‘Lock Him Up’: Trump Greeted With Boos And Jeers At World Series Game 5
President Trump is introduced during Game 5 of the World Series between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals on Sunday. Fans greeted Trump with boos and jeers, with some chanting “Lock him up.”
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
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Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
Fresh off announcing the death of one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, President Trump appeared at Game 5 of the World Series in Washington to find a crowd not eager to praise his achievement.
When Trump’s attendance was announced and he was shown on the big screen at Nationals Park on Sunday night, baseball fans greeted the president with loud boos and jeers. Sections of the ballpark chanted “Lock him up” — a spin on Trump’s refrain against Hillary Clinton that has remained common at his rallies, even after the 2016 presidential election.
President Trump was booed loudly by the fans at Nats Park when he was shown on the big screen.
Then came a loud chant: “Lock him up.” @wusa9 pic.twitter.com/LBbgSAHd6k— Adam Longo (@adamlongoTV) October 28, 2019
Trump, standing next to first lady Melania Trump, appeared unperturbed by the din, smiling and clapping before moving to say something to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Later in the game, fans unfurled a “VETERANS FOR IMPEACHMENT” banner right behind home plate.
In a press conference before the game, Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez said of Trump: “He’s coming to the game. He’s a fan. Hopefully he cheers for the Washington Nationals, and I hope he enjoys the game.”
Asked if the Nationals wanted Trump there, Martinez said: “We haven’t really talked about it. We’re focusing on playing baseball.”
The Nationals ended up getting walloped by the Houston Astros, 7-1. They now trail 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.
Boos heard throughout Nationals Park as President Trump and the First Lady are announced and shown on screen after the “wave your caps” moment between innings pic.twitter.com/RSZlbMA2W7
— Monica Alba (@albamonica) October 28, 2019
It’s rare to see Trump out in public in Washington, a Democratic stronghold in which just 4% of residents voted for Trump in the 2016 general election.
In a break with tradition, Trump did not throw out the ceremonial first pitch Sunday night, as is customary when a sitting president attends a baseball game.
While league officials said Trump said he was not interested in throwing the first pitch, citing concerns about slowing down thousands of fans entering the ballpark, Nationals principal owner Mark Lerner indicated that there were many other first pitch candidates who were considered before the president.
Last week, Trump told reporters that the bulletproof vest he would have to wear made the idea of tossing the ball from the mound unappealing.
“They gotta dress me up in a lot of heavy armor. I’ll look too heavy. I don’t like that,” Trump said.
Chef José Andrés, an outspoken critic of Trump, throws the ceremonial first pitch before Game 5 of the World Series in Washington.
Jeff Roberson/AP
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Jeff Roberson/AP
Instead of the president, José Andrés, a Spanish-born chef and Washington restaurateur known for providing free emergency meals to victims of natural disasters as well as to furloughed federal workers through his organization World Central Kitchen, threw out the first pitch to stadium-wide applause.
Andrés has long been an outspoken critic of Trump, especially the president’s hardline immigration policies.
In 2015, Andrés pulled out of a plan to open a restaurant in the Trump International Hotel in Washington after then-candidate Trump made disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants, calling them drug dealers and rapists as he campaigned.
On Sunday evening, Andrés thanked the Nationals and the MLB for inviting an immigrant to throw the first pitch.
Houston Astros Take 3-2 World Series Lead Over Washington Nationals
Carlos Correa, #1 of the Houston Astros, celebrates with teammates after the Astros defeated the Washington Nationals in Game 5 of the World Series at Nationals Park on Sunday in Washington, D.C.
Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images
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Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images
The Houston Astros have taken a 3-2 lead in the World Series after defeating Washington 7-1 in Game 5 in the nation’s capital, pushing the underdog Nationals to the edge of elimination.
A pair of two-run homers from Yordan Alvarez in the second inning and Carlos Correa in the fourth gave the Astros the lead. Houston ace pitcher Gerrit Cole dominated Washington’s line-up for seven innings, with the only blemish a shallow homer that Juan Soto muscled to left with one out in Cole’s final frame.
Cole retired Washington’s Victor Robles with a highly questionable call on a 3 and 2 count to finish his night. The Astros continued to pummel Washington in the top of the eighth with a double from George Springer and a two-out base hit from Yuli Gurriel. Houston added its third two-run homer of the night in the ninth when Springer connected with a massive shot to left off Daniel Hudson to nail the victory.
