Bizarre with Mick Molloy and Titus O’Reily

Unfortunately, we can't bring you Fine Cotton Part Two today, we explain why in this pod, but it will be arriving soon.  Instead, we present Frank Worthington, one of the wild men of English Football in the 1970s. A friend of George Best, he once famously failed a medical at Liverpool because he went on a bender the week before.  What follows is a wild ride of women, booze, gambling and some amazi...

We are back, and with the most requested topic we've ever had. In Australia, the two most famous racehorses are Fine Cotton and Phar Lap but for opposite reasons.  When a handful of colourful racing types attempted to swap the poor horse Fine Cotton, for the much faster Dashing Solitaire, it all seemed so easy. What followed was an inept, sometimes tragic, sometimes hilarious slow-moving...

Titus sits down with The Ringer’s Editor-at-Large Bryan Curtis to discuss the wonderful world of Texas football. They look at high school football, the rituals and rivalries of college football and the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans. Bryan discusses his beloved Texas Longhorns and how millions of dollars are poured into high school teams. They also look at the Houston Oilers, the USFL’s S...

Titus sits down with comedians and authors Paul Nardizzi & David Barend who literally wrote the books on how to annoy Jets and Yankees fans. They discuss the Jets disastrous season and why non-Yankees fans hate Yankees fans. We are doing two live Sports Bizarre shows in Melbourne in February at the Corner Hotel. You can buy tickets here: Tuesday 20th February Tuesday 27th February We are kicki...

Titus sits down with Devin Gordon, author of So Many Ways to Lose: The Amazin' True Story of the New York Mets. They chat about how Mets fans experience more pain than almost any other fans, and how whenever things look good, they go bad in the funniest way possible. We are doing two live Sports Bizarre shows on in Melbourne in February at the Corner Hotel. You can buy tickets here: Tuesday 20th F...

This week we look at people creating mayhem just for the joy of creating mayhem. First, we look at snooker legend Jimmy White, particularly when he teams up with fellow madman Alex Higgins. Next, we look at the total mayhem of mob football at the Atherstone Ball game. Lastly, we look at the player who never played, Carlos Kaiser and his brush with organised crime. We are doing two live Sports Biza...

This week we look at people who had too much money.  Starting with F1 racer James Hunt, and his relationship with Lord Alexander Hesketh, a man who had money, and knew how to have fun with it. Then there’s J. William Oldenburg, who owned the USFL team, the Los Angeles Express, and got into a spending war with Donald Trump. Lastly, we look at James Gordon Bennett Jr, the youngest ever Commodore of...

This week we look back at one of our favourite characters ever. Albert Griffiths, or ‘Young Griffo’ began life in the slums of Sydney, as leader of a local gang.  This proved to be the perfect training for boxing, and before he was twenty he was the World Featherweight Champion. Moving to the United States, Young Griffo would go on to be one of the greatest boxers of all time, despite never traini...

While Melbourne’s Spring Racing Carnival was in full swing, news emerged of what could be Australia’s biggest Ponzi scheme. High on the list of victims were bookmakers who invested millions with an unassuming suburban lawyer named John Adams. Titus sits down with crime writer Andrew Rule to discuss the emerging story. Tickets to Titus’ five Melbourne shows are selling fast with three already sold...

Titus sits down with author Dan Liebke to discuss his new book, The 100 Funniest Moments in Australian Cricket . They discuss Rob Quiney's resurrection of a dead seagull, Shane Watson's LBW appeals, Dennis Lillee asking the Queen for an autograph and Jeff Thomson's speech at the Allan Border Medal. For tickets to Titus' new live show; Sport: The Unauthorised History click here .  If you’d like mor...

In 2023, we found plenty of athletes who were unlucky in love. In this best of, we look at John Daly's interesting marriages, Jese Rodriguez interesting way of gaining revenge on an ex, and James Hunt's creative end to a marriage.  For tickets to Titus' new Show; Sport: The Unauthorised History click here .  If you’d like more Sports Bizarre, become a member of Bizarre Plus. Click here to join tod...

Following the war, Keith Miller dazzled England in the Victory Test and returned to Australia a star. Debuting for Australia, Miller would dazzle crowds around the world, while also clashing with Don Bradman on a regular basis. Miller’s on-field antics were matched by the intense interest in what he did off-field. He was rumoured to have had an affair with Princess Margaret, and once while h...

