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Sports June 26, 2017

St. Louis Cardinals Fan Uses Her Purse To Catch Foul Ball

The ball has so much force that when it landed in her purse, she fell backwards. After she caught the ball, her husband caught her.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Good morning. I’m David Greene. So when I went to baseball games as a kid, I would bring my mitt. The dream was to catch a foul ball. Last night, slight variation – a St. Louis Cardinals fan did not have a mitt. She did have leather, though. She lifted her purse up in the air, opened it and a foul ball went right in with so much force, she fell backwards. Other fans gave her an ovation, as did the ESPN announcers.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: That was a great grab – sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: It hurt her back.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: And then it looked like her husband caught her.

GREENE: It’s MORNING EDITION.

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 June 25, 2017

'But Seriously,' Tennis Great John McEnroe Says He's Seeking 'Inner Peace'

John McEnroe reacts during a Men’s Legends match against Jim Courier at the Connecticut Open in August 2015.

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In the late 1970s and early 1980s, tennis great John McEnroe triumphed three times at Wimbledon and four times at the U.S. Open. But all his achievements on the court did not prepare him for life off of it. After his professional career ended, he dabbled as a talk show host and as an art collector and appeared in movies and TV shows.

Above all, McEnroe wanted to be a rock guitarist in his wife’s band, but, he admits: “That was not going to happen.”

His wife, singer Patty Smyth, told him, “I want to play mixed doubles with you at Wimbledon.” To which he replied, “Well, you don’t play tennis.”

And she said, “Exactly.”

During his tennis career, McEnroe became known for outbursts on the court when he thought umpires had missed a call. In one classic exchange, he yelled at an official, “You cannot be serious! That ball was on the line!”

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That line has followed him for decades. “If a day goes by where I don’t hear that at least a couple times, it’s a miracle,” McEnroe says. So he has decided to embrace it: His first memoir was called You Cannot Be Serious, and his new memoir is called But Seriously.

On reinventing himself after his pro career ended

I was actually going through what turned out to be a separation and divorce from my first wife, [actress Tatum O’Neal], so I was unable to really think about anything else. We had three kids together and my head was all over the place and I couldn’t even think about … the transition that I was anticipating I was going to be making. …

I was sort of lost, but was open enough to experiment … so that I can find myself again, which isn’t easy when you’ve peaked in your career at 26 years old.

On why there aren’t more great male American tennis players right now

There’s a lot of reasons, but the biggest one to me is the cost of it: the cost of play, the cost to train, the cost to get a court. All of this factors into the difficulty of getting a champion. The truth is … the game has become more athletic than ever, and quicker, you need to be more athletic, and our best athletes mainly are playing in basketball or football. …

If you take a court the size of a tennis court and you decide you want to use it for a soccer field, say, you could fit a lot more kids. … When you talk about schools, they say: Well, it’s better if we put a little soccer field in there and we get 20 kids running around kicking a ball. … Whereas tennis doesn’t come as easily.

On calling Serena Williams the best female tennis player in the world

Garcia-Navarro: We’re talking about male players but there is of course wonderful female players. Let’s talk about Serena Williams. You say she is the best female player in the world in the book.

McEnroe: Best female player ever — no question.

Garcia-Navarro: Some wouldn’t qualify it, some would say she’s the best player in the world. Why qualify it?

McEnroe: Oh! Uh, she’s not, you mean, the best player in the world, period?

Garcia-Navarro: Yeah, the best tennis player in the world. You know, why say female player?

McEnroe: Well because if she was in, if she played the men’s circuit she’d be like 700 in the world.

Garcia-Navarro: You think so?

McEnroe: Yeah. That doesn’t mean I don’t think Serena is an incredible player. I do, but the reality of what would happen would be I think something that perhaps it’d be a little higher, perhaps it’d be a little lower. And on a given day, Serena could beat some players. I believe because she’s so incredibly strong mentally that she could overcome some situations where players would choke ’cause she’s been in it so many times, so many situations at Wimbledon, The U.S. Open, etc. But if she had to just play the circuit — the men’s circuit — that would be an entirely different story.

Garcia-Navarro: Many people over the years, including, we should mention Donald Trump, the President, wanted you to play her, and you seemed to have at least thought about it.

McEnroe: Well I’ve thought about it. I didn’t really want to do it, personally. I don’t know, people always seemed — I would say why don’t they go ask Roger Federer? Or someone, you know they added the old fart that’s you know 25 years over the hill. And I think I can still play and I think I could still — I mean my kids don’t think I can beat her anymore. Maybe I should get her now because she’s pregnant, but the truth is that I think that sometimes —I don’t know why in tennis, I get it’s that one battle of the sexes when Bobby Riggs played Billie Jean.

