"Hall of Shame" offers what limited sports entertainment cannot

Photo courtesy of Crooked Media, Wikipedia.

COMMENTARY

Due to the current limitation in sports media, many sports fans across the globe are gravitating towards other outlets of entertainment in order to relieve their sports fix. Podcasts are a popular platform in the sports world, so I decided to share one of my new favorites.

Crooked Media’s “Hall of Shame” podcast stands out as both diverse and unique. The podcast retells the crazy moments in sports that all fans remember, but what makes it exciting and new are the humorous opinions and commentary the two hosts bounce off of each other.

The podcast is uniquely hosted by two women: Fox Sports host Rachel Bonnetta and comedy writer Rachna Fruchbom. 

I gravitated to this podcast for several reasons. At first, I found the name of it catchy, so I decided to read about it. I then learned that the podcast was not only hosted by two women, but two women who are comedians. That intrigued me, as it was different from the average sports podcast host background. That was when I decided to listen.

“Hall of Shame” is brand new, as its first episode aired on Crooked Media’s website on March 9 of this year. However, a varied range of sports scandals have already been covered, from the 1985 NBA Draft Conspiracy to the story of South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya.

I really like how the hosts ease their way into each subject with some light comedy. One of the episodes that seemed most fluent was about the Ryan Lochte Olympics scandal. In the first half of the podcast, they explain the scandal thoroughly. 

Ryan Lochte was a swimmer on Team USA when he was competing for the Olympic team in Brazil during the summer of 2016. While in Rio, Lochte reported having been robbed by gunpoint, which grabbed the media's attention. However, his claims later did not add up, and he painted himself as the antagonist in his own story. 

It was great to receive a better understanding of the situation as they described the timeline of events cohesively, making it easy to follow. Halfway into the podcast, they share a few advertisements as a dividing line, and then the second half of the podcast is where they share their opinions on the situation.

I enjoyed how this podcast was organized as it was straightforward, humorous, and simplistic in structure. However, in comparison to other podcasts I have listened to, "Hall of Shame" was heavy in advertisements. I understand the reasoning behind advertisements in podcasts as that is the only source of income the hosts may receive from it. It did seem excessive, though, to have five minutes’ worth of ads in the center of the broadcast. I think one advertisement per episode makes sense, but three in a row had me starting to lose interest.

“Hall of Shame” is still posting episodes weekly on multiple media and music platforms, even while the world seems to be on a delay. I highly recommend endeavoring into the rich commentary that Bonnetta and Fruchbom provide.

ddeange1@ramapo.edu