He's been released by the New England Patriots off to just one game and he's now saying in a tweet he will not be playing in the n.f.l. Anymore yet this so far has moved to pull on like a sense of sexual assault and intimidation made against him which he did nice say where do we stop Ryan Spagna only covers the Patriots for s.b. Nation Ryan I suppose we ought to begin really early this month if you can just take us through the brief time that Brown had with the Patriots still sing with his release just a day also only if Milton Wright is yeah I mean to be honest with you guys it was a weird it was a weird situation right I mean when a lot of that stuff was breaking down with you know the helmet grievance and not showing up in Oakland and kind of having a right with you know the owner and coach over there I personally didn't want anything to do with them right I thought it was just too early in the season you know they kind of had to gel going I don't know how well he'd fit here then obviously they went out and got him on a one year deal and you know the more and more I shant thought about it I thought you know I mean call me biased but the Patriots have had you know not necessarily a guy like brown but they've had guys who were kind of on their last chance their last straw before and you know ultimately made it work I thought you know what hey if they can deal with those guys maybe they got a shot with Brown and he kind of can realize that this is last shot here to kind of prove himself and you know go ahead next year and go get another big contract and show that it's worth it after a time of the Patriots was here obviously those allegations came out and then he did a good job while he was serious stayed off social media for for that 1st week right you don't really hear too too much of him he's very active on Instagram Twitter so you know also show media as we didn't see too much of him he didn't talk to the media much he answered for questions he strictly was focused on football then obviously went out Sunday right away bing bing bing they had him I think they targeted him 3 or 4 times. On their 1st drive you know a couple catches obviously caught the touchdown before the end of the 1st half all things are clicking right he looks great you know look out of sync was very close with his teammates they seemed to be pulling for him he looked like he was having fun again you know and something we haven't really seen of him in Tassie is in Pittsburgh and then obviously his brief stint in Oakland then obviously that you know you goes out text that accuser who accused him of another act wasn't pressing charges but you know Sports Illustrated Connerly stock piece on him put him in the group text and I think that's was the final straw right all those things that he did he was not a member of the New England Patriots he did this sent those techs out to the victim as a member of the Patriots that's a big no no here that shows the organization that they just couldn't trust him that how good of a football player he was and how good he was here for that brief stint that week they couldn't trust him Ok so we should say once again at this stage Antonio Brown does deny the allegations grandstand but without going in to the specifics of that all the investigations into those claims the way you describe that Brian the Patriots knew they were signing a player with a potentially complicated background and a potentially questionable character correct yeah I mean it was like I said it was one it was a special it was one of those weird situations you know special scenarios where they've never really dealt with a player of his stature that was you know in the social media right like people like to compare him to Randy Moss and you know Randy Moss had some troubles before he came to New England but they didn't live in that social media are obviously Brown takes a lot of his thoughts to social media it's called the coaches called all players you seen it with Ben Roethlisberger So it was definitely a weird situation something we haven't really seen the Patriots do with a player like that before that's why it was so intriguing to see how he'd work out here and obviously it only lasted a week and to be honest with you guys I don't think I. We'll see too much of him I lease for the rest of this year what was it really that the Patriots wanted to get from Antonio Brown why why did they go fame in the 1st place is he really the No on a marquee player he is I mean he's arguably the best receiver in football when he's on the field I mean his numbers prove it he said 100 catches I think 8 straight seasons over a 1000 yards lead the league in touchdowns last year he's a special special talent and that you know the guys like that don't become available for that price often so Belichick said you know what I made it work with these guys why not take a flyer on him and he you know you saw it right away his football intelligence right away kick in the Patriots playbook you seen receivers like Reggie Wayne Eric Decker these guys come in and just they don't know what to do often city because it's such a complex playbook to learn Brown was able to come in and in 4 short days learn a playbook and be one of the most effective players on the field that Sunday I mean if that doesn't speak wonders about his football billet I don't know what it was what else does and I think also true you know Josh Gordon is missing time in the past for off the field issues as well although he seems like he's got a great place right now he seems to be contributors talking to the media seems very good Adelman has battled some injuries in before and then obviously they just have a lot of experience at receiver so I think they said why not go get brown and you know try to set up this 3 headed monster and you know all 3 of these guys could be on the field at once where almost an unbeatable football team but isn't the problem has slightly the Bill Belichick We know he's going to go down as you know possibly one of the greatest coaches of a volt time in in the n.f.l. But this is a proper black mark on his legacy isn't it this little spat with Brown the flotation if you like with a guy who simply they shouldn't have gone for in the 1st place you know I wouldn't go that far I really wouldn't I think the page it's doing the job of you know saying you know innocent till proven guilty and not judging a player on their past that's how. There they are you know when they are within the organization right now it comes back to my original point Brown sent those checks out Wednesday night last Wednesday a week from today before the Jets game they made to the media unfortunately late Thursday night he was gone Friday afternoon so I think it's one of those things where whatever you do in the past you know they might just say you're on thin ice here you have to realize that we take players like un this is you know kind of your last chance it's up to you now but as soon as you don't follow our rules you're out here and I think that I was ultimately the case with brown right it was obviously a big financial risk at the very least for the Patriots has this also done them some reputational damage I suppose in retrospect