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Sports December 15, 2018

Saturday Sports: Hard Chargers And Ravenous Raptors

NPR’s Scott Simon discusses the week in sports with ESPN’s Howard Bryant, including impressive wins by the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers.



SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News – I’m Scott Simon – where BJ Leiderman writes our theme music. Here it comes. Time for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIMON: Basketball, football and litigation – America’s favorite sports. Howard Bryant from espn.com and ESPN The Magazine joins us. Howard, thanks so much for being with us.

HOWARD BRYANT, BYLINE: Hey, Scott. How are you?

SIMON: I’m fine, thanks. Let’s begin – but not as good as the Toronto Raptors. Let’s begin with the NBA. They’re not just lucky, are they? They completed their season sweep of the Warriors, the Golden State Warriors, this week – beat them by 20 points. What’s going on in Toronto?

BRYANT: Yeah, and they won that game on the road, as well. And that is – it’s a great one.

I know people talk about the 82-game season, and none of the games matter until the playoffs or whatever. But if you are the Toronto Raptors, and you were struggling for respect, you’ve never been to the NBA Finals, you were the best team in the league in your conference last year – or so you thought you were – and you won more games than you’d ever won before, and then LeBron James came in and blew your doors off…

SIMON: Yeah.

BRYANT: …And then you fired your coach, you need these victories. And it’s important to measure yourself against the greatest team of this era, the Golden State Warriors. And so to beat them twice in a season, I agree with what Steph Curry said. We’re after the game. He said, hey, if we meet them in the playoffs, it’s 0-0. Nothing matters from here.

That’s OK when you’ve won three championships – quite a different story when you’re the Raptors, and you’ve got Kawhi Leonard, and it’s a very, very different team. I always say – we’ve talked about this so many times on this show – that the NBA is a best-player-wins league, and Kawhi Leonard is the best player, I think, in the Eastern Conference. He didn’t even play…

SIMON: Yeah.

BRYANT: …In that game, and they still won. So it shows you how much confidence this team has now.

SIMON: And now to the NFL and the AFC, where the Los Angeles Chargers – still a little uncomfortable to say that.

BRYANT: San Diego…

SIMON: Yeah. I…

BRYANT: Yeah.

SIMON: Well, Stephen Smith said San Diego again this week – didn’t he? – several times.

The Los Angeles Chargers are also for real. They beat the Kansas City Chiefs with a 2-point conversion in the last few seconds Thursday night, even though there were some questions raised about it. How are they doing it?

BRYANT: Well, I think they’re a very good team. And I think that one of the interesting things about the Chargers, especially – we talked about the Raptors earlier. The Chargers are in a very similar boat. If you go back and think about this history of this team, they haven’t been to the Super Bowl – they’ve never won the Super Bowl. They haven’t been to the Super Bowl since ’95, when they lost to the 49ers.

And you think about this team having all these players – when they had LaDainian Tomlinson and Shawne Merriman and Antonio Gates. And now they’ve got Philip Rivers, who’s the old man of the conference now. And this might be their best team.

And I think that what’s funny about it is that, on the one hand, the NFL is – it’s a mediocre league. You know, they – the game is set up for every team to pretty much have a chance at winning because of the rules. But they’re 11-3, and they’re right up there. They’re tied with the Chiefs. They’re a game and a half ahead of the Patriots.

And so maybe this is how it works the same way it worked with the Philadelphia Eagles last year – that the best team that you’ve had in your history isn’t the team that wins, but maybe this is the one that gets there.

SIMON: I want to close this week, Howard, by talking about – asking about Russell Beckman, a Green Bay Packers fan. He lost a court case this week. He – you know, he’s one of these Packer fans that puts the cheese stuff on. He wants to stand along the sidelines at the game tomorrow and wear his Packers gear at a pregame event. The Bears won’t let him do it. Firstly, I am appalled that this winds up in court.

BRYANT: Yeah. I think, on the one hand, it looks like one of these quirky stories where you say, well, wow, this is sort of kind of funny news of the weird. But on the other hand, you look at it, and you say, why is this in court in the first place? On the one hand, I understand it. It sounds…

SIMON: And the Bears are being small-minded – no doubt about it. Yeah.

BRYANT: But it also sounds like classic trolling. You have these events, and you do them for your fans. And why would you have a Packers fan on the Bears sideline? Now, the guy paid his money, obviously. He’s a season ticket holder.

On the other hand, you also recognize that this is – once again, there’s no reason to do this. There’s no reason, if you are a real, true Packer fan, why are you on the sideline of the Chicago Bears other than simply being a nuisance? I understand that.

