S3 E11: NYT Best-Selling Sports Journalist Jeff Pearlman on How the Pandemic May Change Sports

Summary: Jeff Pearlman and I were classmates at the University of Delaware and colleagues at the independent campus newspaper The Review. Jeff was the editor-in-chief our senior year and let's just say, that was a pretty crazy year. We explain why during this podcast. Jeff is a New York Times best-selling author. His latest book coming out this fall details the Kobe Bryant-led era of the Los Angeles Lakers. That begins our discussion, which then leads into a breakdown of what amateur and professional sports may look like in the near future. Jeff now lives in Southern California with his family. We spoke during a Zoom call on April 21, 2020. In this podcast: How the death of Kobe Bryant impacted Jeff and the release of his book on that Lakers dynasty (2:50), our time working together at the campus newspaper at the University of Delaware (4:30), how important it was to make mistakes early in a journalism career (7:10), how the internet has made it so much more difficult to survive one's mistakes on television these days (8:40), the time Jeff was a newspaper reporter in Tennessee and walked into a murder scene (9:50), how a sports journalist deals with a sports shutdown and what it means for the sportswriting industry (10:50), the chances of seeing professional sports being played anytime soon (12:50), if PGA Tour golf, as a sport with the least amount of contact between players, has a chance to resume (15:10), why Jeff says the NBA and the MLB seem to have different ideas about risk (16:30), what a baseball game without fans might be like (18:50), which major professional sports will have the most difficulty recovering (20:15), what he thinks about the prospects for pro soccer and hockey (22:00), the impact on college athletes and the NCAA (23:00), the chances of high school football games being played in the fall (23:45), if he would buy a ticket to next year's Super Bowl (25:00), if major sports will have to rework their broadcast contracts (26:40), how excitement over The Last Dance ESPN documentary is somewhat of a prelude to the return of professional sports (28:00), Jeff's favorite athlete as a player and as a person (30:45), his least favorites (he has three) (32:47), if he's working on his next book (33:45).