Colin Cowherd Podcast - J.A. Adande On Steelers + Dodgers Dynasties, The Myth Of Michael Jordan, NIL, LIV Golf Crashes Out

J.A. Adande’s here—Northwestern’s director of sports journalism and co-host of Dynastic with Chuck Todd—and right before we hit record came word that LIV Golf’s funding is ending, so how should that have been covered given the business and ethical layers?

Reporting on LIV is different from joining it, and as a product it never landed TV money near the PGA’s, which kept networks protective of their existing partners and left LIV treated as news at launch but not as a real sports property week to week.

In person LIV felt fresh, on TV it fell flat, and while I lean toward disruptors I was conflicted on sportswashing, so did it cross a moral line for you?

The Khashoggi murder made it feel deeply wrong to me, and even though sovereign wealth money is seeping into every league as valuations soar, that broader context didn’t make this any less uncomfortable.

Your new series opens with the 1970s Steelers—my first NFL love—so what did you uncover about how that dynasty was built?

We dug into origin stories and found they were early at mining HBCUs and had a remarkably progressive culture under Chuck Noll, including the first Black quarterback to open a season, and we frame it with big national teams that haven’t been over-documented while exploring what-ifs like courting a young Joe Paterno before hiring Noll.

I remember a stretch of three straight shutouts and how roster stability was easier then, but the era was also rougher, so did you address Mike Webster and the toll of that time?

Webster embodies both the Steelers’ iron stability and football’s cost, from a decade and a half of collisions to the mental health fallout and early deaths that shadow the rings.

Switching to the Dodgers, TV and Vin Scully shaped their aura, and Koufax still feels mythic, so how central is he to their rise?

Koufax amplifies the legend with excellence and a values-driven World Series absence that made him a Jewish icon, and the Dodgers’ story mirrors L.A.’s diversity, which we deepen with a companion chat with the longtime Spanish-language voice who contrasted Koufax’s reserve with Don Drysdale’s everyday touch.

Steve Kerr framed MJ and LeBron as totally different greats, and I think Jordan’s mystique came from an era without social media; was he truly mysterious to cover?

Before 1991 he was surprisingly accessible, but once the titles and ‘Be Like Mike’ hit he was trapped by fame, and I doubt his aura would have survived today’s meme economy the way LeBron has endured constant online scrutiny.

On NIL, I’m pro-pay and down on the G League as a development path, but how does NIL feel on campus?

Fans didn’t bolt and interest is booming, yet hearing going rates and agents tied to college athletes still feels new, so the clean fix is full professionalization with multi-year contracts to give players and schools real stability.

Big picture, I’m oddly optimistic about sports journalism even as business models shift and talent migrates; where are you?

We must separate media from journalism because investigations have forced billion-dollar ownership changes, but funding for that work is shrinking even as production and social jobs grow, and while student interest is surging and the need for truth is urgent, I worry that a generation getting news via social feeds bypasses trained reporting.

Dynastic with Chuck Todd is in my queue, and since we’re in the same city now let’s finally grab that sushi.

Count me in—same spot we talked about at the Super Bowl, and great catching up.