Podcast
Sports Explains the World
Hosted by Audible | Meadowlark · EN
Sports Explains the World unveils some of the wildest and most surprising sports stories you’ve never heard. And they’re all true. From the unemployed history teacher turned CIA agent and Uganda national basketball coach, to the teenager who invented a mythical athlete…then watched him sign a million-dollar deal, these stories will amaze and move you at every turn. From award-winning journalists across the globe, Sports Explains the World reveals the human side of sports in provocative and unusual ways. Whether you’ve ever thrown a spiral or been in one, prepare to experience the action on and off the field from an unexpected – and sometimes shocking – vantage point.
Listen to Sports Explains the World on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/sports-explains-the-world/ now.
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
46 | The Weight: Rage Against the Regime
Jun 12, 202400:55:20Tap to summarizeAt the 2022 IFSC Climbing Asian Championships, Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi competed without a hijab, sending shockwaves through Iran's political establishment. Many Iranian athletes have been targeted by the country's "morality police," and driven from their homes to seek new lives, and new competition, elsewhere. Captivated by her mother’s stories of pre-revolution Iran, reporter Sanam Skelly has watched waves of her home country's unrest her entire life. Sanam travels to Germany to meet two Iranian refugees, a weight lifter and a taekwondo competitor, who say they were forced to flee in order to compete.Listen to Sports Explains the World on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/sports-explains-the-world/ now.
Transcribe →45 | If A Tree Falls: The Stanford Band Out of Step
Jun 5, 202400:55:26Tap to summarizeStanford University holds the record for most Division I NCAA titles -- which means its marching band has plenty to root for. The Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band became a student-run organization in the midst of the turbulent 1960's. Decades of debauchery, irreverence, and protest ensued. The group now faces a crossroads in the wake of the #MeToo movement and the scrutiny of college hazing rituals. Can it survive? Should it? Reporter Rachel Miller-Howard interviews the members trying to save it, the officials trying to kill it, and the Tree mascot willing to die for it.Listen to Sports Explains the World on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/sports-explains-the-world/ now.
Transcribe →44 | The Eyes of the Fighter | Part II
May 29, 202400:45:02Tap to summarizeReporter Tommy Andres comes face-to-face with the intruder he saw in his living room. After Jermain Thompson is released from prison and agrees to sit down for an interview, Tommy begins to understand the tragic series of events that led the former wrestler on a downward trajectory and to break into the Andres' home.Listen to Sports Explains the World on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/sports-explains-the-world/ now.
Transcribe →43 | The Eyes of the Fighter | Part I
May 22, 202400:28:38Tap to summarizeTwo lives were forever changed one night in May of 2021, when an intruder broke into the home of reporter Tommy Andres while his wife and daughters lay sleeping. After the police were called and the broken glass swept up, Andres learned that the intruder was a former college wrestling star named Jermain Thompson. In part one of The Eyes of the Fighter, Andres begins to piece together the man's story, and tries to figure out how Thompson ended up in his family room that fateful night.Listen to Sports Explains the World on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/sports-explains-the-world/ now.
Transcribe →42 | Ultras | Part ll
May 15, 202400:25:14Tap to summarizeFollowing the bloodshed of Port Said, the families of the supporters killed in the stadium are left to mourn their loved ones and seek justice in whatever way they can. The Ultras themselves, now labeled as a terrorist organization, are left to ponder their unclear future. Reporter Kieran Morris catches up with the Ultras more than a decade after the massacre, and investigates whether a government can ever truly ban the passion of football fans.Listen to Sports Explains the World on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/sports-explains-the-world/ now.
Transcribe →41 | Ultras | Part l
May 8, 202400:26:40Tap to summarizeAmidst the protests that swept through Egypt during the Arab Spring, an unlikely group helped tip the scales towards Democracy – soccer fans. The Ultras Ahlawy were hardcore supporters of the Cairo-based football club, Al Ahly. They were also effective in the fight to oust Egypt’s leaders. But after the attempted revolution, pro-government forces took their revenge on The Ultras in a violent attack inside the Port Said soccer stadium. In the end, dozens were killed. Reporter Kieran Morris tells the story of when sports and politics collide.Listen to Sports Explains the World on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/sports-explains-the-world/ now.
Transcribe →40 | Two Dreams: China and the NBA | Part III
May 1, 202400:23:51Tap to summarizeWhen late NBA Commissioner David Stern arrived in Beijing, he came with a lucrative business proposal. Stern pushed for American basketball games to be broadcast on Chinese national television, introducing millions of Chinese people to inspiring NBA narratives of individual glory. As the country’s spirits rose, so did the league’s revenues. In the final installment Two Dreams, reporter Kerry Seed explores the budding partnership between China and the NBA at the turn of the millennium, before the infamous Daryl Morey tweet.Listen to Sports Explains the World on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/sports-explains-the-world/ now.
Transcribe →39 | Two Dreams: China and the NBA | Part II
Apr 24, 202400:31:49Tap to summarizeFormer Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey Morey’s ill-fated tweet in support of the 2019 Hong Kong protests sparked an existential showdown between the NBA and China, where, by some estimates, there are more basketball fans than people in the United States. In part two of Two Dreams, reporter Kerry Seed looks back at the crucial time during the 1980s when the NBA and the People’s Republic of China began to form a unique partnership.Listen to Sports Explains the World on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/sports-explains-the-world/ now.
Transcribe →38 | Two Dreams: China and the NBA | Part I
Apr 17, 202400:23:22Tap to summarizeThe NBA is considered one of the most socially progressive leagues in all of sports. Yet the league's fortunes are intertwined with China, a country with a complicated history of human rights abuse allegations. The tension between these competing interests exploded into the public discourse in 2019, when then Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey sent a controversial tweet during massive protests in Hong Kong, and the NBA found itself at the center of a storm. In part one of Two Dreams, reporter Kerry Seed tells the story of how sports, politics, and business combined to form a multi-billion dollar tornado.Listen to Sports Explains the World on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/sports-explains-the-world/ now.
Transcribe →37 | The Refinery: Shortstop City
Apr 10, 202400:34:38Tap to summarizeThe Dominican Republic produces more professional baseball players per capita than any other country in the world -- but one city in particular specializes in shortstops. Reporter Jeffrey Bissoy travels to San Pedro de Macorís to discover how the city consistently exports excellence for one of the most difficult positions in all of sports.Listen to Sports Explains the World on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/sports-explains-the-world/ now.
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