Billed as a legendary match-up between Cole and Washington’s Max Scherzer, the Nationals stunned reporters, Nats fans, the Astros and everyone else in America who has been following the series by announcing a few hours before game-time that Scherzer would be scratched from the contest with spasms in the area behind his right shoulder.
Enter hybrid starter/reliever Joe Ross, who was 4-4 in the regular season with a 5.48 ERA. Ross had pitched two scoreless innings on Friday night. The 26-year-old, just a couple of years removed from Tommy John surgery, found himself Sunday pitching in the glare of the biggest spotlight possible – a pivotal Game 5 of the World Series.
Ross made it through the first inning unscathed but in the second, 22-year-old rookie Alvarez followed a Gurriel infield hit with a two-run homer to put the Nats in an immediate deficit. The Nats tried to answer back in the bottom of the frame starting out with singles from Soto and Howie Kendrick to put men on first and third, but Robles hit into a double-play to end the threat after a Ryan Zimmerman strike-out.
In the fourth, Alvarez singled and shortstop Correa doubled the Astros’ lead with a two-run homer to left off Ross. Sporting a 40-0 career record with a four-run lead or more, Cole looked to be in complete command of the evening. Ross was finished after five.
Washington Nationals catcher Yan Gomes, left, and first baseman Ryan Zimmerman watch during the ninth inning of Game 5 of the World Series.
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Patrick Semansky/AP
Through six innings, Cole allowed only one base-runner; a walk to Anthony Rendon. Then Soto connected with a solo homer to left to give the Nats a breath of life and finally something for the home fans to cheer about.
Zimmerman walked on a borderline pitch but Robles took a third strike on a questionable call to kill what might have been a promising rally. The Astros tacked on one more in the eighth and two more in the ninth with Springer’s moonshot.
Reality bites
A boisterous, anxious, World Series-starved city that thought it might finally put its diamond demons to rest, has had its dreams put on hold. The Nationals had given themselves the chance to win it all at home after unexpectedly taking the first two games of the Series in Houston but the hill ahead looks steep.
The Astros are proving why they may be one of the most complete teams in the history of the sport, shutting down the Nationals’ bats, sweeping all three games at Nationals Park and now standing at the brink of their second title in three years.
The underdog Nationals have repeatedly defied the odds along their improbable path to the championship Series. Beginning Tuesday, they get to prove if they are a team of destiny or if, in the end, it was all a magical mirage.
Houston Astros center fielder Jake Marisnick can’t get a glove on a home run by Washington Nationals’ Juan Soto during the seventh inning of Game 5 of the World Series.
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Jeff Roberson/AP
It is odd that no team in this Series has managed to win a single game at home. But as the Series returns to Houston on Tuesday, the larger sample size of the regular season shows the Astros were a major-league best 60-21 at Minute Maid Park. Then again, the Dodgers, who were upset by Washington, were 59-22 at home and lost the deciding game of the NL Division Series in Los Angeles.
The Astros led the majors with 107 regular-season wins for a reason. Tested and victorious over the Tampa Bay Rays in a deciding game five of the NLDS and then taking the New York Yankees in six games, Houston has shown an ability to rebound in the playoffs when it’s been needed the most.
They have often been led by their offensive spark plug, second baseman José Altuve, who walked off the Yankees in the American League Championship Series with a dramatic, pennant-clinching, ninth-inning solo homer off Aroldis Chapman.
Houston’s offense came to life in Washington. Alex Bregman, the 41-homer clean-up hitter for the Astros, returned to form with a Game 4 grand-slam after a previously horrid playoff run. The Game 5 homers by Alvarez and Correa underscored the offensive resurgence. The Astros’ starters and bullpen have been clutch. They seem to have neutralized or at least contained Washington’s biggest offensive weapons, Soto and Rendon.
On to Houston
With Scherzer’s status uncertain, no one is quite sure what happens next. It looked like 18-game winner Stephen Strasburg would start for Washington Tuesday night. Nats skipper Davey Martinez, however, says the team is keeping Scherzer on the roster in the hopes he can start Games 6 or 7. The Nats will go up against Justin Verlander Tuesday, who for all his career achievements is the first pitcher to register five World Series losses.
