4:12

Standing at the foot of Mount Wachusett’s slopes, Ray Jackman bends over and hoists Robbie McAllister out of his wheelchair and onto two neon yellow skis.

The teenager squeezes into a thick plastic seat mounted just above the skis.

“OK, there are a bunch of straps,” says Jackman as he buckles the crisscrossing seatbelts.

Jackman is a program coordinator at the Massachusetts Hospital School, a state-run facility. It’s half school, half pediatric hospital, and all 85 students are patients, with serious, long-term conditions.

That doesn’t keep them from activities kids at other schools do: like skiing. Today, Jackman is out with the ski team, and his buddy for the day is McAllister.

The 19-year-old has cerebral palsy, which means he has minimal control over his muscles.

That doesn’t worry Jackman. Twenty years ago, he quit his job as a mortgage banker, got rid of all his suits and ties, and started working full-time helping kids with limited mobility find ways to play highly mobile sports.

“Let’s fly down that mountain at 100 mph. I want to pass that able-bodied person,” Jackman tells his student.

And their day goes a lot like most skiing trips. There are just a few extra steps.

At the base of the chair lift, Jackman and a volunteer lift McAllister and his seat onto the chair lift.

On the way up, it’s typical field-trip chitchat — “Would you rather be skiing or in school?” Jackman asks.

The answer? “Skiing!”

They talk about serious stuff, too. Jackman acknowledges that it takes a lot for McAllister to leave his electric wheelchair — his comfort zone. “You have a lot of trust in me and I appreciate that,” Jackman says.

At the top, they scoot off the chairlift to a panoramic view of evergreens and brushed snow.

Jackman gets to work arranging two tether lines. He will ski about 6 feet behind McAllister, giving him a tug in the right direction and acting as the student’s brakes — it’s a type of adaptive skiing.

“Are we ready?” Jackman screams into the wind. “Yeah!”

And off they go. “Let’s go over those little jumps,” Jackman responds as they start to harness the pull of the slope and gravity. McAllister’s guttural screams, filled with excitement and terror, echo across the slopes as they speed past all the other skiers.

At the bottom, McAllister is beaming. “He wanted more, more, more,” his coach says. “I think I heard: ‘Faster!’ “

Several runs later, they head inside to warm up.

Back in their wheelchairs, the three students on this trip sit by the fireplace, eating warm chili and sipping hot chocolate.

Jackman says this is the school’s riskiest sport, surpassing wheelchair football, swimming and horseback riding.

Yet, he adds, it’s worth it. He notes that this is basically work they could do in a clinic, just not in a clinical setting. On the slopes, the students are using skills they’ve learned in physical therapy, speech therapy and occupation therapy.

The kids are engaging in different exercises, but it’s done without measuring whether the kid looked 45 degrees this way or lifted 10 pounds that way.

Instead, Jackman says, “I only measure it through a smile.”

3:11

Reigning NBA MVP Steph Curry is destroying the league with the kind of shooting we’ve never seen before. NPR’s Ari Shapiro talks to Mike Wang, gameplay director of the video game “NBA 2K,” and John Fontanella, author of The Physics of Basketball, about Curry’s shooting game.

Transcript

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The Golden State Warriors are trying to break the NBA record for wins in a single season. Meanwhile, the Warrior’s star, Stephen Curry, is pretty much breaking the NBA.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Curry way downtown – bang, oh, what a shot from Curry with six-tenths of a second remaining.

(CHEERING)

SHAPIRO: That’s Curry making a game-winning three-pointer against Oklahoma City on Saturday, and he took that shot 38 feet away from the net. John Fontanella is a retired physics professor from the Naval Academy, and he wrote the book “The Physics Of Basketball.” Welcome to the show.

JOHN FONTANELLA: Thank you, Ari.

SHAPIRO: That single shot we just heard is pretty remarkable on its own. But Curry has been making these kinds of shots all the time. How extraordinary is this?

FONTANELLA: Oh, he’s really amazing – friend of mine says that’s revolutionary. I really think it’s probably more evolutionary, but he’s a very impressive young man.

