Pablo Torre Finds Out

Whether it's A.I. companies pirating millions of books or NBA owners violating the salary cap, the most powerful entities in America are trying to circumvent laws created to restrain them. Bestselling author and investigative journalist David Epstein (no relation!) makes the case for why rules are not obstacles to progress, but the opposite: the very things that make a society — and a market — free. 

• Pre-order David Epstein's new book, Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better

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Civilization had a pretty good run. Will the astronauts be the last ones living? Will Jordon Hudson sue Pablo and/or beat him in a foot race? Could Sam Altman be bigger than Madoff and/or complete our curse on A.I.? And is your fiancé in the Epstein files? WHO KNOWS? But we f'd around and took your questions, live. So, come with us if you want to live. So mote it be.

• Vote for PTFO at The Webby Awards: Best Sports Podcast + Experimental & Innovation

• Subscribe to "Casuals with Katie Nolan"

• Watch Michael Cruz Kayne's special, "Sorry for Your Loss" — now streaming on Dropout TV 

• Further reading: "Sam Altman May Control Our Future — Can He Be Trusted?" (Ronan Farrow & Andrew Maran

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Do we need robot umpires more than we thought? Is Netflix the Yankees of media? What's the best kind of catfishing? And have we finally evolved beyond pizza rat? Plus: Aaron Judge choking, Teanna Trump choking, an old man smoking with a crowd... and the price of free p*rn.

• Vote for PTFO at The Webby Awards: Best Sports Podcast + Experimental & Innovation

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When the body of a Vegas power broker showed up in the back of a Rolls Royce in 1979, the new sports capital of America was born. Why the hell did superstar UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian's guy really get whacked? Correspondent Sean Carey unearths police reports, a thrown fight against Sugar Ray Leonard... and a bag man on the skim who re-legitimized Sin City — and proves HBO's hit show wrong.

(Additional reporting by Kris Belman)

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What is a documentary now? Would you turn against your alma mater? Why did a fan throw a beer bottle at Dan Le Batard's head? And is America just Miami? Child star turned muckraker Billy Corben knows. Plus: Night Court, 2 Live Crew, Jughead Jr., corruption, cocaine... and pool boy cucking.

Further content:

• Watch "The U" and "The U Part 2"

• Watch "30 for 30: Broke" on Netflix

• Watch "Cocaine Cowboys" on Netflix

• Watch "God Forbid" on Hulu

• Subscribe to Billy Corben's Rakontur on YouTube

• Subscribe to "The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz"

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Domonique Foxworth ran and — Mamma Mia! — lost in last week's secretive election by the NFL Players' Association. As he explains to Pablo and David Samson, unions may be more corporate than ever — but the fight against billionaires has never been more consequential. And the implications may turn nuclear for an MLB lockout.

• Subscribe to "The Domonique Foxworth Show"

• Subscribe to "Nothing Personal with David Samson"

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Kalshi and Polymarket have created a Wild West for sports, war and politics in a shamelessly unregulated era. But the U.S. Senator from Connecticut (and Huskies homer) tells Pablo that it's time to turn back the clock on insider trading, as leagues are "knowingly corrupting" the game. And that a return to the roots of rooting for our home teams (and families) requires Congress protecting against a profit-driven idea of America.

• Previously on PTFO: The Prop-Betification of Everything, with the Forefather of Prediction Markets

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Maximum scandal, maximum secrecy. Now that the NFLPA's game of thrones has sent football back to the future, and new executive director J.C. Tretter back to office, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio says Roger Goodell and the bean-counters at the league office are ready to pounce on an 18-game regular season — and football every night of the week.

• Subscribe to PFT Live with Mike Florio

Previously on PTFO:

• Part I: The NFL's Secret Collusion Case, Revealed

• Part II: We Sparked an NFL Union Crisis. Here's the Sequel.

• Part III: We Followed the Money in the NFL Union Scandal. So Did the FBI.

• Part IV: We Investigated the Hollywood Cover-Up the NFLPA Ignored 

• Part V: The Silenced Top Cop and the Cabal of "Strip-Club Dreams"

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How did a firing at ESPN birth this show? Can you be anti-establishment within the establishment? And will the principles of journalism survive, when billionaire principals keep contaminating the newsroom? Dan Le Batard and Human Battery Chris Cote join Pablo for another navel-spelunking edition of Share & Tell. Plus: making Jay Bilas play the race card, a Nazi poker hand with Joan Rivers, the O'Reilly factor, Jared from Subway... and six billboards outside Akron, Ohio.

