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Sports August 1, 2017

When An NBA Star Used His Name To Make Shoes Less Expensive

Famous basketball players usually charge more when their names appear on them. But what happened when an NBA All-Star tried to use his name to charge much, much less? Stephon Marbury recalls the the great “Starbury” sneaker experiment.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Normally when a celebrity athlete endorses a product, it gets more expensive. Kenny Malone from our Planet Money podcast tells us about one big-name basketball star trying to use his name to make his sneakers cheaper – much, much cheaper.

KENNY MALONE, BYLINE: All right, Stephon is taking his shoe off. He is holding it up.

STEPHON MARBURY: (Laughter).

MALONE: Stephon Marbury is a two-time NBA All-Star who is not afraid of a bold sneaker choice.

I’m colorblind, so I think it’s like a salmon.

MARBURY: It’s like a salmon pink.

MALONE: But Marbury’s boldest sneaker choice came in 2006 when he launched the Starbury, a basketball sneaker that cost $15.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Another basketball star is lending his name to a new sneaker.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Stephon Marbury unveils his line of high tops at a low cost.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Making them affordable for low-income families.

MALONE: Marbury was everywhere explaining how, when he was a little kid, he couldn’t afford fancy shoes. And so he partnered with Steve & Barry’s, a discount retail chain, to make this affordable sneaker. But interview after interview, the same question would come up.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: One question I might ask is, are you cutting corners at the production end? ‘Cause that’s a sensitive issue.

MARBURY: Not at all. This shoe is…

MALONE: What the Starbury had was a price signaling problem because in retail, we use price as a signal of how good an item is. So the $15 price tag had unintentionally signaled that the Starbury was garbage. Stephon Marbury tried to fight this a couple of ways. For one, he challenged people to take an expensive shoe and his shoe…

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARBURY: And you cut both of the shoes down the middle with a chainsaw, it’ll do the same exact thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: You’ll see the same thing.

MALONE: He did this over and over until finally…

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARBURY: Cut it down the half, and it’ll do the same exact thing.

JOHN STOSSEL: Really?

MALONE: John Stossel of “20/20” actually took him up on this, took two shoes to a sneaker expert…

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

STOSSEL: So he cut both shoes up. And he and others in the business concluded…

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: They are constructed the same way.

MALONE: Marbury decided there was really one way to fight this price signaling problem once and for all.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: The opening tip controlled by…

MALONE: On November 1 in 2006, Stephon Marbury wore his $15 sneakers in a real NBA game. And it seemed to be going great until the third quarter.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #2: Oh, Stephon has turned his ankle. He’s asking to come out of the game.

MALONE: He hobbled over to the bench.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #3: Remember, he’s playing in those reduced priced shoes.

MALONE: It was not the shoe, though. Someone had kicked him in the shin or something.

MARBURY: You know, it’s part of basketball.

MALONE: Marbury wore $15 sneakers for the entire season, and sales did great. In total, he sold over 4 million pairs of affordable sneakers. But in 2008, the financial crisis hit. The Steve & Barry’s company went bankrupt, and around the same time, Marbury left the NBA. And for a lot of people who followed the Starbury story, this was where the great affordable shoe experiment ended. But it turned out it was not the end.

MARBURY: (Speaking Chinese).

MALONE: And what does that mean?

MARBURY: I love China.

MALONE: Stephon Marbury went to play in the Chinese Basketball Association, where he led the Beijing Ducks to three championships. He has become a legend in China.

MARBURY: It’s like a whole new life, baby. I can’t tell you no lie. (Laughter) it’s the truth – statues, museums.

MALONE: Am I mistaken? There was, like, a musical also?

MARBURY: Yeah, I did a musical.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, “I WAS MARBURY”)

MARBURY: (As himself) From that moment, our lives connect.

MALONE: Vice News went and recorded this play.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, “I WAS MARBURY”)

MARBURY: (As himself) I am Marbury.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters, speaking Chinese).

MARBURY: (As himself) We all are Marbury.

MALONE: Stephon Marbury is now very well connected in the global hub of sneaker manufacturing. And so six years after it looked like his quest for cheap sneakers had died, Marbury is going to try and bring back the Starbury. There’s a limited run available online, and the company is starting to ramp up production for a relaunch.

Can you still make and sell basketball sneakers for $15 that you could play basketball in?

