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The Word Podcast: Sports, News, & Stuff

The Word Podcast: Sports, News, & Stuff

Written by: The Word Podcast
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About this listen

 The Word Podcast features Rich Abernethy and James Mundia as they give their humorous takes on the world of Sports, News, and Stuff.

Broadcasting buddies since college, James and Rich bring a light-hearted but thorough approach to discussing what's on the front pages, as well as bringing in guests from all parts of the sports and entertainment world to weigh in on the show.Copyright The Word Podcast
Episodes
  • Rory Doubles Up! NBA Play-in games went crazy

    Rory Doubles Up! NBA Play-in games went crazy
    Apr 17 2026
    We're fresh off a phenomenal Masters that put our picks to the test! We checked in on our previous Masters predictions and found we were successful in predicting our "disappointments," which led to an "incredible reverse jinx". Rory McIlroy, Rich's disappointment pick, won back-to-back, and James Mundia's pick, Scottie Scheffler, also performed well. The guys are now demanding $25,000 each from McIlroy and Scheffler for motivating them.
    The main event was a deeper dive into the Masters' outcome, specifically Rory McIlroy's victory, which James observed was due to a change in his demeanor and mentality, making him seem more focused on "completing the job". This result suggests a more even playing field heading into the PGA tournament and the rest of the majors. We also covered headlines suggesting that LIV Golf may be closing shop, noting Brooks Koepka is currently the only player who has formally gone through the "paying your penance" process to return to the PGA. We also reminded Marcus, our intern of 20 years, to create a spec script for a sporting episode of the podcast.
    Shifting gears, we dove headlong into the unexpectedly dramatic NBA play-in games. Rich discussed the intensity of the Charlotte Hornets' game against the Miami Heat, referring to the Hornets as "America's team," a fan club James has now officially joined. Both of us stressed the critical importance of this playoff experience for the Hornets' growth, noting that unlike other sports, NBA success often requires this progressive exposure to the postseason environment. We also solidified the plan to complete the NBA playoff bracket tomorrow night before the first round starts on Saturday
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    59 mins
  • The Masters is here! March Madness wraps up. BURRITO DEBATE!

    The Masters is here! March Madness wraps up. BURRITO DEBATE!
    Apr 10 2026
    We are live for "Christmas in April," checking in on the Masters, which is already testing our predictions. We fact-checked our draft picks. James is already committed to two trips to Fish Camp after losing the NFL pick 'em league and the March Madness bracket challenge to Rich Abernethy, and it could be quadruple or nothing with the Masters AND World Cup picks to come!

    Our main event was the surprising hire of Michael Malone as the new head coach at the University of North Carolina. We agreed the move offers a strong recruiting and branding edge, but Rich Abernethy emphasized that today's recruits are drawn more by "the commas and the zeros" than the "legends and heroes" of the "Carolina Way".

    Shifting gears, we dove into a heated debate on fast-casual burritos: Rich Abernethy is a "big Kdoba guy," asserting it's superior to Chipotle, while James declared Moe's Southwest Grill "the GOAT"—a claim Rich strongly refutes. We had to exclude Taco Bell from the discussion, classifying it as a "different weight class".

    Finally, we looked at "America's team," the Charlotte Hornets, currently sitting in the 9-seed for the NBA playoffs. Rich Abernethy is concerned the successful season could end as a "big tease" if they lose the play-in games.

    That’s a wrap! The Word Sports News and Stuff program is available on all major podcast platforms, and you can follow us on twitter.com/@thewordpodcast and Instagram/@thewordpodcast. We'll catch you next week with a full NBA playoff preview once the matchups are finalized!
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    1 hr and 26 mins
  • March Madness Stages of Grief, Politics = Sports, Spring Sports Are Here!

    March Madness Stages of Grief, Politics = Sports, Spring Sports Are Here!
    Apr 3 2026
    The Final Four is set! On this episode we take some time to go over the insane end of the Duke - UCONN Elite Eight game last weekend, which dovetails nicely into our talk on why we do this to ourselves as sports fans.

    With the hoops season over for the majority of the field, it's that time of year where athletes give their perfunctory answers as to whether they are coming back next season. We talk about why are we even asking these questions, much the same as how no one really takes anything a politician takes seriously, but we still ask them the same things over and over!

    Staying with our New Year's Resolution of keeping things positive, there are a lot of things coming down the pipe in the next few weeks in the sporting world, so we go over a few of them, including a "Tradition unlike any other..."

    We conclude with our Master's "draft", tune in to see how we tweak the format a little bit.
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    1 hr and 18 mins
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