Episode 32: The Grey Cup - Canadian Football's Grand Finale

Canadian Football is a weird and wonderful thing, especially to those only acquainted with its immensely popular equivalent played south of the border. To an NFL fan, watching the CFL can seem like a fever dream. The pitch is a bit too big, the goalposts are in the wrong place, the endzones look like they need to go on a diet and wide receivers just won't stand still. And the less said about the rouge the better...

But to Canadians - and, honestly, to the occasional impartial observer - it is an arguably even more exciting spectacle whose rules encourage faster play, more passing and kick returning, more unpredictability and some of the wildest finishes to games in all of sport. And it's all built upon a long history and over a century of its biggest spectacle - the Grey Cup.

Ahead of the Montreal Alouettes versus the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Winnipeg on Sunday, Ben and Jack talk the origins of the game and the Cup, about legends like Russ Jackson and Warren Moon, and of how Canadian footballers changed the direction of the American game forever - and why the sports world should never stop thanking them for that.

Episode 31: The Brazilian Grand Prix - Drama is Only Seconds Away

"I only came back to reality when I saw the checkered flag. That's when I felt immense pleasure in being alive, in being at Interlagos, in my homeland, and seeing my people happy." - Ayrton Senna, speaking about his 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix win.

There is no race on the Formula 1 calendar that disappoints as rarely as Brazil. The Interlagos circuit has played host to some of the most astonishing moments in the sports history - chaos in 2003, Hamilton’s charge in 2021, a three way title showdown in 2007, and of course, Ayrton Senna finally winning his home Grand Prix stuck in sixth gear in 1991.

Surely though, its most extraordinary moment came in November 2008, the final race of a controversy filled season, where Felipe Massa drove a perfect 71 laps only to be pipped to the title by Lewis Hamilton after he had crossed the line to win.

It's a season whose legacy endures - as Massa now tries to undo what he perceives as the injustice of Crashgate, we discuss this race, the merits of his claims and why they are most likely doomed to failure, alongside many other stories from this legendary race and the history of motorsport in Brazil.

> Content note: This episode contains brief factual references to fatal motorsport accidents.

Episode 30: The Melbourne Cup - The Race That Stops the Nation

"The Melbourne Cup is the Australasian National Day. It would be difficult to overstate its importance. It overshadows all other holidays and specialized days of whatever sort in that congeries of colonies. Overshadows them? I might almost say it blots them out." - Mark Twain, from his travelogue Following the Equator.

The sport of Horse Racing is built into the very fabric of Australia. When brave pioneers in the new colonies set out to build towns it is said they would first build a church, then they would build a pub, and finally they would build a racecourse. It is no surprise as a result that today Australia boasts a racing industry that matches or exceeds far more populated countries for scale, and a love for the sport that is arguably unrivalled.

The pinnacle of this passion is, of course, the Melbourne Cup. Held every year since 1861, through floods, war and depressions, on the first Tuesday in November the city of Melbourne and Victoria as a whole shuts down, workplaces and schools close up, and everyone gathers around a television, radio, or for the lucky few at Flemington Racecourse itself for the world's richest handicap race, and truly the race that stops the nation.

Ben and Jack talk the history of the event and thoroughbred racing, of the great horses, jockeys, trainers and strappers through over a century and a half of the Cup, and of the stories and tall tales that make the event what it is today - Archer being denied a shot at three in a row, the tale of young Peter St Albans and Briseis, Makybe Diva completing the impossible, and of course, the legend of Phar Lap and the mystery of his untimely demise.

Events like this are why we love sport: it is history, it is legend, it is sometimes barely believable, but above all, it is Australia.

Episode 29: Archery World Cup - Every Arrow Tells a Story

“Archery is not about being better than anyone else; it’s about being better than you used to be.” - Unknown

For tens of thousands of years, humans relied on the bow for survival. For thousands of years legendary archers have graced our lore, myth and storytelling. And for hundreds of years, we have taken aim at targets for prize, honour and pride, trying to outshoot our rivals for sport in front of adoring fans.

Today, Jack talks history and origins of the bow, how warfare and sport overlapped as nations tried to pack their armies with well practiced bowmen, how legends formed in history - and about some legends of the modern age.

Ben discusses the different types of modern bow and competition, and just why he's already so convinced of recurve bows superiority to compound bows. He also goes in to why we're here - the Archery World Cup final this weekend, how it works and why South Korea are so darn good at it.

So whether you could give Robin Hood a run for his money or are brand new to this oldest of sports, we've got you covered. So grab your quivers and get ready to let loose - Sport and History doesn't meet quite like this.

