tv Charlie Rose Bloomberg August 12, 2014 8:00pm-9:01pm EDT
8:01 pm
8:02 pm
on thursday. it was in response to a potential genocide for strikes to achieve their initial goal of liberating 20,000 refugees who are trapped. the iraqi president named a replacement for the prime minister. he's the deputy speaker of the parliament. to step downd accusing the president of acting unconstitutionally. obama addressed the situation earlier today and here is what he said. >> of this new leadership has to regain the confidence by governing inclusively and taking steps to demonstrate its resolve. united states stands ready to support a government that addresses the needs and grievances of all iraqi people . we are ready to work with other countries in the region to deal with the humanitarian crisis and challenges in iraq. mobilizing that support will be easier once the government is in place. >> is joining me is jeffrey
8:03 pm
goldberg, the authoring, must of bloomberg news. and peter baker, white house correspondent for the you new york times. the head of new york news programming. let me begin with peter. we want to talk about what is going on in iraq. we have a change in government. tell me how you think in this moment the obama administration sees iraqi and its decision to go ahead on humanitarian reasons and to prevent a genocide? is the ghost that will never quite leave this president. he wanted to get out and get the country out at the end of 2011. he finds himself drawn in. own say it is mostly his fault for not leaving troops in 2011.
8:04 pm
he says this was not anticipated and the iraqis do not want the troops anyway. you finds himself once again with airstrikes and humanitarian errors drops -- airdrops. was originally to protect american to are stuck in the consulate and to prevent a humanitarian disaster. we willis saying coordinate were strongly with his new team to route and bring il, the islamic rotter coles who are threatening to take over -- radicals who are threatening to take over. some people think they need to slip a little further. >> seth, talk about the risk in this and also the urgency of it and the necessity of it. >> i think when you take a step back and look at the role of the , theyc state of iraq. overcame control of territory in
8:05 pm
parts of syria. they have expanded their control in multiple parts of iraq and threatened kurdish areas. i think there was no question at this point that there needed to be u.s. participation to prevent them.ore expansion by i think this is serious. i think the risk the president is facing is that he is now entered -- has entered the war in iraq on narrow humanitarian grounds. generally in support of kurdish forces, particularly forces that . isis is much bigger than kurdish areas so on the one hand, he is going to get a lot of pressure to expand into other parts of the country where isis is entrenched and on the other hand, there are still a lot of uncertainty about the future of political situations, particularly with maliki. >> what about maliki in baghada?
8:06 pm
>> it is unclear at this point whether he accept that outcome. there are some concerns and that he has reached out to some of the security forces within iraq. he may be bluffing in a sense to see how solid support is moving forward. there is a risk that we have several power centers. there is a growing concern across multiple organizations about a coup. >> vice got to see isis. tell me what you discovered and how you got there. >> vice has been covering syria for the last year. we have been inside for several times. we have been able to contact them and bring stories out. we have met jihadis before.
8:07 pm
this time, we raced out to isis several months ago to try to understand what is going on and whether we can get inside. when we did that, very much a smaller organization. that changed. theye time we got there, just got -- they establish the caliphate, the got bigger and grew bolder. >> how did they do that? >> they did that by, i think, the sunni population in iraq did not necessarily support all their methods, but because of what they were repressed by the allowedernment, the space. when they came back inside, they acquired money and weapons. >> what did americans know about isis? morphing intohis something much larger and more dangerous?
8:08 pm
>> my understanding is that american intelligence officials were keeping pretty close track of the numbers of attacks. that had roughly quadrupled between 2011 which is the last year u.s. forces were in iraq. and roughly quadrupled again by 2013. violence levels were increasing. there was concerned that american analysts had with the quality of iraq's security forces as well as grievances by the sunni community. therely summer 2014, was growing concern among u.s. analysts about the growing level of violence by isis. the weakness of the maliki government and some fractures within the security forces community. by june, we really started to see isis move. there should've been little surprise that isis was trying to
8:09 pm
increase its control of territory. potentially, some dispute over the timing of when they would make that move, particularly to mosul. the should not have taken anybody's by surprise. >> last year, the outgoing end was warning that they were keen to expand territory. none of this was a secret to the white house. they route of the iraqi army much faster than we expected. find a much more capable force which didn't turn out to be the case. we have continually unassertive -- underestimated the strength of our allies. >> what is interesting about that is that if isis were headquartered in pakistan or afghanistan or yemen, it would've been the subject of drone attacks for the last year or two. but because its center is in
8:10 pm
syria, the obama administration has a hands-off policy in syria. they have been allowed to operate unmolested and that has had obvious consequences. >> that brings me to your hillary clinton interview. was she ready to talk about this? she knew she had to be more specific about policy. she understood that. give me a sense of the context of this and why she chose to make this link to syria and a decision made by the president as well as the really provocative statement about having an operative policy or in organizing principle. peter,ably like you and i assume hillary clinton does not say things by mistake. if you read the whole interview, i posted it on the atlantic website, the entire interview. there is nuance and complexity and on the one hand, obama said
8:11 pm
this and on the other hand -- there is a lot of complexity in it. but, i think she feels and certainly i know people around her feel that the last couple of weeks, the things that have happened in iraq and syria and lebanon, had vindicated the view that the united states should have tried much harder three years ago to build up a moderate opposition in syria that was potent, to shape the nature of the opposition. she said very specifically and very straightforwardly that the failure to be involved at an early-stage and building that kind of opposition created a vacuum. into that vacuum came ices. sis. --t goes to a broader flopsy a broader philosophy. one of the more interesting things she said to me in the interview was that she started framing the struggle against
8:12 pm
terms.ism in cold war she refracted this current struggle through the prism of the cold war. that is something that i do not think president obama is happy to do. he does not -- he talks about we had a struggle against an organization, al qaeda. we decapitated the leadership of al qaeda. he does not frame it in cold war terms and she is doing something here that is very interesting. she is saying this is big. this is hard. this is ideological and it will require us not to make believe the things that are happening in iraq and syria are not happening. >> i think that is exactly right. that is not the way president obama frame this. wanted terrorism to be a challenge but not the wayular challenge in the secretary clinton indicated. he has said the tide of war is
8:13 pm
receding. we need to think about the ultimate end of this war on terror someday. she doesn't seem to see it that way. she seemed to see it more of a long-term existential threat closer to, and some ways, the way the previous presidents administration. i am sure both sides would not like to talk about that comparison. >> triangulating, to borrow a phrase from a previous residency. she is not bush or obama. really is it that isis wants and how far do they want to expand and what they want to do with the state? >> we found it in the film of that they are ideology klee and religiously driven. it is chilling the brutal way they go about establishing a growing and expanding state. it pushes outwards to other countries. they want to keep expanding and
8:14 pm
sending their message. the people we came across, we interviewed were very clear. you are with us or you are dead. they are really straightforward about it. >> does that come from islam? >> absolutely. in one of the episodes, we go through the court system. we see the brutality and crucifixions. they are very clear that this is how life should be led and this is how people who will live on to them will live this way. we see their religious beliefs walking around enforcing this. this is an extraordinary thing that is happening. what is also an issue is that it is attracting people, it is drawing people in. is drawing in foreign fighters, europeans, americans to join this jihad who share these ideological goals. >> how do you stop them? >> i think the most significant way to stop them at this point
8:15 pm
things. tow thingwot address the grievances in iraq the many sunnis have. we talk about iraq is that isis movement. there are many sunni groups that are opposed to the maliki government and have come together was i -- with isis on the battlefield like the islamic army of iraq, like the 1920 revolutionary brigade which are not committed to an islamic emirate. there are some tribes that supported ices for the moment -- isis for the moment. one issue is the put together in a rack moment -- government that is more protective of sunnis. the other is to break away some of the sunni support base for isis because many of these groups and individuals, including tribes, do not support a long-term, the long-term vision of isis the way we have
8:16 pm
heard described. that is not their vision. and 2008, what06 we call the awakening against al qaeda in iraq and other provinces, to insurer, to promote, to support a groundswell of opposition. this is much different than back then. they are better equipped, they have more money and they're going to be harder to dislodge from some of these places that they have now overrun. >> peter, do you think the president is counting on other countries to help them? >> i think he would like that. history has shown there is a lot of evidence of that. he knows that the united states is uniquely responsible and capable of doing things that we wish our allies and wish our regional partners would do. continuallyem to operate sometimes at odds with us.
