The Fax and the Furious: How One Screeching Machine Upended Sports — and Society as We Knew It

Thirty years ago this month, Michael Jordan shocked the world with a two-word transmission: "I'm back." But the rise and fall of this especially nostalgic technology is inextricably hard-wired to the sports world, from frantic prodigies to foul-mouthed coaches and fans glued to FaxCam. Pablo communes with a relic between himself and J.A. Adande — the Hall-of-Fame sportswriter and long-suffering fax-sender — for a jam session on innovation and increasingly epic fails that plunges PTFO into the literal depths of modern communication.
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Follow Pablo down the rabbit hole, beyond the game — every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday — on his Edward R. Murrow Award-winning video podcast.

Each week, you'll get a deep-dive "talkumentary" episode, reported by Curiosity Correspondents like Emmy Award-winning comedian Wyatt Cenac and Oscar-winning director Ezra Edelman, answering urgent questions such as: Are you smarter than an NFL quarterback? Why did Draymond Green punch his teammate? And did the government invent stuffed-crust pizza? (Journalism!)

Plus: Pablo hangs out with sports and culture "thought leaders" like Sue Bird, Action Bronson and JJ Redick — and plays Share & Tell with friends like Domonique Foxworth, Mina Kimes, Katie Nolan and Dan Le Batard (aka his boss).

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• No. of episodes: 263
• Latest episode: 2025-04-24
• Sports

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