Hi all,
Welcome to part two of the 2019 TOA Podcast Awards. Today’s list covers the shows I always try to listen to as soon as a new episode comes out.
As it was with last week’s part one, the shows below are ranked in order from worst to first. We’ll go through the five honorable mentions today, then return in a couple of weeks to have a closer look at the top three.
Honorable mentions
Revisionist History
Malcolm Gladwell’s goal on each episode is to bring his unique perspective to a problem or question that is often acknowledged but rarely given a thorough cross-examination. For the most part, Revisionist History is his best attempt to correct a false narrative about his topic of choice. The thing I like best about the show is its relentless pursuit of ‘then what?’ – the process of determining not just the cause and effect but also the effect of the effect.
A good example of this process in action was his show about colleges that devote significant resources to what I believe he described as ‘cafeterias that could win a Michelin star’. Over the course of the episode, Gladwell broke down the college’s spending to determine not just where the money went but where it came from and how the allocation of those funds benefited some students while hurting some of their peers.
This show is ranked dead last among my ‘ASAP’ podcasts at the moment but this is more a reflection of its frequency. At the moment, we listeners get about eight to ten episodes a year, all released over a condensed period of a couple months. If I ranked all podcast episodes on an episode by episode basis, I bet most Revisionist History shows would rank somewhere in the middle. A better rhythm in 2019 – in the form of either more shows or better spacing – would certainly get Revisionist History higher up on next year’s list.
Against All Odds
Cousin Sal’s weekly show discusses sports from the perspective of society’s most important degenerate – the gambler. It’s a hilarious show but I stopped listening to every episode sometime in the late summer as the football (and helmet football) podcasts started piling up on my to-do list. When he brings on a guest I’m familiar with, however, I usually find that these shows are among the best I listen to in a given week.
This show feels pretty locked into its current ranking. I’m not sure I would blindly listen to every new episode ever again, even if I decided on a career change to gamble on sports full-time. Against All Odds is funny and makes for great listening, but this program is about entertainment, not advice, and those seeking to learn about the craft should seek an alternative from the crowd Cousin Sal brings together each week.
The Tim Ferris Show
This podcast’s format is very simple – Tim Ferris interviews a high-achieving guest for around two hours. During these conversations, Ferris dissects every aspect of a person’s persona, process, and worldview to gain insights into peak human performance. The most notable feature of this podcast is Ferris’s interviewing skills. Every time I listen to a new show, I’m struck by his ability to draw insights and reflections from his guests that lesser interviewers would fail to accomplish.
I’ve found over time that this show operates best for me when I listen to episodes featuring guests I’m already familiar with. Unlike some of the other podcasts I selectively listen to, I do think this show could be productive for me if I committed to listening to all episodes. However, the shows run a little long sometimes and I’ve found from experience that I always learn much more from the guests I already know something about.
Men In Blazers
This past summer, I went to see a live filming of an episode of this show. Live podcasts are a strange experience, almost like a cross between going to a game and seeing a concert – the taping retains the spontaneity of a live act yet you end up getting a lot of the desired familiarity any podcast fan has about a favorite show. Overall, I had a really good time and I recommend anyone who likes a podcast to check out a live taping of his or her favorite show.
Despite the highlight of the live show, however, I think 2018 saw this podcast slide a little bit in my estimation. The show covers football – sah-caaaah to those who speak fluent American – but its coverage is always slanted toward the niche perspective of The American Fan. Now, we all know I’m an American and I’m a fan and therefore I should be interested in such a perspective... well, I guess not everything works out the way surface categorizations predict, eh? My preference is to just watch the games, learn as I go, and not worry about maintaining some constructed identity as I do so.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The rebranded version of the first podcast I ever listened to (The BS Report) Bill Simmons continues to churn out highly entertaining shows under the umbrella of his media company, The Ringer. This year saw a slight change as I decided to stop listening to all new episodes of his show – going forward, I’m only going to listen to shows with topics or guests I find interesting.
My decision isn’t a knock against the show because the podcast remains as strong as ever. In fact, as Simmons continues to improve his interviewing skills, I’ve found that the episodes he does with higher profile guests have reached the same heights as the nonsense he puts together when he brings his lifelong friends onto the program. The decision is simply a reflection of how my interests no longer align with those of The Ringer and an acknowledgement that the path to making the most of my time is littered with the refuse of what I once found important.
And then there were three…
The final three – in no official order, of course – are these favorite podcasts:
The Football Ramble
GM Street (The Ringer NFL Show)
More Or Less
We’ll return in a couple of weeks to dissect these finalists and determine a winner for 2018.
Now, the careful reader may note the demise of Common Sense, a podcast I've long held in the highest regard. We’ll take a moment next week to address the discrepancy and explain why the show does not appear in this year’s podcast rankings.
Until then, thanks for reading, and happy listening.