SHAPIRO: Why do you see him as an evolutionary figure rather than a revolutionary one?

FONTANELLA: Because there’s nothing really new that he’s doing. It’s that he’s doing it better. What he does has its origins back in the ’50s with something called the set shot. The classic jumpshot – the ball is released from the top of your head. Well, he’s just eliminated that step. The real starting point is at the chest, and it just goes there, straight from the chest to the basket.

SHAPIRO: And that lets him make the shot a lot faster than other players used to.

FONTANELLA: Exactly. He is much, much – he’s the quickest release that I’ve ever seen.

SHAPIRO: Steph Curry is so good that he’s created havoc for the makers of some video games. Mike Wang is gameplay director of “NBA 2K.” It’s a game that prides itself on being realistic.

MIKE WANG: You know, in real life, you’ve got to take good shots. You’ve got to take high-quality shots. You got to be open. You know, with Steph, he’s, like – he could throw those things out the window and go off the dribble, (unintelligible) for 10 seconds, shoot in double teams with two guys draped all over him and still hit the shot. So that’s something that we need to go back to the drawing board and see if we can get that back into our game.

SHAPIRO: Well, yeah. I was going to ask what does this mean for you now that he’s rewriting the rulebooks in real life.

WANG: Well, it’s going to spend some time. It’s – he’s – kept throwing a wrench into the system. You know, we had a lot of rules and things in our game that kind of make it so that we balance the game out.

SHAPIRO: If you change the virtual Steph Curry to be more like the real Steph Curry, isn’t everybody playing your game just going to want to be the Warriors?

WANG: You know, it’s not a bad choice, though (laughter), you know? Everyone wants to be the Warriors already. And why would you not want to be the best? I mean, they’re, you know, on pace to be the most winningest team in the league history. I think it’s going to happen regardless.

SHAPIRO: You have, obviously, a professional stake in this. This is your job. But I assume you also have a personal interest in basketball. What was it like for you watching that shot on Saturday?

WANG: Oh, it was amazing. I was sitting at home with my wife. And you know, I was – I think it was at one point when they were down toward the end, we were both like, you know, it’s not over yet. You know, it’s awesome watching the Warriors. You never know what you’re going to get, especially from Steph. He can shoot from anywhere. He can shoot the shots that no one expects to go in, and he hits them with – on a regular basis, and that’s just exciting for the league and exciting for us as fans.

SHAPIRO: That was Mike Wang, gameplay director of NBA 2K. We also heard from John Fontanella, author of “The Physics of Basketball.”

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 a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.

2:21

When spring training kicks off this week, baseball will be played with new rules. Most are designed to speed up the game. But one might slow things down.

Transcript

ERIC WESTERVELT, HOST:

Play ball – spring training starts in just two days. And Major League Baseball will continue its efforts to speed up the game with several new rules. NPR’s Eyder Peralta reports.

EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: Here’s how David Lennon, a sports columnist for New York Newsday, describes plays around second base.

DAVID LENNON: I would say it’s always been part ballet and part, you know, UFC. You know, I think that’s what play around second base has been.

PERALTA: That cage match metaphor was fitting for a play during last season’s playoffs.

(SOUNDBITE OF 2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES)

ERNIE JOHNSON, JR.: Up the middle, gloved by Murphy. Wow, did Chase Utley go in hard at second as the tying run scores.

PERALTA: The Dodgers’ Chase Utley stops a double play, but the Mets shortstop, Ruben Tejada, ends up writhing on the diamond with a broken leg. A new rule makes it illegal for a runner to try to break up a double play without sliding. It also forces a fielder to actually touch second base to make an out. In the past, an umpire could give a player the benefit of the doubt if they shuffled past the base to get out of the way from a charging runner. David Lennon says coaches and players are not sure the new rule will make the game safer.

LENNON: Is baseball making a shortstop or a second baseman more vulnerable now by making him spend more time around the base and be more of a target?

PERALTA: But Lennon believes the big difference will be in the pace of the game. Those plays at second base can now be challenged.

LENNON: What the fan will see is that there could be some more dead time.

PERALTA: At the same time, the other two new rules are meant to make games shorter.

(SOUNDBITE OF BASEBALL GAME)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: And now pitching coach Brent Strom comes out to the mound.

PERALTA: One of them limits visits to the mound to 30 seconds. Managers are known to buy time for relief pitchers by taking leisurely trips to the mound. In a game last year, Astros pitching coach Brent Strom comes out to talk to his pitcher. And he takes a good 40 seconds waiting for the umpire to come break it up. And then he gets tossed for mouthing off.

(SOUNDBITE OF BASEBALL GAME)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #2: And that’s why a pitching coach or a manager may stay at the mound sometimes, just wait until the home-plate umpire comes out there.

PERALTA: The other rule cuts commercial breaks between innings. Here’s David Lennon again.

LENNON: Here and there, they’re trying to snip and save some seconds. But yeah, that’s always going to be working in balance with the instant replay and the technology that’s being brought into the game.

PERALTA: In other words, the new rules might just lead to the same old game. Eyder Peralta, NPR News.

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 a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.

4:07

Gianni Infantino is the new leader of FIFA, replacing the disgraced Sepp Blatter. NPR’s Lourdes Garcia-Navarro speaks to ESPN’s Howard Bryant about whether soccer will see any real changes.

Transcript

LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

It’s time for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yesterday, the world’s soccer organization, FIFA, elected a new president, but a new face might not be enough to salvage FIFA’s image following last year’s scandal that brought down many in the governing body. ESPN’s Howard Bryant joins us now to talk all things football. Hi, Howard.

HOWARD BRYANT: Good morning, how are you?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I’m all. So Gianni Infantino replaces Sepp Blatter as the leader of FIFA. Who is he, what can we expect of him, is he a reformer?

BRYANT: Well, that’s a great question. Those are all great questions, though, but we know who he is. He’s a Swiss – the second Swiss to head FIFA, following Sepp Blattter, who is now facing or in the middle of an eight-year ban. I think that’s a great question as to whether or not he’s going to be a reformer. One of the big questions obviously with the scandal that has rocked this entire – the largest sport governing body in the world has been whether or not this organization can turn the corner.

And the one thing that Infantino has said is that he wants to move FIFA forward, whatever that means. And transparency was one of the big questions and that was of course the big – the first fail…

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Right.

BRYANT: …Which the body promised transparency. And what did we get? We got a secret ballot, which led to his presidency. So that’s the first fail, but the next thing, too, is there’s a big difference between change and reform. The FBI and the investigation that rocked FIFA created change, but when you change from within, you wonder if it’s going to be more of the same. And he is an insider, so he’s got a lot of work to do to convince people that he’s different.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah, he’s the ultimate insider. And the whiff of scandal is still strong. Is there anything the new president could do to restore the governing body’s reputation?

BRYANT: Well, he’s got a 90-day plan. That was one of the things that he was running on was his 90-day reform plan. I think that they should go much, much bigger than the small reforms. I think that one of the things, if you are a casual fan, or even if you’re a big fan of the World Cup, one of the big questions that led to all of this was how on Earth did a nation the size of my hand, Qatar, get the World Cup for 2022? And I think that maybe one of the things that they should do is really look at that, get the World Cup out of Qatar, put it in the United States, put in a place – or Europe someplace – where it would show that they were actually aware and convinced that this was pure corruption and it was time to try some thing different. I think that would send a huge message to me.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, let’s turn now to the Olympics, another big mega-event, which opens in Brazil in August. Yesterday, the CDC issued its first explicit warning saying pregnant women or women and their partners who are considering becoming pregnant should avoid traveling to Brazil because of the Zika virus.

