ESPN Daily

You aren’t nuts, we did just do a Shohei Ohtani episode two weeks ago. But when you’re dealing with MLB’s brightest star, a unicorn who can blow you away from the pitcher’s mound and then blow you out from the batter’s box, every day is something brand new. So, do a piece on Ohtani one day, and just a few hours after it’s published, he might have another historic moment.  ESPN’s Tim Keown took a different approach. He hung around the Los Angeles Angels’ clubhouse for an entire week, bookended by two Ohtani starts, to get to the bottom of who Ohtani really is, on and off the diamond. So today, Keown shares his findings…and gives us some insight into what the future might hold for Shohei Ohtani, at the trade deadline, and beyond. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The United States Women’s National Soccer Team has established themselves as one of the most dominant powerhouses in sports - ever. In the eight Women’s World Cups played, USA has won four of them, reached the semifinals each tournament, and has never finished lower than third place. As this edition of the team takes the field for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, we’ll see the familiar faces of Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Julie Ertz, Rose Lavelle, and Kristie Mewis among others – but there’s also 14 players on the roster making their World Cup debut. This year’s squad is no exception to the expectations on their shoulders - and are well aware of the additional pressure that comes with the prospect of winning three World Cups in a row - something no team, men’s or women’s, has ever accomplished.So today, with a three-peat on the line, Jeff Carlisle tells us what we can expect to see from a USWNT that continues to chase history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lionel Messi, the best soccer player of the 21st century, perhaps of all time, is coming to America. And yes, Pele decamped to New York to join the Cosmos nearly half a century ago… and David Beckham bent the soccer universe by joining the LA Galaxy in 2007. But THIS is different…this is quite possibly even bigger. So today, ahead of Messi’s official debut for Inter Miami in MLS, ESPN’s Luis Miguel Echegaray tells us what it all means…and why Miami, specifically, is the perfect landing spot for the one and only Leo Messi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Six months ago, ESPN’s Liz Merrill introduced us to the mystery of Chiefsaholic, the Kansas City Chiefs superfan who lived a lavish lifestyle, but also had been arrested for robbing an Oklahoma bank in December. So much has happened since we told that story: while awaiting his next court date, Chiefsaholic, whose real name is Xavier Babudar, reportedly cut off his ankle monitor, threw it in the woods, and skipped town. A manhunt spanning across multiple states ensued and finally came to an end last Friday, when Babudar was apprehended by the FBI. And only then did we learn that his arrest was just the tip of the iceberg.So today, Liz Merrill returns to expand on the mystery of Chiefsaholic, whose tale has somehow become even harder to believe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s been 21 months since then-Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden announced his resignation. Gruden had faced mounting criticism after the Wall Street Journal and New York Times obtained emails he had written between 2011 and 2018, while Gruden was working at ESPN. Several messages contained racist, homophobic, and misogynistic language directed towards several people, including NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith. The scandal ended Gruden’s coaching career, likely for good. But to this day, a puzzling curiosity has remained: how did such an obscure set of emails get in the hands of the media? Don Van Natta, Jr. and Seth Wickersham have spent the last several months trying to answer that question, and now have an exclusive new report out for ESPN. As Gruden pursues a lawsuit against the NFL, Van Natta joins the show to help us pull at the threads of this mystery. He shares what might have motivated the leakers, and how the leaks triggered a chain of events that ultimately led to Dan Snyder’s pending sale of the Commanders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When former national champion college basketball coach and ESPN analyst Jim Valvano accepted the Arthur Ashe Courage Award for his battle with cancer at the first ESPY Awards, no one was sure if he would have the strength to even take the stage. What followed was a rousing 11-minute long call to action that spurred a new chapter in the fight against cancer.Michael O’Connor, director of the SC Featured special, The Speech, shares the details of Jimmy V’s life that became encapsulated in one incredible moment of determination as his health failed, to deliver his message to the world and launch a foundation that continues working to achieve his final dream — finding a cure for cancer.To date, ESPN has helped the V Foundation raise more than $195 million for game-changing cancer research, accounting for more than half of the $310 million the V has granted to date. For more on how to donate, go to V.org/donate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you think of historically bad professional sports teams, there are the 1962 Mets, the 1976 Buccaneers. More recently, you’ve got the 2008 Detroit Lions or the 2017 Cleveland Browns or even this year’s Oakland Athletics…and then, there are the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers. The storied franchise that had recently parted with Wilt Chamberlain and three other Hall of Famers, and hired their new coach from a classified ad in the Philadelphia Inquirer. This was a team that had three separate 13-game losing streaks, and didn’t even reach double digits in the win column.Anthony Olivieri talked to members of that Sixers team, and he shares their stories about how they became the worst NBA team of all time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Negro Leagues’ biggest star, pitcher Satchel Paige, made his MLB debut 75 years ago this Sunday when he took the mound for the Cleveland Indians. Paige is a figure who at times feels more myth, more legend than man: his fastball was supposedly clocked at 105 mph, he estimated that he threw more than 50 no-hitters throughout his career, and he claimed to have had such a command of the baseball that he could allegedly work both corners of a chewing gum wrapper…and even his age itself is a hotly debated topic still to this day. So today, on what might have been his 117th birthday, guest host Justin Tinsley explores the life and legacy of Satchel Paige, a man whose legendary feats may always be debated, but whose impact on the game is without question. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At this point, we’ve run out of superlatives to describe Shohei Ohtani. He’s not just doing things that nobody has seen in a century, he’s doing things that nobody has ever seen. In the month of June alone, Ohtani hit 15 home runs and drove in 29 RBI, while averaging .394, all while pitching over 30 innings, with 37 strikeouts along the way. And it all has us wondering, was that the best month from an individual player in MLB history? So we called up Jeff Passan to get the definitive answer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you think of a top baseball prospect, or really any prospect in modern sports, you probably think of the kid who’s specialized from an early age and spent countless hours with personal coaches and trainers to perfect their craft…and then, there’s Arjun Nimmala. Nimmala grew up playing cricket on his family trips to India, but those skills have translated pretty well to the baseball diamond…and have made the 17 year old a likely high first round pick in Sunday’s MLB Draft. So today, Kiley McDaniel charts Nimmala’s unusual path to professional baseball …and what his success would mean to a nation of more than 1 billion potential baseball fans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices