The Bold Take Podcast

The Bold Take Podcast is a two-person sports conversation between Austin Hill and Austin Wader, and it goes wherever the biggest games are. A recent run of episode titles goes from an NFL week 7 preview to a Super Bowl and NBA trade deadline recap, then through March Madness brackets and the Final Four, and on to a full NFL offseason recap. College football gets a ceremony of its own: the hosts run the Bold Take Podcast College Football Awards, with a top prize they bill as more valuable than the Heisman Trophy. The two work together more than they argue. One voice tends to take a long analytical run, adding a memory from earlier in the season and then a roster implication to a stat line, while the other agrees, corrects or changes direction. Arguments start from something concrete. In the week 7 preview, the Eagles' 34-17 loss to the Giants is named the week's biggest loser. The trade deadline talk weighs a Cavaliers decision involving Darius Garland and James Harden, setting a young core against the pull of competing right now. The Super Bowl between the Seahawks and Patriots is described as a defensive slugfest that finally broke open in the fourth quarter. March Madness coverage takes in both the men's and women's tournaments and asks whether Cinderella runs are extinct, pointing to VCU's win over North Carolina as proof the upsets have not dried up. Brackets get filled out on air and checked again once the results come in. The awards episode calls Clemson one of the season's great disappointments after a five-loss Duke team took the ACC. The pacing is brisk and the register is casual. The talk is still dense with seeding, contracts, player development and scheme. Basic stakes rarely get spelled out, though the hosts talk through their reasoning as they go. There are detours into jokes and fan memories, but they usually loop back to the analysis. One episode plugs an earlier college football installment for a plot twist on its 'bet of the week'. For a listener tracking a single NFL team, 'Full NFL Offseason Recap!!!!!' is a practical place to start: it goes team by team through the divisions, with a stated plan to timestamp every team. Episodes are pointed to on both Spotify and YouTube. What holds it together is enthusiasm, from two fans who turn each result into a question about what happens next.