NPR’s Scott Simon and ESPN.com’s Howard Bryant talk retirement news for David Ortiz, Tony Romo’s broken clavicle and Bryce Harper’s new MVP status.

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

I wait all week to say time for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIMON: And the cycle of sports life this week – retirements, returns and the prospect of breaking records with a kapow (ph). Howard Bryant of espn.com and ESPN the Magazine joins us. Thanks for being with us again, Howard.

HOWARD BRYANT: Good morning, Scott. How are you?

SIMON: I’m fine, thank you. Big – how am I?

BRYANT: Easy (laughter).

SIMON: Jake Arrieta won the Cy Young Award. We’ll get to that. Howard, David Ortiz – Big Papi – retiring from baseball. Help us mark the significance.

BRYANT: Well, I think it’s self-explanatory if you’re from Boston and if you’re of a certain age where you remember the Red Sox not winning anything and also expecting to lose outside of the 617 area code. Now, David Ortiz is a phenomenal, phenomenal figure in Boston sports history. He is the guy who is the demarcating line until 2004, when the Red Sox hadn’t won a World Series since 1918. But it was really more of a culture shift for him. It was when he came and when the Red Sox beat the Yankees in 2004, down three games to nothing, greatest comeback in the history of professional – American professional sports. It didn’t just signal the end of an era for the Red Sox or generations for the Red Sox, but also, in a rivalry, it was no longer hammer and nail with the Red Sox being the nail against the Yankees. But now, the Yankees believed that the Red Sox were as good a team and the Red Sox believed that they were not just as good, but better. And now, three championships later, people don’t talk about curses anymore. They talk about the Red Sox essentially being a dominant, dominant team. He’s chiefly responsible for that.

SIMON: Quick question – slam dunk for the Hall of Fame or there is a complication.

BRYANT: No, that’s not a quick question. But – and it is complication because he was linked to the survey testing that he tested positive for PEDs back in 2003 when there was no sanction, when there was no penalty. It was simply survey testing. But his name was linked in a 2009 New York Times report. He never failed a drug test, but, of course, neither did Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa or Alex Rodriguez. And they’re all paying a price – nor did Roger Clemens.

SIMON: Yeah.

BRYANT: But it’s going to be very difficult for him. In err of (ph) – it’s going to be a selective justice question because David Ortiz is one of my all-time favorites. Everybody loves him. We’ll see if he pays the same price that some of these other great players have paid, come Hall of Fame time.

SIMON: The New England Patriots are still undefeated. So if you were Bill Belichick, their coach – and I know they were close to picking you – would you say, hey, guys, hurry up and lose a game. I want to get this monkey off our back before we go into playoff and Super Bowl season?

BRYANT: No, I never understood that. There’s always pressure when you’re the Patriots. And there’s pressure to win no matter if you’re 15 and 1 or 16 and 0. Obviously, they would love to shut the Miami Dolphins up and finally be that undefeated team that they thought they were going to be in 2007. But I think when you’re the Patriots, and knowing Bill Belichick as he is, the goal is one thing – to be good on Sunday or, this week, Monday against Buffalo. And then to be good the next week and be better and better and better. I never believed that if you have a streak it’s a good thing to lose. I think when you’re playing well, you keep doing what you’re doing.

SIMON: Baseball post-season awards. The Cubs did very well. Modesty forbids me from ticking them off, one by one. Bryce Harper, the Washington Nationals, won the NL Most Valuable Player Award. Is this his – the first in a whole shelf?

BRYANT: Well, it should be. He’s a terrific player and we talk about the great players in the other sports who are just superstars in their own right. And Bryce Harper’s an exciting player. I know if you’re in the National League East, you would root against him. But it’s a – it really is a terrific time for baseball with a lot of young players out there doing things. Obviously, Jake Arrieta doing his thing in Chicago, Kris Bryant the National League Rookie of the Year and, of course, Bryce Harper with the MVP. This should not be the first one for him. And with Dusty Baker running show in D.C. next year, I think Nationals-Mets is going to be a very interesting battle all season long. And now with Bryce Harper being an MVP, as well, a lot of pressure is taken off of him and then more added to be great again.

SIMON: Quick question, I’m going to press this. Golden State Warriors defeated the Chicago Bulls last night 106 to 94. Are they playing not just for another championship, but to win…

BRYANT: No, they’re playing to win 70 games. They’re playing to beat that Michael Jordan team that won 72 games. And they’re trying to tell everybody that we are not a fluke. We’re great. And Steph Curry is proving it as well. So much fun to watch.

