Breaking In with Kevin Fishbain: A Sports Media Podcast
Kevin Fishbain, senior writer at The Athletic, interviews sports media personalities about their origin stories. Each week, reporters, columnists, play-by-play announcers, sports radio hosts, television anchors, producers and more will tell Kevin about their first jobs in the industry, and how they broke in.
Episodes
46 episodes
Peggy Kusinski and Dionne Miller, Chicago broadcasters and ESPN 1000 hosts
In episode 45, Kevin chats with Peggy Kusinski and Dionne Miller, hosts of "Peggy and Dionne" on ESPN 1000 in Chicago. Kusinski has been on the air in Chicago since the early 90's including two decades at NBC-5. She discusses what it was like a...
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Season 1
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Episode 45
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1:05:02
Mike Sando, senior NFL writer at The Athletic
In episode 44, Kevin chats with Mike Sando, senior NFL writer at The Athletic. Prior to joining The Athletic, Sando spent 12 years at ESPN. His first NFL beat was covering the Seahawks for the Tacoma News-Tribune, where he covered his first Sup...
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Season 1
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Episode 44
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43:28
James Brown, host of "The NFL Today" on CBS
In episode 43, Kevin chats with James Brown, the host of "The NFL Today" on CBS. A three-time Emmy Award-winner, JB has been an NFL pregame host for more than 30 years, having done 11 Super Bowls. This episode dropped on the Sunday morning of t...
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Season 1
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Episode 43
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31:02
Seth Wickersham, ESPN senior writer
In episode 42, Kevin chats with Seth Wickersham, senior writer at ESPN and author of "American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback," a New York Times bestseller. Wickersham has won numerous awards for his writing and he's profiled the likes o...
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Season 1
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Episode 42
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48:37
Chris "Bear" Fallica, Fox Sports wagering expert
In episode 41, Kevin chats with Chris "Bear" Fallica, wagering expert at Fox Sports and host of the podcast "Bear Bets." Fallica appears on Fox's "Big Noon Kickoff" college football pregame show, and helps set up Monday's College Football Playo...
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Season 1
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Episode 41
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45:05
Jeff Joniak, Chicago Bears play-by-play broadcaster
In episode 40, Kevin chats with Jeff Joniak, the play-by-play voice of the Chicago Bears on ESPN 1000. Joniak is in his 25th season behind the microphone for the Bears and approaching his first home playoff game on the call in seven years. He b...
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Season 1
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Episode 40
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43:19
Dan Rubenstein, co-host of "The Solid Verbal"
In episode 39, Kevin chats with Dan Rubenstein, co-host of "The Solid Verbal," the largest independent college football podcast. Rubenstein and Ty Hildenbrandt have hosted the podcast since 2008, and Rubenstein will tell that origin story, how ...
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Season 1
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Episode 39
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46:40
Michael Silver, senior NFL writer at The Athletic
In episode 38, Kevin chats with Michael Silver, senior NFL writer at The Athletic. Silver has been covering the league since he was on the 49ers' beat in the early 90's. He wrote more than 70 cover stories for Sports Illustrated and also worked...
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Season 1
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Episode 38
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1:06:10
Sheil Kapadia, podcast host at The Ringer
In episode 37, Kevin chats with Sheil Kapadia, podcast host at The Ringer. Kapadia hosts the Philly Special podcast and The Ringer NFL Show. Prior to his time at The Ringer, Kapadia covered the Philadelphia Eagles at The Athletic. He also was E...
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Season 1
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Episode 37
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32:19
Stacey Dales, NFL Network senior national reporter
In episode 36, Kevin chats with Stacey Dales, senior national reporter for NFL Network. Dales has been with NFL Network since 2009, and prior to that, she was an analyst and reporter for ESPN and ABC. She also was an NCAA women's basketball ana...
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Season 1
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Episode 36
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42:29
Jake Zivin, lead play-by-play for MLS on Apple TV
In episode 35, Kevin chats with Jake Zivin, the play-by-play broadcaster for Apple TV's coverage of the MLS. Saturday afternoon, Zivin will be on the call for the MLS Cup on Apple TV alongside Taylor Twellman. How Zivin got to that seat began a...
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Season 1
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Episode 35
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47:18
Kevin Clark, host of "This is Football" from ESPN and Omaha Productions
In episode 34, Kevin chats with Kevin Clark, host of "This is Football" from ESPN and Omaha Productions, and former NFL writer at The Ringer and the Wall Street Journal. The first "Kevin" to appear as a guest, Clark recalls the first podcast he...
