A Conversation With Sarah Spain

Sarah Spain, who previously joined the podcast to discuss her career path and whether she was worried her politics would make her polarizing (she wasn’t), was a guest again this week.

She is very busy now; she co-hosts a weekend show on ESPN Radio with Jane McManus and Kate Fagan, writes for ESPNW, has her own podcast entitled That’s What She Said, and now appears all over ESPN’s platforms, including SportsCenter, the Dan Le Batard Show, and Around the Horn. This week she hosted the ESPNW women’s summit in Chicago, and next week she will appear on a panel about treatment of women in sports media at the Blogs With Balls conference (where I will also be on a separate panel).

We started out by discussing some of the treatment she receives on social media. From there we talked about her own career, which covers a combination of local reporting in Chicago and national analysis. We agreed to disagree on Golf Digest’s decision to put Paige Spiranac on the cover, as well as Rob Gronkowski’s giving a lapdance to Julie Stewart-Binks. After that, we discussed the current climate of Chicago sports, delving into the Cubs, Bulls, and Bears.