MARBURY: Yes, you can because I want all the little kids to be happy when they’re playing on the court with a fresh pair of kicks, you know what I’m saying? That’s what it’s really about.

MALONE: This time around, Stephon Marbury will also include a couple of higher-end shoes in his line. For him, that means 50, 60 bucks. Kenny Malone, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF ANDREW BIRD SONG, “TRUTH LIES LOW”)

Copyright © 2017 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 July 31, 2017

Fan Blamed For Chicago Cubs' Loss Gets His Own World Series Ring

On Monday the Chicago Cubs gave a 2016 World Series championship ring to Steve Bartman, a fan blamed for a team loss in 2003.

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A year after the Chicago Cubs won their first World Series title in more than a century, a long-suffering fan is getting another reward.

Steve Bartman was handed a personalized 2016 World Series ring, after being blamed for costing the team the title 13 years earlier.

It began with a simple gesture, perhaps an instinctive one on Oct. 14, 2003. The Cubs were ahead, 3-0, in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series against the Marlins in the eighth inning. A foul ball headed Bartman’s way. He — and other fans — reached out for it, but it was Bartman who deflected it from the outstretched mitt of left fielder Moises Alou.

Watch the move in the video below.

[embedded content]
YouTube

The Marlins wound up scoring eight runs in the remainder of the inning. They won the game, then the series.

The umpire determined it was fair game on Bartman’s part because he didn’t reach beyond the stands. It would have counted as interference if he had extended his arm out over the field, which would have resulted in the ball being declared dead, according to major league rules.

No one can say how things would have gone if Bartman hadn’t touched the ball. But angry Cubs fans didn’t care. Bartman had to be hidden inside the stadium after some started hurling abuse at him. Then he had to wear a disguise before being escorted out of Wrigley Field, reportsThe New York Times.

He stayed out of the public eye for the next 14 years. A friend and spokesman told CNN in 2016 that Bartman had been offered book proposals and hefty sums for a commercial, but he turned them all down. And he continued to receive threats, according his spokesman.

On Monday, Barton came to the office of Cubs owner Tom Ricketts to receive the ring, reports WGN-TV.

“We hope this provides closure on an unfortunate chapter of the story that has perpetuated throughout our quest to win a long-awaited World Series,” the team said in a statement. “While no gesture can fully lift the public burden he has endured for more than a decade, we felt it was important Steve knows he has been and continues to be fully embraced by this organization.”

If Steve Bartman is happy about this and feels satisfied, and gets closure, then it’s all good by me. https://t.co/zAx4S7fLZ5

— Brett Taylor (@BleacherNation) July 31, 2017

And now Bartman has spoken out. “Although I do not consider myself worthy of such an honor, I am deeply moved and sincerely grateful to receive an official Chicago Cubs 2016 World Series Championship ring,” he said in a statement. “I am fully aware of the historical significance and appreciate the symbolism the ring represents on multiple levels.”

Bartman did nothing wrong, and NEVER exploited his infamy. Cheers to him. Now leave him alone, forever https://t.co/oAhataLtD7

— JustNotSports (@JustNotSports) July 31, 2017

The reaction on Twitter appeared to be mostly positive, with fans applauding the move.

“I am happy to be reunited with the Cubs family and positively moving forward with my life,” Bartman said.

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Sports July 30, 2017

With 7 Golds, Caeleb Dressel Ties Phelps' Record At Swimming Worlds

American swimmer Caeleb Dressel clinched seven gold medals at the world championships on Sunday, tying a record set by Michael Phelps. Above, Dressel races in the Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay Final.

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In case you follow swimming only every four years, here’s a new name to learn: Caeleb Dressel.

The 20-year-old University of Florida student won his seventh gold medal at World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Sunday – tying him with Michael Phelps for most golds at the meet. Three of those were in individual races, four were in relays.

A day before, Dressel set a record all his own: three gold medals in a single night.

In the span of two hours on Saturday, Dressel won the 50-meter freestyle, the 100-meter butterfly, and was part of a victorious mixed 4×100 free relay team. He was named the top male swimmer of the meet.

“Man, that was a lot of fun,” he said.

“Phelps’ feat still stands supreme since five of his seven golds were in individual events, and he didn’t have the benefit of the mixed relays,” the AP notes. Mixed relays, with men and women on the same team, are a new event for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Dressel represents a new era in American swimming. Phelps retired after the 2016 Olympics; Ryan Lochte, 32, was barred from the event for his antics in Rio.

This kid is on fire!! So damn fun to watch buddy!!!!@caelebdressel

A post shared by Michael Phelps (@m_phelps00) on Jul 29, 2017 at 9:36am PDT

After his big night on Saturday, Dressel was asked about the inevitable comparisons to Phelps.

“I don’t know if I welcome them,” he said, according to The Washington Post. “But I know they’re going to come. I don’t think it puts any pressure on me. I just want to keep doing my thing at this meet and for the future.”

Phelps offered his congratulations on Saturday. “This kid is on fire!!” Phelps posted on Instagram.

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Sports July 29, 2017

WWE Wrestles With Foreign Stereotypes In The Ring

Jinder Mahal recently shocked the wrestling world by becoming the WWE World Champion. He’s the latest in a long line of foreign wrestlers offering a blunt critique of American supremacy.

NOEL KING, HOST:

There’s a brand new bad guy in the world of pro wrestling, a world that thrives off of being provocative. Reporter Arun Venugopal of member station WNYC has more on the wrestler who wears a turban and hates America.

ARUN VENUGOPAL, BYLINE: The wrestling world was shocked – shocked – when Jinder Mahal became WWE champion in May, but not these guys.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATORS: Number one. Number one. Number one. India number one.

VENUGOPAL: Those are the WWE’s Hindi-language commentators. Jinder Mahal, the Maharaja, is of Indian descent, as his name may suggest. He is physically enormous and just mean.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JINDER MAHAL: Randy Orton is just like all of you. He’s just like America. He’s on the decline.

VENUGOPAL: The crowd boos and shouts U-S-A because unlike the guy he beat, Randy Orton of Tennessee, Jinder Mahal’s a foreign place, meaning Calgary. Yeah, he’s actually Canadian, but he wears a turban, and he gloats in another language.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MAHAL: Foreign language spoken).

VENUGOPAL: Punjabi. In the parlance of pro wrestling, Jinder is a heel, a bad guy. Dion Beary is a writer and wrestling fan and has been closely following Jinder’s ascent.

DION BEARY: He is really good at digging into America is losing its spot as the leader of the world.

VENUGOPAL: To China and to India. But it’s all for the best, you see, because…

BEARY: At some point, the American cowboy is going to ride in and take our wrestling back from the foreigner.

VENUGOPAL: Foreign heels have been around forever. There was Abdullah the Butcher aka the Madman from Sudan. But occasionally things have spiraled out of control. Take the story line about an Arab-American character, Muhammad Hassan. In one match, Hassan joined a bunch of masked men – basically, Middle Eastern extremists – as they beat his opponent and choked him until he was unconscious.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR: What the hell is going on here?

VENUGOPAL: That episode’s still shocking and aired in 2005, the same day a series of suicide bomb attacks went off in London in real life. Muhammad Hassan’s character was quickly disappeared. Jinder Mahal thinks it’s best not to take wrestling too seriously.

MAHAL: People know what we do is just entertainment.

VENUGOPAL: I caught him on one of his off days.

MAHAL: While you’re a WWE program, you can forget about your real-life problems and whatnot.

VENUGOPAL: And even, he says, gain some cultural exposure on the way. There have been real, live bhangra dancers at his events and music.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Anybody selling tickets?

VENUGOPAL: Tonight, Jinder’s defending his title in Rochester at the Blue Cross Arena. I asked fans what they make of him. This is Todd Eardman.

TODD EARDMAN: I have to be blunt, it’s the brown storyline. If you need controversy, give a brown guy a belt and, oh, you don’t like me because I’m this. No, we don’t like you ’cause we don’t like you. You’re not that good (laughter).

VENUGOPAL: Inside, I grab some beer and fries and a bowl of Dippin’ Dots. Jinder’s facing off against Mojo Rawley, and he’s in serious trouble.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR: And Mahal scrambles to the bottom rope here in…

VENUGOPAL: But then, something miraculous happens.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR: And look at Mahal – right across the eyes.

VENUGOPAL: Jinder comes from behind and…

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR: Oh, and the coloss (ph) from Mahal finishes off Rawley.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

VENUGOPAL: And he wins. The Maharaja triumphs yet again, and America must lick its wounds. Of course, for some fans, it’s more complicated than us versus them. Rashad Fulton is Muslim and brought his kids.

