Trailer

Americans love sports. We are fanatics who dress in team colors, root, root, root for the home team, and live and die with the success and failure of our favorite athlete. But if we take the time to look beneath the surface and beyond the simple factual question of who won and who lost, we are also presented with some of the most fascinating stories from our nation’s past.

In this new podcast series, ​American Sport​, Professor Matt Andrews goes beyond telling entertaining tales of races won, touchdowns scored, players rounding the bases, and highlights the historical significance of sports in the United States. He explains to us why sports have mattered so much in this country and he reveals how sports have actually changed the course of American history.

Did you know that a boxing match caused the first nationwide race riot in our nation’s past? Did you know that horse races between Northern and Southern horses helped spark the Civil War? Do you want to go back to your childhood and learn the real reason that you did the Presidential Fitness Test? Would you like to know why the song, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” is a radical feminist text?

These are the issues Matt explores and the questions he answers in ​American Sport​. Sports are a highlight reel of history. Join us as we explore the stories that are more than just exciting tales of athletic competitions. ​American Sport ​is about some of the most compelling moments and significant turning points in American history.

American Sport is created by Professor Matt Andrews and is an original podcast by Trailblazer Studios, Executive Produced by Katye Rone, and Co-produced by Aurelia Belfield and Casey Helmick.