8:17 pm
he is on the phone a lot these days with european leaders and trying to rally the traditional allies, but it is an american-iraqi situation with some help from the turks. >> my impression is that the saudi's have basically said to those sunni groups and sunni tribes as they did in the awakening, split off from al qaeda then but split off from now, they are actively asking them to do that. >> the role of several of the gulf states -- it has been clandestine or covert. that is the case for some of the governments in the region -- their support. that is where we think we are seeing some support for u.s. policy which is largely covert which is reaching out to some of the sunni opposition groups. i think that is where they can be most helpful. that is where i say the u.s.
8:18 pm
world can be most helpful is supporting some of the airstrikes with clandestine special operations and intelligence forces on the ground. i think it would be a mistake for the u.s. to start engaging this with a larger number of forces on the ground. they do not fear the bombing from the air. you think they can take it. they may want to because it attracts more attention to them? >> i think so. they are very sophisticated. they think this will help their cause. they are extraordinarily sure of what they are doing. what we found was this certainty, this ideological certainty of their mission. we heard earlier via rack army disappeared -- the iraq army disappeared. it is because of these guys
8:19 pm
will die for this. >> they have more equipment and more money than they ever had before. >> that makes them even more frightening and scary. i think they welcome the attention, this fight. >> this is not a good time for the president. he realizes something has to be done because it approaches genocidal nature yet at the same time he is reluctant to being dragged into this. he knows this will not be over in a day. >> this is going to be a long-term struggle, trying to prepare the country to an idea of this is not just a one-off humanitarian airdrop and get the country comfortable with that idea while still reassuring the public that he doesn't plan on having a repeat of 2003. he doesn't plan to put ground troops in there. to try to define what his goals are. the definition of the goals have been somewhat elastic. it did start off as humanitarian and now with this new government emerging, it sounds more
8:20 pm
ambitious or potentially ambitious in terms of rolling back the gains ices have made -- isis has made. that weed it originally are going in to protect american diplomats and personnel on the ground. we have a lot of americans in different places around the country. most specifically in baghdad. becomes the definition for fairly expensive field of battle if you are going to drop bombs. the question is how far is he willing to go. how much is he willing to invest and we don't know that. >> how much division within the at the staten department over the options the president had or should exercise? >> it has been relatively -- they tell us, relatively insensitive. to people in the administration wanted to do this earlier and thought they did this too late. they say they should've gone an
8:21 pm
earlier. they captured mosul in june. this is not a new thing here. for the moment, you don't have as many voices on the other side saying do not do it. there was a belief there is not much choice inside the administration even if some other friends in the democratic party believe they should not. >> thank you, jeffrey, peter, seth. back in a moment. stay with us. ♪
8:23 pm
>> keith olbermann is here. he became a household name in the 1990's as anchor on espn sportscenter. he jumped up politics for eight years and he hosted countdown, the popular new show on nbc. he had an outspoken opinion in journalism. august 2013, he returned to espn where he hosts a nightly show. i'm very pleased to have him here for the first time. >> it is good to be here, finally. >> it is about time. i say this to you -- charles at cbs use to say when somebody walks down the hall and they know how to write, you stop and salute.
8:24 pm
i don't know of anybody in sports journalism who write as well as you do. i really mean that. it is a gift to be able to do that, to express yourself so well. gwynn.tter than tony >> unfortunately, i have a lot to work with under those circumstances. the life of tony gwynn. me, preparing something like the obituary of tony gwynn, get out of the way of the story. that one tells itself. sometimes you have to apply yourself and really write it and think about it. if you tell him what you know about something. personalrly, if it is and not full of statistics and anything but an attempt to convey to the human being was, it will resonate with people. i am always flattered when someone mentions it. whatever people felt
8:25 pm
about that piece, i attribute it to tony gwynn, not my work. >> because you felt that way about that man? that man deserves the best thought you could possibly have? >> absolutely. there are very few people who are your friendly love in any field. who didn't like him? i am sure there were pitchers that held grudges but i never met anybody who disliked him. you know in that environment wear your heart on your sleeve when it happens, when a particular man is taken of that quality and that level of appreciation people have for him at that young age, just tell what you know and tell what you feel and you cannot possibly offend anybody. they want to know that. people have affection for so few public figures anymore.
