Ex-NBA Player Chris Webber Discusses New Podcast, Social Issues Relating To Sports

With so many former professional athletes having their own podcasts these days, it shouldn’t have been a surprise when it was announced that Chris Webber would be getting his own show. But the former NBA star is hoping to do something different and talk about sports in a way that others aren’t currently doing.

“Fearless or Insane with Chris Webber” debuted on PodcastOne on Nov. 29. The 82-minute episode featured Reverend Earl Smith, who is the chaplain of the Golden State Warriors, immediately letting listeners know that this wouldn’t be a typical sports podcast.

“When I turn on podcasts, they seem to sound the same,” Webber told International Business Times. “I wanted to have a different discussion, a different narrative. One that I have with mentors, ones that I’ve had with mentors that have passed away that happen to be sports legends and sports greats. Conversations that I had with my mother growing up about responsibilities of athletes, or how every genre works and intersects with society and culture. So I just hope to have a smart, entertaining, fun, inspiring, thought-provoking, conventional thought challenging type of discussion.”

Webber has been in the spotlight for most of his life. As a freshman in college, he led Michigan’s “Fab Five” to the national championship game. He was the first overall pick in the 1993 NBA Draft, and he went on to make five All-Star teams during his 15-year career.

It isn’t as if Webber hasn’t had a place to voice his opinions since his playing days ended. He first began to appear on TNT’s “Inside The NBA” in the season after his retirement, and he currently works as an in-game analyst for the network. Webber’s podcast, however, will deal more with the off-court aspect of sports rather than X’s and O’s.

“I’m really sharing my opinion, but also sharing what matters the most to me in these discussions,” Webber said. “I’m excited about it being new territory...the way that my mother and father raised me, I saw that through example you can inspire. I saw that you can question authority through their example, that you can let your voice be heard, and so from their examples I look forward to hopefully inspiring and having some fun doing the show.”

Webber certainly isn’t afraid to speak on the biggest social issues that have been tied to sports. As activists demand the Washington Redskins change their team name, he calls the nickname “horrific.” Webber also supports the decision of NBA players not to continue Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest as they look to fight social injustice in other ways.

Webber’s show is quite the deviation from the other program hosted by an ex-NBA player on the PodcastOne network. Shaquille O’Neal has always had a big personality off the court, and his podcast has a much lighter tone.

“I think Shaq is great because I don’t compete with him,” Webber said. “I’m not funny, and his podcast is entertaining. His podcasts are funny.

“Shaq’s just damn good. That’s just Shaq. If he wasn’t a basketball player, he would be doing exactly what he’s doing right now, and maybe even funnier because he could curse and be a normal comedian or something like that.”

A little more than a week after his podcast debuted, Webber is No. 45 on the iTunes Sports & Recreation chart. He’s 13 spots ahead of O’Neal.