It means the well to win a record 5th the women's all round title at the world gymnastic championships in Stoke got this is b.b.c. Radio 5 Live on digital b.b.c. Sound small speaker had a quick look at the weather Claudia wet for most of us there when I then moved into Friday it'll be grey and overcast with rain across much of England and Wales heavy in the side for some showers in Scotland and Northern Ireland and advertised by 16 Celsius. Later I still believe the radio. Shack should be sitting ducks and stay so in the Super League you sign up for traffic. Jam. When it seems to me. Look foolish. Like from 6 on b.b.c. Radio 5 Live I guess is b.b.c. Radio 5 Live available on the b.b.c. Sounds up all night with me Richard Foster tonight let's get a bit of breaking news from Japan this all concerns the Japanese compre of course which is taking place this weekend just got a statement in from the race organizers they're saying as a result of the predicted impact of the typhoon that the fall of the on the Formula One Grand Prix the They've decided to cancel all activities take place on Saturday the f.i.a. And Formula One support the decision they say in the interest of safety for the spectators competitors and everyone at the Suzuka circuit they basically updated the profile of what's going to be happening nothing happening at all on Saturday the race circuit will be closed which means that the qualifying session the full qualifying the final qualifying will be taking place on Sunday before the race takes place itself so the practice for the 1st round of qualifying for the family won't Japanese Grand Prix is coming taking place on 5 of sports at. If you want to shoot into that but no practice no qualifying tomorrow Saturday because the circus going to be closed because of the risk of problems with the approaching typhoon So that's some new sports news from Japan let's get some more sports news this time from across the pond Hello and welcome to the North American sports show on 5 Live I'm a chance and I'm James work and now this is a show where we talk all about you guessed it North American sport but tonight we're heading to Asia we are not apologizing for Daryl exercising his freedom of expression I regret that so many people are upset including millions and millions of our fans that's the n.b.a. Boss Adam Silver what's become a major route in China some people are calling it a crisis for the league because this is a country it's one of the league's biggest markets it's huge in China but broadcasters and sponsors and now pulling out and it's all because of a tweet a reporter in Shanghai will tell us why and what it could mean and of course it's not as though the u.s. And China are getting on particularly well at the moment anyway image so you know as we've covered regularly here on or poll night well we've got that and then also on the show for what is a physical game it's a contact sport we all get that we all understand but we all know the risks associated with playing football some of these things are necessary people are dying because of these hits people are literally dying because of these hits that is the legend that is the omen you're on some of the recent tackles in the n.f.l. It's an issue being brought into focus by some new research on the link between playing American football and the brain disease c.t.e. We're going to be speaking to the scientist behind a really interesting stuff that plus the art of breaking in baseball gloves oh yeah oh yeah Ed Honestly you know we do bits of murdering on this program always this is a spot of murder glorious and for those of you who like cricket in you know the the regimen the routine that you need to break in a cricket bat. It's a similar process and by school I'm really looking forward to this because I was brought up playing baseball you know I'm a dad my dad was a huge baseball fan after going over to the States when he was a youngster so we always had a huge box full of baseball gloves Yeah and one of the challenges was when he went out to the u.s. On a holiday and you got a new one it took forever to break it in it felt like you're putting your hand into a bit of clay for the 1st few 8 Absolutely so all that's come up on 5 Live in the next hour but 1st. Battle in the n.f.l. Can. But we'll start with football then the 1st n.f.l. Coach of the season has full and yes Jay Gruden has left the Washington Redskins with them a Norton family for the season it's been a messy start there's no denying that change is a quarterback fans turning on the team all of that yeah is not a pretty sight at the moment in d.c. And Kareem Copeland who writes about the Washington Redskins for The Washington Post and I asked him where it all go wrong for Jake Rutan who that's the that's the noted question. Plainly. Only one player. You know loads up against you know he's. Under Dan Snyder So at this time it seemed like it needed like a change was inevitable especially starting off oh in 5 when they were much harder since for that people expected the defense to be you know borderline elite. Expected to win with defense run game not turning over the ball the run game hasn't evolved and then there was this whole quarterback issue. They couldn't figure out exactly how they wanted to develop doing Haskins and Colt McCoy who is Jager favorite hurt a lot of the. Case Keenan came. And it was Ok for 2 games but then started turning over the ball so all of these things were happening but then you look on top of it where I think some of these things were stacked up against Jay in the fact that the last 2 years they've let the guys go on I are on the injury list and so 20 plus guys both in 202-017-2018 now train 1000 they've got 10 guys on I are already he's not he doesn't have his best player in Trenton Williams holding out because if you look at seaman issues with the medical staff hasn't had a 2nd round pick from last year Derrius guy's been injured both last year and this year Alex Smith broke his leg last year and they were $6.00 and $3.00 when he was playing and and they've won one game since he was injured so whole lot of things both within his control and beyond his control has led us to this point right now yeah and we often you know when when a manager or coach gets Sox We often sit and come pontificate about all the mistakes they might it doesn't quite feel like that in this case because it feels as though the consensus is Bain. Is kind of been sold short by the organization itself and not their organization is a bit dysfunctional So as far as I can tell the doesn't appear to be general manager is that and how does that all within How is that caused problems no there is no there is nobody with the g.m. Title so President Bruce Allen is basically in charge of everything he's he's the ultimate decision maker. And most potent for him but once they won't come. In and quite frankly the team is underperformed underneath him you can argue about how much talent he's put into this brought into the team he says the culture is good it's a lot of people who would say that's not nice. Certainly so but the one consistency over the last decade of futility has been Bruce Allen in charge of football operations and so that's a big thing that has frustrated folks as far as hey we're getting rid of Jay We're not Elton at least getting rid of the guy who's providing Jay with a roster that has had depth issues that has had injury his shoes that has had quarterback issues that has had. Trouble signing guys has signed arguably the wrong guys at times so all those kind of things those are about Jay So that was the big thing this week when we had the big press conference with with Bruce was a lot of people wanted him to take some accountability and he did a little bit he said hey we are what our record is basically but he still said we like the pieces we have we like the culture that we have the he waxed poetic about a lot of things that he likes that they have but this is a team that's only 5 and has won one game since Alex Smith was hurt last year so there's a lot of opposing viewpoints to what Bruce Allen said. Thus diplomatically put. So I mean when you look at what you did a good job it's obviously ended badly for Jay Gruden but it wasn't all bad during his tenure how the play is responded to his departure a very emotional about it is there such a degree of taking responsibility maybe for what's happened I guess there's been a little bit of everything you know there's some guys who. Are that we can get it done for you know both Chris Johnson and and Dunbar went online and post things saying you know sorry Coach we can get it done for you you know we support you a couple guys I talked to off the. Occurred you know said it didn't and they like Jay a lot and that's the thing Jay was a player's coach so he had a good reputation with a lot of guys but there was some guys who said it was he had gotten a little lax around here you know Jay had that reputation of club training camp being easier that other training camps that guys have been in and that's been a question mark of was he enough of a disciplinary and did he push guys hard enough so now you're going to Bill Callahan who's you know quite the opposite I want to play or describe him as a hard ass to be off the record yesterday so you expect to get a lot more of that but at the same time you know he. You'd expect Jay to kind of have had a better I guess he was considered a better off and mine but at same time the office had gone anywhere recently and Bill Callahan says hey we're going to run the ball with Adrian Peterson We want to get back to being that running team and under Jay This year they were what I thought you could leave the 2nd fewest run attempts in the league but at the same time when you're getting blown out by 20 points it's hard to run the ball so yeah it's a little bit of chicken in that they're also you know it's absolutely difficult for him I mean for Jay Gruden him self do you think we're now going to see him perhaps as the new offensive coordinator for the Oakland Raiders you know joining his brother the job I'm not sure about that happening you know media the or anything like that I think you'll I think you'll have at least the press the year off and then you know he's still getting paid by the Redskins next year so he can take a whole year off and beside what he wants to do in Iraq yeah he's in no rush but he'll definitely catch on somewhere again probably as a coordinator and you know we'll see it down the road if he gets another shot at the head job but I think his reputation around the league and it's clear that he's a very very capable coordinator people you know the big job brings different responsibilities sometimes and so they'll cross that line when they get there down the road and so is Bill Callahan now as the head coach for a long Tali more of a look at bring in someone else that's a good question I mean they're going to they're going to do their due diligence and look around at all their options around the league but I asked Bill flat out if he if he was auditioned for this job if you wanted it long term and he declined to really answer it he basically said hey I'm not auditioning for anything I've been in the league for 20 years so I've been buy a dish and is already done but he did not say whether he wanted to keep the job moving forward starting of next year so I'm not sure if you'll be interested in that he maybe because him and Bruce have a good relationship and so they go back. So the days in Oakland so that might be a good fit in there from their perspective a lot of people wonder you know how these other people around the league are good coaches going to want this job considering some of the mismanagement that we've had above the coaching you know when we're talking about Bruce and when we're talking about ownership and and some of the positions that this that these coaches have been it putting I mean there's only there's not many of these head coaching jobs in the world quite frankly but if you're coaching a good position that as your choice of places Washington probably might not be your top choice considering some of the things that you have to deal with off the field so given all of that you know there any of the fans that still would have left or if they told you all are already. There they're picketing and they've got torches and. They're There's a ton of frustration and they're wearing bags over their heads and the worst part is this it's really ugly at home games like last game it was at least 60 percent Patriots fans and then some of my colleagues say have said 75 percent last year at the end of the season the Eagles just completely took over the home game and I do believe that game was at least 70 percent Eagles fans so you know they're starting to lose home support at home and you know I always say fans get frustrated and get upset especially when you haven't had success for years and years and years and quite frankly you're talking about decades with this team but if you get a win or fans come back so if they start winning I think things will change but at the moment it's a tight spot fanbase right now and quite frankly it's got to be in the pocket books a little bit because they're not going to games than cream I think Redskins this weekend on Sunday against the don't Fins is that right now on the road. On the right Ok Ok so I guess that's going to going to suit this point in time given what you've just described for us about the the the reaction among the home fans right now on the Dolphins the role full as well oh yeah this is probably the 2 wish. You were available and. Yeah absolutely but you know what it actually might help Redskins So this was a big thing last year you know the fan support was a big issue last year and it has continued this year just through injury. Norman said last year which created a big thing but was like hey we almost prefer playing on the road because on the road the Redskins fans that you get there are are loud and supportive and they're really actively wanting to follow the team since they're you know heading all the way out on the road and quite frankly it from their perspective they said it's almost feels like more support on the road than at home sometimes because when you're at home you're thinking this is supposed to be your own building and all the things you hear all these Patriots fans that there's did the same thing for Monday Night Football there's packed it out so when you're at home and all of a sudden you can be I mean last week there was a Brady cheer that broke out. And this is in the seat so there's been more than one player who was. Hey it's not a bad thing to be on the road when it comes to. The fan reaction that they've gotten and particularly the last 2 seasons Well that's Kareem Copeland from The Washington Post talking about the Skins this year and. Now to Paul t. As head coach just greed and the jewels look at you go for him James I do feel for him because it's so difficult and he has got and I enjoy sunny have known a ship that I threw but he seems to think it's not working the structure of the franchise is not working so I think quite a lot of people are expecting it a do you think he's going off with probably quite a lot of money still to be paid his palms contract he's not going to be. Out of a job forever I don't think this is affected him too much will be really interesting see who else is on the pressure of the next few weeks we'll bring you up stay with us as and when we can but you know we're talking about the n.f.l. With talking about football Mitch there are some stories that are far more important than the school indeed we're going to stick now with American football and this one of the biggest issues facing the future of the game the possible link between playing it and developing the brain disease c.t.e. Yeah we've heard about it before but now for the 1st time researchers at Boston University have calculated the number of years playing the game with the levels of c.t.e. So they say that players doubled their risk every 3 years or so yeah in the some really interesting bits in this research I've been speaking to the study's lead author This is Jessie mez. Assistant professor in the department of neurology at Boston University and the director of the clinical core of the Boston University Alzheimer's disease so c.t.e. Or chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a nerd generated disease unique but not entirely different from Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease it's defined by a particular protein accumulation in a particular pattern in certain parts of the brain so what effect does it have. So it typically causes. Cognitive problems like memory problems and problem solving difficulty it also can cause problems like having a short fuse or having issues with depression it tends to be progressive and frequently it progresses to dementia Ok And this of course isn't the 1st time he's been linked to American football how does this study differ from previous research so this is the 1st time that we've been able to quantity that relationship so we've shown that with each additional year of play the odds of developing c.t.e. Increased by 30 percent and that equates to a doubling of every 2.6 additional years of play how do you go about finding this out what's the method you were lying on players to donate their brains from a place to donate their brains for you to analyze is that right that's correct so currently c.t.e. Can only be diagnosed neuropathy logically by examining their brain at all topsy we retrospectively interviewed family members of the deceased players and asked about how much they played we also for professional players reviewed an online. Database of. Football play Ok So that means you can analyze the brains of current players is that correct and if so is that for scientifical for ethical reasons with all narrative gender diseases the. We are the definite diagnosis can only be made by examining the brain without timers for instance we've become quite good at using clinical presentation biomarkers and lights to to determine what the neural pathology is in the brain with c.t.e. The research is less advanced and we're still unable to do that. Talk to me this research sounds quite concerning as far as you're concerned is that the right way to interpret it so I view my role as a researcher and. Trying to understand this disease as well as possible and so that I can convey our findings to other doctors and to family members and players so that they can make informed decisions about play I suppose just to put this into an emotional human contacts this condition c.t.e. It has a devastating effect on people's lives yeah so so as part of the research I've spoken with 100 family members of the deceased who had c.t.e. And you know not unlike Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. The the burden is tremendous in terms of not being able to carry out the ele activities as well as. The toll it takes on relationships with other people and with with that in mind if we are getting closer to finding a conclusive link between American football in its current form and c.t.e. Where does that leave the game I appreciate this isn't a simple question to answer but what needs to change about the way we play American football in order to reduce this correlation so so our relationship that we found between years of play and risk and severity is the relationship wasn't between a number of symptomatic concussions for instance wrote so. What I think needs to happen is that there needs to be a reduction in the amount of of impacts that happens over the course of a player's career so that might mean beginning later in life when when they 1st start to play it means fewer hits in practice I do think that the nature of American football is such that. The hits can't be reduced entirely but I do think those hits are what is likely leading to this degenerative disease so we saw recently for example the Oakland Raiders linebacker bethink who was banned for the rest of