Hey, everybody. This is Richard Ditch and welcome to the sports media podcast. My producer is Patrick Antonetti. Two guests this week, two excellent conversations. First up, Alan Shipnuck, a longtime golf rider, who is a partner and executive editor at the golf media company, The Firepick Collected,

and probably going to his best something built on Phil Mickelson.

And we get into what it is like to cover the Masters,

how a writer goes about doing that, because it is not an easy event to cover.

He was just the Masters, so we talk about the Masters final round,

average of 12.058 million, which was the most watched golf telecast in five years,

kicking around as to why we think that happened. We talk about Liv and the PGA tour and what

Alan thinks of Liv's media deal. If you're into golf, we get a little bit into the new league, the TGL, which Tiger Woods is part of,

two hours, 18-hole matches on a virtual course taking place on a primetime Monday night.

And then we finish with Alan just giving us some insight into how he and Matt Janella formed their company and the challenges of being not just a writer anymore, but an entrepreneur in the space.

He is followed by Howard Beck, the long time and excellent NBA writer.

You can find his work now at GQ.com.

And we get into Howard's recent piece, why NBA MVP voter fatigue is mostly a myth

and a conversation on what it's like to be an NBA awards voter,

whether writer should vote, and what we think of the playing tournament and why it's been very good for the NBA.

So Alan Shipnuck to start, Howard, back to finish, coming up on the Sports Media podcast.

All right, as I said at the top, Alan Shipnuck is a longtime writer specializing in golf after a quarter century at Sports Illustrated, where we work together in Golf Magazine.

He's now a partner, an executive editor at the golf media company, The Fire Pit Collective, where you can find all his writing, his podcasts, and his video storytelling.

Well, some of you may have read his best-selling book on Phil Milkelson, titled That is Phil.

The Rip Roaring and Unauthorized Biography of Golf's Most Colorful Superstar.

And, I mean, Alan Chipnuck is really mostly known for the fact that once upon a time I fact checked.

I think it was a UCLA football

...