They're the hosts of a new hoops pod, and one well worth finding in a crowded basketball podcast space. They're Jordan Ligons and Haley O'Shaughnessy, of the Spinsters. We welcome them on, talking... -How Jordan's great aunt went from a Lakers fan to a Celtics fan... in the 80's! Like, really, how does that happen? -Jordan is a die hard Lakers fan, Haley a huge LeBron fan. Are either of them enjoying the amount of work he's having to do right now to keep the Lakers afloat without Anthony Davis? -There is a tremendous amount of focus on the number of minority head coaches, more specifically Black head coaches, in the NBA. Much less attention, however, goes to the WNBA, where there is only one Black female head coach. This in a league where more than 4/5ths of the players are Black women. Why doesn't this get more attention? -Finally, we play a game: What if teams could trade titles like draft picks? What would you want for LA's '09 title? Is '10 off the table? Should OKC trade that one random title from Seattle? What would you get for it?

Michael Lee of the Washington Post is one of the best sportswriters in the business. He joins the Happy Hour (after Andy and Brian spend some time on LeBron James, the Brooklyn Nets and Meyers Leonard) and goes deep down memory lane for some great stories around his childhood fandom, what came later with supporting Eddie Jones, sharing a great story about Kobe and Magic and more. -Is LeBron James tired in a way that matters in playoffs? -Is Brooklyn solving its defense problem with some defense, and more offense? -So... you buying what Meyers Leonard (Here, Michael joins and weighs on on why he believes a locker room would welcome him back. -Thursday was the anniversary of the Lakers trading Eddie Jones to Charlotte... and not coincidentally was the day Michael gave up being a Lakers fan. Why? -Micheal explains is background in art. -On his first interaction with Kobe, someone Lee disliked back from being such a big Eddie Jones fan. -Michael remembers his close friend Sekou Smith, who died recently from COVID.

It's among the most unique podcasts out there. Lour After Hours, a gathering of huge Dan LeBatard Show fans, has grown organically into a huge community of podcasters and guests, with all kinds of interesting characters. So how did this all happen? What brought the crew together, and how has it grown into something with this big a life? That's where we start when joined by five members of the Lour crew (Jeff, Jeanette, Art, Lou and @BeepCount). Which Lour folks have taken on the personalities of the show crew? From there, we talk action heroes and coked out bears. Elizabeth Banks is set to direct a film - true story! - about a bear that finds, then eats, a massive amount of coke, then dies of an OD. Which action hero character is best suited to take on this sort of challenge, were an action hero deemed necessary? Then, we play a game around the best films of 1998. If you had to build a poker hand of cinematic dominance, which movies would you include? Then how would you create a hand out of Meryl Streep films? Finally, we get hats!!!

One of the things making LA special is its extensive mural culture. Across every neighborhood in the city, people can find a variety of public art chronicling the LA's history, culture, citizenry and more. Robert Vargas is a big part of that, responsible for a diverse group of murals across Los Angeles. We start on his upbringing in Boyle Heights, a hub of mural culture in the city. When did he find art? What type of support did he get from his family? Why did he turn to murals as an expression of his talent? Why is mural culture so important to L.A.? Is it a different process with different objectives when completing one in Boyle Heights vs. the Valley vs. the Westside? We talk about his Kobe murals, the newest at the Zambezi off Jefferson in Santa Monica. What inspired him? What kind of images did he choose, and why? We move from Kobe, one of the most visible people this city has ever seen, to his inclusion of a member of its most invisible community. For a mural downtown, he started by painting a homeless man named Craig. Why is it so important to have representation of people like that, who so few people ever really see? Finally, on Friday we had 710 ESPN's Steve Mason on the show, who showed us two oil paintings from his oil painting phase. We have Robert review them. Finally, we discuss Meyers Leonard and the anti-Semitic slur he used Tuesday. What could/should the fallout be?