SIMON: Howard Bryant from espn.com and ESPN the Magazine. Thanks so much, Howard.

BRYANT: Thanks, Scott.

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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.

The mayor of Buenos Aires is expected to win Sunday’s presidential runoff. In that soccer-mad country, front-runner Mauricio Macri gets points for having been team president for the Boca Juniors.

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Next, we go to Argentina where the man expected to win this Sunday’s presidential election is getting some mileage out of his pre-political resume. In that soccer-mad country, the front-runner Mauricio Macri is famous for his connection to a wildly popular team, the Boca Juniors. John Otis has this report.

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Singing in Spanish).

JOHN OTIS, BYLINE: Boca Juniors zealots are jammed into a bar called Crazy for Soccer, watching their team play for the Argentina Cup.

At halftime, fan Dario Nairotti explains that for many Argentines, the connection to the team starts at birth.

DARIO NAIROTTI: (Speaking Spanish).

OTIS: “The first thing my father did was to buy me a Boca jersey and make me a Boca fan. And I did the same thing for my son,” he says.

The team is based in La Boca, a working-class barrio of Buenos Aires. It’s now one of the most successful soccer clubs in South America and has fans all over the world. The person most responsible for Boca Juniors mania is Mauricio Macri. A millionaire businessman and politician, he was team president from 1995 to 2007, when the team took home 16 national and international titles.

JUAN IGNACIO COSTA: If you want, you can come inside over here and take some pictures inside the fences.

OTIS: Tourists flock to the stadium as if it were the Roman Colosseum. Guide Juan Ignacio Costa says their devotion can go way overboard.

COSTA: For example, I don’t know, their grandfather passed away, and his dying wish was to come and take the ashes and throw them in the stadium.

OTIS: Die-hard fans can also be buried in caskets with the Boca Juniors logo carved on the lid. There’s a Boca Juniors museum and a theme hotel. The merchandising push was the brainchild of Team President Macri. The experience helped him jump into politics, says Enzo Pagani, who heads outreach programs for Boca Juniors.

ENZO PAGANI: (Speaking Spanish).

OTIS: “Macri became one of the two or three best-known people in Argentina, and he knew how to capitalize on his name recognition,” Pagani says. In 2007, Macri was elected mayor of Buenos Aires, a post he still holds. He’s won praise for improving public transport and police.

But Luis Sanchez, who sells souvenirs in La Boca, says Macri’s triumphs in soccer convinced him that he was presidential timber.

LUIS SANCHEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

OTIS: Polls show Macri leading Daniel Scioli, the candidate of the long-ruling Peronist party, in the run-up to Sunday’s election. Meanwhile, Macri’s old team keeps winning. Back at the bar, fans explode as Boca Juniors scores to win the national title. For NPR News, I’m John Otis, Buenos Aires.

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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.

Former NFL players who are fighting the settlement terms will have their say in a federal appeals courtroom in Philadelphia on Thursday. Payouts for the potential $1 billion settlement are on hold.

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

All right. This is an important day for thousands of former NFL players who are waiting to get compensated for brain damage they suffered on the job. Payments from a massive concussion lawsuit settlement have been on hold for months since a small group of players appealed the settlement. Today in Philadelphia, a three-judge panel will hear arguments for and against that appeal, as NPR’s Tom Goldman reports.

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: In late April, a federal judge approved the estimated $1 billion settlement in a lawsuit filed by former players against the NFL. It provides payments to men with medical conditions linked to football-related brain trauma – conditions such as ALS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, dementia. For many of the more than 20,000 plaintiffs, especially older retirees, the money’s critical. Here’s one of the star plaintiffs in the lawsuit, former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon in a 2012 interview.

JIM MCMAHON: You know, these guys are in dire needs, both financially and in their health. I didn’t make a lot of money in the ’80s, so you know what these guys made.

GOLDMAN: But the payments and the neurological testing for players also guaranteed in the settlement are on hold for the life of the appeal. The 94 people appealing say the settlement doesn’t compensate those who developed chronic traumatic encephalopathy during their lifetimes. CTE is a degenerative brain disease that’s made headlines in recent years. Prominent players who committed suicide, such as Junior Seau and Dave Duerson had CTE. Currently, CTE can only be diagnosed after death, so it’s impossible to compensate players who are still alive. But plaintiffs note the settlement does pay players who display symptoms associated with CTE. The three judges are expected to make a decision on the appeal sometime next year. Tom Goldman, NPR News.

