Williams and Blum interview The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel

[Tornado man]

I couldn't care less what Howie Mandel has to say and will continue to not care. And I won't give the athletic my money like so many of you suckers.

Love reading The Athletic. Recommended by Chris Williams on his show and I thank him for it.

 

[cyclones500]

Just so I know what you mean here...

NASCAR was a regional sport through roughly the 1980s, but it broke out into "mainstream" appeal nationally in the 1990s. Big TV deals, the most famous drivers being some of the most marketable personalities in the world, opening new tracks near new major markets (e.g., Los Angeles, Dallas, etc.), everything was great. Then the portion of the country that doesn't live roughly in the triangle between Orlando, Richmond, and Little Rock on the map lost interest in stock cars, and they're back to a (diminished) regional footprint.

Are you basically saying the SEC thinks it is going to turn into a second NFL and find out, much to its rude awakening, that midwestern and western fans, who are loyal to Big Ten or ex-Big 12 or Pac-12 teams, don't much care about who wins a regional championship for college football in the Southeast, the sport essentially reversing the process that gave it such broad national appeal the past 30 years?

I don't know enough about NASCAR history & timeline to respond directly, but it seems like almost the opposite of what's happening with college football. A media push to make NASCAR/auto racing go "national," but the passion has continued to be regional. College football has a major national following ("Multi-Regional"), but now there's a goal to isolate it to SEC (B1G has nothing to worry) but alienating or shutting out all other zones.

 

[clonedude]

Love reading The Athletic. Recommended by Chris Williams on his show and I thank him for it.

The Athletic is horrible.... unless you like reading articles kissing the B1G and SEC's a** all the time.

 

[Cyched]

The Athletic is horrible.... unless you like reading articles kissing the B1G and SEC's a** all the time.

The sad thing it didn't use to be that way. Could go on there and find quality articles about ISU and your favorite pro teams.

It seems with realignment they've veered to the clickbait/hot take/outrage porn model, which is a shame.

 

[Selmak The Tok'Ra]

He hand picked data to push a narrative. During this interview he contradicted himself to push a narrative. **** him.

Yeah he needs to get a Mandel on things

 

[Gerbs]

Who cares what Stewart mandel thinks? Should I listen to finebaum and get his opinion?

 

[Cyclones1969]

The Athletic is horrible.... unless you like reading articles kissing the B1G and SEC's a** all the time.

You very well may have answered your own question

 

[CrossCyed]

The Athletic is literally the best sports writing out there, especially for pro teams.

 

[dosry5]

Does CF or CW or whoever have to pay to get this guy on the podcast? Just curious

 

[brentblum]

Does CF or CW or whoever have to pay to get this guy on the podcast? Just curious

No. Stewart volunteered his time.

 

[Die4Cy]

I'll give Mandel credit. He came on the CF podcast when a lot of media types would just be blocking critics on social media.

That said, my favorite part was when Blum ripped his arms off and beat him about the head with them.

Good job conveying what we've all felt Brent.

 

[JM4CY]

I'll give Mandel credit. He came on the CF podcast when a lot of media types would just be blocking critics on social media.

That said, my favorite part was when Blum ripped his arms off and beat him about the head with them.

Good job conveying what we've all felt Brent.

Go on!!! I can’t listen yet!!

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

No. Stewart volunteered his time.

I think he came off fine. I don't take much emotion into his opinion so it was just fun for me to hear you make him sound stupid for a moment there. He did agree with much of what you were saying.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

Go on!!! I can’t listen yet!!

The guy admitted it too. He said he was impressed that Blum was throwing stats without a note card and had to pull up his own tables to fact check his own article. Show's you how much time he really thought about his biased stat article.

 

[Hoggins]

**** that guy.

 

[Triggermv]

Yeah, don't even follow his stuff, but mark me unimpressed. Dude is a prick with a preconceived bias, who cherry picks his talking points based still in a 20 year old reality. His one big defense is don't shoot the messenger, which is the lamest excuse to hide behind. Literally, anybody can whip that out as an excuse to say anything.

 

[SDClone]

Stewart Mandel is another trash reporter feeding off the cronies from ESPN

 

[scyclonekid]

Can I ask why we gave him a platform with everything he and his publication have been pushing?

Williams n company love the clicks and need the clicks.

 

[Pat]

I don't want to open a new front in this war, but my assumption is the sport has no long-term (50+ years) future. CTE is going to kill it off once and for all. It is just a matter of time and means.

Could be bans at the state/regional/federal level. The sport was almost outlawed in the late 1800s already. Or it could be parents just keep holding their kids out, and people lose remaining interest in it because they weren't "socialized" into it as families turn their back on it, and meanwhile kids grow up watching Twitch streamers play videogames or European soccer leagues and football heads to the history books.

The average viewer of *all* sports content is becoming older and older. That is less pronounced in some sports, like basketball and soccer, and more pronounced in others, like racing and baseball, but it is general across the media landscape. All the kids these days just don't like sports as much as their parents and grandparents did, and eventually the market is going to adjust to those changing demographics.

One of my favorite CK books. I'd have to read that segment again within context of current CFB. Maybe he was on to something. (But, what if he's wrong? )

Fortunately, GQ excerpted the chapter (I need to re-read as well):https://www.gq.com/story/chuck-klosterman-excerpt-will-violence-save-football

 

[brentblum]

Williams n company love the clicks and need the clicks.

We really don’t. Thought it would be useful to attempt to voice the Iowa State side of things to someone with a national platform. Simple as that.