the n.f.l. Season for a late hit is that kind of thing encouraging stamping out potentially dangerous challenges so I think that efforts by the n.f.l. And lower level leagues to reduce the amount of hitting overall in practice making seasons shorter etc is certainly helpful for for risk with c.t.e. Certainly. Reducing the number of late hits or severe heads in the short term is beneficial in terms of reducing concussion. Whether those types of interventions. Regarding concussion will have much impact on long term outcomes I think it's still too early to know Ok And one of the other things you mentioned was perhaps starting at a later age in a Suppose that poses some troll questions about the game of course families won't back kids to be playing American football and to be getting in. A would it be feasible is it something you'd welcome to see actually restrictions put on the age at which you can start physical contact. That I mean I would leave that question to the policymakers I think from my perspective. And overall in reduction of play and a reduction in the amount hitting. Would certainly reduce risk and on that point I was just reading through the list of organizations that are funded this research and unnoticed one of those is the n.f.l. . Clearly they are investing some money into research from your perspective as someone specializing in this is it enough could they be doing more to invest in this kind of research so we certainly appreciate that they're investing in the research I think 9. The sport and. The league could always do more. In terms of investment in research and and acknowledgement of the relationship yes I suppose it's one thing to invest the money but equally as important if not more important you want to see them actually act on the research I did also notice that one of the other organizations funding this research is w w e that's clearly another industry where this is an issue yes I agree and there are funding of the research like the n.f.l. Is an acknowledgement that head injury is an issue so this study was just of American football players but our brain bank has folks with a variety of exposures to context sports including professional wrestling. Association football hockey and it's not a disease exclusive to American football we have found it in other contexts courts as well that start to Jessie Mez director of Boston University's out Simas Disease Center Clinical core really interesting but worrying stuff it's fascinating and you know we do cover quite a lot of stories about c.t.e. And about head trauma across most of the n.f.l. But not entirely not exclusively the n.f.l. But it is a story that is really affecting I think the future of football yet as we touched on in that interview there are other sports where this is a real concern professional wrestling in the u.s. It's a big worry there and also here back home football it's something that we know is an issue with heading the ball so this kind of research could actually have a great tangible impact on the way we play soccer you know it's going to be absolutely fascinating to see how that develops I mean we did in the mazing story Mitch you went around for Obviously when Joan was presenting with me all about this this group. This family got 3 sons who were quarterbacks in college football the high school football as well as with you and they believe it or not the middle saw him had. A century shot himself in the end because of the head trauma he'd suffered as a quote about the story was all around how the youngest son was now trying to become a quarterback knowing all this and this is the kind of thing that is affecting America and American society and American families when they're considering whether or not to let their children play football it's amazing story really distressing stories and it's I suppose important to separate the technical signs today and the impact this is having on people's lives Yes So we mentioned in that interview the Oakland Raiders linebacker Vontae his birth thinks he's been banned from the rest of the n.f.l. Season for an absolutely shocking lay here earlier this month. In Europe and 1st Jason Bell had to say about it on the B.B.C.'s brilliant n.f.l. Show he's a repeat offender and that is the problem with this they have fined him more money than I can count warn him more times than I can count and this is just egregious they have to say this is about player safety this is not what you do not to your n.f.l. Brother were out there to protect each other football is a physical game it's a context but we all get that we all understand that we all know the risks associated with playing football some of these things are necessary people are dying because of these hits people are literally dying because of these hits and the n.f.l. Is not taking a stand we're going to try to protect the players we're trying to legislate this stuff out of the game and you see these idiots and that's what they are idiots continue to do the same thing over and over again front as birth I don't even know how this is like a 67 times business happened he deserves to be out of football and they have told him over and over and over again this guy shorten people's lives by doing stupid things like this on top of that his short name is all right but. He's putting his head down and hitting people recklessly this is just ridiculous he doesn't to be playing football but you see on when you're a there speaking on the B.B.C.'s excellent n.f.l. Show do you recommend catching up on the b.b.c. I Player to watch that talking there about the Oakland Raiders linebacker ranters Buffett banned for the rest of the n.f.l. Season for late shocking challenges and strong words there James absolutely right in the next half hour we are going to be bringing you stories about high politics international relations and baseball gloves of course we'll next though on 5 life it's the news. From digital b.b.c. So it's just last week from Venus is b.b.c. Radio 5 Live from the headlines I'm Lisa McCormack hopes of reaching a Bracks a day appear to have been revived following a meeting between Boris Johnson and his Irish Condor partly over Iraq are the 2 leaders agree they could see a pathway to a possible agreement Donald Trump says he hopes he can mediate a deal between Turkey and Kurdish forces in northern Syria the president's been accused of giving Turkey the green light to launch an assault after withdrawing u.s. Troops from the area a committee of M.P.'s says the government and the b.b.c. Should find a way to save the free t.v. License fee scheme for over 70 five's the media select committee has criticised the new system of only giving free licenses to those claiming pension credit and Saturday's qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix been cancelled because of Typhon hug a base instead it's going to be held on Sunday morning ahead of the race with the rest of the sport here Schaffner Northern Ireland's hopes of euro 2020 qualification have been dealt a blow as they went down to a late 31 defeat by the Netherlands in Rotterdam fans in green were given hope when they took the lead through substitute Josh McGuinness on 75 minutes but Memphis departed soon equalised and the Dutch added a couple more to seal their way there's a lot means Northern Ireland are now 3rd in the table and need to win their final 2 qualifiers and rely on other results well suited to qualifying is still alive after their want to draw with Slovakia the Welsh a 3rd in the table with a game in hand Scotland's hopes of progressing automatically all over. After they were thrust for Nil by Russia in Moscow that's still going to chance to the euro playoffs because they won their nations Lake Ray England to a top of their group can qualify tonight if they beat the Czech Republic will have commentary of the game here on 5 life and 22 year old American Simone bille says it means the well to win a record 5th the women's all round title at the world gymnastic championships in Stoke got. The Russian. 3 days she. Was. Just an incredible job guys sure you see as she is always trying to be next to Japanese grocery Grace conjuring for 6 a Sunday. Morning. This is b.b.c. Radio 5 Live available on the b.b.c. Sounds cool night mind and welcome back to the North American sports show on b.b.c. Radio 5 Live I'm James Wickham mix Mansfield is with me here as well and I am indeed now this is the North American sport Sharon it's not often on the show that we had to China but we have to tonight because the n.b.a. Is trying to raise what's being described as a crisis in the country now this all started last week the general manager of the Houston Rockets down Maury is his name he posted a tweet in support of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong it was a simple one it was an image captioned fight for freedom stand with Hong Kong now as you may probably understand there was a furious response in China where the n.b.a. And the rockets have been hugely popular and it's led to broadcasters promising to stop and airing games and sponsors pulling out of deals now Daryl Morey has since still. Pleated his tweet but that in itself then angered fans in the u.s. They say he shouldn't have to apologize for supporting freedom they're also calling on the league to defend him well this is what the n.b.a. Boss Adam Silver's had to say we are not apologizing for Daryl exercising his freedom of expression I regret again having communicated directly with many friends in China that so many people are upset including. Millions and millions of our fans what I said in that statement is to long have held values of the n.b.a. Are to support freedom of expression and certainly freedom of expression by members of the n.b.a. Community well that might have gone down well in America but it hasn't done them politically well in China as you'd imagine and we've been finding out why from James t. a Ready He's the Wall Street Journal's China correspondent in Shanghai n.b.a. Basketball is probably the strongest international franchise in China we're talking about 300000000 basketball players in China something like 500000000 people watching the n.b.a. Online last year last season this is an extremely popular franchise companies paying you know $1000000000.00 more than a $1000000000.00 to stream games and so we have a storm now brewing because General Manager of the Houston Rockets team sent a tweet that China found very objectionable it seemed to question China's sovereignty over Hong Kong by encouraging protesters that have been going on for weeks for months now on the streets there to you know to go on and fight for freedom this is a big no no from China's perspective and then the lead the team and the and the the general manager of the rockets who you know sent that tweet have all 'd tried to downplay the importance to try to backtrack to try to say that they recognize that this is a regrettable situation it that they're up there sorry that that fans are upset but they have not apologized and and have said and the n.b.a. Has said it's not its job to apologize for for free speach. This has resulted in cancellation of any number of outlets for the n.b.a. In China it started with. Cancellation of broadcast of some Houston Rockets games has been moved on to some games that have nothing at all to do with using rockets and c.c. T.v. China Central Television the state broadcaster now think that other. Games will be you know they're under consideration the whole programming system this is under consideration and ironically this is all happening as a pre-season game is set to be played on Thursday night in Shanghai and no one really knows what they're it'll go through we've seen you know lots of sponsors more than 2 dozen sponsors of the n.b.a. In China back away from the league in recent days and especially the Houston Rockets. And it's just that it's just a very unusual situation for such an incredibly popular international brand in China something that you know regular people really like really enjoy and government leaders in fact in China really enjoy but that this seems to have crossed some kind of red line and the N.B.A.'s attitude. Is just unlike what the Chinese government is used to when it comes to you know issues of sovereignty you know mistakes of of of the sovereignty that they've seen from companies in the past the n.b.a. Not not apologizing is really surprising to Chinese government this response James this very strong response that you describe for us is this coming from the Chinese government or at least the companies in broadcast is there associated with or has this tweet at. And the lack of or a lack of an apology upset m.b.a. Fans there in Shanghai it really has upset fans in China you hear people say things like I love the n.b.a. But more important I'm Chinese and. So this does actually cut at the heart of the way a lot of people think and that is probably something well you know maybe some people the brass and the n.b.c. In the n.b.a. Had understood but certainly the general manager of the team that used didn't didn't see this coming you say James that there hasn't been an apology he has since deleted the tweet and he has come out and given another statement he said I was merely voicing one thought based on one interpretation of one complicated event he goes on to say I've always appreciated the significant support our Chinese fans and sponsors have given to him and the team has that done anything to ease the tensions it hasn't really done a whole lot because again there wasn't any apology and there it was it was much more of a you know I recognize that maybe I should've picked my words a little more carefully or something but but there hasn't been an apology and that really ruffles a lot of feathers in China on the other hand the response in the u.s. Of course has been very different a lot of fans actually criticized the follow up to a and said hey you shouldn't have to be apologizing for supporting freedom so there is pressure now in the n.b.a. From us fans not to backtrack when we've had the n.b.a. Boss Adam Silver coming out and defending freedom of speech so it doesn't look as though immediately there is going to be an apology if there isn't one what could the consequences be well the immediate consequences could be this game that is scheduled for Shanghai Thursday evening and there's a follow up game. On Saturday all the l.a. Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets the Brooklyn Nets ironically is now. Now owned by one of the co-founders of Ali Baba the giant online commerce group a guy named Joe Tai is the owner of that club it would seem that the immediate thing would be that this game does not get play time seizing the this kind of sums up really the battle within the n.b.a. About how it wants to be perceived because you've said before you know if he wants to be a global brand but it's going to come up against problems isn't that trying to stump leashes sofas a global brand kind of having one image in the u.s. And and will want to meet else whether that's that's very difficult for an organization this is an extremely unusual situation I mean it is it's it's such a powerful brand in China it's very American it's widely recognized as as being an American export as an American brand in that seems to be the reason that the n.b.a. Is sticking to its guns and promoting the idea that freedom of speech is a core American value that's speaking to the domestic population states of course and the political population in the u.s. . But that doesn't play very well in a country like China where there really is you know they just don't have those same kind of values the value system is totally different so the n.b.a. You know is it a global brand is it an American brand is it you know some Chinese people say that these teams are almost like Chinese teams because we have Chinese players probably the most famous Chinese player worldwide is yelling you know Ming is a you know Shanghai born. Great basketball player and he spent his entire career playing for the Euston rockets the exact team that's right in the middle of this entire problem. Do you think then that when it comes to Chinese businessmen and you know the multi multi millionaire are they going to be thinking twice now about investing in foreign sporting franchises and so on I mean I'm thinking of you know the Premier League and things like the you know obviously there's been lost people looking at investments in a major sporting brands is this the kind of problem that you think is going to become a bigger issue over time you know it's the politicization of how so much that involves China that touches China. This is a country that is as it is it one party state a very very powerful government that you know there's just not a lot of opportunity for you know offering different types of. Thought I mean it's the government decides and there is one way of thinking about all sorts of all sorts of issues and that goes back up against. The different kind of value systems that are seen in in western countries where the you know the like the Premier League. And so I don't know if it's going to affect how the business people perceive the sports it may affect how the athletes perform I mean we one of the things that happened Wednesday in in Shanghai was that the media were supposed to be able to talk to the Bron James the l.a. Lakers the Brooklyn Nets that was all counsel and and there is this little doubt that it had something to do with the fact that the under a so assembled report Republican to be asking about this kind of thing so you know Rick. Athletes are used to shooting their mouth off about all sorts of things maybe domestic politics and things like China could be a minefield when it comes to these issues James you just touched on that is a cliche that so often brought out here in the u.k. In situations like this when people say sport and politics don't mix but we never Tbilisi time and time again they did and I suppose especially in a place like China where we're never again see situations like this but there will also be n.b.a. Fans that in China who want the game skinheads and who want to be able to watch their teams in get the game streamed online so there is also I suppose a little bit of leverage there held by the n.b.a. And they do have a sporting product that is attractive that's to people in China and it would be a shame for fans to be denied access to an absolute shame we have explored this in The Wall Street Journal with a story that you know house the question does the n.b.a. Need China more or does China need the n.b.a. This is an enormously popular brand this isn't you know this isn't a. A brand of clothing This isn't a jewelry brand this isn't a hotel or an airline that can be easily substituted I mean there's only one n.b.a. If you want to watch basketball you want to watch the n.b.a. Has it China Basketball Association rugs you know a great team I you know with lots of American players but it's not the n.b.a. And and but at the same time there aren't a lot of markets for the n.b.a. To expand into internationally that have the obviously the size of China the spending power and hey the enthusiasm so this is this is. This is unusual for. Match of champions here and we you know we're whose listeners this is quite a collage most James t. I ready the Wall Street Journal's China correspondent in Shanghai and it's not often is it James that we speak to people with titles like China correspondent on the show but this is one of those stories where sport overlaps with politics and I think almost certainly we're going to be talking about it maybe next week maybe the week after it's going to be a long running thing should we get back to the sport let's. Listen. In the dark and. The man and. Now Mick I have a baseball mitt I know you have lots of baseball plenty now I don't use mine often I've got a kind of hangs around the the lounge and every so often I kind of you know pick it up and use it and kind of throw a ball into him pretend I'm on a field and it's nice and sunny and there's only a cat the middle of the night and that kind of thing problem is when you pick it up it's incredibly tough it's really stiff and actually trying to get your fingers in is really hard it's really difficult and I've just I've always wondered is this what it's like for professional baseball players do they have to cope with this thing that's actually not that easy to use so this makes me feel so Mr James just thinking back to growing up playing baseball when I was a youngster my dad but I'm a brand new glove and you put your hand into and you think well that's not going to let me do anything no it's just not buying goods anyway we thought we'd find out a bit more about it because there's a wonderful article which was published in The New York Times actually by Kevin Armstrong and he's written a piece it's all there about the science or the art if you like of breaking in a mate yet started really the very beginning of spring training with the New York Mets I was walking around the clubhouse one day and just noticed you know there weren't many all. Gloves anymore they're worn these worn you know gloves that look like they'd really taken a beating as guys made their way up from the minors and into the majors but they weren't staying loyal to the old leather anymore and I was just kind of struck so I asked a bunch of guys you know just what is the shelf life of a glove these days and then I got into you know well how do you break it and nowadays when I was growing up it was traditionally you get a ball you put it in the pocket and you take a piece of twine or rope been you know that was essentially what you did to kind of form the pocket and then it was matter of playing catch after that we're running some oil at some point and it's just really struck me these guys are millionaires you know making all kinds of money you know playing this game and they really use a lot of the same methods that they used when they were 1st in little league you know literally when they're 4 or 5 years old and. You know so everybody seemed to have their own thing though and as one player put it in the article there's 25 glass 25 guys 25 gloves and 25 ways to break them and so is every glove different than I know one set broken in the broken inseparably but do they all feel different when you 1st get them. They do you know some are a little softer than others the infielders if you talk to them they wanted a little harder they want the ball to kind of come in and ricochet off the glove into their hands when they're releasing it so that they can make a really quick catch and throw whereas the outfielders want to a little more give to the glove a little more flop is how they describe it so there is you know kind of even amongst positions a difference in terms of what guys are looking for in terms of the decree that they're broken it and when you talk about how you break them aid and you mentioned the classic way we chase Boland 20 can you go into that what what actually is that what he'd say yeah you you get a new glove and typically it's pretty stiff and you need to just break it in in the sense of making it so it's a little malleable so it forms to your hand 1st of all and then you want the webbing and the fingers to be a little softer than what it comes in as and that's where. You start rubbing a little oil and then you take a ball and you literally just put it in the wedding you tie it up and then you either have it you know put under a mattress or something else that your furniture or that's really going to pancake the glove and this is where this is the point where I heard a variety of things you know some guys use shaving cream because they have natural skin softeners in the cream and others have you know literally put them into buckets of water just so they can the water can filter into the leather and soften it and what not and you know one player Pete Alonzo who's going to win the National League Rookie of the year for the Mets this year he literally says you know his dad lathered up with shaving cream and put it in the oven one time and wow forgot about it and cooked it and cooked it over well it's like wow that is broken I mean it is leather of course so I suppose it would not make too bad a smell which is a which is a good thing at least and so when you're when you're actually using them and he said you know there's differences between what they the infielders and the outfield us have to they last a different amount of time for each player. They do and some of it is you know some guys literally have a rotation of you know they'll use one glove for one year and throughout that year they'll have a secondary glove that they're breaking in all the while. And some guys will go you know a full career there are still guys who go you know 1012 years same glove they're the extreme rarity they're the exception at this point but most guys in the majors are on a one to 2 year cycle and have a number of other clubs actually like in the system where they're using for practice not in the games and all with the goal of getting that club ready for game action as well so is there a specialist person employed by each club as well to basically look after players gloats there is every every player is in charge of their own glove you know the teams do not provide them even though you know they're they're playing at a professional level they do have to buy their own gloves there is probably at least one person who's kind of a known go to gloveman in the operation but no team actually has just like the one person that's you know Fishley titled You know glove or learn the gloveman right Henry Yeah absolutely Well it's interesting because I would have thought that you know obviously American sports are as commercial as as and you know this well in some ways more do any of these players have you know a glove contracts or they all standardized across the league they have to have a certain type of glove. They do a number of them do have contracts Wilson Rawlings Nike all of them are represented there's actually a day it's called glove day during spring training and this is when the companies kind of set up shop on a table outside the clubhouse and you know players can literally just come up and you know put their hands in them figure out you know is this something I want to use most of them have a good number of them have deals you know where the glove company oh provide them 2 or 3 per year and you know there are players like a day Nihad who I've mentioned in the story he's from Cuba and you know came up in the communist system he wasn't even allowed to bring his clubs home at night they were redistributed every day and he looks around and you know there's a