Garcia-Navarro: Billie Jean one of the most famous, iconic and most watched, I think tennis matches at the time.

McEnroe: Yeah, it was no question. I think there was the most, the biggest attendance at the Houston Astrodome, and it was great that Billie Jean did that but…OK, but that doesn’t mean, talk about other sports. If you go look at the times, for example, of the world’s fastest females — and you know maybe it will change! You know my daughter, one the things she says is ‘You’re a feminist, Dad.’ OK. I started with two boys, I got four girls now and I’m all for it and I’m trying to just get with it and figure it out.

Garcia-Navarro: So, you’re a feminist.

McEnroe: Maybe at some point a women’s tennis player can be better than anybody. I just haven’t seen it in any other sport, and I haven’t seen it in tennis. I suppose anything’s possible at some stage.

Garcia-Navarro: You really think at 60, you could possibly beat Serena Williams? Maybe pregnant.

McEnroe: The way you put that makes me think that you have your doubts.

Garcia-Navarro: Far be it from me to question you Mr. McEnroe.

McEnroe: Well, you know, my kids do, so feel free to. But there’s people that because of course as you get older — I’m not sure how athletic you are and how often you get out in whatever sport it is, but I have kept at it regularly. I’ve done it sort of doing this playing some other guys close to my age even though they keep getting younger and younger. Obviously, if I was going to do something like that, I would train very seriously for that to make sure my body was at, like, the peak it could be. Absolutely — to try and be as ready as I possibly could, but I bring things to the table, certainly until recently. I may be way past it, but I can still bring a few things to the table and so that’s why I guess people still find it interesting to even talk about.

On where to go from here

I need to make sure that I enjoy the upcoming 10 — hopefully 20 — years of my life and just appreciate the ride that it’s been, and be able to continue to … find that inner peace, in a way, because that’s difficult for me. I grew up a perfectionist getting pushed, pushed, pushed a lot. … Especially when my dad passed away a few months ago, I said, Wait a second, you’ve got to just take a step back here and smell the roses a little bit more. That would be my Number One goal moving ahead.

Radio producer Peter Breslow, radio editor Stacey Samuel and Web producers Beth Novey and Wynne Davis contributed to this story.

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Sports June 24, 2017

Saturday Sports: The NBA Draft

The NBA draft took center stage this week in the world of sports, and many are wondering what the new picks will mean for championship-winning teams.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Time now for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

BLOCK: The dust is settling after Thursday night’s NBA draft. Do the 60 new players selected change the landscape? Are some teams now contenders – enough to challenge the mighty Golden State Warriors? Spoiler alert – no. All right, maybe.

NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman joins me now. Good morning, Tom.

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Good morning, Melissa.

BLOCK: And we thought we were done with the NBA after the…

GOLDMAN: (Laughter).

BLOCK: …Warriors so handily dispatched Cleveland nearly two weeks ago. But I guess there is no off switch with the NBA. Fans very fired up about Thursday’s draft. So…

GOLDMAN: Yeah.

BLOCK: …Does anything look different now?

GOLDMAN: It does. Several teams that have been bad over most, if not all, of the past decade are suddenly looking like teams that could be good. Sacramento and Philadelphia, which had the first-round pick, added to their growing rosters of young talented players. Minnesota pulled off the big draft night trade, getting a star player in his prime, Jimmy Butler from Chicago.

And Thursday was just the start. Next month, there’s the free agency period. And we’ll see established players moving to new teams trying to beef up their rosters as everyone plays the game, Melissa, Chase the Warriors.

BLOCK: Well, if that’s the game, Tom, who wins?

GOLDMAN: (Laughter) The Warriors…

BLOCK: (Laughter).

GOLDMAN: …If Golden State can stay healthy and keep its team together. They’ve got a bunch of free agents who could go elsewhere. But Golden State is expected to retain its core, which means a very good chance of more titles coming up.

BLOCK: Tom, let’s go back to the draft for a second. It looked like freshman orientation out there, a record 16 college freshmen drafted in the first round. These are the so-called one-and-done players. What’s the takeaway from that?

GOLDMAN: That more and more young men feel they’re ready to go. And NBA teams are ready to take a chance on them. Most kids that age aren’t NBA-ready, but teams are willing to invest and develop them. It has generated more conversation about, when is the right time to let these young men pursue their pro careers?

Should they be allowed to go pro out of high school? The rule has said no for the past decade. Or should they be delayed even more so they can be more mature when they get to the NBA? And if you do that, is it fair not to compensate them somehow because they’ll be missing out even longer on a big NBA payday? It does appear that change is coming. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said recently the one-and-done system is not working for anyone.

BLOCK: Tom, let’s close with the news of the death this week of Tony DiCicco, the former coach…

GOLDMAN: Yeah.

BLOCK: …Of the U.S. women’s national soccer team, very popular guy and dying way too young. He was 68.

GOLDMAN: Yeah, very popular and very successful coach – he led the U.S. women to the 1996 Olympic gold medal and the 1999 World Cup title, which gave us that iconic Brandi Chastain moment when she scored the winning penalty kick and ripped off her jersey in celebration.

BLOCK: Who can forget?

GOLDMAN: Who can forget? And DiCicco, by the way, subbed her in in the last minute because he knew she thrived in big moments, a great decision, one of many.

BLOCK: When you think about that ’99 team…

GOLDMAN: Yeah.

BLOCK: …Anthony DiCicco – What were his gifts as coach?

GOLDMAN: Well, you know, beyond his tactical skills, he had an ability to get the most out of very talented players. You know, people think it’s easy with superteams – you just roll the ball out. But it takes more. DiCicco understood coaching a women’s team is different. You need to be tough and demanding but also you have to build relationships, which often are more important in women’s sport – women’s team sport. And he had this infectious joy. One player talked – told me that he would walk out onto the practice field and shout, I love my job, and the players would laugh and then get to work.

BLOCK: OK. NPR’s sports correspondent Tom Goldman – Tom, thanks so much.

GOLDMAN: Thank you, Melissa.

(SOUNDBITE OF CORDUROI’S “BANGARANGARANG”)

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 June 23, 2017

NFL's Jermichael Finley On Head Trauma: 'It Felt Like 100 Bees Stinging Me'

NPR’s Kelly McEvers speaks with former NFL tight end Jermichael Finley about his experience living with the effects of head trauma sustained on the field.

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Jermichael Finley was a tight end for the Green Bay Packers for six seasons, played 70 games, caught 223 receptions, scored 20 touchdowns. He also got five concussions. And then Finley took a hit to the crown of his helmet during his final game in 2013. He suffered a bruised spinal cord and eventually retired at age 28.

Jermichael Finley wrote about all this in a recent article in The Players’ Tribune. He’s with us from member station KERA in Dallas. Welcome to the show.

JERMICHAEL FINLEY: Hey. How are you?

MCEVERS: I’m good. Thanks. Can you tell us about that game in 2013 when you took that hit? What do you remember happened?

FINLEY: What I do remember – before I even caught the ball, I faced the guy up. I took the slant route, caught the ball, lowered my head. And when I lowered my head, he jammed my head, and it kind of, like, jammed my spinal cord. So instantaneously I, like, froze up. When you get a spinal cord concussion, your head – it just, like, flops back and forth. And it felt like a hundred bees was on me, stinging me. So it was a crazy, crazy experience.

MCEVERS: Wow. They put you on a stretcher, and they took you to the hospital. But they took you the back way.

FINLEY: Yes. When I was on that ride to the hospital, they were saying the media is on the main floor, so we got to take you to through the basement – and then went through the basement. As I start waking up from getting knocked out, I started looking around, and everything was, like, half-painted. It was freezing cold. And I’m like, man, where am I? And they was like, we had to take you through the morgue. And I’m like, am I dead?

MCEVERS: Somebody had to say, like, no, you’re not dead.

FINLEY: Yeah, no, you’re not dead. Just sit back, and relax.

MCEVERS: So what was your injury exactly?

FINLEY: My injury was C3, C4 vertebrate. At the time, they had to widen my narrow canal because that’s what – it squeezed down on my spinal cord, so I couldn’t breathe or do none of that, so I just blacked out.

MCEVERS: But after a time, you wanted to go back and play – right? – after this injury.

FINLEY: I did. I did.

MCEVERS: Yeah, why? I mean, you know, I think somebody’s listening to this would think, like, you get hurt that badly, like, why would you want to go back for more?

FINLEY: It’s that high – running out the tunnel with a hundred thousand people screaming at you, you know, I mean the fame, the fortune of course. And you get lost in that. And that’s what I’m trying to let guys know. You know, I mean it’s a fantasy world, and it’s temporary, so you got to take care of yourself also.

MCEVERS: You talk about getting your bell rung on the field, like, when you get hit. What does it feel like when you get your bell rung?

FINLEY: That’s a good question ’cause when I get my bell rung, I’m just out of it.

MCEVERS: Yeah.

FINLEY: It feels like you’re going blind. You can’t really hear anything. I had got my bell rung week three of the same year that I got injured. I was stumbling off the field, and the only way I can find the sideline that my team was on is that we had the bright-yellow pants on. So I couldn’t hear. You can’t talk. And I think the fans on TV – you can tell when a guy get his bell rung ’cause you get that oh, that ah. You’re off balance. It’s a train wreck every time you collide into an opponent.

MCEVERS: And that’s just normal. Like, I mean how many times…

FINLEY: Yes.

MCEVERS: …Would you say that you, like, got your bell rung?

FINLEY: I would say once a game, if you want to be real.

MCEVERS: So you were not cleared by doctors to play again. You had to retire after this injury in 2013. But you actually had a clause in your contract that set you up financially. Can you tell me about that?

FINLEY: It was 10 million bucks tax-free. It was an insurance policy through Lloyd’s of London to set myself up. And so happened, 2013, I had got the career-ending injury. And after that, I had collected on that insurance policy.

MCEVERS: How common is that now in the game for people to have a policy like that?

FINLEY: It’s not common at all. Some guys don’t want to fork over a half million dollars for a $10 million deal. You know what I mean?

MCEVERS: Yeah.

FINLEY: But at the end of the day, you’re protecting yourself.

MCEVERS: It just seems so – I don’t know – just so cynical to me. Like, it’s almost like there’s an understanding that this is very likely to happen, right?

FINLEY: Most definitely. And when you come in the NFL, you come into that orientation as a rookie or whatnot. They got it for you highlighted. There’s 99 percent chance you’re going to get injured in this game.

MCEVERS: They say that.

FINLEY: Yeah. They’ll let you know that. The matter’s not that you’re going to get injured. It’s when you’re going to get injured. So everyone plays this game. You’re going to get some type of injury that’s going to, in my opinion, haunt you for the rest of your life.

MCEVERS: So you retired, and then after that, you started feeling bad. What was happening?

FINLEY: Irritability. I really couldn’t stand much – impulsiveness, addictions, just being honest. I was dealing with all types of things around the board.

MCEVERS: And your wife eventually encouraged you to go to a clinic that deals with brain injuries, right?

FINLEY: Yes, Ma’am.

MCEVERS: What are your symptoms now?

FINLEY: My symptoms now – it’s minor to what it used to be – but forgetting things (laughter). You know, I mean if I’m out or having a conversation with someone, I may tend to kind of have to think a little bit more. But I feel a ton better, most definitely.

MCEVERS: ‘Cause you’re 30 years old. Is that right?

FINLEY: Yes, Ma’am.

MCEVERS: What is it like to know that you will live with this your whole life?

FINLEY: It probably come across my mind probably once a day. It’s disturbing, but at the end of the day, I know how to hone myself back in and realize that I chose the game. I chose to play this game as a kid and carry on with it. So that’s the things that I have to deal with.

MCEVERS: You’ve been critical of the NFL for, you know…

FINLEY: (Laughter).

MCEVERS: …Encouraging this get-back-on-the-field attitude that, you know…

FINLEY: Yeah.

MCEVERS: …Where players, you know, downplay their injuries so they can keep playing like you wanted to. Do you think the NFL is doing enough?

FINLEY: I don’t. My thing is – here, and not to throw the NFL under the bus, but I don’t think they’re doing their wholeheartedly best at helping players realize that after the game, it’s going to be a struggle from all of the damage and the scars that’s on their brain. I don’t think they educate guys around that good enough. If I can go back and do this thing all over, I would have baseline tests every single year, twice a year. You know what I mean? I would check my brain a lot more than I did.

MCEVERS: You now coach football for kids, including your own kids.

FINLEY: Yes, Ma’am, yeah.

MCEVERS: And I just think anyone listening to your story would want to know why? Like, why encourage kids to get into a sport that you know can be so dangerous?

FINLEY: So I – with my son, I want to be hands-on with him. I want to show him how to play the game correctly, fair, not just go knock this guy out. You know what I mean? Play the game, and just educate yourself around it.

MCEVERS: Do you still watch NFL games on TV?

FINLEY: I do. The year after I got hurt, I hated it. But now I’m pretty comfortable. The thing is, I cringe when guys get hit now.

MCEVERS: Right.

FINLEY: I just cringe up because I know how damaging it is in the long run.

MCEVERS: Well, Jermichael Finley, thank you so much for your time and for telling your story.

FINLEY: Yes, Ma’am. Thank you guys also.

(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY’S “TO WEST TEXAS”)

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 June 22, 2017

NBA Draft Day – The Impossible Dream To Beat The Golden State Warriors?

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Golden State Warriors celebrate their 2017 NBA Championship at The Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland, Calif., on June 15.

