American Hockey Story

February 23, 2026·1 hr 2 min·5 clips

Trump's call to the gold medal hockey team reveals his demeaning joke about inviting the women's team.

It starts in Olympic afterglow. Alex Kirshner opens on February 23rd, 2026, with the United States holding two hockey gold medals since the last recording. Lindsay Gibbs already misses the Games. That gives the show its usual rhythm: sports feeling first, then the system around it starts to creep in. The pardon segment is the sharper turn. Chris Dalby explains how Donald Trump's sports-related pardons often involve older or deceased figures who are still warmly remembered by home fans. The panel is not buying the simple version. The question is not only whether Trump likes famous athletes. It is whether comeback stories around sports figures give him useful political symbols. Daryl Strawberry is one example. Dalby points to the attention around that pardon, and to the 2020 White House scene with Jerry Rice, Jim Brown, Ronnie Lott, and Charles Haley around the DeBartolo Jr. pardon. Redemption is the public label. The panel keeps pressing on whether that label actually moves voters, or mostly flatters Trump and the people close enough to reach him. Dalby does not see much hard evidence. He says the newer names may fit a broader sports strategy, alongside appearances by figures like Wayne Gretzky around the World Cup. Lindsay pushes the more chaotic read. Maybe this is less strategy than access, money, proximity, and the old spectacle of someone getting in front of Trump at the right time. That is where the episode works best. A sports story turns into a governance story without losing the odd details of team loyalty and famous names. The episode also tees up a turf war, with prediction markets and traditional sportsbooks framed as another fight over money, regulation, and who gets to own the action.

As heard by us

Olympic hockey opens onto betting, pardons, and the politics around both.

Hang Up and Listen starts with Olympic hockey, noting that the United States has won two gold medals since the last episode, then turns to a brewing clash between prediction markets and traditional sportsbooks.

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Why you'd press play

For a sharp lap from Olympic hockey to predictions markets, sportsbooks, and Trump pardons for sports figures.

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