Mike Pesca

Wrestlers Grapple To Save Sport From Olympic Chopping Block

Mike Pesca — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:24:00 +0000

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

How often do you find Iran, Russia and the United States united behind a single message? Well, representatives from all three countries were in New York City yesterday rallying support for the sport of wrestling, which could be excluded from the upcoming Olympic Games. It was quite a show of sportsmanship and diplomacy. Of course, there was time for some conflict among the wrestlers.

Not Even Instant Replay Could Prevent These Bad Calls

Mike Pesca — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:45:00 +0000

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Major League Baseball has admitted that umpires have made some big mistakes in the last few days. On Wednesday, umpires ruled even after looking at television replays that Adam Rosales of the Oakland A's hit a double. The ball clearly left the park with the game on the line. And last night in Houston, umps botched a fairly simple rule about pitchers. NPR's Mike Pesca joins us now to second-guess the men in black. And, Mike, everyone makes mistakes, right, even umpires.

Marathons Are Soft Targets

Mike Pesca — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 08:44:00 +0000

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Now, the twin bombings at the Boston Marathon struck at a very special type of sporting event. Marathons have been called the most democratic of sports, with the fewest physical barriers between athlete and spectator.

NPR's Mike Pesca examines whether the attack could permanently damage that accessibility.

MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: You can play Pebble Beach, but the greens fees are $495, cart not included. Pinehurst is cheaper. Bethpage Black has a longer wait. Those are the golf courses where they hold events called the U.S. Open.

Always In The Zone, Syracuse Is Hard To Beat

Mike Pesca — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 15:46:00 +0000

Any recreational league basketball team, any police athletic league squad and every group of 8-year-olds who wear the same uniform are, on the first or second day of practice, introduced to the 2-3 zone defense.

The coach will say, "On defense, you two short guys stay near the foul line, and you three bigger kids, you go down near the basket.

Deflections: The Unofficial Stat That Measures Success

Mike Pesca — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 07:44:00 +0000

The Louisville Cardinals are among the teams dominating at this year's men's Division 1 NCAA basketball tournament, which resumes Thursday night. The team credits harassing, active defense for its wins.

But there's something else at work, too: deflections. The team puts a lot of stock in them, though deflections aren't an officially tracked statistic.

The way Mario Batali thinks about black truffles, the penchant Quentin Tarantino has for quoting Hong Kong martial arts films in his own movies — that's the way University of Louisville coach Rick Pitino talks about deflections.