The Untold History of Sports in America

Women's soccer began to take off in the U.S. in the 1990s, culminating in the frenzy surrounding the 1999 World Cup and one of the greatest female athletes, Mia Hamm. Matt tells that story and explains how a sports bra created a controversy. 

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Matt Andrews tells the story of one of the greatest athletes of all time, Michael Jordan, and how his relationship with Nike changed the world of sports. 

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In the 1980s, white athletes for some Americans came to represent white excellence in a sports world dominated by black athletes. Matt Andrews illustrates this through the stories of three white sports legends-NBA player Larry Bird, boxer Gerry Cooney...and fictional fighter Rocky Balboa.

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The Soviets and Americans both hosted the Olympics in the 1980s.  Matt Andrews explains that the fraught political situation of the time spilled into the Games, including boycott threats and fallout from a shot-down commercial airplane. 

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Before the 1970s, the average American stopped exercising after their high school days in gym class. But with modern technology came sedentary lifestyles and rising health issues. Matt Andrews breaks down the beginnings of the American fitness boom and how the jogging craze was partly about the need to feel in control.

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We won't spoil which movie Matt Andrews declares the "greatest," but he feels pretty strongly about it. And that's because it's the first of its kind to be brutally honest. Hint: It's not Hoosiers.  

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When President Nixon signed Title IX into law in 1972, the goal was achieving gender equality and fairness in education. But it led to a women's revolution in sports, with high school and collegiate participation for women soaring in the 1970s-1990s. Matt Andrews explains the complicated story of Title IX, including a famous naked protest and the debate over its impact.

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It's the age of women's athletic revolution, with female athletes battling on the field for equality and respect. Nothing encapsulates that more than the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.  Matt Andrews tells the story of the "Battle of the Sexes." 

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Matt Andrews tracks the evolution of professional football in America, from the origins of the Super Bowl to the celebrity of the New York Jets' Joe Namath. He rejected norms and challenged how a professional athlete can act off the field  

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When Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists on the podium of the 1968 Olympic Games, it reverberated across both the political and sports worlds. Matt Andrews delves into the unrest that led black athletes to take a stand at the Olympics, including the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

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