Episode 28: It's Only Fantasy

When we look toward the periphery of the sporting spectacle we find a new growing section in the grandstand where fandom goes beyond merely spectating. Evolving from the original Rotisserie League of intellectuals, these spectators are playing their own game within the game - a simulation of sorts to determine who is the best (or luckiest) armchair scout and general manager in sports. For some, this is just another casual way to bond with sporting comrades. For others, it’s an obsessive full time plunge into the matrix of sports statistics.  Jason the JACKKNIFE! Crim helps us sift through all the numbers and nonsense to better understand the world of fantasy sports.   

1st Annual Grandstand Awards

As another year comes to an end, the Pontificator and Professor sit down to recognize some of the stand out people, events and stories that captivated the Grandstand in 2016. Who takes home athlete of the year? Team of the year? Grandstander(s) of the year? While this will be infamously remembered as the year of Trump, has 2016 seen a parallel movement taking place within the sporting spectacle? We discuss this and much more in the first annual Grandstand Awards show!

Music from this episode:

Bing Crosby - Let's Start the New Year Right

Eddie Vedder - All the Way

Juan Gabriel - Amor Eterno

Episode 26: On Vendors - Not Your Average Carnies

Can you run up and down flights of stairs while balancing 20 fountain drinks on a standard issue crate with a nonadjustable strap, chuck ice cream bars with precision to the four corners of the grandstand, belt out “peanuts and crackerjacks” for nine innings in a Pavarottiesque tenor, do fifth grade math on the fly with the mental dexterity of a bookie and remember who owes you money? If so go to your local stadium’s boiler room next Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. for the opportunity of a lifetime, the best sales job you never heard of. The story of a stadium vendor on this, a fine edition of Grandstand Podcast.   

Music from this episode:

Gene Pitney - Peanuts Popcorn and Crackerjacks

Elvis Presley - Carny Town

Raphael - Canción del Trabajo

Bebe Fafa y Piqui ft Rick Ross - Vendor Hustlin’

Episode 25: The Cathedral

For this 1 year anniversary edition of Grandstand the Professor and Pontificator discuss the greater mysteries of the relationship between sport and religion specifically as they relate to the Cathedral i.e. spectating venue. How much is our spiritual devotion and fanatical style shaped by the edifice and history of the place that houses the performance? What do mega churches and modern American stadia share in common? All this and much so more on this doctrinal but nondenominational episode of Grandstand Podcast. 

Music from this episode:

The Cathedrals - This Old House

Luciano Pavarotti - Ave Maria

Bonus Episode: 3 Bad Hombres

The quotidienne is political only when it affects our individual sovereignty the rest of the time the political comes and goes and most us pay no matter. For this post-apocalyptic episode of Grandstand Podcast Washington D.C. correspondent One-Time Tex joins us for thought provoking conversation about the connections between the Trump upset, Mexico vs USA rivalry, the banality of statistical obsession and of course, millennials! Grandstand confronts the elephant in the room that the blinded and tired punditry of the squawk box can never seem to admit is there. What were once winks and nods is now an open love fest, the reciprocal flirtation between politics and sport is no longer a just an affair.  

Music from this episode:

Cake - Nugget (Edit) 

Beck - Que' Onda Guero 

Joan Baez - De Colores

Episode 23: Abuelito's Cough Medicine

Welcome to another season of Grandstand Podcast! Going beyond the athletes and die hard fans, Season 3 will focus on the periphery of the sporting spectacle - paying tribute to those often overlooked, yet critical, elements that make our spectating possible. We begin by looking at the controversial social lubricator that so prevalently flows through the consciousness of the spectating spectacle. Whether eliciting the fan’s drive towards love or destruction, there is no denying that booze has been an essential contributor to how the game is experienced. So join us as we kick off this new season by celebrating the ultimate periphery prop and performance enhancer of the grandstand! 

Music from this episode:

Frank Sinatra - The Best is Yet to Come

The Texas Tornados - In Heaven There is No Beer

Lila Downs - Mezcalito

Episode 22: Season Finale

In the season finale of Grandstand Podcast, the Pontificator and Professor give final thoughts on some of the reoccurring themes, regarding the evolution of sports and grandstanding within the spectating spectacle, from this season. 

