Only A Game: A podcast where sports meets life
After the true crime genre, sports podcasts have witnessed an increase in the number and popularity of these shows rivaled only by the number of times major league batters now strike out.
Why are sports podcasts so popular? The list of reasons is seemingly endless. Sports talk radio shows have migrated to podcasting. Legalized sports gambling in some states has made fantasy baseball, football, soccer and other sports shows “can’t miss listening” if you want to win in your fantasy league and trounce the neighbor who parks his work truck in front of your house every night. Statistical freaks drink in all these arcane sports numbers such as Phillies slugger Bryce Harper’s batting average when the bases are loaded, the humidity is above 70 percent and it’s dollar dog night at the stadium.
Into this dumpster fire of sports nerds, face-painting uber-fans, wildly optimistic amateur gamblers and sports talk radio crazies comes an oasis of thoughtful, life-affirming and sometimes poetic stories from National Public Radio’s (NPR) Only A Game sports podcast.
Even the show’s title, Only A Game, reveals its upfront but unique agenda – to carefully unfold the human stories that revolve around sports instead of only reporting on what happened during the game, match, tournament or competition.
When sports meets life
Like many of NPR’s podcasts, Only A Game began in 1993 as a weekly sports show on NPR affiliate WBUR Boston. Hosted by Bill Littlefield since its inception up until retirement last year, Only A Game kept listeners enthralled because many of its stories took place outside the baseball diamond, hockey rink, soccer pitch or basketball court.
From 2014, for example, consider the story about how the U.S. women’s cross-country skiing team had become one of top teams in the world in the sport. Or the sizzling tale of the minor league Lehigh Iron Pigs and their new bacon-based uniforms. Even war history makes its appearance with a poignant story about how the 2014 Tour De France honored the millions killed in World War I, which started exactly 100 years ago.
Unlike other sports podcasts, Only a Game doesn’t confine its wide-ranging curiosity into just breaking down player stats and “what coach is going to get fired next” rumor mill. A December 2018 episode exemplifies the unique storytelling range of the podcast. In that episode, journalist Shirley Wang describes the unlikely friendship between her father, a cat litter scientist from Iowa, and NBA great Charles Barkley. In the poignant tale, rebounds, points per game and wins and losses all play second fiddle to the close emotional bond between a sports celebrity and the scientist, who died in June 2018. Barkley delivered the eulogy at his funeral.
Shining a light on courage
Only A Game is at its best when the show profiles athletes or people involved in sports who overcome a true life challenge – not just something like cutting down on interceptions or increasing free throw percentage. Witness a recent episode where UNLV men’s hockey assistant coach Nick Robone, who was one of the hundreds wounded during the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting that resulted in the deaths of 58 people, relayed what happened to him during the shooting. Then, Robone goes on to explain how important the NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights were in the aftermath of the shooting.
In April, Only A Game covered a story about Eric Murangwa, who played goalie for one of Rwanda’s top soccer clubs in 1994. He was 19 years old and one of the country’s most beloved players. He was also Tutsi. When the Rwandan genocide began, he was forced to run and hide.
Last year, the show reported about a group in Vancouver who challenged the idea that upper-body exercise was dangerous for breast cancer survivors. The challenge was in the form of dragon boat racing, a 2,000-year-old Chinese sport that has been embraced by women worldwide.
The Only A Game scorecard
The podcast has evolved over 25 years with a format that offers a wide breadth of sports-related stories. Typically, the primary story comes first with a singular human interest angle such as the July 26 episode about Olympic gold medal skater Scott Hamilton and his serious illnesses as a child or Celtic basketball great Bob Cousy voicing regrets over not doing more more to help teammate Bill Russell deal with racial prejudice.
Then, “The Three Stories You Should Know” segment has two guest sportswriters and the host each take a turn to bring up a sports issue, such the NCAA paying college athletes, the Cleveland Browns being over-hyped for the 2019 season or sisterhood in women’s professional tennis.
Then, the long-time Boston Globe writer and current Esquire magazine blogger Charlie Pierce talks with the host about the week’s sports news with a touch of sarcasm, precious moments of insight and straight-up humor.
The other stories highlight the offbeat and whip smart take that Only A Game seems to capture. For example, one segment looked at sports romance novels while another investigated the reason why Clemson football fans are well known for spending $2 bills when they travel to away games. Stories include athletes who don’t make any headlines but are worthy of coverage anyway – such as the St. Louis runner who continued his career after losing his sight.
When the “Bill” comes due
How does a podcast replace its host of 25 years? That’s the dilemma faced by Only A Game and WBUR when Bill Littlefield announced that he would retire in July 2018. Littlefield was a sports host like no other. A graduate of Phillips Academy, Yale University and the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Littlefield taught English at Curry College for 39 years and has written six books while editing several others. Littlefield, an amateur poet, would often sprinkle short pieces of doggerel into the show to the delight of many listeners. More important, Litttlefield’s intellectual curiosity fit perfectly with the mission of Only A Game to paint sonic images about the intersection of life and sports.
To date, a new permanent host has not been announced by NPR or WBUR. However, Only A Game executive producer and reporter Karen Given has not only filled in capably but often brilliantly.
Given attended Boston University beginning in 1991 to study political science and broadcast journalism and quickly found a work study job in audio engineering at WBUR, NPR’s Boston affiliate.. After graduation, she was hired on as the technical director for Only A Game and Car Talk.
Given then spent a year as the only feature news reporter for Reno’s public radio station, KUNR and eventually she returned to WBUR as a producer and reporter for Only A Game.
Karen Given has won the national Edward R. Murrow Award for Sports Reporting twice. First in 2007, for her profile of a town in the Rift Valley where elite long distance runners live and train: “Kenya’s Fastest Town.” She won again in 2017 for her story about Olympic hurdler Kendra Harrison: “How A Phone Call Helped Turn An Olympic Letdown Into A World Record.”
In 2016, Karen earned a Master’s degree in Gastronomy from Boston University.
Given is part of a stable and talented producing and reporting team with Gary Waleik – who has been with the show since 1991 – and Martin Kessler – a Cambridge, MA native and Harvard graduate – who joined the show six years ago.
All three reporters provide sonic depth to the human interest tales told on the show. All three – and especially Given as the current de facto host – use silence, pauses, breath control and voice modulation to impart the emotional resonance that many of the Only A Game stories have.
Only A Game is a perfect listen for those who want to hear more about sports than touchdown pass to interception ratios or the spin rate on a curveball. For those who don’t follow sports, Only A Game serves up compelling human interest stories that portray sports in all its emotional density.
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