New editor Dennie Wendt and founding editor George Quraishi discuss the contents, creative process and—incredibly, and at long last—the completion of Howler 15. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Complex Life and Career of Socrates

Mar 16th, 2018 46m 51s

Andrew Downie is back to discuss his new book, Doctor Socrates, in more depth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Iceland Does It

Mar 9th, 2018 46m 3s

Iceland has been one of the best stories in world soccer over the last few years—a tiny nation that is riding a golden generation to its first ever European Championship and then World Cup in the span of just two years. (We published a big feat

What to make of the Players' Tribune

Mar 2nd, 2018 34m 56s

Amos Barshad last came on Dummy to discuss his story about a spate of soccer murders in Argentina. Now he's back to talk about his story in last week's New York Times Magazine about the Players' Tribune and where it lives in the modern sports j

Why do friends let friends become referees?

Feb 22nd, 2018 18m 20s

We published a big ol’ package on referees in the latest issue of Howler, and in this episode of Dummy, George speaks with one of the writers about his survey of the academic literature and what it tells us about the psychology of people who ar

Doctor Socrates

Feb 15th, 2018 26m 30s

Andrew Downie’s new book Doctor Socrates tells the story of one of the most interesting players in soccer history. Socrates trained as a physician but chose to become a professional footballer, and he was captain of the wonderful Brazil side th

Eden Hazard, Tobin Heath, and Ryan Bailey

Feb 8th, 2018 31m 12s

George and Ryan (host of the Dirty Tackle podcast and an occasional writer for the mag) are in London at a big Nike marketing event, and of the many players present—including Alexis Sanchez, Neymar, Christian Pulisic, and Marcus Rashford—they g

David Beckham enters Cuban exile politics

Feb 1st, 2018 15m 34s

This week, George chats with Robert Andrew Powell, who has been writing about Beckham and Miami for Howler for several years. (Read his profile of Beckham’s business partner, the Bolivian billionaire Marcelo Claure, here.) They discuss the anno

Dummy/TSS Live in Philadelphia!

Jan 22nd, 2018 53m 16s

On Thursday, we hosted a live show with the gentlemen from the Total Soccer Show. Tab Ramos and Alexi Lalas were our special guests, and Brooks Peck of Dirty Tackle made a cameo at the end during the Wikipedia Game. Learn more about your ad cho

USSF candidate Kathy Carter

Jan 17th, 2018 27m 55s

As president of Soccer United Marketing, Kathy Carter has helped US Soccer earn megaprofits in recent years. Now she is running to be president of the federation. Among the topics she discusses in this episode: potential conflicts of interest (

The Fight for Dual Nationals

Jan 11th, 2018 55m 40s

As chief scout for the USMNT under Bruce Arena, Thomas Rongen was responsible for keeping tabs on potential US internationals, including 18-year-old midfielder Jonathan Gonzalez, who chose this week to represent Mexico instead of the US. In thi

Some perspective on our current “crisis”

Jan 5th, 2018 23m 11s

My scheduled interview fell through, so when my dad stopped by, I made him sit down and answer my questions about how American soccer has changed since he arrived from England in the early 1970s to play college soccer and then in the old NASL.

Possible outcomes for the the USSF election

Dec 21st, 2017 48m 47s

Jason Davis spends 10 hours a week talking in public about American soccer on his Sirius radio show. Now that the field has been narrowed to eight candidates, he and George discuss what could happen, what’s likely to happen, and what they hope

Doping, Russia, and the FIFA World Cup

Dec 14th, 2017 27m 5s

Earlier this month, the International Olympic Committee decided to ban Russian athletes from participating under their national flag at the 2018 Olympic Games and it banned for life Vitaly Mutko, the Russian deputy prime minister who oversaw th

Boys to Men

Dec 7th, 2017 1h 12m

Last week, George went down to the Nike Friendlies outside of Bradenton to watch the U-17 U.S. boys lose to the Netherlands by a score of five to one. More successful was the trio of interviews he conducted with people who run various aspects o

Is there gambling in the FIFA video game?

Dec 1st, 2017 28m 25s

Last week, an uproar by gamers over the new Star Wars video game may have reduced EA Sports’s stock value by $3 billion. The crux of the issue was that in order to unlock certain aspects of the game—characters like Darth Vader, for instance—pla

A death threat, a murder, and a suicide: Week one at the FIFA trial

Nov 21st, 2017 42m 54s

Ken Bensinger of Buzzfeed spent last week in a Brooklyn courtroom observing an absolutely BANANAS case against three senior South American soccer executives who are at the center of the huge FIFA trial. There were tears on the stand. Not one bu

Wes McKennie and the USMNT’s other new faces

Nov 17th, 2017 28m 13s

The US men’s national team drew 1–1 with Portugal on Tuesday in the first of many meaningless friendlies in the team’s near future. George and Travis Clark of Top Drawer Soccer discuss some of the young players who are getting their first chanc

Three Candidates for USSF Prez

Nov 9th, 2017 1h 31m

George speaks with three candidates for U.S. Soccer president—Paul Lapointe, Steve Gans, and Kyle Martino—and dives deep on the answers they supplied to a 13-item questionnaire that we asked all candidates to complete. (We recommend you check t

Breaking news analysis: NASL vs. USSF Hearing

Nov 2nd, 2017 27m 54s

UCLA law professor Steven Bank is back to discuss today’s hearing in a Brooklyn courtroom as the NASL seeks an injunction against the U.S. Soccer Federation’s decision to re-classify the league as division three. We learned some new things, inc

Good news about the Qatar World Cup

Oct 27th, 2017 27m 28s

Qatar recently announced that it will begin to reform the Kafala labor system that keeps migrant workers essentially powerless in the face of abuse. James Dorsey joins the pod to discuss what this means, why it came about, and the role of geopo

Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Soccer Team

Oct 20th, 2017 48m 34s

Today, two very emotional interviews about the prospect (possibility? probability?) that Anthony Precourt, owner of the Columbus Crew since 2013, will move the team to Austin, Texas. First, George speaks with lifelong Crew supporter Morgan Hugh

USA EPIC FAIL WTF

Oct 12th, 2017 55m 35s

Howler editor George Quraishi is joined by Bobby Warshaw and Cole Grossman (former player for Real Salt Lake and Stabaek) to work through the USMNT’s loss to Trinidad and failure to make the World Cup. They discuss the short- and long-term fail

Clarence Goodson on qualifying for the World Cup

Oct 6th, 2017 32m 47s

Clarence Goodson was a center back for the U.S. men’s national team during two World Cup qualifying cycles. He joins to discuss his compatriots trying to make it to Russia, his career, his work with the MLS players union, and why he built a 5-a

A UCLA law prof on NASL vs. USSF

Sep 28th, 2017 25m 31s

The U.S. Soccer Federation recently demoted the North American Soccer League from division two to division three status, and now the NASL is suing the USSF not only over this designation but over the governing body’s right to designate pro leag