The New York Times - USA (2020-08-09)

THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, AUGUST 9, 2020 D 7

EVEN AFTER MONTHSof postponed seasons and

canceled events, sports leagues continue to struggle

to rebound (at least, in the United States). For fans,

this means that 2020 will most likely be a year with

fewer games and without any in-person games.

Fortunately, there’s a raft of podcasts that can give

seasoned fans some content to fill that void — and

these four shows are so entertaining and enlight-

ening that even the most sports-disinterested person

will probably enjoy tuning in. Find them in your

listening app of choice.

TEA WITH A & PHEE

Wonder what life is like inside “the bubble,” the

campus in Florida where all W.N.B.A. players are

living in order to play their abbreviated season?

Thanks to two of the league’s players, A’ja Wilson of

the Las Vegas Aces and Napheesa Collier of the

Minnesota Lynx, you can gaze into the bubble, but

also into their pro-level camaraderie. In the first

episode, which debuted last month, Wilson, the No. 1

draft pick in 2018 and Collier, 2019’s rookie of the year,

make each other laugh as they share their friend-

ship’s origin story and reminisce about their college

athletic careers. Every week for a half-hour, the pair

promise to peel back the curtain on what it’s like to

play in this unprecedentedly weird season of pro

sports, addressing everything from the dearth of hair

dressers in the bubble to the league’s Black Lives

Matter activism.

SIDELINE TACKLE

There’s a style of history podcast, with just a single

narrator and evocative sound design, that can be

almost mesmerizing, even as it delivers “edu-tain-

ment.” Joining the likes of such shows is “Sideline

Tackle” — a short but rich dive into different mo-

ments in soccer history. In less than 15 minutes per

episode, the host Leslie Gideon charts a journey to

pitches past, going back to, say, 2001, when

Southampton F.C. hired a pagan witch to reverse its

bad luck in its new home stadium, or to 1994, when

the United States hosted the World Cup and the

men’s national team showed off its Americana-in-

spired denim uniforms. Gideon’s well-written narra-

tion is enhanced by deftly applied ambient sounds

that serve as an immersive backdrop to the story,

making you feel as if you’re right there on the field.

The result is a bite-size step into a time machine of

soccer history.

TRICKERATION

Who doesn’t love a good prank? Each week on

iHeartRadio’s “Trickeration,” the host Matt Waxman

goes right to the source of some of the boldest cheats,

practical jokes and hoodwinks in sports history.

Through interviews with the pranksters and

schemers alike, Waxman gets the firsthand accounts

from people like Matt McGough, a former Yankees

batboy who was punked by the team’s captain, Don

Mattingly, on his first day, and Trevor Kraus, who

wrote a book on how to sneak into the Super Bowl.

HORSE

Hosted by the podcaster Mike Shubert and the co-

median Adam Mamawala, this goofy basketball

podcast promises to cover everything about basket-

ball “except for the wins and losses.” Where many

sideline chat shows can quickly get lost in the weeds,

“Horse” is a structured comedy that requires no

prior knowledge of the N.B.A. The hourlong

episodes, which come out twice a month, ground the

laughter in regular segments like “Full Court Press”

(“get it, like, the news?”), a discussion of the latest in

basketball news, broken down for the uninitiated;

“That Actually Happened,” wherein the hosts share a

different wacky anecdote of the sports history; and

“3 on 3,” a ranking of bests and worsts of things like

3-point celebrations. With a back catalog of 55

episodes and counting, “Horse” might be the least

intimidating, most celebratory approach to the cul-

ture around the game itself.

Te e U p

A Sports

Podcast

Just because you can’t go to the

games doesn’t mean you have

to skimp on athletics.

BY PHOEBE LETT

JORDAN AWAN

Join The New York Times Podcast Club on Facebook for

more suggestions and discussions about all things audio.

DESPITE THE BREATHINGroom
offered by the Great Outdoors,
many areas of the 419 National

Park Service sites aren’t necessar-
ily conducive to social distancing.
Many tend to concentrate the
public along narrow trails leading

to crowded geysers, waterfalls,
wildlife-viewing stands or other
scenic vistas.

