Andrew Bauhs and Muffy Fishbasket try to bridge the gap between sports and LGBTQ culture in the "Sportsballs" podcast. | "Sportsballs"

Gay NCAA superfan Andrew Bauhs has already taken on one epic life goal: documenting his attempt to visit every Division I college football stadium in the country at his College Football Tour website.

Now he’s taken on an even more daunting challenge: hosting a podcast where he tries to convince a drag queen to watch sports.

Launched last year, the “Sportsballs” podcast features Bauhs and Chicago drag performer Muffy Fishbasket endeavoring to find common ground in their very different worlds.

As someone who has invited numerous LGBTQ friends to games and watch parties and enjoyed the banter that resulted, Bauhs was inspired to create a show that upped the fish-out-of-water level substantially.

“It got me thinking — What would be the strongest contrast I could find where I would be talking about sports to someone who visually and knowledge-wise would not be able to respond the same way but have a salty and salacious response and witty retort for everything that I’d say?”  he asked.

Enter Muffy.

“The first thing I want to do when I go to a sporting event is leave,” she said. “My very first boyfriend was very much into baseball and he tried to drag me to stuff and it was literally hell.”

Bauhs had clearly found his ideal co-host. He had gotten to know Muffy from her performances hosting drag bingo and drag story hour in the Chicago suburbs. As he recalled, he pitched the idea for the podcast and found her very receptive to it.

Or as she remembered, “It was about four years ago and it took him about three years to convince me.”

Bauhs and Muffy are not your average sports podcast hosts.
Photo courtesy of Sportsballs podcast

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The subtitle of “Sportsballs” is “The show about sports for people who hate sports.” Over their first season, Bauhs and Muffy set about celebrating the dramatic differences in their respective universes while trying to find the parts of their Venn diagrams that crossed over.

Over the course of six episodes, the pair explored numerous topics that could bridge those gaps.

“We talked about tailgaiting, how food brings everyone together. We talked about pageant vs. pageantry, the drag world and so on. Scandals — there’s scandals in the sports world and in the theater and Broadway and the queer world. The mascots episode — we discussed if mascots were the drag of sports,” Bauhs said.

Although he was admittedly nervous when they started, Bauhs soon found himself enjoying the experience. After only two episodes, he felt they had hit their stride. For her part, Muffy got comfortable with the format almost immediately.

“I play it off as being like I hate it and everything but right from the start, we started with Broadway and balls so it was right in my wheelhouse,” she remembered.

Muffy Fishbasket was the Grand Marshal of the 2024 Evanston Pride Parade.
Photo courtesy of “Sportsballs” podcast

Then during the editing process, Bauhs realized that their chemistry had clicked and this enabled him to let his guard down even more.

“I had to listen to her voice 35, 40, 50 times over and over. It is not the Calm app,” he admitted, “But I will say that I was laughing every single time I had to re-listen to it. I’m like, ‘This is funny! Muffy’s really talented! Very funny, witty, and playful!’”

“Andrew … is on the show,” Muffy added.

As far as preparation goes, Bauhs and Muffy would plan a list of bullet points for each episode but were also comfortable enough with each other as performers to just start recording and let the spontaneity of the moment guide them.

For the first episode, they decided to include a trivia quiz to ensure they would fill enough time. That quickly became a recurring feature of each show and the only part they they fully planned in advance.

While the premise of the podcast was about Bauhs teaching Muffy what it meant to be a gay sports fan, Bauhs gradually found himself learning how cutthroat the drag world was as well.

“The competitive nature [of drag] is the connection to the sports world. I didn’t realize how competitive Muffy was and then as we got to talk more and more about the theater world and Broadway and the backstage scenes, there’s so much that connects with sports,” he noted.

Bauhs takes in a game at the University of Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium.
Photo courtesy of “Sportsballs” podcast

Bauhs and Muffy are looking to record Season 2 of “Sportsballs” this fall and hope to release it sometime in the winter. Their plans for next season include shows about rivalries, traditions, playground games, and fan stories.

Additionally, they’re hoping to record a two-part episode with guest Ryan O’Callaghan, a former NFL player who is gay, to delve into the question of why are sports so hypermasculine.

“I want to be more visible as a gay man in the world of sports. That is my goal this year. And this is one of the biggest ways that I wish to do that,” Bauhs said. “This podcast is helping me learn more how to be a role model.”

“And I’m just here to get my community service hours in,” Muffy said.

Suffice it to say both of them are accomplishing their objectives.

You can listen to Sportsballs on Apple Podcasts and follow them on Instagram.