Saturday, September 19, 2009

With Major League Baseball’s playoff race heating up, Bill takes a moment to examine the chances of one of the game’s top teams: the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.  Bill investigates the team’s recent post-season hex and an intriguing possible World Series matchup against their Southern California rival L.A. Dodgers.

The WNBA playoffs are in full swing.  Bill talks with Clay Kallum of Full Court Press about the injury woes facing many contenders, dark horse candidates for the WNBA title, and Lisa Leslie’s retirement.

Juan Martin del Potro’s surprising victory over first-ranked Roger Federer in the finals of the U.S. Open made for one of the most memorable tennis tournaments in recent years.  Only A Game’s Ian Mount reports on the success of the 20-year old Argentine’s hometown tennis academy.

In his book, Something in the Air: American Passion and Defiance in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, author Richard Hoffer examines the significance of the Olympics during turbulent times.  Bill and Hoffer talk about the defiant gestures of two American athletes, the role of activism in the Olympic movement, and the invention of the Fosbury flop.

Bill and Only A Game analyst Charlie Pierce discuss the week’s top sports stories, from the Major League Baseball playoff races to the death of NCAA President Myles Brand.  And of course, the Lingerie Football League.

What would you do to spend time with your kids?  Would you brave your fear of heights and strap on a parachute in order to bridge the generational gap?  Commentator Elissa Ely did.

Hear ye! Hear ye!  The town crier, long an image of old-time America and days gone by, was alive and well at a living history event in tiny Hillsborough, New Hampshire.  The town hosted its first-ever competition for town criers and Only A Game’s Avishay Artsy was there.