Dee Ford was getting angry tweets when the Kansas City Chiefs’ player drew a late penalty against the Patriots and his team lost. A woman named Dee Ford is on Twitter, she gets tweets meant for him.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Good morning. I’m Rachel Martin. Last weekend, NFL player Dee Ford of the Kansas City Chiefs was getting all kinds of angry tweets. He was hit with a late penalty, and his team lost to the Patriots. The thing is Dee Ford is not on Twitter, but a 47-year-old English woman also named Dee Ford is, so she’s the one who got the Twitter rage. It’s been happening for years, so the two Dee Fords have become friends. British Dee Ford said some of the tweets are quite nasty, and she is glad football Dee Ford doesn’t have to see them.

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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.

Numerous artists reportedly passed on the opportunity to perform at this year’s Super Bowl. DJs Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Garcia look back at past musician protests.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Maroon 5, along with rappers Big Boi and Travis Scott, will be performing at this year’s Super Bowl halftime show. And they face a lot of criticism and pressure to back out. Numerous artists reportedly passed on the opportunity to perform to signal solidarity with Colin Kaepernick and other players who have taken the knee during the national anthem in protest of racial injustice. All this got us thinking about musician protests of the past, so we’re joined by our friends of the show and legendary DJs Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Garcia for a little bit of history. Hey there, guys.

ROBERT GARCIA, BYLINE: Hello.

ADRIAN BARTOS, BYLINE: Hello. Hello. Hello.

CORNISH: Hey. Bobbito, you’ve been thinking about anti-apartheid protests from the mid-’80s.

GARCIA: Yes.

CORNISH: So for the context here, the U.N. had called for a cultural and economic boycott of South Africa because of its white rule and official policy of racial segregation. First of all, tons of musicians actually ignored the boycott, right? Like, they played South Africa anyway.

GARCIA: Yes, they did. They crossed the line of the boycott for personal gain. You know, the whole thing was really a mess, right? Because, I mean, you had artists from South Africa exiled from the country having expressed disdain for the political system there. And then you had other artists who could perform to make the decision against it. And there were artists who boycotted.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SUN CITY”)

ARTISTS UNITED AGAINST APARTHEID: (Singing) Ain’t gonna play Sun City.

CORNISH: And the focus comes to fall on Sun City, a whites-only resort during apartheid. And this becomes, in a way, a kind of symbol, right?

GARCIA: Yes. Steven Van Zandt, who is a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, corralled a phenomenal amount of support – Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen. I mean, we’re talking about as American as you can get when it comes to creating rock. He also did something kind of against the grain in pop and rock music at the time which was he enlisted the help of Run D.M.C., which were, you know, as major as one could imagine.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SUN CITY”)

ARTISTS UNITED AGAINST APARTHEID: (Rapping) We’re rockers and rappers, united and strong. We’re here to talk about South Africa. We don’t like what’s going on.

BARTOS: The co-producer of the record was Arthur Baker, one of the most important producers of electro and early hip-hop. You know, Steve might be the more recognizable character out of the production crew, but Arthur Baker is equally as important.

CORNISH: Bobbito, for you, when you listen back to this song and you think about it in the context of what kind of statement it’s trying to make at the time, how strong was that statement? How significant was that moment?

GARCIA: This protest song against Sun City was not only a statement for the artists, but it came at a moment when MTV was at its zenith in terms of reach to an audience that was completely emerging and new – high school and college students. But, you know, this song was a cog in a ginormous – it’s a national shift because in 1994, apartheid ended.

CORNISH: I want to stay with this period of time because there’s a song I remember very much from 1985, which is “We Are The World.”

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

CYNDI LAUPER: (Singing) Well, well, well, let’s realize…

CORNISH: And that was a song that brought together artists – essentially, I guess – to raise money and awareness for the famine in Ethiopia. Let’s take a listen.

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

USA FOR AFRICA: (Singing) We are the world. We are the children.

GARCIA: Stretch, should we hold hands?

(LAUGHTER)

BARTOS: Hold on. I need a lighter.

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

USA FOR AFRICA: (Singing) So let’s start giving.

GARCIA: Wait. Is that Audie singing backup?

BARTOS: (Laughter).

CORNISH: Listen. It might as well have been because I think the thing that was remarkable about this song is everyone and their mother was in it, right? Can you talk about, again, this as a political moment? Is that how it was remembered? Because now it has a little bit of a schlocky reputation.

BARTOS: I felt “Sun City” was, you know, more about getting active and being aware, whereas “We Are The World” felt a little bit – kind of just a feel-good dressing.

CORNISH: Yeah. It’s also easier to be against famine maybe than, at the time, it was to be against racism. I don’t know.

BARTOS: Sure. “We Are The World” just asked you to feel something, whereas “Sun City” is asking you maybe to take a stance.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SUN CITY”)

ARTISTS UNITED AGAINST APARTHEID: (Singing) Relocation to phony homelands. Separation of families, I can’t understand.

CORNISH: Bobbito, do you think artists today have more or less of a platform for politics than the moments we were talking about?

GARCIA: Well, in our modern era, artists have an incredible reach on a daily basis in their followers’ minds and hearts. I think it’s every artist’s responsibility, once they get that platform, if they have a consciousness about what is righteous and what is not, to express that.

I think the power of seeing Bob Dylan with Run D.M.C. and Gil Scott-Heron and Miles Davis – and I can’t escape the idea of being on my hand-me-down couch in my living room watching these videos for the first time. And I hope that artists can have the vision that perhaps not only can they make a change in our modern era, but they can be an inspiration for artists 20, 30 years from now in the way that these artists were back then.

GARCIA: That’s Bobbito Garcia and Stretch Armstrong. Thank you both for talking about this with us.

BARTOS: Thanks, Audie.

GARCIA: Why, thank you, Audie.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

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

Louisiana’s governor sent the NFL Commissioner a letter complaining about a missed penalty that New Orleans Saints fans say cost their team a chance to play in the Super Bowl.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

There has been a controversy raging in the NFL since Sunday that has now turned political. Louisiana’s governor, John Bel Edwards, has sent a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell complaining about a missed penalty that New Orleans Saints fans say cost their team a chance to play in the Super Bowl. This letter follows lawsuits, a petition and just general rage about this now infamous no call by referees in the NFC championship game. And let’s talk about this with NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman. Hi, Tom.

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Hi there, David.

GREENE: OK. So for people who were not watching that game, remind us what happened and what is causing all this.

GOLDMAN: Only one of the most obvious cases of pass interference you’ll ever see, and it wasn’t penalized. It happened late in the game between the Saints and the LA Rams. A Rams defender blasted a New Orleans receiver before a pass reached the receiver, and there was no flag. And after the game, the Rams defender acknowledged he interfered. The NFL head of officials admitted they blew the call, which, under NFL rules, wasn’t reviewable, so they couldn’t check replays and see what everyone else in the world saw.

Now, as a result, the Saints lost a chance to run down the clock and kick a short field goal for the win in the final seconds. Instead, they were forced to kick a tiebreaking field goal with over a minute and a half left. That gave the Rams lots of time to get the ball back, drive down the field, kick the tying field goal, which they did, and then they won in overtime.

GREENE: So Saints fans are going to want you to answer yes to this question, but I’m going to ask it. Would they have definitely won the game if this penalty had been called?

GOLDMAN: (Laughter) Highly likely, Saints fans, but not certain, David Greene. This is just between you and me. Even if the Saints had run down the game clock and attempted that very short field goal for the win, the kicker could have missed or it might have been blocked. Even with the botched call, the Saints could have won. Yes, the Rams got the ball with lots of time after the Saints went ahead, but, hey, what about that great Saints defense? They could have stopped the Rams from driving down the field, kicking the tying field goal. And then in overtime, the Saints had the ball first and had a chance to win.

So now that all Saints fans hate me, I will say, yes, the odds were pretty good that had the penalty been called, the Saints would be playing New England in the Super Bowl February 3.

GREENE: All right. Well, sports fans like me, we just suffer and deal with a bad call. It sounds like in Louisiana I guess you could do lots of things like file lawsuits and get your governor involved. So what – tell us – tell me more about the response here.

GOLDMAN: The governor sent that letter to Commissioner Goodell to make rule changes that allow for expanding use of replay. Otherwise, he said, the integrity of the game will be called into question. Edwards also said Louisiana football fans will move on but will not forget. There are these lawsuits by fans. One of them alleges damages of mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life. I know you’ve felt that as a Pittsburgh Steelers fan.

