OJ Simpson is number one. Lance Armstrong is number four. And somehow Aaron Hernandez didn't make the top ten. The Halls of Mediocrity launches July 14th — and this is how we do research.

The Halls of Mediocrity is a new show from the Archive Podcast Network covering the athletes whose careers ranged from average to genuinely great — and whose lives off the field ranged from embarrassing to criminal to legitimately unforgivable. Hosted by brothers Kevin and Jeff Hall, the show takes a hard look at the falls from grace that sports fans never quite got over, and some they probably forgot about entirely.

In this trailer, Kevin and Jeff work through a quiz: the top 10 falls from grace in professional sports history, according to one article they found on the internet. A few are obvious. A few are genuinely surprising. And at least two of them belong higher on the list. The conversation covers OJ Simpson (#1), Joe Paterno (#2), Pete Rose (#3), Lance Armstrong (#4), Ben Johnson (#5), Marion Jones (#6), Tiger Woods (#7), Tonya Harding (#8), Michael Vick (#9), and Roger Clemens (#10) — plus a dishonorable mentions list featuring Aaron Hernandez, Oscar Pistorius, Chris Benoit, Jerry Sandusky, Gilbert Arenas, Lenny Dykstra, Ben Roethlisberger, and a notable omission that both of them find genuinely baffling.

(How is Mike Tyson not in the top ten?)

This is the show. Sports, crime, and the athletes who had everything and lit it ablaze!

The Halls of Mediocrity — part of the Archive Podcast Network
Midnight Mystery Archive

Welcome to The Halls of Mediocrity! The podcast that finally gives the backup quarterbacks, the .248 hitters, and the can't-miss prospects who missed their moment in the spotlight.

Brothers Kevin and Jeff Hall launch the newest show on the Archive Podcast Network with a conversation that goes exactly where you'd expect. From the 1984 Detroit Tigers' unsung heroes to the Bad Boy Pistons, from Dennis Rodman's loaded shotguns in the Palace parking lot to the traveling circus of 1980s professional wrestling, this trailer is a taste of what's coming.

The Hall brothers aren't just here to talk stats. A .252 average isn't going to blow anybody's socks off — but a couple of DUIs and a crack cocaine conviction? Now you've got a show.

Every episode profiles a professional athlete whose career, post-career, or both went spectacularly sideways. The mediocre, the overhyped, the forgotten, and the ones who somehow found their way back. It's going to be fun. It's going to be serious. And some of it is going to be genuinely hard to hear.

But rest assured — it will never be boring.

Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Part of the Archive Podcast Network.

Opening Music: Music by Trygve Larsen from Pixabay

Closing Music: Music by Trygve Larsen from Pixabay