8:26 pm
public figures are there basically as easily hit targets. that is not the way people felt about tony gwynn and some other figures of his time and others. >> was at the combination of talent and humility? and character. >> there are a lot of guys like that. they are stoic. all right, here we go again. another person a public note -- derek jeter is tremendously respected and liked and admired, but i do not think anybody would ever think you will win some sort of america's got talent competition. just because he doesn't choose to be that way. tony gwynn never lost for a yount the sense of that were doing him a favor by letting him play baseball, that you were doing him a favor
8:27 pm
knowing who he was, saying hello to him, interviewing him. felt honoredas, he that he was in a certain environment, he was in a position to be -- experienced the things he wanted to experience. the one story i told them the piece was of the 1998 world series at yankee stadium. i had known tony for about 10 years and one of the things he said as the san diego padres were coming to new york in these days of very limited interleague play. the padres never played at yankee stadium. he said he was delighted to be back at the world series. he said the real thrill was to hear the great yankee public address announcer say my name over the pa system. justice say something like this indicates that what he happened to be was a big fan of baseball who turned into one of the greatest hitters who happen to
8:28 pm
produce a .330 plus batting average. i knew bob sheppard and new tony gwynn and said they had to meet. eye range for that meeting and tony gwynn talked about names and pronunciations and how do you hold the microphone for half an hour. at the end of it, i got bob sheppard to record the of battingn -- now for san diego, number 19, tony gwynn. and put it on one of these little talking greeting card things along with the pictures and send it to him. the next time i saw him he said it was in his trophy case next to his trophies for the batting championships. that is who he was. this memento of being a major-league baseball player was as important to them as the memento of winning the batting
8:29 pm
championships. >> did you love sports at the beginning of baseball? >> it was instantaneous. if i could go back with a calendar, i would you the exact date it occurred. a kid named wolfgang levinsohn who i went to grammar school with. athis 10th birthday, i am his party and the party favors for the kids -- this is a german-american family from germany. the parents spoke with the accent and everything and they all had the 60's german look to them. wolf was there and the party favors were baseball cards. everybody's baseball card had in it a special insert that they put out that year. they had a small poster that was folded up inside. it was a picture of willie mays or mickey mantle. my packet not have one so i was offended soweto mealy took a dime and bought another pack. by the end of that week, after the second pack of a small cards, i was tagged that's
8:30 pm
bugging my parents are taking to the yankee stadium which they did. i was getting so annoyed at the end of the year that my baseball bobby a that's bought me a baseball encyclopedia. was.w who matt kilroy i remember it was my mother's uncle who did this and she said -- what the blank did you do that for? 1967 tore at this may christmas. 1967 by the spring of 1968, my parents refused to acknowledge me if i spoke about baseball on even-numbered day. the audit even system, my parents made it. i never stop talking about it. >> a lot of great political reporters come from sports. the great columnist for the new york times. there is something about describing sports that gives you
8:31 pm
the ability to describe political events. >> i think that is true. it is historically true as well. the name escapes me but there was a -- a daily baseball writer, not that he went into politics. he went into novel writing or short story writing. ground ineat training terms of determining cause-and-effect. a ballgame and, somebody lost and somebody wins. >> there is always a winner and a loser. able to saye at the end of about a loss, it was a moral victory. you cannot go in and claim you won the game. ownseason why everybody who goes in the politics and sports -- you don't cover politics, cube coverage without the late -- you cover it. the late -- you cover
8:32 pm
it doubtfully because there are claiming people that they won. >> you know better. >> and puts those brain cells and that order that says, ok, you are leading, you are leading, you won. refuses to accept anybody you are losing, you're losing, you didn't win. you are not correct on this. that is not what the other guy did. you become all of them. i will include myself. all of us who ever tried this becomes at some degree angry at the politicians who were try to get away with this stuff. in sports, we laugh them out of the locker room. is my original language. i was trying to explain this and that if you went to france and spoke beautifully in french and didn' you loved it and people liked it.