Through their playoff drive, the Nationals have been led by a combination of young talent embodied by 21-year-old outfielder Soto, stars like third baseman Rendon; wily veterans like Zimmerman, who first took the field in 2005 after the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington; and an impressive collection of starting pitchers.
Scherzer, Strasburg, Pat Corbin and Aníbal Sánchez have all shown occasional dominance but have completed their outings with mostly gutsy, nerve-wracking, clutch performances.
Scherzer, Strasburg and Corbin’s occasional relief work has also helped mask a bullpen that, with the exception of Sean Doolittle and Hudson, is a frighteningly shaky enterprise given to total implosions of the kind that occurred Saturday night when Bregman hit his grand-slam off 42-year-old Fernando Rodney.
Washington’s remarkable season
But anyone writing off the Nationals does so at their peril. Washington has been downright magical through the regular season and the playoffs.
On May 23, sporting an atrocious record of 19-31, second worst in the National League at the time, the Nats had a statistical probability of 3.4% of reaching the playoffs. They were shackled with some of the worst relief pitching in the history of the sport.
They then proceeded on a five-month streak of torrid play during which they matched the formidable pace of teams like the 106-win Los Angeles Dodgers and their 2017 World Series foe, the elite Houston Astros. Counting the playoffs and the end of the regular season, the Nationals entered their home portion of the series compiling a remarkable record of 18-2, the best winning stretch in their 15-year history.
Then came the Houston three-game sweep on Washington’s turf.
But back in the single-game elimination Wild Card contest against Milwaukee, trailing 3-1 with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, there was a 98.6% chance Washington would fall – until the young Soto stroked a stunning, bases-loaded single to right field that was misplayed by Milwaukee rookie outfielder Trent Grisham, saving the Nats’ season in the nick of time.
With no outs and trailing 3-1 in the eighth inning of deciding game 5 in Los Angeles, there was a 93.3% chance they would lose – until Rendon and Soto hit back-to-back homers off the venerable Clayton Kershaw, pitching in relief. Veteran hitter Kendrick would hit a grand-slam in the 10th inning to carry the Nationals to the National League Championship Series.
Apparently wary of the necessity for any more late-inning heroics, the Nats overwhelmed the 11-time World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals in a four-game sweep to earn Washington a berth in the World Series for the first time since 1933.
A Series to remember
Installed by Las Vegas book-makers as the biggest World Series underdog in 12 years, the Nationals shocked everyone by defeating two of the best hurlers in the game, Cole and Verlander – in Houston – to claim a 2-0 Series lead before returning home for a possible three games at Nationals Park.
All of those games became necessary when the Astros silenced the Nationals 4-1 in Game 3 on Friday night behind the off-speed pitching of Zack Grienke; shut-down relief appearances by Josh James and Will Harris; the prolific bat of Altuve; and an exclamation point of a sixth-inning home run off Anibel Sanchez just inside the left field foul pole by catcher Robinson Chirinos who also homered in Game 4 against Corbin.
That game on Saturday that turned into an 8-1 debacle for Washington and guaranteed the Series would return to Houston, was supposed to be the Nationals’ number-three starter, Corbin, against a mix-and-match collection of Astros relievers to start the game.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, third from left, arrive for Game 5 of the World Series. Also pictured are Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., second from left, and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C, right.
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Andrew Harnik/AP
Except, apparently, no one told Houston reliever José Urquidy he was supposed to have only a short stint on the mound. Reaching the major leagues for the first time in July, the rookie dominated the Washington line-up through an impressive five full innings of shut-out, walk-free ball, offering a more masterful and polished performance than any of the high-priced, marquis starting pitchers thus far on either team.
Game 5, which was supposed to have featured a repeat of the Series opening match-up between starters Cole and Scherzer, found the Nats at a severe disadvantage with Scherzer’s injury. They gamely tried to overcome, but Cole was too much for them and now it’s an elimination game ahead for Washington.
If they pull off their second championship in three years, the Astros have an opportunity to cement their legacy as one of the great teams in the history of the sport. With two more post-season upsets, the Nationals can claim the status of a miracle team for the ages. No pressure.
