Joel was the best. Not sure I will continue listening to to slate podcasts anymore

I really wanted to keep listening because I liked the old hosts but I just can’t. Alex laughs at everything she says (even when not remotely funny), and everything Ben says sounds like a speech he’s written out in advance. Alex is good. But that’s about it.

I just never want to keep listening anymore. Miss the camaraderie and perspectives of the former hosts. I’m going to quit following

A totally revitalized podcast — smart, charming, energetic and chill trio. So glad to listen to this new crew.

This was my favorite podcast back in the Mike Pesca days. Smart and whimsical analysis across sports big and small. The hosts were having fun. It became increasingly political in the Trump years and has snowballed into essentially a politics podcast featuring sports. I wish the outrage and partisanship didn’t come here.

I have listened to this show for over 10 years and was planning to stop after the change in hosts. However, I have changed my mind and so glad i did. Alex, Lindsay, and Ben, although bringing a different energy and perspective from the old crew, are not inferior in the least. They are insightful, curious, and have a great rhythm which makes listening very enjoyable. I will continue to listen for another 10 years if these are the hosts.

Without Joel, I am unsubscribing from Slate catch up pod. How unprofessional to not even inform the audience.

I’ve listened to this show since the beginning, and it’s basically the only thing I pay attention to from Slate now. Well, now I just won’t pay attention to anything from Slate. The corporate overlords did this crew wrong. I encourage people to listen to the archive, because this was probably the best sports podcast on the planet, and it was killed. RIP Hang Up, you were awesome.

I was a big fan of the pod and listened every week. I tuned in because of Joel Anderson. Now that he’s been let go by Slate I’ll have to unsubscribe. I tuned in for his takes most of the time.

I am so sorry Joel was laid off by Slate. I loved his voice in this podcast.

I like that it is not the screaming, X's and O's kind of sports podcast.

I really enjoy this podcast overall in part due its provocative nature and overall feel it is clearly 5 star. The most recent episode on Jim Brown, however, was a missed opportunity to balance Brown’s ‘complicated’ personal history, given the two chosen guests came across to me more as Jim Brown sympathizers, than portrayers of objectivity in balancing his history. I feel it would have been more balanced to have a female on the show, one that could help provide some added perspective to Brown’s ‘complexities’ related to his history of violence against women. In fairness, the hosts tried to bring the guests back to his long history of violence against women, but all they could do was admit that when confronted with Brown, they were unable to bring these issues up in direct conversation. Are these the people that are going to be the foremost experts on how we should think about Brown? While Bill Belichick may consider Jim Brown the greatest player in NFL history, why is this more important to the guests than Brown’s clear issues with women or anyone that confronted his masculinity? My take on Brown’s legacy is that he would have done so much more good if he would have confronted his own personal problems and become an advocate against domestic abuse in the NFL, prisons, etc. To not (at least) go to the next level in this discussion, your panel lost credibility with me.

I love this podcast, I never miss an episode, and I’m not even a sports fan. Thoughtful discussions, interesting perspectives, and it’s fun!!

I really loved Vinson! What a smart, thoughtful, insightful guy! I look forward to his next guest appearance. Overall this is my favorite podcast. Thank you for all the great work!

Gonna miss Vinson. It’s always been a great sports podcast with a wider view and variety of stories, but Vinson clearly the most entertaining.

The content of this show is usually good but I think I’m going to move on from it because (1) the show has begun to suffer from a lack of continuity among hosts; while the guest hosts are good, I prefer a show with regular hosts who are committed to the project and have a rapport with each other; this is no longer that kind of show; (2) this podcast has technical problems unlike any other in my feed —e.g., sometimes I get the non-subscriber version even though I’m a subscriber; also, about once a month or so the show doesn’t download properly so I have to delete, re-download/reset. Points (1) and (2) combine to make this podcast increasingly bush league. That’s too bad because for years it was one of my favorites.

Tremendous stuff from Joel Anderson on Jim Brown. I’m a Syracuse native and huge Cuse fan, obviously. I’m also a big Lacrosse fan. You ask any old times lacrosse person and they will tell you Jim Brown’s best sport was Lacrosse. Love the Pod, as always. David from Syracuse.

Excellent! Really enjoy the current lineup of host. My constructive criticism is that the after balls goes on too long. Sportscasters love to hear themselves speak. It doesn’t really diminish the podcast because the hosts usually have something insightful to say. If I were to compare this to other sports podcasts I would have to give it 7 stars out of 5. The hosts here are knowledgeable and funny. But they are not annoying bros with “hot takes” like the vast majority of sports programming! Keep up the good work!!!!!

Listening to “Hang up and listen” is a very odd proposition. You quickly realize that sports is not the point at all. Instead it’s just accelerant used to move quickly into a very provincial way of thinking about the world around us. It’s politics everywhere and all the time and sports certainly will not escape this panopticon.

Used to be interesting, now it’s just more Slate woke garbage.

It is crazy that at the start of every game, Rachel Nichols flashes the white power symbol with her left hand, for a long time during her monologue. You can go back and check. She did it from the preseason on. She obviously does not Want to be around “those” people. It devastated my children and I when we saw it. It is awful to do to the young, full of hopes and dreams. It is clear she wants to do something else. Let her do that something else away from our sons and daughters.

i save this pod for my tuesday run and look forward to it every week. even when i don't think the subject will be interesting, it usually turns out to be because of the questions and discussion lead by joel, stephan, and josh. I like it best when they are chatting. their friendship is evident. please keep it up.v

HUAL is where sports, society, and whimsy meet in thoughtful discussion and hilarious banter. A weekly highlight, and a consistent source of joy.

december 7, stefan, december. when joel described getting stuck in baton rouge due to LSU’s intransigence and using his spare days there to explore the sordid and rarely-told history of the interstate’s impact on the city’s black communities, i knew this was a special podcast with special journalists.

