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Sports June 29, 2016

Veteran Swimmer Michael Phelps And Newer Names Headed For Olympics

Michael Phelps celebrates qualifying for his fifth Olympic Games, after winning the men's 200-meter butterfly at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials Wednesday in Omaha, Neb.

Michael Phelps celebrates qualifying for his fifth Olympic Games, after winning the men’s 200-meter butterfly at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials Wednesday in Omaha, Neb. Mark J. Terrill/AP hide caption

toggle caption Mark J. Terrill/AP

Swimming superstar Michael Phelps made history again Wednesday night. At the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Neb., Phelps qualified for a record fifth Olympic games. He’s the first American male swimmer to do that.

But Phelps is one of the few veterans having success so far at the trials. That’s because a batch of young, first-time Olympians is stealing the show.

Youth Winning Out

Many swimming fans have come to Omaha to cheer the familiar – Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Missy Franklin all are multiple Olympic medal winners. But as races finish and everyone looks to the jumbotron high above the pool in the CenturyLink Center, they’re seeing relatively unfamiliar names with a “1” next to them. Names like Townley Haas, Kelsi Worrell and Ryan Murphy.

Murphy won the men’s 100-meter backstroke in a time of 52:26, a mere 32 hundredths of a second off the world record. Murphy is one of eight swimmers, so far, to win at the trials and qualify for their first Olympic team.

The 20-year-old Murphy beat two 30-somethings in the final, including 31-year-old Matt Grevers, who is the reigning Olympic champion in the 100 backstroke.

“Yeah, I mean both those guys have either kids or kids on the way,” Murphy said. “I don’t even have a girlfriend! They’re definitely a lot more mature than me, but sometimes youth wins out.”

At these trials, it’s more than sometimes. The average age of the eight rookie winners is 21. They’ve been dominant in the water, but sometimes a bit uncertain out of the pool. Grand old man Michael Phelps, who turns 31 on Thursday, says some of the newbies have approached him with newbie questions.

“This guy asked me today, ‘What do you think about before you swim,’ ” Phelps said on Tuesday. “I was like, ‘Nothing!’ ” He was like, ‘Are you kidding?’ ” I said, ‘No — I don’t think about anything.’ “

An empty mind served Phelps well again Wednesday night. He raced to victory in the 200-meter butterfly, and made the Olympic team for a fifth time.

A Swimming Cycle

Phelps insists Rio will be his final games. He understands the natural cycle – he’s on the way out while this new crop, emerging in Omaha, is on the way in. In the U.S., it seems to be a constant regeneration. American Olympians have won more swimming medals than any other country, by far and the country has an endless supply of young, talented swimmers. As time goes on, they get better coaching and learn better techniques. And the ones excelling often embrace the grind, the extraordinary number of hours of work necessary to succeed.

“Yeah, I do really enjoy the process,” says American star Katie Ledecky.

Hoping To See The Feet

Such is the nature of these trials that Phelps shared the spotlight with 19-year-old Ledecky, who is expected to dominate in Rio like — Michael Phelps. Ledecky won the 200 meter freestyle Wednesday night. It was her second win in a freestyle race in Omaha. She isn’t an Olympic rookie. She won a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Games in London. But Ledecky is the leader of this next generation. Most of the time she competes against the clock because her opponents are too far behind.

“We’ve never had someone dominate events as she has,” says U.S. Swimming’s national team director Frank Busch. Busch coached swimming for decades before taking his current job in 2011. “In my lifetime in the sport,” Busch says, “I’ve never seen anyone like Katie.”

Despite that dominance, there was a race before the trials when competitor Leah Smith made a rare Ledecky sighting.

“I had never been [close enough] to see her feet before, and so that was pretty exciting,” Smith said Monday in Omaha.

Smith had a smile on her face because she saw those feet again in her second place finish to Ledecky in that night’s 400-meter freestyle. Smith finished less than two seconds behind. It earned the 21 year old her first Olympic berth – she became another of the first-timers.

Rio A Breeze?

It’s a group that may be somewhat unknown now, but come August in Brazil, that may change.

The pressure at the trials is crushing — there are so many good swimmers and so few make the Olympic team. Those who do often talk about being more relaxed at the Olympics, where U.S. swimmers historically are dominant. According to U.S. Swimming’s Frank Busch, 65 percent of the performances by American swimmers at the 2012 games in London were better than they were at that year’s Olympic trials.

Meaning, the competition in Rio may be lucky to see the bottoms of some new American feet.