And I think, on the other hand, you also look at it, and you say – you also say, well, this isn’t something that belongs in a courtroom. This is something that should be fun. But if it does end up in a courtroom, then I suppose that maybe the republic is not collapsing after all. There’s room for this.

SIMON: Howard Bryant, thanks so much.

BRYANT: Thanks, Scott.

Copyright © 2018 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

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

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Sports December 13, 2018

A Trans Man Steps Into The Ring – And Wins His Debut As A Professional Boxer

Patricio Manuel, the first openly transgender man to box professionally in the U.S., faced off against Hugo Aguilar on Saturday evening at a casino in Indio, Calif. The judges declared Manuel the winner.

Texas Isaiah


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Texas Isaiah

If you just happened to be in the crowd at a super featherweight bout in Indio, Calif., on Saturday evening, you might not understand the importance of that particular boxing match.

But for Patricio Manuel, it represented 12 minutes of triumph. With that fight, Manuel, 33, became the first openly trans man to compete in a professional boxing match in the U.S.

It was moment of joy following a long journey after Manuel first stepped into the ring as a high schooler in Gardena, a small city south of Los Angeles.

“The first week I fell in love with the sport and never looked back,” Manuel tells NPR. He was drawn by boxing’s rigor — “the specific, very grueling training from boxing, as well as the opportunity to compete consistently is what really attracted me to the sport.”

Boxing entered his life at the same time as another fateful event for Manuel: puberty.

“I had always seen myself as a boy, even though society basically kept telling me no,” he says. “And when I started going through puberty, it was like nature being like, no — you actually are a girl, no matter how much you don’t want to be.”

Manuel trained hard, developing a high-pressure style, throwing lots of shots at his opponents. He worked up the ranks of women’s boxing, winning five amateur championships – and qualified for the 2012 Olympic trials, the first time women’s boxing would be in the games. But after sustaining an injury in the first round at the trials, Manuel had to withdraw.

It was a career setback, but it forced a personal reckoning.

“Boxing was this thing I love, but it was also a distraction from me really looking at myself, and being like ‘Who are you, really? What will make you happy?’ ” he says. “I was just always like, ‘Boxing makes me happy.’ But there’s more to me than just a sport. And when the sport was taken away from me, I really had to look at myself, and be like, ‘There’s more to this than just losing the fight.'”

Manuel realized he had been lying to himself about being known as a female athlete and competing in women’s boxing: “I really was a man that wanted to be in boxing, but I was afraid that I would lose my ability to compete.”

It was time. Manuel decided to go by the name Pat, to use he/him/his pronouns and live publicly as a man. He also began taking hormones and medically transitioning, having a mastectomy and then surgery to give him a male-shaped chest.

Manuel flexes at the match on Saturday in Indio, Calif.

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But other complications arose now. His longtime gym told him that he could train there, but only if he didn’t tell anyone — an impossibility for Manuel. “I’ve never lived my life in a closet, and I refuse to compromise that way. So I walked out of that gym and I never came back.”

He found a new gym that welcomed him, and he fought two amateur bouts in 2016 – winning one, losing the other. But it was hard to find opponents, and he had to get used to taking on boxers who fought in a style more like his own.

“A lot of the male fighters — especially in Los Angeles, which is a primarily Mexican-populated boxing area — a lot of it’s hunting someone down and ripping them to the body, which used to be my style in the amateurs,” Manuel says. “But I faced a lot of female fighters who were really excellent boxers who worked on getting their distance, getting their points, moving out of the way. So it was an adjustment to turn from being the person who was always chasing down and breaking down the body of other fighters, to having someone do that to me.”

But he kept up his training regimen, and with some new support from Golden Boy, Oscar de la Hoya’s boxing promotion company, Manuel was able to get his pro license to box as a man. Golden Boy also found him an opponent.

So on Saturday evening, in an eight-fight card at a casino in Indio, Manuel battled a man named Hugo Aguilar. After four rounds, the judges declared Manuel the winner.

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As Manuel was interviewed in the ring about what it all meant, boos and whistles could be heard from the crowd. But Manuel wasn’t shaken, and he says he wasn’t angry, either.

“I’m a black trans man. I’ve had people saying cruel, hateful things to me my entire life. People booing me – it’s more about them than me. They don’t know me. They don’t know what I’ve been through. They don’t know how much I love this sport, how happy I was in that moment. I refuse to give them power over me by feeling even angry toward it.”

And, he says, he’ll be back.

“This wasn’t a one-show, this wasn’t a publicity stunt. This is something I love, something I’ve invested my entire life to, this is something I’ve sacrificed for. This is just the start.”

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Sports December 12, 2018

Former Bahraini Soccer Pro Awaits His Fate In A Thai Prison

Hakeem al-Araibi, a soccer player with refugee status in Australia, was detained in Bangkok as he began a vacation. Bahrain wants him extradited after a vandalism conviction, but Araibi fears he will be tortured.

Lillian Suwanrumpha /AFP/Getty Images


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A professional soccer player is being held in a Bangkok prison while he awaits extradition to Bahrain, where he was convicted in absentia of vandalism and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

Hakeem al-Araibi, 25, formerly on the Bahraini national soccer team, denies he vandalized a police station and says he fears political persecution and torture if he is returned to Bahrain, according to the Associated Press.

On Tuesday a Thai court ruled that Araibi could be detained for 60 days pending the completion of Bahrain’s extradition request. The court also denied a request for bail.

The London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy said it was in contact with Araibi, who communicated this message on Dec. 4:

“This might be my last message. I still don’t know whether I will be deported to Bahrain tomorrow. I appeal to the United Nations, individual states, FIFA, footballers, and all people, as my fate is now in danger and my future will soon be over. If I am deported to Bahrain, don’t forget me, and if once I’m there you hear me saying things, don’t believe me. I know what will happen to me and I know I will be tortured to confess things that I have never done. Please continue your fight to save me.”

Araibi fled his homeland four years ago. Since the failed Arab Spring uprising in 2011, the Bahraini government has become known for harshly repressing its critics. Araibi, who has criticized Bahrain’s ruling family in media interviews, made his way to Australia, where he was granted refugee status and, in 2017, permanent residency.

Araibi was arrested at a Bangkok airport on Nov. 27 upon entering Thailand with his wife for a vacation. Since then, there have been widespread calls for his release, including from the Australian government and international human rights organizations.

Thailand’s Immigration Bureau commissioner, Surachate Hakparn, told the Bangkok Post the detention of Araibi abides by international law on human rights.

When Araibi was detained in Bangkok, there was an Interpol red notice attached to him. Such a notice is meant to alert nations about individuals with active arrest warrants. They are not legally binding, but according to The New York Times, red notices have been “abused by authoritarian governments that want to bring home critics who have fled abroad.”

Thai authorities detained him “in response to the red notice alert received from the Interpol National Central Bureau of Australia and the formal request from the Bahraini government for his arrest and extradition,” the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Interpol rescinded the red notice for Araibi about a week after he was detained, the Times says.

Araibi’s Australian soccer club has urged the Thai government to free the Bahraini athlete. But FIFA, soccer’s governing body, which told The Guardian it supports his release, has been criticized by Human Rights Watch and other groups for not doing more to gain his freedom.

Bahrain, a small Persian Gulf nation ruled by a Sunni monarch, has been the focus of concern by human rights groups for some time. Last year Amnesty International warned that Bahrain was “heading towards total suppression of human rights.”

Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, told The Guardian that “The Thai government must know it’s crossing a red line if it deports Hakeem.”

The Bahrain rights group notes on its website that Araibi “has been very critical of the current president of the Asian Football Confederation,” Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Khalifa, a member of Bahrain’s royal family, especially during his 2016 candidacy for the position of president of FIFA. Khalifa did not win but is a vice president of the organization.

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Sports December 11, 2018

Texas Judge Allows Former Baylor Frat President To Sidestep Rape Charge

A judge in Texas on Monday accepted a plea bargain that allows Jacob Anderson, a former Baylor University fraternity president accused of raping a woman at a fraternity party, to avoid serving jail time, marking at least the third time the judge has approved probation for men accused of sexually assaulting Baylor students.

McLennan County Sheriff’s Office via AP


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McLennan County Sheriff’s Office via AP

A judge has accepted a plea agreement under which the former president of a Baylor University fraternity, accused of raping a female student, will serve no jail time and won’t have to register as a sex offender.

The deal allowed Jacob Walter Anderson, 23, of Garland, Texas, to plead no contest on Monday to the lesser charge of unlawful restraint. In pleading no contest, a defendant does not admit guilt and does not offer a defense.

The woman who brought the charges expressed outrage at the decision.

“He stole my body, virginity and power over my body,” she said in court, according to a family spokesman, the Associated Press reports.

“I not only have to live with his rape and the repercussions of the rape, I have to live with the knowledge that the McLennan County justice system is severely broken,” the family statement quoted the woman as saying. “I have to live with the fact that after all these years and everything I have suffered, no justice was achieved.”

The McLennan County’s district attorney’s office, which dismissed four counts of sexual assault against Anderson, told the alleged victim’s family it was not confident enough to take the case to trial, according to NPR’s Wade Goodwyn.

Goodwyn reports the alleged victim told Judge Ralph Strother she was furious the prosecutors who struck the plea agreement did not attend the hearing. “If I had the courage to come back to Waco and face my rapist and testify, you could at least have had enough respect for me to show up today,” she said.

Strother, on at least two other occasions in the past couple of years, dealt leniently with men accused of raping or sexually assaulting Baylor students, AP reports.

The offer of a plea deal was made public in August, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald. Baylor is a private Christian university in Waco.

“The way the victim’s family found out about the plea deal is they read it in the local newspaper,” Goodwyn reports.

Upon learning the news, the woman and her family urged Strother to reject the plea agreement and send the case to trial, according to the Tribune-Herald.

At the time of the alleged rape, the woman was a 19-year-old Baylor sophomore.

NPR does not name individuals who are the alleged victims of sexual assaults, with some exceptions, such as when the individual goes public with her or his identity.

In the affidavit for Anderson’s arrest, the alleged rape victim told police Anderson raped her in February 2016 when she attended an off-campus party hosted by his fraternity, Phi Delta Theta.

After sipping some punch, “she became disoriented and felt very confused,” according to the affidavit. Anderson led her to a secluded area on the grounds so she could get some air, and then repeatedly raped her, leaving her unconscious, alone and “lying face down in her own vomit.”

Anderson was kicked out of Baylor and the fraternity was suspended.

Baylor University has been roiled in recent years by charges of sexual assault by its students, including the 2016 scandal involving members of Baylor’s football team. As Goodwyn reported, the scandal led to the firing of Baylor’s president, Kenneth Starr, and its head football coach, Art Briles.

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Sports December 8, 2018

Cargo Ship Saves 29-Year-Old Sailor In South Pacific After Her Boat Flips

Susie Goodall on her boat DHL Starlight on July 1 at the start of the solo around-the-world Golden Globe Race.

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The challenge: Sail 30,000 miles around the globe, non-stop, alone.

What could go wrong?

This week, Susie Goodall found out. The 29-year-old British woman was the youngest participant in the annual Golden Globe Race which sends sailors from the coast of France around the earth and back to the same port. Or at least that’s the plan.

On Wednesday morning, Goodall was 2,000 miles west of South America when her boat flipped in heavy wind, broke its mast and knocked her temporarily unconscious. She activated her emergency beacon and a series of troubling updates were posted to her Twitter account:

73-DISMASTED.HULL https://t.co/jj0fKZ29HZ FORM OF JURY RIG,TOTAL LOSS

— SusieGoodallRacing (@susieBgoodall) December 5, 2018

73-INTERIOR TOTAL WRECK,LIFERAFTOK

— SusieGoodallRacing (@susieBgoodall) December 5, 2018

73-NASTY HEAD BANG AS BOAT PITCHPOLED.UNBELIEVABLY ROLY NOW

— SusieGoodallRacing (@susieBgoodall) December 5, 2018

Chile’s Maritime Coordination Center received her distress signal and ordered the Tian Fu, a cargo ship on its way from China to Argentina, to divert from its course and rescue Goodall.

Meanwhile, all Goodall could do was wait — trying to keep her boat steady in the choppy South Pacific and pumping out water that was leaking into the damaged cabin.

When the 600-foot rescue vessel finally reached Goodall, deploying a small boat to retrieve her was deemed impossible because of 10-13 foot waves rocking both ships. Instead, crew members on board the Tian Fu executed a kind of high-stakes version of Candy Crane, lowered a cable from one of the ship’s massive cargo hoists, and plucked Goodall from her deck, hauling her to safety.

After 3 intensive days of co-ordinations from MRCC Chile, today at 15:35 UTC the motor vessel “TIAN FU” was able to recue the British yachtswoman Susie Goodall.
BZ. pic.twitter.com/20bOEendr2

— MRCC Chile (@MRCCChile) December 7, 2018

The good news was posted to her Facebook page: “From Susie, at 15:14 UTC: ON THE SHIP!!!” Goodall is expected to arrive at the Chilean port of Punta Arenas on Wednesday.

She is not the first sailor to run into trouble in this year’s race. As NPR reported, an accident in the Indian Ocean in September forced the evacuation of a naval commander; skippers from France and Ireland have also had to be rescued.

In a post from Nov. 30 titled “Half way round the world,” Goodall wrote about how challenging the experience had been at that point as she faced fierce seas.

“To say I’d had enough by this point is an understatement. They were the hardest and loneliest days I’ve ever had. All I wanted was a break from it. But being under Australia, half the world from home I might as well sail home again instead of taking a break.”

Her family thanked rescuers and race organizers Friday, and said farewell to her ship, the DHL Starlight.

“It was with a heavy heart Susie left DHL Starlight to fend for herself, before she fills with water and rests on the Pacific Ocean floor. DHL Starlight has been her home for the past few years; a faithful friend who stood up valiantly to all the elements, a guardian until their last moments together.”

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Sports December 7, 2018

How Atlanta Became A Soccer Town

Atlanta and Portland face on in Major League Soccer’s championship on Saturday. Atlanta’s team is only two years old and its success is due, in part, to massive fan support and a hometown strategy.



AILSA CHANG, HOST:

When you think about sports in the South, you probably think football, not soccer. Well, think again. Tomorrow’s Major League Soccer championship is between the Portland Timbers and Atlanta United. The Georgia team is only in its second season, but it’s already setting a new standard for professional soccer attendance. As Emma Hurt from member station WABE reports, that success is no accident.

EMMA HURT, BYLINE: On a Saturday in June, the world’s most-attended soccer game wasn’t at the World Cup. It was in Atlanta. That might sound surprising but not to those who go to Atlanta United games and often fill a 72,000-seat stadium. Last week, thousands showed up at a watch party to cheer the team playing a semifinal game in New York.

UNIDENTIFIED SPORTS FANS: (Chanting) We are the A from way down South, and we are here, rowdy and proud. Sha-la-la-la (ph), sha-la-la-la.

HURT: The fan energy was electric.

UNIDENTIFIED SPORTS FAN: I actually believe in this team. I think we’re going to go all the way. It’s going to be awesome.

HURT: And before the team even left the field that night, the championship game happening in Atlanta tomorrow sold out. Again, that’s about 72,000 people. Keep in mind the average attendance of an American pro soccer game is more like 22,000. Atlanta United’s numbers are better than some pro football crowds.

But how? Well, the games are fun. Atlanta United’s owner, Arthur Blank, also owns the Falcons and opened a brand-new stadium for the two teams last year. But United games don’t feel like they’re in a football stadium. All the signage is digital. There’s barely a trace of the Falcons on a soccer day. Catie Griggs, who runs business operations for United, says that was a deliberate business decision.

CATIE GRIGGS: We have the ability to truly shift the physical infrastructure of the stadium to accommodate a different sport in a way that is meaningful and authentic and not simply an afterthought.

HURT: It showed fans that soccer was a priority. Another business decision that’s building goodwill – cheap concessions. Hotdogs are $2. At the baseball stadium across town, they’re $6.50. And then there’s the mechanics of the team. Blank hired management with global soccer pedigrees who in turn attracted talented, young players. But OK, a fun stadium and good players who are winning games – still, where are all these southern fans coming from? Matt Stigall started a petition back in 2011 to bring pro soccer to Atlanta, and even he is surprised.

MATT STIGALL: I was never expecting 70,000 people selling out every game, breaking records upon records and really setting a new standard for the league and having all eyes of the world look and be like, holy crap, Atlanta’s a soccer town.

HURT: One reason, he says, is Atlanta United has a clean soccer slate to take advantage of.

STIGALL: There’s a lot of people that I know that moved to Atlanta recently, brought all their original teams in the other sports, whether it’s NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, the team that their families have been fans of for generations. They don’t have a soccer team.

HURT: Plus there’s the general rise in American soccer popularity. Soccer TV viewership is up while football’s is shrinking. Soccer games don’t stop for commercial breaks, and the games are simply shorter. These are all reasons for the trend to continue, says Matt Doyle, a columnist for MLS.

MATT DOYLE: Thirty-five years ago when I was growing up, Major League Baseball was the undisputed number-one sport among all age groups.

HURT: But today, baseball is number three behind basketball and football. And soccer is soon expected to move into third place ahead of baseball. Here’s Griggs again with the team.

GRIGGS: It’s a serendipitous collision of time, opportunity, market where fundamentally our role is to not screw it up.

HURT: But Atlanta sports fans have a reputation to disprove – that they only support teams when they’re winning. The city’s basketball, baseball and even football teams are well-aware of that. No one knows if the stereotype will hold true here until Atlanta United starts losing. For NPR News, I’m Emma Hurt in Atlanta.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SEVEN NATION ARMY”)

THE WHITE STRIPES: (Singing) I’m going to fight them all. A seven-nation army…

Copyright © 2018 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

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

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Sports December 6, 2018

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Paperwork Filed For USA Gymnastics

USA Gymnastics has filed for bankruptcy. It’s the latest move for the beleaguered organization following a wide-ranging sexual abuse scandal involving athletes and a former team doctor.



RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

USA Gymnastics has filed for bankruptcy. The organization that oversees gymnastics in this country has struggled to recover ever since Larry Nassar, the former team doctor, was convicted of molesting seven gymnasts in his care and accused of abusing hundreds more. Since then, the organization has cycled through three CEOs, major sponsors pulled away and more than 300 plaintiffs filed suit. For more on this, we are joined by reporter Alexandra Starr from our studios in New York.

Alexandra, thanks for being here.

ALEXANDRA STARR, BYLINE: No problem. Good to talk with you.

MARTIN: You have been covering this story really since the beginning. So can you tell us – was this kind of the inevitable that USA Gymnastics would have to file for bankruptcy?

STARR: People have been talking about this now for months, so it’s not a surprise. And as you said in the introduction, it’s sort of, like, the latest debacle for the organization.

MARTIN: What does this mean? I mean, when we think about USA Gymnastics, its role in cultivating gymnasts from the U.S. to compete in the Olympics – I mean, we’re – the next Olympics is coming up in Tokyo in 2020, right? What does it mean for those games?

STARR: So the United States will definitely field a team in 2020, whether USA Gymnastics is the organization that facilitates all of that is in question. But certainly, the U.S. is going to be present there. And Simone Biles, who, you know, people regard as the best gymnast in history, will be there. So we have to remember there’s a difference between USA Gymnastics and the team that it’s been fielding. The women, in particular, have been extraordinary. They’re the world champions. And everyone is pretty certain that the U.S. will dominate at the podium again there.

MARTIN: It’ll just happen under different auspices. It just won’t be USA Gymnastics.

STARR: Well, we can’t be sure. But what we can be sure is that Team USA will be represented.

MARTIN: You and I have touched on this before in covering this story. When USA Gymnastics has been grappling with all this, trying to come to grips with the crimes committed by Larry Nassar, how does it affect parents who are trying to decide whether or not to get their kids into this sport?

STARR: That’s an excellent question, Rachel. And it’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about. You know, one way this bankruptcy proceeding could affect gymnastics in the United States – I don’t think it’s going to affect the very elite, the Simone Biles, you know, the team that is going to go to the Olympics.

MARTIN: Right.

STARR: But in terms of the pipeline and development, I wonder if some parents will elect not to put their children into this sport. And also, are there going to be kind of the regional competitions, the national camps that have worked over the years to develop that nascent talent? Is that going to proceed with this organization filing for bankruptcy? That’s an open question.

MARTIN: Yeah, what does this bankruptcy mean for the victims who filed suit against the organization?

STARR: So what it does is it puts a hold on those lawsuits. So at this point, they were in the process. All of these gymnasts who have filed suit, they were in the course of filing these suits and it going to trial. They were getting depositions. They were getting emails and documents. All of that comes to a halt. So we’ll have to see what happens.

MARTIN: We don’t know if they’re going to get the money that they’re filing suit for, the damages.

STARR: Or their day in court.

MARTIN: Right.

STARR: When is that going to happen?

MARTIN: OK. Reporter Alexander Starr, she covers USA Gymnastics.

Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

STARR: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF LRKR’S “POPS”)

Copyright © 2018 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

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

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Sports December 5, 2018

USA Gymnastics Voluntarily Files For Bankruptcy

USA Gymnastics filed for bankruptcy Wednesday. The organization has been under withering criticism for how its handling of scores of sexual abuse reports by former team doctor Larry Nassar.



AILSA CHANG, HOST:

USA Gymnastics filed for federal bankruptcy protection today. It’s a major development for the embattled organization that oversees gymnastics in the U.S. The governing body has struggled to recover from a wide-ranging sexual abuse scandal after former team doctor Larry Nassar abused hundreds of athletes. Since then, USA Gymnastics has cycled through three CEOs and faced increased scrutiny by the U.S. Olympic Committee. We’re joined now by reporter Alexandra Starr with the latest. Welcome.

ALEXANDRA STARR, BYLINE: Hi. Thanks for having me.

CHANG: So USA Gymnastics was on its way to losing its status as the governing body over the sport. I remember talking to you on this show about that. Was this bankruptcy filing a surprise?

STARR: No, it wasn’t. People have talked about it, and it’s been expected. Also let’s specify the fact that they filed doesn’t necessarily mean that they cease to exist as an organization.

