Hey, it's Bill Simmons. We're not just reacting to the NBA playoffs on my podcast.

We're also doing on the Ringer NBA show and the Miss Match podcast.

They are coming after some of these NBA playoff games.

Check it out Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights on the Ringer podcast network.

Hello, media consumers. Welcome to a bonus edition of the press box.

Brian Curtis of the Ringer here along with producer Erica Servantes.

This weekend I got to Hobnob with some talented authors at the Santa Fe Literary Festival.

One afternoon, I got called into the green room.

I opened the green room door and there sat perhaps the most talented author at the whole festival.

George R.R. Martin.

Now here at the Ringer, I'm nowhere near the top of the Game of Thrones content provider power rankings.

But I did pick up Martin's books more than a decade ago.

And I loved his writing so much that for a while I refused to watch the HBO show.

Because I really didn't see the point.

So I was happy when Martin agreed to meet me for an interview on Saturday afternoon.

Now a couple things. If you've come to our little media podcast from King's Landing, I'm sorry.

I have no updates about the winds of winter.

Martin didn't want to talk about that.

But Martin was happy to talk about the training he got as a journalist.

When he was a college student at Northwestern, he offered his thoughts about the media in 2022.

Martin and I talk sports.

He is famously a New York Jets and New York Giants fan.

...