Grandstand Podcast

The 2021 Grandstand New Year has arrived! The mountain man, Rafaga De Palmer, and pride and joy of Grossmont High, Lil Mo, joined us to usher in the most wonderful time of the sporting season. Celebrating the first Saturday of May we reflect on the pandemic sporting year without the most valuable player in the game - the fans - and discuss everything from horse racing to quilts, Padres baseball, digital fandom and much more!

Fernando Tatis Jr., a prophet brought to San Diego by the baseball gods, recently sparked controversy when hitting a grand slam in a manner that violated one of the many “unwritten rules” of America’s national pastime. While the remaining purists continue to insist the unwritten rules provide important guidelines for how to play the game the “right way”, the majority of grandstanders in the sports world have made it loud and clear they find these codes irrational and antiquated.  On this episode of Grandstand Podcast we talk unwritten rules, their absurdity as well as their social value. Whether it be within the sport of baseball or the cultural groups that raise us there are these implicit codes that serve as our tribal shibboleths traditionally passed down over generations. But even after those codes become deeply ingrained within the cultural DNA of a group their value and importance will inevitably become questioned. Are baseball’s codes really about having respect for the game or is that a guise to protect the fragile ego of one player - the pitcher? In today’s American society where one is an individual first, before a member of a collective whole, is baseball ready to just “let the kids play”, strive for individual success and discard the virtues of restraint, respect and humility toward others? Similarly, beyond the diamond, after a long day of hard work are we ready to stop giving up our seat on the bus to entitled old ladies? What would Jesus do? Or does the Grandstand not care anymore?  

Earlier this week on a humid summer day on Broadway Street in New York City two drivers had a near collision, then got out of their vehicles and screamed at each other over who retrospectively would have been at fault. Meanwhile, as they fought in the middle of the street everyone else sharing the street wanted them to move on and clear up the mass traffic they were inconveniently causing. After all, they both were partially at fault. They finally decided to swallow their pride get back in their cars and clear up the road, but on the sidewalk another altercation was now taking place. A gentleman publicly shamed another gentleman who was not wearing a face mask. The person not wearing the mask angrily yelled back “I put my faith in God, not white scientists, and God doesn’t tell us to wear a mask!” They yelled back and forth for about a minute without coming to an agreement and parted ways angrily. The shamer was right - experts have found that not wearing a mask can pose a public health risk for the community. Yet, the anti masker was unequivocally right as well - nowhere in the Vedas, the Torah, the Holy Bible, the Quran or even the Book of Mormon does the creator of all existence instruct wearing face masks during a Covid-19 pandemic. So both were indeed correct! These incidents raise the question, can cranky sweaty men competing over truth come to agreement that perhaps both are wrong or maybe both are right? Or must there be a winner and a loser? When the grandstanders sitting behind right field in Wrigley Field yell “left field sucks!” and the right field grandstanders yell back “right field sucks!” are they not including center field because center field doesn’t suck or because center field sucks so much it’s not even worth including in their battle? On this episode of Grandstand Podcast the Pontificator and Professor continue the Corona Series thinking through these questions while talking face masks, social distancing, the culture wars and sports. It’s a very amicable conversation filled with compromise and understanding.

Back at it from the safety of our homes with more from the ushers! On this episode of Grandstand we’re joined by our political correspondent, Dan One Time Tex, coming down from space and dropping in on us live from Geneva, Switzerland; and from Chiraq, Illinois, Grandstand’s very own artist, lover and preservationist of the human experience, Skitch Bourbon comes in with sirens blazing. We discuss the current pandemic’s implications on interaction, surveillance, and our willingness to reimagine what it means to spectate the sporting spectacle. Perhaps we’re realizing what Michel Foucault meant when he said “Our society is not one of spectacle, but of surveillance” and maybe Chi-Town legends Skitch and Harry Caray can help us understand that. So grab your toilet paper and wipe up for another quarantined episode from the Grandstand! 

Not even being quarantined can ever stop the grandstanders from chirping away! Thanks to the beauty of skype and technology, Grandstand’s very own ushers, Rafaga De Palmer and Lil Tio Moy report to duty to discuss the Covid-19. The gang talks about their local experiences in the past couple of weeks, predict what implications this pandemic will have on this year’s world of sports, fear how dirty America's butt will become when all the toilet paper runs out and much much more!

Grandstand is back and this time we’re going for the win…by any means necessary! On this episode the Pontificator and Professor discuss what has been the spiciest talk of the town in the sports world - The 2017 cheating, albeit winning, Houston Astros. How much does the cheating scandal in baseball reflect the larger ethos driving our everyday lives beyond the game? What can modest fishermen, Pac Man, Max Weber and Vince McMahon teach Major League Baseball and society about the problem our game finds itself plagued in? As Grandstanders always do, we meander through a sea of ideas and questions as we try to make sense of this sexy mess that we’ve caged ourselves in. 

Grandstand is back to kick off the beginning of the grandstanding sporting season, the first weekend of May. After the controversial ending of the Kentucky Derby in which the official winner was not determined by the horse who actually crossed the finish line first, but rather by a review of the replay video, this sparks a discussion on the effort of sports to establish absolute fairness. While a noble pursuit, can the progressive effort toward perfecting fairness come at the sacrifice of certain elements of the grandstanding experience that are worth conserving? With technology comes change, and with change comes the type of ranting and raving that is essential in the grandstand. Joined by Rafaga de Palmer, we spit ball around thoughts about the reliance on instant replay review, and whether it is a sign that the world is becoming one big patty cake factory of snowflakes.

And just like that we are back! For this grand return we get knee deep into talk of long distance love affairs, forgiveness and return. Is it really possible to keep love alive at a distance as is the case for the Charger fans left behind in San Diego? We attempt to make amends with the enigmatic faithfulness of grandstanders who have zero qualms or bitterness towards the Chargers despite the classless manner in which they handled their move to L.A. We dig into the complications of forgiveness and letting go in the name of love. Are the Los Angeles Chargers of Carson formerly known as the San Diego Super Chargers all grown up? Was their move to the big city the necessary catalyst that put their future successes in motion? Should we not be proud of them on some level? What to do, what to feel, how to process a possible Super Bowl win? Will some of those diehard haters ever return and are they justified in not ever doing so? All this and more within the context of the challenges of long distance love, conjugal bedrooms, and even a little hanky panky!

On this episode of Grandstand the Pontificator and Professor are re-joined by the ushers to have a war of perspectives and philosophize over "what is?" and "why?". Calling in from Geneva, Switzerland, Dan-1x-Tex relentlessly bombards the conversation from a place of tribally detached objective reason, while Rafaga De Palmer comes in barefoot, pantless and angry from a WiFi accessible mountain in Big Sur, CA to defend the validity of emotion within the sporting discourse. For almost two hours the gang kicks around opinions regarding the end of this year's World Cup - does the WC even matter after Mexico is no longer in it? Is it just plain foolish to imagine the idea of the Green Team ever winning a WC in our lifetime? Why have we still not seen them play that ever elusive 5th game? The boys are back in town to theorize, ramble, argue and predict as we try to cope and make sense of why our beloved team on the field can't perform as well as their wishful fans in the stands.Episode Note: This was recorded before the semi finals of the tournament.

We’re back in the Grandstand, and there’s no better time to kick off season 4 than alongside the opening game of the grandest of all spectating spectacles - the Fifa World Cup!!! Considering the history and potential future of nation state divisions, we discuss the relevance of the World Cup in a corporate saturated, neoliberal, globalized time. Beyond being a tournament that determines which group of guys play the best futbol, is the World Cup simply just an experience in nationalist expression? In a time when adherence to a national identity is becoming perceived as antiquated, we talk about the type of “carnival nationalism” that the World Cup provides to give people a sense of place and belonging in our global village.

On this special episode of Grandstand Podcast we talk to Roberto José Andrade Franco, a freelance writer and History PhD candidate at Southern Methodist University. Roberto wrote a beautiful piece about the enigmatic and polarizing figure that is Saúl “El Canelo” Álvarez. At the conclusion of this weekend's much anticipated and potentially career defining fight with Gennady Golovikin, questions about Canelo's legacy remain. We go inside and out of the ring with Roberto to explain why Canelo triggers such an ambivalent reception from a culture desperately searching for their next great hope.  Links to Roberto’s work: Who Is Saul “Canelo” Alvarez?: http://deadspin.com/who-is-saul-canelo-alvarez-1814078910   Julio Cesar Chavez Jr Lost So Much More Than a Fight: http://deadspin.com/julio-cesar-chavez-jr-lost-so-much-more-than-a-fight-1795028415 Roberto's Website: boxingandhistory.com 

Grandstand political correspondent ;One-Time in Texas Porras and usher extraordinaire Ráfaga- I told you I wasn't lying-Palmer; join us for the glorious finale of this season of grandstanding. The ushers divulge and discuss personal stories, the virtues and damnations of competition, heckling, crying, winning ugly, losing pretty, Tom and Jerry, drinking games and a whole lot more. When you finish listening to this grand episode we guarantee that you will want to go out and win at something. P.S. A special thanks to the Professor for always having the class to dignify our sophomoric meanderings!