CHANG: Right.

STARR: I also think it’s very important to differentiate between USA Gymnastics and the athletes. The organization is in a freefall. The elite athletes are literally the reigning world champions. They’re extraordinary. And arguably the best athlete of all time, Simone Biles, she’s expected to compete in the next Olympics in 2020. And she just won more medals than any American gymnast has in history at the world championships earlier this year. So there’s a real disconnect between the organization and the talent that it’s field – that fields.

CHANG: Absolutely. That said, does this bankruptcy in any way affect the athletes who are competing now?

STARR: Well, the U.S. will absolutely field a team in 2020 at the Olympics. Whether it’s USA Gymnastics fielding the team is in doubt. But, you know, they’re certainly going to be there. I think the real impact could be felt in the pipeline. And what I mean by that is the development of the youngest athletes. USA Gymnastics runs the national team camps. That’s where coaches scope out talent. It’s where judges grade performances and give feedback. That provides the opportunity, too, for promising young athletes to be fielded in international competitions. The question is now, are those opportunities going to remain?

CHANG: Right. Well, let’s also talk about, you know, there’s been dozens of lawsuits that have been filed against USA Gymnastics after the Larry Nassar scandal. What does this bankruptcy mean for the victims and the families who filed suit against the organization?

STARR: That’s a great question. And it’s going to make it tougher for them.

CHANG: How so?

STARR: Well, this is what the filing means. While this bankruptcy case moves through the courts, it basically puts a halt on those lawsuits. And as you know, the courts don’t move quickly. That process could take years. So it’s worth noting that these lawsuits were beginning to unearth information. The lawsuit that Aly Raisman, the star gymnast, had filed was supposed to go to court – go to trial early next year. So that’s ending. And so she and all these other athletes are going to be left without a resolution.

CHANG: That’s Alexandra Starr, who covers USA Gymnastics for NPR. Thank you.

STARR: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF RUN RIVER NORTH’S “INTRO (FUNERAL) PARADE”)

Copyright © 2018 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

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

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Sports December 4, 2018

U. Of Maryland Hires Michael Locksley To Lead Football Team In Time Of Tumult

Michael Locksley, seen here in 2015 during a previous stint with the Maryland Terrapins, has been hired as head coach of the university’s football team. He replaces DJ Durkin, whose tenure ended in controversy over a player’s death earlier this year.

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Just over a month since the University of Maryland fired DJ Durkin, dismissing the football coach amid a months-long controversy over a player’s death, the school has named the man set to replace him: Alabama Offensive Coordinator Michael Locksley.

“As we narrowed the search for the individual best suited to lead our program, Michael not only stood out for his talent as a coach,” Maryland’s director of athletics, Damon Evans, said in Tuesday’s announcement, “but most importantly for the role he has played as a mentor to student-athletes throughout his career and his deep commitment to helping them grow into leaders on and off the field.”

It will not be Locksley’s first stop on campus in College Park, Md. Locksley, whose work with Alabama just earned him the 2018 Broyles Award as college football’s top assistant coach, has already served two stints as an assistant at Maryland. After then-coach Randy Edsall was fired, Locksley also acted as the Terrapins’ interim head coach for part of the 2015 season — before leaving to join the Crimson Tide the next year.

We’re proud to announce 2018’s WINNER of the 23rd annual @BroylesAward.

?Michael Locksley, @AlabamaFTBL. pic.twitter.com/BvwEGkNkFd

— BROYLES AWARD (@BroylesAward) December 4, 2018

This time around, however, Locksley can expect to find a significantly more difficult situation awaiting his return.

The University of Maryland’s football program has been wracked by tumult since Jordan McNair’s death in June. The 19-year-old offensive lineman collapsed from heat stroke after an offseason workout and died two weeks later.

The blame for the deadly incident spread widely in the months that followed. First laid with medical personnel, which “misdiagnosed” McNair’s ailments — according to university President Wallace Loh — the blame soon also fell on Durkin for allegedly fostering a toxic culture of intimidation and verbal abuse.

But the buck did not stop with Durkin.

The controversy reached as high as the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents, which briefly decided to keep the head coach after concluding its investigation — only to promptly do an about-face and fire him one day later, after a groundswell of outrage at the decision. Just another day after that, the board’s chairman, James Brady announced he was stepping down.

President Loh, too, has announced plans to retire next year.

On Tuesday evening, Locksley acknowledged the turmoil that awaits him at Maryland — but expressed his excitement at returning to the Terrapins, nevertheless.

“I have been tremendously impressed at how the team came together through a difficult season and honored their fallen teammate, Jordan,” he said in a statement issued by the school. “We are all in this together, and I look forward to rejoining the Maryland family.”

That said, he arrives in Maryland without a spotless record. Before returning for his second stint at Maryland, Locksley was fired from his head coaching job at the University of New Mexico, where he amassed a putrid total record of 2-26 and found himself dogged by controversy — including allegations of creating a toxic environment of his own.

As The Washington Post notes, his tenure there was marred by an age and sex discrimination complaint against him, which was later withdrawn, and a lawsuit alleging that he choked and punched an assistant coach, which was later settled.

In its announcement Tuesday, the University of Maryland largely kept to the warmer, more recent memories of Locksley’s time with the Terrapins and Crimson Tide.

“On the field, Michael orchestrated one of the country’s most prolific offenses at the University of Alabama and has long been regarded for his recruiting prowess,” Evans said. “Today he was recognized as the nation’s top assistant coach in the country, and I’m excited for him to be leading our program.”

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Sports December 3, 2018

NFL Faces More Backlash Over Kareem Hunt Video

There’s more fallout in the NFL after a video surfaced of former Kansas City running back Kareem Hunt getting into an altercation with a woman. Many believe the league didn’t investigate enough.



AILSA CHANG, HOST:

There may have been plenty of great football to watch yesterday as NFL teams jockey for playoff positions, but a whole other football story is on many people’s minds today. The broad strokes sound familiar. A star player is involved in a violent, off-the-field altercation. The player is Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt. The altercation happened back in February, but a video of the incident emerged for the first time on Friday. It shows Hunt shoving and kicking a young woman. The Chiefs cut Hunt from the team hours later. Then in an ESPN interview, Hunt apologized.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KAREEM HUNT: Honestly, I just want to let the world know, you know, how sorry I am for my actions. And, you know, it’s been a tough time for me, and I’m extremely embarrassed because of that video.

CHANG: Joining me now to talk about Kareem Hunt is NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman. Hey, Tom.

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.

CHANG: So tell us more about who Kareem Hunt is and what happened here.

GOLDMAN: He is one of the best running backs in the NFL. He’s only 23, led the League in yards gained last year in his rookie season. And he was a big part of one of the best offenses in the NFL. The incident in February happened in a hallway of a hotel in Cleveland where he was living at the time. The video shows an incident that quickly escalated. He shoves a woman. She comes back at him, hits him in the face. He shoves a man, who falls into the woman and knocks her over. Then while she crouches on the floor, Hunt walks up and kicks her in the leg.

CHANG: OK, so the Chiefs have just now released Hunt, right? But did the team and the NFL – did they react at all when this happened back in February? Do they know about it before the video came out?

GOLDMAN: Yeah, they did. The Chiefs talked to him, and he lied to them about what happened, and he admits that. And that’s what they based their decision on when they released him last Friday, that he lied and the video showed that he lied. Now, the NFL’s involvement from the beginning has become a point of contention. After the infamous domestic violence incident in 2014 involving NFL player Ray Rice knocking out his then-fiancee – and it was also seen on videotape – the League admitted it bungled things, and it vowed to do a much better, more complete and more aggressive job investigating and punishing incidents like this if they came up in the future. But it appears the NFL has not done so in this case. Here is ESPN’s Lisa Salters with Hunt in yesterday’s interview.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LISA SALTERS: Has the NFL ever questioned you about that incident?

HUNT: No, they have not.

SALTERS: Did they ever ask you to talk about that incident?

HUNT: No, they have not.

CHANG: Well, what does the NFL say about that?

GOLDMAN: I reached out twice to the NFL today to ask them that, and I did not hear back by air time. In a tweet last night, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said this. The NFL investigation began immediately following the incident in February. Consistent with standard investigatory practices, the NFL continues to pursue a complete understanding of the facts. Now, maybe so, Ailsa, but this looks bad. And it looks like there wasn’t enough urgency on the NFL’s part to interview the two main people involved.

CHANG: Right.

GOLDMAN: I mean, this happened nearly 10 months ago. If the NFL wants us to believe it takes the issue of domestic violence seriously, wouldn’t you think it would do all it can up front, get on top of the issue, interview the principal people involved, go to whatever lengths it can to…

CHANG: Yeah.

GOLDMAN: …Get ahold of a video if it exists. The League says it tried but wasn’t unable to. So it’s left with an awkward situation again.

CHANG: That’s NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman. Thanks, Tom.

GOLDMAN: You’re welcome.

Copyright © 2018 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

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

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