Bonus Episode: The Ushers Return

For this episode the Ushers kindly requested that Grandstand find its proper place in the activity versus sport versus spectacle and non mainstream sport argument. Thus, as the Olympics are underway, we were obliged to bring you a bonus conversation in an attempt to get our bearings straight and find our seats in the spectacle. This episode is anchored by an entire season of pedantic pontification and measured professorial observation on the semantic complications of the distinctions between game and sport.  With the help of usher veteran #Skitch Bourbon, his airhorn, and usher newbie Dan #One-Time-Tex, the only guest to ever appear on back to back episodes of Grandstand, we delve into the “What is a sport?” black hole. Tune and find your seat there’s plenty of room the Ushers are here to help.  

Episode 20: The Blood Sport

To discuss the parallels between professional sports and politics, the Pontificator and Professor are joined by Mr. Dan “One-Time-Tex”, calling in from the nation’s capitol, Washington DC. Working within the rapidly emerging field of space law, #One-Time brings his knowledge and passion for politics, both domestic and international, to discuss a variety of topics with the Grandstand - can we make sense of events like Brexit by looking at the similarities and differences between the sporting and political arenas? How might globalism impact the nation state and international futbol? And as we witness a populist rise on the political landscape, #One-Time helps us ponder what sporting teams do the Trump, Clinton and Obama brands best embody? That, and much more, as we diplomatically litigate and dialogue over two of our most vital institutions and spectating spectacles!

Bonus Episode: San Diego All Star Game

On this bonus episode of Grandstand, the Pontificator and Professor are joined by the modern day Forrest Gump, Rafaga De Palmer, to discuss Major League Baseball's All Star Game week in San Diego. In this free flowing conversation everyone gives their take on the many elements of the ASG spectacle and Rafa re-tells his escapades with the likes of Dave Winfield, MLB execs, UCSD Medical presidents and even the dead man walking, Charlie Sheen; and Pokemon, of course. 

Grandstanders watch the MLB All Star Game from a hill overlooking Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego, 1992; Image by Charles Starr 

Episode 18: Playing Gender

For this inclusive episode of Grandstand the Professor and the Pontificator are joined by multi-sport all-stars Viviana and Favi to talk about the biggest non-mainstream sport of all; all women sports. Is the physical difference between the sexes really that significant? Is it the major factor affecting the quality of play on the field? Or is the supposed gap in the quality of game play between men and women only a temporary reflection especially when considering how long it took for women to have access to elite level competition with their peers? Is there a future reality where men and women compete alongside each other on same field, divided only by weight classes? Or will sports always be divided along gender lines, and if so what role will grandstanders play in a fostering the growth of the spectating spectacle of women sports?  

SPECIAL EPISODE: El Tri: Denial, Preservation and Dreaming

As Argentina and Chile are set to face off for the Copa America championship, grandstanders of 14 other countries have had to confront the reality of defeat. No defeat more shocking and brutal than that of the tournament’s true home team - The Mexican National Team. The Pontificator and Professor take us on an exploration of coping mechanisms to try to make sense of why the boys in green uncharacteristically decided to lay down and take a historic beating at the feet of the Chileans. Lack of talent? Tactic? Leadership? Too much pop culture stardom? One can even deny the game really took place. Or, perhaps, the explanation lies in the Mestizo roots of a people who rationalize loss for the sake of self preservation. What is winning and who really are the true winners in all of this? In the end, maybe all we can do is dream. 

Episode 16: Major League Millennials

For this revealing episode Grandstand is joined by Ryan from Pads Pod to talk about the rise of Major League Soccer (MLS) in America contrasted with Major League Baseball’s (MLB) current existential identity crisis. MLB is financially sound, but it has been laboring to stay culturally relevant and it no longer holds a captive audience as it once gloriously did. What will the American sports landscape look like in 20 years when the millennial generation takes over as both players and as content producers of the spectating spectacle? Numbers indicate that soccer is one of the games of choice of the millennial generation, but will this translate into serious fandom? Will it be enough to propel soccer to mainstream sport status and knock baseball out of the Big-4 Sports Pantheon in the U.S.?  Will baseball’s stolid attitude towards change hold it back from keeping pace with the beautiful game? Join in and be enlightened by this delectable conversation about what the future of mainstream sports might look like with millennials at the helm. 

MLB vs MLS

Episode 15: The Fastest Game on Two Feet

The sport of Lacrosse has its roots firmly planted in the North East United States former land of the Iroquois nation, creators of the original game.  Although still very much a niche sport it has a professional league and according to the National Federation of High School Sports (NFHS) boasts to be one of the fastest growing games in America.  For this illuminating episode Grandstand travels to Saudi Arabia to speak to Tanner Titanium about his sport of choice, Lacrosse, and his prognostication on whether his game can become one the Big-4 of USA sports.  Join us on this voyage of athletic illumination to better get to know a game invented by Native Americans, played mostly by White Americans, hoping to appeal to Black Americans, explained to us by an expat American in Saudi Arabia.   

