200 Female Pro Hockey Players Lay Down Their Sticks Demanding Better Conditions
More than 200 of the top female hockey players have decided they will not play professionally in North America next season. They are calling for a sustainable league with better resources. Pictured are Hilary Knight (left) with Kelly Pannek, playing with the U.S. national team last month in Finland. Both signed on to the boycott.
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Decrying the sorry state of salary and support for women’s hockey, around 200 female players announced Thursday they won’t play the game at the professional level across North America, until they get a league with “the resources that professional hockey demands and deserves.”
“We cannot make a sustainable living playing in the current state of the professional game,” said the statement several players posted to their social media accounts. “Having no health insurance and making as low as two thousand dollars a season means players can’t adequately train and prepare to play at the highest level.”
We may represent different teams, leagues and countries but collectively we stand as one. #ForTheGame pic.twitter.com/O9MOOL8YOt
— Hilary Knight (@HilaryKnight) May 2, 2019
By contrast on the men’s side, Forbes says the top ten players of the 2018-2019 season each brought home multi-million dollar paychecks from the NHL, with lucrative endorsement deals topping them off.
On Wednesday, the Canadian Women’s Hockey League officially discontinued operations, citing an economically unstable business model, leaving the National Women’s Hockey League the sole remaining professional league in North America.
The NWHL had been hoping to fold in players from the Canadian league and said Thursday, despite the boycott, it still plans to proceed with season five in October with its five teams.
As a concession to players, the league announced it is “offering increased salaries and a 50-50 revenue [split] from league-level sponsorships and media rights deals,” adding it remains open to communicating with players about their concerns.
Among those participating in the boycott are Hilary Knight and Kendall Coyne Schofield, who helped propel the U.S. Women’s National Team to win gold at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in South Korea, as well as Canadian national team goalie Shannon Szabados.
“Obviously we want to be on the ice, but I think that kind of speaks volumes to how critical it is,” Szabados, who played for the NWHL’s Buffalo Beauts, told The Associated Press. “It’s over 200 of us that kind of want to stop being pulled in 10 different directions and kind of get all our resources under one roof.”
After they announced the boycott, words of support for the players came pouring in.
Female athletes deserve to live the life they envisioned as kids: playing the sport they love, and making a living doing it. I stand with all female athletes in their pursuit of equal pay and a sustainable future. #ForTheGame #OneVoice https://t.co/hLY9HgcIJa
— Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) May 2, 2019
“Female athletes deserve to live the life they envisioned as kids: playing the sport they love, and making a living doing it,” tweeted Billie Jean King, the onetime world’s top-ranked women’s tennis player.
Mary-Kay Messier, vice president of global marketing for ice hockey equipment manufacturer Bauer, called on the NHL to step in. “In order to develop a long-term viable women’s professional hockey league, the NHL must be in an ownership position,” she said in a statement.
The NHL has provided limited funding to the women’s teams, but has so far resisted calls to do more. The players designed Thursday’s announcement, in part, to compel the NHL to act, reports ESPN.
But in a statement emailed to NPR, the NHL says, while it supports the objectives of both the NWHL and the female players, it is not in a rush to make any move. “We will need some time to better understand what the full picture and implications look like,” Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said.
Commissioner Gary Bettman told the AP that the NHL still wants the NWHL to “make a go of it,” and does not want to interfere at this time, although that could change if “there turns out to be a void.”
But the players say the void is already there and they will not pick up their sticks again until it is addressed.
Olympic Champion Caster Semenya Loses Case To Compete Without Hormone Suppressants
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled Wednesday that two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya, and female runners like her, must take medications to suppress testosterone output.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
An organization referred to as the supreme court of international sports has ruled against the controversial female track athlete Caster Semenya. The Court of Arbitration for Sport says Semenya, a two-time Olympic champion from South Africa, has to take medication to reduce her testosterone levels if she wants to keep competing in her preferred running events.
Semenya has been at the forefront of a debate about gender and sport. NPR’s Tom Goldman reports.
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Caster Semenya exploded on the track and field scene with a dominating 800-meters win at the 2009 World Championships. Since then, her athletic career has been clouded by questions about her power and speed and her gender.
Her lopsided victories, muscular build and deep voice led track and field’s international governing body, the IAAF, to ask her to take a sex test. The official results were never revealed, but leaked information said she had what’s called an intersex condition, where she has much higher testosterone levels than most women.
