Second Captains

The Irish boys were right about this podcast, it is extremely good. This afternoon I've been enjoying the St Stephen's Day edition; hearing John Barnes talk for fifteen minutes is a very pleasant way to see out the year.

Thought the (replayed) dunphy interview on xmas special was exceptional

Hits different buttons to guardian podcast but room for both imo

Been relying heavily on those two and The Anfield Wrap to get me through the festive period. I particularly like SC's balance of interesting and a bit of depth. They also drop the odd what-seems-like-an-insider-titbit. Less discretion please.

I even listen to the rugby segments...which is something

I know; the extended piece yesterday on the problems caused by Welsh secession was fascinating.

xps that Dunphy interview was beautiful, what a joy. Thanks for the tip, I'd skipped that thinking it was one of the non-footy episodes.

tell me about "the anfield rap", ismael

or WRAP even

I'm sure you could guess. It's a post-match (sometimes immediately post-match) dissection of lfc, either euphoric or despondent as circumstances dictate, featuring lots of people talking over each other and being scouse. I think it's linked to local radio somehow, so is fairly professional, but I don't actually know anyone involved unless they've got Russell Brand or someone on for an interview.

I like it, it's quite amusing without getting in the way of being very in-depth on eg the problems with Johnson or Coutinho.

haven't been podcasting cos different work/commuting arrangements but threw a few of these on for the flights last week and it really is great stuff

Ken Early's sarcastic excited delivery of scorned projected attitudes is so great

I would absolutely d/l audiobooks read by him on p much any subject, the less he liked the material the better

Nobody else? Sad for ye.

Really thought there was scope to get ilf into the GAA via the back door here

Only football podcast I listen to now. Some shit regular contributors but still so much better than anything else out there.

never got through more than five mins of the guardian football one. second captains is best, even with the shit contributors and occasional moron like marcotti.

mcdevitt is a brilliant and ken early is generally funny once left to roam. the non-football one is great too - best gaelic football coverage i've ever heard if that's not damning with faint praise. mcconville and moyles are brilliant.

It's the only football podcast I listen to, bar occasionally listening to the guardian one.

I even occasionally listen to the general sports podcast despite ignorance of GAA, though not if there's too much rugby talk.

Ken Early waxing lyrical on a long monologue about Jose Mourinho or Brendan Rogers or Keane or Moyes is always informative and always a pleasure.

Also yes if marcotti is on I tend not to listen. Boring old bloviating neoliberal wwf-fan fuck who knows fuck all about football

Fair on marcotti I always assume theyre leveraging some foreign market shit with his involvement.

I should listen to this more. Its quality.

i swear i can tolerate nearly anyone on it but i just turn it off the minute i hear marcotti. he is clueless, arrogant and deliberately obtuse.

its may 2017 and i now actually pay for a podcast

sean dyche interview with richie sadlier was vg

only recently got into this, love it -- v much a fan of early's analysis

marcotti sucks. he's on ESPN a bunch and i can't stand him

the (subscriber) podcasts on non-sport can be great

the mark blyth discussion is the most interesting political/social analysis ive heard in a long long time

episode on serena williams meltdown reminds you why theyre the best

players chair with paul kimmage is super stuff

the ongoing argument this week that describing david silva as among the top twenty foreign imports in epl history is not just unmerited but risible has been great

"David Silva is Juan Mata with a manager who believes in him"

This is a very bad take

oh theyre all over the place but its not a discussion to enjoy through a lens of truth

im eager for this episode on FAI shenans

I thought the coverage of the WWC was below the usual high standard - they went on and on about Phil Neville's press conferences, which weren't that interesting - and the analysis of the teams or the play (at least on the freebie Monday podcasts which is all I get) was not up to much, there was basically no discussion of the actual football today.

havent heard todays but tend to agree about the wwc generally

that said

for the mens game, they will tend to skip over the tactics and often the match itself for a focus on whatever catches kens eye, and a thread like nevilles account-manager-craig utterances does often run over a few shows

the mark blyth discussion is the most interesting political/social analysis ive heard in a long long time

― the clodding of the american mind (darraghmac),

Just starting this one on the train

This was great!

tick.jpg

how would yerman from the guardian fit in do we think?

id say ken and him would be like strange cats

which man?

as is my habit i remembered since

glendenning

who i think is ok as a foil in the company he keeps, but frankly lazy and disinterested by second captains standards

apologies if you're an ilxor baz, as i said you make a good everyman amongst the guardian scarfs like

like- he and ken share a tendency to challenge an accepted wisdom with an eg "is he?"