BRYANT: Yeah. This is gigantic and this is huge because we already have, on the women’s side in the United States, the best team in the world – the women’s national soccer team. Hope Solo, the goaltender, had already said that she had been concerned about going and really didn’t know if she wanted to go until there was some sort of feeling that this was a problem that had been solved, and clearly it hasn’t been. And I think it’s a huge issue, one, because the Olympics are very, very close. You’re not going to be able to change the venue. And it’s going to be a huge issue for the athletes that don’t go because this is not the NBA or it’s not baseball where you’ve got a game tomorrow. You work four years to get here, and so if you miss this you’re not going to be having – you’re not going to have a chance to do this again for another four years. And so the sacrifice would be pretty big, but then again, also, do you really want to go down there with this sort of risk?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah, briefly, 200,000 Americans were also expected to travel to Brazil for the games.

BRYANT: Exactly.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah, this could potentially be a big damper on already depressed ticket sales there.

BRYANT: There’s no question about it. And let’s face it. Rio as well – the infrastructure after the World Cup, as well, they could use a success, and this is not helping.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: All right, Howard Bryant of espn.com and ESPN the Magazine, thanks so much.

BRYANT: My pleasure.

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 a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.

3:53

World soccer’s much-maligned governing body picks a new president this Friday. Much of the soccer-loving public disdains FIFA and is skeptical a new president will bring about positive change.

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

World soccer’s governing body, FIFA, picks a new president tomorrow. Five men are competing to succeed the longtime leader, Sepp Blatter. He resigned last year amid a corruption investigation of top FIFA officials that continues to this day. Depending on whom you ask, tomorrow’s election is either a critical moment for FIFA or a waste of time. Here’s NPR’s Tom Goldman.

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Every presidential election needs polls, so here’s an extremely unscientific one.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Balotelli. Aguero.

(CHEERING)

GOLDMAN: Take any soccer stadium in the world, and ask the crazed people inside what they think about soccer’s international governing body. Journalist Matt Negrin did that.

MATT NEGRIN: Everyone had the same reaction, and this was one of universal things I found. Everybody hates FIFA.

GOLDMAN: Negrin embedded with and wrote about soccer fans from Seattle to Croatia to Brazil in the months leading up to the 2014 World Cup. At the time, FIFA corruption allegations were building. Since last May, there have been arrests and indictments by U.S. and Swiss authorities. Now fan hatred and skepticism are at full throttle. Simon Kuper of the Financial Times is a little less skeptical as FIFA members convene for tomorrow’s election.

SIMON KUPER: I’m not saying FIFA’s going to become clean, but it’s going to hard for them to be quite as dirty as they used to be.

GOLDMAN: Kuper has written several books about world soccer. He thinks some reform can happen because of the pressure by U.S. and Swiss law enforcement, but he also knows it’s not angry soccer fans voting tomorrow. It’s the slightly more than 200 delegates – one for each FIFA member nation.

KUPER: You know, some tiny island in the Pacific where nobody plays soccer has the same vote as the U.S. or China, and a lot of these soccer federations – they have virtually no income.

GOLDMAN: FIFA traditionally has paid these federations to help them develop soccer and to buy loyalty by lining the pockets of some federation leaders. Kuper says that’s why many voting members are OK with the status quo.

KUPER: I mean, this is their meal ticket. They don’t want to vote for an aggressive reformer.

GOLDMAN: Like candidate Prince Ali of Jordan who this week tried and failed to get the election postponed because of his concerns about voting fraud. Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman is favored to win. He’s been more dealmaker than reformer, but there’s some taint – allegations which the sheikh denies that he was complicit in the torture of Bahraini soccer players who demonstrated against the government during the Arab Spring several years ago. Critics say his victory Friday could mean more of the same.

JULIE FOUDY: You know, one insider has said to me that if Sheikh Salman is elected president, it’s essentially Sepp Blatter without the charisma.

GOLDMAN: But Julie Foudy remains hopeful. She’s a former star on the U.S. women’s national soccer team, now a soccer analyst for ESPN. Foudy is a longtime advocate for developing women’s soccer which she says FIFA has neglected. She’s optimistic about the vote tomorrow on a separate proposed reform package that calls for more openness. She notes a recent transparency international report that says 81 percent of FIFA’s member federations – the ones voting Friday – have no financial records publicly available.