One of the great distractions from the corruption and human rights abuses supported by FIFA in recent years have been the grandstanders of the Mexican National Soccer Team. On this episode, the Pontificator and Professor discuss the controversial “Puto” chant at Mexican soccer games - both a joyful cry of unity, yet also a cringe inducing reminder of prejudice and marginalization. Is it indeed a homophobic chant and is censorship the best solution? Late in the episode, the one and only Lil Mo joins the conversation to give his candid take on the chant near and dear to his heart. As the Pontificator and Lil Mo prepare to enter a sold out Qualcomm Stadium this weekend to be a part of the Mexican Green Team experience, they provide some pre game analysis, not of the game on the field, but of the anticipated performance of one of the most loyal, passionate and unapologetic grandstanders in the history of the spectating spectacle.  

As spectators we get to witness the play on the field and form mini narratives that we superimpose on the larger story. But helping us along the way are all of the interlocutors that are contextualizing every facet of the spectacle. On this episode we are joined by Grandstand's resident political scientist, legal adviser to outer space, and Tweeter extraordinaire - Dan 1x Tex - to discuss one our favorite players on the sporting periphery - the broadcasters. It's these narrators who help turn players into the heroes and games into the tales that hold us together.

Similar to Thanksgiving day in America, the First Saturday of May is a holiday that can be seen as a tale of two sporting cultures: in their genteel slacks, hats and dresses, the Anglos like to gather early in the day to sip on bourbon and bet on the broncos. Elsewhere, the Spanish don't come together until nightfall when they indulge on beer and bet on the boxers. But at Grandstand we’ve learned that we are what the professional booze marketers describe as “Born Bold”. We are both Aqui y Alla, and as dual spectators we run the entire track and 12 rounds of this holiday. Taking part in both festivities, in this episode of Grandstand we recap the Kentucky Derby and Canelo v Chavez Jr events. The First Saturday of May has come and the real sports season has commenced. 

Have you ever asked yourself who is the most anomalous devotee of the spectating spectacle? What’s the deal with these seemingly invisible arbitrating personages who giveth humanity and order to our games? Guest Tim Tipton, seasoned veteran of the public school teaching spectacle, joins us for a conversation about the parallels between teachers and referees. What gives for these discreet protagonists of the games we play on and off the field?

The USA has finally won the World Baseball Classic, but did anyone in America even notice? In other parts of the baseball spectating world the WBC is a big deal and some grandstanders and national team ballplayers have gone out of their way to make sure everyone knows it (much to the chagrin of Ian Kinsler). How will the nose to the grindstone good ol’ boys club survive the theatre of international competition with its drama of subtle sleights, restrained oversimplifications, cultural typecasting, and soft-core infractions of a bantam sized patriotic zeal? This ain’t no longer your daddy’s brand of ball this is the World Baseball Classic a gleaming new frontier for America’s National Pastime.

As a young, Bimbo bread eating school boy, the Pontificator spent every recess zealously shooting hoops with his fellow mini scholars; but as he grew older, beard aging longer and grayer, his once young appreciation for America’s homegrown cosmopolitan sport faded away. He now wonders why. The Real BR (formerly from Brooklyn), joins the Grandstand this episode to discuss his love for the sport of slam dunks and alley-oops. We talk granny shots, individualism, ads on jerseys and more - as the Pontificator seeks to recapture the fandom that he let get away.  

Times are changing that’s already been established, and thus now is a perfect time for grandstanders to reexamine their roles in shaping that change as well as asking what goes into forming lasting and well regarded institutions. For this dilatory episode of Grandstand Podcast the Professor and Pontificator talk about what MLS in San Diego supporters can learn from Charger defectors to the Raider Nation brand. A grandstandy discussion about the perils and polemics of putting the cart before the horse, the color and styling of the footman’s kit can come only after knowing the confirmation of the horse.

