Chuck Klosterman on the Cinema Revival, Sports Tsars, Owners and Commissioners, Analytics, U.S. Soccer Groundhog Day, and State of Reading
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How did Bill and Chuck introduce the episode and sponsors?
The Bill Simmons podcast is brought to you by PayPal. We're also brought to you by the ringer podcast network where I did a rewatchables last week. We did Ali. If you missed it, it was our ninth Michael Mann movie. And the one we have coming up on Monday, it's a movie that's also on Netflix, by the way, she's the one 30th anniversary, very important gen X movie. We're going to explain all the reasons you should care about this movie. Um, It's an interesting one to discuss 30 years later. So we have that. And then we have hitch with, uh, Will Smith, David Mendez. Um, that is going to be the week after. So that is the plan. Um, coming up is a long conversation I had with Chuck Klosterman over the weekend.
Um, it goes in all the directions that always goes with Chuck and I, uh, sports culture, all kinds of things. And, uh, it's a really good one. So if you haven't heard me and Chuck do that, we've been doing these shit since, uh, I got my podcast that he has been in oh seven. So, um, I don't remember when he started coming on, but we do these a bunch and this was a rollicking, rollicking effort. So it is all coming up next. We're gonna take a break, Pearl jam, and then Chuck. This episode of the Bill Simmons podcast is presented by PayPal. You know, a clutch move when you see one, a no look pass, a buzzer beater, a big steal. Well, imagine if your wallet could pull off moves like that. That my friends is PayPal.
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All right, Chuck, close to minutes here. We're recording this on a Friday, even though it's running on Sunday. So there's going to be some World Cup stuff this weekend. Hopefully nothing too crazy. Have you been into the World Cup, Chuck? I mean, not really.
I haven't watched much of it.
It can never suck you in.
You know, now you don't even have to try to follow things. Things just come to you. So, of course, I hear nonstop conversation around it. I know that the games for the United States are supposed to be like a good times now, but the times have not worked out perfectly for me. So I've seen here and there. I've seen some of it.
Yeah. Do you feel like we're in a loop with U.S. soccer where every four years everybody decides this is the time that it's... I feel like you and I have talked about this for 20 years and it just becomes Groundhog Day every four years where they build our hopes up and then people get disappointed and then everyone says how soccer is taking off. And I feel like we've been doing this since the 2000s.
There is some similarities with the conversations, although I will say every time this happens, the conversations become a little more serious. Like, you know, in the 90s or whatever, it would almost be sort of, you know, people would make more jokes about it. People are less willing to joke about soccer now. In the same way, they're kind of less willing to joke about everything. What is, of course, I think, to me, always fascinating is then as soon as the U.S. gets eliminated... There's the immediate conversation about why don't we dominate soccer? Why aren't we more dominant? What do we need to do? Do we need to have our best athletes not play football and basketball? Is it that we have to change youth sports?
Is it the financial structure? It's very interesting. I kind of have my own theory about this, but I'm wondering, first of all, what you would say if you were... tasked with this idea that everybody seems to want that we need to have like a, a, a national team. That's as good as anybody in the world. What do you think would need to happen?
Well, I want to hear your theory first. You said you had a theory. What's your theory?
Well, it's sort of, I do.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
How did Bill and Chuck introduce the episode and sponsors?
0:06–9:50
2
Why does U.S. soccer feel like Groundhog Day every four years?
9:50–40:25
3
What cultural and structural reasons explain why the U.S. hasn't dominated soccer?
40:25–1:01:47
4
Why are sports franchises still seen as safe investments despite sky-high prices?
1:01:47–1:07:19
5
Could ticket and concert pricing turn moviegoing and live events into luxury experiences?
1:07:19–1:16:11
6
How is the WNBA's media narrative overshadowing standout players and on-court quality?
1:16:11–1:25:10
7
Are books becoming collectible identity objects as reading habits and media consumption change?
1:25:10–2:02:49
Speakers
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