zak surveys what’s left of the DeSantis 2024 Presidential campaign following a troubled and largely pathetic running announcement all too reflective of the Florida governor’s future political capital; and finally Andrew reflects on the week that was for now five-time major champion Brooks Koepka and what comes next for the LIV signee who once again found himself moonlighting as perhaps golf’s foremost active alpha-dog.                                                                           Title: Welcome to the Block Party: Everyday People in Sports and Politics

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Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week we reflect on a week in the courtroom across the country, and three significant decisions involving the presumptive Republican nominee for President in 2024, a junior New York Congressional representative amidst his ongoing biographical and professional roller coaster, and a former collegiate “punt-God” drafted and shortly thereafter released following an alarming accusation of abhorrent personal conduct. In order: Donald J. Trump found liable for the sexual abuse and defamation of journalist E. Jean Carroll; “George Santos” indicted under *thirteen* different counts; finally Matt Araiza will controversially not be served criminal charges regarding his alleged involvement in the gang rape of a 17-year-old girl. We break down the legal-ese of these decisions, and the broader picture of what these rulings mean right now and moving forward for all three parties. But first the rants are ‘a-coming; where Ed shines a critical light on the conservative right’s continued assault on female autonomy with a glimpse into efforts in Texas to end no-fault divorce; Andrew calls bullshit on St. John’s University and their attempt to defame an ex-coach on grounds based in ageism and cultural deficiency while simultaneously hiring an older and far more morally cretinous successor; and Zak leads us into the main topic with a critical but understanding eye with regards to CNN’s dalliance with the aforementioned Trump: a case not-quite-for a New Hampshire town hall/television ratings bonanza criticized for granting exposure, but argued in favor of taking   the typical CNN viewer out of their accustomed left-center echo chamber, amidst an admitted myriad of lies and falsehoods.

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts highlight some of the best of the rest in rivalries across sports and politics. This season at the top of every month we’ve gone long on the best rivalries across both sports and politics, and as rivalries are the lifeblood of sports and a heated, spirited discourse drive the best (and perhaps worst) of our politics, there are frankly too many left un-discussed. Contained within: the NFL’s longest, most storied story of contention; a four-year NBA-tilt from the 20th century reinvigorated in this postseason cycle; podium disagreements involving the presidential and punditry; a legendary modern sweet science quadrilogy and a back-page squabble pitting columnist versus Hall of Fame ace. Six great stories, six great rivalries falling just short of episodic contention recounted, this week. All of that, plus another trilogy of rants: Ed sings the “Deacon Blues,” where they’ve got a name for the winners in the world, and it’s not the moral high ground of athletic programs at the University of Alabama, aka the Crimson Tide; Andrew lays a skeptic eye on boxing’s latest young star with a look to his potential and a nod to his troubled history; and finally Zak champions the actions of Zooey Zephyr, and the significance of elected officials of minority color, sexuality and identity in this country under siege by LGBTQ-phobia.

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where it is the first Tuesday in May and that means one thing (no, not the tired *NSYNC meme), its rivalry week and In this installment we present the saga of Al Davis and Pete Rozelle. Quite possibly the most significant off-field feud in NFL history, Rozelle and Davis are two of the architects of the National Football League behemoth as we know it, but never did these two contrasting visionaries work well in concert with one another. Join us as we start at the beginning, as Rozelle rises to NFL commissionership at a young age as both his league and American professional football are about to grab a lion share of the sports marketplace. Davis enters the fray as a pivotal figure in the upstart AFL, as both league commissioner and later owner of the Oakland Raiders. The two rival leagues merge in 1970 due in large part to their individual efforts, but the contention stayed live and well. The 1970s and 80s brought it to a fever pitch, where our protagonists spent plenty of time on opposing sides of the courtroom, over both Davis’ Raider players and the renegade owner’s desire to relocate the franchise from Oakland to Los Angeles in a famed anti-trust case. All the backstory, detail and legacy: it’s Al Davis v. Pete Rozelle, this week on the Bill Bradley Collective.

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week in light of recent news we revisit the seemingly evergreen news cycle encircling the American debt ceiling. In a prior episode we set out to define what exactly in the fuck constitutes the “debt ceiling,” and this week we take it even further with an examination of how legislative threats and weaponization of the debt ceiling have affected our fiscal politics across recent Presidential administrations. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy decreed this week that any negotiations with regard to the debt ceiling would be met with GOP-sanctioned rebuke of certain keystone elements of Biden-regime economic policy. Join us this week with a look at how we got here with the “ceiling” and how coverage and exploitation of our national debt has evolved over our recent political timeline. But first comes a rant or three, where Zak forecasts some early but likely prescient 2024 electoral prognostications with a dismissal of the Florida GOP’s once-upon-a-time golden boy, head-scratching at the latest Kennedy family entrant and some kinda-, sorta- optimism for a gemstone endorsing Biden primary rival; Andrew makes the case for the potential end of the NBA’s latest (and as of now still chugging) dynasty with some shade for one of their pillar’s latest bit of mercurial on-court conduct; and Ed details the continued red-state effort opposed to the participatory rights of trans-athletes in high school and intercollegiate competition.

 Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts examine the fallout following a U.S. District Court decision in Texas suspending FDA approval of abortion drug mifepristone. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision is the latest in a recent series of attempts by conservative legislators and heads of court to not simply restrict but to eradicate any and all abortion rights afforded American women. Mifepristone, used to bring about abortion and manage early miscarriage, has since the year 2000 stood up to rigorous vetting by the Food and Drug Administration. Its suspension of approval has drawn massive rebuke from not just abortion rights groups, but the scientific and medical communities at large. Join us this week as the Collective examines how it is we got to this point, the expected response of the Supreme Court, and just how significant the consequences of federal court appointments really are. But first, some somewhat lighter listening with a three-ball of rants headed directly for the corner pocket: where Ed details the thunderous whimper emanating from Dallas following the pitiful conclusion to a Mavs’ season where both their present and future combusted following the acquisition of Kyrie Irving; Andrew observes the 25th anniversary of a famed Spike Lee joint that carried a fair bit of prescience with regard to the future of collegiate sports and recruiting, and Zak foreshadows some of this week’s main discussion with a look at the potentially irrevocable damage being done to the Biden agenda surrounding Dianne Feinstein’s continued (lack of) presence on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where with the NFL Draft merely a couple of weeks ago and the free agency period wading in the deep end of the pool, your hosts examine the very relationship at hand: that between what constitutes “free agency” and the labor movement, at large. The curious cases of QB’s Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson take centerstage, but the conversation dives deeper into the factors that have made this offseason in particular markedly more owner/franchise-friendly than beneficial to the league’s rank-and-file union member. But first a rant or three: where Zak plays Cronkite and runs through the week in another horrifying (if you’re not a conscienceless right-wing ghoul) in this week’s news cycle with special attention paid to the inhumanity being afforded both trans-gender teens and anti-gun state legislators by conservative government constituencies; Andrew takes a victory lap upon UConn men’s basketball’s 5th national title and the young men, coach and conference that made it possible; and finally Ed submits the triangulations of one of perhaps this country’s eldest, most corrupt and certainly most interminable under our Constitution’s bylaws conservative idealogues. Just another jam-packed week here on the Bill Bradley Collective. Title

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where it is rivalry week, and with baseball back in action what better athletic struggle of epic proportion to profile than that between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. Likely the most visible rivalry professional sports has to offer and one with it’s geographic profile at the center of the BBCollective Universe, Sox/Yanks is more than a century old with hostilities perhaps hitting their peak within the last twenty years. The sale of a guy named Ruth from Boston to New York altered the baseball narrative for the next 100 years plus. Four Boston early 20th-century championships gave way to 85 years of subsequent Yankee dominance. But along came 2004, where the Sox staged the greatest comeback in the history of postseason sport and set the stage for a run that made them MLB’s most successful to now 21st century franchise. You know the players. Williams/DiMaggio. Fisk/Munson. Yaz/Reggie. Jeter/Ortiz. You know the fights. Spaceman/Nettles. Zimmer/Pedro. A-Rod/Varitek. You know the personalities. Clemens and Schilling. Rivera and Buckner. Martin and Francona. This week, you get a Collective cross-examination of the Boston Red Sox/New York Yankees rivalry through estimations of their greatest players, greatest games, and their vast economic advantages over much of baseball in the modern era. “Yankees Suck, “Boston Sucks,” this week, on the Bill Bradley Collective. 

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Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where March Madness has arrived and this week your hosts set out to forecast the future of the college basketball. With the transfer portal humming and student athletes’ taking advantage of fifth-year eligibility, the sport as a whole hit some historic statistical benchmarks amidst great parody and competitive balance. All is not so bullish as it pertains to the future though. Despite the arrival of NIL and athletes finally able to legally profit off themselves, the emergence of the G-League as an alternative to college for elite high school recruits, the inevitable downsides of power conference expansion and re-alignment, and the potential havoc these factors may wreak upon the on-court college basketball product are all signs of a sport in a state of serious flux. But first, let there be rants: where Zak reviews another week in behavioral dereliction with the presumptive loser of the 2024 GOP Presidential primary Ron DeSantis; Ed presents Dr. Aaron Donald Rodgers or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace My New Asshole Quarterback; and finally Andrew chastises Hollywood’s celebration of amoral billionaire sneaker mavens in light of Ben Affleck’s forthcoming Phil Knight/Sonny Vaccaro biopic.