The following podcast contains explicit language.

Hi, this is Josh Levine, and this is Slate's sports podcast, hang up and listen for the week of May 1st, 2017.

On this week's show, we're going to talk about the layoffs at ESPN and what they

portend about the future of the worldwide leader and of sports media. We'll also discuss the

NFL draft and all the players with so-called red flags and so-called character issues that did

and did not get selected. And finally, we'll do a public performance and critical

analysis of Dion Waiters' recent story in the Players Tribune titled, The NBA is Lucky I'm Home

Doing Damn Articles. Joining me in Washington, D.C. is the guy who held it down for two weeks

while I was away. The author of the book's Word Freak and a few seconds of panic, a guy who could have used Dion Waiters's help with titling at least a handful of his books. And also a man who antagonizes ultramarathoners one week and embraces them the next. Stefan Fatsis. Hello, Stefan. Welcome back, Josh. Did you have a fruitful two weeks?

It was some of the fruit was rotten, but a few were, you know, edible. I think Josh is wearing a new shirt, so it was definitely a productive two weeks. I am wearing it. The wardrobe has been

enhanced. And with us from our studio on Brooklyn, you may know him as Big Was on Twitter, and hopefully you've heard his voice on ESPN's great and now sadly defunct True Hoot podcast. It's Wozny Lambray. What's up, Was. Hey, what's going on, guys? How's everything? I'm so happy to be here. I'm a fan of both of you guys' work, so I'm happy to be here. Well, we're happy to have you, especially since you like us.

Also a quick RIP-R-I-P-Tru-Hoop.

Yeah, we're going to get into that in a second, and it's a good time to have you on the show so we can memorialize True Hoop more thoroughly.

In our bonus segment for Slate Plus members, we will remember True Hoop, the great ESPN entity that started out as a blogging platform evolved into something a whole lot bigger and a whole lot more that Was was a part of.

We'll get into it. And if you want to hear that, if you want to hear our bonus

segments every week, you can join Slate Plus. It's just $49 a year and you'll get bonus segments

on this and other Slate podcasts to join. It's slate.com slash hangup plus. Last week, ESPN finally

followed through on its long threatened plan to lay off a

bunch of its on-air talent. A lot of analysts were let go, people that you'll know from the TV

side, among them former athletes like Trent Dilford, Danny Connell, and Doug Landville. A bunch of

SportsCenter anchors also got the acts, plus basketball reporters like

Andy Katz, Mark Stein, and then a bunch of writers that we know we've had on the show and that you

...