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For those too young to remember the NBA’s Michael Jordan era, you’re living it now. The Golden State Warriors are the new Michael Jordan.

When Jordan ruled the earth’s hardwood, everyone else played for second. That’s where we are today with the super team from the Bay Area that just wrapped up its second title in three years.

So why even play games for the next 3 to 5 years? Just build a permanent trophy case in Oakland’s Oracle Arena, right?

WRONG.

Sports, if anything, represent hope. It’s why they play the games. On any given Sunday. David did beat Goliath.

Which brings us to today’s annual day of NBA hope – the draft. Teams will replenish rosters with fresh faced, college-aged talent; they’ll execute trades to move up in the draft order.

Draft day also begins what’s expected to be a frenzied summer that will see the better teams try to beef up AND bolster their rosters in an effort to challenge you-know-who.

Here’s some of what’s being said about the expected frenzy – an offseason drama that may as well be scored to “Man of La Mancha.”

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe

“Cleveland is closer than anyone to competing with Golden State, and the only player who realistically gets them closer is [Indiana Pacers star Paul] George.”

That’s from a CBSSPORTS.com article titled “Six trades or free-agent signings that could challenge Warriors’ NBA supremacy.” The article also suggests sending Chicago’s Jimmy Butler and Utah’s Gordon Hayward to Boston, Chris Paul of the L.A. Clippers to San Antonio and sums up with the three-team trade that would “save the world.”

To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

If the quest to topple Golden State begins with tonight’s draft, it’s not as easy as taking one of the projected stars, such as Washington’s Markelle Fultz, UCLA’s Lonzo Ball OR Josh Jackson of Kansas. Teams have to get the right players that fit, then develop them into stars, says Neil Paine from fivethirtyeight.com. “To beat the Warriors,” Paine writes, “you have to do what the Warriors did.” That included drafting Draymond Green 35th in 2012. The Warriors did pick Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in the first round of the 2009 and 2011 drafts respectively. But Curry wasn’t an NBA all-star until 2014 and Thompson, in 2015.

The Warriors, as it turns out, do not have any picks in tonight’s draft. That doesn’t mean they won’t be active – at the right moment. Golden State still could buy a draft pick, which it did last year, getting the Warriors UNLV’s Patrick McCaw. He got regular playing time in his first year, giving him the confidence to play effectively even in critical moments. He played 11 minutes in this month’s title-clinching game and scored 6 points.

Everything Golden State touches, it seems, turns to gold.

OK, almost everything. The Warriors drafted Ekpe Udoh with the 6th pick in the 2010 draft. He’s now playing in Turkey.

Still, Golden State mostly has made the right moves and made itself into a great team that was able to lure Kevin Durant last offseason – a super free-agent signing that turned the Warriors into a super team.

Tonight, the Philadelphia 76ers have the first draft pick – the first official counter move in this new NBA era of “Golden State vs. the World.”

Philly, you’re on the clock.

And so are 28 other NBA teams that will do what they can – draft, trade, buy, sell – to pull closer to the Warriors. Ever closer.

And the world will be better for this
That one man scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To fight the unbeatable foe, to reach the unreachable star

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Sports June 21, 2017

Fans Of Pakistan's Cricket Team Arrested For Sedition In India

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Pakistan’s captain, Sarfraz Ahmed, gives a teammate a leaping hug defeating India in the ICC Champions Trophy final in London on Sunday.

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When Pakistan clobbered India in the ICC Champions Trophy final on Sunday — pulling off an upset so shocking, ESPN called it “some diamond-studded, galactic-scale nonsense” — flabbergasted fans took to the streets in several countries to celebrate the national cricket team’s big win.

In India, those celebrations got some fans in deep legal trouble.

Police have arrested at least 19 people across the country on charges of sedition, according to the Times of India.

“While the entire country was saddened by the defeat, these people were raising slogans in favour of Pakistan and burst crackers on Sunday night, threatening peace in the area,” Sanjay Pathak, a police inspector in Madhya Pradesh, a state where 15 men were arrested, told the newspaper.

“They celebrated with firecrackers, distributing sweets and raising slogans of ‘Long live Pakistan,’ ” another Madhya Pradesh police officer, Ramasray Yadav, told The New York Times. “They expressed hatred toward India and friendship toward Pakistan. They are charged for sedition and criminal conspiracy.”

The Times reports that all the people arrested are Muslims:

“The arrests come as some Muslims in India say they feel a sense of rising alienation. There have been episodes of violence, including by vigilante groups that have staged attacks on Muslims and low-caste Hindus suspected of slaughtering cows, which are considered sacred in Hinduism, the dominant religion in India.”

