Sports podcast news and notes

ESPN columnist Bill Simmons took up the cause today that the revolution will be podcast. In a lengthy ESPN.com chat, the writer and BS Report host answered some questions from his devoted fans, including why he has maintained a regular schedule for his podcasts since its hiatus in November while the lady that brought him to the dance, writing, has diminished in frequency.

SportsNation Bill Simmons: Again, I am desperatrely trying to finish my book - so that's one reason, I only have so many writing hours in me each day. The other reason is that I love doing the podcasts and feel like I'm on the ground floor of a medium that is really starting to take off. It's like radio on demand and I think it's going to kill satellite radio in 2 years. I really do. It's also a huge threat to real radio in my opinion, especially when people can get internet in their cars and can just cue podcasts up within 3 clicks. It's astonishing to me that nobody has written a long piece about podcasts yet. This is EXACTLY the same as what happened with sportswriting in the late-90s where nobody was taking the internet seriously and suddenly within 7 years there were a million sports blogs, mainstream sites were crushing newspapers and newspapers were hemorrhaging money. We are headed that way with podcasts. I just think radio is going to become much more niche-oriented over these next 10 years... people don't see it yet. Christian Slater in "Pump Up The Volume" is going to look like a genius.

I admit, the piece isn't definitive, but I tried my best, Bill!

One of the interview subjects for that piece, Dan Levy, continues to grow his independent interview podcast, On the DL (with frequent co-host Nick Tarnowski). The both of them recently discussed the future of blogs and podcasting during their latest call-in show. And Levy took a bit more pessimistic view of the immediate, economically uncertain future:

Dan Levy: I think the next year is going to be really hard for people in this field, in this industry, which is sort of a bad sign for us, to be honest. I think it's going to weed out the recreational blog and the serious, I'm-doing-this-for-a-living blog. I think that gray area, where there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of blogs, is going to disappear. In that way, I agree with you, the money is going to push certain blogs into a certain area. But I actually think that once it shakes out, there is going to be sort of a market correction. And people and industries are going to actually come to people like us ... I think with stats, with online, I can almost tell them the social security number of every one of our listeners. You can't do that on radio. You can't do that on TV.

It's a good listen, and makes one wonder if unemployment (particularly in journalism) will bring more competition for the likes of On the DL or less as writers/editors find a way to feed their families without relying on ad click-through revenue or mailbag sponsors.

Finally, as was discussed on today's Fantasy Focus Football/Baseball podcast at ESPN, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association recently honored the best content on a variety of platforms. And the winner for the best podcast? The Fantasy Sports Girl video podcast. Though the mix of downloadable content, fantasy sports and tightly clothed models might make Chex envious of its complementary parts, I hadn't had the chance to check out the "material." So, what does Chloe - for whom fantasy lingo is at least her third language - think of my St. Louis Cardinals? Well, "Kal-El" Greene is a good buy-low candidate.

The winner and still undisputed champion, cleavage!