8:33 pm
here, youame back would suddenly go and remember -- i can do this three times as fast and english as i do it in french. the politics show was very rewarding. i do not repudiate any of it. the ease in which you could make your brush stroke confidently know you were knowing what you talk about and uc does event occur of thousand times before, it is your natural time. >> you went back to sports. most do not go back. >> i have done this several times. to trace the pattern -- it is interesting. i used to have these daydreams when i was a kid that were ridiculous. there were some television networks that showed nothing but news and there will be some television networks that showed nothing but sports. i would get to work for both of them which turned out to be literally my career path.
8:34 pm
i didn't have quite as eggs and zags planned but i went from -- in college, i went to news in sports and the first job i was offered was sports. i wound up staying in sports. i was offered a new job in 1984 and took it. their sports guy quick and said do sports instead and i said fine. the nbc thing occurred in 1997 to go whenas asked host the world series and be involved in the super bowl coverage. they said we will give you an hour on our new cable network msnbc. i don't member hearing that. we -- hosting the world series and sweeping the floors? i most worldly -- mostly world series. i am on ahing i know
8:35 pm
desperately bad attempt of a news magazine show and then the monica lewinsky story broke and we had 2 million viewers a night. going from three viewers to 2 million overnight and i had to do that all the time. i do news and politics for about a year and a half and then i went screaming saying to get out of here. i went to fox and it sports. after that, i went and its ports and then after that, i did sports again. not many people go back but not many people's career paths match mine. --you don't we people angry you'll just leave people angry. i am talking about the people that employee you. >> this is overblown. it is. i was thinking about this the other night. since 2001, these are my nbc,yers -- abc, cnn, tv,c, espn radio, current
8:36 pm
and now again espn television. six employers in the last 13 years, five of whom i reduce the work for -- i previously worked for. i am not saying i'm the world's easiest employee. nor what i want to. -- what i want to -- would i want to. why would they bring me back if i was that bad? we know they are television executives. they bang their heads against the wall periodically for the fun of it and why would they bring me back if it was that impossible? >> the way you express complaint makes them go a bit wacky. >> i would say these are things from the previous century. >> you a been a model citizen since 2000? >> my score of being a troublesome employee is a little bit -- maybe it is a c minus
8:37 pm
rather than a c. i am in the middle somewhere. >> you would encourage -- you would include current? >> yes. the story is best not told generally speaking. >> because nobody has clean hands? >> nobody has clean hands. i didn't do the vetting that i needed to do. they didn't do things they needed to do. >> before you made the deal? >> yeah. >> what you thought you would get and what they thought they would receive. >> that is a good summary. to prevent anything further bad from happening. the network does not exist anymore. growing -- some of this stuff. the great line about he doesn't does burn his bridges. a guy named mike who i spent
8:38 pm
half an hour having drinks with at the sports emmys, we took a selfie and tweeted ouit out. we put our hands out an abridged form and pointed at the bridge like we had rebuilt the bridge. my point about mentioning this is the stuff i did that caused him to make his memorable remark as a corporate pr officer, that his 1997. that is a long time ago. if i have not grown since 9027 -- >> what was it that made you the way you were? [laughter] >> you are going to charge me for that? >> what made you the way you were and how were you? you never believe everything you read. you know that every story has two sides. somebody as smart as you, learns from it, grows from it.
8:39 pm
>> eventually. you would hope so. >> when did you come to jesus? inl x i began to invest something -- >> i begin to invest in something called therapy when i was 38 years old. >> previous entry? >> i am 55 now so you can do the math on that. i looked at a work situation i was in and said i do not know why i am reacting to strongly to it. the past, again, i will go back to the first stint at espn and say the things i didn't like about how they were treating me or what we were doing or what i felt was limiting what we could accomplish -- i think they were all a look -- legitimate. my inability was to express it properly. does keep it in the house, that was all you had to do.