They’re gone, but Grandstand is still chattering on, how could we not? The Professor and Pontificator spin a tight web of conclusions about the Chargers’ departure, conclusions that have very little to do with the politicking, the back stabbing and the extortion narrative. Have a listen to a romance tinted conversation about departures, arrivals, revelations and a healer saint named Saint Didacus.

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.

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!

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.

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 HouseLuciano Pavarotti - Ave Maria

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.

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!

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

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.

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!

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.

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?  

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.

For this revealing episode Grandstand is joined by Ryan from Pads Pod to talk about the rise of Major League Soccer (MLS) in America, along with the current existential crisis of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) inability to stay culturally relevant. Baseball is doing well financially, but 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 players and as content producers of the spectating spectacle? Data suggests that soccer seems to be one of the games of choice of the millennial generation, but will this transfer 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 about 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.

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.

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

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 introduce readers to what is now known as Gonzo style journalism: http://brianb.freeshell.org/a/kddd.pdf

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.

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 thats 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!

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.

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.

Field notes is a new segment that will feature grandstanders in their element, conversations during the performance, grandstanding as it happens, uncensored, unadulterated, pure and shameless fandom. For the first dispatch we go to a Super Bowl party and sit in the most comfortable and ubiquitous of grandstands, the couch, and talk about almost everything but the game.

For the third and final installment of The Spectating Spectrum we talk to Ray Lawson, an actual USA soccer supporter, about his futbol rooting ethos. We discuss the potential perils of disimpassioned fandom and the existential conundrum of being a sensible American parishioner in the most cultish of all outlaw religions.

Grandstanding requires constant reflection and attentiveness to the absurd. Every once in a while the skeptical cognoscente in the grandstand force us to examine the bad faith of our spectating. In part 2 of this series we talk to Nathan Eisenberg about his illuminating essay about European Soccer Ultras: “Ultra Violence” The New Inquiry June 2015. Is Mario and Manny’s nationalistic fandom priming them for Fascism? What is Fascism?

Not all fandom is created equally; and in some rare cases some Grandstanders can make it look easy. During this episode we talk to Damiano Zardini about his love for his hometown football club Hellas Verona and about the uncomplicated nature of rooting straightforwardly, for love, over a lifetime and a sense of place. The Spectating Spectrum is a 3 part series in which we profile 3 different shades of spectating from the grandstand: the Believer, the Atheist and the Agnostic.  

After Mario’s recent visit to the Chargers’ final home game of the season, we decided to do a bonus episode to discuss what a Charger-less city might mean for the people of San Diego. What exactly is the void that their departure would leave behind for Bolts fans? With special cameos featuring Jerry Seinfeld, Barack Obama and the NFL’s newest fan, Frida; Mario and Manny discuss the great drama that has been the Chargers threatening to leave to Los Angeles. 

In part 2 of our discussion of professional wrestling, we discuss the physical and psychological toll that goes into entertaining an audience for a living. Like athletes in any sport, wrestlers are performers who often sacrifice their physical and mental health for a paycheck, the enrichment of corporate executives, and the entertainment of a public looking for an escape. This is a two parter. Check out part 1, which introduces our general discussion of professional wrestling.

For episode 3, Mario discusses the ridiculous world of professional wrestling with Manny. They breakdown a few of the terms and principles that underlie this industry of manipulation - one that feeds an audience that is hungry for something real, with performances that are generally perceived as absurdly unreal. To what degree do we essentially develop our own personal wrestling characters and performances to interact with our audiences on a daily basis? This negotiation between performance and spectators makes professional wrestling a truly unbelievable spectacle within a world where people simply want something to believe in.

In episode 2 Mario and Manny are joined by Tijuana/San Diego sports beat writer and Football fan, Daniel Iglesias, to talk about cross border fandom and Mario’s greener grass syndrome issues. What’s inside the Trojan horse of fandom crossing the Mexico/USA gate for Xolos and Chargers? Is Mexico’s bourgeoning interest in Football something new or has it been a historically attentive market of fans waiting for the NFL to pay attention to them? Who is psychologically bankrolling the Mexican National team’s storied push to the quarter-finals (quinto partido) at the World Cup?

For the first episode of Grandstand Podcast, Mario is joined by cousin, Manny, sociology professor and fellow fanatic of the drama of winning, losing, cheating and, more than anything, talking about it. They will be discussing fandom and the beautiful absurdity of engaging in the theatre of sports. Is it permissible to root for a sports team that you have no regional or familial ties to? Can a fan switch teams? What’s more suspect than a Bandwagon fan?