“These arrests are patently absurd, and the 19 men should be released immediately,” Asmita Basu, program director of Amnesty International India, said in a statement.

“Even if the arrested men had supported Pakistan, as the police claim, that is not a crime,” Basu continued. “Supporting a sporting team is a matter of individual choice, and arresting someone for cheering a rival team clearly violates their right to freedom of expression.”

But Pathak maintains similar situations have caused unrest in the past.

“This has been happening for several years, whenever there is an India-Pakistan match,” he told CNN. “We don’t have any previous cases or official complaints on record but those residing in Mohad have told us that this has happened before.”

As NPR’s Michel Martin reported, the two countries rarely play each other in cricket, partly because of political tensions between them — which made Sunday’s match all the more heavy with consequence.

Osman Samiuddin, senior editor of ESPNCricinfo, told Michel that “450 to 500 million people watched it around the world on TV. … It’s not just a sport. It’s not just a religion. I think it’s become a compulsion.”

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Sports June 19, 2017

Diana Taurasi Breaks WNBA All-Time Scoring Record

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On Sunday, Diana Taurasi became the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer.

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With a driving layup late in the second quarter against the Los Angeles Sparks Sunday evening, the Phoenix Mercury’s Diana Taurasi became the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer.

Taurasi now stands alone atop the league’s all-time scoring table with 7,494 points, an average of 19.9 points per game. It took her less than 13 full seasons to set the record; she surpassed Tina Thompson, who racked up 7,488 points over 17 seasons before retiring in 2013.

Thompson congratulated Taurasi on breaking her record: “Diana is one of the best players to ever play the game and definitely one of my favorites. She has done amazing things and I am so grateful that I’ve been able to share many of those with her. I am really excited for Diana and I think she is going to blow that record out of the water.”

The courtside view as @DianaTaurasi becomes the all-time leading scorer in #WNBA history! pic.twitter.com/UprV8UgdkP

— WNBA (@WNBA) June 18, 2017

Though it was a night for the record books for Taurasi, the Mercury got hammered by the Sparks, 90-59.

“I was just trying to get a basket at that point, I think we were down 20,” Taurasi told ESPN. “It’s a pretty cool, special moment. You know, it’s a lot of basketball. I’ve been really lucky, played with a lot of great players, lot of great coaches.”

Taurasi has played her entire career with the Mercury, winning WNBA Championships in 2007, 2009, and 2014 – and winning MVP in the latter two.

“Diana is everything you would want in a basketball player, and the kind of player who not only defines a franchise but an entire league for a generation,” said Phoenix Suns and Mercury Managing Partner Robert Sarver. “We could not be more proud of what she has done for the game, our franchise, and the city.”

Less than three weeks ago, Taurasi broke the WNBA record for career 3-pointers, which had been held by Katie Smith.

.@KingJames salutes @DianaTaurasi for becoming the @WNBA‘s all-time leading scorer in history. #Respectpic.twitter.com/QnVpJj0PkA

— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) June 18, 2017

Tarausi, who turned 35 last week, has won four straight Olympic gold medals with Team USA. Earlier this month Taurasi said she’d be happy to play in the 2020 Tokyo Games, the Associated Press reported.

“As long as I’m playing at a high level, and I deserve to be out there, then I’ll always put that USA jersey on,” she said. “There’s nothing better than that, no matter how many times you’ve done it.”

Congrats, @DianaTaurasi!#WatchMeWork#WNBApic.twitter.com/opMOsDY4Oe

— WNBA (@WNBA) June 19, 2017

Tina Thompson (@IAmTinaThompson) and son Dyllan offer their congratulations to @DianaTaurasi on breaking the @WNBA All-Time Scoring Record. pic.twitter.com/LivNQFZxAr

— Texas WBB (@TexasWBB) June 18, 2017

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Sports June 18, 2017

Pakistan Triumps Over India To Win The Champions Trophy

Osman Samiuddin, senior editor of ESPNCricinfo, describes what this win means for Pakistan, in one of the great rivalries of cricket.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Funny thing – Father’s Day today coincides with some big sporting events. It’s the fourth round of the U.S. Open in golf. There’s plenty of baseball being played around the country. Lots of people will be watching and cheering. But for sheer numbers, not to mention drama, none of this compares to this morning’s cricket match between arch rivals India and Pakistan in the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy. Just ask Osman Samiuddin, senior editor of ESPNCricinfo.

OSMAN SAMIUDDIN: It’s difficult to describe the kind of emotions.