So what's it like to be permanently banned from Twitter? How do you get yourself back on? And what does a person have to do to get kicked off in the first place? Comedian Mike Mulloy of FadedComedy.com joins, and that's where we start. Good news, it wasn't for leading an insurrection! After, we talk about the challenge of comedy in the pandemic, when for him very little has seemed funny, and his crew at FadedComedyLA had their legs cut out from under them by COVID. Few parts of the universe have been more badly damaged over the last year than the universe of standup. How has all of this impacted his ability to enjoy the NBA? Well, for starters he feels bad for even watching. Especially since his Celtics are underperforming. Finally, what would you do if you found 68 lbs of cocaine, worth $1.5 million bucks?

Steve Mason has been a mainstay of LA radio for multiple decades. We've known him for almost two... and on Friday's Late Night Happy Hour learned all kinds of new stuff about the guy. We start on vaccinations. He got one, hanging out at the local Rite-Aid. Turns out, they had some spares. So what's he going to do with his newfound freedom, once he and his partner get the other half of the vax? From there, we turn to his oil painting days, something he revealed this week promoting his show. Turns out, painting was a phase, one of many, and arguably the most normal. After, it's on to the Dodgers and the Rams. How excited is he for returning to the stadiums? Are the Dodgers going to be pushed by the Padres? Will the Rams be able to navigate some important personnel losses this offseason? Has any shine worn off Sean McVay? We discuss Steve's "Culture Pop" podcast which has pulled in some great guests of late. Just how close was he to landing a career in musical theater? What about pandemic TV? Why have certain shows hit and others not? Is Better Call Saul better than Breaking Bad? How will popular shows like Succession handle the pandemic? All of that and more on Friday's Late Night Happy Hour!

He's all sorts of busy, doing NBA coverage for The Athletic, hosting shows (Like BOMM) for the Count the Dings Network, and a regular job at Wieden/Kennedy. Tavonne Edwards joins the Happy Hour. After breaking down his extremely judgmental mattress, we stumble into a Knicks conversation. They're as good as they've been in years, but does that actually make them good? We discuss. What about the Western Conference? The Lakers are banged up, the Clippers have had Covid-19 protocol issues, the Jazz have lost three of four... who's the best squad? According to Travonne, it was the Lakers before, it's the Lakers now. Why? Superstars. The Lakers have super-elite ones, other teams don't. There's a difference he says between franchise players and All Stars. What about the All Star Game? Why is it happening? Is the league garnering any goodwill with players by focusing so much on HBCUs, Black owned brands, Black artists and more? Not as much as they'd like, Travonne says. Finally, we wrap talking about his shows on the BOMM Podcast series, and the new series, "Soul of a Nation."

If you frequent The Ringer, you know his work, either written for their NBA and MLB departments or as part of the production team on the popular "Binge Mode" podcast Zach Kram joins the Late Night Happy Hour, and we start with the NBA game of the night, with Utah and Philly, two teams vying for seeding and respect. Philly wins, behind a monster game for Joel Embiid. Is this the year where the huge talent and big numbers translate into something bigger? What's different about Embiid this year? And what's different about hoops? What does the next generation look like? Kram makes a great point about how this is the first generation of kids who grew up watching shooters like Steph Curry or Damian Lillard, and bigs who regularly shoot - and make - 3's like Karl Anthony Towns. The game is only going to evolve more into a pace/space/skill direction. We talk All Star controversies. Why is Mike Conley not heading to Atlanta (at least not yet)? What should the NBA be doing to make the game better, and get more worthy players involved? What about the league's refereeing problem? What might fix it? We then dive into "nerd tv," specifically around Star Wars and Marvel. Why do these projects seem to translate so much better to TV, especially when looking at Star Wars? Because, dirty little secret, most of the movies kind of suck. Finally, we look at Fernando Tatis, Jr., and why he's arguably the most important player in baseball, even if he's not the best.

Anthony Slater, who covers the Warriors and the NBA for The Athletic, joins to talk Western Conference contenders, refereeing, the state of Golden State and more. We start by maybe, just maybe, encouraging Lakers fans to slow their roll on Damian Jones. He's looked good in his first two games in purple and gold - hasn't missed a shot! - but there's a reason the center has been let go by three teams over the course of a very short career. But is there a role he can fill? Can the Lakers expect the buyout market to yield... anything? Next, it's the Phoenix Suns, who beat an undermanned Lakers team Tuesday night. How good are they? Can they challenge the perceived elites in the West? Why has Chris Paul been able to resurrect his career in ways people may not have seen coming? (Plants!... in part.) Does the NBA have a referee problem? The game Tuesday, a marquee matchup on national TV, was undercut by the quick-trigger ejection of Suns star Devin Booker. What can the NBA do about that, and what appears to be a crazy number of reviews, particularly in late game situations? Why has Steph Curry been able to rebound so well this year, after an injury plagued 2020? What has made this year unique, relative to others in his career. And do the Warriors regret taking James Wiseman over LaMelo Ball?

He's the host of Food Network's "Spring Baking Championships," and five seasons of "Cheap Eats" on Discovery+. He's been featured on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate," and more. He joins the Late Night Happy Hour. -We start on the mechanics of shooting food TV shows in the midst of a pandemic. What changes? How much does he actually get to each? Does Duff Goldman share food? -What will "normal" look like, when it comes to food and eating after the pandemic? What habits have people developed that they'll keep? What snaps back? How will restaurants that have managed to survive while changing menus and making new offerings respond? Will they go back to what they were doing before, or is how we eat out destined to change long term? -Everyone knows there's a secret menu at In'N'Out.But not everyone knows how to maximize its potential. He brings you the ingredients of "The Ali," a massive and incredibly delicious looking off-the-menu option for your fast food jones. -And speaking of fast food jones, he also provides a McRib hack that not only improves the sandwich, but also provides a blueprint on how to spruce up virtually any sandwich. -Finally, we debate the merits of ground turkey. It's flavorless compared to good ground beef... but sometimes that can be a good thing.

Friend of the show Dave Schilling, who writes about sports, culture and style joins, talking about his work on "Black Renaissance: The Art and Soul of Our Stories," which premiered on YouTube, Friday. What makes the celebration of the arts and Black culture so critical? He talks about the genesis of the idea, and what it was like working with so many talented comedians and musicians in the midst of a pandemic. From there, it's Damian Lillard and what makes him so much fun to watch (though not as fun as Steph Curry, Schilling contends) and the much ballyhooed sweater game of Lakers star Anthony Davis. Also, are shoulder pads back? And who should be wearing them? And where are we on Coming 2 America? Is it a good thing Eddie Murphy is playing 183 characters in a movie again?

Spring Training kind of snuck up on us, but now that we know it's here, we have questions. And to answer them, we hit up Jorge Castillo, who does outstanding work covering the Dodgers for the LA Times. We start with atmosphere. It's no a normal Spring Training, whether talking about the players or the media covering them. What's the atmosphere like? How are the Dodgers responding to being champs... but in the weirdest possible season? Is there any chip on their shoulder, or a need to prove last year was legit by winning again over 162 games? The projections for the Dodgers this year are insane. As high as 107 wins, according to simulations from ESPN. Who else could come close? If you have to pick nits with this team, where do you start? Castillo points to the back end of the pen, but even that's not a big problem in the spring, and may not become one in October. What about Trevor Bauer? Any fear he could upset what has been some excellent chemistry over the last year-plus? How does the Bauer deal reflect the current economics of baseball? And what might be coming as the league and the Player's Association get closer to negotiating a new CBA? Hint: It could get very ugly, very fast, he says. Finally, we have a long conversation about language in clubhouses. Castillo, whose family is from Puerto Rico, writes in both English and Spanish for the Times. He talks about what is lost when media can't communicate with Spanish-native players in their first language, and how too often Spanish speaking players are treated as a monolith, when culturally there are huge differences.

The Jazz thumped the Lakers on Wednesday. No big surprise given the current state of the champs, who are still down Anthony Davis and Dennis Schroder. And also because the Jazz are routinely kicking the crap out of any team they play. So at this point, with the best record in the league by a pretty good margin, with a run of dominance few teams have matched in recent years, we ask the official question of The Late Night Happy Hour... "Are the Jazz for real?" Sabreena is a believer. There's a lot to like about this team, and many reasons to believe what they're doing is sustainable. That said, they're not without vulnerabilities. And in the playoffs, will some of the advantages they currently have over the competition go away? We all know why the Lakers are losing right now, but should fans be genuinely concerned about the shooting? After a moment to wonder whether Alex Caruso's new "Manscaped" ad is the greatest commercial a Laker has ever made, or just the best commercial anyone has ever made, we look at the Clippers. Why is it working this year, with Ty Lue? Is their incredibly good work from beyond the arc sustainable? What will be different this year in the playoffs? Why does this year's team make more sense? She calls them the best team in basketball. Finally, Sabreena, who was once a contestant on Jeopardy! gives her review of how Ken Jennings performed in his guest hosting capacity.

He's a die hard fan, so on a personal level the struggles of the Boston Celtics this season are hitting NY Times NBA writer Sopan Deb particularly hard. But they have a simple explanation, at the root: The C's let an All-Star caliber player in Gordon Hayward go to Charlotte, and replaced him with... nothing. So add in a banged up Kemba Walker and an injured Marcus Smart, and what did people think was going to happen? That they'd be better than last year? Meanwhile, there's actual cause for optimism in New York, where Julius Randle has made the All Star team for the first time in his career. Deb profiled Randle for the Times, and we talk about the former first round pick's growth from Los Angeles through New Orleans and now for two years with the Knicks. What has helped him grow so much this year? It starts with stability, which is a weird thing to say about that franchise, but it seems they might have some. Finally, it's some music talk. Nobody stans for the Dave Matthews Band like Sopan, and he/they recently received quite an honor, one Deb feels he may have helped bring about. And what's the deal with the "dad" vibe Springsteen is putting out these days?

It's not always easy to be a sports fan today, especially if you're a member of a community that hasn't traditionally been valued by the sports establishment - think women and LGBTQ people, for example - or simply enthusiastic fans whose team loyalties are exploited by greedy/apathetic/lousy team owners or large entities like the IOC and FIFA that suck cash out of communities in exchange for hosing mega-events. So what do fans do about it? How do they hold their teams, leagues and athletes responsible without walking away? What can sports do to improve from within? Complicated questions for people who love sports, and in their new book "Loving Sports When They Don't Love You Back," Kavitha Davidson and Jessica Luther explore these and more. After a quick update on Monday's fatigue-fueled loss to Washington for the Lakers, we dive into the interview. Who traditionally hasn't been "loved back" by sports? Who has, and how interested are they in being loved in a different way? Why are sports a place where fans are so willing to compartmentalize? What is it about sports loyalties that makes it hard to draw hard lines in the sand for people (even those in the groups sports tends to ignore -- Davidson and Luther, for example, are both massive sports fans)? How should people talk about trans athletes? Is there really a "problem" with trans women competing and hurting women's sports? Why are sports so often used as proxies for larger cultural battles? Why are Luther and Davidson ultimately optimistic? Finally, we close with a conversation about Ted Lasso, one of the great shows about the spirit of sports ever made.

You know him from 710 ESPN Radio in LA, and basically every television show ESPN has. But Friday on the Late Night Happy Hour, Jorge Sedano takes on his toughest task -- Explaining the state of Florida. It's not a job for everyone, but this Florida native is willing to try. But first, some other stuff, starting with Pat Riley. Is he ever going to retire? What would that even look like? What will LeBron James do once he actually gets to Atlanta for the All Star Game? He obviously would prefer not to have to go, but will he put on a show, anyway? Jorge says yes, and explains why. Then we remember how exactly we got to this point in a very weird season, part of an even weirder year.... before getting to the evening's main course (about 30 minutes in...) SEDANO EXPLAINS FLORIDA!!! We give Jorge a bunch of stories, and he rates each of them on a 1-5 Gator scale of Floridaness. 5 being Super Florida, 1 being "Could have happened anywhere!" We've got monkey's biting children at chain restaurants! Sisters stabbing each other with Epi-Pens! Urine in the microwave! So what says Jorge?

