As I am sure is the case with everyone in the class, I chose my podcasts based on my own interests and what I would be willing to sit at my computer and listen to. As I was searching on iTunes and through the hundreds of podcasts, I couldn't settle on three podcasts at first. I found out that there was a lot more going on in the world that I could be learning about. So as a solution to my problem, I went to twitter. I took one computer screen's worth of posts and read them from the groups or people that I follow, and came up with the following three podcasts - The Onion News Network, ESPN First Take, and Official Barclay's Premier League Podcast. I am in love with playing and watching soccer; The Onion has always cracked me up and; I can never turn down well-thought, intelligent sports debates which is what ESPN First Take is all about.
My sister first introduced me to The Onion News Network a few years ago when social media sites were finally getting popular (it takes a while for things to reach little old Vermont). She watched the videos online and had always read them to me and wanted me to follow up on them. Since I dove into Twitter, and instantly fell in love with it, I followed TheOnion's verified account and not a post goes by that I don't laugh. Once I subscribed to the podcast, I found out that the same was true. Something about the little one-liners and punch-lines makes me laugh so much that I couldn't resist subscribing to their podcast. One thing that I disliked about the podcast is that they are really short; once they finally get going it seems like they are over. But after listening to the podcast, I fell in love with The Onion all over again, and it won't even make your breath stink.
As mentioned earlier, soccer is my favorite sport to play and to watch. And, by far, the most popular soccer league in the world is the Barclay's Premier League. Some of my favorite teams in the world play in this league (Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal) and my favorite player (Steven Gerrard, Liverpool midfielder) is a player I watch and follow very closely. I love statistics and listening to the recap of the week and listen to how my players did in their matches. Sadly though, one of my best teams is in a pretty bad spell and the news isn't always good to hear. My biggest complaint about this podcast is the British accent that all of the newscasters have. I'm not trying to be racist, country-ist, or any other -ist that someone could call me, but I get annoyed by accents, especially the southern accent that my brother has acquired after living in Jackson, Miss. for the past ten years or so. Any time I talk to him on the phone I tell him to talk normally which only makes him more annoying to me. I can get over it though.
Out of the three podcasts that I subscribed to, ESPN First Take is by far my favorite. Back before I had 9:30 a.m. classes to attend four days a week (ugh) I would always watch ESPN First Take with one of my roommates. It plays most weekday mornings at 10 a.m. and it stars the great debaters Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith. The great thing about this show is that I love Skip and I hate Stephen A. Even better, my roommate hates Skip and loves Stephen A. The topics that are debated range from any sport to any athlete to any relevant topic in the athletic world. I like listening to this podcast because now that I miss the show, I can still be up-to-date on the beatings that Skip Bayless can put onto Stephen A. I follow them on Twitter and Facebook as well and their debates go on past the show. I like the podcast because it goes the length of the show so nothing is left out, but at the same time it is over an hour and a half long. One thing that I would change is that I would have little clips of specific topics instead of the full-length show.
I can definitely see myself continuing to follow these podcasts, especially if I can't make a show of First Take or if I miss some things on my social media sites from the Premier League or from The Onion. I don't see myself putting them on my iPod but that can change if I get into them more than I expect I will. For now, though, I'll keep them on my iTunes.
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