March 3, 2021 - Zach Kram of The Ringer

The Late Night Happy Hour with Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

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.