• Subscribe to "The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz"

• Previously on PTFO: Le Batard's Lost Trump Tapes, Revealed

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From 9/11 and Ali to sharing a bed with Nicole Kidman and outing Kevin Spacey, he was already one of the greatest — and most confrontational — magazine writers of all time. Then Tom Junod decided to investigate his own father's "Mad Men"-Lib of a secret life. What could possibly go wrong? What would Mr. Rogers think? And what the hell was in that briefcase?

• Read "In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man: A Memoir" by Tom Junod

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As the NFLPA plots to restore its scandal-plagued leader to power, the labor group's outgoing lead security officer sits down with Pablo. And Craig Jones — the conscience of a billion-dollar union — does not hold back.

Previously on PTFO:

• Part I: The NFL's Secret Collusion Case Revealed

• Part II: We Sparked an NFL Union Crisis. Here's the Sequel.

• Part III: We Followed the Money in the NFL Union Scandal. So Did the FBI.

• Part IV: The NFL Union Elected a New Leader. We Investigated the Hollywood Cover-Up They Ignored. 

(Pablo Torre Finds Out is independently produced by Meadowlark Media and distributed by The Athletic. The views, research and reporting expressed in this episode are solely those of Pablo Torre Finds Out and do not reflect the work or editorial input of The Athletic or its journalists.)

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He's a hedge-fund exec by day... and a blacklisted sports-betting savant by night. On the eve of your March Madness pool, Galen Hall breaks down his Oceans 11-style strategy that dominated a ruthless, $18.7 million NFL pick-'em contest — including game-theory negotiations with a multi-national syndicate and speaking through the podcast void to "Juicy K." Turns out, optimizing for underdogs across a portfolio of brackets comes down to psychology more than math.

• Previously on PTFO: The Best Bettor in NBA History on How to Solve a Gambling Crisis

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Is an (alleged) MMA fighter-in-chief less bad than Evil Barbie on her love plane? Is Washington just performative sadism now? And are you still Stephen A.-curious? Plus: Chuck Lidell's workout room, a re-patriated blankie, Benihana, Huggie Bear, Bernie Sanders as a bouncer, Dean Cain as a football player... and Frank Ocean gossip.

• Subscribe to The Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller

• Previously on PTFO: The Goalie Who Went to Hell and Back

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In an era devoid of accountability for the Epstein class and sports owners (and in-between), Pablo finds a kindred spirit in the OG blogger turned ESPN insider turned fellow independent muckraker who's not afraid to call out the backroom dynamics of Adam Silver during wartime: If billionaires can't police themselves, does cheating matter? Do the people who run the sport... really love the sport? If there's no effort to be decent, where do the lies end? And if Steve Ballmer's already negotiating, what is his minimum viable punishment?

• Previously on PTFO: Ballmer's Tree-Money, the Whistle-Blowers and the Document You've Been Waiting For

• "Bron got me on sea bass"

• Subscribe to TrueHoop by Henry Abbott

(Pablo Torre Finds Out is independently produced by Meadowlark Media and distributed by The Athletic. The views, research and reporting expressed in this episode are solely those of Pablo Torre Finds Out and do not reflect the work or editorial input of The Athletic or its journalists.)

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How did millions travel from the Clippers to Aspiration to Kawhi Leonard? Amin Elhassan and David Samson join Pablo — live onstage at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, right where Adam Silver was just sitting — to examine new and extremely credible evidence.

Previously on PTFO:

• Part I: The Silent Superstar and the Rotten Apple Tree

• Part II: An Argument with Mark Cuban

• Part III: The Mystery Investor, the No-Show Payday and the "Smoking Gun"

• Part IV: Steve Ballmer, the Other Cuban and the $118 Million Infusion

• Part V: Steve Ballmer's "Inconceivable" Donation, the $20 Million Guarantee and a Head on a Spike

• Part VI: An IRL Showdown with Mark Cuban

• Part VII: The Briefcase, Ballmer's Social Network and Aspiration's House of Cards

• Part VIII: Uncle Dennis, Ballmer's $50 Million Sprint and the Side Deal That Wouldn't Die

• Subscribe to Pablo's newsletter for exclusive access, documents and invites

• Subscribe to "Nothing Personal with David Samson"

• Subscribe to "Basketball Illuminati" with Amin Elhassan

(Pablo Torre Finds Out is independently produced by Meadowlark Media and distributed by The Athletic. The views, research and reporting expressed in this episode are solely those of Pablo Torre Finds Out and do not reflect the work or editorial input of The Athletic or its journalists.)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.