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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.

video of disruption during moment of silence for Paris at Turkey vs Greece,(no allahuakbar chants in this one) https://t.co/8MLGiElXOB

— Ece Toksabay (@ecetoksabay) November 17, 2015

Special moment as Wembley unites to sing the French national anthem. pic.twitter.com/qur21bVxQV

— Richard Conway (@richard_conway) November 17, 2015

On a pristine field at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, 22 men in white pants and cable-knit sweaters take their places. They may be gathered in the U.S. today, but most of the men grew up playing in countries where cricket is serious business.

Tobago, Guyana, India, Scotland — they come from all over. But here, at least, there isn’t exactly an abundance of experienced players around. So when they find them, they scoop them up.

That’s how Aussie David Anstice got recruited by a teammate.

“I said, ‘How do you know I can even play?’ He said, ‘You’re Australian aren’t you?’ ” Anstice recalls. “I said, ‘How do you know I’m any good?’ He said, ‘If you’ve only got one eye you’ll work on our team!’ “

The pickings didn’t use to be so slim. Though it’s a mystery to many Americans these days, the sport was once as big as any game in the U.S. And in fact — with its bat and ball, and a scoring system based on runs — cricket even looks a little like baseball, America’s famous pastime.

That’s partly why people like Tom Culp see potential in bringing the sport back.

“There are about 25,000 cricket players in the United States,” says Culp, who helps organize an international cricket festival in Philadelphia every year. “And largely on the two coasts, with pockets in Colorado, Texas of all places.”

That’s exactly where the Cricket All-Stars will be playing. Two dream teams of retired greats, the Cricket All-Stars are trying to bring the wicket back into the spotlight, with a three-game tournament in New York City, Houston and Los Angeles, where they’ll be playing this weekend at Dodger Stadium.

Among the players are two of the sport’s biggest stars: Shane “The King of Spin” Warne of Australia, and India’s Sachin “Master Blaster” Tendulkar — the sport’s most famous batter.

Sachin Tendulkar, during a match against New Zealand in 2012. “If you go to India and you say ‘Sachen Tendulkar,’ then he’s God,” says Samar Jha, a cricket player in Philadelphia. “He is next to God.” Vivek Prakash/Reuters/Landov hide caption

itoggle caption Vivek Prakash/Reuters/Landov

“I have to watch Sachin,” says Samar Jha, a Philadephia Cricket Club player who has box seats to one of the games. “I have been following his game since childhood. If you go to India and you say ‘Sachin Tendulkar,’ then he’s God. He is next to God.”

Now, whether that deity status brings fans is another matter. It’s hard to tell with the crowds so far; New York’s match drew 30,000 fans, in Houston about 25,000.

Philadelphia player Andy Bhattacharya doesn’t think the All-Star matches are likely to win skeptics over. But he’s holding out hope for the short-format games popular today – the kind the All-Stars are playing now.

“A lot of cricket matches get to the last pitch. You get goose bumps and your hair is standing and you’re wondering what is going to happen,” he says. “If ever the American public gets a taste of that, that will be the day that this sport will arrive in this country.”

University of Missouri football players take the field tonight days after many of them threatened not to play unless school president Tim Wolfe resigned. Wolfe stepped down on Tuesday amid a scandal over his handling of racial threats on campus.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The University of Missouri Tigers meet the Brigham Young Cougars on the football field tonight. Now, that’s a matchup that was certainly scheduled but was, for a moment, in doubt. That’s because dozens of members of the Missouri football team said they would boycott the game in support of student protests against racist incidents at the school and what critics saw as the university’s tepid response to them. The week began with MU’s president and chancellor stepping down and ended with the school’s head football coach announcing yesterday that he is resigning for health reasons. Frank Morris of member station KCUR in Kansas City has been following all this. He’s covering the game tonight. He’s going to bring us up to date on how things stand now. Hi, Frank, thanks for joining us.

FRANK MORRIS, BYLINE: Hi, Michel, glad to be here.

MARTIN: Frank, as we mentioned, it’s been a difficult week at the University of Missouri in Columbia. But you were telling us this has actually been building for some time.

MORRIS: That’s true. There are incidents in past years that the university didn’t address very squarely. But just this semester, there’s been kind of a drumbeat of racist name-calling and vandalism.

MARTIN: What really seemed to bring the story to national attention was the participation of the football team though, right?

