Historically Speaking Sports

Over the years the Cleveland sports scene has had to endure some painful and heartbreaking losses, more then its fair share.

From "The Fumble", to "The Drive", to coming oh so close with their baseball team in several instances in the fall classic.

Yet the Cleveland Cavaliers finally answered the prayers of all northeast Ohio in 2016, erasing a 3-1 deficit in the NBA finals to give the city along Lake Erie its much needed and delayed championship, the city's first in several generations.

Yet during the down years of Cleveland sports in the mid 1970s, it was their basketball team that filled the void, climbing from an obscure NBA expansion team to not only capturing the hearts of Cleveland fans but captured the attention of the entire basketball world.

In this episode co hosts Dana Auguster and Charles Combs are heading back to the 1976 NBA playoffs to revisit one of basketball's most remarkable Cinderella stories—the "Miracle at Richfield."

Just five years after joining the league as an expansion franchise, the Cleveland Cavaliers shocked the basketball world by defeating the heavily favored Washington Bullets and capturing the imagination of an entire city.

We'll examine how a team of overlooked players, a passionate fan base, and a little bit of playoff magic combined to create one of the greatest upsets in NBA history.

To contact the show please drop us a line at [email protected].

It has been 53 long years since the New York Knicks have win the NBA's biggest prize.

Now as they await their opponents in the Eastern Conference Finals, Historically Speaking Sports co-host Dana Auguster talks about the legacy of the New York Knicks and their long wait for their next NBA title and the number of championships the other metro New York franchises have won since the Knicks last reigned as NBA champions.

To contact the show, please contact us at [email protected].

Last week the men's and women's NCAA tournament expanded to 76 teams from it current 68 team format to take effect next season.

In this short bulletin, podcast co-host Dana Auguster takes you a trip through history as he illustrates how the tournament which began in 1939 expanded from an 8-team, mostly regional tournament, to the cultural phenomenon that is "March Madness".

To contact the show, please drop us a e-mail at [email protected]

A few months back we did this for major League Baseball.

Then during the NFL Playoffs we did this for the best players that we have seen in pro football.

And now during the height of the NBA playoffs, it is basketball's turn.

In this all new episode co-hosts Dana Auguster and Charles Combs have put together a special NBA All-Star Selection show built entirely on firsthand experience.

This isn’t about stats alone or reputation—it’s about the greatest players we've personally watched from 1980 to today.

In this episode, Dana Auguster will be selecting his All-Star team from the Western Conference, highlighting exciting playmakers, high-scoring athletic legends, and dominant big men who defined that side of the league.

On the other side, co-host Charles Combs will be selecting his All-Star roster from the Eastern Conference, focusing on the dominant physical style of the stars of that conference and iconic players that shaped that part of the league in what we call the NBA's golden era.

Together, this episode blends basketball history, personal perspective, and honest debate as we build our ultimate All-Star lineups.

Also the guys are not putting together just a hypothetical all-star game but we will also construct an all-star weekend format three players from the east and three from the west for a Slam Dunk Contest and a Three point shoot out respectively.

Then later on they well send a shout out to a television program which this past week marked 65 years since it made its debut.

During their most formative years as Sports fans, Charles and Dana will reminisce about this ground breaking sports show in which we witnessed first hand the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

To contact the show, please email us at [email protected]

HSS All-Time Pro Bowl Selection Show:

https://player.captivate.fm/episode/58d6a6a0-dbf5-4dc7-ba90-05b74dd4ac79/

HSS MLB All Time All-Time Selection Show:

https://player.captivate.fm/episode/2f43aa2a-047e-4701-b93f-262b72a760fd/

There are teams that gain success with championships and superstar players.

Yet very few teams become ingrained in the culture and identity of a city.

From their debut in 1967 with the backdrop of the city's aerospace industry which gave Seattle its "supersonic" name to the rise of players such as Fred Brown, Dale Ellis, and Nate McMillian.

Still others with colorful nicknames such as "Slick" and "The X-Man". This team from the "Emerald City" also had "The Wizard, "The Reign Man" and "The Glove". Throughout their history, the Seattle SuperSonics weren't just a team based in the Pacific northwest, they were a vibe.

In this episode of the podcast, Dana Auguster and Charles Combs will take a look back at one of the most beloved franchises in NBA history which in a few years, may be making a triumphant return.

The Seattle SuperSonics, the first pro sports team in the city of Seattle, was one of the most successful franchises in the NBA whos history is filled with a myriad of all star players and hall of famers including a star point guard that played in the teams early years that would eventually lead them to their only championship while serving as their head coach.

Also we will talk about the team owner who not only threatened the NBA by taking his team to join with the American Basketball Association but also talked openly about leaving Seattle all together to be a direct rival to the Lakers in Los Angeles.

Speaking of leaving town, we will also talk about the heartbreaking and controversial move in 2008 as the sonics left the pacific northwest to find literal greener pastures in Oklahoma City. Leaving an empty shell in the coffee Capital of the world and fans still waiting, still hoping and still holding onto the Green and Gold.

Rounding out the episode we will send a shout out to the Sonics first bonified superstar.

In the fall of 1970, a young player arrived in Seattle from the ABA named Spencer Haywood. He not only he took on the best of the NBA on the court, but he took on the league itself off the court and then -- in court. Paving the way for college underclassmen to be eligible for the NBA draft.

To contact the show, please drop us a line at [email protected].

Which school had the best overall collection of individual talent in the history of college basketball?

That is a question that have sparked barroom and cookout debates for years.

