Welcome to The Sports Virus Podcast !
Sportscaster Joe Castellano talks to a variety of sports figures from around the country about the latest news. These in-depth conversations take you inside the personalities of the people involved in the sports we love to watch, listen and read about.
Mark Purdy spent 33 years as a sports columnist at the San Jose Mercury News. Today he joins us to chat about the Bay Area sports scene. He might be retired, but he still has plenty of opinions about sports. We talk about an unhappy 4th of July outside of sports, then dive into the state of the Giants and issues with the A’s stadium project. Mark gives his thoughts about new Sharks GM Mike Grier and the future of the team. Plus, we discuss USC and UCLA moving to the Big Ten Conference.
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Roy Firestone joins TheSportsVirus Podcast to talk about his recent enshrinement into the California Sports Hall of Fame. We chat about his love of baseball which goes back to being a bat boy at Orioles spring training and developing a relationship with Hall of Famers like Brooks Robinson and Jim Palmer. Roy gives his thoughts on some new baseball rules and expresses his concern for the state of professional golf with the addition of the LIV golf series. He also tells great stories about his long run as host of ESPN’s Up Close show and his role in the movie Jerry Maguire.
Former KNBR talk show host Ray Woodson details why the Warriors took a 3-2 lead over the Celtics in the NBA Finals on Monday night. We discuss the spectacular play of Andrew Wiggins and talk about how Steve Kerr has handled Draymond Green. An NBA Finals MVP evaluation is also on the docket, as Steph Curry went from a 43-point Game 4 to an 0-9 three-point shooting performance in Game 5. Plus, Ray gives Farhan Zaidi credit for the San Francisco Giants recent resurgence.
Tim Flannery spent 36 years in the major leagues as a player for the Padres and coach for San Diego and the San Francisco Giants. Following retirement, does he miss being in uniform? How does he feel about the way analytics are controlling the way front offices evaluate players? And, what made Buster Posey and Joe Panik great before they decided to hang ’em up in 2022. The answers are all found here on this week’s TheSportsVirus Podcast!
Tim Kawakami is the editor-in-chief for the San Francisco Bay Area edition of The Athletic. He joins us to chat about the Warriors win over the Mavericks in game one of the NBA Western Conference Finals.
Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney to the Dubs and take a guess at what adjustments Jason Kidd and the Mavericks might make the rest of the series. Tim also explains why The Athletic has been successful and details some of his philosophies on covering sports in the Bay Area.
Long-time sports radio anchor Joe Salvatore gives his thoughts on the Warriors/Grizzlies NBA playoff series and the Bay Area MLB scene. He spent 23 years as a sports radio anchor at KCBS in San Francisco and currently works for iHeart Radio. Joe and Joe break down game four of the
Warriors/Grizzlies series that saw Golden State take a 3-1 lead. They discuss the “code” that has been the talk of the series and how social media has impacted some of the players. The A’s struggles, the Giants’ recent rebound and Buster Posey’s retirement are also topics of conversation. And, we learn more about Salvatore’s lengthy career.
Kerith Burke from NBC Sports Bay Area joins us to chat about game one of the NBA Playoffs series between the Warriors and Grizzlies. We also learn about her career prior to coming to the Bay Area.
Bob Fishman is retiring after 40 years of directing the Final Four for CBS Sports. Bob had a dramatic final show in New Orleans and he describes his emotions directing his last game and reminisces about his 50-year career at CBS Sports. We discuss his relationship with producers and the technical crew as well as announcers. And, Bob gives us a personal Coach K story.
Kevin Kugler just finished calling first and second round NCAA tournament games in Fort Worth, Texas and he joins TheSportsVirus Podcast to chat about his broadcasts and what goes into calling four games in one day. He also discusses the challenges of doing radio vs. television (he also does NFL games on FOX) and explains how he got started as an announcer.
Josh Towers pitched for eight seasons in the Major Leagues with the Orioles, Blue Jays and Yankees from 2001-2009. Today he gives his thoughts on the new MLB labor deal and reminisces about his career. We discuss how it works for young players vs. veteran players. Josh also gives his thoughts about how starting pitchers are being
developed and we go down memory lane to hear great stories from when he played. Towers has strong opinions about baseball’s steroids era too. Plus, we learn about a