Episode List
Ball Is Life: A Basketball Playlist
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Curated by
cesarCreated January 02, 2023
Updated February 12, 2025
- Sports are a presence in Americans' daily lives. But it wasn't always that way. Today, Matt Andrews explains how basketball was invented at the YMCA, why gym class is called Physical Education, and how sports were used to Americanize immigrants
- You can binge all episodes of Sports Wars exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.Before LeBron, and before MJ—before Magic, Bird, and even Bill Russell, basketball was defined by one name. Glo
- Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell are the founding members of the Icons Club. The big men navigated a completely different NBA than the one we know today and, along with stars like Oscar Robertson, put the league on course for unimaginable grow
- Lusia Harris is one of the best basketball players to ever live: a 3-time collegiate national champion, an Olympics silver medalist, and the only woman to be officially drafted by an NBA team. But chances are, you've never heard of her. Ben Pro
- Wilt Chamberlain’s brilliant career was marred by one, deeply inexplicable decision: He chose a shooting technique that made him one of the worst foul shooters in basketball—even though he had tried a better alternative. Why do smart people do
- The L.A. Lakers of the 80s may be the decade-defining team during an era of decade-defining teams. This is a look back at a true sports dynasty and the one year which may be the best of all time: 1986-87. This is also a look at how the Lakers b
- Michael Jordan’s famous sabbatical from professional basketball might have lasted much longer had Major League Baseball not experienced the worst strike in its history. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSe
- The Dream Team was an unprecedented experiment for the Icons Club—an opportunity for the game’s best players to form bonds and swap notes. It also gave the NBA a chance to show off its best players to the world, and the league did not miss.Host
- In 1999, a small apparel company named AND1 released a VHS tape of streetball highlights set to a hip hop soundtrack that quickly became a worldwide craze. AND1 was soon hosting games all over the world, and the players were international celeb
- The creation story of the 2008 Redeem Team begins in the residue of the 1992 Dream Team, as does the redemption story of Kobe Bryant, who played such an important role when he later not just joined the Redeem Team but played the pivotal role of
- Another year, another Finals. And another matchup between LeBron and the Warriors. Only this time, Golden State has a little extra help on its side. Because they’ve signed a star named Kevin Durant. LeBron clashes with this new superteam, and a
- Rage at referees is all the rage in professional sports. Michael Lewis visits a replay center that’s trying to do the impossible: adjudicate fairness. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/l
- In 1891, a physical education teacher in Springfield, Massachusetts invented the game we would come to know as basketball. In setting the height of the baskets, he inadvertently created a design problem that would not be resolved for decades to
- For legends Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird, life in the WNBA paled in comparison to the lavish treatment they received in Russian professional basketball, courtesy of their team owner and benefactor, Shabtai Kalmanovich. Kalmanovich spoiled his sta
- Americans woke up on March 11 2020 in one reality and, by the time they went to sleep that night, they were living with a new one. Hear the story of the day everything changed — the day the NBA shut down and the pandemic became real — as told b
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