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Sports June 28, 2016

Thank You, Pat Summitt: From One Tennessee Girl To Another

Tennessee Head Coach Pat Summitt of Tennessee celebrates with her son Tyler after the Lady Volunteers defeated Georgia in the championship game of the NCAA Women's Final Four in 1996.

Tennessee Head Coach Pat Summitt of Tennessee celebrates with her son Tyler after the Lady Volunteers defeated Georgia in the championship game of the NCAA Women’s Final Four in 1996. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

I wasn’t born with an athletic bone in my body, and I’ve never played in a basketball game. But Pat Summitt has been one of my idols for as long as I can remember.

That’s just the way it was when you grow up as a young girl in Tennessee. It’s the only state in the country where the women’s basketball team gets more acclaim and attention than the men’s college team.

I didn’t realize that was an anomaly until I got much older. I didn’t realize that women, in sports or otherwise, didn’t get the same recognition as men, and that they had to work and fight twice as hard. I didn’t realize this because Pat never made us believe it was or should be any different. My parents told me I could do anything I set my mind to, and as a kid growing up in the mountains of East Tennessee, I had an excellent role model who proved that.

She was simply known to us as “Pat,” and you talked about her like she was your next-door neighbor. You felt like she was.

I grew up watching women’s basketball games with my parents with as much frequency as we did Tennessee football in the fall. If they were trailing at halftime, my dad would lean back in his weathered, orange recliner and say, “Oh boy, Pat’s gonna whip ’em into shape at halftime,” referring to her legendary midgame intense “pep talks.”

“Here comes the stare,” he’d say of her famed ice-cold glare if one of her players had messed up or wasn’t giving it her all. Sometimes, if the game got too tense or too close, my mom had to leave the room because she was so nervous. It was serious business in the Taylor household.

Pat never expected anything less than your best. “Here’s how I’m going to beat you — I’m going to outwork you. That’s all there is to it,” she wrote in one of her books.

Yes, Pat didn’t like to lose — who does? And she won more games than any basketball coach ever, men’s or women’s. But she pushed her players to be the best they could, on and off the court. The most astonishing statistic of her nearly four-decades-long career is that every single one of her players graduated with a degree.

She put in the same hard work they did, fighting to get women’s basketball televised. When she was first hired at just age 22, she drove the team van and washed the team uniforms herself.

My earliest memory of Pat was when she came and talked to our gym class at my elementary school when I was in kindergarten. She encouraged us all to be active and exercise (still working on that) and we all got Lady Vols T-shirts that could have fit about three 5-year-olds inside them. I still have that shirt.

It was a special treat for my parents to announce on a Saturday that we were packing our car up to make the two-hour drive to Knoxville to watch a game at sold-out Thompson-Boling Arena with fans singing “Rocky Top” at the top of their lungs. Men’s games hours later would be about half as full, but we didn’t go to those.

As I was leaving a football game at Neyland Stadium one time with my dad, we passed by her. My dad yelled out, “Pat Head Summitt!” and she turned and stopped, gave us hugs, and we all yelled out “Go Vols!” She didn’t know us, but in a sea of orange she stopped and shared a hurried moment with us. We were all Tennessee. She was — and is — Tennessee.

NPR reporter Jessica Taylor, a Tennessee native and lifelong Lady Vol fan, got to meet Summitt in 2012.

NPR reporter Jessica Taylor, a Tennessee native and lifelong Lady Vol fan, got to meet Summitt in 2012. Jessica Taylor/NPR hide caption

toggle caption Jessica Taylor/NPR

I remember crying in my car when I heard she had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. Tennessee was already in a pretty rough sports period anyway (just see our revolving door of football coaches over the past few years), but the one constant was Pat. Her diagnosis was a gut punch — not just for the fans, but for the entire world of sports. She should have had so many years ahead of her, able to extend her amazing winning record and inspire so many more female athletes and young girls alike. Alzheimer’s robbed us all of that. There was so much more she could have done.

Alzheimer’s is a disease I’m all too familiar with. I watched it rip my grandmother away from me when I was in middle school. By the time she died the week before I left for college, she hadn’t recognized my mother, my aunt, or me — her only grandchild — in years. She was a shell of a human, her eyes glazed over in her nursing home bed as the machines beeped until it was only a long, flat-line hum.

It’s a disease that shreds your dignity and the things that are the very core of you — your memories, your personality, who you are. I live in fear I’m going to lose another family member to it. I imagine that the players and family members who visited Pat in her final days and hours didn’t recognize who she had become. And she wouldn’t have wanted them to remember her that way either.

When Pat told the world five years ago she was battling this evil disease, I wondered how she would do it so publicly. You could begin to see the effects in her final year of coaching, and maybe even before. There wasn’t the same tenacity on the sidelines, that trademark fire. It was heartbreaking to watch.

