Week 5 was a wild one. No lead was safe, and more than a couple of games came down to last second heroics. We even saw things that we don’t normally see, like a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown sealing the deal in Seattle. Today Ben Solak helps us digest everything we saw on the gridiron on Sunday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A’ja Wilson just finished what is arguably one of the best WNBA seasons of all time. From being the second ever unanimous MVP, to being the first player to have a 1000-point season; to winning an Olympic gold medal and the MVP of that tournament, this doesn't begin to cover all she's accomplished in 2024. Throughout all of this, Wilson’s family and faith has been a guiding light for her and she is constantly driven to ensure she sits atop of the Mount Rushmore of greats the WNBA has ever seen. W...
Ever since Dikembe Mutombo first stepped on to the court for the Georgetown Hoyas in 1988, his presence was impossible to ignore. The 7’2” center who hails from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, was a shot-blocking machine with a smile, a voice and signature gesture that would make him a star across the world. And beyond his tall stature was a man with one of the biggest hearts on earth, who’s generosity and kind spirit will never be forgotten. So today, Marc Spears joins us to discuss...
The soul of the Champions League isn’t the players or the teams, but the fans. And every one of them has a story on how their squad earned their undying loyalty. ESPN’s very own Luis Miguel Echegaray is no different. His tale is of a stirring, intercontinental journey into the ranks of Birmingham’s Aston Villa that continues to be written. So today, as he makes his way to their big Champions League showdown against Bayern Munich, LME explains why he bleeds the Villains claret and blue and explai...
Last Thursday, the Athletics played their final game ever in Oakland, the city they’ve called home for 57 years. As friend of the show Jeff Passan wrote, baseball in the East Bay was “killed by greed… John Fisher did not have to move this team… This was a choice. A wrong one. History will sneer.” For the conclusion of our Death of a Sports Town series, we trekked to the Oakland Coliseum and bore witness to the sights, sounds, and emotions of a city’s last gasp as a big time pro sports town. It w...
Four weeks of the NFL season are just about in the bag, and some things are just starting to come into focus. For example, how even at 3-1, the new look Buffalo Bills are facing an uphill climb against the true contenders in the AFC and how the Minnesota Vikings — who NOBODY saw coming — could shake up the NFC all season. So today, Ben Solak takes us through everything you need to know about the league one month in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The college football landscape, once the bedrock of tradition in sports, now seems to shock us every few months with more changes and teams on the move. And with the transfer portal, NIL and this year’s expanded college football playoff, just about anything and anyone is up for grabs. Which brings to our latest storm on the college football radar: The Pac-12. Left for dead only a year ago, this once-mighty brand is looking to make a comeback by reclaiming their Power 5 status one school at a tim...
Three weeks in the question surrounding the 2024 NFL season? Where’s the offense at? With teams practicing less in training camps, starters playing less in the preseason, and more youth than ever lining up under center, things have been kind of ugly for a lot of teams. So our friend Mina Kimes explores how all of that is manifesting at the most important spot on each team. Quarterback. From Caleb Williams’ rocky start in Chicago, to Jayden Daniels’ star turn on Monday Night Football, Mina looks ...
Major League Baseball is a sport that celebrates its history through, among other things, its records. So when you break a 60-year old mark, people take notice. But when it’s for the most losses in a season, that’s not the kind of attention you ever want for your franchise. That is where the 2024 Chicago White Sox find themselves at 120 losses and counting while dethroning the 1962 Mets’ losing record as being the furthest away from the right side of history. Veteran Chicagoan Jesse Rogers joins...
In covering Oakland’s unraveling as a big time sports town, we’ve documented the greed, the loss, the dubious decisions, and the rich sports community soon to be left behind. But we’ve yet to fully examine the most pertinent question of all––does the Athletics planned move to Las Vegas make any sense at all? Today, in part four of our series Death of a Sports Town, we take stock of why the A’s (and MLB) are so enamored with Las Vegas––a city soon to be the smallest market in the league––why this...
Many people forget that Joe “Brrr” Burrow started off as a fourth string quarterback at Ohio State before transferring to Baton Rouge to join the LSU tigers. Despite being underestimated at first, Burrow quickly showed that his grind and passion for the game would propel him to the top. So today, with the Bengals headlining Monday Night Football against the Commanders, our own Ryan Hockensmith shares his exclusive interview with Joe Burrow and breaks down the journey it took to become the star q...
It seemed easy to write off the Indiana Fever’s 2024 season as a rebuilding year at the end of May. They had won just one of their first nine games, and looked like they were trying to figure out how to even play together. But since the calendar flipped to June, the Fever have found their footing, and a spot in the WNBA playoffs. ESPN women’s basketball reporter, Alexa Philippou explains how Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, and the rest of the team found their identity, and forged a path into the p...
When Aaron Rodgers was injured four snaps into his tenure as the new quarterback of the Jets, he not only missed, virtually, the entire 2023 season, but cost the team up to $22 million dollars in lost production. A fate the Jets could have mitigated by taking out an insurance policy on Rodgers. Rodgers' situation is one that stands out amid a trend of teams buying insurance policies on star players around the NFL. The practice — which is becoming more popular as the sums of guaranteed money in p...
“Spirit In Motion” is the current motto of the International Paralympic Committee. It represents the inspiring essence of what these athletes are all about. But what happens when someone decides to defile this spirit of competition with a scheme so shameful that you wouldn’t believe it if it wasn’t true? And just who would be behind such a morally bankrupt plot in a pursuit of false glory? Today, Suemay Oram, the director of the 30 for 30 Film, “Stolen Gold” answers these questions and tells us ...
The loss of three professional sports teams in five years has thrust Oakland into the media spotlight, with coverage focusing on every twist, turn, stadium proposal, and relocation rumor. But amid all that noise, a central experience has been overshadowed: the story of the fans. In part three of our series, Death of a Sports Town, we turn our attention to the diehard Oakland sports fans who refuse to let their city’s reputation define them. We explore the thriving, tight-knit community that grew...
The best word to describe week two of the NFL season is upsets. The Cowboys, Ravens, and Lions all dropped games to “inferior” opponents at home, and the 49ers got beat by the Vikings, and their old pal Sam Darnold in the land of ten thousand lakes. So today, ESPN NFL Analyst Ben Solak joins us for NFL Monday to break down what happened on Sunday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
It’s only week two of NFL football season, but already people have a lot to say about who’s a bust and which teams won’t be making it to the playoffs. So today we ask ourselves, is there something to these proclamations, or are they simply overreactions? This is Football host Kevin Clark has a good head on his shoulders, so we brought him on to dispel some of this armchair analysis and reorient our thinking about: rookies like Caleb Williams, Bo Nix and Marvin Harrison, Jr., faltering starters l...
In the 1980s SMU football looked to be almost inevitable. With a No. 2 ranking and a constant stream of top recruits, like Eric Dickerson and Craig James, they looked to be headed to a national title of their own. But they also had something else, a well-documented payroll for their players. This resulted in the NCAA’s so-called “death penalty” ruling for the program and sent SMU down a 40-year path of obscurity. But now, with the NIL era in full swing and armed with a stable of billionaire boos...
Patriots owner Robert Kraft has a resume anyone in the sports world would envy. Six world championships, an $11 billion empire, and an era of team success that will go down in NFL history. But there’s one thing that has eluded him – entry into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. While he’s contributed more to the NFL than most, he has no bust in Canton, but that is not for lack of trying. Today, Don Van Natta Jr., breaks down the exhaustive, and to date failed campaign to get Kraft his gold jacket. L...
Any time a franchise owner threatens to leave a city, the pressure and scrutiny on civic leaders intensifies. But in Oakland, a parallel story emerged—a group of activist fans who refused to let the Athletics go quietly. In the second part of our series, Death of a Sports Town, we examine the three men who led the Warriors, Raiders, and Athletics away from “the Town,” the reasons behind their decisions, and the intimate story of one fan who launched a movement to fight back. Our five-part series...
The first Sunday of the NFL season is in the books, and we learned a little but not a lot. Josh Allen still needs to work on protecting the ball for the highly hopeful Bills, the Colts Anthony Richardson showed us all why he might be the best athlete in football, and in spite of a rough outing, rookie Caleb Williams and the Bears pulled off a win in his debut. So today, ESPN NFL Analyst Ben Solak joins us for NFL Monday, to chalktalk the ins and outs of the league and get us ready for a Monday N...
Being known as a perfectionist is one of those “gift and a curse” type of labels. While some admire someone with the drive to shoot for the stars, the raised expectations can also open you up to the criticism that comes from not reaching your goals. For Jalen Hurts, you also have to throw in the scrutiny that comes along with being one of the faces of the NFL, in one of its crown cities. So today, ahead of Hurts and the Eagles season debut, tonight against the Packers in Sao Paolo Brazil, Andsca...
The NFL season starts tonight when the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs take on the rival Baltimore Ravens. So for those anxious fans out there, rest easy, because that means there’s football every week from now until February. And most of you want to know if your squad is going to make the playoffs at year’s end. So today - instead of a crystal ball - we bring in Bill Barnwell, to tell us who is going to climb out of the cellar, and into the playoffs this winter. And which teams that made ...
The NFL gets underway this week with games on multiple continents and various franchises with a lot to prove. The Chiefs open up their championship defense against the Ravens on Thursday, but not every division is looking like chalk. So today, NFL Live’s Mina Kimes joins us to take a division by division look at the 2024 NFL season and tells us who she thinks might end up on the big stage in New Orleans for Super Bowl 59. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In 23 days, on the afternoon of September 26th, the Oakland Athletics will play the Texas Rangers in their final game ever in the city they’ve called home for 57 seasons. Following the lead of the Warriors and Raiders, they will be the third major sports franchise to leave the city in just five years. This exodus is the culmination of decades of decisions, negotiations and missteps. And now, Oakland is in the end stages of its life as a big-time sports town. So how exactly did we get here? How d...
The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed 34 years ago, leading to a significant rise in awareness, inclusion, and accommodation for people with disabilities across the country. But all these years later, many needs remain unmet by stadiums and arenas nationwide. And the challenges faced by tens of millions of Americans with invisible disabilities are often under-appreciated and misunderstood. Today, Sam Borden helps us bridge the gap, taking us inside his expansive project on these unseen ...
The NFL season is only one week away and while quarterbacks and Fantasy Football starting lineups are dominating everyone’s mind, there are hidden game breakers through the league that just might get overlooked. From the tight ends in Buffalo, to the defensive backs in K.C., to the man replacing future Hall of Famer Jason Kelce, these games will be decided from just about every spot on the roster. Not to mention the coaches, whose game planning and the play calling are often the razor-thin diffe...
You’ve heard of the 12th man before, but probably didn’t know that it originated at Texas A&M. Because back in 1922, a fan by the name of E. King Gill, literally came out of the crowd and donned a jersey, helmet, and pads to support the Aggies, after a rash of injuries shrunk their roster in the Dixie Classic. Some 60 years later, Jackie Sherrill, the newly appointed Aggie head coach was so impressed by the rough and tumble nature of the student body, that he literally assembled a kick cover...
Life was perfect for Ali Truwit. She was in Turks and Caicos with her best friend celebrating her graduation from Yale. Her life stretched before her, like the clear blue sea. But one moment in the ocean changed her life forever. And suddenly, Ali, who’s entire life revolved around being in the water, was faced with the prospect that she might never swim again. Today Aish Kumar shares Ali’s story, and explains how doing the work to reclaim what she lost, opened the door to Ali representing the U...
In Lincoln, Nebraska, it doesn't get any bigger than Husker Volleyball. From sold out arenas, to raking in record attendances, it's not so much a team as it is a culture, and heavy is the head that wears the crown. But for Harper Murray, who made a bold prediction after losing in the national championship game to Texas, social media threats and public pressures began to take over not just her career, but her life. So today, Jen Karson-Strauss, the co-director of a recent E-60 feature on the Husk...