8:40 pm
i enter stood i had a problem keeping it in the house. something else happened at nbc. poll thing was so discouraging to me that i thought -- let me see if there is someone out there that can give me a fresh perspective. that begin the process. -- that began the process. i also got dogs. my mother was deathly allergic to dogs. we could not have one. have a dog until i was 53 years old. line that you are not a complete soul unto you have loved an animal is 100% correct. >> was of the fact his dog love you unconditionally? i wasn't always sure of that. those his dog love be
8:41 pm
unconditionally or is it because i have the food? the girlfriend was in there -- was not there. it could have been -- to boil it down, here is what it was. going for walks with the dog and deceived his dog excited by everything -- and to see this dog excited by everything. the joy of the puppy on the block. that metaphor for human life and walking a dog in the streets of new york city are endless --ause they will give you this dog loves everything, loves everybody, treats every incoming dog, person, and empty plastic worldke an adventure of travel proportions. you are sitting there complaining about -- well, you
8:42 pm
know, the lighting in the studio over andring somebody act like your dog does. hey, we have a great studio! [laughter] how would my dog respond? i am excited to be here. then, you back engineer with your own phobias were and what your own complaints were about life. what does the dog tell me about my past? quite seriously, the introduction finally of dog into my lifes -- it is two things i would recommend to everybody. get a shingles vaccination and get a dog. >> you are not including getting a shrink? work the first to do not -- the singles vaccination may not help you in terms of your own mental health. the dog does not do it -- you and the dog should go see a
8:43 pm
shrink. >> for all the analysis you brought to politics -- i remember the great line. donald rumsfeld is either a prophet or something forgotten. and the was he is not a prophet. >> it may have been quack. >> it was the way you wrote it. way thisss in any politicsagement with or do you have a way to express that through sports? >> one of the things we were insistent upon -- you asked why we had to have meetings about espn. apart from the history, how do you take someone that has been to an entire generation of now adults as a political commentator -- they don't know about sport centers in the 1990's. you when i would like to think
8:44 pm
they are sitting at home with her nor pat with our resumes and fun of them -- oh, yes, charlie. this was his time in washington. your some of the highlights of keith's career and radio. they do not know. we have no right to expect them to know this. one of the things that we sat down and said -- i was very concerned -- is it going to be a turnoff that the people view me solely as a political commentator? iti don't want to watch because i love his politics and he is not doing all it takes -- politics. we had to straighten that out. whengave me latitude -- politics touches sports, go right ahead. i said i will use that one had every 10 times it occurs -- one out of every 10 times it occurs. that to me is a political topic i tried to use and touch carefully and as infrequently as
8:45 pm
possible. if the store does not rise to a certain height of importance, we will not put it in the show simply so there is separation of church and state to some degree. they may be next door to one another on occasion but that is the sports show and i want people to know it is a sports show. >> what is it about you that is served you so well? >> it is the fact i have never ever been afraid to say what i think. i might be wrong, but i do not care about the consequences. i also -- i am interested to know the viewers reaction but i am not doing the show for the viewer. i am not doing the show for a political party. i am not doing it in behalf of a baseball team. i am doing it because i am trying to achieve the best show i can. >> who were you doing it for? >> ultimately, me. if i was not satisfied, it was not a good show. if i feel like i was trying to
8:46 pm
convey when trying to convey, it was a success. if people throw stones at me walking out words or weep with -- asth what i said much as i appreciate the reaction, i do not factor their reaction into what it is i am going to do. this is contrary to all the advice i have been given. if there is an audience for it, they will find you. if the risen, go sell tires. isan pinpoint again -- it like a childhood thing with baseball. there is a moment in which this dawned on me like this guys breaking and at posted coming down and saying do not do it this way. same scenario. i was in college. i was ripping off the stories and separating them and broke with the topic was. i put them in piles and try to figure out which order to read the press international copy. nothing was written.
8:47 pm
i didn't write anything myself other than my name. the end was thank you for listening. that was all i wrote. i had my 11:00 five minutes forecast -- a sportscast. it was a very slow night. the top 40 station had a 10:30 p.m. sportscast. the guy on there had a list and had a upi machine and had a list. i didn't have one. that same night -- i don't know what the top story was. i am holding the copy in my hand and i hear on this little scratchy am radio -- he reads his second story which is the same as mine. is third is the same as my third. it wast the fifth that identical, i realized we had both been able to figure out what the lead story was and how the stories ranked of importance.