MARTIN: The countries hardly ever play against each other because of political tensions, and when they do, emotions run high. And the numbers are mind boggling. For instance, about 110 million people watched the Super Bowl this year. This morning’s match played in London?

SAMIUDDIN: Four-hundred-and-fifty to 500 million people watching it around the world on TV – that is kind of legally watching it. It’s not just a sport. It’s not just a religion. I think it’s become a compulsion. In Urdu, we say, you know, it’s a majboori, something that you can’t avoid. You have to cricket.

MARTIN: Indian cricket players are the superstars of the game, as famous as Bollywood stars back home, commercial mainstays around the world and, oh, yeah, they win – a lot. Pakistani fans are used to watching their team on TV but for different reasons.

SAMIUDDIN: They haven’t played any cricket at home in Pakistan since 2009. It’s been over eight years now. And that was when a terrorist attack on a visiting team from Sri Lanka, they hurt some players there. And that kind of ended international cricket being played in Pakistan.

MARTIN: Coming into the tournament, Pakistan was the lowest-ranked team in the field. To make things worse, they got hammered by their old rivals, India, in the first game of the event. But then Pakistan started winning and winning and winning. They beat world number one South Africa to stay alive and England, the hosts and tournament favorite, in the semifinals. And then, this morning, Pakistan finished the Cinderella story with a blowout victory against, yes, India.

SAMIUDDIN: For it to happen in the way that it did in this tournament, it is one of the most important achievements in all of cricket.

MARTIN: And now they party.

SAMIUDDIN: Been watching reports from Pakistan about people celebrating on the streets. There will be celebrations that will go on for a fair few days yet. There’s Eid, which is the end of Ramadan this week. And I think people will just celebrate all the way through now.

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 June 17, 2017

Saturday Sports: It's Time For Baseball

NPR’s Melissa Block talks to Howard Bryant of ESPN about the latest in baseball, including what’s ahead for the Yankees and the Chicago Cubs.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

And it’s time now for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

BLOCK: The Golden State Warriors mopped up the Cleveland Cavaliers this week, handily putting an end to the NBA season. But baseball season is in full swing. And Howard Bryant of espn.com and ESPN The Magazine is always game to talk us through it.

Good morning, Howard.

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

BLOCK: I’m great. And let’s start with the American League. And the Yankees, currently on top in the American League East. I gather they are pinning huge hopes on a rookie named Aaron Judge.

BRYANT: Not just any rookie named Aaron Judge, a 6-foot-7, 282-pound, rookie named Aaron Judge who tends (laughter) – you would look at him and think that he belongs on a football field, but he is amazing. And it’s kind of fun, being in 2017, how strange it is for us to actually root for the Yankees, the dreaded 27-time New York Yankees who are kind of…

BLOCK: Not strange for me, Howard. Speak for yourself.

BRYANT: Who are underdogs right now – why are we rooting for the Yankees? That’s unheard of. Well, it’s because baseball needs this. Baseball needs a shot of a dynasty to come back and to have a young player playing in the big city, doing big things. And he is hitting the ball. He hit a – almost a 500-foot home run last week. And he’s everything that people are talking about. It’s good to see the Yankees – Scott and I have this argument all the time about dynasties. I love when big teams are doing great things because they’re the teams you remember, the teams that you circle on the calendar. Teams you hate – it’s what sports is really all about.

And the Yankees have been a very mediocre, average team for the last five years. They haven’t won the World Series since 2009. They haven’t been to the American League Championship since 2012, I believe, or two thousand – yeah, 2012. And so it’s a nice thing to see. And Aaron Judge is doing things that people who you would think are rational people are comparing to Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. And it’s, like, well, wait a minute – he’s only been here a couple of months. That’s how exciting he’s been.

BLOCK: No kidding. The Houston Astros are kind of a surprise favorite this season. What’s been going right for them?

BRYANT: They’ve got the best record in baseball right now. And it’s interesting because a couple of years ago, they were the team that people thought were going to be the next new team. They went to the American League Championship Series. They lost to Kansas City. Then last year, they didn’t do so well, and they sort of fell off. And you’d wondered how a team that talented could have such a bad rebound from things.

But this year, they’re back, and they’re playing great. You’ve got Carlos Correa, who’s one of the best players in the game and a wonderful lineup up and down. Jose Altuve, all 5-foot-6 of him, is one of the best hitters in baseball. And they’re playing the Boston Red Sox this weekend, which is a good series for both teams. And you look at Boston, you look at the Yankees, and you look at Houston, and you’ve got some nice stuff happening this year in the American League.

BLOCK: OK. And on the National League side, can the Chicago Cubs…

(LAUGHTER)

BLOCK: …Make Scott Simon happy and repeat as World Series champions?