RASHAD FULTON: Once they become aware, then it’s a conversation to be had.

VENUGOPAL: What’s the conversation to be had?

FULTON: That – what they’re selling, good versus bad. There’s no good and bad. It’s politics. Because on our side, we think that we are the good guys, but in all honesty, we may be the wrong ones.

VENUGOPAL: But for other fans, it’s just a matter of time before a good guy – an American – brings the wrestling title back home. For NPR News, I’m Arun Venugopal in New York.

Copyright © 2017 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 July 28, 2017

Body Camera Video Shows Officer Telling Venus Williams She's At Fault In Car Crash

A still from a police body camera video shows tennis star Venus Williams listening to Palm Beach Gardens Police Officer David Dowling following a June 9 car crash in Florida that fatally injured an elderly man.

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In body camera footage released by police in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., an officer tells tennis star Venus Williams that she is at fault in a car crash, but that he is not going to cite her. “You just got stuck in a bad situation there,” he says.

The Palm Beach Postpublished the video Thursday. The footage reflects what police originally said: that Williams was at fault in the June 9 crash that led to the death of a passenger in the other vehicle.

Police later rescinded their statement, after reviewing footage from a nearby security camera.

The body camera footage shows police interviewing witnesses after the crash.

[embedded content]

Clips from Palm Beach Gardens police body camera footage following a crash involving Venus Williams.

Palm Beach PostYouTube

In a chilling scene, an officer talks to the couple in the car Williams collided with. Linda and Jerome Barson sit amid deployed air bags in their Hyundai Accent, bleeding.

“They ran the red light,” Linda Barson, 68, tells the officer. “My husband’s on blood thinners and he’s bleeding,” she says, visibly shaken.

“Okay, we got fire and rescue coming,” the officer says.

Jerome Barson, 78, died two weeks later. His wife is now suing Williams for wrongful death, seeking unspecified damages, according to the Associated Press.

The end of the video shows an officer, whom the AP identifies as lead investigator David Dowling, interviewing Williams in her vehicle, a Toyota Sequoia SUV. Dowling sounds almost apologetic to Williams.

“Everybody’s telling me the same thing: that you came out of the Steeplechase, and you kind of got stuck,” he says. “You got stuck in the middle.”

“I think you lost your right of way, but you were stuck in the intersection. So my report will probably say that. I’ll explain exactly what happened,” he says. “So I will say that you’re at fault in this crash, but I’m not citing you for the crash, because I think you got stuck in the middle of the intersection. It’s just one of those situations where you had the right of way, but you kind of lost the right of way.”

“So in a situation like that, what do you do?” Williams asks. “Because you can’t back up, because there’s another person…”

“Exactly,” Dowling says. “You just got stuck in a bad situation there. So I’d just let the insurance companies work it out.”

“I’m not giving you a citation, I don’t feel comfortable writing a citation when I’m not a hundred percent sure, and I’m not a hundred percent sure in this case,” he says.

The Post reports that police did not publicly acknowledge the incident until after the website TMZ broke the story on June 29, nearly three weeks after the crash. The incident remains under investigation, the AP reports; police say no fault has been assigned.

“I am devasted [sic] and heartbroken by this accident,” Williams posted to Facebook on June 30. “My heartfelt condolences go out to the family and friends of Jerome Barson and I continue to keep them in my thoughts and prayers.”

Williams went on to compete at Wimbledon, where she lost in in the finals on July 15.

In a July 3 press conference, Williams struggled to answer a reporter’s question about the crash. “There are really no words to describe how devastating, and yeah. I’m just completely speechless.” She trailed off and began to cry. “Maybe I should go,” she said.

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Sports July 27, 2017

Is It Time To Sack Football As We Know It?

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A new study of 111 brains of former NFL players revealed that 110 of them had a degenerative brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

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Sports July 26, 2017

Resurgent U.S. Men's Soccer Team Claims Gold Cup Over Jamaica

Jordan Morris of Team USA, right, celebrates scoring a goal against Jamaica during the final football game of the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup on Wednesday at the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

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Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

The U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team was back in a familiar position Wednesday night — playing to win the Gold Cup. It was a record 10th time the U.S. has reached the finals of the biennial CONCACAF tournament, which crowns the continental champion of North and Central America and the Caribbean.