Semenya has been a lightning rod on the issue of sex-gender in sport. She’s been the subject of humiliating criticism. And last year, an IAAF decision threatened her future as an athlete.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The athletics world body controversially ruled that the testosterone levels of female middle-distance runners should be restricted. The rule will apply to women in track events from the 400-meters up to a mile.
GOLDMAN: Semenya appealed the rule, and now the Court of Arbitration for Sport, or CAS, has rejected her appeal. CAS fully admits the testosterone restrictions discriminate against one group of women to protect another group and that discrimination is necessary. The IAAF says it’s grateful for the decision and says it’ll preserve the integrity of female athletics in the events covered by the rule.
Among those upset by the decision, Professor Roger Pielke.
ROGER PIELKE: Clearly, scientific integrity was a loser in this case.
GOLDMAN: Pielke directs the Sports Governance Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He describes himself as a scholar who studies the use and misuse of science in decision-making. Last year, his center published a paper criticizing the testosterone regulations.
Prior to coming up with the rule, IAAF was asked to show the performance advantage female athletes with higher levels of testosterone had over female athletes with lower levels. Pielke says the data he reviewed was, in his words, garbage.
PIELKE: Didn’t match up to performances. There was repeated data, phantom data. And in any data set where you have that many flawed data points, it’s enormously problematic for coming up with a robust conclusion.
GOLDMAN: Semenya’s lawyers reportedly are mulling another appeal. In a statement, Semenya said the CAS ruling won’t slow her down but will make her stronger. Over the years, Semenya hasn’t said much publicly about the controversy. After she won the 800-meters at the 2016 Olympics, she alluded to it as she spoke about the unifying power of sport.
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CASTER SEMENYA: It’s all about loving one another. It’s not about discriminating people. It’s not about looking at people – how they look, how they speak. You know, it’s not about being muscular. It’s all about sport.
GOLDMAN: Now the 28-year-old track star has to decide what her future is in sports – whether to comply with the rule and start taking medication to reduce her testosterone level or perhaps competing in a running event not covered by the rule. And while she mulls her decision, the debate surrounding her dominating and controversial career is unlikely to end anytime soon. Tom Goldman, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF ULRICH SCHNAUSS’ “KNUDDELMAUS”)
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London Marathon Takes A Small Step To Go Green
The BBC reports 47,000 plastic water bottles were tossed at last year’s race. This year, organizers gave runners edible water pods. They’re biodegradable because they’re made from seaweed.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I’m David Greene. Eliud Kipchoge won the London Marathon yesterday for a fourth time. That’s a record, and that is amazing. And in other news, the marathon took a small step to go green. The BBC reports, last year, racers and onlookers tossed 47,000 plastic water bottles. This year, organizers tried to prevent a mess. They gave runners edible water pods. They’re biodegradable because they’re made from seaweed. The startup that makes them says they’re tasteless. It’s MORNING EDITION.
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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.
NBA’s Lack Of Latino Players
Now that the NBA playoffs are in full swing, there’s an element missing: Latino players. Just 2% of NBA players are Latino and that has the league looking for ways to increase the number of Latinos.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Switching gears now, it’s a big weekend for sports fans, what with the NFL Combine, baseball season and the NHL and NBA playoffs. All these sports have gotten more diverse, but with a growing Latino fan base, the NBA is hoping to attract more Latino players. Esteban Bustillos from member station WGBH in Boston is going to tell us more about that.
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UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting).
ESTEBAN BUSTILLOS, BYLINE: You can’t even begin to talk about Latino basketball players without talking about Manu Ginobili.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Cheering).
BUSTILLOS: The Argentinian shooting guard is widely considered the best Latin American player ever. He spent 16 seasons with the San Antonio Spurs and won four championships. Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich says his presence off the court with the Latino community was always something special.
GREGG POPOVICH: He allowed it to happen. He’s a very warm individual and understood his responsibility to the community.
BUSTILLOS: Ginobili bowed out last year, but the team retired his jersey last month when the Spurs took on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Billed as Gracias, Manu, the night was a celebration of Genobili and his heritage.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MICHELLE LECLERCQ: (Singing in Spanish).
BUSTILLOS: Before tip-off, an Argentinian singer performed the country’s national anthem. And when it was Ginobili’s time to talk after the game, he gave a bilingual speech to the sold-out arena.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MANU GINOBILI: (Speaking Spanish).
BUSTILLOS: It was a fitting sendoff for the NBA’s most successful Latin player in one of the country’s most Latino cities.
ARNON DE MELLO: The Latino demographic is the one that grows, I believe, the most in the states already.
BUSTILLOS: Arnon de Mello is the senior vice president and managing director of NBA Latin America. According to the league, Hispanics comprise 17% of the U.S. fan base. That’s roughly 15 million fans. In Latin America, NBA programming reaches dozens of countries and territories and is broadcast in four different languages. De Mello says it’s even starting to gain ground on that other sport involving a ball and a net – soccer.
DE MELLO: You know, if you look at the Caribbean and Brazil and Mexico, you see that in that region, basketball clearly is a contender for the No. 2 spot, not only in terms of participation but also affinity and popularity of the sport.
BUSTILLOS: But as popular as the game is becoming among fans, Latino professional players are still scarce. According to the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, the NBA was only 2.3% Latino last season. That translates to just 11 players. But the league has made a point of focusing on fostering talents outside the United States.
Along with junior NBA programs in Latin America, the league just opened an academy in Mexico City to help develop the region’s best prospects. And de Mello says they’re trying to get a G League team, the NBA version of a minor league club, set up in the Mexican capital. This is all a big switch from when Boston Celtics center Al Horford was growing up in the Dominican Republic, and basketball was just becoming popular.
AL HORFORD: You going in the yard, and you drive around, and you see everybody, you know, playing basketball out of basketball courts. And people are hungry. You know, they really enjoy basketball.
BUSTILLOS: Horford is using his influence to help grow the game. Last year, the Celtics star was part of an initiative to renovate courts in the Dominican Republic.
HORFORD: One of the things that I want to continue to work on is to continue to help to develop the game over there so – because the passion is there.
BUSTILLOS: Now, as Horford and other Latino players help to carry the torch first lit by people like his father Tito, who was the first Dominican player in the NBA, and Ginobili, Horford is aware of the example he’s setting for the community.
HORFORD: It’s something that, you know, that I’m proud of – to be a Latino.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE HERBALISER’S “TAKEDOWN (SALT POPCORN REMIX)”)
MARTIN: That was Esteban Bustillos in Boston.
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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.
Tyreek Hill Barred From Kansas City Chiefs After Audio Alleging Child Abuse Surfaces
The Kansas City Chiefs have barred Tyreek Hill from the team. This follows a recording of the wide receiver’s fiancée accusing him of abusing their young child.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
A star NFL player has been barred from his team over suspicion that he abused his 3-year-old son. The Kansas City Chiefs say wide receiver Tyreek Hill cannot take part in any team activities, including offseason workouts. On a newly released audiotape, two people said to be Hill and his fiancee discuss a police investigation into the child’s broken arm. On the tape, Hill’s fiancee accuses Hill of causing the injury.
Joining us now is NPR’s Tom Goldman. Hi, Tom.
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Hi, Ari.
SHAPIRO: Catch us up on the background to this story. I understand prosecutors initially said they would not file any charges in this potential case of child abuse.
GOLDMAN: That’s right. The DA said he thinks a crime was committed against the child, just couldn’t prove who did it. So on Wednesday of this week, there were no charges filed against Hill or his fiancee, who I should add is also now pregnant with twins.
SHAPIRO: And now there is this audiotape. Describe where it came from and what’s in it.
GOLDMAN: Yeah. It emerged the day after the prosecutor made his announcement about no charges. It was first played on a local TV station in Kansas City Casey, KCTV. And it was described as a tape made in March while Hill and his fiancee, Crystal Espinal, were walking through the Dubai International Airport. Now, we haven’t independently verified that it’s actually Hill and Espinal, but the tape is out there; nobody has denied its authenticity. In fact, the Chiefs, Hill’s team, say they are deeply disturbed by what’s on it.
The whole tape is about 11 minutes long. We have a couple of short excerpts. On this first one, Espinal appears to accuse Hill of breaking their son’s arm. Hill speaks first, and the child’s name, I should say, is bleeped out on the tape.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TYREEK HILL: I didn’t do nothing.
CRYSTAL ESPINAL: Then why does (beep) say, Daddy did it? Why? Why does (beep) say, Daddy did it?
HILL: I don’t know. He says Daddy does a lot of things.
ESPINAL: Like what?
HILL: A lot of things.
ESPINAL: A 3-year-old’s not going to lie about what happened to his arm.
GOLDMAN: Now, Ari, in this next clip, Hill appears to threaten Espinal. Here it is.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ESPINAL: He is terrified of you. And you say that he respects you, but it’s not respect.
HILL: He respects me.
ESPINAL: It’s terrify – he is terrified.
HILL: No, you [expletive]. You need to be terrified of me, too.
SHAPIRO: Wow. So Tom, what have prosecutors said about this tape?
