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Sports November 21, 2018

Father Of Illinois High School Football Player Poses As Referee

A lawsuit filed by parents at the Simeon Career Academy says the man attended the game in a referee’s uniform and helped sway the outcome of the game. His son’s team, Nazareth Academy, won.



STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning. I’m Steve Inskeep. It’s high school football playoff season, and the parent of an Illinois player left nothing to chance. He allegedly attended a game in a referee’s uniform. He worked his way into the game standing on the sidelines talking with the real refs, and his son’s team, Nazareth Academy, came back to win. The Chicago Tribune says boosters of the losing team are suing, but the fake ref defended himself on Facebook saying I didn’t make one bad call. I made sure the best team won. It’s MORNING EDITION.

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 November 20, 2018

Michigan State University Ex-President Charged With Lying In Larry Nassar Case

Former Michigan State President Lou Anna Simon, pictured before a Senate subcommittee in Washington, was charged on Tuesday with lying to police conducting an investigation of Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse.

Carolyn Kaster/AP


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Former President of Michigan State University Lou Anna Simon was charged with two felony and two misdemeanor counts on Tuesday for allegedly lying to police during their investigation into how the school handled sexual abuse allegations against Larry Nassar, the doctor convicted of abusing scores of young women while employed by the university and USA Gymnastics.

According to the warrant, Simon purposefully concealed that she knew that the university’s Title IX office and police department had launched an investigation into a sexual assault complaint filed against Nassar in 2014, ESPN reported.

Nassar was eventually cleared of wrongdoing by the school but when asked by investigators about the case, Simon allegedly told police that she did not know the name of the sports medicine doctor involved.

“In fact she knew it was Larry Nassar who was the subject,” investigators said according to ESPN.

Nassar pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal child pornography charges and 10 counts of criminal sexual conduct in Michigan state courts.

Simon, who has denied any criminal wrongdoing, could face up to four years in prison, according to the Associated Press. The 71-year-old is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday in Eaton County, Mich.

“The only crime committed is the criminal complaint,” Simon’s lawyer, Mayer Morganroth told The New York Times. “It is political and completely false and the responsible party will pay for it. Shame on them.”

Simon, resigned as university president under mounting pressure in January — the same day Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing more than 150 patients. “As Nassar’s legal journey to prison was drawing to a close, more and more negative attention was focused on Michigan State University, and on me,” Simon wrote in her resignation letter.

“As tragedies are politicized, blame is inevitable. As president, it is only natural that I am the focus of this anger,” she added.

Despite stepping down she remained a member of the faculty as a “distinguished professor” and continued draw the $750,000 annual salary she had earned while at the helm of Michigan State. But following the charges, university spokeswoman Emily Guerrant told the AP Simon is taking an immediate unpaid leave of absence “to focus on her legal situation.”

Simon is the latest campus official to be criminally charged in the wake of Nassar’s convictions for molesting young female athletes over several decades, from at least 1992 until 2014. As the AP reported:

“In August, Schuette charged former MSU gymnastics head coach Kathie Klages with lying to an investigator when she denied that witnesses told her years ago about being sexually assaulted by Nassar. In March, the ex-dean of the osteopathic medicine school, William Strampel, was charged with neglecting his duty to enforce examining-room restrictions imposed on Nassar after the 2014 Title IX investigation.”

The fallout of Nassar’s crimes and the subsequent alleged attempts of cover ups or willful denials of abuse extend beyond Michigan State; USA Gymnastics officials have also been accused of “ignoring reports of Nassar’s extensive sexual abuse and actively working to hide it.”

Steve Penny, the former president of USA Gymnastics was arrested in October over allegations that he tampered with evidence related to a Nassar investigation. And earlier this month the U.S. Olympic Committee began the process of revoking USA Gymnastics’ status as the governing body for the sport.

In May the university agreed to pay $500 million to settle claims by hundreds of Nassar’s victims.

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Sports November 17, 2018

Not My Job: We Quiz Orlando Magic Star Aaron Gordon On Actual Magic

Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic handles the ball on Oct. 26, 2016 at Amway Center in Orlando, Fla.

Manuela Davies/Getty Images

We recorded the show in Orlando, Fla., this week so we’ve invited NBA star Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic to play a game called “Abracadabra!” Three questions about great magicians.

Click the audio link above to see how he does.



PETER SAGAL, HOST:

And now the game where famous people are asked about obscure things. We call it Not My Job. People who visit Orlando are excited about the theme parks like Dinosaur World and Gatorland.

(CHEERING)

SAGAL: But the people who live here are most excited about their basketball team, their Orlando Magic, and its star small forward…

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: …Aaron Gordon. Aaron joins us now.

Aaron Gordon, welcome to WAIT WAIT… DON’T TELL ME.

AARON GORDON: Oh, thank you. I appreciate you having me on.

SAGAL: It’s great to have you.

GORDON: All right. All right. All right.

