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Impolitic with John Heilemann

Will Leitch

Impolitic with John Heilemann

Audacy | Puck

News, Politics

4.84.5K Ratings

🗓️ 25 May 2021

⏱️ 71 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In which John Heilemann talks with writer Will Leitch, sports columnist for MLB.com and New York magazine, founder of Deadspin, and author of a new novel, How Lucky. Heilemann and Leitch discuss the inspiration for How Lucky, including a friend of his young son with spinal muscular atrophy, the genetic disorder that Leitch gives to Daniel, the book's hero; Leitch's love for Athens, Georgia, where he and his family now live and where the book is set; how a complimentary tweet from Stephen King is tantamount to an Oprah's Book Club seal of approval; Leitch's time at Deadspin, including a famous televised confrontation with Friday Night Lights author Buzz Bissinger; the real reason for Major League Baseball's decision to move the All-Star Game from Atlanta; and how the NBA is leading the way in political activism in sports. Leitch also discusses his hesitation about getting too excited about the recent success of the New York Knicks, with villainous team owner Jimmy Dolan forever lurking in the wings. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey everyone, John Highlaman here and welcome to Hell in High Water, my podcast from

0:18.4

the recount and I heart radio, with big ups to the one and only Rizza for our dope theme

0:22.5

music.

0:23.5

With Memorial Day looming, it is beginning to feel a lot like summer, always an exciting

0:27.7

feeling, but especially this year, in which summer makes a triumphal return after we all

0:31.9

basically lost the season last year to COVID.

0:35.4

As the country begins to turn the corner and returns to some semblance of normalcy,

0:39.6

and millions of us are all backstup and feeling safe for the first time in a long time, I think

0:43.9

I speak for a whole lot of people when I say I am really looking forward to tentatively,

0:48.6

carefully, but joyously re-engaging in the rights of summer, especially the classics

0:53.4

that begin with the letter B.

0:55.6

baseball, barbecue, and all things related to the beach.

0:59.5

Beach cocktails, beach weed, beach bonfires, and of course beach reading, and it is on that

1:04.1

subject that we bring you today's episode, because boy, do I have a great beach novel

1:08.6

for you?

1:09.6

Brand new one entitled How Lucky!

1:13.0

And today we are very lucky to welcome to the podcast the author of How Lucky, my old

1:18.4

and dear and very special friend Will H.

1:27.4

I know that we've all been kind of in our defensive crouches for about four or five years now, and particularly for the last year, but I have noticed generally speaking in an age of vaccination that the way we discuss optimism for the future and the euphoric summer that's coming is different than people are actually experiencing it.

1:45.4

It is my opinion that people are ready and are going to have a wonderful summer in the United States.

1:50.4

It does not mean that there are not still problems, it does not mean that there are not still worries, but I sense of growing euphoria in the country.

1:56.4

It will be short lived and then bad things will come, but for now I would say the state of our popular culture is cautiously increasingly often.

...

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