The Franchise is a new eight-part series exploring how contemporary American Jewish culture imprinted itself onto sports and how sports imprinted itself onto Jewish traditions. Hosted by Meredith Shiner and produced by the team behind Unorthodox, the No. 1 Jewish podcast, The Franchise highlights the moments and the people—athletes, fans, stat geeks, journalists, and team owners—who are writing this uniquely, American Jewish story.
The series begins in 1965 with Sandy Koufax, and traces the arc of American Jews and sports since then: from probing the so-called Koufax curse that befalls Jewish athletes who play on Yom Kippur to reevaluating the "Jewish Jordan" phenomenon and wondering why Jews love teams that always seem to lose, and much more.
The Franchise premieres on Wednesday, Oct. 12.
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The Franchise is a new eight-part series exploring how contemporary American Jewish culture imprinted itself onto sports and how sports imprinted itself onto Jewish traditions. Hosted by Meredith Shiner and produced by the team behind Unorthodox, the No. 1 Jewish podcast, The Franchise highlights the moments and the people—athletes, fans, stat geeks, journalists, and team owners—who are writing this uniquely, American Jewish story.
The series begins in 1965 with Sandy Koufax, and traces the arc of American Jews and sports since then: from probing the so-called Koufax curse that befalls Jewish athletes who play on Yom Kippur to reevaluating the "Jewish Jordan" phenomenon and wondering why Jews love teams that always seem to lose, and much more.
The Franchise premieres on Wednesday, Oct. 12.
Ep. 4: Jewish Sports Nerds and their Path to the Promised Land
The Franchise: Jews, Sports, and America
37 minutes
3 years ago
Ep. 4: Jewish Sports Nerds and their Path to the Promised Land
While many Jewish kids dream of growing up to become iconic Jewish athletes like Dolph Schayes or Sandy Koufax, the numbers aren’t exactly on our side. This episode is about all the ways Jews have found careers in the game without playing the game—how they professionalized their passion and forged their own path to the Promised Land, in large part by embracing the mathematical and statistical revolution of the early 2000s. The so-called Moneyball generation created models for how brainy Jewish kids could be brainy Jewish adults in sports.
Episode 4 features interviews with New York Mets Assistant General Manager Ben Zauzmer; Wharton statistics and data science professor Adi Wyner; and Adam Neuman, chief of staff for the Big 10 Conference. This episode also celebrates others paths into the sports industry, with Cespedes Family BBQ Twitter phenom Jake Mintz, baseball romance author KD Casey, and father-daughter sports journalism duo Dave Kaplan and Emily Kaplan.
Over the course of this series, host Meredith Shiner will be exploring how Jewish culture, American culture, and sports culture intersect. She’ll talk to journalists, athletes, amateur and professional sports nerds, and fans who have spent as much time obsessing over these topics as she has.
Previous episodes:
Ep. 3: Forty Years in the Desert: Jews and the New York Mets
Ep. 2: Reevaluating ‘Jewish Jordan’ Tamir Goodman
Ep. 1: Genesis: Sandy Koufax as Model Minority
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Email us at franchise@tabletmag.com. Check out the full series at tabletmag.com/thefranchise
The Franchise: Jews, Sports, and America
The Franchise is a new eight-part series exploring how contemporary American Jewish culture imprinted itself onto sports and how sports imprinted itself onto Jewish traditions. Hosted by Meredith Shiner and produced by the team behind Unorthodox, the No. 1 Jewish podcast, The Franchise highlights the moments and the people—athletes, fans, stat geeks, journalists, and team owners—who are writing this uniquely, American Jewish story.
The series begins in 1965 with Sandy Koufax, and traces the arc of American Jews and sports since then: from probing the so-called Koufax curse that befalls Jewish athletes who play on Yom Kippur to reevaluating the "Jewish Jordan" phenomenon and wondering why Jews love teams that always seem to lose, and much more.
The Franchise premieres on Wednesday, Oct. 12.