SAGAL: You’ve got fans. I’ve got to ask you – I should admit I’m not, you know, conversant with, like, the basketball stuff – how is it that someone the size of the Statue of Liberty…

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: …Is a small forward?

(LAUGHTER)

GORDON: I would like to think of myself as a powerful small forward…

SAGAL: Right.

GORDON: …You know? It’s just, like, kind of a mix of a couple of different things.

SAGAL: Is it, like, a power forward, and then there’s a small forward?

GORDON: Yeah, exactly.

SAGAL: Yeah.

GORDON: So it’s kind of like a lot of – maybe a hyphen in it.

SAGAL: Hyphen? Yeah, OK. Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

MO ROCCA: Is the power forward more of a ball hog? Because it sounds like the small forward is nicer and shares the ball more.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Yeah.

GORDON: When it comes to rebounding, yes. A power forward can just be as ball hog-ish (ph) as he’d like to be.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Now, we found out something interesting. You did a lot of sports growing up, as we might expect from a guy of your talents, but you also played hockey.

GORDON: Yes.

(CHEERING)

GORDON: Yes – ice hockey.

SAGAL: So what ultimately made you choose basketball over hockey?

GORDON: I just kind of had a natural affinity for basketball.

SAGAL: Your whole family…

GORDON: Yeah.

SAGAL: …Is a family of basketball players. Your parents play? Your father play?

GORDON: Yeah. Dad played at San Diego State.

SAGAL: Yeah.

GORDON: And…

SAGAL: And your brother plays pro ball.

GORDON: He played pro ball overseas. He’s been to a bunch of places. So he plays, and then my sister played at Harvard…

SAGAL: Right.

GORDON: So she was a Harvard basketball player. And I was.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Right. So I imagine your friendly games at home are absolutely vicious.

GORDON: Oh, my gosh. Oh, they were…

(LAUGHTER)

GORDON: …Gruesome at times.

SAGAL: Really? You guys – because I know that one of the things the NBA is known for is trash talk. Do you trash-talk your siblings?

GORDON: Oh, definitely.

SAGAL: All right. Tell me something.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: All right. Let’s go with what you say to your sister.

(LAUGHTER)

GORDON: It’s kind of like the saying – I’m the youngest…

SAGAL: Right.

GORDON: So, just by nature, I’m the most annoying.

SAGAL: Right. Of course.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: That’s your role. I have a younger brother. Yeah.

GORDON: More like, nah-nah-nah-nah-nah, I’m better. You’re not. You know what…

SAGAL: Yeah.

GORDON: …I mean? Along the lines of…

SAGAL: Yeah.

GORDON: Yeah.

SAGAL: Yeah. I mean…

GORDON: That’s about it.

SAGAL: I mean, just do you, like, leave your NBA contract out on a table?

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Oh, I’m sorry. I left this here. Let me pick it up.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Oh, some money fell out of my pocket. Let me grab that, as well.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: So here you are in Orlando. You’re playing ball. What kind of town is it for playing basketball?

GORDON: It’s a great city. It’s…

(CHEERING)

GORDON: …You guys are awesome.

SAGAL: I’ve always wondered about this because everybody knows that sports fans get very passionate. Do you guys care as much as, like, we do about whether you win or lose?

GORDON: Oh, man. That’s a great question. You know…

(LAUGHTER)

GORDON: It’s – they’re really fanatics, you know what I mean…

SAGAL: Yeah, I know.

GORDON: …In every sense of the word, you know?

SAGAL: Yeah.

GORDON: They’re – I think they care about it equally if not more than we do.

SAGAL: Really?

GORDON: Yeah. Yeah.

SAGAL: Do you ever feel like looking over at the fans and going, guys, it’s a game. Nobody died.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: We’re all actually friends.

GORDON: Yeah. They, like, look me in my eyes and say, I hate you.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Really?

GORDON: Whoa. I don’t think I did anything to deserve that, but, you know…

(LAUGHTER)

GORDON: I’m just going to cordially beat your team, but…

SAGAL: OK. All right.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: I actually – one of the – this – I guess hockey, the fans are closer because they’re on the other side of the glass, but there’s glass. You guys are, like, closest to the fans of any professional sport. You actually sometimes fall on top of them.

GORDON: Yes.

SAGAL: And is that weird? I mean, because if you’re – like, has one guy in – like, sitting down front like a Jack Nicholson type ever, like, said something to you, like, right in your face?

GORDON: Oh, no. See, I think they understand that there’s no barrier.

SAGAL: Right.

GORDON: You know what I mean? So in hockey, there’s that glass barrier.

SAGAL: Yeah.

GORDON: You know, it’s kind of like having two dogs on opposite sides of the gate.

SAGAL: Yeah.

GORDON: You know? Like, they’re, like, barking at each other.

SAGAL: Yeah. Yeah.

GORDON: But then, when you leave the gate, they’re, like, oh, OK. Just, you know, sniff each other.

(LAUGHTER)

GORDON: So there’s no barrier, so the fans kind of keep it to themselves because, you know, we have access to them.

