Hang Up | Robo Calls: The Umps of the Future Are Here

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Slate Podcasts

Arts, Tv & Film, Music

4.4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2025

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hosts Alex Kirshner, Lindsay Gibbs, and Ben Lindbergh dive into the inclusion and implications of robotic officiating in the NFL and MLB. They also discuss the retirement of basketball all-time great, Diana Taurasi. Finally, they talk about a right-wing proposal for a steroid-fueled sports league. For Afterballs, Alex remembers the careers of Czech hockey superstar Jaromir Jagr as well as the beloved voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mike Lange, who died last month. On the bonus episode available exclusively for Slate Plus members, the panel discusses the popular NBA parody Twitter account, NBACentel. Robo Refs (3:15): Robots will be used to scrutinize calls in both baseball and football. Diana Taurasi (21:49): The basketball icon steps away after twenty-plus years. Let 'em Juice (37:46): The bizarre proposal from Donald Trump Jr. and friends for a steroid-acceptable sports league. (Note: time codes are only accurate for Slate Plus members, who listen ad-free.) Want more Hang Up and Listen? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page, or visit slate.com/hangupplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It is Monday, March the 3rd, 2025. Welcome back to Hang Up and Listen, the sports podcast here at Slate.
0:12.6	Back with you again this week. I am Alex Kirchner. I'm a contributing writer for Slate, and I also co-hosts Split Zone Duo.
0:19.2	That's a national college football podcast. This week we have
0:22.2	much to discuss. We will talk about two major sports leagues, the NFL and major league baseball,
0:27.1	finally taking concrete steps toward using technology for officiating in ways that they've bandied
0:32.4	about for a long time. We will talk about the retirement of one of the great players in basketball
0:36.8	history, Diana Torasi, and the legacy that she leaves. And we will also talk about the retirement of one of the great players in basketball history, Diana
0:37.7	Tarasi, and the legacy that she leaves. And we will also talk about the enhanced games,
0:43.2	a very steroidal, Olympics-like concept that strikes me as just a terrible idea, but is gaining
0:49.5	some purchase as a working concept among some fairly powerful people. As usual, joining me this week is Lindsay Gibbs, the publisher of Powerplace,
0:57.3	a newsletter that covers the biggest stories of the moment in women's sports.
1:01.0	Lindsay, hi-ya.
1:02.0	Hiya, it's March.
1:03.4	Did anybody know it's March?
1:04.8	This is March.
1:05.8	It's March.
1:08.0	Feeling mad already.
1:09.7	The madness never stops, but March comes and goes and always sneaks up on me.
1:13.9	So I'm excited.
1:15.0	Got lots of great women's basketball coming.
1:17.1	I could not be more pumped and a little scared.
1:22.0	And of course, we have with us Ben Lindberg.
	...

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