GREENE: Thanks.

GOLDMAN: (Laughter) Saints fan Matt Bowers has rented billboards in Atlanta, the host city for the Super Bowl, with messages like Saints got robbed. And there’s an online petition asking for a rematch this Sunday. As of early this morning, David, the petition had over 680,000 signatures.

GREENE: OK. There’s not going to be a rematch. I’m going to predict that right now. But what is the NFL going to do here going forward?

GOLDMAN: What should happen and probably will is replay needs to be expanded. That play should have been reviewed and the call corrected. The league has said subjective penalties like pass interference cannot be reviewed. The NFL, you know, worries that too much replay will slow down games. But if you watch the other conference championship game between New England and Kansas City, which I’m sure you did, there were a bunch of replays during a thrilling fourth quarter, and it didn’t take away the excitement at all.

GREENE: NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman. Thank you, Tom.

GOLDMAN: A pleasure, David.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

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

Football is still king in America, but almost nobody wants to insure it. NPR’s Audie Cornish talks with ESPN’s Steve Fainaru about the growing crisis that could topple the U.S.’s most popular sport.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

The NFL has, over the last decade, been rocked by lawsuits over traumatic brain injuries, allegations of player domestic violence off the field and rule changes of their own. But according to an ESPN investigation, the sport is facing a problem that could threaten its very survival – lack of insurance. The NFL no longer has general liability insurance covering head trauma. And only one carrier is willing to cover teams for workman’s comp. In short, if there’s no insurance, there’s no football. Steve Fainaru co-wrote the story with Mark Fainaru-Wada for ESPN’s Outside the Lines. He joins me now. Welcome to the program.

STEVE FAINARU: Thank you.

CORNISH: So help us understand right now what the NFL is dealing with when it comes to insurance.

FAINARU: It started with the resolution of the class-action suit against the NFL that was over concussions. You had thousands of former players that were accusing the league of covering up the link between football and neurodegenerative disease. The NFL settled that suit for an estimated $1 billion. And since then, the insurance industry has been taking a look at the litigation that’s been proliferating since then. And it’s hitting the sport at all levels – from Pop Warner all the way up to the league. And the result has been that many of the companies have just been taking a pass. They’ve been getting out of the industry. So if the league was sued under its general liability policy on this issue in the future, they’re on their own. They ultimately have to pay it.

CORNISH: It’s interesting. So, basically, no matter what the NFL says or anyone attempting to debate the science of what’s going on, insurers have made a call already, which is, like, they’re out.

FAINARU: Yeah, I think this is one of the things that is so striking about this issue – is that it’s a market issue. And so for all the issues that the NFL has been doing to try to mitigate this problem, to try to – putting money into the research and changing the rules – that the insurance industry is making its own judgments about where this is going. And I think that what they’re seeing is that there’s just still a tremendous amount of uncertainty. There’s been so much litigation that’s proliferated since the NFL settled the class-action suit in 2013 that it really gives the insurance industry pause. The NFL’s insurance broker, Alex Fairly, spoke with us. And he said bluntly that if you are football or other contact sports, the insurance industry basically doesn’t want you right now.

CORNISH: So your reporting shows that we’re already starting to see the impact of this – smaller programs shutting down because of insurance costs. Can you describe one or two stories that stuck out to you?

FAINARU: The problem is especially acute at the lower levels, at the nonrevenue-producing sports. So Pop Warner, for example, was told by its longtime insurer that it would no longer cover the organization for any neurological injury. And they found that there was only one company that was able to provide them that coverage. And the executive director of Pop Warner, Jon Butler, told us there’s only, really, two solutions for Pop Warner if they can’t get insurance. They either have to declare bankruptcy, or they go out of business.

So that would obviously pose incredible problems for the 250,000 youth players that are involved in Pop Warner. We followed a case in Maricopa County, Ariz., where a junior college district decided to eliminate football for four teams. They found that the cost of insuring 358 football players represented one-third of the entire costs of the 200,000 students that were in the system. And they decided that was just too much. And they had to get out of it.

CORNISH: In the long run, as more and more insurers get out and get out at the level you were talking about – Pop Warner – right? – people’s early introduction to playing the sport, could that have a long-term effect on football itself?

FAINARU: I think we’ll have to see. But I think it’s obvious – if you can’t get insurance with all the litigation that’s out there, it becomes essentially impossible to field a team. And so for youth sports in particular – and then when you get into the high-school level, there is an enormous amount of complexity around it. But it is sort of a basic thing – that if you can’t get insurance, it becomes very difficult to stage the sport.

CORNISH: Steve Fainaru reports for ESPN’s Outside the Lines. Thank you for sharing your reporting with us.

FAINARU: Thanks, Audie.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

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

Scott Simon speaks with sports correspondent Tom Goldman about the NFL conference championship games on Sunday, and how concussions are limiting insurance options in the league.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Time now for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIMON: We are so close to the Super Bowl now that we can smell the nachos. The NFL’s conference championship games are tomorrow. We’re joined now by NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman. Tom, thanks so much for being with us.

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Not eating nachos this early but hello, Scott.

SIMON: Let’s start with the early game – Rams-Saints. They met earlier this season. The Saints handed the Rams their first loss of the season. It was a high-scoring game – 45-35. But I gather tomorrow’s match, as so often happens in the playoffs, comes down to defense.

GOLDMAN: Yes, it may. And I’m going to throw out a couple of names of defensive players who could have significant impact. May and could, Scott. I’m feeling bold today.

SIMON: Yeah.

GOLDMAN: Aqib Talib – a veteran defensive back for the Rams who was missing from that earlier game you talked about, and the Saints had a field day throwing and catching the ball in his half since he’s back for this game. And then Sheldon Rankins for the Saints – he’s an excellent run-stopping defensive lineman. He’s out with an injury. The Rams have a great running attack that can only benefit from his absence. So I’m not going to say these situations the Rams win because of him, but they do help LA.

SIMON: Drew Brees, the Saints quarterback, is 40, and he has been so accurate this year. Tom, he could split an apple in two off of your head with the point of his football if he wanted to.

GOLDMAN: (Laughter) You know, that’s about the only thing he didn’t do this season. He set an NFL record, completing nearly 75 percent of his passes. Now, The Wall Street Journal studied all of his incomplete passes, and there weren’t many. And it found…

SIMON: Two.

GOLDMAN: Yeah, exactly. And they found most were not his fault, meaning receivers dropped them or caught them and then defenders jarred the ball loose. Only about 9 percent of Brees’ total passes were bad throws. So if the Rams want to beat New Orleans, put an apple on someone’s head. No, I’m sorry. They can’t rely on Brees beating himself.

SIMON: And then, of course, there’s Tom Brady. I’m not going to call him old. He’s 41. He’s a vet. Kansas City quarterback, a great one, is young – Patrick Mahomes. And last time they met, the Pats stole the game in the final seconds. You think tomorrow’s game going to be as close?

GOLDMAN: Absolutely, unless it’s not. Can you tell I’m hedging my bets this time, Scott?

SIMON: Time will tell. Time will tell, yeah.

GOLDMAN: Right, right. But both quarterbacks can create offense so well, so whoever falls behind, there’s a good chance of catching up. Mahomes is great at eluding pass rushers. He does amazing things when he’s forced to run for his life. Brady needs solid protection to do his thing because he’s not as mobile, and he’ll need that protection against a very good Kansas City pass rush. Scott, Kansas City is a slight favorite, and I think they win this one.

SIMON: All right, a prediction. I – news I have to ask you about this week around the NFL actually might be more important long term. We’ve actually got a film clip from the film “Concussion.”

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “CONCUSSION”)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As actor) If just 10 percent of the mothers in America decide that football is too dangerous for their sons to play, that is it. It is the end of football. Kids, colleges and eventually, it’s just a matter of time, the professional game.

SIMON: May not be the mothers, though, right, Tom?

GOLDMAN: That’s right. Turns out, in this age of concussion awareness, it may be insurance companies that decide the fate of football. This week, a report by ESPN’s “Outside The Lines,” a comprehensive report, said insurance companies are getting out of the business of insuring football because they’re afraid, you know, they’re going to have to pay out billions in legal and medical costs. Already some programs at community colleges and city rec departments have been eliminated because of the lack of insurance or rising insurance costs. The head of Pop Warner’s youth football program is quoted as saying “people say football will never go away, but if we can’t get insurance, it will.” Scott, it’s a fascinating read and a scary scenario for those who love the game, which is still this country’s most popular sport. But the question is, for how long?