(LAUGHTER)

ROCCA: Have you ever had to console a fan that was upset with your performance?

(LAUGHTER)

GORDON: Oh, definitely.

ROCCA: And how do you do that? How do you approach that?

GORDON: Hey, it’s OK. I understand. You’re very into this game right now.

(LAUGHTER)

GORDON: But I’m going to continue to do what I do.

SAGAL: Right.

(LAUGHTER)

GORDON: So, like – and they’re like…

(APPLAUSE)

GORDON: OK. You know, OK. They don’t really talk after that.

SAGAL: Yeah. You are known for your enthusiasm for the slam dunk contest.

GORDON: Yes.

SAGAL: Yes.

GORDON: Yes.

SAGAL: And…

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: You did a slam dunk in which you vaulted on top of and then over the mascot. And you just – did you just go up to the mascot and say, you’re just going to stand there, and I’m going to jump up, put my hands on your head and go over you, and you’re going to hold up the ball. And the mascot was, like, OK.

(LAUGHTER)

GORDON: Pretty much.

SAGAL: The mascot – is he, like – the mascot does not say no to Aaron Gordon.

GORDON: It’s actually – it’s really funny because Stuff the Magic Dragon – he’s a great mascot. You know what I mean?

(CHEERING)

GORDON: He’s a great mascot. He is. He’s this, like, green dragon. He has these stars on the top of his head. And, when I was practicing, I couldn’t get the grip of the ball right. So I was, like, Stuff, buddy…

(LAUGHTER)

GORDON: You might need to take the stars off your head. And he was really going to take one for the team. He was a team player. And we did it, and I got the dunk. But I could just see the sadness in this mascot…

(LAUGHTER)

GORDON: …In his body language – like he had lost a part of himself with the stars. You know, so…

SAGAL: Stuff…

GORDON: Yeah. So we were, like, OK. We put the stars back on his head. Just – I had to make it work for the sake of him.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: That’s a heartwarming story.

GORDON: Yeah.

(APPLAUSE)

GORDON: That’s my good friend these days.

SAGAL: Well, Aaron Gordon, we’ve invited you here to play a game we’re calling…

BILL KURTIS: Abracadabra.

SAGAL: You play for the Orlando Magic, but what do you know about the real magic – by which we mean magic shows?

(CHEERING)

SAGAL: We’re going to ask you three questions about great magicians. Answer two of them correctly, and you will win our prize for one of our listeners – the voice of their choice on their voicemail. Bill, who is Aaron playing for?

SAGAL: Hal Ray of Tampa, Fla.

(CHEERING)

GORDON: OK – Florida boy. All right. Here we go.

SAGAL: All right. Here’s your first question. One of the great magicians of the late 19th century was Harry Kellar. How did Kellar learn to do his greatest trick, the levitating woman? Was it, A, he was a practicing Buddhist who attained enlightenment and was given control over gravity…

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: …B, he tied the woman to a thousand trained fleas, who flew her upward…

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: …Or C, he walked up on stage while another magician was doing the trick, ran around back to see what was done and then ran away.

GORDON: I’m going to go with the latter one.

SAGAL: You’re correct.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

GORDON: All right. I like that. I like that.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: It was pretty daring, but that’s how you get to be a legend of magic. All right. Second question – let’s see if you do as well. Another great magician of that golden era of magic was Carter the Great, and one of his famous tricks was which of these? A, the magical divorce, a trick in which he made his own wife disappear…

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: …B, the disappearing theater in which the entire audience found itself in a suddenly vacant lot sitting on their butts; or C, the vaguely disquieting meal in which Carter ate an ear of corn raw.

(LAUGHTER)

GORDON: I think I’m going to go with B.

SAGAL: You’re going with B – the disappearing theater. All of a sudden, everybody was out there sitting on their butts in a field.

GORDON: That’s the one.

SAGAL: That’s the one. He picked it. Sadly, he missed this shot. No, I’m afraid.

GORDON: Oh, dang.

SAGAL: It was actually the magical divorce. He made his wife disappear. His wife eventually decided that wasn’t funny.

(LAUGHTER)

GORDON: So she’s still around.

SAGAL: She’s still around. She stayed married to him…

GORDON: OK.

SAGAL: But he changed the name of the trick to the phantom bride. So this is your last question. If you get this right, you win.

GORDON: OK.

SAGAL: Some magicians have been able to use their skills in real life such as in which of these? A, Doug Henning, who used to skip out on dinner checks by making himself disappear during dessert…

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: …B, Penn Jillette, who for three years has made himself look like he’s lost a hundred pounds by constantly surrounding himself with trick mirrors…

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: …Or C, David Copperfield, who once made his wallet disappear while he was being mugged.

GORDON: I’m going to go with Copperfield. It’s C.

SAGAL: You’re going to go David Copperfield. That’s right, Aaron.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

GORDON: Yay.

(APPLAUSE)

GORDON: Thanks.

SAGAL: He says he was being mugged outside walking to his car after a performance. Some guy came up, tried to mug him, and he made his watch, wallet and passport disappear.

