Surreal Sports Stories

If you've ever had a flakey friend, this is the episode for you. Our intrepid host dives into the NBA free agency window of 2015, when a little kerfuffle led to barricaded houses, tweets about chicken wings, and a billionaire (allegedly) driving around Houston in a manic panic. Surreal Sports Stories is on Patreon! Find us at www. Patreon.com/SurrealSportsPod

It has been more than 20 years since Todd Bertuzzi's hit on Steve Moore. In the conclusion to this series, our intrepid host dives into the aftermath of the hit, how it affected Bertuzzi, Moore, and the NHL itself...and picks a fight (in a sense) with someone who has forgotten more about hockey than he will ever know.

The bad blood continues between the Colorado Avalanche and the Vancouver Canucks, all stemming from Colorado's Steve Moore and his questionable hit on Vancouver's Markus Naslund. Though the NHL has seemingly staved off serious trouble, the "code" of honor must be satisfied. Our intrepid host dives into the events leading up to and during March 8, 2004, one of the darkest days in...

Honor. Loyalty. Respect. Every sport has some sort of "code" that follows these pillars of sportsmanship, but few sports have it down to a science the way hockey does: specifically, through fighting. But what happens when the mix of honor and violence that is a hallmark of hockey becomes dangerous? Our intrepid host goes all the way back to 2004, and dives into a moment where the code of...

In this episode, our intrepid host dives into one of the most famous at-bats in the history of baseball: one that took place during a doubleheader on August 19, 1951, between the Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Browns. It was big. Seriously. The title isn't exaggerating or sarcasm.

What happens when you cross People Magazine's most famous annual issue with the world of sports? One of the funniest stories Mike G.W. has ever covered, that's what! Join our intrepid host as he looks into the story of People Magazine's 1998 pick for Sexiest Athlete of the Year. Surreal Sports Stories is online now! You can check us out at www.surrealsportspod.com. Credit to arts_and_t...

In this episode, our intrepid host takes a look at one of the silliest scandals to emerge from Major League Baseball's trade deadline: Chris Sale and the Chicago White Sox back in 2016.

Happy New Year, Surrealists! As we kick off 2024, join our intrepid host as he dives into one of rugby union's wildest, bloodiest, and dumbest scandals.

If you've ever brought your kid to work, you know that sometimes it's a careful balancing act between accommodating the kid as well as making sure to be a considerate professional. But have you ever been so committed to your kid over your job that you walked away from the entire career, and potentially millions of dollars? And rip your organization apart in the process? If you haven't,...

Back in 2020, our intrepid host dove into how one of the most expensive divorces in California history nearly bankrupted the Los Angeles Dodgers. More than a decade after the original tabloid disaster, how come the Dodgers can't seem to get away from one of their former owners, billionaire businessman Frank McCourt? Turns out, he's had a plan brewing for years that's really up in the a...

In 2020, Surreal Sports Stories covered the saga of Jim Thorpe's body, from his life and times to the drama surrounding it after his death in 1953. It was a story of trauma, triumph and tragedy. And yet when the story concluded, there was a sense of hanging threads: would there be any resolution to some of the causes that those who cared about Jim Thorpe had fought for over the years? Or would thi...

What's the wildest way you've ever finished a job or been fired? Did you quit and breakdance out the door? Did you give your two weeks and ghost? Or did you do something that made everyone wonder if you were okay? Whatever you did, it canNOT have been as crazy as this episode's blaze of glory. In the season finale of Surreal Sports Stories, our intrepid host digs into one of the most s...

On March 24, 2001, the single most unlikely event that could possibly happen in a baseball game...happened. Or at least, the single most unlikely thing given the poultry chances of such an avian occurrence. A death most foul and fowl, all based on the quirks of a being in mourning. ...It's the time Randy Johnson killed a bird during a game. Dive in with our host to remember one of baseball's wacki...

Forget the ABC reality show, this is the real deal! In 1973, two MLB pitchers entered sports and tabloid infamy when it was announced that Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson were swapping lives...and wives. Surely this decision wouldn't have long-term unforeseen consequences for all parties involved, right? Our intrepid host dives in to sort through the sundry storm of passion, swapping and George Ste...

Quick, what do Finstas, burners, and spam all have in common? If you don't know, then you might not wanna juggle carrying one. Otherwise, you might end up like the subject of today's episode, whose alleged petty behavior on the internet was enough to lose him a job as one of professional basketball's most successful management executives. Our intrepid host dives into the story of Bryan Colangelo....

If you were making millions of dollars and you owed money in a card game, would you pay the pot? In this sordid story, our intrepid host explores the dark December night of 2009 when a heated card game between two NBA stars led to heated words, thinly-veiled threats, and guns drawn. It's the story of Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton, and how barely one thousand dollars forever changed three l...

Professional Wrestling is an elaborate, fantastical charade, a combination between schlocky soap opera and scintillating stuntman spectacular. But what happens when the people backstage decide to make things "real"? They certainly succeeded...in making a real disaster. Our host dives into WWF's infamous "Brawl for All", an event that has been called, unironically, "the dumbest %$#^ing idea" in pro...

Years after he took his last snap in an NFL game, Colin Kaepernick remains as relevant as ever. But how far have we progressed from the first time he took a knee? And what's changed since then? In the final bonus episode, our intrepid host digs into the latest in the story of Colin Kaepernick. Surreal Sports Stories has a website now! If you want to keep up with the show, follow this link here: ht...

It's the most controversial and surreal sports story of the past decade. Did taking a knee cost a man his NFL career? And what was the story behind him taking that stance in the first place? And how does a President of the United States factor into this story? In the second of a three-part bonus series on race and sports, our intrepid host dives into the story of Colin Kaepernick. Surreal Sports S...

An athlete takes a stand. He is denigrated, threatened, and then ostracized. Years later, he is remembered as a symbol of standing up for your principles. Only it isn't who you think it is. Our intrepid host dives into the story of a forgotten protest, whose legacy would be felt years later. Surreal Sports Stories has a website now! If you want to keep up with the show, follow this link here: http...

It's a classic story of hero overcoming personal tragedy to attain glory. It's a classic story of sports and the real world colliding in ways that defie logic. It's a classic story of being too good to be true...because it wasn't. On the season finale of Surreal Sports Stories, dig into the tale of an All-American boy, a legendary football program, and a hoax unlike any other. This is the story of...

This story comes from a land down under (where women glow and men plunder), featuring one of the oldest and most popular sports in the world: cricket. Join our fish-out-of-water host as we discover how national pride, cultural differences, and major blow-ups over minor calls created an incident that threatened Australian-English relations. (And had nothing to do with beer flowing and men chunderin...

In this tale of two fighters, it was bad versus evil. One man vilified for his past, another hated for the choices he would go on to make. Their first bout was the stuff of legends, but it was their second bout that would forever enshrine their legacies. This is the story of the final time Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali crossed paths in the ring, and after the controversial ending...neither man wou...

Who doesn't love watching a trainwreck? In this episode, meet a couple who had a simple dream of owning a professional sports team. Listen in shock and awe as they lived life like the bill was never gonna come due...and when it did, hear how they took part in the most expensive divorce in California history, humiliated themselves in front of a national audience, and dragged one of Major League Bas...

Backstage fights, gossip, and plots of betrayal...all before anyone set foot in the ring.  This is a story of pettiness played out before a worldwide audience. This is a story of a scheme that saved a company at the cost of a man's personal pride. This is a story of professional wrestling.  This is the Montreal Screwjob. Surreal Sports Stories has a website now! If you want to keep up with the sho...