30 for 30 Podcasts premiered in June and brought the successful audiovisual format of sports story to ESPN’s audio universe. The anthology series explores a new story in the same spirit as the 30 for 30 Documentaries and tells a new sports story in each podcast. The first season of 30 for 30 Podcasts won many of its audiences with stories like ‘Yankees Suck’, but was an adjustment for many in this new format.
30 for 30 Podcasts Season 2
30 for 30 Podcasts season 2 begins November 14 with five new stories. You can listen to the episodes from the first season here. 30 for 30 Podcast Season 2 features new stories from NBA, UFC and more.
Episode 1 – Hoodies Up – November 14, 2017
On the night of the 2012 NBA All-Star Game, Florida teenager Trayvon Martin was shot and killed. Five weeks later, his hometown team the Miami Heat took a photo wearing hoodies to protest his killing. The photo spread widely on social media and helped shape the conversation about gun violence, race, and the deaths of young black men. “Hoodies Up” takes listeners behind the scenes of the idea and execution of that photo, how the world reacted and its impact on a nationwide conversation.
Featuring interviews with: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Gabrielle Union; Tracy Martin, father of Trayvon Martin; Wesley Morris, New York Times; Bomani Jones, ESPN
Episode 2 – No Rules: The Birth of UFC – November 21, 2017
In the early 1990s, salesman Art Davie and Brazilian jiu-jitsu master Rorion Gracie set out to answer a simple riddle: Who is the ultimate fighter? A wrestler? A boxer? A martial arts master? The answer, in the form of the first-ever ‘Ultimate Fighting Championship’ (UFC), was more violent and electrifying than anything else on TV. In the aftermath, a multi-billion-dollar sport was born, but Art and Rorion were left to watch others get all the credit.
Featuring interviews with: Art Davie, co-creator of UFC; Rorion Gracie, co-creator of UFC; Royce Gracie, UFC Hall of Famer; Ken Shamrock, UFC Hall of Famer.
Episode 3 – The Lights of Wrigeleyville – November 28, 2017
When the Tribune Company bought the Chicago Cubs in 1981, its executives saw nighttime baseball as a way to turn around the club’s fortunes. The only problem? Scores of Wrigleyville residents were ready to fight against it. This is the story of the decades-long wait to bring lights to Wrigley Field, and a battle pitting a giant media conglomerate against a scrappy neighborhood— a neighborhood that both loved baseball and feared the disorder nighttime games could bring.
Featuring interviews with: Former Cub Rick Sutcliffe; Beth Murphy, owner of Murphy’s Bleachers bar; Mike Quigley, U.S. Representative for Illinois’s 5th District
Episode 4 – Madden’s Game – December 5, 2017
Throughout his hall of fame career, John Madden’s passion wasn’t just for playing and coaching football— he was driven to bring the nuances of the game to the masses. In the late 1980s, a golden opportunity fell into his lap via an upstart video game company called Electronic Arts (EA). Seeing the potential for the ultimate football teaching tool, Madden invested his time—and name—into EA’s vision. In the process, he helped build a video game empire that has perpetually endeared him to generations of football aficionados.
Featuring interviews with: John Madden; Trip Hawkins, founder of Electronic Arts
Episode 5 – Project Space Jump – December 12, 2017
How far can you fall? That was the question an Austrian daredevil named Felix Baumgartner tried to answer starting in 2007. Together with a team of engineers and scientists, he set out to break the record for the highest free fall in human history. But skydiving from “the edge of space” proved to be a more complex technical and psychological problem than any of them had imagined. As Baumgartner’s volatile temper and debilitating claustrophobia became apparent, the team members realized their leader might actually be their downfall.
Featuring interviews with: Felix Baumgartner; Ret. Col. Joe Kittinger, former USAF test pilot; Michael Gervais, sports psychologist
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