(LAUGHTER)

GORDON: Oh, man.

SAGAL: Bill, how did Aaron do on our quiz?

KURTIS: Two out of three is a win.

SAGAL: Congratulations.

(APPLAUSE)

GORDON: Thanks.

SAGAL: Aaron Gordon is the small forward for the Orlando Magic. Aaron Gordon, thank you for joining us on WAIT WAIT… DON’T TELL ME. Aaron Gordon, everybody.

GORDON: All right.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MAGIC”)

B.O.B.: (Singing) I’ve got the magic in me. Every time I touch that track, it turns into gold. Everybody knows I’ve got the magic in me.

SAGAL: In just a minute, Bill sits on his phone in the Listener Limerick Challenge. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to join us on the air. We’ll be back in a minute with more of WAIT WAIT… DON’T TELL ME from NPR.

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 November 16, 2018

Viva Las Vegas: Elvis, Adelson Honored With Presidential Medal Of Freedom

President Trump awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to American Football hall-of-famer Alan Page at the White House on Friday.

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images


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Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Updated at 4:12 p.m. ET

A king, a senator and the “Sultan of Swat” were honored at the White House on Friday.

President Trump presented the nation’s highest civilian honor to seven people, including Elvis Presley and Babe Ruth.

The president highlighted Ruth’s legendary baseball prowess, his contributions to orphanages and other charities, and his colorful off-field antics.

He “raised money and raised hell,” Trump said of Ruth, who died 70 years ago. “Maybe that’s why it’s taken him a long time to get this award. This award should have been given to him a long time ago. I said, ‘You mean Babe Ruth hasn’t gotten it?’ We took care of that real fast.”

Trump also described seeing Presley perform live in Las Vegas.

“The fans were ripping the place apart, screaming,” he recalled. “They were going crazy. And they announced, ‘Elvis has left the house.’ If they didn’t say that, I think I’d still be there.”

Honoring Presley and Ruth might signal Trump’s nostalgic yearning for America as it was in the last century. They’re also safe picks for a president whose invitations have at times been spurned by more contemporary artists and athletes.

“Those who are deceased can’t really object,” said Fletcher McClellan, a political scientist at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania.

He and several colleagues have cataloged all 500-plus Medals of Freedom that have been issued since the award was established by John F. Kennedy. They see the medals as a source of insight because, while honorees are suggested by a variety of people, the president has total discretion to pick the recipients.

“This is a fascinating way to find out what is important to a president,” McClellan said. “In President Trump’s case, we get to learn more about what ‘Make America Great’ means to him.”

While less than 10 percent of previous Medals of Freedom were presented posthumously, more than 40 percent of Trump’s fall into that category.

Some of Trump’s picks are unsurprising. He’ll recognize the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as well as Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who’s retiring after 41 years.

Trump is the first president to extend the honor to a couple of professional football stars, Roger Staubach and Alan Page.

McClellan said Staubach is an easy choice, since he attended the Naval Academy, won the Heisman Trophy and played for the Dallas Cowboys.

Trump fondly recalled partnering with Staubach on the golf course.

“We were in deep trouble,” Trump said. “He was so deep in the weeds that you wouldn’t believe it. And we desperately needed a par on the 18th hole to win. And he came out and hit his shot. I don’t know how it happened. But he was this far from the hole. We got our par. We won. And I said, ‘That’s Roger Staubach.’ “

Page had a Hall of Fame career with the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears and then went on to serve more than 20 years as a justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court.

During his playing days, Page was active with the players’ union. And more recently, he has defended NFL players who protest police brutality by taking a knee during the national anthem.

“What Paul Robeson said was, ‘The answer to injustice is not to silence the critic. It is to end the injustice,’ ” Page told WCCO-TV in January.

Trump, who has criticized players who kneel during the anthem, made no mention of that during the awards ceremony. Instead, he focused on Page’s stellar football and legal careers as well as the educational foundation he started.

“Alan and his wife Diane founded the Page Education Foundation, which has provided nearly 7,000 scholarships to civic-minded students,” Trump said.

  • Philanthropist Miriam Adelson is the wife of prominent Republican donor Sheldon Adelson. The Adelsons donated more than $113 million to the GOP in the last election cycle.

    Philanthropist Miriam Adelson is the wife of prominent Republican donor Sheldon Adelson. The Adelsons donated more than $113 million to the GOP in the last election cycle.


    Shahar Azran/Getty Images

  • Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, 84, is retiring after more than 40 years in Congress. He is one of the longest serving senators in American history.

    Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, 84, is retiring after more than 40 years in Congress. He is one of the longest serving senators in American history.


    Win McNamee/Getty Images

  • Sen. Orrin Hatch, a staunch supporter of President Trump, is one of the most well-known Republicans in American politics. After signing a presidential proclamation on national monuments last year, Trump handed the senator a pen to commemorate the event.

    Sen. Orrin Hatch, a staunch supporter of President Trump, is one of the most well-known Republicans in American politics. After signing a presidential proclamation on national monuments last year, Trump handed the senator a pen to commemorate the event.


    Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

  • Justice Alan Page, 73, is a former NFL player who served more than 20 years on the Minnesota Supreme Court. Over 15 years, he played for the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears and went to the Super Bowl four times.

    Justice Alan Page, 73, is a former NFL player who served more than 20 years on the Minnesota Supreme Court. Over 15 years, he played for the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears and went to the Super Bowl four times.


    Steve Karnowski/AP

  • Elvis Presley (1935-1977) is one of the most iconic figures of the 20th century, known the world over for his music and rockabilly sound. Over the course of his career, Presley earned three Grammy Awards, starred in 31 films and sold more than a billion records.

    Elvis Presley (1935-1977) is one of the most iconic figures of the 20th century, known the world over for his music and rockabilly sound. Over the course of his career, Presley earned three Grammy Awards, starred in 31 films and sold more than a billion records.


    Keystone/Getty Images

  • President Trump isn't the first Oval Office occupant to show his appreciation for Elvis. President Nixon met with Elvis Presley during a highly publicized visit to the White House in 1970.

    President Trump isn’t the first Oval Office occupant to show his appreciation for Elvis. President Nixon met with Elvis Presley during a highly publicized visit to the White House in 1970.


    National Archives/Getty Images

  • George Herman “Babe” Ruth Jr. is one of the most famous baseball players in American history. From 1914 to 1935, the legendary slugger hit 714 home runs and helped establish baseball as “America’s Favorite Pastime.”


    General Photographic Agency/Getty Images

  • After shaking hands with then-President Warren Harding, Babe Ruth hit a home run to help the New York Yankees win the third game of the series. In his 15 seasons as a Yankee, Babe Ruth led the team to seven American League championships and four World Series.

    After shaking hands with then-President Warren Harding, Babe Ruth hit a home run to help the New York Yankees win the third game of the series. In his 15 seasons as a Yankee, Babe Ruth led the team to seven American League championships and four World Series.


    Keystone/Getty Images

  • Justice Antonin Scalia (1936-2016) was a towering figure during his 30 years on the Supreme Court. Known for his strict interpretation of the Constitution, Scalia was both a conservative icon and polarizing figure on the bench.

    Justice Antonin Scalia (1936-2016) was a towering figure during his 30 years on the Supreme Court. Known for his strict interpretation of the Constitution, Scalia was both a conservative icon and polarizing figure on the bench.


    Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

  • Roger Staubach, 76, is a Hall of Fame quarterback who played in the NFL for 11 seasons, winning two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys and making the Pro Bowl six times. He is also a noted philanthropist and businessman.

    Roger Staubach, 76, is a Hall of Fame quarterback who played in the NFL for 11 seasons, winning two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys and making the Pro Bowl six times. He is also a noted philanthropist and businessman.


    Cindy Ord/Getty Images


1 of 10

Researchers have found some predictable patterns in past Medal of Freedom honorees. Republican presidents tend to recognize more military figures, while Democrats are more likely to honor labor and civil rights leaders. One surprise, McClellan said, is that Republican presidents have awarded more medals to journalists.

“That was a puzzler, and we still haven’t figured that out,” he said.

No journalists made Trump’s list of honorees. The president’s final pick for the Medal of Freedom this year is Miriam Adelson, who is described by the White House as a “committed doctor, philanthropist, and humanitarian.” She’s also a GOP megadonor, along with her husband, the billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.

“This is a power couple that really cuts a path in U.S. politics and has been a major benefactor to the Republican Party for many years,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign contributions.

The Adelsons contributed $113 million to Republican and conservative campaigns during the 2018 election cycle alone.

Financial supporters have been honored with medals in the past, though usually not so close to an election. Sheldon Adelson was at the White House last week for a midterm election watch party. The Medal of Freedom honorees were announced just four days later.

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Sports November 14, 2018

Suzy Whaley, PGA's First Female President, On Bringing Inclusivity To Golf

Golf professional Suzy Whaley is set to become the first female president of the PGA of America.

Traci Edwards/PGA of America/AP


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Growing up in Syracuse, N.Y., Susan Whaley played golf on a boy’s high school team as a Title IX athlete — but because she was a girl, Whaley was barred from competing in the team’s tournaments.

“That just was a sign of the times — it just is how it was,” she says. “And then fast-forward … and I am allowed to play in a PGA Tour event.”

Whaley became the first woman in 58 years to qualify for a PGA tournament when she made the 2003 Greater Hartford Open. The athlete broke her latest barrier this past weekend when she was elected president of PGA of America, the first woman to hold the position in the association’s 102-year history. Just 40 years ago, women couldn’t even be members.

“Obviously the historic nature of it doesn’t go past me,” she says. “I’m so honored and grateful to have that chance, and to have the trust of my 29,000 members and peers.”

For Whaley — who also serves as the PGA director of instruction at the Country Club at Mirasol in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. — being elected was never about being a trailblazer: “It’s always been about wanting to play the game.”