He's the guy at the center of one of the best new basketball websites out there. Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) of BasketballNews.com joins the Late Night Happy Hour, breaking down a huge range of topics over the course of an hour. We start with the Lakers, who won their first game Tuesday without Anthony Davis. Looking ahead, what do these games without him mean? What can the Lakers accomplish? How does the absence of Davis impact the MVP campaign of LeBron James? If he carries the team could LeBron win the award, but hurt his chances at another title? What about the rest of the league? Is Utah for real? Just how bad are the Nets defensively, and how good is "good enough," given their star power? We debate. Finally, the NBA and its players have enjoyed an excellent relationship over the last few years. How much of that is jeopardized by the league staging an All Star Game this year?

He covers the Sacramento Kings for The Athletic, but Jason Jones is also an L.A. dude, and joins the Happy Hour to talk Western Conference basketball and his beloved Dodgers as Spring Training kicks off. We start on the Brooklyn Nets, who are the opponent for the Lakers in Thursday's big marquee national TV matchup. They can't stop anyone, really, but how good do they need to be on that side of the ball to be successful? It worked out well enough Tuesday against the Suns, as Brooklyn got enough stops to complete a big fourth quarter comeback with both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant in street clothes. Just how bad on defense is good enough? What do the Lakers lose without Anthony Davis in the lineup? How can the team benefit, even knowing anything they do now with him out of the lineup won't stay "as is" once he returns? Jones notes why these games could ultimately benefit the Lakers. From there, we dive into the Kings, and the future of former Lakers head coach Luke Walton. Is he doing good work up there? How good should the Kings be? Will Walton survive this season and make it into next? Next, was Draymond Green on to something when he teed off on media and fans for the double standard he believes players are held to when it comes to trades and professionalism? Was he creating straw men? Complaining too much? Finally... Jason Jones loves his Dodgers. And with Spring Training basically here, he's ready to crown them again.

She's the host of the Dimes and Dozens podcast, and a musician (check out her work @tinydeaths). Tonight, Claire de Lune joins the Late Night Happy Hour talking NBA, music and more. We start with... movers! She recently swapped apartments, smack in the middle of the pandemic. And while the experience sucked, the movers did not. So that's a plus. From there, we talk decorating, which means Ikea. And the vastly different experience you have as a single, childless person vs. how you look at it as a parent of small children, when you need activity/food hacks at a low, low price. Then, it's on to basketball. The Lakers continue playing bad first quarters. The shooting has gone downhill. So is there any reason to worry? What's the appropriate amount? 5% concern? 10%? Which flaws might actually come back to haunt them? And who else in the league is best suited to beat them? A viewer asks us to name three teams, which ultimately leads to a debate about the Nets. Can they get good enough defensively to support a potentially unstoppable offense? What about the All Star Game? How big a mistake is it to stage the game, not just because of the pandemic -- it's reasonable to think the league can stage the game safely -- but because the players really, really don't want to do it? Should the stars rule the day? We wrap talking a little music. What makes something timeless? What artists of today could have real staying power? And why?

He's created a cult following online designed around the unique appeal of sports and pop culture from the 70s and 80s. Ricky Cobb of @Super70sSports joins the Late Night Happy Hour, talking the origin story of his site, why baseball players with glasses seem to be such a fertile ground for excellent Twitter comedy, the reason nostalgia plays so well online, and much more. He's a sociology professor by trade, so Cobb understands how these sort of communal experiences -- things like Gatorgum! -- can bring people together in ways you wouldn't expect. Fun conversation with a guy who has carved out a unique space in the online sports moment we're in. And it's a pretty big space, too.