But the eight seashores and
lakeshores named here offer a
completely different experience.
While these federally protected

coastlines collectively attract
millions of visitors each year, the
primary attraction is water and

uncrowded stretches of sand that
invite picnics, swimming and
social distancing. Many of these
sites also allow off-road vehicles

and sport hunting — activities
that are forbidden in the national
parks. And while the heat of sum-

mer makes them ideal destina-
tions, most can also be explored
throughout the fall and winter.
Note that during the pandemic,

the visitor centers, museums,
historic buildings and signature
lighthouses are likely to be closed

to the public — and that groups
might be limited to 10 people.

CAPE COD
NATIONAL SEASHORE

On a map, Cape Cod National
Seashore resembles the flexed

forearm of Cape Cod, Mass.,
stretching 40 miles from its elbow
to its fist. Half of its 43,000 acres
are water. Henry David Thoreau

often walked and swam here in
the mid-19th century, calling the
autumn landscape “so beautifully

painted... It was like the richest
rug imaginable.”
As one of the most popular
seashores, Cape Cod still has

plenty of room along 15 different
beaches to spread out and fish,
body surf, swim, take four-wheel

drives along the beach and hike.
Beaches are essential ecosystems
that support a variety of often
overlooked plants and animals,

from small nematodes to tiny
crustaceans and other clamlike
invertebrates living between the

lower surf and the higher grasses.
You can also observe ospreys,
foxes and coyotes amid the rolling
dunes. nps.gov/caco

ASSATEAGUE ISLAND

NATIONAL SEASHORE

Immediately south of bustling

Ocean City, Md., this windswept

and pristine island stretches 37

miles into Virginia, where it ad-

joins one of the richest birding

sanctuaries in the country, Chin-

coteague National Wildlife Ref-

uge. The island is also famed for a

herd of some 150 wild ponies,

ancestors of the animals shipped

over by planters in the 1600s.

Sometimes they can be seen

trotting along (and into) Chin-

coteague Bay.

Most of the beaches are open to

four-wheel driving (with permits),

along with biking, hiking, surfing,

swimming, kayaking, clamming

and fishing. Since this is the only

nature-oriented national park site

on the Mid-Atlantic seaboard,

more than two million people

come each year, but in the cool

spring and fall, the tourist crowds

thin. nps.gov/asis

CAPE LOOKOUT

NATIONAL SEASHORE

Directly south of the often-con-

gested Cape Hatteras, N.C., the

56-mile-long Cape Lookout Na-

tional Seashore bridges three

unspoiled barrier islands: North

and South Core Banks and Shack-

leford Banks. Home to wild

horses, nesting loggerhead turtles

and countless shorebirds, this

undeveloped seashore is accessi-

ble only by boat, with no roads or

stores. Primitive cabins can be

rented on the South Core Banks,

while camping is allowed through-

out the seashore.

Surf-casting is popular, along

with hunting, shell collecting,

windsurfing, kayaking, motor

boating (like most national sea-

shores, areas for personal water-

craft and Jet Skis are limited),

long beach strolls and four-wheel

driving on the two Core islands

(scheduled ferries transport

motor vehicles). nps.gov/calo

CUMBERLAND ISLAND

NATIONAL SEASHORE

As the least visited and most

isolated national seashore, the

18-mile-long Cumberland Island,

off the Georgia coast, showcases

an unusual landowner history.

Historic structures, such as the

Thomas Carnegie mansion ruins,

surround what were once thriving

cotton plantations. The north end

of the island, home to an African-

American community in the 1890s,

holds the intact First African

Baptist Church, still a popular

destination.

Today, although there are pri-

vate-property owners living on

the island, many of the dunes and

surrounding beaches have been

reclaimed by nature; nearly one-

third of the total 36,000 acres are

protected wilderness. Along with

feral horses, there are rattle-

snakes, alligators, more than 300

species of birds, and white tail

deer; after storms, try your luck

hunting for sharks’ teeth and

shells on the beaches. nps.gov/cuis

GULF ISLANDS

NATIONAL SEASHORE

The largest of all the national

seashores at 135,600 acres, Gulf

Islands National Seashore offers

plenty of room to go beachcomb-

ing and boat across 12 different

units that are spread from the

Florida Panhandle to Southern

Mississippi. And the beaches, with

their pure white sand, are her-

alded as among the most beautiful

in the world.