met with 8 clubs in his clubhouse locker and had your various Just Left to himself you know Cuba too would be a lot you know 8 is just insane he says in terms of the supply of I mean I have a I have a Wilson baseball glove as he said of the baseball gloves are available but I mean he's quite hardened Steffen so I'll have to work on a lot of you I'm assuming you've got one as well as you well use do you use it a lot. I do I wouldn't say you know I use it as much as I used to but I still have the myth that I use you know when I was coming up playing in Little League in high school and whatnot so you know one of those things that I think that readers and your listeners can relate to in the sense that everybody has gone through this process at some point whether you broke it in your father broke it in you know a family member or coach everybody seen and can relate to the major league or struggle you know they're just like us in terms of just trying to get the right feel in the right mold of. Kevin Armstrong they has written a brilliant piece in The New York Times all about the science of breaking in and that you know I'm going to take a few of those tips home with me in a safe I'm going to. Do the one about puttin in the open and baking it for too long that was did not sound like a good idea in say the least that's it for this week thank you very much for listening and we're going to be back no you're not going to be back next week but I am going to be back next week and write more of the it's not going to be but I know what's in store Yeah you may get an excellent So if you want to go into this at any point you can do so. At b.b.c. Dr u.k. If you can put in the subject title and we'll pick it up any questions you've got about North American sports we will be all too happy to answer because we probably won't be hands. On so we'll talk about it. Put N.A.S.A.'s in the top. Man field with a look at this week's Sports in the States James describing his baseball glove there was a quite hard and stiff No one needs to hear that 2 minutes to 3 in the morning did I not have a 4 for millions of people are being disrupted in California because the power has been cut off and all try to prevent wildfires lots of anger about that one across to Japan where Saturday's action at Suzuka is off because of the risk from Harakah Maggie and the school students who are taking selfies with the former communist leader. He describes the fall of the Berlin Wall as the worst day of his life. The new. Premier League for anyone and this season Radio 5 Live it's 3 o'clock on 5 Live I'm Richard Foster this is a pool not the main news on 5 Live a search related directly to deal between the u.k. And the e.u. And installed a harsh defeat in Northern Ireland the Knights of crucial Euro qualifying. This is b.b.c. 5 Live. With the b.b.c. News on 5 Live his time mostly the correct 6 secretaries Stephen Barclay will meet that he used chief negotiator Michel Barnier later it's after Boris Johnson and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar said they can see a pathway to a possible deal following talks yesterday Dominic Grieve who lost the conservative whip last month has given the news a cautious welcome I have no reason not to welcome it but we've got to see what comes out of it so what the prime minister can bring back to West. For our consideration. Donald Trump suggested he could mediate a deal between Turkey and Kurdish forces in northern Syria tens of thousands of people have fled their homes with Turkey stepping up its assault on border areas as part of efforts to create a so-called safe zone here is the Us president you have the choice of bringing in the military and defeating everybody again or you have the choice of Fed actually doing some very strong things to Turkey so that they take it a little bit easy on really competition that is I don't think it's big fairly treated in many ways Ok we have a very good relationship with Kurds or we can mediate I hope we can mediate police are investigating the fatal stabbing of a 15 year old boy in East London the teenager died at the scene outside Stratford shopping center yesterday afternoon no arrests have been made a survey suggests many women in the u.k. Are experiencing avoidable delays in being diagnosed with the return and spread of breast cancer the charity Breast Cancer now says one in 4 had to visit their g.p. 3 or 43 or more times with symptoms before it was detected more than 2000 women were questioned my Rosenblatt is from the charity run people with a surprise party who so often perhaps the fact that somebody helped her with breast cancer isn't so awful when somebody goes with a relatively common symptom for number of conditions to the 2 pain which is why we are calling for a g.p. Red flag simple to. A 14th man has been charged by police investigating what's thought to be the U.K.'s biggest ever drug smuggling gang the 29 year old from St Helens is due before Magistrate later another man's being questioned after handing himself into police yesterday and more than fail more than a 1000 people have been arrested since climate change protests started in London on Monday yesterday activist focused on London City Airport with woman climbing on top of a plane police have described his actions as reckless and dangerous and qualifying for the Japanese grown prairie has been moved to Sunday morning is because a typhoon is due to hit this is it on Saturday afternoon where with the rest of the sport his Northern Ireland's hopes of euro 2020 qualification have been dealt a blow as they went down to a late 31 defeat by the Netherlands in Rotterdam fans in green were given hope when they took the lead through substitute Josh McGuinness on 75 minutes but Memphis deploys soon equalised and the Dutch added a couple more to seal their way and there's a lot means Northern Ireland are now 3rd in the table and need to win their final 2 qualifiers and rely on other results well suited to qualifying is still alive after their want to draw with Slovakia the Welsh a 3rd in the table with a game in hand Scotland's hopes of progressing automatically are over after they were thrashed 4 Know by Russia in Moscow they've still got a chance through the Euro playoffs because they won their nations league England to a top of their group can qualify tonight if they beat the Czech Republic will have commentary of the game here on 5 Live and 22 year old American Simone bille says it means the world to win a record 5th the women's all round title at the world gymnastics championships in Stuttgart this is b.b.c. Radio 5 Live on digital b.b.c. Sounds smart speaker fellowmen.
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