Episode 14: The Barbaric Gentlemen

Christian and his rugby mates; what sporting camaraderie looks like

“Rugby is game for barbarians played by gentlemen. Football is a game for gentlemen played by barbarians. ”

— Oscar Wilde

For this episode Grandstand travels digitally to the Basque Country to talk Rugby with Christian “El Vasco” Palomes and try to get to the bottom of Mr. Wilde’s dictum, because sometimes gentlemanliness can have a civilizing effect on barbarism. Can Christian convince American mothers to leave their children’s football pads behind for the game of gentlemen?  Why are the French Basques more Rugby loving than their brothers on the Spanish side?  Who is Laurianne Lissar? All this and more on this delectable edition of Grandstand Podcast.

Check Christian's Band The Dotz heard at the end of the episode

Episode 13: The Sport of Kings

For this decadent and depraved episode Grandstand is joined by Sarah Horserider to discuss some of the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of the Sport of Kings. Last year’s celebrated Triple Crown accomplishment by American Pharaoh has the horse spectating spectacle buzzing and wanting more.  Yet despite the Triple Crown’s bump the Sport of Kings is in peril. The newfangled artisanal bourbon drinking millennial crowds in the grandstand don’t seem to want to place bets, but is their short attention span ripe for the picking by the fastest and most glorious two minutes in the sport spectating spectacle? Tune in and find out the Professor has a very serious proposition for the horse racing world.

Check out Hunter S. Thompson's essay - The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved - which is mentioned in this episode, and introduced readers to what is now known as Gonzo style journalism:  

http://brianb.freeshell.org/a/kddd.pdf

Episode 12: The Sweet Science

Season 2 continues down its non-mainstream sport path. In this episode the Professor and Mario talk about Boxing.  Once a pillar of mainstream sports, the sweet science has been in slow decline for a long time now, operating on the fringes of the sport spectating experience, save for the once every few months’ pay-per- view extravaganzas.  

Is Pugilisms’ waning fandom a social-political reflection of the inclinations of the middle class? Or is it mainstreams’ changing tastes and lust for MMA ferocity? Where in the world is the performance on the quadrilateral stage still relevant? And finally, is boxing standing in its own way, obstructing itself from mainstream recuperation? Tune in and find out.          

Episode 11: The Ushers

Every self-respecting sports journalistic institution has a panel of experts that speaks truth to the complexity of differing perspectives and Grandstand is no exception. Sometimes we all need a little assistance to help us find our place in the stands. We've hired the best ushers money could buy to help our fellow grandstanders to the best seat in the spectating house, but beware just because they find you a seat doesn't necessarily mean that's your place in the grandstand, spectate with caution.

Join Manny; the Professor, Rafaga Palmer; the connector, Skitch Bourbon; the aesthete,  and yours truly for an in depth discussion on the continuing conversation of what makes a game a sport, paradigm shifts, and things we'd like to see resurrected in sports. Enjoy the show!

Field Notes: Bicicletas

The AMGEN Tour of California will begin in San Diego this year. For those who don’t know this is a pretty big deal, but those who do were gathered at Caffe Calabria on March 7th to check out a vintage steel frame bike exhibition currently on display. Grandstand was fortunate to be there and gather field notes and grandstand with members and ambassadors of San Diego’s cycling community.  Thank you Joe Bell, Andrew Lee and Eric Best.

Curated by Ron Miriello this exhibition will run through May. Head down to Caffe Calabria, check out the beautiful bikes, have an espresso and of course attend the start of the Tour on May 15th and remember to give our fellow bike folk 3 feet of space.  

Episode 9: Is it a Sport?

Greetings Grandstanders we’re back and ready to embark on a new season of grandstanding. Season 2 will be all about non-mainstream sports and about unlocking the doors of sport spectating splendor. Every sport no matter the prop used, ball, broom, paddle, saddle, or bow has a highly intricate story to tell, a nuanced and involved narrative starring competition as the main character.  This season will be about exploring the universal and reoccurring motifs of the games we watch and why unlocking the story of every sport can induce a state of intoxicated grandstanding, even while watching figure skating.

During this episode, the professor and I talk about what makes a game a sport. Is there really a difference? Does it matter? Grandstand thinks that almost everything worth spectating is a sport, even diplomacy. Did your pastime make the cut? Tune in and find out what was America’s first national spectator sport, something almost all of us do daily. Join us, your Grandstand is waiting.