More than a Game

Taking the top prize is often the main goal of sports. First, an Olympic sport thats US championship is in Arizona. Then, how a baseball powerhouse has turned winning into a multi-generational effort.

Rule changes in college sports alter the business on a monumental scale, and how a baseball powerhouse passes one generation to the next.

Southern Arizona has a deep history with sports. We hear some of the tales that arise from an historic ballpark, then learn about a legendary baseball coach in Nogales.

On this week's episode, Katya Mendoza kicks off a series that explores the place that baseball holds in Arizona's border and Latino communities. She begins the story by exploring the topic through the eyes of a touring museum exhibit and her father's life. We then head to Gridley Middle School where Southern Arizona Adaptive Sports is helping students better understand adaptive sports by providing equipment that will allow PE students to play wheelchair basketball.

It's hard for most people to imagine running a marathon. So what's it like to run a race that's nearly ten times that length? Or how about a bike event that stretches across the entire state?

We start with the basics of the University of Arizona's newest scholarship sport, rugby. Then we talk to Jay Dobyns, a former University of Arizona football player who made a name for himself in federal law enforcement, about how the lessons he learned on the grid iron applied once he left the field.

This all-new, original podcast from AZPM will explore the untold stories of your favorite sports. Hosted by veteran sports reporter and NPR 89.1 announcer, Tony Perkins, More Than a Game features a series of the best sports stories you've never heard. Begins May 17.