An 88th-minute goal by forward Jordan Morris, off a deflection up the middle after a Gyasi Zardes cross, gave the Americans a 2-1 win over Jamaica. It’s the team’s fifth title in the past nine Gold Cups.

Team USA dominated for much of the match; Je-Vaughn Watson’s goal in the 49th minute, a run-in from the back side on a corner kick, was the first shot Jamaica had had all night. But backup Jamaican goalie Dwayne Miller was able to smother chance after chance from the Americans, allowing only Morris’ goal and another on Jozy Altidore’s 45th-minute free kick.

Coach Bruce Arena calls out to his team as U.S. player Graham Zusi steps off the field during a Gold Cup semifinal soccer match in Arlington, Texas earlier this month.

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Jeffrey McWhorter/AP

Morris said after the match that he was nervous when the ball bounced to him, the Associated Press reports.

“It was my guy that scored on the goal, so I was trying to make up for it any way that I could, obviously. I take responsibility for that. But luckily I could put one in the back of the net.”

Jamaican coach Theodore Whitmore said the strike “was like a dagger in the heart,” according to the AP.

American midfielder Michael Bradley was named the tournament’s best player, while Jamaica’s Andre Blake, whose hand was injured early in the match, was named the tournament’s best goalie.

The United States had defeated Jamaica earlier this year 1-0 in an exhibition match in Chattanooga, Tenn. That game in February was also Coach Bruce Arena’s first win after he returned to lead the U.S. men’s national team after a decade hiatus.

Since he took over last November, Arena has not lost a game (nine wins and five ties). That’s the longest undefeated streak to start a U.S. Men’s National Team coaching tenure. “Four months ago we were rebuilding our program. A program that was in desperate shape of being in a position to qualify for a World Cup,” he said. “So I think we’ve made great strides in the past four months and [playing in the Gold Cup Final] is a great opportunity for us to make progress.”

The success comes at a good time for the United States. Arena replaced Jürgen Klinsmann who had been the squad’s leader since 2011. Klinsmann was fired after a disappointing start in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.

In 2002, Arena guided the U.S. to the quarterfinals (the best finish since the very first World Cup in 1930) but he also was at the helm when the U.S. was eliminated in the group stage of the 2006 tourney.

The U.S. men have played in every World Cup since 1990 and that streak was in jeopardy until Arena returned as coach. Since then, he guided the team to two wins and two draws in the final qualifying round. The U.S. is now in a much better position to make next year’s tournament in Russia once qualifying resumes on Sept. 1 with a match against Costa Rica (a squad the U.S. beat in the Gold Cup semifinals on Saturday).

How the U.S. fared Wednesday had no direct bearing on its World Cup chances. But star forward Clint Dempsey (who tied the U.S. scoring record with his 57th goal against Costa Rica) said it’s still important. “We know we’re in a position to accomplish two big things this year,” he said, speaking of both winning the Gold Cup a fifth time and qualifying for the World Cup in Russia.

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Sports July 25, 2017

Student Athletes Who Specialize Early Are Injured More Often, Study Finds

A growing number of pediatric sports medicine groups warn that when a child focuses on a single sport before age 15 or 16, they increase their risk of injury and burnout — and don’t boost their overall success in that sport.

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If you’re involved in high school athletics, you know the scene. There’s increasing pressure to specialize in a single sport and play it year-round.

The upside? Focusing on one sport can help give kids the edge they need to compete on elite club teams — or travel teams. Many athletes hope to attract the attention of college recruiters, or be offered a sports scholarship. This emphasis on competitive success has become widespread throughout the U.S., according to a consensus statement from the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine.

And, the downside? The “increased emphasis on sports specialization has led to an increase in overuse injuries, overtraining, and burnout, according to a 2016 report from the American Academy of Pediatrics .

Now, comes a study, published this week in The American Journal of Sports Medicine, that adds to the evidence that specialization may increase the risk of a range of injuries for high school athletes.

“We found that kids who had higher levels of specialization were at about a 50 percent greater risk of having an injury,” says study author Timothy McGuine, a senior scientist and research coordinator at the University of Wisconsin Health Sports Medicine Center. The injuries McGuine and his colleagues noted included ankle sprains, knee tendonitis, and stress fractures.

The researchers determined specialization by asking athletes in the study these questions: Have you quit one sport to focus on another? Do you consider your primary sport more important? Do you train more than eight months a year for your primary sport? (Students who answered yes to all three questions were considered highly specialized.)