I listen to a lot of podcasts. Many of them at 1.5x speed, and some of them I delete episodes as soon as they download. But Hang Up and Listen has been my absolute favorite for as long as I can remember. The content is rich, nuanced, well-researched, respectful, and often wildly entertaining. It’s also so different from the rest of the sports media landscape (Sorry, Stephen A. and Tony Kornheiser), by delving into such topics as the fast-twitch muscles on Kenyan athletes, the setbacks suffered by female gymnasts, and obscure anecdotes about soccer in the 1960s. Josh is the perfect host — funny and intelligent, and not long-winded. Stefan and Joel add great conversation and complex takes, and all the guests are experts in their fields and provide unique, diverse voices. Any sports fan would be missing out by not listening to every episode of Hang Up. (One criticism: I really miss “Whimsy Watch!”)

This is one of the two podcasts I listen to as soon as it’s released. Talking about the issues surrounding sports makes our fan-dom more enriching.

I started listening religiously during the pandemic even though I hate sports because Josh’s voice is so soothing. So soothing.

“Prime-prep.” Thank you for dropping gems

I love this podcast even though I am not a sports fan at all. These guys are SMART. They discuss every subject in depth with nuance. Almost makes me want to follow some sport teams. I appreciate being able to throw out some sports cocktail chatter. Again, a very smart show.

Did you know... Stefan Fatsis respects women and plays Scrabble?

I don’t listen to this show as much as I used to but still subscribe for some reason. I saw that their Last Dance ep was behind a paywall and laughed so hard. It’s like they think there is a dearth of The Last Dance podcast eps out there! Did they do their episode on the NFL draft on Slate Plus too? Hahaha. Cmon!

There’s nothing more Slate than seeing other sites get tremendous reader support through these tough times and thinking, “You know what’s missing from those? A hostage situation!”

Great sports podcast, long form reporting and fun discussions about all aspects of the sports world

Major east coast bias but still an awesome pod. Nice work!

Finally a live podcast without horrible audience noise. Good job. Go tigers

I enjoy Stefan Fatsis and Mike Pesca, and the discussions are smart and funny, but...this is a Slate production. So, occasionally, you’re going to have to fast-forward through the pointless snark of Nick Greene.

Usually when I write a review I like to quibble a bit about the content after glowing about the podcast in general. Not here. discussions of big sport stories-done. stories about individual athletes-yep. Want to hear discussions of women’s sports-they do that. Cutting edge trends-of course. Intersection between sports and society-you know they do. Get interesting guests with diverse points of view-“boom goes the dynamite”. And as an added bonus: they bring smarts and they bring healing helpings of the funny. I ran my first marathon this year. So, with all this to recommend it, it is probably no surprised is that hang up and listen played a prominent role on my training. I will be grateful for the funny and thought provoking discussions that got me through some of those tough miles the summer. Thanks for being their.

...long time listener. Love the podcast! But why doesn’t Stefan’s bioblurb end with “...and the cult minor league baseball classic ‘Wild and Outside’?” Speaking of sad middle aged men, I’m pretty sure I “liked” one of Stefan’s Tiger Tweets.

This show has kind of sucked since Pesca left. It’s become too political for me. I know we live in the time of Trump, and everyone wants to hail Trump as king or call him the devil. But, I just don’t want that political pandering stuff in sports coverage. Just one dude, know it doesn’t make a difference, but I’ll be unsubscribing. Best wishes in the future.

Smart people talking intelligently about sports and the broader culture in which it exists. It doesn’t shy away from politics and controversy. Interesting guest contributors often join Josh and Stefan. Hang Up and Listen is what I’ve wanted to say to sports talk radio callers for more than a decade. That or Shut Up and Listen.

Great for anyone not just hardcore sports junkies. It is offers in depth conversation of sports and the joys, triumphs, and the hypocrisy that goes along with it. I love it and I look forward to discussion weekly.

Mike’s takes are a breath of fresh air — even when they are wrong! (Not often :-)

Not hacky like so much other sport talk; however, slightly less wacky without Pesca. Still, a great, well done and consistent podcast on sports! Well done and keep’em coming

This is the best sports podcast. Funny, intelligent, insightful, they cover many topics beyond football, baseball, and basketball.

Great non-hot-takey smart sports show!

Pro Scholarly takes on current sports events Lefty slant on labor & race issues Guests curated for originality and intelligence Con Too judgy and quick to criticize alternative views Josh is sensitive, defensive when contradicted NYC bias supporting favorite teams

love the show, great takes and perspectives, a must listen for me every week.

This is my favorite sports pod. The hosts are entertaining and present stories from perspectives that are hard to find elsewhere. They also bring in a wide diversity of other voices to help mine the depth of the stories. Remember Zelmo Beaty.

Without a doubt the best sports podcast out there because they take interesting angles on popular stories, bring in unusual and diverse guests and are always digging up fascinating details for the Afterballs. Thanks guys!

Best sports podcast going! Josh and Stefan are extremely knowledgable, have interesting guess and are very entertaining. We look forward to listening every week!