ESPN Daily

Sports leagues, media outlets and more used to look down on betting as corrupting the supposed purity of athletics. But in 2018 the Supreme Court dealt a new hand, allowing all states to legalize betting. Now gambling is a fast-growing part of mainstream sports. Betting lines on games appear on ESPN’s own news ticker. Sports books are opening everywhere and phone-based apps keep evolving. But Las Vegas is still the nerve center of it all, and global sports correspondent Sam Borden takes us inside the Westgate sportsbook to see how the pros who make the odds find their perfect numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Momentum: it’s a concept used by coaches, players, and announcers alike to describe the shift in energy in a game or play. Ask any coach - if your team has the momentum, that’s a good thing. But momentum has its fair share of doubters. What exactly is momentum? Is it measurable? Or do you just know it when you see it? David Hale is a momentum skeptic, and decided to embark on a personal quest to separate fact from fiction regarding the most overused word in sports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Storming the field: it’s a time-honored sports tradition where players, coaches, and fans in the stands descend upon the field after a victory. This year we’ve seen it in record numbers in college football, spawning countless Instagram posts and fuming turf managers. So, why are we seeing it happen so much more, and what’s the larger impact? ESPN’s Dave Wilson takes us inside this misunderstood ritual. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sports leagues around the world have seen a surge of positive coronavirus tests, leading to postponed games and hollowed out rosters. But we are a long way from March 2020, on several levels. With vaccines, boosters and rapid tests, leagues are rewriting their policies and taking concerted action to curb the spread of the omicron variant. ESPN’s Stephania Bell lays out impacts and changes in the NFL and other leagues. Then Dr. Joseph Allen, author of the book “Healthy Buildings” and public health expert at Harvard University, weighs the risks ahead for sports and society. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the end, the Urban Meyer era in Jacksonville lasted just 13 games. Meyer was fired with a 2-11 record in Jacksonville, but it was issues off the field that ultimately doomed his tenure with the club. There was the video of woman dancing near his lap that went viral, there were the reports of him calling his assistant coaches “losers,” and then this week, reports surfaced that he kicked and berated former Jags kicker Josh Lambo. Bill Barnwell explains what the firing means for Meyer, Jacksonville, and the rest of the NFL.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tiger Woods is poised to return to the golf course this weekend at the PNC Championship. It’s been less than a year since his horrific car accident. The highlight of this father-son tournament might just be watching the best golfer of his generation play alongside his son, Charlie Woods. ESPN Senior Golf Analyst and host of “America’s Caddie,” Michael Collins, tells us about the dynamic between Tiger and his son, some striking similarities, and what’s next for the legend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It took SEVEN YEARS into Jim Harbaugh’s tenure for the Michigan Wolverines to finally beat their bitter rival, the Ohio State Buckeyes. And with another win over Iowa, the Wolverines are, at last, Big Ten Champions. But the hard work is just beginning, as college football’s giants, Georgia and Alabama, stand between the Wolverines and a CFB title (sorry, Cincinnati). ESPN’s Tom VanHaaran joins the show to discuss the excruciating build up to this monumental moment for Harbaugh and Michigan, and whether “Michigan’s Messiah” can erase seven years of pain with just two more wins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The world of NASCAR doesn’t have anyone else like Bubba Wallace. The 28-year-old is the only Black driver in NASCAR’s Cup Series, the highest level of the sport — making Wallace both an athlete and an ambassador, whether he likes it or not. Millions across the country learned his name in 2020 when he emerged as a leading voice for racial justice, successfully lobbying his sport to ban the Confederate flag. But for a name that is familiar to so many, Wallace’s story and journey are not as well-known. Ryan McGee interviewed Wallace for E60’s special, “Fistful of Steel – The Rise of Bubba Wallace,” which airs tonight at 7:30pm ET on ESPN, and McGee joins ESPN Daily to share his insights on an athlete whose life has become a window into the evolution of his sport, and of America itself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Formula One’s grand finale on Sunday shocked the world, and ESPN’s Laurence Edmonson was there as Max Verstappen got the title by passing Lewis Hamilton in a controversial final lap. Edmonson joins the show from Abu Dhabi to share the utter soap opera of it all, and where the sport goes from here. Then Alex Smith shares how the Dallas Cowboys earned their role as first in the NFC East after fending off a late Washington Football Team surge, and sets up Monday Night Football’s Rams-Cardinals clash. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Heisman Trophy is college football’s most prestigious individual award. Its list of winners are a who's who of the most legendary names in the sport’s history: Doak Walker. Roger Staubach. Bo Jackson. Barry Sanders. Charles Woodson. For years, the annual Heisman race debate was the center of the college football season, a topic that drew almost as much attention as rankings and bowl appearances. But in recent years, as the College Football Playoff has become the center of all conversation in the sport, the Heisman’s status seems to have dimmed somewhat. And perhaps no season has seen less anticipation surrounding the trophy than this one. So, with the Heisman ceremony tomorrow night, Ryan McGee answers every question we have about college football’s most famous trophy, and how relevant the award is today. Then, hear why Ryan describes this Sunday’s Formula One grand finale in Abu Dhabi as “the greatest driver versus driver showdown in the history of the sport,” where Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are set to race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices