Sports Rivals

Placekickers | They both could kick a ball, but it was round, not oval. Before their careers were over, it was the oval football they kicked that made all the difference.

What a treat to listen to two of the NFL’s all-time great placekickers relate the unlikely roads they both took to become legends in the game.

The Placekickers

Jan Stenerud was on the field for the Chiefs, Packers and Vikings during a career that covered 1967-1985. He is the first pure placekicker to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Along with a Super Bowl win with the Chiefs and 4 Pro Bowls, he also transformed the placekicking game for all of football.

All of this coming almost by accident to a man who came from Norway to Montana State on a ski jumping scholarship.

Rolf Benirschke was a placekicker for the San Diego Chargers from 1978-1986. He retired as the all-time leader in points for the Chargers, an NFL Man of the Year Award winner and a fan of Stenerud.

Listen to his story of the inadvertent chance to kick a football that leads to his time in the NFL.

They watched each other kick, they learned from each other and they competed at the highest level with a talent that brought with it real sport’s pressure.

Two exuberant men, two unlikely careers, and two joyful stories told in their own words.

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Originally recorded on April 21, 2020 |1988 NLCS The 1988 NLCS was a tumultuous series between the LA Dodgers and NY Mets. It went 7 games in the rain, sleet and hail and featured the likes of KIRK GIBSON, STEVE SAX, DOC GOODEN AND GARY CARTER. This series also pitted the to be 1988 Cy Young Award winner, NLCS MVP and […] The post 1988 NLCS | Dodgers vs Mets | Ep 10 appeared first on the Sports Rivals podcast.

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1984 College World Series | In all of baseball, the College World Series, which began in 1947, is one of the pinnacle events for the sport.

Only eight Division 1 teams survive a grueling playoff process to make it to Omaha to crown a national champion.

The Players

Jose Mota and Louie Medina made that journey in 1984, among a star-studded cast of players from around the country.

Mota played for Cal State Fullerton and would leave Omaha as part of a national championship team.

Louie Medina played for Arizona State, a highly favored team, with the likes of Barry Bondsand Oddibe McDowell as teammates.

1984 College World Series | The Semi Final Match Up

These two players faced each other in a semifinal game that saw Cal State Fullerton eliminate Arizona State 6-1. Fullerton would then go on to beat Texas for the title.

What was the experience for Mota and Medina in Omaha? How did Cal State Fullerton prepare itself in a tournament where they were not favored to win? There were two different mental states for these teams entering the semifinal game and Mota and Medina lay that out for you.

Both players would go on to play professional baseball and stay involved in the game after their playing days: Mota in the broadcast booth and Medina in the front office of the KC Royals. Both are forever conscious of the impact that 1984 College World Series had on their lives and they share those feelings here.

The game may have been played in 1984, but the memories are vivid and emotionally charged.

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London Marathon | One minute you are strangers on the streets of London and the next you are united in sports forever and friends for a lifetime.

That is what happened for American Dick Beardsley and Norwegian Inge Simonsen at the 1981 London Marathon.

These two marathoners had never met when the gun went off to start the first ever London Marathon. They ran together near the head of the pack for miles, neither able to gain distance on the other.

In the final stages of the race, a moment in sports’ history began when Beardsley turned to Simonsen and asked, “should we go in together.”

Not knowing if Simonsen had agreed to that, they raced on, stride for stride, towards the finish line where the answer became apparent. Hand in hand, they crossed the finish line as co-winners of London’s first marathon.

Never before, and most likely never again, will a marathon finish this way.

Here are Dick and Inge with the story of that race, in their own words. Why would two such competitive athletes who had trained so hard to win the marathon agree to do this while running the race?

What effect did this race have on their lives? Would they do it differently in hindsight?

Listen and enjoy.

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“The Greatest Race Ever Run.” “Iron War.”

Those are two of the descriptions of the 1989 Ironman World Championship, a race that changed the face of Ironman Triathlons from being not only an endurance test, but also a true race.

The men who created this historical moment are Dave Scott and Mark Allen.

1989 Ironman World Championship

These two triathletes entered the 1989 event well aware of one another’s abilities, but could not possibly have foreseen that this race would pit them literally side by side for over 8 hours.

On this podcast, Dave and Mark share with each other and you the physical strains, the mental emotions and the mind-boggling journey of two rivals through a triathlon that made history.

It would be 15 subsequent years before the two could talk with one another about this race. If you think the competitiveness dissipates with time, listen closely.

This is the story of two of the world’s finest athletes ever, in a race you could not script. Most importantly, this is their story as personally related by the two who ARE the story and the rivals.

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Ah, the joy of it all, listening to this conversation between two of MLB’s most renowned HOF pitchers, former rivals and good friends: Jim Palmer and Dennis Eckersley. These two-faced one another in opposing uniforms between 1975 and 1984. Both would enter Baseball’s Hall of Fame and the competitiveness that got them there can be […] The post HOF Pitchers | Palmer vs Eckersley | Ep 20 appeared first on the Sports Rivals podcast...

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Breaking records and boundaries has been the lifelong work of today’s guests, Olympic diving legends Cynthia Potter and Micki King. One of the ironies in sports is that athletes often compete against one another for a lifetime, yet during that time they become teammates on occasions such as the Olympics. Cynthia and Micki are two […]
The post Olympic Diving | Potter vs King | Ep 19 appeared first on the Sports Rivals podcast.

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OSU vs Oregon | Some team rivalries go to the soul of players and fans.  They are the rivalries that have not only stood the test of time but also made even more intense with times’ passage. Such is the basketball rivalry between Oregon State University and the University of Oregon. OSU vs Oregon Rivalry […]
The post OSU vs Oregon | NCAA Basketball | Ep 18 appeared first on the Sports Rivals podcast.

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1983 Sugar Bowl | Seasons in sports are played to lead up to a moment of finality – the World Series, NBA Finals, etc. College football is no different as teams play for a national championship game and a number 1 ranking to end a season. In January of 1983, that moment was the Sugar […]
The post 1983 Sugar Bowl | PSU vs GA | Ep 17 appeared first on the Sports Rivals podcast.

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USA vs East Germany |Everyone in the pool!  Just don’t challenge our guests to a race.   Most rivalries end with the competitive years of those involved having concluded.  The rivalry stories we hear today ended when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. For U.S. swim teams, the East Germans posed a particularly tough rivalry […]
The post Swimming | USA vs East Germany | Ep 16 appeared first on the Sports Rivals podcast.

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All sports public relations departments take great pride in their work and are forever comparing their efforts with their counterparts.  That rivalry is supplemented with an understanding that PR departments often need the assistance of one another for information gathering purposes and interview arrangements.   Our two guests today are as good as it gets in […]
The post Public Relations | Horwitz vs Swanson | Ep 15 appeared first on the Sports Rivals podcast.

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Shoes on fire!! So begins a romp through pitchers’ territory with two pitching personalities who let it fly. The Pitchers Bert Blyleven is a Hall of Fame right-hander who came to the majors at age 19 with a curveball that HOF member Brooks Robinson described as “nasty…enough to make your knees buckle…a dominating pitcher.” Bert […]
The post Pitchers | Blyleven vs Langston | Ep 14 appeared first on the Sports Rivals podcast.

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If you derive a headache from constantly smiling widely or laughing uncontrollably, you better have a bottle of aspirin at hand for this matchup of coaches. Bill Raftery and P.J. Carlesimo have run the gamut of basketball coaching and broadcasting, from college to the NBA, from regional networks to the Final Four. They were direct […]
The post Coaches | Raftery vs Carlesimo | Ep 13 appeared first on the Sports Rivals podcast.

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As sports reporters, it is all about getting the story.  That is no easy task when you are surrounded by others who want the same thing from the same people and want it now. You are about to hear from two women who took on the rivalries not only for the stories, but also for […]
The post Reporters | Adamson vs Coakley | Ep 12 appeared first on the Sports Rivals podcast.

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In The Press Box READ ALL ABOUT IT!!   GET YOUR PAPER HERE! Ah, exclamations from the days when newspapers were plentiful, many cities had both a morning and an evening paper and all journalists, including sportswriters in the press box, were looking for the big scoop of the day. From those times came a […]
The post In The Press Box | Nightengale vs Miller | Ep 11 appeared first on the Sports Rivals podcast.

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1988 NLCS The 1988 NLCS was a tumultuous series between the LA Dodgers and NY Mets. It went 7 games in the rain, sleet and hail and featured the likes of KIRK GIBSON, STEVE SAX, DOC GOODEN AND GARY CARTER. This series also pitted the to be 1988 Cy Young Award winner, NLCS MVP and […]
The post 1988 NLCS | Dodgers vs Mets | Ep 10 appeared first on the Sports Rivals podcast.

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GM vs Agent GM vs Agent | As a sports agent, what is the best deal I can get for my client and exactly what does “best deal” mean? As a GM negotiating with the agent, what is the best deal I can get for my club and just what does THAT mean? Rarely do […]
The post GM vs Agent | Major League Baseball | Ep 9 appeared first on the Sports Rivals podcast.

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Army vs Navy – it is the “nation’s football game.”  At the end of each football season, there unfolds a pageantry that began in 1890.. The Oath Each player took the same oath that brought him to this game.  Each has a mission far beyond football. When arriving at a military academy, each person takes […]
The post Army vs Navy | NCAA Football | Ep 8 appeared first on the Sports Rivals podcast.

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Would you really ask a college basketball player to throw up during a game if things were going bad, just to change the momentum? What do you do when the water main breaks on campus when there is a big game to be played that day?  How about when the opposing coach has a suggestion […]
The post ACC College Basketball | MD vs VT | Ep 7 appeared first on the Sports Rivals podcast.

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UCLA vs Arizona | NCAA Mens’ Basketball–Rivalries take time to build and this one has had decades.  UCLA and Arizona are two of college basketball’s premier programs.   Over the years the race for Pac-12 titles and the right to move to March madness has created high heat when they meet. 42 of the last […]
The post UCLA vs Arizona | NCAA Mens’ Basketball | Ep 6 appeared first on the Sports Rivals podcast.

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