I met Pat for the last time a few years ago, just after she had been diagnosed and had stepped down as head coach. She was speaking at an Alzheimer’s event here in D.C., and after I gushed to a nice press aide about how much I idolized the woman, she let me in to talk to her.

I shook her hand, told her how much she had meant to me and, even though I certainly never harbored any ambitions of being a basketball player, she had always shown me that a little country girl from the Tennessee hills could grow up to be whatever she wanted to be with enough hard work and determination. I told her how I had always wanted to be a political reporter and was now living that dream in Washington, D.C.

She grasped my palm, simply said, “Thank you, that’s great to hear,” and politely posed for a picture with me.

I finally got to look into those deep blue eyes myself, which had punctuated so many stares emanating from my television and the sidelines. They were softer, sadder, less bright. But she was still there, and she talked later at the event about how she intended to fight this disease and bring awareness to it.

Now, it’s our turn to fight for her and to outwork Alzheimer’s. For Pat Summitt. For my grandmother Iva Lee Grindstaff. For the 5 million people suffering with the disease, each whose family sees its own loved one’s eyes get a bit dimmer every day. Keep fighting. That’s what Pat would have wanted.

Jessica Taylor, a native of Elizabethton, Tenn., is a digital political reporter with NPR.

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Sports June 27, 2016

No Motor(ized) Bikes: Tour De France Unveils New Plan To Catch Cheats

Cyclists in this year’s Tour de France will face new controls for what organizers call “technological fraud.” Here, elite cyclists are seen riding in the Paris-Nice race in March. Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images

Thermal cameras and other tools that can detect “mechanical doping” — small but powerful motors that boost riders’ power levels — will be used in this year’s Tour de France, in a change race officials announced just days before the prestigious race’s start on July 2.

“This problem is worse than doping,” France’s Secretary of State for Sports Thierry Braillard tells Le Journal du Dimanche. “This is the future of cycling that’s at stake.”

The bid to keep professional cycling clean will rely on techniques developed by a large French government agency that also conducts nuclear research. In the Tour de France, the image tests can be done anywhere, officials say — and they add that they won’t be publicizing the thermal cameras’ locations.

The move is an attack on a method of cheating that had long been suspected but wasn’t proven at the sport’s highest levels until this year. If cycling still had any trusting and faithful fans in January of 2016, the scales fell from their eyes when Belgian Femke Van den Driessche, a promising 19-year-old cyclocross rider, was found to be using a motor during the U-23 World Championships.

As far back as at least 2010, accusations have flown that elite cyclists were turning in superhuman performances with the help of motors that are hidden inside their bike’s seat tube (the one running from the seat down to the pedals).

Commercial versions of such devices can provide a steady power stream of around 200 watts — the lower range of a pro cyclist’s average output in a stage race. They can also be set to assist riders automatically if their pedaling cadence falls below a certain threshold.

Tour de France officials explain how the detection system will work:

“Developed by the CEA (the French Atomic Energy Commission), the method consists of using a thermal imaging camera capable of detecting mechanical anomalies on the riders’ bikes. The checks can be made in the race and on the side of the roads.”

If that level of sophistication seems unwarranted, consider that the hidden motors are seen as the most obvious of the mechanical doping techniques. A sneakier – and lighter – method involves magnets hidden in the wheels. From the Fittish blog over at Deadspin:

“Unlike cheating with heavy tube motors, moto-doping via electromagnetic wheels is much more subtle. A series of neodymium batteries are hidden inside the rear wheel, and a coil tucked away below the seat generates an induction force, which gets you 60 extra watts of power. The field is controlled via a bluetooth activator.”

Such magnet-based systems are seen as being beyond the reach of all but the most well-funded cyclists. If you’re wondering how the seat-tube motors work, here’s how Vivax Assist, a German company, describes its device:

“Sophisticated motor power is hidden in the bike’s seat tube. It only weights 1.8 kg (inkl. battery). Press the button and the motor delivers 200 watts to the crankshaft. Press the button again and the motor stops.

“Without motor power the bike functions as normal without any kind of resistance. The Lithium-Ion high-performance battery, which fits into a conventional saddlebag, provides you with motor-assisted cycling lasting for min. 60 minutes (6 Ah) or min. 90 minutes (9 Ah). The special design of the drive unit allows it to be built into any bicycle frame with the requisite seat tube internal diameter of 31.6 mm or 30.9 mm and is therefore invisible on the bicycle – except the on/off switch, which is unobtrusively located on the bar end.”