In this episode co-hosts Dana Auguster and Charles Combs will add their two cents into the debate.

In this all new edition of the Historically Speaking Sports Podcast the Podcast that gives the best of sports from back in the day, we will continue our discussion of the best of the best in college basketball history.

In the previous episode we determined the starting lineup, a reserve and coach of the 12 most prestigious programs in history. Now. in part two, the Co-hosts will put together a bracket and forecast a winner in a hypnotical tournament with the 12 teams.

Then later in the show, Charles and Dana will put the lineups in AI and have it determine a winner.

To contact the show, please e-mail the show at [email protected]

The Final Four returns to Indianapolis for the ninth time with four schools arriving in the Circle City with varying degrees of pedigree but a whole lot of Final Four history.

This weekend four teams, UConn, who reached the tournament by erasing a 15 point Duke half time lead that climaxed with one of the most memorable shots in tournament history makes their way to the final four for the 8th time.

Illinois, back in the final four for thie first time since 2005 aiming to win its fist ever Final Four, the school's first National Championship since 1915.

Then there's Michigan, back in the Final Four since 2021 and trying to bring Michigan back to heights never before reached since 1989 when interim coach Steve Fisher led Glen Rice and the Wolverines to their title.

Rounding out the Final Four field is the Arizona Wildcats.

Its been 25 years since Arizona has been to the final four and nearly 30 years since the Wildcats cut down the nets led by coach Lute Olsen and point guard Mike Bibby.....that year U of A won the title in, of all places....Indianapolis.

To contact the show please e-mail us at [email protected]

As a sports fan and more specifically a basketball fan, the month of march consists of making brackets and then after the first four days of the tournament, possibly ripping up those very same brackets.

It is a month of hoops, last second buzzer beaters and ultimately one shining moment.

For us here at the Historically Speaking Sports podcast, the month of March also means looking back on the best that the sport of college basketball has to offer From the Indiana Hoosiers perfect season to Christian Laettner's game winner against Kentucky and the unrivaled dominance of the UCLA Bruins led by Lew Alcindor (Later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), Bill Walton and the "Wizard of Westwood" John Wooden.

Yet in this episode --- we are going to be treading into dangerous waters.

In this special March Madness edition of the Historically Speaking Sports Podcast Co-hosts Dana Auguster and Charles Combs will share their takes on basketball history that will certainly spark debate among the listeners as well as possible outrage.

Those so called dangerous waters that the hosts will be drifting into in this episode is putting together the starting five, one bench player and the coach of 12 of the most prestigious college basketball programs in history.

Some of the questions we will be tackling, who starts at point guard for Georgetown, Allen Iverson or Eric Sleepy Floyd.

Who will team up with Michael Jordan at the University of North Carolina?

Which two supremely talented guards will make up the back court for the University of Arizona which has a very rich history at those positions.

And which of the five Kentucky coaches that have won championships in Lexington be tapped to be the head coach of the ultimate collection of Wildcats.

All those questions and much more will be answered in this episode.

But there is a point to all of this. this is only part one of a two part series.

After the teams are constructed with lineups filled with legendary players, the second part of the series will feature a 12 team bracket and Charles and Dana will predict the winner of the tournament.

Then with the help of artificial intelligence it will determine a winner and we will compare our predications with AI.

Now how close they will come is yet to be seen. But....in this episode.... Charles and Dana will discuss and in some cases debate who is most deserving to be on their alma maters greatest collection of hoops talent.

So sit back and prepare to either be in agreement or in total outrage on who we select for the first annual Historically Speaking Sports Alumni Basketball tournament... right here on the sports history network.

To contact the show, you could write to us at [email protected]

Between 1972 and 1997 the Southeastern Conference in basketball grew in stature from just being a premier football conference.

During that time of conference growth of both prominence and popularity, the team most emblematic of that growth in national prestige was located in -- of all places-- Baton Rouge Louisiana. And the leader of this team from the sidelines hailed from the hinterlands of North Dakota.

In his episode of the Historically Speaking Sports Podcast, Co-hosts Dana Auguster and Charles Combs highlight the era of LSU Tigers basketball under the direction of Head Coach Dale Brown.

During his tenure with the Tigers, Brown didn't just coach basketball at LSU, he made it matter in a football crazed state and made it a national brand.

He took a program that had flashes of relevance and turned into a powerhouse that would go toe-to-toe with anyone in the country.

This was the era of superstars such as Chris Jackson who would later become Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, whose scoring brilliance electrified the country and garnered comparisons to Pete Maravich. It was also the era of the unstoppable force of Shaquille O'Neal, a once in a generation talent who turned LSU into must see TV.

And before them there was Rudy Macklin leading the Tigers to the final four, for the first time since the early 1950s

But the Dale Brown era wasn't just about wins and NBA draft picks .

It was about personality, passion and conviction.

Brown was outspoken, emotional, sometimes controversial -- a coach who wore his heart on his sleeve and fought fiercely for his players. He believed LSU could compete with the blue bloods of college basketball and for stretches from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s ... it absolutely did.

To contact the show please e-mail us at [email protected]

The United States Hockey team just won its first gold medal in Men's Olympic Hockey in 46 years.

Almost to the day that team USA pulled off one of the greatest upsets in history, beating the Soviets in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid New York.

In this short podcast bulletin, Historically Speaking Sports Podcast co-host Dana Auguster talks about the other two instances that team USA had won the gold in Olympic Hockey.

Please like and subscribe and to contact the show, please write to us at [email protected]