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Live Saturday morning global sports show with reports, debate and humour

Live Saturday morning global sports show with reports, debate and humour.

Sportshour: The Real Madness of March?

The Real Madness of March

21/03/2015

The Real Madness of March?

BBC World Service - Sportshour, The Real Madness of March?

Are stars of college basketball exploited by universities or do they get a fair deal?

This month the sporting calendar in the United States is dominated by one thing - March Madness. It is the culmination of the men's college basketball season and it is not only hugely popular but big business. However is the madness of March the way its players are treated or exploited, as some say? The stars don't share in any of the estimated billion dollars generated by the competition. That said, their basketball skills are rewarded with university scholarships, the cost of which is estimated at $50,000 a year, and the chance to go on to earn millions of dollars in the professional ranks of the NBA. So is this exploitation by the universities, or a fair deal for the students? 

Maxi Cup
Max Biester is a footballer for Bundesliga club Hamburg SV, but during a prolonged period on the side line caused by injury, he helped develop a new invention he hopes will revolutionise the way we eat, drink and watch football. He has been telling the us about the invention and how he juggles his football career with "creating crazy and funny things."

New (Blue) Moon Rising?
It is a city that has hosted legends like Pele, Eusébio and Thierry Henry, and yet New York has never quite taken to football. Now a new team, backed by Manchester City and the Yankees, is hoping to win over the next generation of US soccer fans, while the memories of last year’s World Cup are still fresh. The BBC’s Joe Miller speaks to fans, head coach Jason Kreis, Dan Courtemanch, a vice president of Major League Soccer.

WRC: Water Rally Championship?
We hear from the driver Ott Tanak who having crashed his car into a lake on the latest stage of the World Rally Championship in Mexico,  managed to swim ashore before pulling the car out of the lake, repairing it and continuing in the race!

England's ‘Cricket Win in Australia' Shock!
The rarest of events this week - an English cricket win in Australia! We follow the fortunes of The All Abilities Cricket Championships which have been taking place between Australia and England.

Cuban Baseball
Cuban baseball players are some of the best in the world - but tough immigration laws and the United States embargo against Cuba has prevented many of them from being recruited by Major League Baseball in the US. Now relations are normalising between the US and Cuba, will Cuban baseball players make it to the major leagues?

Sporting Witness
In 1983, against all the odds, India overcame the all-conquering West Indies to win the third cricket World Cup Final at Lords. It was the first one-day triumph for a team still grappling with the limited overs format. The Indian medium pace bowler Madan Lal played a key role on that day, taking the vital wicket of West Indian batsmen Vivian Richards.

Photo: Connor Atchley #32 of the Texas Longhorns and Martin Iti #32 of the New Mexico State Aggies vie for the loose ball during the first round of March Madness the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, 2007. Credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

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