If the phrase “sports talk” makes you think of some blowhard yammering about who’s gonna win the game this weekend or what coach oughta get fired … well, a lot of sports talk is like that.
![Photo by Rick Wenner / HBO](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/df99932/2147483647/strip/true/crop/768x1024+0+0/resize/880x1173!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fbb%2F84%2F3f53cfdc4df6bb5c71e6b1a7909d%2Fbomani-jones-by-rick-wenner-via-hbo.jpg)
Bomani Jones is most definitely not.
Jones has been one of the smartest guys on the mic for more than a decade. You might have seen him on various ESPN shows, including “High Noon,” and he still does an ESPN podcast called “The Right Time.”
But his main project these days is a TV show on HBO called “Game Theory.” Season 2 of “Game Theory” debuts Friday, Jan. 20. His show features what Bomani does best—look at what sports mean to us beyond the games.
My talk with Bomani covers a lot of ground. I’ll be thinking for a long time about our discussion of the violence in football, and how much it plays into our changing culture and the search for masculinity. But there’s a whole lot more.