The Coco Gauff Hype Train Edition

Josh Levin, Stefan Fatsis, and Vinson Cunningham are joined by Ben Mathis-Lilley to discuss his new book on college football, The Hot Seat. They also discuss the hype around American tennis star Coco Gauff and review the soccer documentary Welcome to Wrexham.

• Support Hang Up and Listen by subscribing to Slate Plus.

• Follow Ben Mathis-Lilley on Twitter, buy his new book The Hot Seat, and go to his events in Ann Arbor and Brooklyn.

• An adapted excerpt from The Hot Seat in the New York Times: “Does College Football on TV Have to Be So Miserable?”

• Mathis-Lilley in Slate: “What Is Jim Harbaugh’s Deal?”

• The New York Times Magazine’s Susan Dominus asks: “Can Coco Gauff the Tennis Prodigy Become a Tennis Legend?”

• Alyssa Roenigk in ESPN: “Coco Gauff is ready for greatness, on her own terms”

• Follow Gauff on TikTok.

• The FX documentary series Welcome to Wrexham follows a small Welsh football team, Wrexham AFC, purchased in 2020 by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

• GQ writer Tom Lamont followed the team during Reynolds’ and McElhenney’s first season as owners.

• In Vulture, Sophie Brookover writes that “Welcome to Wrexham is about football the way Friday Night Lights was about (American) football. It’s really about what a specific football team means to the community it belongs to.”

• Wales Online: “Sincerity shines through the Hollywood pizzazz amid patronising subtitles.”

Hang Up and Listen’s weekly Dorking Wanderers:

Josh’s Dorking Wanderers: How to think about the concept of drinking beer through a hot dog straw.

On this week’s bonus segment, Josh, Stefan, and Vinson are joined by Ben Mathis-Lilley to discuss the Big Ten’s record-setting TV deal.

Podcast production and edit by Kevin Bendis.

You can email us at hangup@slate.com.