Here’s how it went when a couple of cyclists decided to try out a similar system:

[embedded content]
YouTube

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Sports June 25, 2016

What The 'Brexit' Means For The Pro Soccer World

NPR’s Tom Goldman tells NPR’s Scott Simon what the Brexit vote might mean for the world of professional soccer.

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I’m Scott Simon. And it’s time for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIMON: The final score – 17 million-16 million, that is, British votes to leave the EU. And don’t think that life’s toy department, sports, will be left untouched. NPR’s Tom Goldman joins us. Good morning, Tom.

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Hello, Scott.

SIMON: Let’s – before we get to the nitty-gritty of that, let’s talk about what used to be the most divisive event on the European continent. (Laughter) That’s the European soccer championships. At least a couple matches ended 0-0. But let’s talk about Iceland and Austria.

GOLDMAN: Well, let’s talk about Iceland, in particular. Iceland won that game. This is a really fun team to root for. It’s the smallest country ever to play in the Euro championships. And it’s making a splash. In its first international tournament, made it to the knockout round, the final 16, after that last-second win against Austria this week.

And the way Iceland did it – there were an estimated 10,000 Icelanders at the match in France. There were about 330,000 people in all of Iceland.

SIMON: That – about to say, that’s 50 percent of the country, yeah.

GOLDMAN: (Laughter) Right. And as midfielder Arnor Ingvi Traustason knocked in the winning goal, the only thing crazier than 10,000 delirious Icelanders was one delirious Icelander, TV play-by-play man Gudmundur Benediktsson.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GUDMUNDUR BENEDIKTSSON: (Shouting in Icelandic).

SIMON: (Laughter) You know, I hear that out in our newsroom all the time when you and I are on the air. But go ahead, yeah.

GOLDMAN: The actual translation of some of what he said – we are winning this. We are in the round of 16. Never, ever, ever have I felt as good. Now, that’s saying something Scott because a study 10 years ago found Iceland was the fourth happiest country in the world. So feeling good is a common thing there.

GOLDMAN: Now we might get a – what’s the man’s name again?

GOLDMAN: (Laughter).

SIMON: The screamer.

GOLDMAN: You’re going to make me do it again?

SIMON: Oh, all right. Not again? OK. Well, we might get…

GOLDMAN: Gudmundur Benediktsson.

SIMON: Oh, Benediktsson. We might get to hear him scream again. Iceland plays England in Nice, France, on Monday. And I wonder if the Brits are going to get the same kind of reaction the Russian team usually gets.

GOLDMAN: Well, not that exciting, you know. They’ll get some razzing, perhaps, for that vote on Thursday. But this has the chance to be a great match, a real David-and-Goliath contest, even though tiny Iceland making it this far is not a fluke. The country has been building its soccer program for a number of years, thanks in large part to building some quality indoor facilities so players could still play when the weather’s miserable.

On Monday, Iceland’s going against an English team that’s one of the best in the world. It’s had some flat performances in the tournament. Iceland is playing on a lot of emotion. It has nothing to lose. And England has everything to lose.

SIMON: Yeah. Well – and which brings us to the Brexit vote because big-time international soccer, as I don’t have to tell you, it’s a big business that employs hundreds of millionaires who wear shorts. And I wonder – is it going to have any effect on, say, the British Premier League.

GOLDMAN: It may. It may stop the flow of European players to the U.K. or make it harder to transfer. And, you know, there’s also the idea that several American sports entrepreneurs who own Premier League teams like John Henry and the Fenway Sports Group with Liverpool and the Glazer family with Manchester United. If Brexit causes the pound to plunge, it means those owners’ assets value in England will go down. I was told this by economist Andrew Zimbalist. Will that affect the American sports? Does that mean those owners will spend less money on their teams in the U.S.? Zimbalist doesn’t think so. But like everything else right now with Brexit, there’s uncertainty about the sports angle as well.

SIMON: I talk to Andy Zimbalist all the time, too. He’s an economist who knows sports.

GOLDMAN: Very smart guy.

SIMON: You notice how long I refrained from saying Cleveland rocks (laughter)?

GOLDMAN: Amazing self-control, Scott.

SIMON: Isn’t it? So, I mean, what an amazing game and series. Now that Cleveland’s won a world championship, what North American metropolis has limped along the longest without a title?

GOLDMAN: Well, you’d think Chicago with its Cubs. But in reality…

SIMON: Well, but the Bulls and the Blackhawks have won…

GOLDMAN: Exactly.

SIMON: …And the White Sox, yeah.