GOLDMAN: We haven’t heard anything publicly from the prosecutors, but there are a number of reports out today, Ari, that the DA has reopened the case in light of this new audiotape.
SHAPIRO: And what about Tyreek Hill? Has he issued a statement?
GOLDMAN: He has. He released a statement saying in part, quote, “I love and support my family above anything. My son’s health and happiness is my No. 1 priority.” I contacted his lawyers today. They declined to comment because of what they called confidentiality laws. They have said, though, that Hill maintains his innocence and that he has cooperated with law enforcement.
SHAPIRO: Tom, this painful and upsetting story is unfolding in the middle of one of the NFL’s biggest offseason events, the NFL draft. So what’s the impact?
GOLDMAN: Yeah, that’s right. Well, the draft goes on of course. But this is the kind of publicity the league obviously hates, especially, as you point out, in the middle of this crown jewel moment that the NFL always loves as a way to, you know, keep sports fans consumed by the NFL even when there’s no football being played – so bad PR again for a league, you know, that seems to often deal with controversy.
SHAPIRO: And also for the Chiefs, which has dealt with this problem in the past.
GOLDMAN: Yeah, you’re absolutely right. Chiefs are one of the best teams in the NFL. They almost got to the Super Bowl last season. But controversy has been following them even before this week. Kansas City star running back Kareem Hunt – he led the league in rushing yards his rookie season in 2017. Last year, he was videotaped shoving and kicking a woman, and he was released by the team just a few months ago. Also, the Chiefs just traded for a top defensive lineman, Frank Clark. He was arrested on a domestic violence charge in 2014, kicked off The University of Michigan football team. And let’s not forget, Ari, that Kansas City drafted Tyreek Hill in 2016 knowing that he had pleaded guilty to a charge of domestic violence against his then-girlfriend, who is now his fiancee.
SHAPIRO: That’s NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman. Thanks, Tom.
GOLDMAN: You’re welcome, Ari.
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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.
2019 NFL Draft Could Be Big For Tight Ends
Thursday is draft day for the National Football League. Two tight end players from Iowa are predicted to be drafted in the first round, breaking a long tradition in a changing game.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
It’s draft day for the National Football League. Usually, quarterbacks and defensive players rule the first round, but this draft could be big for tight ends.
LINDSAY JONES: Historically, in the NFL, a tight end has been kind of used as an extra blocker, and that has really changed as the league is transforming more into a passing game. The most valuable skill that a tight end can have now is his skills as a receiver.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
That’s Lindsay Jones, who covers the NFL for The Athletic. She’s in Nashville for the draft, where two tight ends are likely to get picked early; T.J. Hockenson, in particular, may go very early.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: T.J. Hockenson – touchdown Iowa.
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #2: And guess what? It’s a tight end – T.J. Hockenson.
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #3: It’s back to the end zone. Touchdown – it’s Hockenson.
JONES: He’s the guy who a team’s probably – that drafts him, especially if he drops into the top 10, they’re going to see him as a guy who can catch 100 passes a year, a guy who can have double-digit touchdowns. So that’s the ideal type of tight end that you’re looking for right now – a guy who is big, fast, strong, but you don’t think that there’s anybody on the opposing defense who’s going to be able to cover him as a pass-catcher.
CORNISH: Hockenson and his fellow Iowa Hawkeye Noah Fant have serious shots at going in the first round.
JONES: That would be exceedingly rare and just a sign of just how valuable tight ends are becoming in today’s NFL.
SHAPIRO: Two tight ends, both from Iowa – some are calling it Tight End U. Another Hawkeye, George Kittle, set records at tight end for the San Francisco 49ers last year.
JONES: You know, I don’t know if it’s anything about their specific schemes that they’re running there, but it is very interesting that they kind of have these two guys that are built very similarly that are coming out right now, and people in Iowa should be very proud to have the two tight ends coming out tonight.
CORNISH: That’s Lindsay Jones, NFL reporter at The Athletic.
(SOUNDBITE OF PARCELS’ “COMEDOWN”)
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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.
Damian Lillard Leads Portland Trail Blazers To Victory In First Round Of NBA Playoffs
One player has excelled in the NBA playoffs: Damian Lillard. The all-star point guard has carried the Portland Trail Blazers all season thanks to his play and, more importantly, his leadership.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
The National Basketball Association playoffs officially are on Lillard time. That’s the phrase all-star point guard Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers uses when he does something dramatic, which is often. But last night in Portland, Ore., Lillard went to new heights in leading his team to a first-round NBA playoff series victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
NPR’s Tom Goldman was there and has this report.
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: This was going to be a story about Damian Lillard’s leadership, how he has carried a Trail Blazers team through a season of injuries and insults with a steady maturity that feels older than his 28 years. We’ll still get to that. But first we’ve got to talk about this.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
GOLDMAN: Last night at Portland’s Moda Center with the score tied 115 all, the game clock a few ticks from zero, Lillard launched a jump shot from near the Blazers half-court logo. And, well, that roar wasn’t for a miss. The shot gave Lillard 50 points for the night, and it vanquished Oklahoma City, a team that owned Portland this regular season, winning all four games. Portland almost got even in the playoff series, winning four games to one. Portland head coach Terry Stotts got to the postgame interview room, sat down and smiled.
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TERRY STOTTS: The legend grows.
GOLDMAN: Lillard’s legend-building, buzzer-beating, series-winning shot was his second. He did it against the Houston Rockets in 2014. But last night was bigger. It came almost exactly a year after one of his most humiliating moments. New Orleans swept Portland out of the first round of the 2018 playoffs largely because it shut down Lillard. His reaction planted the seed for last night.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DAMIAN LILLARD: I was like, I’m just going to accept responsibility that we didn’t play well. It was embarrassing. But when you go through stuff like that and you stay together and you keep working, you keep believing in what we do.
GOLDMAN: That attitude fueled a successful regular season run. But suddenly, late last month, that success seemed like it might come crashing to a halt.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER: The left leg buckled, and Nurk is down, and he is in considerable pain, and he has a serious injury.
GOLDMAN: As heard on NBC Sports Northwest, Portland’s starting center, Jusuf Nurkic, suffered a compound fracture of his left leg. He’d been having the best season of his young career. Among those saddened for Nurkic and the Blazers was Randy Rahe, Lillard’s former college coach at Weber State. Rahe still stays in close contact with his former star.
RANDY RAHE: When Nurkic went down, you know, I texted him. I says, gosh, dang it, this is a tough one – tough one. And his text back was we’ll be fine, coach; we’ll be fine.
GOLDMAN: That’s the same message Lillard sent to his teammates. Basketball pundits insisted Portland wouldn’t be fine, saying the wounded Blazers were the team everyone wanted to play in the postseason. But since the Nurkic injury, Portland’s won 12 games, lost three. Rahe says Lillard’s season-long mission of building a culture of trust and togetherness shows.
RAHE: The connectedness of the team is really evident when you watch it right now.
GOLDMAN: Of course leadership sometimes means strapping a team to your back and making eye-popping, three-point winning shots, which Lillard did last night and more. During the Oklahoma City series, Lillard and his teammates stayed calm in the face of OKC’s trash-talking. But following the final shot, Lillard raised his right arm and waved at the OKC bench.
LILLARD: The series was over. You know, that was it. And I was just waving goodbye to them.
GOLDMAN: After a long year of pessimism and criticism, last night, Damian Lillard had the last word, maybe with more to come. Tom Goldman, NPR News, Portland.
(SOUNDBITE OF MY MORNING JACKET’S “I’M AMAZED”)
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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.
Kate Smith’s ‘God Bless America’ Dropped By Two Major Sports Teams
Singer Kate Smith signs autographs for a group of American sailors circa 1938.
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The singer Kate Smith’s recording of “God Bless America” has been a cherished part of sports tradition in the U.S. for decades. But in the aftermath of a discovery that the singer also recorded at least two songs with racist content in the 1930s, two major American sports teams, baseball’s New York Yankees and ice hockey’s Philadelphia Flyers, have announced that they will stop playing Smith’s rendition of the Irving Berlin patriotic classic. On Sunday, the Flyers also took down a statue of Smith that had stood in front of their stadium since 1987.
A fan alerted the Yankees last week that Smith had recorded at least two problematic songs — 1931’s “That’s Why Darkies Were Born” and 1933’s “Pickaninny Heaven,” from the film Hello, Everybody! — the New York Daily News reported on Thursday.
On Sunday, the Philadelphia Flyers removed a statue of Smith that had stood outside the team’s arena since 1987, first at the Spectrum and later at the Xfinity Live! venue. Smith sang “God Bless America” live for the Flyers before Game 6 of the 1974 Stanley Cup finals — after which the Flyers beat the Boston Bruins. Since then, the Flyers had treated Smith’s rendition as a talisman for the team.
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In a statement published Sunday, Flyers President Paul Holmgren said, “The NHL principle ‘Hockey is for Everyone’ is at the heart of everything the Flyers stand for. As a result, we cannot stand idle while material from another era gets in the way of who we are today.”
The statement also said: “While Kate Smith’s performance of ‘God Bless America’ cannot be erased from its place in Flyers history, that rendition will no longer be featured in our game presentations.”
On Friday, the Philadelphia team had covered the statue with black cloth. A spokesman for the Flyers told NBC10 in Philadelphia on Friday, “We have recently become aware that several songs performed by Kate Smith contain offensive lyrics that do not reflect our values as an organization.” The spokesman added, “As we continue to look into this serious matter, we are removing Kate Smith’s recording of ‘God Bless America’ from our library and covering up the statue that stands outside of our arena.”
Smith’s career spanned more than five decades and encompassed radio, multiple television shows under her name, commercials and over two dozen albums and hundreds of singles. But it seems that no official working for either team was aware of these two songs.
The Yankees had played Smith’s recording of “God Bless America” during the seventh-inning stretch since shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A spokesperson told the Daily News last Thursday, “The Yankees have been made aware of a recording that had been previously unknown to us and decided to immediately and carefully review this new information. The Yankees take social, racial and cultural insensitivities very seriously. And while no final conclusions have been made, we are erring on the side of sensitivity.”
Smith, who died in 1986 at age 79, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the United States’ highest civilian honor — from President Ronald Reagan in 1982 in honor of her artistic and patriotic contributions. In his remarks, Reagan said: “It’s been truly said that one of the most inspiring things our GIs in World War II, Europe and the Pacific, and later in Korea and Vietnam, ever heard was the voice of Kate Smith — and the same is true for all of us. … Those simple but deeply moving words, ‘God bless America,’ have taken on added meaning for all of us because of the way Kate Smith sang them. Thanks to her, they have become a cherished part of all our lives, an undying reminder of the beauty, the courage and the heart of this great land of ours.”
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Smith was a foundational figure in pop culture during World War II and used her fame to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the U.S. government’s war efforts. During one 18-hour broadcast on the CBS radio network alone, she helped raise more than $100 million in war bonds. (That would amount to more than $1.4 billion in 2019 dollars.)
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In the 1933 film, Smith said that she was singing “Pickaninny Heaven” for “a lot of little colored children, who are listening in at an orphanage in New York City.” The sequence includes shots of unkempt black children, while Smith sings of a “pickaninny heaven” where “Mammy” is waiting for them as well as “great big watermelons.”
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“That’s Why Darkies Were Born” was written for a 1931 Broadway revue called “George White’s Scandals,” a show that featured such stars of the time as Rudy Vallee and Ethel Barrymore.
Some critics have argued that the “Darkies” song was meant to be a satire of white supremacist ideas — and it was famous enough in its day to be referenced in the Marx Brothers film Duck Soup. But modern-day audiences inevitably cringe at lines like “Someone had to pick the cotton / Someone had to plant the corn / Someone had to slave and be able to sing / That’s why darkies were born.”
“That’s Why Darkies Were Born” was also recorded by the pioneering and revered black bass baritone Paul Robeson — who, in his contract for EMI between 1928 and 1939, recorded quite a few songs that many contemporary listeners will find very problematic, including “De Li’l Pickaninny’s Gone to Sleep,” Stephen Foster’s plantation songs and “Poor Old Joe” (aka “Old Black Joe”).
Not Just Child’s Play: World Tiddlywinks Champions Look To Reclaim Their Glory
A tiddlywinks game mid-play, with winks spread out around the pot. Though players eventually want to “pot” their “winks,” players also strategize how to block their opponents by landing their piece on top of another’s piece.
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Claire Harbage/NPR
In 1995, Sports Illustrated likened Larry Kahn and David Lockwood to the Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier of Tiddlywinks. A fearsome metaphor for two men who, in the parlance of their game, spend their time squopping and potting, rather than bobbing and weaving.
Kahn has won 114 national and world Tiddlywinks titles. Lockwood has won 41. “Larry is the Ali,” Lockwood concedes.
But their rivalry is a friendly one, and when they’re not competing against one another, they make a formidable pair. As a duo, they’ve won five international titles together.
On Friday, they’ll look to snap a 21-year drought when they try for their sixth title together at the annual Tiddlywinks World Championships at the University of Cambridge.
Larry Kahn (left) and Dave Lockwood, practice tiddlywinks. The game has a startlingly simple premise for a game that draws an academic fandom.
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On a recent afternoon in a simply remodeled basement located in the Virginia suburbs, Lockwood paces the perimeter of a regulation 6-by-3-foot table in gym socks and red track pants, calculating his best move.