with the way things have panned out it may now look like a very naive decision. You know I get that question a lot and I don't understand why you know it's a bad reputation on the Patriots right I mean I understand the accusations were out but at the time of the signing the Patriots have said several times they didn't know about this and I think it was a lot of a lot of stuff out there they didn't know what was real they kind of just went with it and some Let's let this thing play out but a lot of these acts that he's been accused of he's been members of the Steelers and Raiders before but when he went when he was on the Patriots and it seems like those media outlets are you know taking as much heat for getting a hole in a story or you know why or why did the Steelers not know about this why did they hold on to him for as long as they did if they knew about this it's more so on the Patriots just for hanging onto it for you know like I said 8 days which is a little ironic but I guess that's what you get when you are a marquee franchise like the Patriots play in a big market like Boston so I understand but I think you know the Raiders and Steelers media and organization I think is getting let up ultimately. Have to ask Ryan regardless of that aspects of the situation it was a very expensive acquisition and he's now still reportedly owed money do we know what the outcome of that is going to be I am not sure I'm not a big cap guy I don't know too much about the cap all I know is since something in his contract they can void that guaranteed money on I think it was believed to be 9000000 dollars for an off the field conduct the issue obviously not once and now Brown has yet to be paid combined over $40000000.00 from the Patriots in Raiders you haven't seen a dime of that unfortunately because of the off the field issues with him and I think God that could be settled in a court order even something like that and not too sure about that but to be honest with you guys here in New England it's it's kind of past we're trying to move on from that I know is it was a you know a big big sports story obviously when a kid. A player in a big name players like that goes to a big mainstream like the Patriots it's very intriguing for people and obviously all the stuff that went on with it it was it was a big you know worldwide story but with him gone it's the Patriots are back to square one where they where they're still Super Bowl favorites they still have great players off uncivilly that you know Brown was just you know kind of a cherry on top talent wise so that wide receiving corps they can get by without him they just need a stalemate and Ryan feel free to give a 11 ounce that's this question he's tweeted out saying that he will not be playing in the n.f.l. Anymore yes oh no can we expect to see him in the n.f.l. Once more in the future I think so I think so I think it just depends on how all of this kind of plays out right I don't know you know obviously the accusations are very serious and like I said I don't want to get into those out of respect for both parties obviously I'm sure you guys do too it's a pretty serious allegation right but if something comes out and you know say he's innocent he's proven innocent you know some team want to take a flyer on some team gets desperate for a receiver and he's allowed to play I think it's possible I really do but I just I don't see it this year No I think you have to be what all this play out see what comes about him see how he can change his act and kind of convince an owner to to be able to give him money but instead of him I think he's a very cheap He's not a cheap player he's going to want big money well that's right Spike No the who covers the Pats for s.p.d. Nation now one of the biggest stories in the n.f.l. So far has been around penalties with even Tom Brady the quarterback for the New England Patriots getting involved on a day off on Twitter while top Hayslip is the n.f.l. And it's all sporting news I asked him what Tom's beef is so the n.f.l. Before the season decided that it wanted to crack down on holding penalties and every year the n.f.l. The competition committee specifically decides what points of emphasis they're going to have in terms of officiating going into a season last year there is a initiating contact with a helmet penalty if they want to enforce this. Sure it was holding but then what happened is through the 1st 2 weeks of the season according to e.s.p.n. There was a 66 percent increase and often civil penalties which is obviously much much more than the n.f.l. Wanted so while Tom Brady was watching Thursday night football last week the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Tennessee Titans there's all these absurd holding penalties and he literally tweets I can't watch this if you more which is matching the sentiment of a lot of n.f.l. Fans. You know that's the background of it he is frustrated everyone else is frustrated too and the n.f.l. Is credit the n.f.l. Is addressing this they had a conference call with all 17 referees over the weekend and they said hey we like what you're doing you're technically doing what you're told but we need you to back off a little bit you know when he when you see potential holding when you see a blocker getting his hands outside of where they're supposed to be allow him a chance to bring his hands back in the side if he doesn't do that fine for the flag but were a little bit too quick to throw the flags and sure enough in week 3 there was a decrease in holding penalty so chances are you know that the problem may have been fixed now there's still an emphasis on holding so I still think that there will be some complaints but I don't think it's going to be as bad as it was early in the season so is this a bad law or is it a bad implementation of a little. It's a bad implementation of the Law Now here's the here's the problem with holding right you ask any n.f.l. Player particularly any defensive lineman they will tell you that there is holding on every single play so it's actually it's a very difficult thing to officiate but for pretty much the entire existence of the n.f.l. You know there's kind of pretty been a fine line between what is and what is not holding So what the n.f.l. Did this offseason is that we're going to broaden that won a little bit and particularly holding on the backside that plays worse not really affecting the play very much but it is still holding now they're throwing flak for that well if it doesn't impact the play then what's the point of throwing the flag so I think they're it's just an over implementation like you said and I think that they're going to fix that I think moving forward you'll still see some questions holding penalties because you're going to see that no matter what the rules are or what the points of emphasis are but I do think it will get better as you mentioned at the beginning that the people making these decisions just interested to know a little more little bit more about that process who is it looking at these things and making those decisions there is a competition committee that's made up of a handful of n.f.l. Owners and what they listen to this is the owners they've all that they all agreed to this Ok 100 percent so in the off season and it's not just rule changes right like it's everything from top to bottom the offseason they evaluate everything but particularly with penalties they decide hey we want to you know we're getting complaints from our coaches we're getting complaints from our players you know here are the rules we want to change same thing that happened with pass interference over the off season now passing or for years as a penalty that is reviewable and that's never been the case before and that's because the n.f.l. Owners passed it into the rulebook because they were getting complaints from the coaches and from their players and it's something that the coaches and players wanted so therefore they voted on it in the off season and passed into the rule book same thing that happened with the crackdown holding but it's not uncommon I will say for the n.f.l. To backtrack on stuff like this they did the same thing last year but when they get when they see the results and it's not exactly what they want they tend to kind of you know thing. That a little bit and realize that they overreacted so they're essentially listening to the players in the coaches so they are listening to the audiences well the fans that are watching this tearing their hair out is not a motivation for them yeah especially when it's Tom Brady you know that they're out and they're absolutely I mean I was going to say is it the fact that it's Tom Brady used come out and said this because Tom Brady is let's be honest the number one quarterback in the league not least he won the Super Bowl last year. You know is it because it's him coming out and going Come on lads sort it out that's why they're actually doing it sure I mean that that let's be honest that was probably the last straw like I find it hard to believe that that his and his doing it so publicly right it's not like he sent a letter to the league office and said Hey guys I think you need to fix this he publicly complain about it he tweeted about this for all the world to see all those you know his millions of followers it had been something that week was already looking at anytime they make a rule change like that they are monitoring public reaction because at the end of the day you know all they care about is people tuning into the games right so make sure their t.v. Ratings are staying up and to make sure that their fans are happy with their product and you know when when fans get so loud about something particularly this these penalties oftentimes you do see a change and that's why the league has these weekly conference calls with the referees right you know is there something we're doing wrong is there something that we're overreacting to is there something we can fix moving forward so I give credit to the league for paying attention that but like you guys that had Tom Brady not complained I don't know if we would have seen the drop off that we saw in week 3 right it might not have been as drastic So thank you Tom. Well it certainly sounds a little more fluid than the the situation is here or with the league actually responding to the complaints set in if you're a familiar with sucker of. James you know all about this fads are absolutely tearing their hair out and some changes that have been made to the rules here and I don't think they're quite so reactive been no complaints about them changing something fundamentally mid season everyone is quite happy with that so long as it was an agreement for the benefit of the game right yeah exactly and I do anticipate that there could be more changes moving forward and one of the key ones is what I mentioned the the whole pass interference review process it's not going to change this season because it was a rule change it was implemented for $21000.00 only They're going to re-evaluate it next offseason it's not something they can just ditch but the whole problem with this is passing or fear and while yes there are standards for in the rule book it's a subjective call right 2 people can look at a play and one can think it's faster Ference and one doesn't so the problem is your subject and that's replay review and when you do that you have one person in New York River on the vice president of the shooting who's making these calls Well what if it's a close call and river runs going by the letter of the law and you know it sometimes there's hand fighting out of play and a lot of people disagree on it last going to cause a lot of chaos so even though it's going to replay or you would think instant replay will just you know get you the right call right well that's not the case with pass interference so there's always going to be something that fans are going to be mad about with the n.f.l. But with withholding it's easy because you just make the change and you deemphasize it right with pass interference of you you have to play it out the entire season and re-evaluate at the end of the year so it's there are different types of penalties that they can you know mess with but I think passengers one of them that you know like what's going on in the u.k. With soccer I do I do believe this is something is going to be a season long issue and all people generally happy with the standard of refereeing in the n.f.l. At the moment because I know there was a big problem a week or so ago. He was saying look that one of the issues were was that the referees weren't allowing the plays to conclude before bringing them back you know so essentially they weren't allowing the play to carry on and then see what the outcome was before making that decision. We've done stories here on this program about Major League Baseball having serious problems with with refereeing as well is there a similar focus on the referee in n.f.l. Or is it really the problem stems from the laws. No I it's 100 percent with the officiating and really to be fair it's the rulebook is also it's like a massive rulebook right I mean there's a lot of things it's a very difficult thing to do for these officials and part of the problem in my opinion there are 124 officials in the n.f.l. And only a handful of those I think 29 I think is the number are full paid full time employees the rest of them have other jobs these are not full time and so hold you hold on the n.f.l. One of the Ritchies leagues in the world is employing the grocery club down the road to do these officiating Yes Wow That is correct so in my memory I get a. Clear reason I the reason I bring that up when when you review something like pass interference and you start going by the letter of the law now you're just amplifying the issues of the referee or or empire or whoever misses a call and you subject that to review that's going to make the official who made the call it's going to make them look really bad right I mean there's it is a problem in my opinion and a lot of people do believe it's a problem I mean Terry McAuliffe who's a former n.f.l. Referee he's now the rules analyst for n.b.c. He told The Washington Post that you know he believes that some of these officials are working on their own personal perspective on what or what is or is not a penalty versus whatever it says in the rulebook so you know that's a problem too it is it is certainly an issue of my personal belief is if the n.f.l. Were to make all $124.00 officials full time employees that would give them the opportunity to spend the offseason studying tape going to clinics they already go to a handful of clinics they can go to more there is a lot of benefit to that maybe one of the answer is you add officials to the field simply more eyes on the place of the penalties are not missed or whenever there is a penalty in question more people can huddle about it and decide what is the correct call They've also added a replay official in the booth this year that supposedly will help in terms of not missing obvious calls so the n.f.l. . Trying I guess but like you said the idea that these are all these officials are not full time employees is ridiculous for a league that is operating with this kind of budget Chad I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised by that revelation you've just delivered us that because that is also the case for the Sports Arena in Britain most of all professional leagues have semi professional referees it's often the case that some one referee most high profile soccer match will be back to UK it is legal practitioner just used to be the case certainly until the last few years ago when he sets of they professional game officials did this and this leads me to my question it's certainly becoming a more professional ised aspect of the game here in the u.k. It Jew sense that's where that's the direction of travel there are for the n.f.l. . I hope so and I think so I've reached out to the league on this before and they just referred me to previous statements. That basically state that the league is constantly evaluating its situation so whenever the league feels like it needs to move to this I think it will it's certainly not a matter of you know financial risk right like we know the n.f.l. Has plenty of money to employ $100.00 more employees especially the ones that are controlling the outcomes of their games to an extent so I think it just makes so much sense to everybody who's observing the league and I'm sure it makes sense to a lot of people within the league too. So I do believe that eventually we'll get there are unfortunately a lot of times that this league it takes bad things to happen like past interference that you think that didn't happen until a missed call significantly changed and impact on a change of game last year the Saints lost largely because of a miscast interference call so what they do they need to react to it but it took something bad like that happening for them to make a rule change or fit into a dress this cheating and unfortunately that's probably how it's going to happen if it does happen well that's Todd Heisler from Sporting News more n.f.l. And some baseball to still to come well that's up to the knees on 5 Live with Liam's Matt. On digital b.b.c. Census just last week alone this is b.b.c. Radio 5 Live if you break that negotiator Michel Barnier he has offered a downbeat assessments of the U.K.'s new proposals to avoid a hard Irish border it comes as the break Secretary Stephen Barclay prefers to head to Brussels to continue talks Meanwhile Boris Johnson's advisor Tomic coming says the only way the issue of abuse against M.P.'s will be solved is if they respect the result of the referendum it comes after the prime minister defended his use of what members of called inflammatory language Donald Trump as dismissed Democrats attempts to impeach him as a hoax and another which some whistleblowers alleges that the president used his position to push Ukraine's leader to interfere in next year's u.s. Presidential elections Mr Trump denies any wrongdoing and new research suggests some premium tea bags could be leaving billions of tiny plastic particles in your cup the Canadian team behind the study says there should be more examination of impact micro plastics have on our health let's get the sport now in the atten for the 2nd time in 3 years Essex have been crowned county champions after a dramatic draw against title rivals Somerset at Taunton Somerset have to win but rain all 4 days left them needing to take 20 Essex wickets on the final day to clinch their 1st championship title now and Pharrell escaping injury was the big positive England's 45 points to 7 win over the USA at the Rugby World Cup Farah was flattened by a shoulder charge to the head from John quill in the 2nd half in Kobe his red card was the 1st of the tournament solver to throw to the Super League playoff semifinal after a 20 points Tamil win at home to Castleford they'll play the loser of tonight's semi final between send Helen's and Wigan with the winner on the for them October heading to Old Trafford 8 days later I propose or for Barry to be readmitted to League 2 next season has been rejected by the a.f.l. 71 member clubs asked the winner through to the last 16 of the Women's Champions League last nights to. In a win over Fiorentina season throw 6 men on aggregate Glasgow City are also through and Andy Murray is after these you had championship in China he lost in 3 sets to the world number 31 Alex domino in the last 16. 22 as I meet silicon chip dismiss economists are. People talking to me now managed in the last couple b.b.c. Does your time like this Rugby World Cup and 29 See you. On the sidelines and find life sports extra and ski bums aids with the Rugby Union we keep our grass to download on b.b.c. Sounds. This is b.b.c. Radio 5 Live available on the b.b.c. Sounds all right line and welcome back to the North American sports show on b.b.c. Radio 5 Live I'm James Wickham Let's have a change of sports that. Makes me. Think. And hear from my esteemed colleague Mitch Mansfield we're still a few days away from the major league baseball postseason records have already been falling early this month James you will have seen this we saw a new total set for the most home runs in a single year beating the 6000 or 105 homers hit in 27 Same with weeks to spare but this really caught my interest this week because on Choose day night we then saw the strikeout record broken for the 12th consecutive season with 841208 and I thought sounds quite counter-intuitive How is it that batters hitting more home runs than ever while pitches are striking them out more often too well thankfully we've got someone here that might be able to help us with that question Ben Lindeberg host The effectively wild baseball analytics podcast Also the co. Author of the m.v.p. Machine how baseball's new non-conformist say using data to build better players I just cited before you start this this is a proper Fest and I love everybody welcome to this is wonderful to be here thanks for having me Ben if we could just start with that point I made just then that sounds counter-intuitive but if these records related Yeah I think they are to a certain extent so we are seeing batters make less contact than ever but when they do make contact when the bat hits the ball it goes farther than it's African before and so we're seeing both of these things coincide more strikeouts and fewer balls actually hit but more balls going over the fence and as you mentioned the strikeout increase is nothing new that's been