8:48 pm
this was not some sort of divinely gifted skill that i have been given. at the end of it, i was shaking as i realized the only thing i had going for me was a clear speaking voice at that point. i had down well better put something of myself and to the shows or i would never get his job let alone the jobs i wanted to get. the inclination to want to express yourself in some creative form became a channel to broadcasting. >> howard stern did the same thing, did he not? did and he expressed himself? collegee and i met in -- >> he and i met in college. i was in high school. i went in to talk to them about their radio program and i got the tour. i went into the radio station and there was an skinny kid with long curly hair. sunglasses on.
8:49 pm
do not come here, kid, the graduate students control the radio station. it was him. >> are you good in any sports? i have not been any good at sports and some realized -- since i realized a baseball hitting me here in the blood trickling down my face indicated. owling. decent b i was a power hitter in baseball but i struck out a lot. i coulde starting now, bat cleanup for any team in the major leagues. eight years old now, i could go on that path. in 1967, if you struck out many times in the season, they would not send you to newark. they would send you somewhere far away. i have no skill, no hand eye coordination. >> is baseball in good shape?
8:50 pm
>> i don't think so. i worry for it. there was a recent espn poll that indicated -- it was somewhat skewed because what was indicating is that kids like video games and soccer video games are more interesting than baseball video games. 50% described themselves as avid baseball fans and 50% describe themselves as avid major league soccer fans. it turned out those suppose it soccer fans were playing the videogame. they cannot name teams in the league. i don't know what baseball does to bring in more fans as time goes by. if you hear kids chanting and at a game today, it is a weekend afternoon and there is some kind of special promotion going on. it was kids day. to au go back and listen
8:51 pm
tape in the 1970's, you would hear a high-pitched chant. it was a kids game and that is why people stuck with it like a marriage. there is nothing like that for kids now because we -- it is wall-to-wall wallpaper. it is like the all-star game -- what is the point? that used to be a chance to see players who never faced each other or whenever on television nationally -- they are on every night. >> do you think football is the number one sport in america -- in trouble a bit because of concussions and increasing investigations into the level of violence? >> i would love to think so. as somebody who encountered this 1982 -- theing in football strike. one of the things that made it so angry on the part of the players -- a running back
8:52 pm
for the new york giants just retired because of bad knees and turned out he had a brain tumor. we would never know if it turned out to be concussion related. the guesswork would be it would be a heckuva coincidence if it was not. because he retired of knee problems, the nfl did not give him a dime towards his tumor. they had to hock the money to get the operation. this has been an issue for a long time even as medicine has finally caught up to what the issue is. i do not think it will be a killer factor. and may be in terms of participation by kids, but realistically, football fans, even football fans of a particular team find most of the players -- if a linebacker disappeared tomorrow and was replaced by a similar looking guy, how many fans in the stands would know?
8:53 pm
this is true in other ways and other sports but this is pertinent to head injuries because of these guys burn out at three or four years because they are hit in their heads on , they are not missed in a way that we would see about a baseball player who had been beabned. we had that in 1920 -- ray chapman. and lead to batting helmets and other protective efforts. i don't think the nfl or college football would be in particular trouble, especially if they continue to accelerate their willingness to address this in a way that they have recently. >> i leave you after this hour with this -- this is where we began. since the time we were young kids, have looked up at people who march with a certain grace, who encompassed
8:54 pm
in their mood, action, and performance a certain sense of excellence none better than tony gwynn. we close with what keith said about him in this remarkable piece. thank you for joining us. see you next time. >> when he hit that batting slump in the summer of 1998, he would hit higher in 1999 and 2000. when this happened, i did a piece on him about giving out reassurance. i want to adjust the end of the piece. when i saw a win in the dugout, he was holding a small metallic device in one hand so i asked him about the hamstring he aggravated. i pointed out the machine and asked, is that your electric stimulator? is that your stim? gwynn last hard. no, that is my mini cd player. will you relax? will and not give to have another reaction of them
8:55 pm
9:00 pm
>> this is "taking stock" for tuesday, august 12, 2014. many think that candy crush has seen its best times. king digital is the company behind this mobile game. we want to find out what its earnings mean about the future of mobile gaming. we will be joined by john borthwick, an early investor in companies such as buzz feed and groupon. we will hear from the chief executive of at home. all of that and more over the
79 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
Bloomberg TVUploaded by TV Archive on
![](http://athena.archive.org/0.gif?kind=track_js&track_js_case=control&cache_bust=88624288)