The President and first lady showed up for part of the game, sitting with Major League Baseball executives and a wounded warriors contingent. Trump was reportedly given the opportunity to throw out the first pitch but declined. Nationals owner Mark Lerner says the president chose to attend just a portion of the game to reduce security disruptions, for which Lerner said he was grateful.
He also emphatically stated Mr. Trump was welcome at the ballpark. Trump received 4.1% of the D.C. vote in the 2016 presidential election.
After the president signaled his intention to attend Game 5 earlier in the week and indicated he would not throw out the first pitch, the Nationals announced Friday that D.C. restaurateur and humanitarian José Andrés would do the honors.
Andrés is a frequent critic of the president’s immigration policies and settled a legal dispute with the Trump Organization after he backed out of a contract to open a restaurant at the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Ave., following controversial Trump comments on immigration that Andrés said he found to be offensive. Andrés was given the James Beard Foundation’s Humanitarian of the Year award in 2018, largely for his efforts serving millions of meals to Puerto Rican hurricane victims.
Major In Esports At Ohio State
Ohio State is launching an esports and games studies undergraduate major.
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
Don’t let your teen get away from those video games just yet. There are now nearly 200 colleges – 200 – offering scholarships for the best esports players. But there’s more. Some schools now even allow them to get esports degrees. From member station WOSU in Columbus, Claire Roth reports on Ohio State’s new degree program.
CLAIRE ROTH, BYLINE: Most people who play video games mash buttons and click mouses for recreation’s sake. Stakes are low – just bragging rights, maybe a ranking on the leaderboards. But that’s not the case in esports. The players are professionals, paid to play for audiences that, at their largest, surpassed the Super Bowl’s numbers. And a lucrative industry surrounds them, from coaches to sponsorship managers, tournament hosts to game developers.
Cat Cox, a student at Ohio State University, wants to join their ranks as a team manager. For now, she works a part-time job at the new esports arena on campus. Last Sunday night, though, she was there just for fun.
CAT COX: So if we get trapped in the snares, we’re pretty much going to die. So we have to avoid that a lot.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: They had the better pick ban phase.
ROTH: Cox and her teammates are strategizing before an intramural match of “League Of Legends,” one of the most popular games in esports. The so-called arena is a glorified computer lab dedicated to gaming. It’s part of a larger program the university launched over the past year that attracted Cat here from Virginia.
COX: One of the reasons why I did transfer to Ohio State was I learned that there was a big esports program going on, and I did want to become part of it.
ROTH: The program includes a competitive team, a research arm and the esports and game studies major that could be an official offering next fall. The school started working on it two years ago after students started badgering faculty like engineering professor Deb Gryzbowski.
DEB GRYZBOWSKI: The first thing I always say is, we’re not teaching our students how to play games. That is really important to understand. We are teaching our students everything surrounding that.
ROTH: One hundred fifty students a year will prepare for jobs as managers, analysts and support staff for e-athletes and game developers. Gryzbowski is the program’s staunchest defender.
GRYZBOWSKI: There are some faculty who do not feel that Ohio State should have an undergraduate major or a graduate major that has the name esports in it. And that, I feel, is a process of education.
ROTH: She touts numbers claiming the esports industry will top a billion dollars of revenue this year, but skeptics remain.
Matthew Walther is a national correspondent at The Week who sometimes writes about video games. He says, no matter what the numbers are, this should not be a college degree.
MATTHEW WALTHER: At a certain point, you’re reaching a level of dumbing down and of crassness where you’re insulting the nature of university education.
BRUCE MCPHERON: This is exactly what a land-grant state university is for.
ROTH: Provost Bruce McPheron.
MCPHERON: This is a business curriculum. This is an engineering curriculum. This is a communications curriculum. This is a curriculum that will touch areas that all of us will benefit from and never realize that it started in e-gaming and esports.
ROTH: A few other schools already have programs in place, and students like Cox are excited about the major.
COX: Even in college, my dad was like, oh, why are you gaming so much? Now I could tell him, hey, I have a esports-related job. I take a esports-related class. It is really going to be the future. He’s now starting to realize, oh, yeah, it’s not just a one-time thing. It can be turned into a career.
ROTH: A career for her and hundreds of other students passionate about gaming and esports.
For NPR News, I’m Claire Roth in Columbus.