Until now, a lot of what was known about these kinds of injuries has been anecdotal.

To get more hard evidence, McGuine and his colleagues asked athletic trainers to record injuries as they happened during games and practices. The trainers tracked about 1,500 players from 29 high schools in Wisconsin during the 2015-2016 school year.

“We then reported into a database the type of injury, and how it occurred,” McGuine explains. They also recorded information on whether the athlete went to the doctor, whether they had X-rays or MRI’s, whether they had surgery, and how long the injury kept them from playing their sport.

In total, 235 students, of the roughly 1,500, sustained an injury that was serious enough to take them out of the game for a week.

McGuine’s finding underscores the recent advice from a growing number of pediatric and sports medicine groups.

In a clinical report published last year, the American Academy of Pediatrics concluded that current evidence “suggests that delaying sport specialization for the majority of sports until after puberty (late adolescence — around 15 or 16 years of age) will minimize the risks and lead to a higher likelihood of athletic success.”

And a consensus statement from the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine concluded that “there is no evidence that young children will benefit from early sport specialization in the majority of sports,” given the risk of overuse injury and burnout.

That group recommends several measures to prevent burnout and injury including “avoiding overscheduling and excessive time commitments.”

As a rule of thumb, McGuine says, kids should limit the number of hours they participate in organized sports each week to the number of years they’ve been alive — or less. “So a 10-year-old should not play or practice more than 10 hours a week,” he says.

Still, not all sports medicine experts are convinced by the new evidence.

“Sport specialization may simply be a marker for a larger volume of training and competition,” Dr. John DiFiori, Chief of the Division of Sports Medicine at UCLA told us by email. In other words, kids who focus on one sport and train year-round may simply be on the field more competing and practicing compared to kids who don’t specialize. He’d like to see more research to answer that question.

In the meantime, there’s one conclusion everyone seems to agree on: Parents, clinicians, and coaches need to work together with the leagues to ensure healthy play.

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Sports July 23, 2017

American Jordan Spieth Wins Golf's British Open

Jordan Spieth celebrates on the 18th green after his final round 69 to win the 2017 Open Golf Championship at Royal Birkdale golf course in England on July 23, 2017.

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Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

Golf’s oldest major championship has a 2017 winner: Jordan Spieth, an American.

A dramatic final round capped the tournament, with Spieth vying with fellow American Matt Kuchar for the top position. China’s Li Haotong finished six strokes back in third place.

Spieth, 23, started the day with a three-shot lead over Kuchar, but temporarily lost it after a shaky performance for the first 13 holes, including an almost catastrophic drive on the 13th that required him to take an unplayable and drop between sponsorship trucks.

. @jordanspieth in huge trouble at the 13th. What is he going to do here? #TheOpenpic.twitter.com/yvhcDmW602

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 23, 2017

But he regained his footing on the home stretch scoring a birdie, an eagle, and two more birdies to win the tournament.

Remarkable recovery from @jordanspieth. #TheOpenpic.twitter.com/VAR5J3lsgp

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 23, 2017

Only 23 years old, Spieth already has two major championship titles, and was heavily favored to win entering Sunday’s final round. Kuchar, 39, has never won a major title.

Earlier in the tournament, South African Branden Grace broke the record for lowest score ever in a men’s major championship – a 62.

NPR’s Tom Goldman reported on Saturday:

Afterwards, the 29-year-old South African said he wasn’t aware of history unfolding because he was in a zone. Said Grace, “sometimes it helps not knowing these things.” 62 has been a major tournament holy grail — players have shot 63 31 times, with several near misses. Last year at the British Open, American Phil Mickelson missed a putt for 62 by an inch. But Saturday, Grace calmly sank a putt from a few feet away on the final hole to claim the record.

Jordan Spieth’s win at the British Open makes him one of only two golfers to win three of the four major championships before the age of 24. The only other is Jack Nicklaus, who holds the all-time record with 18 major titles. Spieth will try for his fourth next month at the PGA Championship.

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Sports July 22, 2017

Saturday Sports: Cleveland Cavaliers, The British Open

Kyrie Irving blindsided LeBron James by talking about wanting out of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Plus, the British Open features a new star, and the Tour de France wraps up with little fanfare.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

And now it’s time for sports.

