My Favorite Sports Podcasts.

I was planning to start my trip review, but I discovered that I left my notes on my tablet, so that will be slightly delayed.

I also started work on a new version of a post that I wrote a few years ago-Fights that I'd like to see, but I'm doing a little of that at a time, so I'll have that in the future on a slow day.

Instead, what I'm going to offer today is a list of sports podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis and perhaps one or more of them might entice you to give them a try.
I'll have a non-sports list sometime soon.
I listen to podcasts more of late than I had in the past after purchasing an IPad and I find that I really enjoy the return of radio, albeit in a specialized form.
I'm not connecting any links since I'm sure that not everyone uses the same podcasting provider.
I miss doing Fightheads and I'm hoping that Ramon Malpica will consider returning in some form eventually, but besides our podcast, here are a few of my favorites in no particular order.

Let's start with my favorite boxing podcast with Steve Kim's Three Knockdown Rule that he hosts with Mario Lopez of Saved by the Bell fame.
It's a fun podcast that sticks mostly to the fight game, yet is willing to drift off into anything that might strike Steve and Mario at any moment.
It's clearly my favorite boxing podcast and since I'm not around for your listening pleasure at the moment, give Three Knockdown Rule a listen.

In the world of wrestling, Jim Cornette's Drive-Thru and Cornette Experience are must listens.
The Drive-Thru sticks more to old school wrestling (which is the only kind I want to hear about), while the Experience is more wide-ranging with plenty of wrestling too.
If you are offended by strong language or have a great affection for President Trump, you might want to think about passing on the Experience, but if not- get ready for plenty of laughs and lots of great memories!

Another wrestling podcast is Scott Bowden's Kentucky Fried Wrestling, which sticks to looking back at the old Memphis territory.
Bowden used to run the website of the same name, where long-time readers might remember Rachel defeating Bowden at a wrestling pick em and Scott sending her a DVD years ago.
There are many interesting guests from classic Memphis grappling and from someone that loves the classic era, yet missed so many of the great Memphis television shows (Since I didn't live there!), I always learn something new from Bowden and his guests.

Tim Hanlon's Good Seats Still Available focuses mainly on defunct and deceased teams and leagues.
Tim's shows on the WFL, USFL and the CFL's American expansion are among the few podcasts that I have saved for permanent safekeeping.
I'd be lying if I said I listened closely to every show as a show with this format is not going to focus on mainstream sports every episode, but Hanlon is always super prepared and when it features a subject that I really love, there is none better.

Scott Dryden used to guest on the TRS podcast, before hitting it big and now is the featured analyst at the Browns Scout Podcast.
Dryden's opinionated, smart (although the jury is still out on our disagreements on Jabrill Peppers and now Baker Mayfield) and the show is stocked with intelligent football talk.
Don't look for a lot of chuckles, bells, and whistles here, but if you like your Browns talk straight forward- give the Browns scout a listen.

I've also enjoyed the Rouge, White and Blue podcast with American fans talking about the Canadian Football League.
I've reconnected with an old friend that hosts the show in Joe Pritchard and it's nice to listen to American fans that love the three-down game.
And Joe, I'm still available to talk 80's and 90's CFL in the off-season!

Most of you know that my go-to college football expert is Phil Steele and his season preview is constantly with me all summer and season, but Phil has a podcast as well- Strong as Steele.
Phil is weekly during the season and then Strong as Steele goes dormant, but his conference previews will hopefully begin any day now!

Cleveland Baseball and Brews might not seem to be a good fit for someone that hates the taste of beer, but for Indians fans, it is well worth the listen.
Generally, it's just good conversation by Indians fans for Indians fans and Caitlyn Boron, who also appeared on the old TRS show, is one of the regular panelists on their program.
I always enjoy listening to Caitlyn's segment as her energy and passion for the town and the Indians literally jumps out at you through the speakers.

My final recommended podcast is Justin McGuire's Baseball by the Book where McGuire talks with authors of baseball books.
I haven't come anywhere near clearing out my chosen archives of Baseball by the Book, but if you love baseball, yet don't have the time or don't care to read- this is your avenue to learn a lot about the history of baseball!
I'm a big fan of Baseball by the Book!

Hopefully, you'll give one or more of these a try and if you like them, be sure to give them a good rating and tell them that TRS sent you!!

Reading and Listening

I wanted to do an occasional series that mentions some of the sites and podcasts that I enjoy quite often, some almost every day, so they might pick up some pub and maybe some of you might enjoy their work as well!
I'm going to recommend two sites and two podcasts each time that I roll this ball out, so I'm deliberately keeping the number down.

I often read SWC Roundup, which I stumbled upon one day on Twitter.
The roundup covers every college football team in the state of Texas with the name and tongue in cheek premise of the old Southwest Conference coming back together.
It covers the teams currently, but also often writes history pieces, which I love.
I wish the people behind this site would consider a podcast that would look back at SWC history because if it is anything like the site would be tremendous!

And the first place that I go for sports coverage is the Athletic.
It gets better and better as they hire excellent writers that have been released from other ventures from the various organizations that continue to downsize and I mean that-literally they get better every day.
It is a pay site, but with quality writing and NO advertising, it is the only pay site that I use.
If you want to try it- use this link and toss me a few Amazon dollars for the referral!
Seriously though, if you are a serious fan- I think once you try it and see the familiar names writing there, I think you'll stick around!