FOUDY: My goodness, in terms of how you create some accountability that’s transparent, independent – that, I think, is where they’re going to find success if they can figure out that part of the model. Then you know this is how much they’re spending a woman’s programs, on girls programs, on, you know, whatever you’re trying to get into. And right now, you can’t even get that information.

GOLDMAN: Tomorrow’s gathering is called the extraordinary FIFA congress. Depending on who’s elected and what happens with reform proposals, critics hope it lives up to its name. Tom Goldman, NPR News.

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 a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.

4:02

NPR’s Rachel Martin and The Gist’s Mike Pesca discuss what makes the Golden State Warriors such a pleasure to watch, and why basketball seems to have the clearest conscience in sports.

3:41

At the University of Tennessee Tuesday, 16 of the university’s head coaches held a rare joint press conference. They defended the university in the wake of a federal sexual assault lawsuit.

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

At the University of Tennessee today, the school’s 16 athletics coaches held an unusual news conference. They defended the university in the wake of a federal sexual assault lawsuit, a suit that alleges the university didn’t properly handle complaints made against student athletes. Brandon Hollingsworth of member station WUOT reports.

BRANDON HOLLINGSWORTH, BYLINE: The press conference was a rare sight. All of the University of Tennessee’s head athletic coaches – including football, baseball, diving and soccer – sitting on a stage, telling reporters that UT is not such a bad place. Robert Patrick coaches women’s volleyball at the Southeastern Conference school.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ROBERT PATRICK: I’ve been here for 20 years. We’ve had more SEC academic award honorees in those 20 years than any other SEC school.

HOLLINGSWORTH: Sam Winterbotham manages the men’s tennis program.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SAM WINTERBOTHAM: So what’s the perception out there is really incorrect.

HOLLINGSWORTH: And Holly Warlick coaches the women’s basketball team.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HOLLY WARLICK: If I had a daughter, I would not hesitate for her one bit to come on campus. I’ve been here for 30-something years. We’ve got to be doing something right.

HOLLINGSWORTH: The University of Tennessee coaches say they organized the press conference on their own. They wanted to dispute what they say is an inaccurate description of the university they work for. A federal civil lawsuit filed this month paints a different picture. It alleges that in incidents from the past few years, and going all the way back to 1995, university leaders looked the other way when it came to sexual assault allegations against student athletes. The six accusers, all unidentified women, say UT didn’t do enough to prevent assaults or respond properly when they were reported.

DAVID SMITH: The coaches didn’t really address the lawsuit, which I understand.

HOLLINGSWORTH: Nashville attorney David Smith filed the suit on behalf of the women. He says the university didn’t follow federal Title IX discrimination laws.

SMITH: UT is accused of violating Title IX by acting with deliberate indifference in a clearly unreasonable manner by creating and failing to remedy a hostile sexual environment.

HOLLINGSWORTH: Women’s basketball coach Warlick doesn’t agree. She says conversations about preventing sexual assault are a part of her relationship with students.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

WARLICK: So we talk a lot about, just as you would your daughter, don’t go out alone at night, know where you’re going to parties, those types of things.

HOLLINGSWORTH: Allegations like those in the UT lawsuit are part of a growing trend of campus sexual assault complaints. Last month, Baylor University settled with a female student whose accused attacker was cleared by a university disciplinary hearing. Part of the UT suit takes issue with those hearings. Plaintiffs’ attorney David Smith says they’re stacked against the accusers.

SMITH: The right of confrontation, the right to call witnesses, the right to a hearing is not equal, and we believe that that’s in conflict with federal law.

HOLLINGSWORTH: In a statement, a university spokesman said the school is required to hold the hearings, and that any allegation that they’re tilted in favor of athletes is, quote, “ludicrous.” Some of the accused players do have criminal trials scheduled for this summer. Football coach Butch Jones says the school’s athletic culture isn’t poisonous.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BUTCH JONES: We have good people. And again, it’s easy to sit out there and judge when you don’t live our day every day. You’re not around the student athletes, you’re not around these coaches.