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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.
Nike’s Controversially Fast New Shoes
NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with Amby Burfoot, lifelong runner and former editor-in-chief at Runner’s World, about the super-fast Nike shoes that might give runners an unfair advantage.
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
In back-to-back marathons, two runners made records this month. What they had in common was their shoes. Both runners wore versions of a superfast Nike shoe called the Vaporfly. Their feats were so impressive, in fact, that the shoes are being investigated now for possibly giving the wearers an unfair advantage. Here to talk more about this is Amby Burfoot, former editor-in-chief at Runner’s World and winner of the 1968 Boston marathon. Welcome.
AMBY BURFOOT: Thank you very much.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: So let’s start with the basics. Can you describe these marathoners’ shoes, and tell us why they make you faster?
BURFOOT: Yes. What’s interesting about these shoes – I’ve been running for 50 years. And for 48 of those years, marathoners wore very, very thin shoes, figuring that lighter was better. These shoes are very thick. And yet they maintain lightness because they have a miraculous new foam. And they also increase energy return – or the bounce that you get from your shoes. So it appears that people are running faster in them.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: About 3-4%, I read.
BURFOOT: It’s close to 3%. And, of course, it varies from race to race. And Nike is updating the shoes so fast that it’s kind of hard to keep up with them.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: So this isn’t the first time these shoes have made noise. Nike released the Vaporfly 4% in 2016. Tell me about that.
BURFOOT: That was really, to me, the most controversial aspect because those shoes – in 2016 – were so new that nobody else in the world, except for a handful of Nike scientists, the Nike runners – knew about them. Nike athletes did wear them in the Rio Olympics. And they took first, second and third in the…
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Wow.
BURFOOT: …Men’s marathon. And nobody else had access to those shoes.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Let’s talk about the investigation. The International Association of Athletics Federations has appointed a committee to investigate these shoes. What are the current shoe rules athletes have to abide by?
BURFOOT: The rules say basically two things. The shoes cannot provide an unfair advantage. But nobody knows what an unfair advantage is. And the shoes must be reasonably available. That’s the issue I was speaking to with regard to 2016. It’s not so much an issue now because the other shoe companies are rapidly catching up. But if the Nike lawyers, in fact, can enforce patent protection, it might not be possible to catch up.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: So what do you think this investigation may prove? I mean, are – do you think an investigation is the right way to go? And where do you think it’ll lead?
BURFOOT: I do think that the investigation is very important because I’ve been reporting on marathon racers for 40 years now. And every race, we go to the press conference – we say, so how’s your training. And from now forward, we’re going to go to the press conference and say, what shoes are you wearing? So it’s no longer about the athlete and their conditioning. It’s gotten to the point where it’s about the technology on their feet. And I believe the IAAF has to do something. And I hope they’ll do something.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: When you say you hope they’ll do something, what do you hope that something is?
BURFOOT: I like a proposal that came up in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in the last week. And that proposal was that the height of the bottom of the shoe should have a limitation. It should only be, let’s say, 31 millimeters. The Nike shoes are now up to about 50 millimeters. And if you simply limit the height of the shoe and don’t tell people what they can put in there – they can put the kitchen sink in there if they want. But if it can only be a certain height tall, that seems like a very simple and perhaps effective rule, to me.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: That’s Amby Burfoot, former editor-in-chief of Runner’s World and winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon. Thank you very much.
BURFOOT: Thank you, Lulu.
Copyright © 2019 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.
Astros Tie World Series 2-2 After Game 4 Win Over Nationals
In An Exhausted Washington, The Nationals’ World Series Run Brings Positivity
NPR’s Michel Martin speaks with Andy Shallal, founder of D.C.-based restaurant and bookstore chain Busboys and Poets, about what the Nationals playing in the World Series means to the city.
Saturday Sports: World Series
The World Series match up between the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros isn’t the only drama for the Texas team. Their pitcher was mocked by Yankees fans and their assistant GM was canned.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
You know, there is one institution in Washington, D.C. that works well. Time for sports.
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SIMON: Well, the Houston Astros tell the Washington Nationals, not so fast. And we mark the life of a great Paralympian athlete. We’re joined now by NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman. Tom, thanks so much for being with us.