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SIMON: It’s July, but play in the NBA never really ends. Word out of Cleveland – Kyrie Irving wants out of Cleveland. And the Cavs would have a hole the size of Lake Erie to fill. But first, some sports history. On the other side of the pond, NPR’s Tom Goldman joins us. Good morning, Tom.

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Good morning, Scott.

SIMON: Third round the British Open golf championship today the story had been about Jordan Spieth, the American in front – and he’s playing well. But tell us what South African Branden Grace has done.

GOLDMAN: He is the first man to shoot a 62 in a major championship. Scott, break out the champagne. Grace was 8-under-par for the day. He has a pretty flawless round, no bogeys on any holes. A bogey, of course, is 1-over par. And Grace took full advantage of calm conditions on the Royal Birkdale course. The weather, of course, is often a character in the British Open dramas on those seaside golf courses.

So there have been 31 rounds of 63…

SIMON: Wow.

GOLDMAN: …In major tournaments and several near-62s, including just last year at the British Open, when a putt on the final hole by American Phil Mickelson missed by about an inch or less.

SIMON: I remember that, yeah.

GOLDMAN: So it’s a big deal. Beyond the excitement, Grace was thrilled that his round pulled him into a tie for second place behind leader Jordan Spieth. And I’ll tell you, Scott, a lot of players are making moves today, taking advantage of this nice weather – for now.

SIMON: Well, Branden Grace is a name to mark – right? – as we go on.

GOLDMAN: Yes, yes.

SIMON: Staying in Europe, although actually they just voted not to be a part of Europe.

GOLDMAN: (Laughter).

SIMON: I’m thinking of the British Open. The Tour de France – final time trial today. Chris Froome of Britain, which used to be in Europe and is negotiating to get out of it now…

(LAUGHTER)

SIMON: …Held the lead. And if he wins that will be, what, his third in a row?

GOLDMAN: I’m so confused. Yeah, it would. And it looks like he is very close to doing that and claiming his third in a row and fourth overall. You know, that would put him in the legend category. But sadly, beyond the cycling world, in the general public, the post-Lance Armstrong haze has obscured the sport, you know, created so much distrust about doping. It’s made cycling the butt of jokes. You, Scott, have seen the HBO mockumentary “Tour De Pharmacy.”

SIMON: And I loved it. I might have recommended it to you. I thought it was bawdy and brilliant. It has an all-star cast. And Lance Armstrong himself is in there – don’t want to give away any plot points…

GOLDMAN: Right.

SIMON: …Saying, look, everybody juices. Isn’t that obvious? Can’t you tell?

GOLDMAN: As if there are plot points. Yeah, but it is going to take cycling time to emerge from the haze. And it’s a shame that Froome – if he’s clean and isn’t that what we always say?

SIMON: Yeah.

GOLDMAN: It’s a shame that what looks like his fourth Tour title won’t be fully appreciated.

SIMON: So now to the NBA news that has us Cavs fans disheartened – Kyrie Irving, the superlative point guard, according to sources, says he wants to be traded. And of course, this follows some news that we’ve heard for several weeks that LeBron James doesn’t like the team’s direction. They’ve been in the finals like – what? Three times now, right? – three times but of course, have only won twice. And, you know, maybe he won’t always be there once he becomes a free agent. You know what they say in Cleveland, don’t you?

GOLDMAN: What’s that?

SIMON: Oy, my aching Cavs.

(LAUGHTER)

GOLDMAN: Hey. You know, what they’re saying in Boston, though?

SIMON: No. What, what, what? Yes. What?

GOLDMAN: Wicked awesome…

SIMON: Oh, right.

GOLDMAN: …Because a Cavs team in disarray is nothing but good news for the Celtics. Look, absent comments from Kyrie Irving or his agent, we are left to speculate as to why he wants out. We’re hearing he doesn’t want to play with LeBron. He wants to prove to the world he can lead a team. We’re also hearing it’s proactive on Irving’s part – that he doesn’t want to wait for LeBron to leave and then be left behind. If this news is true, Scott, it is disheartening, as you say. They have sure looked good together, playing together like they love playing together.

SIMON: Yeah.

GOLDMAN: But what we see isn’t always what is happening.

SIMON: All right, a lesson for life, as usual. NPR Sports correspondent Tom Goldman, thanks so much.

GOLDMAN: You bet.

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