Sports Rivals

Super Bowl Producers | Imagine what it would be like to sit in the chair of the producer for a Super Bowl game, responsible for arguably the number one sports broadcast in the world. What is the night like leading up to the game? Do you sleep? Do you have superstitions? What is the moment like when the kickoff is one minute away? Super Bowl Producers Fred Gaudelli and Richie Zyontz have lived those moments, and are scheduled to live them again. On this podcast you will hear them discuss...

UCLA vs Arizona | NCAA Mens’ Basketball–Rivalries take time to build and this one has had decades. UCLA and Arizona are two of college basketball’s premier programs. Over the years the race for Pac-12 titles and the right to move to March madness has created high heat when they meet. 42 of the last 58 Pac-12 titles have gone to one of these teams. The intensity of their battles only increases. Today we hear the magnitude of that rivalry from two who were in the middle of the...

Army vs Navy – it is the “nation’s football game.” At the end of each football season, there unfolds a pageantry that began in 1890..The Oath. Each player took the same oath that brought him to this game. Each has a mission far beyond football. When arriving at a military academy, each person takes one of these oaths. Keegan Wetzel played for Navy and in his senior year was selected as a 1st Team All Independent linebacker. He played in the 2012 game that saw Navy beat Army for the 11th...

Dusty Baker and Mike Scioscia had a history that went back even further than that 1981 Dodger team. Scioscia viewed Baker as a vital mentor in his career. Baker saw in Scioscia the drive to win and work at getting there-the kind of drive Baker has to this day. Now they were a dugout apart. […] The post 2002 World Series | Giants vs Angels | Ep 5 appeared first on the Sports Rivals podcast. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at...

In honor of the Red Sox v. Yankees wild card game we're re-running our episode with Lou Piniella and Fred Lynn where they talk the legendary 1978 playoff game that the Yankees won. Then they when on to win the World Series. The stakes of this game tonight couldn't be higher. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I can see clearly now the rain is gone. I can see all obstacles in my way. Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind. It's gonna be a bright (bright) Bright (bright) sunshiny day. -Jimmy Cliff The Freethinkers | There are exceptions to every rule, so our two guests aren’t rivals, but kindred spirits who are living for that “bright (bright) sunshiny day! Two great athletes as well as two of the most outspoken athletes of their time. They’re freethinkers who speak to everything in the...

The pinch hitters | You’ve been sitting on the bench for the entire game and now your name is called by the manager to grab a bat and get to the plate in a key moment. Long one of baseball’s toughest jobs, the pinch hitter becomes the spotlight with just one chance to make good. With the DH firmly in place in the AL, the job of the pinch hitter has been left largely to the NL. True pinch hitters have been replaced by versatile players signed for defensive work rather than just those...

Dodgers vs Reds | His manager, Sparky Anderson, said he was the “heart and soul” of the team. No small matter since that team was Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine of the 1970’s. Dodgers vs Reds | The Players Tony Perez was that player and his plaque can be found in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Perez took home two World Series rings with the Reds in the four World Series appearances by that team. He put together an amazing seven seasons in which he drove in at least 100...

Flyers vs Rangers | The cities are only 97 miles apart by car and they are joined at the hip by a fisted hockey glove. The New York Rangers are one of the Original Six teams in the NHL. The Philadelphia Flyers are an expansion team. The Flyers were about to become the first expansion team to defeat an Original Six team in the playoffs. 1974 was the first time these teams met in the Stanley Cup playoffs. In the semifinals, they would go to a game seven before the Flyers could take the next...

If you derive a headache from constantly smiling widely or laughing uncontrollably, you better have a bottle of aspirin at hand for this matchup of coaches. Bill Raftery and P.J. Carlesimo have run the gamut of basketball coaching and broadcasting, from college to the NBA, from regional networks to the Final Four. They were direct coaching rivals from 1976 to 1981 when Carlesimo was the head coach at Wagner College and Raftery was the same at Seton Hall. There were some wild games between...

