Introducing The Sports Gossip Show

Madeline Hill and I are launching a new podcast!

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SOME NEWS…

I haven’t been this excited to send an email since I first started this newsletter.

You may have noticed that, over the past couple of weeks,

Madeline Hill

and I have been working together on a few newsletters, live chats, and audio posts. She is, of course, the founder of the great newsletter Impersonal Foul, covering all things sports gossip. 

If you’ve wondered whether we have something up our sleeves, the answer is: yes. 

And that something is The Sports Gossip Show!

The Sports Gossip Show

is a Substack podcast that will give you a court-side seat to the latest drama and most interesting news about athletes and teams when they aren’t playing. Madeline and I both firmly believe that it’s much more fun to watch athletes on the field if you know they’re doing off of it.

We both watch sports with one eye on the game and one on the personal life section of athletes’ Wikipedia pages. During Monday Night Football this week, I found myself going down an Instagram rabbit hole, trying to figure out if Joe Burrow is still with his girlfriend and if they are engaged. I just love knowing what famous people are up to.  

sportsgossipshow

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Which is why I’ve been giddy since Madeline and I first connected and realized what we could do together. She absolutely struck gold when she started Impersonal Foul and coined the term “sports gossip.” I love what she does. It has been so much fun to develop this show together and realize how perfectly our areas of expertise complement each other. I’m very grateful to be on the ride with her, and it’s been pretty cool to know we’re doing it ourselves. 

We’ve been working on this for six months now, and I’m so jazzed to finally invite you into the extended sports gossip universe.

You can read the first SGS newsletter to listen to the first episode and learn more about the show!

A REQUEST…

Something I’m very proud of is the fact that Madeline and I are funding and producing this ourselves. We want full ownership because we truly believe in the idea, and we didn’t want to risk having to compromise on the vision or execution. This is our own little sports team, and we are the players, GMs, and owners rolled into one.

So (and you can probably guess where I’m going with this) I must enter a shameless plea for support. If you think we’re onto something here — and you want access to every episode, live chat, mailbag, and other fun stuff — please consider becoming a paying subscriber for $8/month or $80/year. I know it’s a huge deal to ask you for money, especially those of you who so generously already pay for The Wilder Things. 

But the truth is that we are not NBA owners with millions of dollars (obviously). And we want to be sure we can keep up with the production costs that go into making a high-quality show. I promise that it will be worth it. 

ON A MORE PERSONAL NOTE…

If you’ve followed my work at all over the past decade that I’ve been working in sports media, you might have an idea as to how exciting this is for me. I have often written and talked about subjects that exist at the fringes of sports. Yes, I’ve covered big events and interviewed athletes and coaches in huge moments. 

But I’ve also interviewed many dogs and made up narratives about cats and squirrels who run across the field at NFL games. I’ve become obsessed with the performers at NBA halftime shows. I’ve interviewed Marcus Jordan and Larsa Pippen about their…bizarre relationship…and done deep-dives into stories like the quarterback who may or may not have been sleeping with his mom’s best friend. And the NBA player who skipped his then-teammates wedding.

This show is the place for all of that.

I’m also passionate about opening up the sports world to more people. So much of the language people use in sports media seems built to keep out new fans, or to exclude people who are curious about sports but who might not know what “triple coverage” is (it’s just when one guy throws to another guy who’s guarded by three guys).

This show will be accessible for everyone, whether you’re a die-hard fan who has the standings of multiple leagues memorized (guilty) or someone who really does think that Taylor Swift put Travis Kelce on the map (also guilty). We’ll never make you feel dumb, and we’ll never dumb anything down. 

So, in summation, thank you in advance for subscribing, I’m so excited, here we go!

And remember: If it’s off the court, it’s on The Sports Gossip Show. 

P.S. If you have a hot tip or want to get in touch about partnership opportunities, contact us here.

Follow The Sports Gossip Show on Instagram here and listen to new weekly episodes on Substack, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.