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: My pleasure, Scott.
SIMON: The Astros won last night 4-1. Nats now lead the series two games to one. I was at the ballpark scouting for the Cubs.
GOLDMAN: (Laughter).
SIMON: Are the ‘stros back on track?
GOLDMAN: I hope you got – I hope you took some good notes.
SIMON: Yeah. This guy Altuve, I think shows…
GOLDMAN: (Laughter).
SIMON: …A lot of promise and, you know…
GOLDMAN: Pitch around him.
SIMON: Right…
GOLDMAN: Walk him a lot.
SIMON: Right, Scherzer Strasburg – you know, yeah, yeah. There’s some – there’s some good players. They’ll be good Cubs. But go ahead. Yeah.
GOLDMAN: In answer to your question, let’s say the Astros got their foot in the door. And we’ll see if they can pry it open all the way in game four tonight. But yeah, last night was more like the Houston we expected going into the series. A very well-rounded win by the Astros. You know, most importantly when they got men on base, they got hits that drove in those men on base for runs…
SIMON: Yeah.
GOLDMAN: …As opposed to Washington, which, as you saw, squandered a bunch of scoring opportunities. The Nats left way too many men stranded on base last night.
SIMON: Yeah. Could they be let down by their relievers, as people were saying a few days ago?
GOLDMAN: Well, the bullpen is always going to be an area of vulnerability. Although, you know, it was starter Anibel Sanchez who gave up all four runs last night. I think more worrisome…
SIMON: Oh, that’s right. Yeah.
GOLDMAN: Yeah.
SIMON: Thank you for pointing that out. Right, yeah.
GOLDMAN: Sure. Sure. Well, I was scouting, too. But…
SIMON: I was deep into a bag of peanuts at that point, yeah.
GOLDMAN: (Laughter). But I think, you know, more worrisome for the Nats is Houston’s fearsome offense really hasn’t appeared yet.
SIMON: Yeah.
GOLDMAN: You know, even, you know…
SIMON: Even last night, yeah.
GOLDMAN: …Last night, the Astros kind of dinked and dunked their way to those four runs. We’ll see if the great Washington pitching of the first two games will prevail and hold Houston in check or if last night was the start of something bigger.
SIMON: Houston’s supposed to be the embodiment of a modern, data-driven franchise. But they had to fire their assistant GM this week for a really ugly encounter with a great Sports Illustrated reporter, who happens to be a woman.
GOLDMAN: Yeah. And it’s still lingering, you know, Scott. In fact, major league commissioner Rob Manfred said yesterday even with the firing, the league is still investigating the incident. After Houston won the American League pennant, the assistant GM Brandon Taubman directed some profanity-laced comments at a group of female reporters, comments supporting an Astros pitcher who’d been previously suspended for domestic violence. The Astros initially accused Sports Illustrated of fabricating a story about the incident, which was corroborated by several witnesses. After a public outcry, the team fired Taubman, admitted we were wrong. But that’s not enough for a lot of people.
SIMON: Yeah. Marieke Vervoort, a great Belgian wheelchair racer, unfortunately died this week – Paralympic gold medalist lived with intense pain because of a degenerative spinal disorder. And she ended her life by euthanasia this week at the age of 40.
GOLDMAN: Yeah, an amazing person. The world became aware of her condition and her plan at the 2016 Paralympics. She talked about signing papers in 2008 to allow a physician to end her life when the pain from her disease became too much. Euthanasia is legal in Belgium. And for her, those papers became her freedom and her control, things her disease did everything it could to take away from her. But yeah, earlier this week, she decided she’d had enough. She reportedly gathered those closest to her, including her beloved service dog named Zenn, for a final evening. They drank her favorite sparkling wine. And then she ended a very painful but a very meaningful life.
SIMON: All right. NPR’s Tom Goldman, thanks so much.
GOLDMAN: You’re welcome.
Copyright © 2019 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.
70 Years Of The Zamboni
70 years ago, the owner of a California skating rink created a machine to resurface the ice in mere minutes. He gave it his family name and Zambonis have been making ice nice ever since.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Investigations into child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church have been the topic of gut-wrenching movies, books and documentaries. The acclaimed French director Francois Ozon is now telling another story in France. “By The Grace Of God” is based on a true story and takes a slightly different approach, telling the story from the victim’s point of view, as Rebecca Rosman reports.
