Ultimate Sports BFFs ⛹🏽♀️⛹🏻♂️
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Episode 86 Description
All things sports in today's episode: ⚽ Correspondent Kenny Curtis talks sports siblings, BFFs, and the weirdest jobs in sports! 🎾 Do you have a favorite sports duo? 🏀 See if you know the answer to the Trivia on the Ten! 🧐
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Various Voices 0:00
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Bethany Van Delft 0:07
It's May 22, I'm Bethany Van Delft, and this is no ordinary episode of The Ten News. This is The Ten News gets extra.
Spring sports are heating up with basketball and hockey playoff seasons in full swing, and the Summer Olympics coming up fast. In today's episode, get ready to play ball with our sports correspondent Kenny Curtis. He's here to help us get in the game with some super stories about some awesome athletics. Let's dive in. Have you ever played against your brother in a football game? Or maybe you just beat your sister in a burping contest? No matter what game you play, it can be fun to get competitive with your family. But some professional sports players aren't just related their rivals on the field. Kenny Curtis says more in the superstar sports siblings.
Kenny Curtis 1:16
Okay, sure we all know that playing professional sports is hard, but playing professional sports against your brother or your sister? Well, that's even harder. Today, we're talking about some of the most famous sibling sets in sports history. You can talk about popular sibling athletes without mentioning Peyton and Eli Manning, two of the best NFL quarterbacks to ever play the game.
Sound Bit 1:41
There you go. Let's do it.
Kenny Curtis 1:42
Although they're now retired, they were both named Super Bowl MVP and are both predicted to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. While Peyton is commonly thought of as the better talent, Eli has an additional Super Bowl Championship to hold over his big brother's head. So that might make family dinners a little bit awkward.
Sound Bit 2:02
I'm just hoping for some clean competitive football. I don't have a dog in this fight.
Kenny Curtis 2:06
But when it comes to famous sports sisters, no one can compare with tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams. The two have had an intense rivalry for decades. In 2017 Serena beat Venus in the Australian Open and made history as the first woman to win 23 Grand Slam titles. Combined, the sisters have 30 Grand Slam singles titles and nine Olympic medals. The best part? They still refer to each other as best friends.
Sound Bit 2:40
It is a definitely a strange situation to be in because no one else has been in the position as sister on the other end. And I think you know all in all, the best part is that right now we're the best at what we do.
Kenny Curtis 2:53
Basketball has an impressive sibling pairs as well, including NBA superstars, Seth and Steph Curry as Seth steals them for free in 2019. These two brothers played against each other in the Western Conference semi final Steph and the Golden State Warriors won the game, but both brothers still refer to that matchup as one of their all time favorite sports memories. One will have the film clip at home because this is a battle for sure. And yes, siblings are fun to watch when they play each other. But what about sports BFF PSA? Turns out there are plenty of those as well. For example, LeBron James and Dwayne Wade have a legendary friendship despite being rivals on the basketball court. in baseball, Texas Rangers, Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrews had one of the best friendships in the league. The two were always goofing around together on the field and spent a lot of time together outside of baseball as well. In soccer, the US women's national team is the epitome of hashtag friendship goals, and they actually refer to themselves as 23 best friends. Specific BFF pairs include Rose Lavelle, and Sam Mewis. Juliet and crystal Dunn and Mallory Pugh and Lindsey Moran but it's forwards Alex Morgan and Sydney LaRue that have really upped their BFF game. The public side of their friendship includes entertaining pregame handshakes, social media, bikini post offs, even a Halloween costume contest, but you also get the feeling that privately they are really and truly good friends. At the end of the day, I think it's just nice to know that the athletes we watch on TV are just normal people with important relationships in their lives just like us. It's also nice to know that no matter what the final score is, brothers and sisters and friends always end up winners.
Bethany Van Delft 4:49
Pro athletes may be the kings and queens on the court, but a lot of work goes on behind the scenes to make sure the competition goes off without a hit. Let's go back to Kenny and get the scoop behind some of the strangest sports jobs that keep gameday going.
Kenny Curtis 5:08
Lots of people dream of becoming a famous athlete. Sadly, most of us don't quite have the natural talent or ability to make that possible. But that doesn't mean you can't be part of the action. You already know about the glamorous gigs like head coach or sports psychologist. So today we're going to talk about some of the more unusual jobs that somebody's got to do in order to keep the games going. These people are the unsung heroes of the athletics industry, the folks doing what we like to call the weirdest jobs in sports. First up the horse masseuse. Yep, there's a whole profession dedicated to keeping race horses relaxed, known in the industry as equine massage therapists. These hard workers are responsible for giving resources their pre and post race massages. It's their job to make sure the horses are healthy, calm and living a life of luxury. Up next, professionals sweat cleaner uppers. Also known as team attendance. These hard working NBA employees are in charge of everything from setting up the team bench to refilling water bottles to making sure players have their preferred brand of tissues. But most importantly, they're responsible for cleaning off the sweat that makes its way to the floor of the court. Yeah, they're the people you see wiping the floor with white towels during timeouts and commercial breaks. He gets a stinky job, but somebody's got to do it. Especially in the time of COVID. No hard pass. Similar to team attendance, tennis ball receivers help make the tennis world go round. This elite group is responsible for retrieving the flyaway balls during tennis matches. You've probably seen them kneeling and sprinting across the court between points to star in the coveted position of tennis ball receiver, you actually have to audition, sometimes waiting in line for hours just to get the chance to try out. And then there's the get back coach. This unsung hero helps keep NFL coaches safe during football games. He makes sure the coach stays in his designated area during the game and will physically move him out of the way of the referee on the sidelines. This job requires some serious muscle and usually goes to the team strength and conditioning coach. And finally, there's golf ball divers. Come on? Didn't you ever wonder what happened to all the balls that end up in the ponds and the lakes had golf courses? Well, people dressed in scuba gear and go get them of course, if you're an avid scuba diver who just happens to love golf, this could be the job of your dreams. So as you can see, you don't have to be a professional athlete to work in the world of sports. You just need a strong work ethic and the willingness to maybe get a little weird.
Bethany Van Delft 8:08
Up next It's time for...
Sound Bit 8:11
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 8:14
Trivia on The Ten. For more than 50 years, every MLB baseball has been rubbed with something special before it heads out onto the pitcher's mound. What is it? Is it A) human spit, B) a type of mud that comes from a secret location or C) sand from the beach?
Did you guess it? The answer is B. Every single one of the about 240,000 baseballs that are used in every MLB season's games have gotten a little muddy, staff rub a little dab of the stuff I'm brand new balls which helps pitchers get a better grip. It works so well that plays in the 1950s calls it Magic Mud, and it's still used today. But if you want to find some for yourself, you might be looking for a while. The family that gathers the mud along the Delaware River has kept the exact location of it a secret for decades.
Time is up. That's game over for today's episode. Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Look out for new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is root, root, rooting for their home teams and includes Kate Hale, Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Andrew Hall, Jenner Pascua, Stephen Tompkins and Sarah Olender. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to The Ten News. Catch you later alligators.
