Stalkers: A Hidden Threat to Athletes

Hang Up and Listen

Slate Podcasts

News, Sports, Sports News

4.6 • 986 Ratings

🗓️ 18 August 2025

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Hosts Alex Kirshner, Ben Lindbergh, and Lindsay Gibbs speak to the Athletic’s Carson Kessler about her recent investigative series on the rise of stalking in sports. The panel then previews the upcoming college football season before welcoming golf journalist Brendan Porath to break down the Ryder Cup and the drama around Keegan Bradley potentially being the first player-captain since the early 1960s. On the bonus episode available exclusively for Slate Plus members, Ben explains how the Milwaukee Brewers unexpectedly became the best team in baseball. Sports Stalkers (3:50): The chilling rise in disturbing fan behavior. CFB preview (23:30): What we love and hate going into week zero. Ryder Cup (50:48): Is Keegan Bradley teeing up to fail? (Note: time codes are only accurate for Slate Plus members, who listen ad-free.) Get more Hang Up and Listen with Slate Plus! Join for weekly bonus episodes of Hang Up and Listen and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Hang Up and Listen show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/hangupplus for access wherever you listen. You can email us at [email protected]. Podcast production and editing by Kevin Bendis, with production assistance from Patrick Fort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It is Monday, August 18th, 2025.
0:09.0	Welcome back to Hang Up and Listen, the sports podcast here at Slate.
0:13.0	Back with you again, I'm Alex Kirchner.
0:15.0	I'm a contributing writer for Slate, and I co-host split-zone duo, a National College Football podcast.
0:20.0	Exciting time of year in college football.
0:22.0	This week, our lineup of topics begins with an ever-present problem in sports that's recently
0:26.7	gotten some renewed attention.
0:28.3	The stalking of athletes, male and female, and the toll it can take on them and their families.
0:33.3	We'll talk with Carson Kessler, an investigative reporter for The Athletic, who dove into the
0:37.6	subject in detail in a recent package of stories that were quite chilling to read.
0:41.8	We will then ring in that college football season that I just mentioned, with a little
0:45.3	season preview hang-up style as a handful of games get the season going this upcoming weekend
0:49.9	before the proper week one on Labor Day weekend, and we'll interview the acclaimed golf journalist
0:54.9	Brendan Porath about a brewing problem for the United States Rider Cup team. The prospect of the
1:00.3	captain of the team, who is also one of the best players in the world right now, may be also playing
1:04.8	for that team. Could be a huge problem. We'll ask. As usual, joining me this week is Lindsay Gibbs,
1:10.2	the publisher of Powerplace,
1:11.4	a newsletter that covers the key stories of the moment in women's sports. Lindsay, how we doing?
1:16.2	Doing so good. I'm excited for the marquee event of this week, the mixed doubles at the U.S.
1:21.9	Open, which we might have to discuss next week. It's going to be wild and I'm excited. I am very much looking
1:30.2	forward to the U.S. Open as well. I feel like I'm in more of a tennis phase right now, probably
1:35.0	because of the Ciner Alcarez stuff than I have been in a while, but it has done what it's
	...

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