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Golf Weekly
When something big happens in the game of golf, you could have no better companion than Off The Ball’s Golf Weekly podcast. For sure it’s a show for the hardcore golf fan, but at the same time there’s enough in it for something with a casual or even a passing interest in the game to dig their teeth into on the occasions they do decide to dip in. The show’s presenter is the typically assured and silky smooth Joe Molloy, with regular guests Nathan Murphy and Fionn Davenport providing interesting analysis in a relaxed fashion. When news filtered through last week of Tiger Woods auto-accident, Golf Weekly was an obvious destination for a breakdown on the incident, its impact on Woods’ career, life and the wider game of golf and his significance to it. Woods, as Davenport explains, is the single most important figure in the game of golf for the last forty years. What happened last week was a big deal. Of course, the pod is also really good at keeping you informed about the regular comings and goings of the pro-tour from an Irish perspective. There are some other excellent golf podcasts available – the BBC has one, NBC in the States – but for that Irish and European tour perspective Golf Weekly really should be your go-to pod. With the Masters coming at the start of next month, Golf Weekly should prove an essential listen.
– Damian Stack
The Punch: one niGhT, TWo lives, and The fiGhT ThaT chanGed baskeTball forever
When a fight broke out between the Houston Rockets and the LA Lakers in 1977, All-star Rudy Tomjanovitch raced to break it up. He met Kermit Washington’s fist, which delivered one of the most ferocious punches ever seen in sport. The titular punch dislodged Tomjanovitch’s skull and he required years of surgery and therapy to get him back to normal but he was never the same.
Washington was an average player, 6’8” and one of only six athletes to be both an academic all-American and a basketball all-American. By all accounts he was an exemplary man but the split-second in which he threw his fist devastated his reputation. No team in the NBA would employ him in any coaching capacity. Tomjanovitch, on the other hand, is a star: head coach of the two-time world championship Rockets and coach of the 2000 Glympic Gold winning team. With his unique insight, style and bone-deep knowledge of basketball, John Feinstein ( A Good Walk Spoiled, Next Man Up, The Majors, Play Ball) finally reveals the truth of that night and how it changed basketball forever. Through this one cataclysmic event he casts light on the NBA’s darkest secrets, exploring race, violence and how one mistake has haunted two good men for 25 years.