A podcast about the history of sports and the history in sports.
About this here podcast
Ball Through The Ages is a podcast about the history of sports and the history in sports. BTTA’s goal is not only to have some fun talking about old games, players, and coaches from our favorite sports, but also to challenge the assumptions and narratives that have shaped our view of them. We are going answer our own burning questions like “should the 2003 Fiesta Bowl between Ohio State and Miami be defined by the famous pass interference call?” and “why has Al Horford never been properly rated in his career?”
We also hope to shed a light on the times when sports and history interact. As we all know too well right now, sports plays a huge part of our lives and reflects our history. Like how Willis Reed’s heroics in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals overshadowed one of the lowest points of the Nixon presidency or why the Kansas-Missouri rivalry started way before the schools played each other in football.
We hope to integrate articles about sports history into this platform as well to tell the stories that don’t fit on the podcast!
How and when can you hear us
We will be doing episodes once a week and (usually) releasing them on Fridays!
You can listen to us right through our Substack newsletter, which comes directly to your mailbox when each episode comes out. You can also find us on all the following podcasts apps: Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, and PocketCasts.
About the Hosts
I’m Gabe Ibrahim and my co-host is Alex Lange. Alex and I have basically been doing this podcast for the past 5 years without recording ourselves. As law school roommates in the metropolis of Williamsburg, Virginia, we had plenty of time to talk about all of our favorite sports moments and weird facts we found online. If you’re a subscriber to Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers theory, we’ve probably put up 10,000 hours of these discussions and may be deemed experts.
While Alex is an attorney (boo), I am a writer covering the WNBA for Winsidr and College Football for Underdog Dynasty. I was a broadcast journalism student at the University of Miami and did student radio and TV and Alex also did college radio at Miami University. Yes, we went to both of the Miamis and it resulted in a fantastic halloween costume one time.
NBABQ (Never Been Asked Before Questions)
Q: What sports will you talk about? A: All of them, but mainly the NBA and College Football because those are our favorites and where we have the most knowledge.
Q: Is there a focus on any period of sports history? A: No, we are bouncing around throughout all of sports history. Events that occurred after 1999 will likely be featured more frequently because we are millennials and there’s a lot more videos/information than previous eras.
Q: Does this have anything to do with Harry Potter? A: No. The name for the show was (subconsciously) inspired by the book Quidditch Through The Ages. Although, we do want to leave the door open for an episode about quidditch.
Q: Are there different show formats? A: Great question! In a way, yes there are longer shows typically focused on a game or event. In another potentially more accurate sense, no we’re totally still figuring this out.
Q: What will you be wearing for this? A: This seems unimportant since podcasting is not a visual medium but I’ll be rotating my basketball jerseys and sweatpants.
Q: How can I support the show? A: SUBSCRIBE TO US ON SUBSTACK AND YOUR PODCAST APP, FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, SAY NICE THINGS ABOUT US IN REVIEWS.