happening for a while now for a confluence of factors and I think it's partly just that pitchers are throwing harder than they used to they're imparting more spin to the ball so pitches are moving more pitchers are throwing more breaking balls as opposed to fast balls that are a little bit easier to make contact with and you're also seeing I think a greater acceptance of strikeouts because statistically speaking studies have shown that it's not so bad to strike out because striking out often goes hand in hand with positive outcomes like home runs so if you're swinging hard if you're trying to hit the ball as far as far as possible you are going to miss more but when you do make contact it's going to go a long way and that works out to actually be more valuable if you have more strikeouts but also more home runs the home runs are valuable enough to offset what you're losing by making less contact so that's part of what's happening here but the primary reason for the increase in home runs that we've seen this year the record number that seems to be a change in the ball itself is that all we can attribute to it really is all about the ball it's not entirely that again I think there is a greater acceptance of strikeouts that used to be something that there is sort of a stigma around people wouldn't want to swing and miss. It's kind of embarrassing when you think about it but I think there is a greater acceptance of that now and teams are recruiting pitchers who can strike out hitters and not really avoiding hitters who strike out because of the positive things they do so it's partly that but it also goes hand in hand with this change in the construction of the baseball which remains somewhat mysterious but from what we can tell the ball is much more aerodynamic than it has been in the past and so there's less drag on the ball and once you put it in the air it's carrying farther than it used to all else being equal so you hit a ball with the exact same trajectory as you might have say 5 years ago and it will go a lot longer than it did at that time and so you get more home runs and there's sort of a secondary effect where because of that change in the ball hitters have now adjusted their behavior to try to take advantage of that so hitters are trying to hit the ball in the air more often because it pays off for them more often and as a byproduct of that they are also striking out more because they're swinging for the fences they're trying to elevate the ball and they're not just trying to put it in play and you know hit it on the ground or a line drive as they once might have because it's so valuable now to get it in the air because once you get it up there it tends to keep going so always seeing them benoît change in the type of batters that we're getting and maybe those who are being selected more often on the roster all all teams now going almost solely full big hit to basically rather than those players as you say he would hit a line drive make it's still 2nd base only well we certainly are seeing more hitters who are capable of hitting home runs these days everyone in the lineup can hit home runs we're seeing more homers hit across the league and really those home runs are distributed more democratically so it's not just certain guys hitting 50 or 60 or even 70 as it was 20 years ago at the height of those single season home run records now it's. Just that everyone can hit 20 or 30 and we're seeing record numbers of guys do that so it's not even that teams are necessarily going after these big hulking sluggers who can do that because now that the ball has changed and now that hitting mechanics have changed in a way to take advantage of the ball we're seeing smaller guys able to rack up these high homerun totals that once used to be restricted only to these big sluggers and so the correlation between the height of hitters and their power is actually lower than it's been for decades because these days almost everyone is capable of hitting the ball out it doesn't have to be the Giants who were doing it in earlier heiress So the hits are getting literally getting smaller wealthy hitters are still getting bigger Actually it's a whole Ok if you look over the long term but it's not that only the big guys can hit home runs now everyone can do it but if we can go back to the strikeouts for a moment we mentioned this is nothing new 12th year in a row that a new record has been set is it too simplistic to say the pitching is getting better more advanced is benefiting from people like you who analyze the data crunch the numbers and work out the best kind of pitch which time in the game well I don't know if I could take credit but yes I think certainly take credit Bennett. If you're telling us how the whole of Britain it was up to you. So pitching has certainly improved and we can track this now going back more than a decade that we've had actual centers and ballparks that can record how pitches move and how hard they travel how fast they're thrown and that has increased pretty steadily over that period and probably before that too so pitches are going faster than ever before partly because teams are really looking for guys who can throw harder and they can measure that with more precision and partly also because you're getting guys going shorter stints now it's not that you're expected to pitch a whole game. Whereas once when you were starting pitcher you were expected to just be there the whole time you would pitch the 1st pitch and also the last pitch now teams are using a parade of relievers who come in because they found that that's more effective because guys have fresh arms and they can throw at their maximum velocity at all times so and speaking of up and sorry to interrupt but one of the people we talked about earlier this year on the program was Josh hated the Milwaukee Brewers pitch now he's somebody who has got an incredible strikeout rate because of the way we believe he throws the ball so you he throws a fastball but most people come pick it do you think we're going to get more players like that almost like a specialist piccies you got a bull that they can throw that nobody else can pick up yes I think that's happening because there are so many pitchers in baseball now who are only expected to throw an inning at a time and if you're only facing batters once in a game you don't necessarily had to have to have a wide variety of pitches that you can show them where is when you're a starting pitcher you have to go through a line up maybe 3 or 4 times and face the same guys over and over again you want to have say 3 or 4 or 5 pitches that you can show them so that they're not seeing everything the 1st time you face them whereas if you're just coming in for an inning you're facing 3 or 4 guys and then you're done for the day you could get by with say 2 pitches and maybe only one of them really has to be devastating so you can be sort of a specialist in a way that you couldn't in the past and I saw something now you might tell me this is complete rubbish but I saw something about Major League Baseball abolishing its 40 man roster for 2020 is that right yes so in the past and even in this current season rosters have expanded in September only so that only applies in September for most of the season it's a $25.00 man active roster and then it expands to 40 in September next season that will not be the case it will be restricted to $28.00 people but there are plans. To to expand all season to 26 guys instead of 25 and they're having to cap the number of pitchers allowed on the roster at any one time because teams have gone so far in that direction where in the past you used to see a bunch of hitters on the bench and guys who could be backups at certain positions now everyone wants bigger bowl pens more and more relief pitchers so that you can bring in this succession of guys throwing 952100 blow everyone away Ben you've done a great job here in explaining why this is happening I just want to get your take on this these phenomena suppose the high homerun rate the high strikeout rate 70 leading some interesting games but is it the kind of baseball we want to say fans actually enjoying it of course getting will suffice scoring games but not really for the peeresses there's a lot of discussion about that and of course there's some disagreement it's a matter of taste what people want baseball to look like but it is indisputable that baseball looks a lot different than the way it ever has before because we're seeing more strikeouts so fewer balls in play fewer fielding opportunities fewer base running plays it's largely strikeouts and walks and home runs those outcomes where the ball isn't actually hit in a way that a fielder can field it and the runner has to run which are considered exciting things those things are happening less and less often than ever before no home runs can be very exciting and they're obviously impactful plays and a lot of people enjoy them but I think a lot of people are starting to feel that they've reached the point where it kind of detracts from the specialness of the event because it happens so often that it just feels like less of an achievement than it used to and strikeouts maybe can be entertaining too when you see someone come in throwing these pitches that move in probable ways and hitters are taking these titanic swings and swinging and missing it can be kind of this question of the titans that. I buy and entertaining but again a lot of people want to see the ball put in play and people running around and diving for balls and making catches and we're certainly seeing less of that than ever before so because of all the reasons we talked about all the trends that are leading to what we're seeing today I don't think this is just going to reverse itself on its own but I do think that if Major League Baseball wants to it can change the ball it can alter some other rules in a way that would bring baseball back into line with the way it's looked before well it certainly makes for some watchable highlights on the You Tube channels and on the social media video so I can't imagine really just guessing that and nobody would be in too much of a hurry to to change this this inventive before we let you go would be remiss not to get your opinion on the playoffs starting next week will be looking out for well one thing stat inclined people like me have figured out is that it's very very difficult to predict what is going to happen in the playoffs what we can say is that it looks like the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers who met up in the World Series a couple years ago they seem to be the best teams in baseball now whether that translates to post-season success it's very hard to say because conditions are different and the samples are so small that any team that's good enough to make the playoffs can be good enough to win say a 5 game series or a 7 game series against another team that's pretty evenly matched so it's kind of the time of year when our ability to predict things fails us and we just have to sort of sit back and say we're going to enjoy this ahead and we may not be able to predict it but it's going to be a lot of fun well that's Ben Lindbergh from many many things including the ring in . His sleep choosing Anyway finally this week we're going to talk about the uniform of the she called Go back. As I go into way this weekend he is the best quarterback Mitch Skeets take up the story It's week 4 of the full season and we have a big divisional game this week I'm joined here by my teammates on our internal social justice committee and our chairman George McCaskey as you know we assembled this committee last season to address the important social issues within our community and together with the club we raised over 800000 dollars to give back to our community here in Chicago or proud of this work but we still have a long way to go another part of the committee is to engage in meaningful dialogue would organization Lee and our fan base issues that we as people not just football players care about and can make mpeg No As a founder franchise organization is glorious but is not perfect this Sunday against the Vikings our players will wear the one $936.00 classic Jersey that was from a time when Unfortunately African-Americans were not included on the Bears or other n.f.l. Rosters integration of the n.f.l. And the Bears was too long in coming but we're proud that this year's bears will be the 1st African-Americans to wear these jerseys the importance of wearing this Jersey goes way beyond this moment wearing this jersey is a saw and a symbol for the people that came before us that weren't allowed to wear this Jersey and now on our shoulders is the opportunity to represent not only our culture but our city and our team by wearing this jersey and being the 1st African Americans to do so with all that after much thought and a lot of meetings we are proud to be the 1st African Americans to pull this jersey over our head and take the field to represent this story franchise and this great city which is a sports historian who is based in Chicago Jack let's just start right at the very beginning tell me about these just these what do they look like and why all the Chicago band is going to wear them. Yet they look pretty similar to our standard white uniforms the main. Design flourishes that there are 4 stripes on each shoulder orange and Navy the Bears colors these were jerseys that the team or in 1936 and only $936.00 they are they look very similar to jerseys that the team or the rest of the decade but they didn't have to show the stripes the helmets are a wing to see I think is what it's called. Navy with an orange with orange lines and then they've got these high socks like with candy cane stripes Ok so I did what they what they look like those are the 3 elements the reason that they're wearing them is that this is the 100th season of Chicago Bears football also the 100th season of the n.f.l. And the Bears announced 2 throwback chairs these one was the 1960 s. Jersey but the other one were these jerseys from 1936 and the reason that they were selected is because they are a historical anomaly the team only wore these jerseys that one season and that combined with the style that they were pretty cool I don't know they're getting mixed reviews but I for the most part I think people dig them but that's the reason that they were selected