NPR: Sports with Frank Deford Podcasts

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NPR Morning Edition's Frank Deford gives weekly commentary on a cross section of the world of sports. Sometimes acerbic, often funny, always insightful. Primary Format : Sports Language : English Also Listed as: City : Unknown State/Province : Unknown Country : USA Region : NA User Tags: User Votes: RSS Feed Website People found this Podcast Searching for: View this Podcast on a Google Map. Podcast iTunes Link Text Only listing of NPR: Sports with Frank Deford Podcasts Methings.com listings of NPR: Sports with Frank Deford Podcasts If you like this podcast, you might also like:

The NBA Is Bullish On Christmas, By Necessity In 2010, Phil Jackson, then the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, complained about the NBA's scheduling of games on Christmas Day. It seemed, he said, that "Christian holidays don't mean anything" any longer. With its season shortened, the NBA can't afford to skip the holiday this year. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Look, Ma, I'm In The End Zone! Frank Deford asks, is it time to seek a restraining order against football's end zone follies? The seemingly endless victory celebrations now seem to follow just about any big play. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | For Some Marching Bands, Hazing Means Brutality A story about violent hazing in the marching bands at historically black colleges and universities — HBCUs — detailed a problem, but no changes were made. So extreme has been the band torture at some schools that victims have had to be hospitalized. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | For Two Old Teammates, Risks Of Loyalty Are Real In the 1960s, Dave Bing and Jim Boeheim were the starting guards for Syracuse University's basketball team. Since then, both men have shown a huge capacity for loyalty. But as they face tough times in Detroit and at Syracuse, they're also risking their legacies. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | An Eternal Tee Time Option For Die-Hard Golfers For the most fanatical of sports junkies, commentator Frank Deford has news of a way to carry that fervor into the afterlife. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Is Football Culture The Core Of The Problem? Commentator Frank Deford wonders if the very nature of the sport contributed to the events at Penn State. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Frank Deford: In With The South, Out With The East In sports, the SEC is very popular these days, especially in football. But, as Frank Deford points out, it's hard times for members of the Big East. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | No Love For November, Sports' Drama-Free Month For commentator Frank Deford, there's not a lot of excitement in the sports world these days — a feeling he chalks up to the November doldrums. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The (Basketball) Show Must Go On It's a desperate time for fans of the NBA. Frank Deford provides an alternative entertainment idea for basketball junkies. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sometimes, One Is Enough In an era of reality TV and short attention spans, Frank Deford wonders if the best-of-seven game series is really such a good idea. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Football Uber Alles. Uber Alles, Football In America, football is really big — and it's getting bigger. Football is now gigantic, monstrous, humongous. And it has done more than surpass baseball. It now simply looms alone above the American sportscape. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Luxurious Revenue College Sports Model Football picks up most of the bills for all the other college sports that lose money. Should an athletic department be funded on the shoulder pads of poor kids? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | We're All Just 'Guys' It used to be that guys were guys and girls were girls. But now everyone's a guy and Frank Deford is confused. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | No Respect For The Women On The Sidelines In TV, football sideline reporters are often women. But commentator Frank Deford wonders why they aren't up in the booth, calling the game. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The NCAA And The So-Called 'Student-Athlete' Student-athletes are being used and abused by the NCAA, says commentator Frank Deford, and a new article supports his view. The article provides ample evidence that student-athletes are lacking in their rights as American citizens. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | It's A Coin Toss: Presidential Speech Or Football? Frank Deford wonders about the state of the nation when its citizens think a football game is more important than the president's economic address. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Too Many Days Hath September (And Baseball) Baseball's season is just too long — or at least, that's the opinion of Frank Deford, who provide some suggestions for improvement. One idea: Let more teams into the playoffs. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Goal(post)-Oriented Pilgrimage Commentator Frank Deford tells of a 56-year quest by a man who set out to visit all of the Division I college football stadiums in the nation. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | You're Off The Team: The Most Unkindest Cut It's never fun to get cut from the team. But, as commentator Frank Deford points out, it's particularly brutal to get cut from football. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Thinking Back On Bubba Smith Former professional football player Charles Aaron "Bubba" Smith died last week. Commentator Frank Deford has this remembrance. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | NCAA: Still Stalled By 'Amateur Hour' Thinking As university presidents meet to discuss college athletics, commentator Frank Deford laments the facade of amateurism in the NCAA. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | When Owens Beat Hitler, And The Olympics Changed It's the diamond anniversary of the 1936 Summer Olympic Games. Commentator Frank Deford looks back on what made the Berlin Olympics so memorable. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Yankees' HOPE Week: Batting A Thousand The New York Yankees start their third annual HOPE Week on July 25. Frank Deford applauds as the richest team in baseball gives back to the community. The program reaches out to charities and the disadvantaged, bringing the ballplayers into their lives. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | New Winners Face Pressure To Be Brilliant. Again. The impatience to accord golf's newest star, Rory McIlroy, greatness is accelerated by the sport's need to find a replacement for the dishonored Tiger Woods, says commentator Frank Deford. Is McIlroy already under too much pressure from golf fans? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | When Athletes Play Dirty, Government Bats Cleanup Yes, America takes its games too seriously. But sport is an institution that stands for playing by the rules. That's why the government has a duty to pursue athletes who use drugs to cheat. The goal of sports is victory, but the essence is fairness. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Hot Dog! It's Independence Day! Hot dogs are great to eat at sports events. But commentator Frank Deford doesn't think eating hot dogs should be a sports event. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Who Wants To Be The GOAT? Frank Deford remarks on the evolution of the word "goat." What used to be an insult might now be the highest compliment in sports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | ESPN: Nobody Does It Bigger No matter that NBC retained the broadcast rights to the Olympic Games; Frank Deford thinks ESPN still comes out on top. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | International Sports: Fair Or Foul Play? The re-election of embattled Sepp Blatter as president of FIFA, the world soccer body, makes Frank Deford wonder about the efficiency — and integrity — of international athletic organizations. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | If You Can't Stand The Heat ... Following in the footsteps of the New York Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys, the Miami Heat are the new team that Americans love to hate, Frank Deford believes. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Even The Best Athletes Can't Outrun Time Every star in every sport who is getting a little long in the tooth ought to be told what happened exactly 76 years ago. That's when Babe Ruth hit three home runs — and five days later, he quit baseball. For top athletes, it's often tough to realize it's finally over. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Can Gay Athletes Come Out And Play? Homosexuality is generally more accepted in American life. But Frank Deford wonders when it might become more accepted in sports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Pacman: Last Of The Great Boxers? Manny Pacquiao may be one of the greatest athletes out there right now. But, as commentator Frank Deford points out, not many people are paying attention. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | America's Love Of Team Sports Comes At Price The rest of the world is crazy about soccer, but Americans love a whole range of team sports. Commentator Frank Deford wonders if that devotion is keeping us from doing well at individual sports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | (Don't) Take Me Out To The Ballgame Why would anyone pay to see a game in person, when he can have better seats at home? Commentator Frank Deford says that instead of paying high ticket prices, some fans just buy an HDTV. And while attendance may be down, TV ratings are way up. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sorry, Sports Fans: The Losers Don't Learn More Sports fans have seen some spectacular, even tragic, defeats in recent weeks. And some say that athletes learn more from losing than winning. Frank Deford says that's bunk — and so is the idea that the winners simply wanted it more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The NFL Owners' Prevent Offense: Play For Time As the NFL's labor issues get bogged down in the courts, team owners know that eventually, football fans will become impatient. And if the season is delayed, the players will lose any public sympathy they originally had. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | A League By Any Other Name: The Big National? Why do almost all groups of pro sports teams call themselves "leagues" — but colleges call them "conferences"? And too many of them also call themselves "Big." Maybe it's time for the Big 10 and Big 12 to think up new names for themselves. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | It's Time For Baseball To Stop Wasting Fans' Time With baseball's new season set to begin Thursday, commentator Frank Deford says the game needs to break with a long-standing tradition: wasting time between pitches. Because love may be eternal, and a diamond is forever — but nine innings should last only around 2 1/2 hours. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Sports Curmudgeon's Back, Just Like Tiki Barber After a hiatus, the Sports Curmudgeon is back, and he's got something to say about just pretty much everything: the NFL, presidential bracketology, what you name a champion and how to save the baseball season in Japan. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Budget Cuts Put School Sports On Chopping Block As many states seek to rein in their budgets, school districts across the country are facing cutbacks. One of the first things to be eliminated is often high school sports — and that may even include football, a fan favorite. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | March Madness: Fans Love The Knockout Round The NCAA tournament is the largest national single-elimination competition anywhere in the world. In a nation that prides itself on second chances, there are none: One game, winner take all, losers walk. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Has Tiger Lost His Roar? If So, Why Do We Care? It was understandable that Tiger Woods was the absolute focal point when he was the greatest golfer, maybe ever. But it's bizarre that the interest in Woods remains so high. It's almost as if we cannot believe that Woods is diminished. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Be Sparing With The 'Broad Stripes And Bright Stars' Sponsoring a NASCAR vehicle might actually get young people interested in joining the Army, says Frank Deford. However, singing the national anthem and spending money to have military jets fly over a sports stadium probably won't. So there's no need to continually give proof at games that our flag is still there. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | You're a Mean One, Mr. Owner Most sports owners have succeeded in running some other business and they're sports fans, so that inclines them to think that makes them smart about sports. Frank Deford wants to disabuse them of that notion. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Deadly Plane Crash That Nearly Killed A Sport Most sports anniversaries celebrate some sort of victory. But Feb. 15 marks the 50th anniversary of a terrible tragedy in the sporting world. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | From Super Bowl To Summer Games? The Dallas area is looking beyond Sunday's Super Bowl to an even bigger sports event. The city wants to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. But will the Olympic Committee want to be in Dallas? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Rex Ryan: The Future Of Coaching? The New York Jets may have lost their playoff game, but they won't be forgotten — largely thanks to their coach, Rex Ryan. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | For Young Athletes, Knee Surgery Opens Door To Pain ACL surgery allows young athletes to continue to compete aggressively and put stress on a damaged knee. Doctors now know now that a significant number of ACL patients will, in as few as 10 years, suffer degenerative osteoarthritis. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Super Bowl: Baby, It's Cold Outside Who wants to sit out in the cold in midwinter, watching a football game? Frank Deford isn't sure he does, even if it is the Super Bowl. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | NCAA: Show Me the Money! NCAA football has suffered some scandals this year, and many of them have been about money. Can those 19th century NCAA rules about players and money really be enforced in a 21st century world? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Filmmaker Bud Greenspan 'Found Grace In Sport' Frank Deford remembers his good friend Bud Greenspan, who died on Christmas Day of complications from Parkinson's disease. The two loved and admired each other, Deford says. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sports Sucked In 2010. Admit It The World Cup went to Qatar; Sylvester Stallone was chosen for induction in the International Boxing Hall of Fame; the LeBron show was technically foul. And Brett Favre. Maybe next year will be better? Frank Deford doesn't think so. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | UConn Women's Team Rises To A Watershed Moment The world of sports is bigger than ever -- but the sun doesn't shine on women's team sports very often. But if the Huskies' basketball team extends a record winning streak, that might change. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Baseball's Courtesy Gap: Post-Game Handshakes The post-game handshake is a time-honored tradition in most sports -- but baseball isn't one of them. A discerning sports observer asks the question: Why can't courtesy thrive on the diamond? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Put Marvin Miller In The Baseball Hall Of Fame Marvin Miller gave baseball players free agency, abolished the illegal reserve clause and helped overhaul all professional sports in the United States. He has more than earned his place in Cooperstown, Frank Deford says. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sack Or Samba? The Monday Night TV Dance Touchdown or tango? Frank Deford flips  back and forth between Dancing With the Stars and Monday Night Football and finds he likes the dance show's judges more than the football commentators. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Trickery On The Football Field: Like Child Abuse? Just because it's legal, that doesn't make it right -- especially when an adult coach puts one over on the kids. Such trick plays are many things, but they're not good sportsmanship, says Frank Deford. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Should NCAA Rethink Its Stance On Paying Athletes? The amateurism model promoted by the NCAA where everybody makes money except college athletes is outdated, corrupt and impossible to maintain, according to Frank Deford. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | After Promotional Circus, Will Miami Pack The Heat? LeBron James' decision to join the Miami Heat this year was shrouded in less than tactful fanfare and self-promotion, which left many with a sour taste for James and his new team. But the talent and likely success of the Heat may turn those perceptions around. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | After Promotional Circus, Will Miami Pack The Heat? LeBron James' decision to join the Miami Heat this year was shrouded in less than tactful fanfare and self-promotion, which left many with a sour taste for James and his new team. But the talent and likely success of the Heat may turn those perceptions around. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Whither The Live-Sports Fan? Why break the bank buying pricey tickets to a game when you can watch it at home on a high definition TV? Frank Deford ponders this and more. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Schools Forfeit Games, Putting Safety Above Football A number of high schools have forfeited football games lately out of concern for the safety of their players. Frank Deford wonders, is the game no longer worth the price of admission to manhood? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | If Yankees Exit Playoffs Early, Blame A New Curse If there are curses in sports, then the New York Yankees will be cursed forever, starting right now. The issue, says Frank Deford, is the team's huge new statue to late owner George Steinbrenner. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Can U.S. Golfers Stop Europe's Run At The Ryder? Who could have guessed that the U.S. golf team would need a victory in the Ryder Cup to restore its fading eminence in a sport it used to dominate? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | In College, Maybe Everybody IS Doing It: Cheating Is the NCAA capable of keeping student-athletes from skirting the rules? Anyone who thinks so should look at the University of North Carolina, says Frank Deford. If rules were broken there, it may be hard to find a team without a blemish. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Drop Kick The Field Goals Football needs to make some adjustments before the game turns into kickball. Coaches should get some guts and stop punting, commentator Frank Deford says. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Football Fans Ignore Increasing Violence To commentator Frank Deford, football provides us with nostalgia for the way war used to be -- with clear battle maps, focused campaigns and simple battle lines. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | In Praise Of Ichiro: Out Of Fashion, But On Base In baseball, much is made of milestones and big hits. But Ichiro Suzuki's consistency at the plate deserves praise. Since arriving from Japan nearly 10 years ago, the 36-year-old Seattle Mariners fielder has gotten hits at a pace matched only by Pete Rose. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Who Can A Young Fan Look Up To? It's Tough Our nation of boys and girls looking for a sports hero may have to turn its eyes to entertainment -- or even politics. All the big stars seem to be either embroiled in scandals or retiring while they're still on top. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sorry, Saban: Players Need Money. And Agents University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban has thrown a fit about agents -- who have the audacity to interest college players in getting paid for their labors. Two Alabama standouts have reportedly been asked about attending parties thrown by agents this year. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | In Sports, Left-Handers Exploit Edge Every Day As a minority that has been historically put upon, southpaws certainly deserve their own holiday this Friday -- International Left-Handers Day. But in sports, every day is left-handers' day. Just look at relief pitchers in the major leagues, or elite tennis players. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Erik Compton's Gifts: Talent, And A Donor's Heart One of the golfers in the recent Greenbrier Classic was playing with a donated heart -- and it's not even his first. Erik Compton has had two heart transplants, and he can still swing with the best of them. He shared the tournament lead after the first round. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Cheerleading A Sport? You'll Know It When You See It A judge has ruled that cheerleading is not a real sport, defeating a college's attempt to get around Title IX rules for female participation in sports. But what about the 64,000 high school girls who are on competitive "spirit squads" -- are they not athletes? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | A Pioneering Critic Who Helped Shape Sports TV For years, Jack Craig was America's only sports television critic -- a beat he started in 1967. These days, it often seems that the coverage of sports on TV is more important than the actual contests themselves. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Summer Of Our Excess: Sport Gets Supersized Between the World Cup and Wimbledon and LeBron, sports fans might be a bit exhausted by all the supersized action. This summer has been a season of sports excess -- it even included a hot-dog-eating contest. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Is It Easier For Some Athletes To Suffer Brain Damage? Doctors revealed recently that Cincinnati Bengals player Chris Henry, who died last December, suffered from a chronic brain injury. If we can find a way to discover which players are more susceptible to permanent damage from head hits on the field, sports would become more tolerable entertainment, says commentator Frank Deford. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | When, And Where, Will LeBron Turn The Corner? LeBron James officially becomes a free agent Wednesday night, the instant July begins. No day has been so anxiously awaited in New York and other NBA cities since 1933, when Prohibition was repealed. But the key issue remains: When will James turn the corner on his career? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Why Are Only Three Americans Great At Tennis? At 27, Andy Roddick is the youngest American -- male or female -- with a chance of winning Wimbledon. And there's no help in sight, despite a surge in the game's popularity. More than 30 million Americans now play the sport. Why can't any of them be any good? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | As Soccer Grows, Passions Rise For World Cup U.S. sports fans just can't grasp what "real" football means to the world. The World Cup shows how much soccer has grown -- and how passionate fans are about their national team. By comparison, individual sports are falling by the wayside. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Note To South Africa: The Big Stage Is Pricey Hosting the World Cup or the Olympics is no party, financially. After the pride and fanfare, there's usually a wave of buyer's remorse -- and a mountain of debt. So why don't we change the system? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sports Fan's Dilemma: Trusting An Athlete Today Doping accusations leveled at Lance Armstrong by his former teammate Floyd Landis bring to mind the unpopular, but candid, Jose Canseco. Unfortunately, in cycling and other sports, today's athletes are guilty until proven innocent. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Ladies' Choice: To Be A 'Doll On Wheels' Sports commentator Frank Deford is pleased to see that the sport of roller derby is alive and well for women all over the world. The number keeps growing, but there are now well over 500 women's leagues in 16 countries, spanning North America and Europe as well as Australia and Brazil. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Mister Is To Sports As Crying Is To Baseball The Wall Street Journal's newly expanded sports coverage comes with some unwelcome baggage: the paper's standard use of honorific titles. The result can make it seem that Jane Austen suddenly took a deep interest in the AL West pennant race. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Why Working The Count Doesn't Work For Me The latest threat to baseball is measured in time — lots of it. Players just aren't swinging away, as they try to force starting pitchers to work hard — and leave the game. But the big losers are the fans. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Not All Role Models Need Be Positive "Why are we expending so much angst worrying about the character of our well-muscled celebrities?" Frank Deford asks, as he reflects on the recent suspension and apology of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. At a certain point, don't you just stop caring whether athletes behave? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Tim Tebow: Rare Case Of Game Hating The Player The fate of former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow at this weeks' NFL draft is a hot topic — even though he's not expected to draw a top pick. That may seem strange for a big, strong, Heisman winner who holds two national titles. Blame it on the "football nerds." Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | UConn's Huskies Bad For Women's Hoops? Pshaw! The University of Connecticut women's basketball team has dominated the court for two straight seasons. That prompts a question: Can a team's excellence turn fans away from the game? The answer depends on which league you're talking about. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Baseball's Sure Thing: Big Money Wins Big It's baseball's opening week, when sports fans pretend that all the teams have a shot at the title. But the reality is that the Yankees and a few other rich teams are going to buy championships, while mid-major cities really can't compete. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Woods Nears Crucible Of Masters; America Awaits When Tiger Woods tees off at the Masters, millions will be watching raptly. That fascination can be fascinating — but it's as much about prurience as it is curiosity over how Woods will perform under such pressure. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | NYC Basketball Fans Look North, Shake Heads As the NCAA's Sweet Sixteen teams prepare to face off, fans in New York City are left to cheer for two upstate squads: Syracuse and Cornell. It's a sad turn for the city where basketball is hugely popular — but whose teams are a laughingstock. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | For NCAA's Tourney of 65, Less Is More Among all the things in sports that need fixing, the NCAA basketball tournament isn't one of them. As it is, plenty of obscure teams get into the field of 65 teams. Commentator Frank Deford takes on the idea that basketball's "Big Dance" should get even bigger. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Athletes' Case May Rewrite Money Rules For NCAA An antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA seeks a potential payday for athletes who have been merchandised. The case over the use of players' likenesses in video games and memorabilia may change the essence of the NCAA. What if college players were no longer seen as amateurs? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Jocks Who Fail, And The Fans Who Can't Love Them Fans seem to expect more from athletes than from actors. If you need proof, just compare the fallout from Tiger Woods' transgressions with that of, say, Charlie Sheen. Frank Deford says that sports fans admire athletes in a different way. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The 'Winner' Olympics And A Changing TV Picture The Winter Olympics are basically a TV show — and a successful one. Lindsey Vonn and other U.S. medal winners even helped NBC's telecast win a ratings battle with American Idol. But the whole spectacle could shift to ESPN by the time we get to Sochi in 2014. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | UConn Women's Team Excels; Will America Notice? The University of Connecticut women's basketball team is on the verge of breaking its own record for consecutive wins. Still, commentator Frank Deford says the Huskies' remarkable achievements as a team are often overlooked, even as female athletes are getting more attention for their individual triumphs. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Figure Skating: The Olympics' Broken Sport Not long ago, figure skating was beset by spats among skaters and alleged corruption among judges. A new scoring system was meant to solve those problems. But instead, the complex ratings bewilder fans — and may be taking the soul out of the sport. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Super Bowl XLIV, By The Numerals The Super Bowl has always had a fondness for Roman numerals. Commentator Frank Deford takes a look at noteworthy numbers in pro football — and has a message for anyone who thinks the commercials are more fun than the game. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Athletes: Don't Orate. Just Tweet Away (Please) Years ago, quarterback Joe Namath told reporters, "We're going to win Sunday. I guarantee it." Muhammad Ali said, "It's not bragging if you can back it up." But that doesn't explain why we give such weight to the big talk of professional athletes. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Athletes: Don't Orate. Just Tweet Away (Please) Years ago, quarterback Joe Namath told reporters, "We're going to win Sunday. I guarantee it." Muhammad Ali said, "It's not bragging if you can back it up." But that doesn't explain why we give such weight to the big talk of professional athletes. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | College Sports Turmoil: The New Normal? New stories about abusive coaches, outrageous salaries and alleged rules violations in collegiate football and basketball seem to be coming out every week. But the negative reports are unlikely to lead to meaningful change. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Head Injuries May Redefine Football's Manly Image The NFL has been slow to acknowledge the long-term effects of concussions from football. That is beginning to change, but will parents stop allowing their sons to play the sport? Only now, at last, are people in the sport beginning to acknowledge the obvious: Football is a gladiator entertainment. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | 'Pacman' Pacquiao Gives Filipinos Reason To Cheer The significance of boxer Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines is perhaps unmatched in sports history. Despite his small stature, the fighter called "Pacman" has won seven different world titles. And his influence has been compared to Nelson Mandela's. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | For Tiger Woods, The Only Thing New Is The Focus As anyone who's followed Tiger Woods lately knows, times have changed in sports journalism. Not long ago, athletes' off-the-field behavior was also off the record. Now it's prime-time news. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Women's Sports, Title IX And The Cheerleader Option It may get harder for athletic programs to adhere to the Title IX mandate that athletic representation on campuses mirror student enrollment. Frank Deford notes that if colleges make cheerleading a sport, they might stave off budget cuts to male-dominated sports programs — but at what cost to other female athletes? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | When Football's Deadly Brutality Outraged America In just one season 100 years ago, 26 players died from injuries sustained in football games. The deaths sparked a national outcry and forced the new collegiate athletic association to take action to make the sport safer. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Favre Gets A Bye Week -- But Will He Ever Say Bye? The Minnesota Vikings had a bye week this weekend — and that's a problem for both sports fans and wordsmiths. But a week off is not really a bye — nor is it a reason not to discuss the NFL's age-defying quarterback, Brett Favre. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | A-Rod's New Success: Enough To Put Demons To Rest? When the New York Yankees won the American League title, Alex Rodriguez was embraced by his teammates. The moment marks a turnaround for A-Rod, who has struggled in past post-seasons — and hasn't always had the affection of teammates and fans. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Tailgating: When A Picnic Turns Into An Event For some football fans, firing up the grill and sharing a beer are as essential to pregame ritual as the coin toss and "The Star-Spangled Banner." Even late in the season, football fans will tailgate, gathering on the cold, hard tarmac to dine alfresco Americano — even when the weather is cold and very un-picnic-y. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Boise State Needs NCAA's Help To Buck BCS Boise State has one of the upwardly mobile teams in college football — but there may be a limit to how far the team can go. Commentator Frank Deford says the powers that be in college football keep teams like Boise State from having a shot at the big time. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Chicago, Chrissie And Khloe: Of Love And The Game Love blossoms for some athletes, while it wilts for others — including Chicago and the brutal rejection of its proposal to host the 2016 Olympics. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Baseball Announcers: More Than Just A Voice They may not wear a uniform, but baseball announcers like Ernie Harwell become as much a part of the team as the players for some fans, says commentator Frank Deford. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Hockey: Why Can't The NHL Just Keep It Canadian? Back in the mid-1960s, the National Hockey League was bullish about its prospects in the United States. Today, the expanded league is struggling to pick up Sun Belt fans in far-flung markets in the South and Southwest. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | TV Flap: Will The NFL Live Up To Its Socialist Ideals? The NFL has a long-standing agreement that franchises share equally in television revenues. To commentator Frank Deford, that's socialism — and, he says, the league's TV policies are out of step with the times. At issue: blackouts meant to punish fans who are happy to watch the local team's games from home. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Can You Believe These Rankings? Sports has always loved rankings, says commentator Frank Deford. But what do the rankings really mean? The latest brouhaha is in women's tennis, where Serena Williams, who's won three of the last four Grand Slams, is ranked No. 2 after a player who's won none. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | A Fading Champ, But A Champ Still: Muhammad Ali Former boxing phenomenon Muhammad Ali is hobbled by age and illness, but he continues to make public appearances. While some people find these appearances sad and unsettling, Frank Deford says many more have come to embrace him. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | NFL: Dodging The Concussion Discussion? Nobody's sure how dangerous the contact in football is to the brain. But high school players will experience more than 40,000 concussions this season and many former players suffer from dementia or depression. So why is pro football taking a Big Tobacco approach to research? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | In Sports And Life, Once-Lazy August Is Filling Up August used to be downtime for all of us, including most athletes. But now, students go back to school before Labor Day, and schools play football during August. If the NFL also expands into August, we might as well call it September, says commentator Frank Deford. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Many Halls Of Fame, Only One 'Bullet Bob' Hayes In the world of sports, halls of fame proliferate. There's even one for mascots. But Frank Deford says it's still good to see a deserving athlete enshrined — in this case, a football legend once known as "the World's Fastest Human." Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | High-And-Mighty ESPN Should Take It Down A Notch ESPN has multiple channels, a magazine, a radio network and some unbecoming habits — like subtly claiming it alone uncovers all the news in sports. Commentator Frank Deford says the network would benefit from a bit more humility. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Deford: 'That's No Lady, That's An Athlete!' There are so many mixed messages in women's athletics. For example, what most people remember about the 1999 World Cup was Brandi Chastain taking off her shirt, not that she scored the winning goal, says Frank Deford. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Baseball's Graybeards? They Manage Major League Baseball could advertise for AARP. The sport's managers include many of the oldest head mentors in big-league sports, including the ageless Joe Torre of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The football and hockey leagues have some of the youngest. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | A-Rod, Manny Still All-Stars To Many Fans Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez, who in recent months admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs, were noticeably absent from Tuesday night's All-Star game in St. Louis. Frank Deford explains that baseball fans no longer seem to care about the use of steroids. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Loathing The Bowl Championship Series Frank Deford wants the NCAA to come clean on the big business of college football and stop treating it like an amateurish game. Deford also wants Congress to think of the athlete and not the schools when considering the BCS. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Is Chicago An Olympics Kind Of Town? The International Olympic Committee will decide soon which city will host the 2016 games. The front-runners include Rio de Janeiro — a first for South America — and Chicago, which has never hosted the games. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | It's Time For Tennis Players To Make Some Noise A 16-year-old Portuguese player, Michelle Larcher de Brito, is distracting her opponents with her shrieks. Frank Deford wonders why golf and tennis players — and fans — can't make more noise. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Tiger: Would Greatness Be Sweeter With Archrival? What makes an athlete the Greatest Of All Time or, a GOAT? GOAT-ish competition! When it comes to Tiger Woods, who plays in the U.S. Open at Bethpage this week, Frank Deford says Woods lacks an "almost-GOAT" competitor. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Word Play: Writing Clutters American Sports Everything in the world seems to be trending green — except for football fields. The writing at midfield takes up more space and grows uglier all the time. Scrimmaging around the 50-yard line looks like players are on a Jackson Pollock painting. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Michael Vick: Another Kind Of Role Model The quarterback had it all and then threw it away through stupidity, arrogance and sheer evil. Frank Deford says if Vick is allowed back on the field, he'll remind us of how young athletes can so easily fall from grace. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | My Money's On Betting In Delaware Commentator Frank Deford says we should look no further than the U.S. position on sports gambling to see how we're full of contradictions and hypocrisy. Why are we so backward and tormented about gambling? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Roger Federer: A Champion Faces A Challenge It's been a rough year for the No. 2 tennis player. But don't write him off yet, especially after his defeat of Rafael Nadal last week in Madrid. Federer hopes to prevent Nadal from winning a fifth consecutive French Open. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Remembering Sportswriter Bud Shrake Back when newspapers ruled the sports world, Bud Shrake took a job at the Fort Worth Press. It was the beginning of a career in sports journalism that commentator Frank Deford says embodied an entire era. Shrake died last week in Texas. He was 77. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Put The Surprise Back In Sports Sports is so prepackaged, so diagrammed to death by experts and analysts, that it's reduced to all the charm of following the Dow Jones average on CNBC. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Why Play Free For The NCAA When Europe Pays? High school basketball stars have to wait a year past graduation before they become eligible for the NBA draft. Now a few are saying no to a year of college ball and going straight to lucrative pro contracts in Europe. Commentator Frank Deford is rooting for these young players and says athletes deserve to be paid a fair salary. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Bidding Farewell To The Sports PR Guy The recent death of Joey Goldstein at age 81 marks the end of the epoch of the sports PR guy. Sports PR guys, unlike show-biz agents, are positive by nature. Instead of doing damage control, they just want to get their clients in the newspaper. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Point Guard Takes Over As Big Man On Court It's long been an article of faith that the most treasured commodity on any basketball team is a big man. But now, that mantle of positional pre-eminence has passed from inside to outside. The one player who can most improve a team, who can make it coalesce and thrive, is the point guard, says commentator Frank Deford. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Ballparks Should Be Built For Fans, Not Architects Architecture critics may find the Yankees' and Mets' new ballparks disappointing, but Frank Deford says that no one has yet figured out how to build a better one than the Orioles did in 1992 — and no one needs to. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | No Lions And Orioles And Bears? Oh, My! When a team stinks, should it still have the right to bear a noble creature's name? Consider the beleaguered lion, oriole and other animals that deserve to be king, at least for a day. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Four Horsemen Of The Athletic Apocalypse Four big-name players regarded as locker room poison were banished by their teams, only to be given another chance. But will the recession change the attitude toward highly paid malcontents? Commentator Frank Deford says even announcers don't quite get how much players' self-aggrandizing behavior irks fans. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Dynamic Duo Of Women's College Basketball Since 1995, both Tennessee and Connecticut have won five NCAA championships apiece — so that all the other women's teams in the country have split a measly four between them. And this year, Connecticut will almost surely win again. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Please, Pop The Phrase 'On The Bubble' It's the tired expression used to describe the teams that just might win a berth in the 65-team NCAA men's basketball tournament. Commentator Frank Deford says it's time for the sports media to come up with new language, especially at a time when so many jobs, houses and lives are "on the bubble." Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Watching The Clock: A Sport All Its Own Baseball fans may romanticize about how there is no clock in that sport, but basketball was saved by the 24-second clock. And while the sports that have clocks all use them differently, one thing is the same: It's bad for the game to sit on the clock. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | LeBron Is Agility And Power, Personified At 6 foot 8, basketball star LeBron James isn't exceptionally tall by NBA standards. But commentator Frank Deford says James has an unusual combination of power and agility that makes him a standout in his sport. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | A-Rod Confession Shouldn't Have Been A Shocker The signs and the manifold rumors that Yankees infielder Alex Rodriguez used performance-enhancing drugs were there all along. Commentator Frank Deford says that in a very real way, what has happened to Rodriguez isn't all that bad for baseball. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | There's No Love In The NFL As Valentine's Day approaches, the one place where a little love is most needed is in the National Football League. Football is a brutal game, and commentator Frank Deford says it's time for everyone involved in the sport to address the health needs of retired players. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Without Woods, The Sport Of Golf Is In The Rough At some point, the PGA tour became a wholly subsumed subsidiary of Tiger Woods, and without him there simply doesn't appear to be any there there. The PGA: Professional Golfers Anonymous. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | A Merry Super Bowl To All, And To All A Good Game The Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals meet this Sunday in the Super Bowl. Commentator Frank Deford says the annual football championship has become a fixture on the American calendar, an unofficial but widely observed holiday marked by ritual and excess. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Seriously, Don't Take Barkley Too Seriously Former NBA star Charles Barkley is taking a leave of absence from his television work after his arrest for suspected drunken driving. Commentator Frank Deford says Barkley's career has been marked by his outsized talent and behavior — but his critics should calm down a bit. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Yankees Are, Once Again, Bad Sports By asking a struggling New York City for an additional $259 million in tax-free bonds to help finance a new stadium (while signing free agents for well over $400 million), the Bronx Bombers present themselves as the very model of arrogance and let-'em-eat-cakeness. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Cautionary Tale Of John Mackey, NFL Star John Mackey had a distinguished career with the Baltimore Colts. He now has dementia, and his wife, Sylvia, has stood by him and urged the league to help other athletes with dementia. Commentator Frank Deford says football is an intense team game — but it's Sylvia Mackey who is an outstanding teammate. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sports Dilemma: Siding With Politicians On Playoffs Commentator Frank Deford agrees with politicians calling for a college football playoff to determine the national champion. But it means letting go of a long-held belief: that sports and politics shouldn't mix. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Stupidest Statistics In The Modern Era You don't have to read the box scores to know that statistics are a big deal in sports. But lately, commentator Frank Deford has noticed a glut of meaningless sports statistics. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sports Advice: Copy Hollywood's Business Model The economic downturn may force pro sports leagues to re-examine their business model, says commentator Frank Deford. And the leagues might look to Hollywood for inspiration: Top athletes would still command huge contracts, but lesser players could see their salaries reduced. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Natty Dressers Disappear From NFL Sidelines These days, football coaches have swapped the snappy attire of their predecessors for Goodwill chic and headsets. Commentator Frank Deford says he never imagined that he would have warm reveries of Weeb Ewbank or Vince Lombardi, strolling the sidelines as they would the boulevard. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | America's New Trade Deficit: Elite Athletes? For years, many of the best foreign athletes have come to the United States to advance their careers. Commentator Frank Deford sees a reverse trend: elite athletes leaving the U.S. to play abroad. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | NCAARP? Old Coaches Don't Quit When it comes to coaching, it seems 80 is the new 60. And today's coaches — Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden, to name two — are working far past the retirement age of legends like Bear Bryant. Frank Deford sees the pattern in other sports, as well. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Philly Hearts Harden Waiting For The Next Champ There's a lot at stake for Philadelphia in this World Series. The city hasn't won a major sports championship since 1983. And the city has the hardened fans to prove it, says Frank Deford. Just look how they treated Sarah Palin. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Duchess Protests: Players, Save Your Spit Commentator Frank Deford introduces a new character to his weekly sports commentary. The Duchess is a sports connoisseur who sees the grace and beauty in athletics. But lately, she's been distressed by all the spitting she sees in Major League Baseball. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | SEC Football: It's The Heart Of Dixie Choosing the college football champion by having one title game played by teams chosen by computers and polls is unfair, un-American and, well, idiotic, says commentator Frank Deford. Why? Because the system penalizes the teams in the premier league — the Southeastern Conference. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Paul Newman: A Sportsman And A Hero There's an old French expression: "An actress is more than a woman, and an actor is less than a man." No one ever thought that of Paul Newman. In a way, men and women alike saw him more as a hero than an actor. Certainly, it's hard to think of anyone else in show business who had as many sports connections as Newman did. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | A Man For These Diminished Times Sport can take fans' minds off their troubles, but not in 2008. This year, Patriots coach Bill Belichick, our saint of the perpetual frown, reflects the glum national mood — especially with quarterback Tom Brady out for the season. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Blemish, Anyone? Bets Show Dark Side Of Tennis Tennis may seem rather dainty. But, in fact, the sport has always had a dark underside, populated by gamblers and match fixers. Commentator Frank Deford says he's not reassured by a ruling that cleared a top player of throwing a match. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Football Fatigue Got You Down? Try Pigskinexia Football season has begun — and that's a problem for some women who aren't crazy about the game but live with men who watch it nonstop. Frank Deford has a cure for the seasonal distress brought on by hours of TV football — and the bad behaviors it provokes. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Why Alex Rodriguez Struggles In The Clutch Some players just don't seem comfortable in team sports, however talented they may be. Commentator Frank Deford says Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees is one such athlete, an outstanding player who nevertheless buckles under pressure to produce for his teammates. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Take The Olympics. Give Me My NFL, Please When it comes to the people who run sports, look out for federations — and for officials wearing blue blazers. Commentator Frank Deford says team sports are easier to run than individual sports, and domestic sports are more manageable than international ones. That means the NFL trumps the Olympics. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Good, Better, Best: Finding Phelps' Place In History Ever since Michael Phelps clinched his eighth gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, analysts have debated the swimmer's place in the sports pantheon. But Frank Deford says it's impossible to compare Phelps to other sports greats, past or present. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Swimming Legend You Never Heard Of If not for a turn of history, Sunny Boy Kiefer would be included in an exalted group of swimmers, from Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe to Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps. Starting in 1935 when he was 17, Kiefer set backstroke records just about every time he jumped into the pool. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Joy Of Being At The Game: Priceless? Now, going to a game is an event — like a Broadway show or a concert. You must plan in advance, budget. If you're a fan, I don't have to tell you the figures. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | One Last Pitch For Tim Drew Pitcher Tim Drew was a first-round pick in the major league draft 11 years ago. But his early promise as a ballplayer didn't last, not like that of his brothers, J.D. and Steve. Now, he's called it a career at 29. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Water-Thirsty Golf Courses Need to Go Green There are about 16,000 golf courses in the United States, and they all need huge amounts of water. The sport must take notice of limited resources and develop courses that are more in harmony with the environment. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Celtics vs. Lakers: A Matchup for the Ages A great rivalry resumes Thursday when the Boston Celtics meet the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of the NBA championship. It will be the 11th time these teams have played for the title. Commentator Frank Deford says it's nice to see history repeated. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Ladies Got Game: What a Year for Women in Sports Danica Patrick was in the running to win the Indianapolis 500. Lorena Ochoa — not Tiger Woods — is the most dominant force in golf. It's been a remarkable year for women in sports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | After Scandal, Duke Lacrosse Makes a Comeback Two years ago, the men's lacrosse program at Duke University was rocked by scandal. Now the team is in contention for the national title, and there's a sense of redemption in the air. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | The Sports Curmudgeon: 'With All Due Respect ...' Baseball offers the Sports Curmudgeon much tackiness to grouse about, like all-you-can-eat sections in ballparks and players who just stand and watch the ball in flight after hitting it. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Need for Speed Brings Tragedy at the Derby No one knows exactly why Eight Belles suffered a catastrophic injury in Saturday's Kentucky Derby. But the filly's fate reflects the relentless drive for athletes — animal as well as human — to be ever-faster and stronger. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | What's Wrong with the Kentucky Derby? When the gates swing open at Saturday's Kentucky Derby, 20 thoroughbreds will kick off a mad dash that crams three of the sport's most prestigious races into five weeks. And, at a mile and a quarter, the Derby's racecourse is just too long for young horses to cover. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Draft Process Takes the Surprise Out of Sports Pro sports draft-guessing, based on game films and other technology, has become a cottage industry. But it seems the more that players are analyzed, the less we know about them — and the professionals who picked them. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Mixed Martial Arts: A Knockout to Boxing? As boxing has declined, a newer, more violent sport has taken its place. Mixed martial arts is a combination of wrestling, boxing, jujitsu and kickboxing. Commentator Frank Deford says it's more like a live video game than the "sweet science" of boxing. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Olympic Games May Have Run Their Course In the years before cyberspace it might have made sense to bring athletes together every four years, but today the Olympics is a festival for sports nobody cares about the other three years and 50 weeks. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | In NBA Playoffs, May Only the Best Teams Play Just as some youth sports events are called when one team has far surpassed the other, there ought to be a mercy rule for fans: No more losing teams in the NBA playoffs. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | China Struggles to Shine in Olympic Spotlight China hopes to impress the world when it hosts the Summer Olympics in August. But Beijing faces pressure to improve human rights and deal with concerns about air pollution at the games. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sports in America Increasingly Becoming Child's Play The World Figure Skating Championships are under way in Sweden, but the U.S. women's champion is not competing. She's too young. Frank Deford says it's another sign of the times in American sports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Holy Smoke! It's Time for NCAA Brackets Deciding which teams will play for the NCAA basketball championship is a bit like picking a pope. To assemble the all-important brackets, officials gather in secret, like the cardinals. But instead of white smoke, they reveal their choices to CBS, which pays the bills. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Tiger Always Wins; Golf Might as Well Give Up Tiger Woods says he's playing the best golf of his career and even talks about the prospect of a perfect season. Commentator Frank Deford takes a not-so-serious look at how the golf world is responding. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Bowling HQ Leaving Milwaukee: Say It Ain't So Just like Cracker Jack goes with baseball, bowling and beer and Milwaukee have always gone hand in hand. But that may soon change as the United States Bowling Congress considers leaving for Texas. Frank Deford is pinning his hopes against such a move. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | To Sports Fans, Forgiveness Is Divine Despite all the hand-wringing over scandals in sports, including allegations that superstar pitcher Roger Clemens used illegal performance-enhancing drugs, commentator Frank Deford says sports fans are inclined to forgive and forget. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Congress Must Play When Sports Cheat As All-Star pitcher Roger Clemens prepares to testify before Congress on doping in Major League Baseball, commentator Frank Deford says lawmakers have good reason to take a closer look at baseball's drug problem. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sadly, NBA's Stars Outshine Their Teams As the NBA moves briefly into the spotlight dominated by other sports, its All-Star Game shows one of pro basketball's major shortcomings -- its stars are considered more important than their teams. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | In Fair Glendale, the Bard's Super Bowl Play The ghost of William Shakespeare makes a rare appearance in Arizona, where the Giants of York and the Patriots of Old -- er, New -- England prepare for a mighty battle. Frank Deford and a cast of NPR reporters and hosts cover Super Bowl media day in verse. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Today's Sports Greats: Better Than Ever? Is it possible that right now we have, plying their genius before our admiring eyes, the greatest professional football team ever, the greatest quarterback ever, the greatest tennis player ever and the greatest golfer ever? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Edmund Hillary, the Humble Conqueror It was one of the greatest sporting achievements in the 20th century, but Edmund Hillary, the man who first reached the summit of Mount Everest played down his role. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Clemens' Denial of Steroid Use Hard to Believe All-Star pitcher Roger Clemens has strongly denied accusations that he used performance-enhancing drugs. Commentator Frank Deford says Clemens' argument is not believable. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | In All Fairness, College Athletes Should be Paid The games athletes play are supposed to be fair, but commentator Frank Deford sees great unfairness in college sports. He says it's time college football and basketball players were paid for their labors. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Sports Teams, Leagues Create Private Networks More and more sports teams and leagues see newspapers as a nuisance. Now, teams, and even whole leagues like the NFL and the NBA, control their own TV stations and networks. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache |