Journalist Ted Genoways reveals the untold, action-packed history behind Jose Cuervo and the birth of Mexico’s tequila industry—and how it became the country’s first cartel.

👤 Guest Bio:
Ted Genoways is a two-time James Beard Award-winning journalist, senior editor at the Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN), and author of Tequila Wars: Jose Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico. A veteran of longform investigative work, Genoways has spent over a decade researching the political, cultural, and economic roots of tequila in Mexico.

📚 Topics Discussed:

The real Jose Cuervo and the town of Tequila

• Differences between tequila and mezcal
• How tequila’s boom was fueled by Prohibition and WWII
• Cuervo's ties to Mexican revolutionaries and early cartel formation
• The risks of agave monoculture and authenticity battles in today’s market
• Lupe Gallardo’s lost diaries and research challenges
• The Beckman family’s modern stewardship of the Cuervo empire
• Best tequilas, cocktails, and restaurants in Mexico

📌 Main Points:

• Tequila’s rise isn’t just a story of booze—it’s one of war, politics, and survival.
• Jose Cuervo was more than a name on a bottle—he helped electrify towns, navigate revolutions, and pioneered cartel-like business practices.
• U.S. Prohibition and World War II drove tequila's global expansion by creating gaps in the liquor market.
• Lupe Gallardo’s rare journals provided an intimate, near-lost window into Cuervo’s household.
• The Cuervo brand remains family-run and central to preserving the legacy and economy of the Tequila region.

💬 Top 3 Quotes:

• “By the end, the challenge wasn’t adding action—it was finding moments to breathe between people shooting at each other.”
• “Lupe became the historian of Cuervo’s world in a way he never could be—she observed everything and wrote it all down.”
• “Tequila is more than a drink. It’s a history of survival, ingenuity, and reinvention—Mexico in a bottle.”

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
💬 For guest suggestions, questions, or media inquiries, reach out at https://elpodcast.media/
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Indiana University professor John T. Holden explains how lawsuits, NIL deals, and direct payments are transforming college sports—and why athletes may soon be recognized as employees.

John T. Holden is a business professor at Indiana University specializing in sports betting, gambling regulation, and legal issues in college athletics. His research focuses on the intersection of sports, law, and policy.

• The 2021 Alston Supreme Court ruling and its ripple effects
• Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) law and state competition
• The 2025 House v. NCAA settlement and direct athlete payments
• Roster caps and the future of walk-ons
• Legal risks, employee classification, and collective bargaining
• Winners and losers of the new system
• Impact on coaching, recruiting, and smaller programs
• The future of academics for paid athletes

• Alston & House Cases: These opened the door for athlete compensation and more antitrust litigation.
• Direct Payments Begin: Starting in 2025, schools can pay athletes up to $20.5M—but they must fund it themselves.
• Rising Inequality: Star players in football and men’s basketball will benefit most; walk-ons and niche sports may disappear.
• Legal Uncertainty: The NCAA is resisting employee classification, but labor peace likely requires unionization and collective bargaining.
• College Sports Will Survive: Holden believes the system is evolving, not collapsing, and employee recognition may stabilize it long-term.

• “The NCAA is basically providing all the benefits of employment—minus actually calling them employees.”
• “No one's tuning in to watch university presidents in skyboxes—it's the players on the field who create the value.”
• “This is not the end of college sports—it’s just the end of pretending it’s still amateur.”

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
💬 For guest suggestions, questions, or media inquiries, reach out at https://elpodcast.media/
📬 Never miss an episode – subscribe and follow wherever you get your podcasts.
⭐️ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review the show. It helps others find us.

Thanks for listening!

Finance professor Alex Edmans joins to expose how research, statistics, and stories are often weaponized to mislead us—and what we can do to resist confirmation bias in a post-truth world.

Alex Edmans is a Professor of Finance at London Business School, a former investment banker, TED speaker, and the author of May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases—and What We Can Do About It.

• CEO pay, testimony before UK Parliament, and research misrepresentation
• The problem with cherry-picked or manipulated studies
• Diversity, ESG, and performance: what research really shows
• Why “smart” people still fall for bad ideas (e.g., Theranos)
• How confirmation bias affects policymakers, businesses, and parents
• The myth of breastfeeding and IQ
• Using ChatGPT and AI tools more critically
• Why post-truth thinking is dangerous—and how to fight back

• Misquoting research is rampant—even in government policymaking.
• Studies can be cherry-picked or selectively framed to “prove” anything.
• Diversity and ESG don’t always lead to better performance, especially when oversimplified.
• Smart investors, policymakers, and academics are just as vulnerable to bias.
• AI tools like ChatGPT can reinforce misinformation unless prompted with skepticism.
• It's not about learning statistics—it’s about applying common sense and open-mindedness.
• Be as skeptical of studies you like as those you dislike.

• “Even if a statistic is 100% correct, the interpretation of it can still be completely misleading.”
• “We know how to poke holes in studies we disagree with. The challenge is doing the same when we agree with the findings.”
• “AI can’t fix misinformation—it reflects it. You need to know how to interrogate it.”

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
💬 For guest suggestions, questions, or media inquiries, reach out at https://elpodcast.media/
📬 Never miss an episode – subscribe and follow wherever you get your podcasts.
⭐️ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review the show. It helps others find us.

Thanks for listening!