Burn It All Down

In this episode, Brenda Elsey, Lindsay Gibbs and Jessica Luther dissect Brett Favre's welfare fraud. But first, they talk about what occupation they would have if they weren't an historian and journalists. Then, they discuss how sports have defrauded the public, dissecting the most recent headline about former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre stealing millions from the Mississippi's welfare funds to build a volleyball stadium. They talk about how this story broken by a local investigative reporter, Anna Wolfe, on the poverty beat and how sports media often glosses over corrupt, fraudulent behavior of sports stars. They also discuss similar cases, including the construction of the Buffalo Bills Stadium being paid for largely by New York State taxpayers despite the Bills' owners being billionaires, and they ways Donald Trump used golf courses to facilitate his fraudulent acts. Following this discussion, they preview a special Patreon segment about the current 15 players for the National Spanish Women's Football Team who are on strike to try and oust their toxic coach. Then, you'll here a preview of this week's interview with Andrew Maraniss about his latest book Inaugural Ballers, which tells the story of the 1976 Women’s Olympic Basketball team. Next, they burn some of the worst in sports this week on the Burn Pile. Then, they celebrate those shining light, including Torchbearers of the Week, all those who in Iran protesting the death of 22 year old Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody for allegedly violating hijab protocols. Several prominent athletes have joined university professors, government officials and other state employees in resigning, including taekwondo practitioner Mahsa Sadeghi, Olympic fencer Mojtaba Abedin and Sajjad Esteki, the captain of Iran's national handball team. They wrap up the show with What's Good and What We're Watching In Sports this week. This episode was produced by Tressa Versteeg. Shelby Weldon is our social media and website specialist. Burn It All Down is part of the Blue Wire podcast network. For show notes, transcripts, and more info about BIAD, check out our website: www.burnitalldownpod.com To get exclusive content and support the Burn It All Down podcast, become a patron: www.patreon.com/burnitalldown For BIAD merchandise: https://www.bonfire.com/store/burn-it-all-down/ Find us on Twitter: twitter.com/BurnItDownPod; Facebook: www.facebook.com/BurnItAllDownPod/; and Instagram: www.instagram.com/burnitalldownpod/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices