The Press Box
The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis and David Shoemaker catch you up on the biggest media stories, from sports to politics and everything in between.
Episodes
June 20, 2025 • 88 mins
Hello, media consumers! On this Friday edition of the show, Bryan helps Joel wrestle with a question: "Should I subscribe to The Washington Post if it is my local paper?" (1:41). They then tackle some headlines, including the ambiguity of the USA's involvement with the Israel–Iran War and Tucker Carlson's instantly viral interview with Ted Cruz (17:18). Later, they discuss NBA Finals Game 6 coverage, Stephen A. Smith grabbing headl...
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Hello, media consumers! Bryan and David discuss another Washington Post "reboot," this time for its opinion section (0:41). They go on to offer some low-hanging fruit for ESPN's lackluster NBA Finals coverage and discuss Stephen A. Smith, who was seen playing solitaire during Game 4; a noticeable shift in the norms of Washington, D.C., reporting; and more (10:41). Finally, Gustavo Arellano of the L.A. Times discusses covering recen...
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June 12, 2025 • 77 mins
Hello, media consumers! Bryan and Joel tackle some leftover 'The Simpsons' vs. 'The Cosby Show' thoughts in today's J-School (0:47), before they are joined by Logan Murdock to discuss The Athletic's anonymous players survey, why the NBA keeps finding itself in the crosshairs of criticism, and ESPN's biggest mistake while broadcasting the Finals. Then they talk about Logan's new article for The Ringer, "How the Gen Z Takeover Is Cha...
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June 9, 2025 • 68 mins
Hello, media consumers! Bryan and David parse through the very public Donald Trump–Elon Musk breakup (0:41) before sharing some notes on Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals; Warner Bros. Discovery, which is splitting into two companies; ABC's Terry Moran's suspension; and a hefty edition of "sliding doors" metaphors (15:28). Finally, The Ringer's Alan Siegel joins to discuss his new book, 'Stupid TV, Be More Funny: How the Golden Era o...
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June 5, 2025 • 94 mins
Hello, media consumers! Bryan and Joel discuss some NBA Finals thoughts, Oklahoma City as a host city, reports of Doris Burke's uncertain future in ESPN's broadcast booth, Cam'ron the journalist, and more (2:47). Then they discuss The Washington Post's puzzling new strategy and Pablo Torre's Bill Belichick–Jordon Hudson investigation (30:05). Then they are joined by NBC's Noah Eagle to talk about the Finals, the NBA on NBC 2.0, and...
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Hello media consumers! This week, Bryan and David discuss a bevy of “now they tell us” stories, some from the NBA and some from Washington (1:00), before coining a new segment called the “Pulled Punch Effect” (26:00). Then, they share a few more listener-submitted “sliding doors” metaphors (30:00), before Bryan is joined by Mark Kriegel to discuss 'Baddest Man: The Making of Mike Tyson,' the state of the sports biography, and the p...
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Hello, media consumers! Bryan and Joel return on this Thursday edition of the podcast to discuss the Democrats’ deliberate investment in building a liberal infrastructure of influencers, podcasters, and new media (23:00). Then, they discuss the state of podcast interviews and whether or not listeners are making distinctions between the kinds of shows that are journalistic vs. focused on entertainment (39:00). Finally, they react to...
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Hello, media consumers! Bryan and David come to you on this Press Box Monday (Tuesday) edition with some thoughts on the NBA’s gradual acceptance of the three-man announcer booth (1:30), Elon Musk’s media blitz (13:00), the coverage and criticism of the latest installment in the ‘Mission: Impossible’ franchise (24:00), more sliding doors metaphors in journalism (35:00), and more.
Plus, the Overworked Twitter Joke of the Week, th...
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May 22, 2025 • 58 mins
Hello, media consumers! Bryan and Joel are back on this Press Box Thursday Edition to discuss peak sports media beef (2:00), Reggie Miller’s unique perspective on the Eastern Conference finals and Tyrese Haliburton’s choke sign (17:00), and Draymond Green being added to ‘Inside the NBA’ for the ECF (23:00). Then, they discuss another wave of pieces chronicling the end of ESPN’s ‘Around the Horn’ and what it says about ESPN’s strate...