GOLDMAN: Exactly, yeah. According to Bill Barnwell of ESPN, the metropolis poised to take the torch that Cleveland is so happy to pass – it’s San Diego. Last pro sports title in that city was the AFL championship in 1964 won by the Chargers. Hard to feel sorry for sports fans in a city with gorgeous weather and beaches, but hey, San Diego sports fans are still sports fans, Scott. And they’re hurting.

SIMON: Yeah.

GOLDMAN: They’re tan, but they’re hurting.

SIMON: (Laughter) All right. Go to the beach. Put on SP-something. Tom Goldman, thanks so much.

SIMON: You’re welcome.

Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Sports June 24, 2016

Rio Drug Testing Lab Is Suspended Weeks Before Olympics

Sports Minister George Hilton (top right) visits the Brazilian Doping Control Laboratory in Rio de Janeiro last month. The lab, which had been set to test samples from Olympic athletes in August, has been suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Sports Minister George Hilton (top right) visits the Brazilian Doping Control Laboratory in Rio de Janeiro last month. The lab, which had been set to test samples from Olympic athletes in August, has been suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Felipe Dana/AP hide caption

toggle caption Felipe Dana/AP

The Brazilian laboratory that was designated to conduct drug testing for the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro has been suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency for not conforming to international standards.

News of the suspension came in a statement issued in Montreal. The decision can be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport within 21 days.

The action by the agency that keeps track of doping in sports with the help of three dozen testing labs around the globe comes just six weeks before the games are set to open in August.

As the New York Times reports:

“The Rio lab had a prior disciplinary record and is one of a handful of labs that have had their certifications to conduct drug testing revoked by WADA in the regulator’s 17-year history. …

“While under suspension, the lab is barred from conducting any antidoping analysis on urine and blood samples. It was unclear Friday if the issue would be resolved — and the suspension lifted — in time for the Rio Games, though officials expressed skepticism that such a dramatic reversal could be processed within weeks.”

This is not the first time the Rio lab has been suspended by WADA. The lab was shut down during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Blood samples from soccer players were flown to Switzerland for testing.

WADA’s statement did not specify its complaints about the Brazilian Doping Control Laboratory at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

In a statement, officials at the Brazilian lab called the suspension “temporary” and expressed their optimism that operations at the lab will resume as normal in July.

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Sports June 23, 2016

'If It Were Easy, It Wouldn't Be Interesting,' Say 'Ninja Warrior' Producers

Intelligence officer Tory Garcia, who has a background in gymnastics and diving, works through the obstacle course on American Ninja Warrior, which airs on NBC and Esquire Network.

Intelligence officer Tory Garcia, who has a background in gymnastics and diving, works through the obstacle course on American Ninja Warrior, which airs on NBC and Esquire Network. Brandon Hickman/NBC hide caption

toggle caption Brandon Hickman/NBC

Arthur Smith, executive producer for American Ninja Warrior, knows the show’s obstacle course is really, really hard. “We want to see extraordinary feats …” he tells NPR’s Audie Cornish. “If it were easy, it wouldn’t be interesting.”

But the course is so tough that no one managed to actually win on the show until the seventh season. And that’s OK with Smith.

“It’s not about winning. …” he says. “The show is kind of anti-American in a way. … The athletes root for each other and when something amazing happens on the course … I always love the reaction shots of the other competitors just marveling at it.”

The NBC show was adapted from the Japanese obstacle course competition show Sasuke. The American version has spawned eight seasons of drama and athleticism as a diverse group of competitors scramble and hurl themselves through obstacles with names like the Jumping Spider, Ring Jump, Devil Steps and the Warped Wall.

Anthony Storm, also an executive producer of the show, says that they often look to playgrounds for inspiration. They take a familiar concept, like say, the monkey bars, and then “we try to grow it into something that’s going to challenge you,” he says. Really challenge you.

Smith and Storm talk with Cornish about how they create and test the obstacles, and share some of their most memorable Ninja moments.

Interview Highlights

On the kind of strength you need to compete on American Ninja Warrior

Arthur Smith: Upper body strength is definitely crucial but … the mental part of it — every great athlete has a great mental approach to the game — and you have to have that. … The ideal athlete for Ninja Warrior is probably someone who is 5’9″, kind of lanky, 140, and that’s pretty much it. But then again, a few years ago there was a woman who vaulted Ninja Warrior more into pop culture … Kacy Catanzaro who was only five feet and 98 pounds. … She became the first woman to climb the Warped Wall. And it really broadened the show even more. [You can see Catanzaro work her way through the course in the video below.]

