What's a commute without a podcast? A long, boring drive

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I used to think commuting without an iPod was dangerous. You know, you'd be distracted fiddling with the radio, or changing CDs, or just listening to the voices in your head. Bad idea.

Then the cassette deck in my car died, which is what I use to listen to my iPod.

Now I know that commuting without an iPod is dangerous.

What makes the iPod so critical?

Podcasts. Obviously.

In the 10 months I've been commuting from Fort Collins to Greeley, here are the podcasts I've found that are best at keeping me awake, informed and sane, broken down by topic. All of them are available in the iTunes Store, and -- better yet -- all of them are free.

Sports

My favorites, all courtesy of ESPN: "Pardon the Interruption," an audio version of the ESPN TV show that features Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post.

* "Fantasy Focus": If you want straight, stat-based analysis for your fantasy baseball or football leagues, this is not the podcast for you. If you want a lot of humor and digressions about the attractiveness of one of the hosts' sisters, with a bit of fantasy-related news, notes and predictions sprinkled in, this is definitely the podcast for you.

* "The B.S. Report": Columnist Bill Simmons, better known as the Sports Guy, talks to other media guys, his friends (including Adam Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel), sports personalities (Charles Barkley and David Stern, among others), about anything and everything sports, reality TV or "Saturday Night Live."

* A wild card: "XM Radio's 60/20 Sports with James Carville and Luke Russert": I've tried listening to this one a couple of times, and I like the idea (a guy in his 60s and a guy in his 20s debating sports news of the day), but Russert (Tim Russert's son) annoyed me. But if he doesn't annoy you, it'd probably be a pretty good listen.

News/Politics

My favorites:

* "Slate's Political Gabfest": Three staff members from Slate Magazine talk about three big topics of the week. Listening to this is a good way to stay up on the big news, and their discussion is usually pretty pointed.

* "On Point with Tom Ashbook": National Public Radio breaks down this radio show into topic segments, which are usually about 45 minutes long. The interviews with Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama were the most interesting and useful political coverage I've come across in the past year.

* A wild card: "Political Points: On the Presidential Campaign" from the New York Times packs a week's worth of news into 10 to 15 minutes. If you don't have a lot of time but want to stay reasonably up-to-date, this is worth checking out.

Science-ish stuff

My favorites:

* "Radio Lab" from WNYC (New York public radio) is absolutely amazing. These hour-long shows feature three segments on a particular topic, and no matter how boring I think the topic sounds, these shows always astound me. Listen to the one on morality. If you're not hooked, you should be.

* "The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe": If you think ghosts exist and Uri Gellar really bends spoons with his mind, this podcast will probably annoy you. If you think there might be the faintest possibility that maybe evolution should be taught in schools and creationism should be taught in churches, you should check this out.

A wild card: "Dan Carlin's Hardcore History" blends talk radio and history. The goal, according to the blurb on iTunes, is to take history out of the classroom and talk about it the way talk radio hosts talk about politics. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it's worth a listen.

Ryan Engelman is The Tribune's copy desk chief. He lives in west Fort Collins and commutes about 45 minutes each way, which gives him plenty of time to listen to podcasts.

Know of a great podcast everyone should hear -- or just have better taste than Ryan? (Editor's note: You probably do.) Go to www.greeleytribune.com and share your ideas in a comment on this story.