That said, it doesn’t hurt being an inspiration to women who want to play a sport known for its exclusivity.

“We still need more women playing the game, and to feel welcome at playing the game,” she says. “If young women can see themselves in the business because they see me in the role — as I saw other women before me who opened the doors for me — then in that sense I’m thrilled to be a woman in the job.”

In an interview with NPR’s Ailsa Chang, Whaley expands on the challenges she has faced, and on her visions for the future of professional golf.

This interview includes Web-only excerpts.

Interview Highlights

On the large gender gap in prize money between the PGA and LPGA tours

It is a large disparity. And, you know, the LPGA Tour has become global for many reasons. You know, we have amazing female golfers from all over the world participating now in the game at the highest level. And oftentimes many of their purses overseas sometimes are even higher than they are domestically (not for the U.S. Open and not for the KPMG women’s PGA championship). A lot of it has to do with television dollars and digital-rights dollars and worldwide sponsors.

On how to fix that imbalance

We need more women and more men to watch ladies’ golf. We need them to turn the channel on, we need them to buy into the fact that these are the best athletes in the world. … What I try to share with the people I teach and coach, and the people that I’m around in the industry, is oftentimes the women’s game is much more compatible to that of a really strong club player — and I don’t mean that with disrespect….

A lot of people can relate to their swing speeds. A lot of people can learn from them by watching them play. They have shots around the greens that they have to have, because oftentimes they aren’t hitting short irons in like some of the men are. And oftentimes that’s comparable to people who are playing the game at clubs around the country and at daily fee facilities around the country.

And once somebody goes to an LPGA event, once somebody goes to the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, they’re hooked! They are hooked on women’s golf.

On how to grow the sport’s diversity

With scholarship opportunities to our PGM universities that we have 19 of around the country. And we’re making strides — it’s not fast enough, but we’re making strides. … I learned from a male golf professional, and I loved that, but there are many people who prefer to be with somebody that looks like them when they first get started in something new. And if we can have that opportunity for more people we will make greater strides.

We have PGA junior league, which is a huge evolving program of 50,000 boys and girls across the country playing PGA junior league golf. They play together — boys and girls from the same tee. … We have close to 35 percent girls playing — we want it to be 50, but we’re getting there — and then we have almost 25 percent of those of color playing.

Gustavo Contreras and Jessica Smith produced this story for broadcast.

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Sports November 12, 2018

Chicago Bears Kicker Misses 4 Attempts, Hits The Uprights Each Time

Cody Parkey just looked puzzled. He had hit the upright four times on field goal and extra point tries. The analysis on Fox: “Boy he can hit those uprights, can’t he?”



DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Good morning. I’m David Greene. The kicker for the Chicago Bears may have had a game for the history books yesterday. I say may because I don’t think this stat is actually kept. Cody Parkey hit the upright four times on field goal and extra point tries. Parkey just looked puzzled. This was the analysis on Fox.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: And that…

(SOUNDBITE OF METAL CLANGING, CHEERING)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Boy, he can hit those uprights, can’t he?

GREENE: I mean, should he be playing a game where the point is to hit a smaller target, like maybe pool? It’s MORNING EDITION.

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 November 10, 2018

Saturday Sports: The Start Of The NBA Season And The NFL

NPR’s Scott Simon speaks with ESPN’s Howard Bryant about the start of the NBA season and the lack of breakout teams in the NFL.



SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

And now it’s time for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIMON: Olympus has fallen – at least slipped a little. The Milwaukee Bucks clobbered the Golden State Warriors in Oakland on Thursday, 134-111. And also, where are all the premier franchises in the NFL? Howard Bryant of ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine joins us. Howard, thanks so much for being with us.

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

SIMON: I’m fine. And as they say in Milwaukee, fear the deer.

BRYANT: (Laughter) Fear the deer.

SIMON: Was that a fluke on Thursday? By the way, the Bucks have an absolutely great player – well, more than one, but absolutely great player. He has an unfortunate name that owes to his Greek heritage. And I know you’re a classical Greek scholar, so I’ll leave you to say Giannis’ name.

BRYANT: So you’re going to force me to say Giannis Antetokounmpo? Yes, I did…

SIMON: Way to go, Howard.

BRYANT: …I did it right. That’s two in a row – exactly. He is the Greek Freak. He is a spectacular basketball player who was really passed over by virtually every team because they didn’t think his game was polished enough. And then, boy, he took over and really raised his level of skill. I mean, he’s an unbelievable basketball player.

And what happened the other night in Oakland is not a fluke. Sure, Golden State did not play very well, that’s for certain. But last year, we saw it in the seven-game series between the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks, and Milwaukee is knocking on the door. They’re one of those teams that you’re going to have to watch out for because LeBron James isn’t here anymore. He’s in the Western Conference with the Lakers.

And so we like to talk a lot about how the Boston Celtics are the favorites and how this team is supposed to be the one that’s going to match up best with the Warriors, but I really enjoy what’s taking place in the NBA right now, especially in the Eastern Conference because you’ve got Toronto that now has Kawhi Leonard, who got traded over from San Antonio. You’ve got the Celtics, who are a wonderful ensemble cast who haven’t really put it together yet. They got hammered last night in Utah. And you’ve got Milwaukee, who had this fantastic win. They lost in Boston last Thursday. And then they come into Oakland, and they beat the best team in the NBA.

So certainly, there are a lot of teams to look out for. And, believe me, Milwaukee is definitely one. Fear the deer, indeed.

SIMON: Yeah, fear the deer.

Let’s talk football for a moment. We’re past the halfway mark of the NFL season. Maybe the LA Rams, but other than that, not a breakout team, right?

BRYANT: Well, you know, for everything that we talk about with the Golden State Warriors and the Warriors being this team that nobody can beat and that there’s no suspense, there’s plenty of suspense in the NBA. But when it comes to football, Scott, I got to tell you, the NFL has gone out of its way to promote mediocrity.

The league is set up, pretty much, for everyone to go 8-8 this year, and maybe 12-4 next year and then maybe 8-8 the next year. And so it really does take about half a season to find out who’s going to be good. And so we’re starting to reach Thanksgiving. We’re starting to get into that, what I call, separation time, where you’re going to see who’s really good.

The Rams were undefeated; the Saints beat them. I think the Saints may be the best team in football right now. You’ve got the NFL champs, the Philadelphia Eagles – they’re 4-4. The Patriots are still really good. The Chiefs are outstanding; they lost to the Patriots. The Steelers were fantastic the other night…

SIMON: Yeah.

BRYANT: …Against Carolina.

But as of today, nobody’s really that good. But then again, nobody is really that bad either. I’m thinking in about three weeks, after Thanksgiving, you’ll start to see who’s going to emerge. Last year, nobody thought that the Eagles were Super Bowl favorites, and they ended up winning the whole thing.

SIMON: Yeah. Well, we know it’s hard to have – almost impossible – a dynasty these days. But it’s hard, even, to put two championships together, isn’t it?

BRYANT: Well, absolutely. And that’s why what the Patriots have done has been so fantastic.

SIMON: Well, Howard Bryant of ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. Thanks so much for being with us, Howard.

BRYANT: No, my pleasure.

(SOUNDBITE OF HUNTERTONES’ “PARUSHA”)

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 November 9, 2018

Fans Fundraise To Ask Buffalo Bills' Nathan Peterman To Retire

Buffalo Bills fans started a fundraising page to ask quarterback Nathan Peterman to retire. They want $1 million, but so far have raised just $285.



STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning. I’m Steve Inskeep. This next story starts out badly if you’re Nathan Peterman. The Buffalo Bills quarterback has been on and off the bench, and his team is 2 and 7. Bills fans set up a GoFundMe called “Nathan Peterman Please Retire.” They want to raise $1 million to finance his departure, which sounds harsh. But in a way, the results so far may amount to a vote of confidence because the online effort has so far raised only $285.

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 November 8, 2018

The Future Of Jon Gruden Following Praise As Youngest Coach To Win Super Bowl

Commentator Mike Pesca, host of Slate’s daily podcast The Gist, who offers his take on the Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden.



STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Jon Gruden was once the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl. Then he left coaching to be an announcer for “Monday Night Football.” Now he has returned to coaching for the Oakland Raiders, which means that, unfortunately for him, sports commentary is left to Mike Pesca.

MIKE PESCA: The worst team right now in the NFL is the Oakland Raiders – fewest wins, fewest stars, worst vibe. A few days before the season started, the Raiders traded away their best defensive player. Last week, they traded away their best player on offense. The Raiders are a wreck. In situations like this, the head coach usually gets the blame, and Jon Gruden deserves it. When Gruden left broadcasting for a $10 million a year deal with the Raiders, he knew they weren’t a great team. But under his leadership, they’ve become a terrible one. Gruden’s salary is on the team’s balance sheet. But aren’t we all owed a refund for having to listen to Gruden for nine years on “Monday Night Football”?

Of course, it’s a time-honored tradition for fans to resent certain announcers. Still, six years into his “Monday Night Football” gig, The New York Times wrote, a game called by Gruden is often an unfulfilling journey, even when his partner tries to push him into commentating clarity. During a game, Gruden would shift from thesis to thesis with total conviction, even when he was contradicting a point he’d made moments earlier. And yet, he had a fine track record from his coaching days and would often use jargony references. So maybe he was just much smarter than us, and we weren’t gritty enough to understand Gruden. Yet, there were other announcers who seemed smart and didn’t use their words to make the games less enjoyable.

The Gruden experience wasn’t so much a chore as a conundrum. As an announcer, he was dim and gruff. Yet, each time a coaching vacancy came open, his name was wafted, as if this substandard Monday night opiner was somehow still a Sunday afternoon savant. Even so, given the Raiders’ awful season, I don’t feel schadenfreude. If anything, I feel relief, as if a lingering suspicion about this guy’s outsized bluster to ballast ratio has finally been put to a test. The Raiders have given us bad football but good evidence. It seems like the man who was the worst announcer in football is now the worst coach in football, which doesn’t make me happy. But at least it makes sense.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROBERT WALTER’S 20TH CONGRESS’ “INVERSION LAYER”)

INSKEEP: Commentator Mike Pesca, the host of Slate’s daily podcast The Gist.

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 November 6, 2018

Luring More Women To Fishing In The Upper Great Lakes

Kristy Taylor baits her hook while fishing on the Two Hearted River in Michigan. She’s part of a steelhead fishing class put on by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in an effort to inspire more women to fish.

Morgan Springer/Interlochen Public Radio


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Morgan Springer/Interlochen Public Radio

The percentage of Americans who fish is in decline and that decline has had an impact on conservation projects, because hunting and fishing licenses help fund everything from habitat restoration to clean water programs.

So there are efforts to lure more anglers to the sport — and those efforts seem to be working, as more and more young women are taking up fishing.

Recently, a whole band of women spread out along the bank of the Two Hearted River in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. They were part of a steelhead fishing class put on by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources called Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW). The goal is to inspire women to fish.

Kristy Taylor was part of the class. She stood on the bank of the river on a cold, bleak morning.

Female anglers stand along the Two Hearted River, watching as a class instructor demonstrates casting.

Morgan Springer/Interlochen Public Radio


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Morgan Springer/Interlochen Public Radio

Instructor Katie Urban stood right by Taylor as she cast her line into the Two Hearted. “Whip it,” Urban said, just before Taylor cast.

They were tracking a fish. It was swimming close to surface, leaving a swirl of water behind it as it moved slowly.

“You see it?” Urban asked. “Alright she’s coming back to this side; she’s going to that pocket.”

The fish moved towards them, then disappeared and resurfaced farther down the river.

“Yes, go,” Urban told Taylor.

They took off running, scrambling up the dunes, the dark-stained Two Hearted River like a ribbon of tar below them.

More younger women drawn to fishing

In 2016, about 14 percent of Americans fished, and most of them were men. But a recent study on the Upper Great Lakes indicates female participation is on the rise. It found that fishing license sales increased among female anglers by about 4.5 percent between 2000 and 2015. That’s an additional 43,000 female anglers.

Richelle Winkler is the principal investigator on that study and an associate professor at Michigan Technological University. She says younger women in particular are getting involved.

“Young women today are about two times more likely than women born in 1960 to buy a fishing license,” says Winkler.

Winkler and Ph.D student Erin Burkett based the findings on the number of fishing licenses sold in Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois.

Michelle Zellar, Michigan’s BOW coordinator, confirms that more women are drawn to fishing.

“We have a waiting list for every program we do,” she says.

Winkler says it’s not clear yet why more women are fishing. She’s looking into it, but for now, she has a hunch.

“I think it’s part of a broader cultural pattern of the world opening up a bit to women’s participation in activities that have traditionally been seen as more masculine,” she says.

Winkler says that’s particularly true for women born after 1980.

Kristy Taylor was born in 1981; she’s 37. She says she learned to fish when she was about five or six.

“My parents divorced when I was really young,” says Taylor. “So whenever I would be with my dad, that was the activity he knew best. So he would take my sister and I both to go fishing.”

But not all the new fisherwomen are young. Ellen Rice — another class participant — is 63 and fishing for the first time. She had a completely different experience growing up.

“The men went out fishing and hunting and the women — we just never thought about it,” say Rice.

She says even if she’d tried to fish, she wouldn’t have known how, and male anglers wouldn’t have shown her.

Richelle Winkler of Michigan Tech says new anglers like Taylor and Rice, who purchase state fishing and hunting licenses, are essential for conservation.

“Habitat restoration programs that keep our water clean and that keep invasive species in check — all of those kinds of programs are funded by fishing license sales,” says Winkler.

If more women keep fishing, Winkler says angler participation could stabilize. But she says that probably won’t stop the decline in conservation money, because hunting participation is in serious decline with no signs of changing.

Taylor says fishing for her is about being in nature; it’s also empowering.

“You’re in charge of your pole,” she says. “You’re in charge of your bait. You’re in charge of your casts. And when you catch a fish, it’s then your doing.”

Catching dinner?

When Kristy Taylor got to her new spot on the Two Hearted, a man at a campsite across the river spotted the fish she’d been chasing. He got out his fishing rod, lit a cigarette and cast for the fish.

“No,” Taylor whispered.

The bait landed right on the fish, but the fish turned away.

“She’s runnin’ from him,” said Urban. “Yeah, she doesn’t like that.”

Then the fish came right to the shore by Taylor, and she lightly tossed her bait sack filled with bright red coho salmon eggs in front of the fish. No interest there either.

In the end, Taylor didn’t catch a fish. All she hooked was some dark, wet sticks.

“I’ve got salad to go with dinner,” she joked.

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