[embedded content]
YouTube

On the way they test the obstacles

Anthony Storm: We bring in people of all types because our athletes come from all realms. We bring in gymnasts and stunt people, we bring in athletes from different sports, and we bring in rock climbers because they tend to have a very specific skill set — they have a grip strength that’s unfamiliar to a lot of our athletes. It’s really important to us that our testers be representative of the cross section of athletes that we get on the show.

On the way the show feels reminiscent of the Olympics

Smith: Ever since the beginning of the show we decided that we were going to take an Olympic approach — that we were going to tell great stories, that we were going to make people care. And we’ve had some remarkable things happen, and remarkable background stories — people who are overcoming cancer and people who are running for their sick wife, or just people who have lost a few hundred pounds and they want to prove something.

On Kevin Bull, the walk-on who completed Cannonball Alley

We always leave a number of spots for walk-ons. This year we had 70,000 applicants for Ninja Warrior — under 1,000 of them actually get to run the course. But in every city that we go to, we always make sure there’s 20 to 25 walk-on spots. And people will sleep out two and three weeks before to get a spot.

And Kevin Bull, on that one night, waited, waited, waited, waited, and got his time and there was this one obstacle … Cannonball Alley, and everybody had failed at Cannon Ball Alley … 15 consecutive failures, no one could get past it. … Everybody was trying to do it the same way and they were using their hands and trying to use their grip strength to do it and none of them were successful.

And then Kevin Bull, this walk-on comes on and he starts with the hand [approach] and then he flips his legs around one of them … inverted, upside down, and flips over and completes the obstacle. … [You can seek Kevin Bull complete Cannonball Alley in the video below, starting at 2:35]

[embedded content]
YouTube

I love the moment because when we cut to the fellow ninjas … who had failed, they were cheering, they were so excited in what this walk-on could do. And that to me, in that moment, it summed up American Ninja Warrior.

On why Ninja Warrior appeals in our current fitness culture

Storm: I think it’s about self-improvement and I think it’s about people’s desire to improve themselves, in a way where they can see the actual tangible achievement …

Smith: It’s fighting your own personal obstacles. It’s fighting your own challenges.

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Sports June 22, 2016

NBA Champion Cavaliers Parade Through Cleveland

Cleveland celebrated its first pro sports title in 52 years. A massive crowd turned out for LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on parade.

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Finally this hour, here’s the sound of 1.3 million people joyously exhaling for the first time in 52 years.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting) Let’s go Cavs. Let’s go Cavs. Let’s go Cavs.

CORNISH: Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of happy Clevelanders came out to see the newly minted NBA champion Cavaliers on parade.

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

It’s the city’s first pro sports title since the Browns won the NFL championship game back in 1964. And, yes, that’s the NFL championship game. The Super Bowl didn’t even exist at the time.

CORNISH: 1964 is also when Francine Goldberg was born. The Cleveland native was among the throng today, and she was ecstatic.

FRANCINE GOLDBERG: You know, we’re a city full of grit and determination and to see all of these people from all of these diverse backgrounds from really all over the city, all over Northeast Ohio and maybe all over the country and to see this coming together in celebration of the Cavs and of this championship, you got to love it. And the return of LeBron James – there’s nothing better.

MCEVERS: Marylin Anderson of Chagrin Falls is a Cavs season ticket-holder, and she says she has never seen anything like it.

MARYLIN ANDERSON: On the way here, I felt like we were going to, you know, like the Lady of Fatima in Portugal or, you know – it was just a pilgrimage. It was crazy.

CORNISH: That craziness dragged out the festivities an extra couple of hours. The players on their floats made slow progress because fans kept clogging the route. Eventually, the procession complete with the Ohio State Marching Band made its way to the Cleveland Convention Center for a rally.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: You’re in Cleveland.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS”)

QUEEN: (Singing) And we ain’t going to lose.

MCEVERS: Sure, the fans were happy to see game seven hero point guard Kyrie Irving.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KYRIE IRVING: So from the bottom of heart, man, this was a very, very special year. I wouldn’t trade it for the world, man. I love all you all, man – real talk.

(APPLAUSE)

MCEVERS: But really we all know they were there for finals MVP and unofficial high ruler of Ohio, LeBron James – spread the love to his coaches his teammates and everyone.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LEBRON JAMES: I’m nothing without this group behind me, man. I’m nothing without the coach’s staff. I’m nothing without the city. You guys are unbelievable, and these guys told me I got to turn around. So I’m nothing without you all. I’m nothing without you all. I love all of you all. I love all of you all, and let’s get ready for next year.

CORNISH: So the city that could never win has finally won. Now Mike Peters who drove two days from North Carolina wants even more.

MIKE PETERS: I’ll say I’ll be back for the Indians World Series.

CORNISH: OK. An NBA title for the Cavaliers is one thing, but a World Series victory for the Indians? That’s crazy talk.

(SOUNDBITE OF MIKLOS ROZSA SONG, “CIRCUS PARADE”)

Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Sports June 21, 2016

U.S. Soccer Team Faces Argentina In Copa Semi-Final

The United States soccer team faces off against Argentina in the Copa semi-final game Tuesday night. NPR’s Audie Cornish interviews Houston Chronicle reporter Martin Hajovsky about the match.

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Tonight, Houston is hosting what could be one of the biggest games in U.S. men’s soccer history. Let’s make the case. First, the U.S. has, after 20-plus years, finally made it back to the semifinals of the Copa America, one of the major tournaments of the soccer world. Second, they’re up against FIFA’s number one team, Argentina, and the best player in the world, Lionel Messi. Lastly, who knew they’d get this far? Houston Chronicle reporter Martin Hajovsky will be at the game tonight. I asked him just how big a deal this match is for the U.S.

MARTIN HAJOVSKY: I think it’s pretty big for the city of Houston, certainly, but also for the United States because I guess the high-water mark for the U.S. in international competitions was the Confederations Cup in 2009 in South Africa and – where we lost in the final to Brazil – but in the game before that beat Spain that went on to win the World Cup the very next year. So other than that, Copa America – which is South America’s championship, it must be said, but this is the 100th anniversary – and for the first time ever, we’re playing it outside of South America in the United States. Got to get those American dollars.

CORNISH: And Argentina hasn’t clinched a major pro tournament title in more than 20 years. So there’s a lot at stake for them, too, right? Tell us what they’re – what the U.S. is up against in this Argentina team.

HAJOVSKY: Well, Argentina, they were the runner-up in the last World Cup, losing to Germany in extra time. But Argentina has not won a major tournament since the Copa America in the early ’90s. And with Lionel Messi, Messi has won, you know, a boatload of Champions Leagues, and he’s widely recognized as the best player in the world. But for Argentina, they have yet to win a major tournament with him there. You know, if he’s spoken in the same breath as Pele and Maradona – and that’s probably very deserved – but they won World Cups and Copa Americas as well. And Argentina has yet to do that with him.

CORNISH: You know, when we started, you said this was a big deal not just for the U.S. but also for the city of Houston. Give us a sense of the mood. How excited are people? Are you seeing people in the streets? What’s going on?

HAJOVSKY: Houston is a very international city. It’s a very diverse city. If you’re going to believe the U.S. Census Bureau, it’s the most diverse city in America. And so it has a vibrant soccer culture. And a few weeks ago, the – Colombia and Costa Rica played to over 40,000 here. And this game tonight has sold out already. So it is a big deal, and it brings a lot of attention to the city. And it’s a real shot in the arm to the soccer culture in the city.

So that’s all part of the culture here is everyone kind of gets along – even Mexico fans because Mexico, of course, crashed out 7 to 0. So it’s – you know, they’re our great rival. And so we’ve gotten farther than they have. But what you’ll see a lot here is the U.S. and Mexico fans are kind of shoulder to shoulder. So you get to a point where it’s like your big brother or your little brother, you know? someone – you can beat them up, but you certainly don’t want anyone else to.

HAJOVSKY: Are there a lot of soccer bars – football bars in Houston? And I mean, what have you – what are you seeing out there in terms of people showing their colors?

HAJOVSKY: Oh, way more than before. You’ve seen a lot of colors – a lot of Colombians, a lot of Chileans, a great deal of Costa Ricans a few weeks ago when they were playing here and then Argentinians because there is a very large Argentinian community in the city. So you’re seeing the alba celeste colors all throughout.

CORNISH: What’s our sense of how this could play out tonight? I mean, what are people betting on?

HAJOVSKY: Well, you know, Argentina is of course a favorite. And they should be the favorite because they’re such a highly ranked side and they have some of the best players in the world playing for them. But the United States, I would have to say, would have what we call a punter’s chance because they’ve shown a lot of grit and a lot of fire and they’re certainly not going to quit anytime soon. So Jurgen Klinsmann has them playing quite well.

CORNISH: That’s Martin Hajovsky of the Houston Chronicle. The game between the U.S. and Argentina kicks off tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. Martin will be watching. Thanks so much.

HAJOVSKY: Thanks for having me.

Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Sports June 20, 2016

Cleveland Celebrates After First Major Sports Title In 52 Years

After more than a half century of getting close, a Cleveland major professional sports team does what none other has ever done. The Cleveland Cavaliers came back from a 3 to 1 deficit to win the NBA playoffs.

