Inside Polish Sports

On Saturday night right after Speedway Kraków's razor-thin loss to Lokomotiv Daugavpils(44-46) I got to interview the home side's young Aussie rider Michael West. We talked about how Michael's journey turning left began at a pretty late age of 16, how he found his footing in Kraków after initially riding for Stal Gorzów's juniors, about the everlasting dangers of Speedway and about his love for Żabka salads!!!(Perhaps they should g...

Thank goodness this god forsaken Soccerball tournament is over. And for once I have decided to make an episode about a topic from outside the Polish sporting sphere. I will talk about how I watched the final, how I made fun of it in real time, just how pathetic Argentina and Messi's performances were historically and how this proves why I can't just focus on one sport if its biggest event can turn out to be so boring and frustratin...

I have to channel my inner Steve Carell and scream in horror because the LAST thing FIFA needs to clean its Barn of Augeas is to replace Infantino with Legia owner Dariusz Mioduski. A man respected in the circles and successful with his club may be, but one who could be willing to destroy that legacy and good fortune to be holding the knife for Football's ultimate castration.

In other World Cup news it's unlikely that Szymon Marcin...

I am frankly surprised that Trump waited this long to become this World Cup's Jorge Videla 1978 analogue(Spoiler Alert: HE FAILED HAHA!). In our recording from last night before the two matches took place Irish Dave and I talk about the ludicrousness of the 48-team format, Ronaldo's farewell, the underdogs that emerged and how no one age remembers the backpass rule(Thank god!).

Also, Iga goes into deeper dire straits after losing e...

In our first ever feature interview my guest is Kacper Prokopiak. The 20-year-old born in Warsaw and raised in Sanok and Oświęcim has fulfilled his Ice Hockey dreams by playing three seasons for Unia(including winning the Polish championship as a rookie), and now he has been given the chance of a lifetime thanks to being drafted by the Elmira Aviators(New York state) in the North American Hockey League.

However, it is far from a ch...

Come on Lewy? Oh, baby don't you wanna go? Robert has finally fulfilled his dream of putting on the firesuit and finishing his career up in the most Polish corner of the MLS. Plus he will face BOTH Mueller and Messi in his first two games! If that is his last dance, we're already getting dizzy on that floor!

Also, the heatwave has been the least of our first round Wimbledon problems with Maja only being denied by injury and Iga hav...

In the fourth and final part of the retro World Cup lookback I'll talk about the whimper of the golden era that melted in the Mexican heat 40 years ago this month. The second Antoni Piechniczek term was meant to be a perfect mix of the '82 heroes with the new guard headed by teen idol Dariusz Dziekanowski. However only Włodzimierz Smolarek got on the score sheet in four matches, whilst we conceded a hat trick to hobby podcaster Gar...

In Part 3 of our World Cup flashback, we'll look at the darkest time in post-war Polish history. On December 13, 1981, Jaruzelski's army declared war on its own people and this meant that the national team couldn't play any friendlies leading up to the World Cup finals in Spain. The first 235 minutes against Italy, Cameroon and Peru gave us no goals and no reason to hope. But then Zbigniew Boniek propelled his teammates and introdu...

Who the hell needs the World Cup anyway! Polish Sports were doing just fine last weekend with Jeremy Sochan becoming our first ever NBA Champion(of course it matters that he won it on the court and not on a technicality due to playing for the Spurs earlier this season!). Kamil Majchrzak won his first ATP singles title. Kuba Śmiechowski won the LMP2 class at Le Mans for the third time in 4 years. Radosław Piesiewicz was finally give...

On May 16th Maja Chwalińska left her twenty-five-square-meter flat in Bielsko-Biała simply wanting to survive in Paris and make the French Open main draw. Her manager simply wanted her to make the second or even third round. 23 days later she returned to Poland a national hero and having not just survived and conquered the courts and her opponents to forever write her script into Tennis and Polish sporting histories.

Her runner-up ...

In Part 2 of our World Cup retrospective we will take a deeper look on what could've been a golden three-headed hydra of Boniek, Deyna and Lubański destroying everyone in 1978. Instead Jacek Gmoch wanted to sacrifice Pan Włodek in his one and only tournament for the young Boniek which then lead to a fateful situation when Boniek suggested to Deyna that he should take the penalty against Argentina.

My heart breaks thinking about jus...

In Part 1 of our four-part lookback at the World Cups during Polish Football's golden era we will reminisce on the summer when Kazimierz Górski's Eagles announced themselves to the footballing world in incredible fashion by beating the likes of Argentina, Italy and even Brazil and finishing as the third best team on the planet.

If only it didn't rain dragons and elephants in Frankfurt when we played the Germans..........(angry face...

Maja Chwalińska is knocking out her French Open opponents just like Ali was hooking Sonny Liston! The Dąbrowa Górnicza native is on the lips of the whole Tennis world after going from 113th in the rankings to at least 49th after reaching the quarterfinals. It truly makes all of her prior struggles worth it and even Aryna Sabalenka herself says that she could go up the rankings as high as one could imagine. Who knows if she'll face ...

Our Footballing Batwoman Ewa Pajor has finally shaken off her doubts and ghosts and has conquered the Gotham Clock Tower of the Women's Champions League after five previous final losses. Even though Barca Feminina has two women who won the Ballon d'Or each of the previous five years(Putellas and Bonmati), Ewa's two goals and assist in the 4-0 drubbing of Lyon on Saturday pretty much assures her spot on the podium of this year's vot...

There is still something is our eyes after Lewy's farewell to Camp Nou on Sunday Night. It is surreal that his four seasons there have gone in a blink of a eye, almost as sureal as the fact itself that a Pole was the main star of the world's most famous and beloved club. Knowing Robert he doesn't need to take the sultan's ransom (90 million Euro a year!) to sign with Al-Hilal, but reports say that Chicago Fire might've beaten them ...

Robert Lewandowski's achievements by now are so expected that we seem to forget how extraordinary they are. With Barca clinching the LaLiga, he has now won FOURTEEN domestic league titles in just eighteen top flight seasons. He and Wojciech Szczęsny acted accordingly during the bus parade, including some off-cut Jan Tomaszewski impressions!

Also, Iga re-finds her mojo in Rome, Wisła celebrates its promotion with manager Mariusz Jop...

Piotr Zieliński set off a Scudetto party at San Siro as his goal helped Inter win their 21st Italian title and Zielu's second after winning it with Napoli three years ago. Meanwhile, in Porto Kiwior, Bednarek and Pietuszewski celebrated their own domestic crown. When did I hear that before: Three Polish guys in one club, hmmmmmmmmmmm........?

Also, Wisła are all but promoted, Lech are all but champions, Ewa Pajor is all but a CL wi...

On this special retrospective, we will talk about an event unsung outside of the Polish borders, but one that forever changed us as a sporting nation. In May 1953, two months after Poland was forced to mourn its chief abuser Stalin, Feliks "Papa" Stamm coached our amateur boxers to nine European Championship medals at Warsaw's Gwardia Hall.

Five of those medals were gold, and three came by beating the Ruskis in the finals. This is ...

The world is in awe and gives its gratitude to Piotr "Łatwogang" Garkowski and the folks at Cancer Fighters for their record charity livestream, which raised close to US$70 million. Athletes also chipped in to this nation-defining event with Lewy, Iga, Jan Błachowicz, Kuba Błaszczykowski, Piotr Zieliński and Vladimir Semirunniy all giving their money, time, gifts, and sometimes hair!

Iga herself had a tough weekend after only the s...