but glendenning will leave it there or follow up with a muttered trickle, whereas ken will launch off a coruscator

loathe the man tbh, can't think of anything that would make me unsub quicker, he's like the anti Ken
Ken's rugby trolling the other week was an absolute treat btw, loved the way he'd easily find a new angle of attack and make the other guests gasp anew haha

ive heard it's a cracker, but im behind because....im avoiding sports tbh ;_;

glendenning is Only Here for the Banter now isn't he. like him fine but wince at every analysis of the week's promising young Bournemouth striker / Leicester midfielder / League Two manager ending in "...and he seems like a thoroughly decent bloke". Rushden era feeling esp phoned in.

ken early meanwhile is so fuckin sharp even his most "is he?" takes are a wild delicious ride.

basically this football podcast fanfic ends with baz warmly accepting he's out his depth and getting the pints in

not a huge fan of kens politics shows- hes a very poor presence with an expert to prod/direct, lacks direction, overly deferential, his intrusions are as unwelcome in this context as they are the lifeblood of the sports casts

but the recent one on the policing of ireland during the rising/independence/civil war etc was utterly essential stuff

right on cue, theyve made it free to all

https://t.co/NXOuB1SVqD?amp=1

"Fine Gael love policemen like hen parties love policemen strippers" is probably the best reasoning behind the RIC commemoration that I've heard yet tbh

mark blyth is back

would listen all day

ah lads can we not all just sign up and listen to this pls

the charlton protein clip gets me every time

ah man, didn't realize Blyth was back on, missed that - will go back to

just noticed he's about to stream live on TMBS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZfoHYyw8jo

He's everywhere lately it seems!

Vickery interview today v good

Greatly enjoyed Ken taking the final(?) opportunity to slag off David Silva with a 13-minute el mago rant at the end of today’s ep

I gave in and subscribed to this podcast a fortnight ago. Mikel Arteta's mind meld with Prince Andrei from War And Peace on today's podcast was some #TopContent

yes love it when Ken goes for a literary reference

Frank takedown is great

Former ilxor Local Garda has been getting me into this podcast on the sly, the regular Pat Kenny feature might be enough to get me to subscribe, but I still need a push tbh

Theres a few non-sport episodes referenced above, start there and see maybe?

https://t.co/NXOuB1SVqD?amp=1

This should suit you down to the ground tbh

👀 you know me far too well.

Very unimpressed with Monday’s SC take on Naomi Osaka’s experience at the hands of Roland Garros / the tennis authorities. Not a million miles from the Sonja McLaughlin BBC one, they basically said Osaka’s issues with press conferences shouldn’t be talked about in terms of mental health when the reason Osaka doesn’t like them is they are boring and annoying to her and what’s more she probably thinks of them as giving away her valuable social media content for free. They said that you don’t get to say press conferences are bad for your mental health if you’re on Twitter and Instagram which is surely worse. And the term mental health is applied too broadly these days. These days.

The above is my précis of bits of their discussion, tbf, it’s an 18 minute slot and there’s more depth than that but they’ve pissed me off enough that I’m not going back to get quotes.

Yep, but i think it was firstly a im-running-with-this ken angle on the jump to mental health as a kneejerk (not strongly linked to the current case tbh) and the actual possibilities inherent for the superstar eschewing the corporate body sponsorship drives in the social media age, and secondly i think he softened that a bit upon murph reading osakas clearer statement but still was stuck more in a musing on the wider question mode for the rest of the segment

Todays is looking to be a lot better, richie and caitlin thompson with a lot more in-depth look at things from a fairer perspective and in a more thorough way, if the lineup is any indicator

Tbh mcdevitt or sadlier wouldve pulled ken on it but murph is a more passive co anchor if its him and ken

His line was strongly linked to the current case IMO and fwiw I’m being kind to him in saying so because if he was just having a more general swipe at people being prepared to consider the mental health implications of work in its various guises - at recognising that mental health problems run a lot broader and everyday than “lunacy” or whatever gross shit he invoked - then he was being worse than I thought.

I hope tonight’s is better but it’s a subscriber ep and there is literally no chance of me paying to listen to this.

And as for his “passive” mate the bit I remember him saying was you don’t get to talk about press conferences affecting your mental health if you’re on Twitter and Instagram, as if there aren’t ways to manage social media to minimise (or remove) damaging effects.

This is all quite likely a correct read tbh, i was half listening at best tho yes even then kens departure point was jarringly cynical

(I’m not expecting you to answer for this podcast btw Darragh, it just pissed me off and I wanted to express that somewhere that didn’t just throw the whole thing in the faces of people who’ve probably had enough tossers belittling or waving away mental health problems this week. Fuck these guys.)