Transcript

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Today is a good day in Cleveland – like, really good. The Cavaliers pulled off something last night that hasn’t happened for the city in more than 50 years. They won a pro sports championship. The Cavs were down 3 games to 1 to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA finals. No team had ever come back from that deficit. Last night the Cavs pulled it off with a 93 to 89 win in game seven. David C. Barnett of WCPN ideastream reports it is a therapeutic victory.

(CHEERING)

DAVID C. BARNETT, BYLINE: Thousands of fans were on hand on a hot, sunny day to greet the Cavs when their plane landed this afternoon. Deborah Watkins came here with her grandkids.

DEBORAH WATKINS: They needed to see this. They need to see what a championship was. This is my first time seeing a real championship. At least I’m old enough to see it now. And I wanted to share this with them.

BARNETT: The last time a major, pro Cleveland team had a sports championship was when the Browns won in 1964. The intervening years have been painful. There was the fumble that lost the Browns the 1987 AFC championship, Michael Jordan’s shot that stole the 1989 NBA title from the Cavs and the loss of the 1997 World Series in the bottom of the ninth inning. Akron Beacon Journal sports writer George Thomas says it has indelibly shaped fans here.

GEORGE THOMAS: The Browns have probably lost two generations of fans. When LeBron left the first time, the Cavs were in danger of doing the same thing. But this changes all that, I think.

BARNETT: Cleveland native and lifelong sports fan Brad Sellers was 2 years old when the Browns won the 1964 championship.

BRAD SELLERS: Sometimes you can feel like you’re second-class, that you’re not quite good enough. So last night, I – it was a lot of therapy for a lot of people last night.

BARNETT: Sellers is now the mayor of the Cleveland suburb of Warrensville Heights, but in 1989, he was a member of the Chicago Bulls squad that robbed the Cavaliers of an NBA championship. In fact, it was Sellers who fed the ball to superstar Michael Jordan which led to Jordan’s game-winning basket with seconds to go.

SELLERS: And there’s not a week, really, that goes by that somebody doesn’t ask me about either the shot – how’s it feel to be at the demise of your own home town. And so there’s a lot of therapy in there for me, too.

BARNETT: It was an unprecedented comeback for the Cavs. Until last night, no team in NBA history that was down 3 to 1 had won game seven. Standing outside the teams’ plane this afternoon, LeBron James hoisted the NBA trophy into the air to the adoring fans…

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LEBRON JAMES: Squad Cleveland.

BARNETT: …Fans like George Theodore.

GEORGE THEODORE: Cleveland has waited so long for this to happen, and they deserve it. The fans here are like next to nothing. They’re the best.

BARNETT: The city will honor the hometown heroes with something that sports fans here have hungered for for 52 years – a celebratory parade. For NPR News, I’m David C. Barnett in Cleveland.

Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Sports June 19, 2016

Cleveland Cavaliers Beat Golden State Warriors 93-89 To Win Their First NBA Title

LeBron James and Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers celebrate after defeating the Golden State Warriors 93-89 in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals at Oracle Arena on Sunday in Oakland, Calif.

LeBron James and Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers celebrate after defeating the Golden State Warriors 93-89 in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals at Oracle Arena on Sunday in Oakland, Calif. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

For the first time, the Cleveland Cavaliers are NBA champions. The Cavs defeated the Golden State Warriors 93-89 in Game 7 to win the title. It’s the city’s first major sports championship since the Browns won the NFL championship in 1964.

“We made history tonight,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said.

Led by hometown star LeBron James, who won MVP honors for the third time in his career, the Cavaliers became the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 game deficit and win the championship. James scored 27 points, collected 11 rebounds, delivered 11 assists, blocked three shots and had two steals.

He was ably assisted by Cavs guard Kyrie Irving who scored 26 points including a 3-pointer with 53 seconds left, giving Cleveland a 92-89 lead. Then with just 10.6 seconds left, James made a free throw to make it 93-89. As those final seconds counted down on the giant scoreboard to that winning moment at 10:57 p.m. ET, thunderous screams erupted from the thousands who thronged Oracle Arena.

Tears flowed freely among both fans and players, especially James, who two years ago promised to bring a title to his native Midwest state.

“I gave everything that I had. I brought my heart, my blood, my sweat, my tears to this game,” James said during his postgame interview. “Cleveland, this is for you!”

For the Warriors, Draymond Green collected 32 points, 15 rebounds and 9 assists while and Stephen Curry scored 17 points, missing a crucial a 3-pointer in the final minute that would have tied the game.

“It hurts, man,” Curry said of the loss.

Meantime, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver echoed the sentiments of many Cleveland fans, “The curse is over.”

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