REBECCA ROSMAN, BYLINE: French director Francois Ozon is known for his movies that feature strong female protagonists, like 2002’s “8 Women.” But for his latest, Ozon wanted to do something different.
FRANCOIS OZON: This time, I wanted to make a film about men, about the fragility of men, about men able to express their sensitivity, their emotions.
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UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR: (As characters, singing)
ROSMAN: The film opens in 2014 with the story of Alexandre, a 40-year-old banker, devout Catholic and father of five who was abused by a priest in Catholic scouts. After finding out that the priest is still working with children, he goes to the church to confess what happened to him, thinking it will put an end to the priest’s career. When it doesn’t, Alexandre goes to the police to press charges.
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MELVIL POUPAUD: (As Alexandre, speaking French).
ROSMAN: In real life, the case drew international attention and led to the creation of an organization called La Parole Liberee, or Lift the Burden. Founded in 2015, the group has collected testimonies from the victims of Bernard Preynat, a priest who spent three decades sexually abusing dozens of boys in the city of Lyon. Preynat’s actions were widely known within the church but systematically covered up until Alexandre became the first victim to press charges. Says filmmaker Francois Ozon…
OZON: It was amazing. When I did the investigation on the subject, when I meet all the people, when I read all the articles, I realize this priest never deny about the facts. He said always, I have problem with kids. The church knew, and they did nothing during 30 years. So it’s so shocking and unfair, so I wanted to show that.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOTOR REVVING)
ALEXANDRE DUSSOT-HEZEZ: And, really, La Parole Liberee was an incredible thing in France because we allowed a lot of people to speak with no limits.
ROSMAN: I met the real Alexandre Dussot-Hezez, who carries the same polished financier look of his onscreen character. At a cafe, he steps away from the Paris Opera House.
DUSSOT-HEZEZ: We realized that we are not one, two, four or five, but we have more than a hundred people with exactly the same story and with exactly the same impact of their life.
ROSMAN: He tells me that Ozon first approached him with the intention of making a documentary. He rejected the idea, insisting on a fiction film instead.
DUSSOT-HEZEZ: Because to my mind, I think that the film can become a story of everybody and not only the story of Alexandre Dussot-Hezez, Francois Devaux, Pierre-Emmanuel, et cetera.
OZON: I realized they were waiting for me to make a kind of French “Spotlight.” So I said, OK, I’m able to make fiction. I will tell your story as a fiction with actors.
ROSMAN: But Ozon’s film does stay close to actual events, keeping the main characters’ names and using real dialogue from press conferences. Pierre-Emmanuel Germain-Thill is portrayed in the film as a man who, despite his near-genius IQ, struggles both in his professional and personal life, still traumatized by his abuse.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “BY THE GRACE OF GOD”)
SWANN ARLAUD: (As Emmanuel Thomassin, speaking French)
ROSMAN: We also meet Francois, based on Francois Devaux, an outspoken atheist who helped start the organization La Parole Liberee.
ISABELLE DE GAULMYN: (Speaking French).
ROSMAN: Isabelle de Gaulmyn is a journalist for the Catholic newspaper La Croix. She’s written a book about the Preynat affair.
DE GAULMYN: (Speaking French).
ROSMAN: She applauds Ozon for his accuracy but also for the intimacy he displayed throughout the film. With fiction, she says, you can express certain fragilities and emotions that help the audience connect better with the stories.
DE GAULMYN: (Speaking French).
ROSMAN: Getting those emotions in theaters wasn’t easy. Francois Ozon says the Catholic Church tried to block the French release of the film in February, arguing it would have an impact on the trials of Father Preynat and Philippe Barbarin, the cardinal who covered up the abuse.
OZON: People are afraid of cinema, you know? It’s the power of cinema. You realize a film like “Spotlight” was very powerful. And my film, actually, all the people of the church were afraid. I was like the devil before the release of the film. And when the film was released, oh, maybe he’s a saint because the film is honest.
ROSMAN: In May, Cardinal Barbarin was given a six-month suspended sentence for failing to report the abuse. Father Preynat was defrocked and is awaiting trial next year.
For NPR News, I’m Rebecca Rosman in Paris.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
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