Colorful, dime-sized discs, or winks, dot the felt-matted surface. In the center lies a traditional plastic red cup no bigger than a shot glass. Kahn, wearing Tevas over his socks, is playing in shorts, as usual, lest he gets too warm circling the tabletop.
Credit: Claire Harbage/NPR
Tiddlywinks has a startlingly simple premise: Shoot the most winks into the cup. For all its academic fandom, the very name of the game and its companion slang evokes the lexicon of a nursery rhyme. But Lockwood is quick to blast the game’s reputation as a bygone children’s pastime.
“Tiddlywinks is not what you did when you were 5 years old,” he says. “Tournament tiddlywinks is a fascinating combination of physical skill at a micro level and positional strategy.”
Larry Kahn (left) and Dave Lockwood are both friends and competitors.
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What began as a 19th century adult parlor game in England, first patented in 1888, reemerged in university circles across the United Kingdom and the United States as a tournament game held at Cambridge University in 1955.
Over time, professional winkers, largely recruited from Cambridge, Oxford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, helped heighten its complexity and strategy.
Probability, physics and dexterity rule the game.
Offensively, potting — or sinking a wink in the cup — depends on how much pressure a player exerts on the squidger, a larger disc used to flick smaller discs, or winks, into the cup. To gauge your potting chances, competitors know that pressure equals distance, Lockwood explains.
Trophies collected from tiddlywinks competitions over the years.
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To keep opponents from scoring, players use their winks for another purpose: squopping. Translation: they flick their winks on top of their opponent’s discs to effectively take them out of play.
“You need to defend the ones that you’ve got and/or attack the ones that they’ve got,” Lockwood explains.
These days, there’s hardly a market for the niche sport. Several companies don’t even make the equipment anymore.
So committed winkers have had to get creative. Lockwood and Kahn have procured orthopedic felt for their playing surface. They make their own squidgers by sanding down plastic discs molded from spice jar lids. They’re banking on 3-D printing becoming more affordable in the near future to help streamline the process.
It’s not something they could have imagined when they started playing Tiddlywinks during their freshman year at MIT, when Kahn and Lockwood each signed themselves up on a whim. Kahn thought the game sounded fun to learn. Lockwood checked “Tiddlywinks” as a joke, he says, after perusing the list of activities offered in the student handbook.
“I was the last person to make the eight-player team in 1972,” he says.
Dave Lockwood plays tiddlywinks.
Credit: Claire Harbage/NPR
Larry Kahn has won 114 national and world titles.
Credit: Claire Harbage/NPR
Today, Lockwood says the game has changed his life. “I’ve been to Britain more than 100 times since then, mostly to play Tiddlywinks.”
It’s a sentiment shared by Kahn, who says the game has “enriched my life.”
Kahn and Lockwood both say that one of the best parts of belonging to the winking community has been the friendships they’ve gained.
“Immediately you have a bond with people I’ve never met and it’s continued on, through today. For whatever reason, the game has sort of kept people together to some extent.”
Kahn crafts his own squidgers from pieces of plastic.
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Of course, when talk turns to this week’s tournament, they turn less sentimental.
“It’d be nice to you know, as old as we are compared to the other players, be able to to go in and win a match,” Kahn says. “To show the old guys can still do it.”
Lockwood is blunter. “I really want this,” he says. For him, the victories are addicting.
“If you get a modicum of success, you’re more frequently willing to continue to play, but it’s also a very frustrating game because you miss these things that you’ve made so many times in the past,” he says.
“But only the past is certain.”
Soccer Star Abby Wambach Turns Rallying Commencement Speech Into New Book, ‘Wolfpack’
NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer speaks with retired Olympic soccer star Abby Wambach about her new book, Wolfpack: How to Come Together, Unleash our Power, and Change the Game
SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
Abby Wambach was a major soccer star – two Olympic gold medals, the all-time highest goal score among women and men internationally, global recognition. But when Barnard College, the all-women’s school in New York City, asked her to give its commencement address last year, she felt underqualified. So she poured her heart into her speech and decided to turn it into a rallying cry for women.
That hard work paid off. Her speech went viral, and she’s now turned it into a book about leadership for people everywhere. It’s called “WOLFPACK: How To Come Together, Unleash Our Power, And Change The Game.” Abby Wambach is with us from Colorado Public Radio to talk about some of the leadership lessons in her new book.
Abby, welcome to the show.
