Interview with David Walsh, reporter first suspicious of Lance Armstrong

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Several documentaries on Lance Armstrong have been produced, so I don’t know how much interest there is in ESPN’s two-part “30 For 30,” Lance.

But I’m intrigued because I had an opportunity to review a 2016 feature film on Armstrong, titled The Program (starring Ben Foster as the controversial cyclist), for Awful Announcing a few years ago.

As part of that, I also interviewed David Walsh, the British Times journalist who was skeptical of Armstrong’s success after recovering from cancer. As heroic as Armstrong seemed, the story was too good to be true.

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WISE Sports Radio MLB segment: May 20, 2020

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Last week looked like it could be the final stand for Major League Baseball with team owners and the players union set to discuss the final proposal for a 2020 season being played. While many have focused on the COVID-19 restrictions that would be implemented, the greater concern might be salaries.

On Wednesday’s WISE Sports Radio baseball segment, Pat Ryan and I chat about the many rules players, umpires, coaches, and ballpark staff would face if MLB games are played. And if there isn’t a season, will the players ultimately be blamed?

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Talking ‘The Last Dance,’ sports without fans on Richmond’s The Fan

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The Last Dance concluded Sunday on ESPN and an audience starved for any kind of sports event averaged 5.6 million viewers for the 10-part Michael Jordan docuseries. Will we ever see anything like this again?

Wes McElroy from The Fan in Richmond (910 AM, 105.1 FM) invited me on his show to chat about that, sports telecasts with no fans (and maybe no announcers on site), and the Monday Night Football broadcast booth.

Thanks to Wes for reaching out and inviting me on. I don’t get to chat about sports media as much as I’d like on the radio (or podcasts) these days, so it was fun to do so.

‘Lucky Grandma’ review at Mountain Xpress

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Honestly, I wondered if the COVID-19 pandemic ended my days of getting paid to write movie reviews. Not only are movie theaters closed, but Asheville’s Mountain Xpress, where most of my reviews run, had to pare down due to a lack of ad revenue.

But indie theaters have been showing movies virtually, with part of the rental fees going to those venues, providing publications with films to review. And thankfully, the budget to pay for those reviews is opening up again.

So I was eager to review Lucky Grandma when given the opportunity:

Director Sasie Sealy (who co-wrote the script with Angela Cheng) builds her feature debut around a memorable grouch, Grandma Wong (Tsai Chin), whose fortune changes when a huge amount of money literally falls into her lap.

Lucky Grandma is a clever spin on the crime caper genre, thanks to Chin’s wonderfully cranky performance and Sealy trusting her warped morality tale to play out to its natural end.

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WISE Sports Radio NFL hit: May 14, 2020

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The NFL doesn’t have to worry about its regular season for another four months, so the immediate concern isn’t the same as baseball currently faces. But will we really have football in the fall? Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper is a believer.

On Thursday’s WISE Sports Radio NFL segment, Pat Ryan, Mike Gore, and I look at all the obstacles to clear. Additionally, we talk about former Michigan defensive lineman Taco Charlton, the XFL feud between Oliver Luck and Vince McMahon, and the Los Angeles Rams’ new uniforms.

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