Sports Wars

You can binge all episodes of Sports Wars exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.

It's 2005 and The Green Bay Packers are on the clock in this year's NFL Draft. The last thing most Packers fans think the team needs in the draft is a new quarterback. Their team already has Hall of Famer, Brett Favre, who is in the middle of his record-breaking Iron Man streak for consecutiv...

In this series we explore the unique tennis rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal-- two very different players, both exceptional, in pursuit of perfection. Swiss-born Roger Federer was seemingly born with a racquet in his hand and at a young age he quickly masters the game, but what he needs to reach the top is to learn how to master his emotions. Meanwhile, Spaniard Rafael Nadal learns the game under the tutelage...

It’s 1985. Michael Jordan is a flashy Chicago Bulls rookie, and Isiah Thomas is an established star for the Detroit Pistons. When they’re thrust together at the NBA All-Star Game, it’s not exactly love at first sight. Jordan feels slighted by Isiah, and Isiah can’t stand Jordan’s swagger. A brutal rivalry starts in a weekend and lasts for over a decade.

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For the next six episodes, we're focusing on two of the greatest rivalries in college football: Georgia vs. Florida and Texas vs. Oklahoma. We begin with Georgia vs. Florida, a long-simmering, start-studded, completely unruly matchup. These schools have hated each other for a century. Here's why.

You can binge all episodes of Sports Wars exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podca...

What makes the rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma so doggone contentious? Maybe it’s that these states hate each other so much they almost went to war over a bridge. Maybe it’s the underhanded stunts coaches like Mike Leach have pulled to win. Or maybe it’s just because with great proximity comes great hostility. Over the next three episodes, we’ll dig into this unparalleled grudge match.

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Blasts. Jacks. Moonshots. Grand salamis. Nothing's quite so mythical as baseball's home run. In 1998, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa reminded the nation of that as they tried to smash into the record books. They thought they were going to save baseball. Instead, they destroyed their reputations.

You can binge all episodes of Sports Wars exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.

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Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. It's one of the greatest rivalries in boxing history, and it began with sterling mentors, Olympic dreams, and bad luck.

You can binge all episodes of Sports Wars exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.

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The Mets and the Yankees may share a city, but they’ve never really been rivals. That all changes in the summer of 2000. 

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For nearly twenty years, Deion Sanders and Jerry Rice wowed football fans with their dazzling speed and athleticism. And for nearly twenty years, neither man could stand the other. There were on-field battles, handshakes ignored, wars of words, and blow-ups in the media. And for one contentious season, they were forced to be teammates with a shared goal: a Super Bowl championship.

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It was the king versus the upstarts. The superman versus the superteam. It was LeBron versus the Warriors. The rivalry, which spanned four straight NBA Finals, would reshape basketball for years to come. And it began with two kids from Akron, Ohio—one who lived in poverty, and one who grew up the son of NBA royalty.

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For years, football fans were divided. You were either a Tom Brady fan or a Peyton Manning fan. The two quarterbacks came to define the modern NFL, as they cemented their status as all-time greats. It was a rivalry between two players with remarkable similarities and differences—one who came from football royalty, and one who’d been long overlooked.

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*In light of Kobe Bryant's tragic passing, we're re-airing our series on the rivalry between Kobe and Shaquille O'Neal.* 

It’s 1996, and the Los Angeles Lakers are priming for greatness. First they sign the gargantuan, indomitable Shaquille O’Neal. Then they bring on a 17-year-old with epic potential: Kobe Bryant. What a coup, right? There’s only one problem. Shaq and Kobe can’t stand each other. (This is the first epi...

Leg drops. Piledrivers. Battles with metal folding chairs. It’s the wild, over-the-top world of professional wrestling, where anything goes. And beginning in the 1990s, wrestling saw one of its great rivalries, as two stars competed for the top spot. One was a grizzled veteran on his last legs. The other: a bright-eyed rookie looking to redeem himself. It was Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, and the two would go on to...

The numbers are staggering: 82 official PGA Tour event wins. Fifteen majors. Opponent after opponent, course after course—all vanquished. In many ways, Tiger Woods doesn't have a typical rival. But he does face enormous obstacles, from his difficult father, Earl, to his own outsized ambitions. Both will propel and haunt him throughout his career. But first, he'll need to learn to swing a club.

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The year is 1918. And the world is stunned by a deadly new flu. But the virus can't stop one baseball player. He’s a lefty pitcher who will go on to change the game—but not from the mound. It's the surprising ascent of the Great Bambino. The Sultan Of Swat. The batting legend Babe Ruth.

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For the last twelve years, John Franco has been living a dream. The 40-year-old relief pitcher is playing ball for the Mets, in his hometown of New York City. But everything changes for Franco, his teammates, and the country on the morning of September 11, 2001. And in the days that follow, the Mets, led by Franco and Mike Piazza, will do their part to help America heal from a national tragedy.

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You can binge all episodes of Sports Wars exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.

They’re legends. Records breakers. Stars who’ve dominated the biggest stages in tennis. Yet Serena and Venus Williams rose to fame under some of the most unlikely circumstances. And the two would not only face off against the tennis establishment. They’d have to struggle through a complicated...

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. Globetrotters. The Harlem Globetrotters would go on to change the world. But in the beginning, the squad faced an uphill battle. They were an upstart touring team, trying to become a pr...

You can binge all episodes of Sports Wars exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.

One boy is from Dagestan. His father teaches him to be a disciplined wrestler, a devout Muslim. The other boy grows up in Ireland. He feels like the world is out of his control, and he channels his rage into boxing. While the two may come from different backgrounds, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Co...