MORRIS: That’s true. The football team, 30 players got involved this time last week. And then when their coach, Gary Pinkel, came out and supported them on Twitter – within 24 hours of that, the president of the university was gone, and then the chancellor left a short time later. But it was the football player’s participation that really brought in the national media on this story.

MARTIN: Why is that, though? What role does the football team play at the school?

MORRIS: You know, the football team controls a lot of money. And if they had gone through with the boycott of this coming game, they would’ve had to pay Brigham Young University a million dollars.

MARTIN: Well, what are some of the other expenses that they would’ve had to pay? They had a contract to use the NFL stadium, for example…

MORRIS: That’s correct. The contract to use the NFL stadium here, ticket sales, TV revenue, I think, would’ve been involved and also merchandise sales.

MARTIN: What’s been happening on campus since the president stepped down earlier this week? Could you bring us up to date on that?

MORRIS: Yeah. There were death threats – threats of a mass shooting targeting black students on Tuesday evening. And classes – a number of classes were cancelled. Some businesses shut down on Wednesday. Police arrested two men in – associated with those threats. Neither one were close to the university. It’s not clear that either one of them had the means to carry out those kinds of threats.

MARTIN: And as we reported though, coach Gary Pinkel announced yesterday that he’s resigning at the end…

MORRIS: Right.

MARTIN: …Of the football season. Does his role in the recent events have anything to do with his resignation?

MORRIS: He says not. You know, he’s being treated for lymphoma. As of last May, doctors are treating him for lymphoma. He got some tests last month – toward the end of last month, and he says those tests were the things that put it over in his mind that he should resign and live out the rest of his years paying attention to his family rather than the football team.

MARTIN: Frank, you were telling us that this game is actually not played on campus. This is actually about 120 miles away at the NFL stadium in Kansas City, which suggests it’s probably actually more for the alumni. But are people still excited about it?

MORRIS: Oh, yeah. People are excited. I think there’s an expectation that this team unified in the protests and having won this big battle with the university is going to be really jacked coming out. You know, they play at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, which is where the Kansas City Chiefs play. They’ve got special uniforms – all-white uniforms for this game. And they had a special T-shirt that they were promoting for the game. It’s called, you know, white out. And that T-shirt has disappeared from the Internet. They’re no longer selling that one.

MARTIN: All right. Well, that’s KCUR’s Frank Morris in Kansas City. Thanks, Frank.

MORRIS: Thank you, Michel.

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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.

Russia has been provisionally suspended by international track and field’s governing body. The decision could keep Russian athletes out of next year’s Olympic Games in Brazil.

Transcript

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

We are following the developing story in Paris, where up to 60 people have been killed in shootings around the city and people have been taken hostage. We’ll update that story as we get information. Right now we’re going to talk to NPR’s Moscow correspondent Corey Flintoff about the Russian doping scandal. Russia’s athletic federation has been suspended from world competitions. It’s being called provisional, and it takes effect immediately.

And, Corey, how did this decision come about?

COREY FLINTOFF, BYLINE: Well, of course, this week we had a report from an independent commission that reported that Russia was involved in state-supported doping. The most damning allegation in that report was that the top Russian sports officials, up to and including the sports minister, had to have known about this program and may in fact have supported it. So the International Association of Athletic Federations – that governs world track and field events – voted 22-1 to suspend Russia. And this is huge for them. It’s something that this organization had to do. The independent report was extremely critical of the International Association. It said it allowed Russian athletes to compete in things like 2012 Summer Olympics when they were known to have suspicious doping profiles. So the International Association and its chief, Sebastian Coe, are under a lot of pressure right now to show that they can deal with a huge scandal like this in their sport.

MCEVERS: I mean, does this mean that Russia will be able to participate in the Olympics, going forward?

FLINTOFF: Well, the provisional suspension means that as of now Russian athletes won’t be allowed to compete in next year’s summer Olympics or in another big track and field competition, the World Athletics Series. And that was the big fear among Russian sports officials. You know, some of them have been making conciliatory statements over the past couple of days saying that they would do anything, basically, to get themselves into compliance. The sports minister, Vitaliy Mutko, said that he would fire anyone who was involved in this, he’d start a new anti-doping program. But I don’t know whether he realized how serious this was going to be. This also means that Russia won’t be allowed to host important competitions, and they were slated to host the 2016 World Junior Championships next year.

MCEVERS: And what about now, I mean, will Russia refuse to accept this suspension?