In addition to sunbathing,

swimming or picnicking, you’ll

find incredible year-round snor-

keling and scuba diving through-

out the warm and pellucid waters,

along with ample opportunities to

camp, hike, bike, ride horses and

hunt. The diversity of wildlife

habitats attracts more than 300

species of birds, along with arma-

dillos, black bears, dolphins and

river otters. Many come to visit

the islands’ four intact forts

(though the Fort Barrancas area

is currently closed) that were built

to protect the mainland during the

War of 1812. nps.gov/guis

PADRE ISLAND

NATIONAL SEASHORE

Renowned as the largest undevel-

oped barrier island in the world,

the drivable hard sand of Texas’

Padre Island sweeps 80 miles

from Corpus Christi to

Brownsville, free of the resorts

and homes strung along the main-

land several miles west across the

Intracoastal Waterway. One shel-

tered stretch, Laguna Madre,

contains some of the most saline

waters in the world. Padre Island

is also known as a windsurfing

destination, but when the breeze

dies, mosquitoes can be fierce.

Along with innumerable activi-

ties on beaches colorful with

evening primrose, there are sev-

eral shipwrecks buried offshore.

For birding opportunities, bring

your binoculars, and if patience

prevails, wildlife watchers might

also get a glimpse of the endan-

gered Kemp’s ridley turtle. Al-

though busy on weekends and

during college breaks, most vis-

itors drive in four-wheel vehicles

at least five miles south from park

headquarters until they’ve found

the desired isolation. nps.gov/pais

PICTURED ROCKS

NATIONAL LAKESHORE

Pictured Rocks hugs the brisk

waters of Lake Superior on Michi-

gan’s sparsely populated Upper

Peninsula. Taking advantage of

the park’s lack of entrance fees,

more than 800,000 visitors came

last year to walk or snowshoe 100

miles of trails, ice climb, camp, ice

fish, picnic, hunt, boat and swim.

The park is named after its spec-

tacular and multihued limestone

cliffs, towering directly above the

lake for 15 miles and frothing with

waterfalls.

There are also half a dozen

beaches easily reached from the

road, stretching as long as 12

miles, along with several more

isolated beaches. The shoreline

bristles with hardwood forests

that blush in brilliant reds and

golds during autumn. nps.gov/piro

POINT REYES

NATIONAL SEASHORE

As the only national seashore on

the West Coast, the spectacular

Point Reyes is a short drive north

of San Francisco. Home to more

than a thousand species of plants

and animals, this 71,000-acre

headland is the most biologically

rich and diverse seashore of them

all. With forests sheltering tule

elk, pastoral grasslands and tall

cliffs overlooking the breakers,

visitors can watch migrating gray

whales, seals and fluttering colo-

nies of seabirds. An astonishing

480 different species of birds have

been identified here.

The park preserves the region’s

150-year-old cattle-ranching lega-

cy, with dairy operations still

active today on the treeless plain

above the sea. And down below, in

1579, Sir Francis Drake became

the first European to land in Cali-

fornia, in what is now called

Drake’s Cove. The 80 miles of

shoreline hold a dozen different

beaches — the most popular

destinations for backpacking,

surfing, kayaking or simply

strolling along the littoral where

the vast Pacific beats the shore.

nps.gov/pore

CHRIS BOSWELL, VIA GETTY IMAGES

These eight national seashores and lakeshores offer activities from

bird-watching to boating to basking in the sun.

BY JON WATERMAN

Visit Scenic Coastlines

That Have Everything

Though the Cape Lookout

Lighthouse in North Carolina is

closed until further notice, the Cape

Lookout National Seashore offers

visitors water access, sandy beaches

and plenty of elbow room along its

56 miles of shore.