As far as podcasts go, I usually listen to Browns Scout Podcast with Scott Dryden and Brad Ward.
Scott used to do the TRS podcast (when I used to be motivated-Ha!) and gives great analysis on the draft with a Cleveland focus.
Scott knows his stuff-even if he does prefer Josh Allen to Sam Darnold!

And for boxing, I listen to both shows that Steve Kim works on.
Not just because I'm a fan of Steve's work and not because he often retweets stuff that I write (It's amazing the numbers jump when Steve RT's compared to not), it's because it's good boxing talk.
The Three Knockdown Rule with Mario Lopez (Yes,of Saved by the Bell fame, but he knows the game) is very entertaining and fast paced with boxing talk.
The Next Round with Gabe Montoya is a longer show, more in-depth and a drier show more for the hardcore boxing fan, but still interesting and a staple of mine at work for a good listen.
I'd recommend the former for the more casual fan or the one still learning the sport, but both are great podcasts.
Drop Steve a line on Twitter and tell him TRS sent you!
I have to get around to sending some stuff into those shows, I miss being part of the boxing podcast world!

Cleaning out the inbox

Pipino Cuevas left hooks Pete Ranzany

It's been a while since the inbox was cleaned, so I'll do that while making a series announcement later in the post for the boxing readers out there.

Thanks to Steve Kim of UCN Boxing for mentioning me and my semi-live tweeting of the Roy Jones supposed finale in his piece on the faded former champion.
Steve's my favorite boxing writer, he's a gracious past guest with Ramon Malpica and me on Fightheads and his own podcasts with are must listen for me (One with Mario Lopez and the other with Gabe Montoya ).
Steve covers Roy's career and decline quite well and makes a good point about Jones using his once unparalleled speed and reflexes to spawn an entire era of imitators, who could never approach his ability to the detriment of their careers.
It's a great point and it's similar to what I've blamed Michael Jordan for years- players that grew loving the dunking and thinking it was OK to shoot the basketball 30 times a night to finish with 25 points, no matter the efficiency and not doing the other things on the floor that helped make Jordan such a great all-around player.


We also should have our latest boxing ratings out later this week, which is always fun to me to put together between my thoughts, Ramon's and my "old school pugilism" buddy Vince Samano.
I'm really looking forward to seeing if Oleksandr Usyk's title unifying win over Mairis Briedis was enough to keep him at number one in our cruiserweight rankings or was Murat Gassiev's perhaps more impressive win over Yunier Dorticos in a title unifier of his own enough to lift Gassiev up and over Usyk before their faceoff in the World Boxing Super Series final?

I haven't talked to Ramon about the number of listeners since our shift from live show to podcast format, but I'll try to soon.
Doing boxing shows is so much fun and I love not only talking boxing (Old and New) with other boxing folks, but I love hearing different perspectives as well.
Even if I don't agree, I always like to think about things in a different way to either confirm an opinion of mine or occasionally change my mind.

I'm going to start an occasional boxing series here to join the features such as Forgotten Superstars, Cleaning out the inbox and .
I have three possible choices for the series with the possibilities being a 8 or 16 man tournament in the major weight division with my takes (This might take a long time to play out), a series that discusses great fights that never were or one that looks at worst decisions in boxing which would cover both bad decisions in the ring (judging or tactics) or out of the ring ( mistakes made in fighting the wrong opponent, dodging an opponent or making a mistake that cost fighters and/or promoters lots of potential cash..
I hope to make a decision and start one of those soon.

Now we move to the actual inbox items with the offseason surgery to my favorite golfer Jessica Korda (long-time readers may remember Jessica from the first ever PPM) to her jaw.
Apparently, this has been an issue dating back to childhood and cost her playing time last season and after a surgery that lasted over twice as long as it was scheduled to along with 27 screws in her jaw that left her unable to eat solid food for months. Korda expects to return to the LPGA tour in the next few events as the tour makes in winter swing through the Far East.
Golfweek talks to Jessica all about the surgery and the aftermath.

Anne Dudek has been an actress that I have loved since seeing her on "House" as one of House's associate doctors and I've always thought she was badly in need of a break and she may have gotten one as part of Comedy Central's new comedy "Corporate".
I haven't seen it yet, but have all the episodes on DVR, so I hope to watch it soon.
Hollywood Life talks to the talented actress about Corporate and her acting career.
Hopefully, Corporate is a hit, Dudek deserves a break.

Former Fox News anchor Jenna Lee abruptly left the network last year to move to Texas with her family, but now she is starting a new venture online called SmartHer News.
Readers of the autographing things here might remember in the past when Jenna helped me add cards of her dad-former Vikings and Falcons quarterback Bob Lee to my collection.
Best of luck to her in her new project!

The New York Times gave some space to Mrs. Emily Kelly to discuss the medical issues with her husband, former Ohio State, and Saints safety Rob and the article is just striking.
The Newark Advocate talks to Rob Kelly about his concerns about his health and the future of the game here.
I love football. but the more that you read and hear about the men that play the game after they leave it, really makes you wonder just how much longer the game is going to be around.
I don't think it is going away anytime soon, but the more Rob Kelly's that become known by fans, the decline in interest is going to become steeper and steeper...

Nutria is a large rodent species (Think a cross between a beaver and a rat) that has long been an invasive species in the Deep South, but look out because apparently there are a few in Northern California and when Nutria breed-the population explosion is immediate!
They eat a ton and they can be quite destructive to the habitat, so it'll be interesting to see if California can head off the Nutria before they can establish a new foothold!!!

Inbox cleaned, I have some other posts planned for the next few days that I hope you'll find interesting.