FLINTOFF: Well, the international body says if Russia rejects this punishment it can be turned into a full suspension, and that would guarantee that Russian athletes wouldn’t be allowed to compete in Rio this summer. If it does accept the suspension then there’s a list of criteria that Russia will have to meet to get reinstated, and that will likely mean completely revamping its anti-doping program that was found to be noncompliant with the international rules today. The question is whether Russia can clean up its act in time to send athletes to Rio. You know, one issue is that many of the Russian sports officials who were named in the commission report are still in charge, and they show no signs of voluntarily leaving.

MCEVERS: Very quickly, Corey, how are Russians reacting to this news?

FLINTOFF: Well, judging from what we’ve heard from Russian officials before the decision, there may well be some pushback. President Putin called for an independent investigation, but he said explicitly that clean athletes shouldn’t be punished for the actions of those who use drugs, and that’s widely seen as a warning that Russia might not accept a blanket suspension.

MCEVERS: That’s NPR’s Corey Flintoff in Moscow.

Thanks so much.

FLINTOFF: Thank you Kelly.

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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.

NPR’s Audie Cornish talks with SB Nation writer Mike Bates about the recent news of domestic abuse by professional athletes. Deadspin released a set of police photos from star Dallas Cowboys player Greg Hardy’s abuse incident, while Colorado Rockies shortstop Jose Reyes was arrested in Hawaii.

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Major League Baseball doesn’t have much of a track record in dealing with players who’ve been involved in domestic violence cases, but that track record is about to start. A shortstop with the Colorado Rockies, Jose Reyes, was arrested in Hawaii on Halloween night after a fight with his wife turned physical. Police of Maui said yesterday she’d been taken to hospital for her injuries. It was only this past August that the MLB agreed to a new policy concerning domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse, and that happened after the league watched the NFL struggle with these issues. Mike Bates writes for the MLB Daily Dish. He joins us now to talk about this case and, actually, a new development in the NFL. Welcome to the program, Mike.

MIKE BATES: Hi, Audie.

CORNISH: I want to talk to you first about the MLB’s new policy. We know this was hammered out with the players union. What does it say, and what could this mean for Jose Reyes?

BATES: Well, I think we don’t really know what it means for Jose Reyes yet. This is really the first time this policy has been tested. The commissioner is allowed to put him on administrative leave while the investigation is ongoing. The punishment that the commissioner decides on is not subject to any kind of president. You know, I do think that this is something teams are going to be considering as they’re deciding whether or not to acquire him in the future.

CORNISH: So help us understand what’s different now.

BATES: Prior to this, the league didn’t even have a policy in regards to domestic violence. Players were subject to discipline by their teams. But Major League Baseball essentially gave those teams a free hand, didn’t interfere.

Under the current policy, the commissioner investigates and has broad powers in terms of how long a player is suspended. He is given time to investigate, during which time that player is on unpaid administrative leave. He’s not on the field. Then that punishment is subject to review by a three-arbitrator panel.

CORNISH: Is this all that much different from what goes on, say, in the NFL? Is there any sense that baseball looked to the troubles football was having in crafting this policy?

BATES: I think Major League Baseball realized the NFL had a real problem last year and took affirmative steps to get out in front of the problem to give the commissioner powers that he didn’t have previously. The commissioner did not involve himself in disciplining players or behavior off the field that didn’t involve gambling.

CORNISH: Meanwhile, I do want to turn to an issue that has come up in the NFL, and that is with a Dallas Cowboys player, Greg Hardy. Over the weekend, the website Deadspin released photos of Greg Hardy’s former girlfriend with bruises, and he was accused last year of beating and strangling her. He was convicted, and then that case was thrown out after he appealed and his ex wouldn’t testify. Now, as far as the sport, he was suspended for four games, but he’s now playing again. And do you think these photos – the kind of reintroduction of this new story – is going to force the NFL to revisit his case?

BATES: I don’t know if the NFL is going to revisit his case, but I do think that, you know, the Cowboys are certainly embarrassed by Hardy’s conduct of him abusing someone he supposedly cared about. I think one of the important things about Major League Baseball’s policy is that it’s not beholden to any kind of conviction or trial at all. The commissioner, Rob Manfred, has the power to make his determination outside of the legal system. And given what we know about the prosecution rates for domestic abusers, that’s probably a good thing.

CORNISH: Mike Bates is a contributing editor with MLB Daily Dish. Mike, thanks so much.

BATES: Thank you very much, Audie.

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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.