ABBY WAMBACH: Wow. That was that was maybe the best introduction that I’ve gotten…
PFEIFFER: (Laughter).
WAMBACH: …Over the last couple weeks being on the road with this. So can I take you with me everywhere I go now, Sacha?
PFEIFFER: We’re glad to hear that. Thank you for that. So you actually start your book with a note to readers. It’s about a company that was hiring you to teach leadership. And the man you were talking with told you he wanted to make sure that your presentation was also applicable to men. You had a sassy reply. Would you tell our listeners how you responded to him?
WAMBACH: Yeah. I said, good question, but only if you ask that of other male speakers for the women that will be in the audience. You know, and I think that – the reason why I wanted to start the book off with this specific anecdote is because I have to bring light to some of the micro-aggressions or insidious things that men say that women have to take and eat and store away.
And, you know, this is also part of the book, where I’m inviting men into this solution, into this conversation. Because I don’t believe myself to be this righteous feminist who doesn’t – and is male-hating. Like, I actually really think that men have to be a part of the solution for us to create the change that we want to see in the world. And so this is kind of my invitation. And a way to draw men into this conversation is to kind of showcase an instance that has happened to women so often.
PFEIFFER: A constant theme is the book is that leadership has no universal form. You can lead from wherever you are in life. And you give an example near the end of your career. It’s your final season on the U.S. women’s national soccer team. You’re no longer a starter. That could feel really devastating. But you realized you can lead from the bench. I love that idea – lead from the bench. Can you talk about that a little?
WAMBACH: Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think everybody knows what it feels like to be benched. And I think that we have to acknowledge the fact that we’re human beings, and that’s going to hurt. So you’re allowed to be disappointed. But what you’re not allowed to do is to miss your opportunity to lead from the bench.
You know, in 2015, I came off the bench for our Women’s National Team and my final World Cup. We ended up winning this World Cup, and I think that there was a reason. And it wasn’t just because of the players on the field – it was because of the support that they were given by those players that were sitting on the bench and that came off the bench to close out those games.
You know, it’s not easy. Like, I have children, and I see the feelings that run through them when they aren’t starting. But I also have to get my children aware of what they’re doing in their body language and their response to that benching, what that can do to the collective because, at the end of the day, we have to figure out, we have to decide if you and your ego mean more than the group’s win, than the collective success of everyone else, whether it’s being left off a project or not given the raise or not getting the – not got the job. Or you’re at home, and you’re nursing your child, and you’re home on maternity leave and fearing that your colleagues are getting ahead.
There’s so many different versions of what it means to be benched. And I can safely say that I wouldn’t have learned the full context of what really true leadership is about until I had the opportunity to lead from the bench.
PFEIFFER: You write about how after you retired, your greatest loss was losing your team, your teammates. That was so important to you. And at a certain point, you had taken a break from physical activity. You were trying to get back into running. It was really hard. And your wife pointed out to you, well, you’ve lost your team. You’re trying to do it alone. So you have a lesson that says, find your pack. I like that, too. Tell us what you mean by that. How do you find a pack?
WAMBACH: Our Women’s National Team has been so successful over decades since the beginning of the creation of the team, right? And all of these women – we all think that we’re the best in the world. Rightfully so – but you can imagine that environment and the standards and the competition and the challenge and the demanding aspects of it. So, having lived inside of this little ecosystem for so many years, I became so accustomed to having those around me push me to become my best self.
So I took a few years off, and I got super unfit, but I needed – my body needed a complete reset. So I started running again, and this whole thing – like, I hate running. I hate every step of it. And I would come home, and I would complain. And eventually, my wife was, like, look – like, you don’t have your teammates around you.
And it dawned on me – like, wow. Oh, OK. I see how this works. Suffering and joy is made so much better when you get to do it with people around you that see your best self and hold you to that account.
PFEIFFER: It’s common for professional athletes after they retire to feel like they’ve lost their identity. What have you done to kind of rebuild who you are? Do you feel like you have an identity again after your pro career?
WAMBACH: You know, that’s a really great question. Our book hit No. 3 on the New York Times bestseller list on Wednesday. And here I am having written this book and stepping into a different version of, you know, women’s rights feminist icon. And it’s something I’m really proud of because I had to really educate myself on what I believe to be true.
And so I – I don’t know. I think that recreating a person’s identity is happening on the daily. And I – for me – I want to keep breaking free from all of these identities and get down to that last one, which is human. And I hope that people out there feel the same way because we are all the same matter.
PFEIFFER: That soccer star Abby Wambach.
Abby, thank you.
WAMBACH: Thank you, guys.
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