Episode 44 - Michael Wilbon

The Rex Chapman Show with Josh Hopkins

On this episode of The Rex Chapman Show with Josh Hopkins, the guys chat with legendary sports-media personality Michael Wilbon, who works as an ESPN NBA analyst and the co-host of Pardon The Interruption. In 2021, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame honored him with the Curt Gowdy Award, which is given to outstanding basketball writers and broadcasters.

Follow Michael on Twitter and Instagram.

05:30: Wilbon's early impressions of Rex

07:00: Growing up on the Southside of Chicago with African-American Athletes playing on the Northside in Chicago

10:30: When he realized he wasn't going pro (when Kirby Puckett took him deep in a travel ball game

013:30: When he knew he could marry his love of sports and his skill of writing

18:00: When he had the confidence that came with the skill - writing on deadline will develop it or break it

21:00: Wilbon became a columnist around the same time Rex became a Bullet

24:00: Michael feels like sports has done a better job of embracing diversity quicker in the writer & media world than in other areas

26:30: How the seeds of PTI and becoming a TV presence became planted starting with The Sports Reporters

31:15: Wilbon's friendship with Tony Kornheiser and why they became good buds

39:00: Michael doesn't ever go into the comments section on his stuff, hates the purposefully decisive stuff

44:30: He feels honored when former athletes ask him to write things for them

-46:00: When Michael felt uncomfortable with the fame and advice he got from Charles Barkley

-48:50: Wilbon was in Hawaii for a Holiday Bowl and had 3 huge stories happen to him in one trip there

-53:40: Taking us through some of the big events MW covered - the one that stands out most was an event when Kathy Freeman won at the Sydney Olympics

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