AFL | The friendship derived from a rivalry can be amazingly close and long lived. Such is the case with our two guests today. Their rivalry came in a league that no longer exists, but one that transformed professional football. The American Football League (AFL) played for ten years beginning in 1960. The AFL competed so successfully with the NFL that it forced a merger in 1970. AFL Players Paul Maguire and Tom Flores are 2 of only 20 who played in the American Football League for its...

1983 Sugar Bowl | Seasons in sports are played to lead up to a moment of finality – the World Series, NBA Finals, etc. College football is no different as teams play for a national championship game and a number 1 ranking to end a season. In January of 1983, that moment was the Sugar Bowl. Georgia came into the game ranked number 1 and Penn State number 2. While not classified as a national championship game at the time, few doubted that the winner would claim that moniker. The...

MLB Closers | “A closer is often considered the best relief pitcher that a club has in its bullpen. Closers are most often deployed for the final inning of a game when a narrow lead — three runs or less — needs to be protected. Closers almost always excel against both right- and left-handed batters and are more often than not capable of striking out batters at high rates.” -MLB Glossary So you want to be a closer. We have two award-winning MLB closers today, and they say you better want...

NHL Bargaining | GM and the player agent – relationships have redefined the business of sports and will be a major factor in the continuing evolution of the business. George McPhee is the President of the Las Vegas Golden Knights. He has been a major force behind the amazing success of the new franchise that went to the Stanley Cup Finals in its first year. He was recognized as the NHL GM of the Year in 2018. He had previously spent 17 highly successful years as GM of the Washington...

2003 ALCS | You dream about it as a kid. Standing in the backyard, bat in hand. You take the swing that launches a ball out of the yard for a game winner. Not just any game winner, but a swing in a major league game in the playoffs of October against THE rival, in the deciding game, in extra innings. Aaron Boone, now manager of the Yankees, lived that dream in the 2003 American League Championship Series while playing for the Bronx Bombers. Todd Walker hits a solo home run against the New...

Army vs Navy – it is the “nation’s football game.” At the end of each football season, there unfolds a pageantry that began in 1890.. The Oath Each player took the same oath that brought him to this game. Each has a mission far beyond football. When arriving at a military academy, each person takes one of these oaths: United States Military Academy Oath of Allegiance (ARMY) I, (Name), do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and bear true allegiance to...

NHL | Both were teammates and rivals of Wayne Gretzky. Both played on each coast. Both played with one of the Original Six in the NHL: the New York Rangers. Both helped grow the game of hockey in the west with the Los Angeles Kings. The NHL Players Luc Robitaille retired from the NHL as the highest scoring left wing in the league’s history. He was voted as one of the top hundred greatest players in the history of the NHL. His name is on the Stanley Cup as a player with the Detroit Red...

ACC College Basketball | Would you really ask a college basketball player to throw up during a game if things were going bad, just to change the momentum? What do you do when the water main breaks on campus when there is a big game to be played that day? How about when the opposing coach has a suggestion of what to do and uses the water break as a rallying cry for his own team? Fictional questions? Well, no, they are part of what you are going to hear on this edition of The Sports...

Arizona vs Stanford | When it comes to rivalries, those involved in college sports are often the most inspired. Richard Jefferson and Casey Jacobsen were (and still are) part of such a rivalry. Arizona vs Stanford | The Players Jefferson played college hoops at the University of Arizona from 1998-2001 under the late Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson. Jacobsen played at Stanford from 1999-2001, for another Hall of Fame coach, Mike Montgomery. For those years they played against each other,...

For the love of the game |The legend of golf, Ben Hogan, once said, “As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round.” Our guests today have taken time to smell the roses and their walk down the fairway has been filled with life: a life in sports where each day was to be treasured. The Major Leaguers Steve Lyons spent nine seasons in MLB, playing for four teams in an 852-game career. He played every position, doing so once in the same...