SIMON: And of course – but for those who love the players, it’s also important to read.

GOLDMAN: Absolutely.

SIMON: NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman. Tom, thanks so much for being with us.

GOLDMAN: You’re welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOE.’S “SILVER SUN”)

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

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

Two-time Olympic gold medal speed skater Shim Suk-hee revealed earlier this month she was repeatedly raped by her coach. Now, South Korea’s governing sports body has promised a crackdown on coaches.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

From tae kawan do and baseball to skating and golf, South Korea has established itself in recent years as a sports powerhouse. Its medal counts have been in the Top 10 in recent Summer and Winter Olympics. But that glory and prestige has been eclipsed by the shadow of violence and sexual abuse against female athletes. NPR’s Anthony Kuhn reports from Seoul.

ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: With just weeks to go before last year’s Pyongyang Winter Olympics, short-track speed skater Shim Suk-hee went missing from the national team’s training camp. A sports ministry investigation found that Shim, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was beaten by her coach, Cho Jae-bom, the day she went missing. Cho was sacked and convicted of abusing four athletes, including Shim. He was sentenced to 10 months in jail last September. Cho has denied the charges through his lawyer. Shim testified at Cho’s appeal hearing last month and spoke to reporters outside the courthouse.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SHIM SUK-HEE: (Through interpreter) I mustered my courage to come here today because I hope there will be no more victims like myself in the sports world and because I want to do what I can, not just for myself, but for the future.

KUHN: This month, Shim went further, accusing Cho of repeatedly raping her since she was 17. She’s now 21. As the scandal grabbed headlines, a petition on the presidential office’s website calling for harsher sentencing of Cho got over a quarter of a million signatures. Government ministries and lawmakers promised to get tough on sexual abuse in sports. In a meeting with his aides this week, President Moon Jae-in called for thorough investigations and stiff punishment.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT MOON JAE-IN: (Speaking Korean).

KUHN: Recent allegations of physical and sexual violence in sports, he said, reveal a shameful side hidden beneath the shiny facade of South Korea as a sports powerhouse. Also this week, a former judo athlete and a tae kwan do trainee stepped up to accuse their coaches of physical and sexual violence, but some observers say it’s just a drop in the bucket.

CHUNG YONGCHUL: Still, the numbers are low, and we all know why – because of all the threat they have. They’re afraid to talk about it.

KUHN: Chung Yongchul is a professor of sport psychology at Seoul’s so gone University and an activist against abuse in sports. He says the government’s been promising to crack down on cases of abuse for the past decade, but thanks to a stubborn culture of impunity, very little has changed. Some of that, he notes, has roots in South Korea’s Confucian traditions in which a teacher’s authority is just like a father’s. It must be obeyed and not challenged.

CHUNG: That’s part of the reason why this is so hard for the athlete to speak up because you’re actually accusing, like, a father-like figure – accusing him as an aggressor.

KUHN: That’s also why sports authorities who have the power to punish abusers often shield them, Chung says. And help centers and hotlines set up for the athletes often side against them. But Chung adds that the strength of public outrage in South Korea at the abuse of skater Shim Suk-hee could mean this time is different.

CHUNG: So I think this could be the last chance for the Korean sport to actually eradicate all the problems.

KUHN: And if South Korea comes home from next year’s Tokyo Olympics with a reduced haul of medals but an increase in athletes’ human rights, Chung says that’s definitely something Koreans can live with. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Seoul.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

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

The Chiefs play New England for a ticket to the Super Bowl. A Kansas City amusement park has altered the name of its roller coaster The Patriot to The Patrick in honor of Chiefs’ QB Patrick Mahomes.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Good morning. I’m David Greene. Maybe don’t even use the word patriot in conversation this week in Kansas City. The Chiefs are playing New England for a ticket to the Super Bowl. And Worlds of Fun, a Kansas City amusement park, has gone so far as to alter the name of its roller coaster The Patriot. The Patriot is now The Patrick to honor Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Chiefs fans, I hope Sunday’s game for you is less roller coaster and more world of fun.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

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