Best in Sport

(That Isn’t Football)

Some are inspiring, some simply entertaining, but each of these MVPs merits a spot on your playlist

WINNER! ESPN’s 30 For 30 Podcasts

If Netflix basketball documentary The Last Dance whetted your appetite for something more substantial than the back pages, gorge on six multiaward-winning seasons from the makers of the acclaimed film series. Most episodes are weird and wonderful one-offs, but a five-part season was dedicated to former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who received a lifetime ban from the NBA for racist comments. As the tagline goes: “Too dramatic not to be real”.

RUNNERS UP! The Cycling Podcast

Journalists and co-hosts Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe have been consistently ahead of the peloton: The Cycling Podcast was nominated for Best Sport yet again at the 2020 British Podcast Awards, having won bronze in 2018, as was its Féminin spin-off in 2019. Two books, cycling jerseys, cappuccino sets: it’s a veritable lifestyle brand to rival previous sponsor Rapha.

Tailenders

A “tailender” is a batsman of limited ability (AKA a “bowler”), who is therefore sent into the crease last, probably for a limited innings. Thankfully, terminology like that is no boundary to enjoying this alternative take on cricket, co-hosted by BBC Radio 1’s Greg James, wicket-collecting England paceman Jimmy Anderson and erstwhile Maccabees guitarist-turnedthird man Felix White. It’ll tickle you.