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Season 1
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Episode 34
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51:27
Mark Lazerus, senior NHL writer at The Athletic
In episode 33, Kevin chats with Mark Lazerus, senior NHL writer at The Athletic and Chicago Blackhawks beat writer. "Laz," who's in his 14th season covering the Blackhawks, has been named one of the top three columnists in the country twice in ...
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Season 1
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Episode 33
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37:53
Judy Battista, NFL Network senior national columnist
In episode 32, Kevin chats with Judy Battista, NFL Network senior national columnist. Battista is on "The Insiders" on NFL Network Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 7 p.m. ET. She's been writing for NFL.com and discussing the league on NFL Netwo...
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Season 1
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Episode 32
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36:05
Sarah Kustok, NBA analyst
In episode 31, Kevin chats with Sarah Kustok, Brooklyn Nets analyst on the YES Network. A two-time winner of the New York Emmy Award, Kustok was the first-ever solo female analyst for an NBA team. She also does NFL sidelines on Fox and is part ...
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Season 1
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Episode 31
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42:40
Marcus Thompson II, senior columnist at The Athletic
In episode 30, Kevin chats with Marcus Thompson, senior columnist at The Athletic in the Bay Area. Thompson is the author of "Golden: The Miraculous Rise of Steph Curry" and was a 2025 nominee for the Dan Jenkins Medal in Excellence in Sportswr...
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Season 1
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Episode 30
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44:27
Ken Rosenthal, senior MLB writer at The Athletic and Fox Sports broadcaster
In episode 29, Kevin chats with Ken Rosenthal, senior baseball writer at The Athletic and Emmy-winning broadcaster for Fox Sports’ MLB coverage, including this week’s World Series. Rosenthal has been one of the most prominent news breakers in t...
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Season 1
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Episode 29
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30:30
Jeff Pearlman, New York Times best-selling author
In episode 28, Kevin chats with Jeff Pearlman, New York Times best-selling author of 11 books. His latest book, "Only God can Judge Me: The many lives of Tupac Shakur,” comes out Oct. 21. He has written biographies of Brett Favre, Walter Payton...
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Season 1
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Episode 28
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41:53
Tom Fornelli, CBS Sports college football writer
In episode 27, Kevin chats with Tom Fornelli, college football writer for CBS Sports and co-host of the Cover 3 podcast. Fornelli has been at CBS for 15 years, and he is a fixture in their college football coverage. How did he get to CBS? It wa...
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Season 1
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Episode 27
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42:47
Mina Kimes, ESPN NFL analyst
In episode 26, Kevin chats with Mina Kimes, NFL analyst at ESPN and host of "The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny." Kimes can be seen on NFL Live and a variety of ESPN shows offering her NFL expertise, but her start in journalism was in the busi...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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31:46
Ian Rapoport, NFL Network senior insider
In episode 25, Kevin chats with Ian Rapoport, senior insider at NFL Network, where he has become one of the most prominent newsbreakers in the sport. Rapoport began covering the NFL when he was on the Patriots beat with the Boston Herald in 200...
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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41:12
Dianna Russini, senior NFL insider at The Athletic
In episode 24, Kevin chats with Dianna Russini, The Athletic's senior NFL insider and host of "Scoop City." Prior to joining The Athletic, Russini spent eight years at ESPN. An accomplished prep athlete, Russini's story begins there, and how sh...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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39:38
Joe Buck, MNF play-by-play announcer
In episode 23, Kevin sets the stage for the first "Monday Night Football" game of the season between the Bears and Vikings with Joe Buck, the voice of MNF on ESPN and ABC. Buck has been calling NFL games since 1994. He was in the St. Louis Card...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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37:19
Mike Tirico, host and play-by-play, NBC Sports
In episode 22, Kevin kicks off the NFL season with the voice of Sunday Night Football, Mike Tirico, who will call Cowboys-Eagles on Thursday night to begin the season, and then Ravens-Bills on Sunday night. With the NBA returning to NBC, Tirico...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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30:02
Bruce Feldman, national college football insider for The Athletic and sideline reporter for Fox
In episode 21, Kevin chats with Bruce Feldman, national college football insider for The Athletic. In addition to his written work at The Athletic, Feldman co-hosts the podcast "The Audible" and is a sideline reporter for Fox's college football...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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50:26