Pablo Torre Finds Out

Pablo unveils shocking new details (and documents) from inside the fraudulent company that spawned a generational NBA scandal, as Amin Elhassan and David Samson return for rational explanations in the court of podcast opinion — and contemplate Steve Ballmer's endgame.

• Part II: Team Ballmer vs. Team Sh*tting Bricks — an Argument with Mark Cuban

• Part I: The Richest Owner in Sports, the Silent Superstar and the Rotten Apple ...

He's stripped at the Super Bowl and evaded the authorities at Wimbledon. He danced in a tutu at the Olympics and raced alongside Usain Bolt. But Mark Roberts is more than the world's most notorious streaker. Because his memories of mischief contain multitudes. About how to challenge authority, then laugh with the cops. About how to find yourself, lose yourself... and love what it means to be a fan all over again.

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As the NBA announced an investigation in response to Pablo's reporting on Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers, he turned a Twitter war with the longtime Dallas Mavericks owner into an exclusive, impromptu debate. It was congenial and contentious, hypothetical and hyperbolic — and very, very revealing. About the secret world of billionaires and sports ownership. About oversight and due diligence and responsibility. About scams and sharks...

Pablo digs up a clue — buried in a promise to save the planet — and unearths a scandal: Did the wealthiest sports owner on Earth secretly sweeten the pot for the most private star in professional basketball? And what do Iron Man, Martin Luther King and Bill Clinton have to do with all of this? Former front-office executives Amin Elhassan and David Samson help us comb through more than 3,000 pages of exclusive documents... and disco...

For 27 years, filmmaker Mickey Duzyj carried a prideful secret history: He'd been the Dracula version of Ben Shelton in late-'90s Detroit, with his very own bleacher crows, a very special coach… and a deal with the devil.

(This episode originally aired October 24, 2024.)

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America's best documentary filmmaker spent nearly five years making a nine-hour masterpiece for Netflix. Which you'll never see. Edelman sits down with Pablo in search of catharsis — if not closure — in the battle for truth and control over the life story of one of the biggest control freaks ever.

(This episode originally aired March 4, 2025.)

• Previously on PTFO: When Docs Cry 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qi6x3QF-v8

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His callers are a portal to the college-football universe — and the American South today. As Finebaum himself says, "We found this audience before Donald Trump did." We're talking poisoned trees, an on-air heart attack... and one Alabama super-fan with a truly haunting past.

(This episode originally aired December 19, 2024.)

• Subscribe to Pablo's Substack for exclusive access, documents and invites

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No job in America is more scrutinized, except for (maybe) the presidency. And yet no job is more misunderstood — even by the stars who mastered it. On the eve of a new football season, Pablo joins journalism's foremost QB scholar for a case study in royalty: How do the Mannings keep producing under-center superstars? What connects the Golden Age of Hollywood to John Elway? Is Tom Brady’s newsletter right about fatherhood? And why d...

He was the Bill James of basketball. A cocky forefather of sports analytics who saw numbers as colors. Whose book, "Basketball Heaven," helped usher in the three-point era. And who failed. But Martin Manley also left behind a map, ranging from X-Files to his mother-in-law to the path toward the most efficient life... and death. Reporters Nick Altschuller and Rich Levine adapt their new "30 for 30" podcast — produced by our parent c...

He is one of the most disturbing and unapologetic filmmakers in Hollywood, from creating "Requiem for a Dream" to choosing conquistador sci-fi over Batman. But director Darren Aronofsky's new movie — "Caught Stealing," starring Austin Butler as a former MLB prospect — is a departure. Toward optimism; nostalgia; and Cheez. (Because, as any real New Yorker knows, you get everything you want when you no longer want it that much.)

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The host of “The Adam Friedland Show” is here to come out of the closet as the secret inspiration for one of PTFO’s most controversial episodes. Also: Pablo and Adam’s (real) LSAT scores; loving Kobe; telling Kobe how your ass tastes; @perfectbooties; if LeBron is the Millennial Michael Jordan; the secrets of good interviewing; calling Tony Kornheiser; photo shoots; campus protests; dunking on Chris Cuomo; Jonathan Livingston Seagu...

If you’ve been asking Pablo to discuss Jeffrey Epstein… this episode is for you. The NFLPA’s election of a new executive director, David White, has brought a new level of spin, and denial, about a major scandal — and cover-up — during his tenure atop SAG-AFTRA. So PTFO summons Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio back for a fourth (!) installment of their endless NFL investigation. And with the help of a brave new character, we attempt ...

In another edition of Share & Tell, Pablo, Katie Nolan, and Michael Cruz Kayne dissect an evening they spent together; the secrets of taping comedy specials; vasectomies; peak Britney Spears; and the legend of Alonzo “Hamburger” Jones. Plus: mewing, boofing, rooves, Wendy Wetface, Japanese Student No. 9 and Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp.

• Previously: “How Science Ruined Grief,” with Michael Cruz Kayne https://www.pablo.sh...

Not since the Greco-Roman period has sculpture mattered this much in sports. And Jerry Saltz — the Pulitzer Prize-winning senior art critic for New York magazine — has zero idea who Dwyane Wade is. Which is precisely why we asked the erstwhile Jewish Cowboy (we'll explain) to evaluate our athletic Bronze Age, from Michael Jordan to Cristiano Ronaldo. And that's before we get to "I Can't Believe It's Not Pablo (Butter on Gasbag, 202...

The story of basketball cannot be told without Oscar Schmidt, the greatest scorer to never play in the NBA. Pablo travels to Florida for a sit-down with a legend whose impact on the game — like his laugh — still echoes today.

(This episode originally aired March 14, 2024.)

• Subscribe to Pablo's Substack for exclusive access, documents and invites

https://pablo.show/

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At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Adolf Hitler gave the legendary runner a gift: four potted oak-tree saplings — one for each gold medal that Owens won, while surrounded by Nazis, in one of the greatest sports performances ever. Correspondent David Fleming examines what Owens did with The Hitler Oaks... and why his decision remains an enduring act of American defiance.

(This episode originally aired June 8, 2024.)

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Our semi-regular roundtable on sports business reconvenes for expertise from the boardroom: David Samson takes Pablo behind the scenes of Ichiro's viral joke about him at the Baseball Hall of Fame, then John Skipper translates the math from the ESPN negotiating table to the Unrivaled cap table the looming strike over WNBA salaries — and team valuations at large. Plus: foreskin, poppycock, psychedelic pastel paisley, pandering to th...

As the NFL returns, Pablo and Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio are back with more secret documents, a federal investigation, new government names, billions of union dollars, an O.J. Simpson parking space, the world’s largest strip club... and one big "clusterf*ck." Does the OneTeam Partners saga connect to a Game of Thrones-style power play by the NFLPA's shadow boss? Or could the feds be on the trail of an even bigger scandal?

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We are living in the era of Peak Cremation, and fans have turned to our true American cathedral as a final resting place: the sports arena. PTFO death correspondent David Fleming reports on a cottage industry for die-hards in the afterlife — from team-branded urns and exploding golf balls to franchises that want the on-field ceremonies gone (and forgotten). And then, of course, we help a woman named Edna spread her husband's ashes....