they stood out as a historical oddity but as you pointed out in this brilliant article of yours which I suggest everybody goes to read there's a real problem with these uniforms in a historical context which is these all from 96 which is when the n.f.l. Had its ban on black players. Yeah definitely the n.f.l. Was founded in 1920 there were black players in its founding season and there were black players in the league every year until 1934 so through 933 and in February of 1933 the owners met the team and the league had been struggling they were. We're losing money the bears for example were the champions of the league in 1932 and they lost $800000.00 the owners got together they looked at a series of rules that could be implemented in order to improve scoring improve the fan experience it was the 1st time that they split the league into divisions which was very helpful for creating rivalries but also logistically valuable for scheduling and leading these rule changes were 2nd year owner he had just completed his 1st year George Preston Marshall of the Boston the our words now the Washington football team and George Alice who was the owner of the Bears for your listeners and I was the chairman of the Rules Committee he was the longest standing owner in the n.f.l. He was the only one who was at the founding meeting in 1920 so they're coming up with all these rules they're trying to figure out ways to generate more revenue stop taking losses in just increasing fan support along with increasing the the the quality of of the product and it's where it's at this point where things get a little tricky because there is nothing. On paper. I spoke with a historian Chris Willis who has a number of n.f.l. Books and particularly in one that he wrote about the n.f.l. President of the time Joe Carr who was in the in these meetings he said he never saw anything in the minutes so there's nothing written down that's what makes it tricky to say decidedly that it was at this meeting where this happened but everything that I've read including the book Papa Bear by Jeff Davis biography of George Halla says that this is where it took place and what it was is that the n.f.l. Decided that after the season there were 2 black players in the league at that point that after the season they wouldn't have any more black players in the league so there were 2 guys Joe Willard of the cardinals Ray Kemp of the pirates Kemp was released and then they resigned that season and then released again but Joe will who was a star with the Cardinals scored half their points lead them in yards he was like 0 at the end of the season never resigned with another had a felt team and from 1934 until 946 so the 12 seasons are 934145 those 12 seasons the n.f.l. Was all white and it's an interesting contrast to other professional league in the u.s. Which were founded as all white and then became integrated this was integrated 1920 to 33 and then all the sudden boom. All white amiss you know as you say well slightly different to the sports leagues but this was a time we should point out in America absolute virulent racism was a bit. Well yeah I mean what's you know what's the probably the biggest sports moment of 936 perhaps the biggest world moment of 936 this is Jesse Owens in the Olympics in Berlin and Adolf Hitler so you know there are u.s. Armed forces or integrated yet Major League Baseball would be integrated into $147.00 and obviously this fit with the tie I don't think anybody doubts that but what I wrote about what I looked at was Ok sir if it's of the times we get it on the other hand maybe that's a terrible excuse that no one should ever use this is sort of like what I'm going back and forth with the writing process it's fascinating because the Chicago Bears video which we we played before is you know they are saying that actually they are very proud that now the African American players are going to get to wear this juicy that they never had the chance you know the precise is would never have had the chance to wear because they weren't allowed in the league at that time but that's quite a defeat. Thing to think about isn't it to a certain extent you know I mean should you really be holding open era in which there was this segregation So what has the reaction be in Chicago where the reaction to the Jersey itself initially was very positive and I liked the jersey and I knew about the band but the way that the n.f.l. Had always told the story was you know a lot of the specifics were sanded away and it became this pretty vague tattle of one owner of one team who was. Klansman as races he may have been Klansman I've China member who's as Jim Rose I think who had said that I didn't know that but I mean I did know that Neo Nazis marched for him as he fought to not have the Washington team integrate by 961 he was the last holdout so that was the way that it was told You have this like super villain you've got this murky timeline isn't the spat Now isn't this great. But it was never assigned to any run of the years I certainly didn't know it last that that law I mean I would love to know if this was discussed when they were looking at the jerseys to begin with like did they look into the history did they consider that as a potential piece of a backlash or did they did they know it and ignore it or did they think you know want to look into this or did they did they just not know I don't know I'd love to know but what I've heard and what's been reported is that George McCaskey last week brought it to the players brought it to the entire team and said here's what's going on with these jerseys Here's the back story you might get asked questions and I don't know what changed between when they announced the jerseys and then when I realized. Area there now other than to say that it might have been the media attention the writing attention from me Chris Broussard had me on his show and then Jesse Jackson wrote a column for The Sun Times for the reason I can be a pressure that was building but it hadn't reached any kind of like substantive peak where there was no choice but to respond so in essence what the Bears did by releasing this video is that they themselves brought the attention to a sky high level. They took a chance I mean they could have just played it back and hope that nothing happened but by doing this they forced their own hand into guaranteeing that this is a part of the story so to your question should they be holding in this era. Well no I mean that should have been something that was discussed and addressed well before and you certainly don't just announce these jerseys and pretend nothing has happened or there's no historical significance but having gotten to this point the options certainly there's a business element to play they've got all these jerseys they're selling They're very popular they want to continue to sell so that's obviously the you know there's no point being totally wide eyed about the n.f.l. You know multibillion dollar business death being the case they could have decided we're not going to wear them or they could have alternated they could have put a patch on them I mean they definitely decided that they had to address it and in addressing it it seems like the players are excited about wearing them. Maybe they're not maybe they're just suddenly totally stunned but the reporting that's coming out is that George McCaskey put this in motion so. It's just it's very interesting I honestly even having you know follow this through it I did get involved in a way that I did I still I'm kind of like taken aback at the fact that it that they released it that they were pushing the story so that's really interesting to me in light of that video the response has been really positive overwhelmingly I would say if you look at the barriers tweet which is pinned and the n.f.l. Retreated it was Windsor writing I love my team like this is my team so proud to be a Bears fan I'm seeing Vikings and Packers fans and Lions fans who are through. Biggest rivals writing like you know I never thought I'd say this but bravo to the Bears alike bands like we still are with you but like. Congrats or like there's been a little bit of backlash you just sort of expect that but for the most part I think people are excited to just I think they're just happy to have this piece of history fill that well that's Jack's still Silverstein thank you very much to him he was quiet because he was trying to keep his make sure his child didn't wake up which I thought was very nice Those are very good now let's very quickly stay with the n.f.l. This year's Super Bowl halftime acts have been announced it's going to be in Miami Sunday the 2nd of February it's all Miami and all Miami Music on we're starting with. Jennifer Lopez already this is better than Marine 5 from the. Next lucky that my breasts a small and humble. Hero. Which is good it's not me that's going to be interesting more set to be announced fairly shortly I'm slightly disappointed given that we we have here and Jenny From The Block both representing Miami that we don't have this. Everybody needs. By I mean. We need. Suggestions they get the halftime show thank you to read by the way says Did North American sports please give me a good reason why the Boston Red Sox are not higher in the league that pitching one should be unquestionable Muki bets all stars on the bogus all star the list goes on I'm baffled please explain. Because every time we've asked anybody from Boston to talk about the Red Sox this season they've gone no we don't know either it's just all gone very badly wrong and that's why their manager has gone that's it. From the North American sports show for this week we will leave you out so I was going to say we're going to leave you with the wonderful sounds of Gloria Estefan But no it's ironic I would out some time next week. And I'm really enjoying that as well James you are and we're giving you the moves and everybody like to you know I think we support more Gloria Estefan like Sheryl jingo bring back Laura. Linney. This season radio. Probably keep this promise on the little that we are to continue playing Gloria Estefan and I was just going 3 o'clock this is up all night on 5 Live I'm Lisa McCormick to my knees on 5 Live doubts from the E.U.'s top negotiator about progress in Bret's it talks uninstaller 6 security domestic double winning the county champ. Is B.B.C.'s time with the latest news headlines is Tony McCoy it good morning the European Union's chief negotiator has expressed concerns about the progress of Brecht's It talks with the u.k. Michelle Bonnie I was briefing the passages ahead of a visit by the Brits it Secretary Steve Barclay our Brussels reporter a is Adam Fleming He says Britain is pursuing an idea of different standards for goods and different rules for customs between Northern Ireland and our lands which is the totally opposite approach to the one being taken by the year he had a real warning that time is running short to get a revised deal by the end of next month Boris Johnson's advisor says it's not surprising Angus being directed at n.p.c. . Dominic Cummings who was chief of the vote leave campaign says the only way the issue of abuse will be solved is if M.P.'s respect the result of the referendum comes off the prime minister defended his use of what members have called inflammatory language there's been strong criticism of the government's plans to limit disruption to the flow of vital medical supplies if there's a no deal. It's the National Audit Office says the still a significant amount of work to do before the deadline on Halloween as a health correspondent Dominic the Department of Health and Social Care has been working on ways to minimize that risk and the National Audit Office in its report today says it has achieved a great deal even though there's been lots of uncertainty but its report questions whether all stockpiles are in place it says the extent to which social care providers are ready is uncertain and also there's great uncertainty whether all the extra freight capacity that the government needs to bring in extra supplies will be in place on time ministers say they're doing all they can to ensure patients would still be able to access Madsen's the leading us Democrat Nancy Pelosi has accused Donald Trump of trying to cover up the details of a controversial phone call to the Ukrainian lead latest edition addition of bricks that cast for you yet you knew it you knew there was a new edition for you some more a little bit later on check out what's making the headlines dynamic as well before that though my next guest is someone you probably wouldn't want to get into a fight with 2 time England strongest woman under 65 kilograms 2nd place British strongest woman and hoping to be at last year's bronze medal at the world's strongest woman competition in just 2 weeks' time Katie Bowles day job is a personal trainer but she wasn't always fully invested in fitness She told me that came a boy via a job as a civil engineer and then a nurse which just wasn't quite what she wanted from life there was an awful lot that I enjoyed about of Slane very privileged position looking after people caring for people at the best times the worst time supporting and supporting their families bought the job satisfaction from my ability to help people to the best of my ability was outweighed by the fact that I just wasn't happy I was unhappy with what I was doing I found it quite stressful at times very tough with the chefs and I was finding that I was getting to the point where it was a fact to me outside was affecting me outside of. Of my role as a national I keep it together I look after my patients very well and the Kaffir those but then outside of that then you know it was trashed I was I was worried I was you know I was upset at times worrying if I made mistakes with people if I'd given the best care that I could possibly give people say then I kind of got to a tipping point and I was like well you know is it is this for you and then I started to ask myself questions basically and just reassess where I was on what I wanted to do and how wanted to go forward yeah so what if it is common to them from a young age I've always played always place bowls kicking a football around playing cricket. Ball hockey was my number one loaf so I started out from the age of 4 I was I was very sick.
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