Last week ESPN debuted a new podcast. Normally, this would not be very newsworthy, but the podcast is a crossover between the Bristol mothership and ESPN Deportes. One Nación with Max y Marly is ahead of its time as ESPN’s first bilingual podcast, but the maneuver could have adverse effects as the podcast attempts to find its footing.
Unless you’re Donald Trump, you’re likely aware of the rising Hispanic population in the United States. ESPN already has a network for those fluent in Spanish, but, as host Max Bretos admitted during the show, his generation is starting to find themselves in a new grouping. There is a group of Americans once removed from Latin America. Their parents were immigrants, but they were born in America learning English in school and speaking Spanish at home in many cases. This issue is discussed from a baseball perspective during the podcast.
Bretos, self-admittedly a member of the once removed generation, has done interviews in both English and Spanish, but sounds much more comfortable speaking the former. He talks of growing up in a Cuban household in Miami where his grandmother spoke only Spanish, his parents knew both, and he learned Spanish with “the profanity first.” Marly Rivera, on the other hand, grew up in Puerto Rico and moved to the United States at 16 to go to school. She is a bright voice that I had never heard before in either English or Spanish. Rivera mentions in the opening portion of the show (in Spanish) that she has been with ESPN Deportes as a writer for four years, mainly focusing on baseball. She also acknowledges that her love of the sport came from following teams with Puerto Rican players.
The goal of One Nación is to talk “about sports stories, but also what’s relevant to Latinos in the U.S. Also, the cultural and social issues which often affect the Latino community [and] athletes today.” The first episode focused on the lack of translators for Hispanic baseball players before comparing the situation to other foreign players. It turns out coaches or other players have had to translate Spanish for their teammates while Japanese players have been able to mandate for translators in their contracts. Rivera mentions a story of Jeremy Guthrie needing to translate for Yordano Ventura in the World Series because Major League Baseball failed to provide Ventura with the proper resources. It’s not a simple situation, but it’s one that doesn’t get enough mainstream press, and I’m glad ESPN allowed their broadcasters to criticize Major League Baseball on this issue.
As a Spanish major, the podcast gave me a great opportunity to test my listening skills, though not as much as I was expecting. Bretos spoke almost completely in English while Rivera was split more or less down the middle, which makes sense, considering the goal is about 25% Spanish per podcast. During a discussion on Michael Pineda and the pine tar incident, Rivera seamlessly and effortlessly switches between the languages. She is the biggest star of this show; I enjoyed both hosts and have already subscribed to the feed.
As much as I like One Nación, it is not a flawless first outing. During the Pineda discussion, the hosts introduced a quote from Carlos Beltran in English, though the quote itself was completely in Spanish. Afterward, I was expecting at least some sort of summary in English, but it was not translated verbally at any point by either of the hosts. And therein lies the biggest problem with the podcast: by switching between the languages, there is a higher bar of entry that excludes people who aren’t fluent in English and/or lack a solid base in Spanish. I’m fortunate I have studied the language in school for nearly a decade and that I did not have trouble keeping up. That said, I’m not sure how many people are in the same boat and would be compelled to listening to this podcast when compared to all of ESPN’s (and ESPN Deportes’) other offerings.
It’s a shame that One Nación might be too niche because the stories talked about in the first episode are underrepresented and the podcast as a whole shows that ESPN is willing to try something new and different. I’m not sure there was much of an addition from using both languages, but that doesn’t mean that will always be the case. Had there been a culture-based teaching point that aligned better with explaining it in the Spanish language (One idea I thought of was the difference between “honor” and “honra,” though this was something I learned from a literary perspective and it may not fit the style of the show), it might have worked out better. My guess is that future podcasts will assuage my concerns about this issue.
As a whole, One Nación is a fresh new podcast that brings together quality talent from ESPN and ESPN Deportes. Max Bretos and Marly Rivera are breaking down topics not always touched upon by ESPN proper and they’re doing it with a mix of English and Spanish. It’s an impressive feat that has some hiccups, but should be considered an overall success. The audience may not be large enough for the show to get a huge following, but it deserves a spot in ESPN’s massive podcast network. One Nación is free of hot takes and recycled opinions and, though imperfect, it is the first time a sports podcast fills the gap between purely English-speaking and purely Spanish-speaking Americans.
You can listen to One Nación here and subscribe on iTunes here.
Alex Kaufman is a Spanish and communication double major at Denison University. He loves to consume and cover sports and sports media, hosts a sports talk show on 91.1 WDUB, and can be found at his own website, neuroticsportsfan.com.
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