Listen up: Some of the best sports podcasts you need to hear
What’s your favorite sports podcast?
Sport is best enjoyed visually, as our eyes and brains are able to process the intricate tactical decisions, glorious passing movements, and outstanding moments of individual brilliance incredibly quickly.
However, many fans are not able to make it to live events, or watch games on TV, for a number of reasons, so they, therefore, rely on the audio commentary, such as live radio, to follow along with the action.
There are some absolutely fabulous commentators out there, who do much more than just describe what is happening in front of them. They are also able to give us the context of these events and focus on the bigger picture than just what they’re seeing.
If you’ve got a long drive coming up in the next few weeks, and have to schedule it during your team playing live, find the radio station that is broadcasting it, and sit back and enjoy.
Of course, these days live radio isn’t the only audio medium that we can listen to hear all about sport. In the past 15 years, podcasts have become an essential part of our everyday lives.
They can be listened to in your own time, meaning people will often tune in to their favorite shows when they are traveling to work, whilst exercising, or whilst trying to go to sleep.
The range of sports podcasts varies widely. Some will recap recent games. Some will focus on specific teams. Some will talk about the best sportsbooks for finding odds on live games. Whatever you like to listen to, there will be a podcast out there for you.
We will attempt to cover some of the best podcasts out there, for each of the major sports. Many of you will have heard them already, but these can act as great entry points for people who are new to the world of sports podcasts.
What’s your go-to sports podcast for American football?
It’s a huge sport, so obviously it is tough to choose between the hundreds of NFL podcasts out there. There is of course an official NFL one, but we don’t want to choose that. Instead, why not give The Ringer NFL Show a listen. It comes out several times a week, with the first show breaking down all the weekend’s action, whilst the mid-week edition focuses more on the wider NFL stories.
It has some great hosts in Kevin Clark and Jason Goff and has former NFL players such as James Jones and Ryan Shazier give their insights too. It is a great listen, whether you have a passing interest or burning passion for the NFL.
Keeping up to date with soccer podcasts
Where to start? There are a number of great shows that recap the action several times a week, such as Football Weekly and The Totally Football Show. The Athletic has a number of shows, some more general ones, whilst others focus on specific teams.
Then there are also some soccer podcasts that don’t take things too seriously, such as the Athletico Mince, hosted by Bob Mortimer, or Quickly Kevin, Will He Score?, hosted by Josh Widdicombe. Both are very funny shows and explore a very different side to the world of soccer.
Cricket stays popular as hell
Why are you including a sport that we’ve barely heard of, let alone watched? Yes, many people in North America or parts of Europe have never gotten into cricket, but there are 2 billion other people on the planet who absolutely adore it. It is the second most viewed sport in the world, so there are certainly a huge number of cricket podcast fans out there.
Given it is an English sport, it is fitting that two of the best podcasts come from the BBC. The Test Match Special podcasts perfectly blend the main highlights of the days’ action, with some of the best cricket commentators on the planet, as well as interviews with former players and celebrity fans.
TMS is the more traditional choice, whereas Tailenders is aimed at a younger crowd. Radio DJ Greg James is joined by musician Felix White and the world’s greatest fast bowler Jimmy Anderson to talk about the world of cricket, Jimmy’s experiences, and muck around making fun of each other. Once you ‘get it’, you’ll be a fan for life.
Baseball fans love a good sports podcast
With the World Series going down to the wire, baseball fans will be eager to find a podcast to listen to, so that they are kept up to date with all the recent goings-on.
Baseball Tonight, a spin-off of the ESPN TV show is one that you can’t afford to miss. Hosted by Buster Olney, he perfectly mixes the hot topics, his own views, and listener interaction, to make a very listenable podcast. It is an absolute must for anyone who is a fan of America’s pastime.