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May 19, 2025 • 53 mins
Hello, media consumers! On this Press Box Monday edition, Bryan and David discuss Journalism, the official horse of The Press Box, winning the Preakness (1:00) before discussing the end of TNT’s era of broadcasting the NBA and what they’ll miss most about it (6:00). Then, they discuss the career of legendary WWE announcer Jim Ross after learning about his colon cancer diagnosis (18:00) before digging into some recently published da...
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May 15, 2025 • 78 mins
Hello, media consumers! This week, Bryan and Joel go to J-School to discuss the reactions to and coverage of the Jayson Tatum injury (1:00). Then, they digest the various news ripples that have come from excerpts of ‘Original Sin,’ Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s book about Joe Biden’s decision to run for reelection (10:00). Next, they react to a recent report on Pablo Torre Finds Out about Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson, and the...
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Hello, media consumers! Bryan and David are back on this Monday edition to talk about the election of a new Pope and the media frenzy it spawned (1:00), the week of Jayson Tatum takes (8:00), NBC’s plans for the future of its basketball coverage, including Michael Jordan (17:00), and new media ventures being unable to come up with compelling names for their products (24:00). Then, they’re joined by Politico’s Adam Wren to talk abou...
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May 8, 2025 • 80 mins
Hello media consumers! This week, please enjoy a little J-School (1:00) before Bryan and Joel are joined by ESPN basketball reporter Brian Windhorst to talk about his path to ESPN and whether it’s replicable, the place good reporting has in our modern media ecosystem, the dreaded aggregators, Gregg Popovich stories, and what direction he sees the future of basketball reporting heading in (26:00).
Hosts: Bryan Curtis and Joel D. ...
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Hello, media consumers! Bryan and David are here this Monday to discuss sports media’s evolving coverage of athletes’ families and significant others after recent stories about Bill Belichick, Jax Ulbrich, and John Haliburton (1:00). Then, they run through a handful of bite-size topics, including a new entry in the running for worst question ever asked in the White House press room (23:00), a lengthy and interesting New York Magazi...
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Hello media consumers! On this Press Box Thursday edition, Bryan and Joel dig deeper into the strange Bill Belichick CBS news interview that recently went viral after Jordon Hudson, his girlfriend, interrupted the interview multiple times (1:00). Then, they discuss the fallout and media fervor from the Jax Ulbrich–Shedeur Sanders NFL draft prank call (18:00), before discussing Pete Buttigieg’s appearance on the Flagrant podcast and...
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Hello media consumers! Bryan and David are back to opine on the overwhelming amount of content that has come from Shedeur Sanders sliding in the NFL draft (1:00), including a bizarre story line about the son of the Atlanta Falcons’ defensive coordinator prank-calling Sanders (22:00). Then, they run through a handful of smaller stories from the weekend, including the awkward Bill Belichick CBS Sunday Morning interview that went vira...
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April 24, 2025 • 66 mins
Hello, media consumers! On this Press Box Thursday, Bryan and Joel discuss the Shannon Sharpe lawsuit, Stephen A. Smith’s role in negotiating ESPN’s public response to it, and how the rest of the media world has reacted to this news (10:00). Then, they assess new entries in the “worst question asked at the White House” genre (32:00) and talk about the NFL draft as a media property—the TV show vs. attending in person, the overwhelmi...
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April 21, 2025 • 52 mins
Hello, media consumers! In our latest 25 for 25 installment, Bryan is joined by Ringer superstar Chris Ryan to discuss his come up in the mid-2000s blog world, how it set up the rest of his career and changed media forever, where the energy of blogging was dispersed, and whether there will be a revival of blogging.
Host: Bryan Curtis
Guest: Chris Ryan
Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastcho...
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Hello, media consumers! This Press Box Thursday edition includes a J-School on bylines, steak sauce, and nonprofit media (1:00). Then, Bryan and Joel dig into Lee Corso’s retirement from 'College GameDay' (20:00), Trump’s attempt to prevent the AP from covering the White House (33:00), and Nico Harrison’s bizarre closed-door press conference (40:00). Plus: journalists in space and an update on Journalism, the official race horse of...
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April 14, 2025 • 56 mins
Hello, media consumers! This week, Bryan and David discuss the intense back and forth of Rory McIlroy’s first win at Augusta National (1:00), before running through a number of short items, including:
The faux reluctant update about Stephen A. Smith’s presidential campaign (17:50)
The bevy of Barstool personalities releasing apologies for their discussion of the Mary Kate Cornett rumor (20:00)
The newest era of college football...
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