I get asked a lot for Podcast recommendations. My answer always depends on who is asking. Podcasts are a very personal thing, you latch onto the ones that you love, they become a close friend. I can’t just give a blanket answer different stokes for different folks but here is some of what I’ve listened too.

Pardon My Take: I’m not exactly breaking news here with PMT, but Sports and Satire are my thing, Pardon My Take does it the best. Big Cat, PFT Commenter and Hank never fail to make me laugh. I don’t think I’ve ever missed an episode. This is a hard recommend to anyone who rolls their eyes at ESPN on the regular.

Other Barstool Podcasts: I don’t want to make this post 100% about Barstool podcasts but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a few others.

KFC Radio: I think this show is about relationship advice maybe? I don’t know but it’s funny that’s why I listen.

Spittin’ Chicklets: Best Hockey Podcast hands down. Listen just for the accents New England accents. If you love Hockey like all my St. Louis friends claim they do, then you need to start Spittin’ Chicklets.

Barstool Pick Em: A gambling podcast that makes me feel better about myself as a gambler.

Can you tell I’m a fan of Dan Katz? He’s host PMT and Pick ’em, and was formerly on KFC Radio.

Non Barstool Podcasts:

A-Train has interests outside of sports, those are mainly television, film, history, literature, and the bizarre….On a lot of these I will recommend specific episodes to get your started on.

For the film buff:

We Hate Movies: This is my favorite movie podcast. Each week former SUNY Purchase film students take a “bad” movie and break it down. They have been doing it for years and I have been listening all the while. I started on episode 4 “Congo,” I just finished episode 323 “Trick or Treat”. This podcast has grown quite a following, enough to book and sell out live shows across the Country. For my money Steve Sajdak is the most talented of member of the group but each guy brings something to the table.

Recommended Episodes: 

Episode 15 – Boys and Girls (A forgotten Jason Biggs vehicle)

Episode 30 – Babycakes (Fat Rikki Lake stalks a guy and it’s supposed to be cute)

Episode 49 – Hackers ( I just love this movie, and love making fun of it)

Episode 101 – The Pallbearer (Seeing is believing with Dave Schwimmer in this one)

Episode 136 – The Good Son (Kevin McCallister is a psychopath, Frodo is his cousin)

Episode 157 – Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe (Future Gov. of Minnesota is a knockoff Terminator or something)

These are some good ones to get you started but honestly, go through the list yourself and decide where you want to begin. You don’t have to have seen the movie to enjoy the episode. I’ve never seen Babycakes but it’s still hilarious to me.

For the Historian:

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History: If you’re a history nerd then you undoubtably know about Hardcore History. You have probably already listened to every episode. What if you’re a History nerd and don’t know it? Did you think about that? I would suggest starting with his series on The First World War: Blueprint for Armageddon or his series on the Mongols: Wrath of the Khans. If you enjoy either of these series you might be a history nerd. Be warned the episodes are few and far between, this podcast does like 3-4 episodes per year, and they are long. They need to break them up into smaller one hour chunks.

The Dollop: This is more of a riff on history than history itself. It’s kinda like drunk history on Comedy Central except instead of being drunk the story teller just smoked a joint and had a cup of coffee. The focus is on obscure characters in early American history. Episode #12 on Rube Waddell is a great place to begin.

I have to admit I have stopped listening to the the Dollop, a similar podcast came along and stole me away, a podcast just as funny but much darker, more focused on serial killers and the occult….

The Last Podcast on the Left: This podcast won’t be for everyone, but its for me. Do you have a sick and sometimes twisted sense of humor? Have you seen Silence of the Lambs more than twice? Do serial killers interest you? How about conspiracies? Do you feel like laughing during a podcast about serial killers? If you answered yes to any of these this podcast might be for you. Personally my favorite subject matter of this podcast was the series they did about L. Ron Hubbard and the founding of Scientology. They touch on cults, acts of terrorism, serial killers, Bigfoot, aliens etc. It’s a fun listen and you might actually learn something. For me it’s the psychology of behind serial killers. I have always been interested in psychology and criminology and studied it as part of my major in College. Give the H.H. Holmes episodes a listen, Leo is gonna be playing this guy in a Martin Scorsese movie in the near future.   One of the members of this podcast Henry Zebrowski is seriously fucking hilarious. This is my cleaning my house podcast.

Non-Barstool Sports Podcasts:

247Sports College Football Podcast: I’m a big fan of Barton Simmons and the College Football podcast he does with Chip Patterson. They give great insight, get great interviews, most importantly they have a gambling focus. I mean why else are we watching 900 games every weekend if not to bet on them?

The Fantasy Footballers: I don’t really believe in fantasy podcasts in terms of advice. But these guys are pretty funny, they do a great recap of everything that happened the week before. They come correct with the injury updates. None of them are the insufferable Matthew Berry. These are all reasons to listen if you need a fantasy football podcast.

I used to listen to the ESPN Fantasy Podcast with Matt Berry, Nate Ravitz and Stephania Bell. One reason I listened was because Stephania was great with her injury reports and insight. She might be the most useful ESPN employee hands down. The other was because Nate was bitter and surely and he never let Matthew Berry get too happy or go off on tangent. He kept that idiot in line. Then Nate left the show and Berry went so far off the rails that I couldn’t even make it 5 minutes. 

The Bill Simmons Podcast: Just kidding, Bill lost any favor he had with A-Train Sports when he ghosted our boy Dick Richie aka Michael Rapaport. I was already out on Simmons, he lost his fastball. I was only listening for his episodes with Cousin Sal and Michael Rapaport. If Rapaport is out, then I’m out too. I don’t need to listen to Joe House talk about eating chik-fil-a and the Washington Wizards.