HOLLINGSWORTH: The attorney representing the accusers says two additional women plan to join the civil suit as early as this week. For NPR News, I’m Brandon Hollingsworth in Knoxville, Tenn.

CORNISH: And a note that WUOT’s broadcast license is held by the University of Tennessee. Its newsroom is independent.

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 a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.

3:57

A review of the week in sports, including an update on the Golden State Warriors, baseball’s reawakening, and a football player’s retirement announcement… on horseback.

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

It’s time for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

WERTHEIMER: NPR’s sports correspondent Tom Goldman is still reeling from last night’s Warriors game.

Good morning, Tom. How are you holding up?

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Reeling.

WERTHEIMER: (Laughter) Now we’ve gotten used to the NBA’s Golden State Warriors being involved in a rout. But last night, it was Golden State on the losing end. What happened?

GOLDMAN: The Portland Trail Blazers and guard Damian Lillard happened. The Blazers pounded Golden State 137-105. That is a pounding.

Lillard is a two-time All-Star, but he wasn’t chosen for last Sunday’s All-Star Game. Against the Warriors, he played like a man snubbed. He had a career-high 51 points. He outdueled Golden State’s reigning league MVP Steph Curry. Portland’s defense forced Golden State into a ton of turnovers, and a Blazers team people were starting to notice before the All-Star break suddenly has everyone’s attention, at least today.

WERTHEIMER: The Warriors do still have a pretty good record. So how are you – what do you think their chances are to have the greatest regular-season record in NBA history as we have assumed they would?

GOLDMAN: Yeah. Well, 48-5, which is what they are now, isn’t bad. But every loss is significant when you’re trying to beat the Chicago Bulls’ record of 72-10. There are 29 games left. Now, all of the Warriors’ losses have been on the road. And they still have a string of tough road games after Portland, starting tonight against the LA Clippers and then against Miami, Atlanta, Oklahoma City. This long, coast-to-coast road trip could tell us a lot about whether Golden State can break the record.

WERTHEIMER: On from basketball to baseball, baseball fans have been waiting for this week all winter. Teams are reporting to spring training camps. And preseason reports are saying the Cubs are great. But of course, that’s on paper. What are you thinking?

GOLDMAN: (Laughter) I’m thinking preseason reports are notoriously wrong. You can look it up. It’s incredibly hard to predict a winner in February.

But yes, on paper, the Cubs look really good. They made it to the National League Championship Series last season and then appeared to get better. They signed several top players from other teams. They have everything. They’ve got great pitching, hitting, power, speed – a great front office, a great manager in Joe Maddon.

But remember, Linda. It’s the Cubs.

WERTHEIMER: (Laughter).

GOLDMAN: They haven’t won the World Series since 1908. To be a Cubs fan is to wait for things to go wrong (laughter).

WERTHEIMER: Now, some seasons are just starting now, of course. But other players are announcing their retirement now, specifically, Jared Allen of the Carolina Panthers. Yes?

GOLDMAN: Yeah. You know, it’s so hard for many top athletes to retire gracefully – or even with humor – and Jared Allen did both this week. He’s the defensive lineman who entertained fans with his play and his enthusiasm. He’d celebrate tackling quarterbacks by pretending to rope a calf. He grew up on a ranch.

So this week, he offered a fitting video goodbye wearing a cowboy hat, a thick winter jacket and sitting on a horse. He totally looked like a cowboy. Here’s what he said.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JARED ALLEN: Well, everyone, I just want to say thank you for an amazing 12-year career. This was the part where I was going to ride off into the sunset. But seeing how there’s no sunset, I’m just going to ride off.

(SOUNDBITE OF HORSE GALLOPING)

WERTHEIMER: (Laughter).

GOLDMAN: (Laughter) So he galloped off on a cloudy day. And Linda, wouldn’t it be great to have an exit like that?

WERTHEIMER: NPR’s Tom Goldman. Thank you, Tom.

GOLDMAN: 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 a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.