Episode 28: Super League Grand Final - Men of Steel

“For me, it’s the hardest sport in the world. It takes dedication, discipline and mental strength. You accept constant physical punishment. You push your body right to the limit... It’s too tough for me. Deep down, I would love to be a rugby league player.” - 2012 Tour de France winner and 5-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Bradley Wiggins

Some say it's the last true working class sport, a game of the people, formed in protest to a wealthy elite that insisted working men choose between feeding their families and playing the game they loved. In 1895, 22 Northern rugby teams broke away in protest at being denied so called "broken time payments"; not asking to be paid for playing, just asking to not have to lose precious wages to do so - for a level playing field against the upper and middle classes.

The story of how rugby came to this schism is a fascinating one, a story of myths of 1823, of the example given by soccer, of muscular Christianity that so influenced the amateur ethos. This week, half the episode is focused on where Rugby League came from and the rest on Europe's biggest competition and its Grand Final at Old Trafford this weekend - the Super League.

Expect big hits, relentless work rate and maybe some last second drama as Hull KR look to break the triumvirate dominance Wigan, St. Helens and Leeds have held on this competition for 20 years. Yorkshire vs. Lancashire, Pretenders vs. Champions - 80 minutes of blood and thunder to crown a truly Northern champion.

Episode 27: Major League Baseball Postseason - One, Two, Three Times You're Out...

"Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball." ~ American historian Jacques Barzun.

Baseball is more than a game.

It's memories, individual and collective. It's culture, consciousness and being. America's favourite pastime has been filling stadia for a century and a half, can boast the oldest professional sports league in the world and moments in its history that transcend the sport.

Each season since 1903 the champions of each of its two leagues have met for the World Series for the right to be called the best team in baseball. This week, Ben and Jack explore how this series came to be, and talk about a handful of its greatest - and darkest - moments, its legendary curses, and finally going in depth about the greatest man ever to swing a bat - The Sultan of Swat, the Titan of Terror, the Collosus of Clout, the King of Crash and the Great Bambino himself, Babe Ruth.

So let us take you out to the ball game, peanuts and crackerjack not included but love and reverence in abundance. Because baseball... it's more than a game.

Episode 26: The Ryder Cup - Golf Like No Other

"When you play for so many, it makes you strong." - Seve Ballesteros, Ryder Cup legend.

Team golf hits hard. The roar of a partisan crowd, fists pumping against chests of blue or red, the one shot that changes the momentum and turns the contest on its head, the final putt it comes down to that can win or lose it all. The Ryder Cup is truly golf at its very finest, the best 24 players on the planet with no money at stake and no ranking points on offer, just the pride of a nation or continent and the chance of history to play for.

Jack talks about the legacy and impact of Spanish golfers since the competition was widened to all Europe - Ballesteros and Olazabal individually and together, Sergio Garcia's longevity and success and now Jon Rahm's power and impact, Europe simply wouldn't have had all the success they have had without the contribution of Spain's finest.

Ben unashamedly talks down the Americans for their lack of class on the Kiawah Shore in 1991 and Brookline in 1999, and brazenly recounts the European Miracle at Medinah in 2012, where the men in blue recovered from 10-4 down on US soil, with the memory of the sadly departed Seve inspiring them to triumph. The Ryder Cup isn't a time for impartiality, after all.

Between that we, of course, cover the basics and recount other stories of years past - concessions, squabbles, redemption and records amongst them. There is simply no golf competition like it, and no trophy so craved for its history and prestige alone in the sport.

WARNING: Apologies for the poor sound from Jack's mic, technical gremlins that won't be repeated.

Episode 25: The Australian Football League - Making Its Mark Since 1858

Aussie Rules football is old. In fact, it could stake a claim to being the oldest continually existing code of football in the world, and in the Melbourne Football Club boasts the oldest professional football team of any code of football on the planet, predating association football's oldest pro club Notts County by four years.

But the history of similar ball games on the continent go back even further than that, to the indigenous people of Australia who were leaping to catch high balls long before any code of football was dreamt of, and whose impact continues to be felt for the better on the game today. As rich a history as any sport we know.

And now, Ben and Jack want in. Ben is backing Hawthorn, but Jack is being indecisive. Does he go for Richmond, with their 140 year history and exceptional theme song? Or Fremantle, a newer team who have yet to taste success, and have an extremely catchy earworm of a song? Or does he follow his usual habit of choosing the most adorably awful team in the league - and lets face it, that's probably going to be St Kilda, with their one title in over 150 years competing to go with 27 wooden spoons?

This sport goes deep in Australia, and the State of Victoria more so. It is a feast of athleticism, power, fitness and skill, played at full speed where matches - and even championships, just ask St Kilda - can come down to a single bounce of the ball. Whether your new to this one or know far more than we do, there's something for everyone as always on the Sporting Almanac.