When it comes to cricketers, there have been many as exciting on and off the pitch as Keith Ross Miller. Miller played VFL, flew fighter planes in the war, and was one of, if not the greatest, all-rounder of all time. Miller combined movie star looks and incredible charm off the field, with a dark side few got to see. If you’d like more Sports Bizarre, become a member of Bizarre Plus. Click...

In the second part of our Lucky Baldwin series, Lucky had just escaped death after being shot by a jilted lover. He followed that up by being shot by another lover almost immediately, which is careless.  Lucky also managed to create a new town, which the Los Angeles Times described as a “gambling hell and booze pleasure park.” If you’d like more Sports Bizarre, become a member of Bizarre Plus. Cli...

The Santa Anita Park is one of the most famous racetracks in America, a regular host of the Breeders' Cup, but its founder is little known. Elias 'Lucky' Baldwin was a self-made millionaire, who left behind him a trail of wives, mistresses and unhappy business partners. In business, he was lucky and shrewd, and his biography starts with the line, 'immoral, unmoral, amoral, Lucky Baldwin was all of...

In 1964, one of Australia’s leading javelin throwers, Reg Spiers, was training in England when he failed to make the Australian Olympic team. Things got worse when his wallet was stolen, leaving him completely broke. He was stuck in England with no way to get home. Reg, however, was an out-of-the-box thinker. Perhaps there was a way to get home that would cost him nothing, it just had never...

The MacRobertson Air Race got underway in spectacular fashion, with a pilot trying to take off but forgetting to release the brake. Once in the air, things got only more confused, with emergency landings, crashes, and pilots getting arrested by Benito Mussolini’s men. Soon the first planes would arrive in Australia, and the people of Albury would play a major role in saving one plane from di...

In 1934, the 100th anniversary of the founding of Melbourne was celebrated by what was at the time, the most dangerous and ambitious race in world history, flying from England to Melbourne. The race would see wooden biplanes go up against the first metal airliners and was funded by an Australian Willy Wonka, Sir Macpherson Robertson, inventor of Freddo Frog and Cherry Ripe. The finest pilots of th...

On October 26, 1863, at the Freemason’s Tavern in Great Queen Street, London, representatives of various football clubs from across England met to try and figure out a universal set of rules for football. This optimistic project fell apart over differences over whether you could run while holding the ball, and if you could kick an opponent in the shins. The group split, one would form the Football...

In 1823, William Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it during a school match creating the "rugby" style of play.  Except he didn’t, and the true story of how rugby emerged involved school uprisings, broken shins, and the invention of an origin story. If you’d like more Sports Bizarre, become a member of Bizarre Plus. Click here to join today As a member, you’ll get: A weekly bonus podcast...

On the 26th of September 1983, forty years ago, Australia II crossed the line to end the New York Yacht Club's 132-year-long winning streak. To celebrate the anniversary, Mick and Titus sat down with winning skipper John Bertrand to learn more about what it took to win the America’s Cup. If you’d like more Sports Bizarre, become a member of Bizarre Plus. Click here to join today A...

In 1983, Alan Bond would go all in for the Cup, bringing together John Bertrand and Ben Lexcen in an all-out assault on the New York Yacht Club. The Australians would bring their winged keel, and perhaps more importantly, their mind tricks, as they fought the Americans in court and out on the water. Titus O’Reily and Mick Molloy recount the year the Australians challenged for the cup and for...

With the British trying and failing for 100 years, the Australians now entered the fray, with Sir Frank Packer launching a challenge. When Sir Frank was asked why he decided to challenge, he replied, "Alcohol and delusions of grandeur." With the passing of Frank Packer, another Australian would pick up the mantle. He was from Western Australia, and his name was Alan Bond. If you’d like more...

By the end of the 19th Century, the America’s Cup had become a plaything for the rich, with men like J.P.Morgan and William K Vanderbilt controlling the New York Yacht Club. Challenging them from Britain was Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton, founder of Lipton’s tea, who would challenge five times for the Cup. In one practice, no less than King Edward II was on board when the mast collapsed,...

With the English accusing the New York Yacht Club of ‘unfair and unsportsmanlike proceedings’ it fell to the Canadians to launch the next challenges. The Canadians were so unprepared that the crew were still nailing down her deck as their ship set sail. The English would pick up the mantle again, with the challenge of William Henn, who raced with five dogs, a cat, a lemur, a raccoon an...