BRYANT: Repeat as World Series champions? They’re not even – they’re .500. They are an average team.

BLOCK: Oh, man.

BRYANT: And let’s – why don’t we just call this out, Melissa, for what it is? The reason why…

BLOCK: Since Scott Simon isn’t here (laughter).

BRYANT: …Scott Simon is in Europe is because the Chicago Cubs are playing so poorly right now.

BLOCK: He couldn’t stand it.

BRYANT: Last year (laughter) – last year, they were tearing up the National League – and baseball. They won 103 games. This year, they’re 33-33. They’re – you would like to think that they’ve got a big run in them in the second half. They’re still the most talented team in the league. They are an outstanding baseball club. But this is a new year, and it’s one of the hardest things to do in baseball. We like to talk about oh, well, you know, they’re so good. They’re not machines. And it’s a new year, and you hadn’t won since 1908. And the pressure of doing that and the pressure of repeating – and it’s also very hard to do in the National League. The Phillies did it – 2008, 2009. But you got to go back, after that, to the ’70s to Cincinnati – ’75, ’76 – to see a team repeat in the National League. It’s a very difficult thing to do. But if there’s a team out there that has the talent to do it, it’s the Chicago Cubs. And maybe Scott will come back to the country (laughter) when they do.

BLOCK: Well, from your mouth to Scott Simon and other Cubs fans’ ears. Howard Bryant of ESPN, thank you so much.

BRYANT: Thank you.

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 June 16, 2017

Unity At The Ballpark: Lawmakers Come Together After Shooting

Nearly 25,000 people turned out for this year’s Congressional Baseball Game. It was a rare moment of harmony between Republicans and Democrats one day after a gunman shot Rep. Steve Scalise and four others at a practice for the game.

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing) Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks. I don’t care if I never get back.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

The Democrats beat the Republicans 11-2 in last night’s Congressional Baseball Game. It was one day after a gunman shot Republican Congressman Steve Scalise and three others at a practice for the game. Nearly 25,000 people turned out last night at Nationals Park. Here are some of their voices.

BROCK WILLIAMSON: My name’s Brock Williamson (ph) and this is Holly Mason (ph). And we’re from – actually from Omaha, Neb. But we’ve been in D.C. for two years.

HOLLY MASON: We love baseball, and I used to work on the Hill. And seeing the Dems and the Republicans play together is fantastic.

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Special Agent David Bailey.

(APPLAUSE)

REMSO MARTINEZ: One madman with a gun is not going to stop Americans from enjoying baseball, especially when it comes to something like this. This is one of the times during the year where people can just crack open a cold beer, meet with their rivals across the aisle and just have a good time. I’m Remso Martinez (ph) from Fairfax, Va.

JACOB PAGE: I’m Jacob Page (ph) from Liberty University.

DENZEL JONES: Denzel Jones (ph). I’m just from Arlington, Va. I think this is the most bipartisanship you’re probably going to see here at the baseball game. But it’s not going to last. You know, it’s turned into more of a shouting match, which is a shame. Instead of, you know, really debating people on ideas and policies, you know, we’re more focused on who can get the, you know, biggest zinger in there that gets media attention. You know, ideally it would be great to, you know, come together and be able to talk openly, but, you know, I doubt that that’s going to actually happen.

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: And now for the Democrats.

(CHEERING, BOOING)

DENISE DEGODA: So I’m Denise Degoda (ph). I am from Congressman Jared Huffman’s office. And he’s playing tonight. So yeah, I came to support him.

LINDSAY GRACE: And I’m Lindsay Grace, professor at American University. I love the idea that it’d actually be a little more cooperative instead of competitive. So it’d be wonderful if they were actually on the same team and working toward some other common goal.

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Now batting for the Democrats, representing New York, Hakeem Jeffries.

JONATHAN WILCOX: My name is Jonathan Wilcox (ph).

TERRY WILCOX: Terry Wilcox (ph).

J. WILCOX: And this is Jackson and James.

T. WILCOX: This is their first baseball game.

J. WILCOX: They’re almost 4. And the spirit has been really terrific. And I think that as partisan as things are, you know, there’s really something special in the air. When something like this happens, everybody just goes a little quiet and a little contemplative.

T. WILCOX: Like, you can all sort of look around for at least a little while, and you can connect with somebody no matter whether you agree with them politically or whatever. Just for a minute, it’s nice to kind of have that serenity.

J. WILCOX: And so for one night at least, it’s a united city.

CORNISH: NPR producer Sam Gringlas brought us those voices from yesterday’s Congressional Baseball Game.

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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