the people need in that little land on. the british foreign secretary of his is russia of meddling in the u.k. general election but westminster apparently still can't pin the blame on moscow the kremlin strongly denies the allegations. it demi study in germany says vulnerable children were fostered by sex abusers for decades and that the authorities probably knew about. the protester attacks police in new york during a march against gun crime several officers are injured including a police chief but earlier in fallen territory with black lives matter. those are headlines from one of the stories you can head to our t.

a dot com you're watching a cantor national but i have with us. the collision of politics and sports in america with the legendary sportscaster bob costas on this politicking. politicking on larry king on this edition the intersection of politics and american sports and the risks and rewards of playing during a pandemic will have an in-depth want to on one interview with the legendary sportscaster bob kos a man who knows his stuff and speaks his mind he's in the hall of fame use of emmy award winner he's also been the prime host of 11 olympics he joins us from california. bottom askin right into was do you ever remember a time in history when sporran sin politics has been so intertwined no not as pervasively of course muhammad ali was

a singular figure of global 'd influence and the 1960 s. as we both remember were of very very contentious period of time yet tommy smith and john carlos with the raise fissile that of the 1968 olympics in mexico city a lot of young athletes protested the war in vietnam some were part of the counterculture bill walton 'd an extremely likable man nonetheless had some countercultural ideas which many agreed with so that was a period of time when it was out there but i don't think numerically there were as many athletes who had a political bent a seem to have today and it's going to so many instances i know you were for it for a long time i wish to what do you make on washington finally dropping the redskins well as i said a week ago they're not doing it because they saw the life they're doing it because

they're feeling the heat daniel snyder the owner have been adamant i'll never change the name never and you could put it in capital letters but not all when fed ex with a player's name fed ex field fed ex says we don't want to be part of it if you consider you with that name nike pepsi others hundreds of millions of dollars involved there along with the social pressure that's been building since the death of george floyd the murder really of joe which way that's the reason they did it not because they actually change their point of view are we going to see a lot more teams doing it. i think he got to go on a case by case basis larry as i said on n.b.c. and a half time essay 7 years ago i am not a fan and still not of political correctness run amok or extreme identity politics we've got to be careful about that and cancel culture you've got to look at each thing on a case by case basis but at any time could have been 30 years ago if you thought

about the redskins for 5 minutes you could see how that was distinct from chiefs braves warriors i understand if some native americans and others might be upset with the symbols and rituals chiefs braves warriors whatever it might be but by definition those names are not insults they could if properly presented be not much different than cowboys or vikings or patriots but redskins every dictionary defines redskins everyone as a slur and insult derogatory pejorative and there are no such definitions connected to other names that we generally associate with native american sense and if you just think about it this way any other ethnic group any other ethnic group what's the equivalent redskins of applied to any other of the group and you can see how ridiculous it is that this name has lasted as long as it has. moving and there is the national football league shift on the. taking the knee going to see

a lot of it if they play this year. yeah i think you are and i think that a lot of players black and white many of whom agree with the idea but some may feel pressured into doing it because they don't want to be labeled as insensitive or worse yet racist somehow so we're into an area where there's no room for thoughtful disagreement there are people who could say look i am totally in sympathy with the issue the column capper nick 1st tried to bring to attention and now has has grown in terms of people's interest in that in the black lives matter movement that we are badly in need of the reform of policing and of criminal justice reform but some individual black or white might say the national anthem is not the place that i feel most comfortable making those points and most comfortable protesting but some of those people are going to get subsumed in the general tone there's not

going to be much room for disagreement anymore or even for shades of difference. cabinet has signed a big deal with his would disney for production films in the like you think we'll see him quarterback again i think it's in the league's best interest especially since they're now all in it seems in terms of reversing their position and apologizing with the national football league believe etc etc etc almost as if they've taken dictation. from the black lives matter movement i don't have a problem with that but since they have reversed field i think that some team has to give them a try out but as you and i know larry we've been following sports all a lives the shelf life of an athlete is short he's been out for 3 years it has rarely happened that someone has been away from top level competitive sports for that long out lead it but even he great as he was was

a different fire when he came back. still great but not as great and not in the same way so capper nick deserves a chance maybe some team like seattle he terrell their coach appears to be a progressive guy he deserves a chance for a legitimate tryout and if he doesn't make it those who support our critic have to be convinced that he didn't make it after being given a full complete and fair chance and if he does make it great padrino holmes 24 years old signs a 10 year contract over a 1000000000 over a half a $1000000000.00 well we could put it this way is anybody worth that or is jacking going she uses say if someone's willing to pay you your word to. that's right and if anybody's going to get it you think about it with patrick holmes he's 24 years old he's one of the most exciting players in the league he took his team to

a super bowl championship and once for even considering whatever impact and ripple effects that will be from cova 19 the one sport that seems to be bulletproof when it comes to their revenues and popularity's is that actual football league and each team you don't have as much difference if you do another sports market to market because the primary source of revenue is the gigantic national television contract which every team shares in equally so kansas city gets as much of that and so does green bay as teams in new york or chicago or los angeles so they have a certain kind of revenue security that makes this kind of investment. practical for them and i'm sure we'll have another contract i'm sure that there are outs for settlements should he sustain a career ending injury halfway through. were you surprised that nascar's decision to ban the confederate flag. knows potions i'm sorry i didn't dixie yeah

they know it's going to alienate part of their fan base larry but in this atmosphere i wasn't surprised and any fair minded person should have realized a long time ago that you just don't want to be associated with the confederate flag now let me make this point i know that there are lots of people we'd be naive to think that many of those who display the confederate flag or have no problem with it are at least subliminal racist or passive races but there are some people who would declare truthfully in their own minds i'm not a racist i want a society that is fair and just but the confederate flag to me means blah blah blah means my favorite college football team it means other aspects of of southern culture and but even if that's true that's what it means to you but think of what it indisputably means to not just african-americans but the people with the social

conference khant conscience rather it's associated with a traitorous movement with people who took up arms against their country and its associated with slavery forget about systemic racism for a moment or other aspects of racism what could be more direct it is the symbol for many of us of slavery and that consideration if you are a fair minded person even somebody who us but i'm intentions and doesn't and thinks of the confederate flag as that this is what i see when i go to nascar or when i go to my saturday afternoon football game if there are a decent person and i think for a moment the consideration on the one hand is so much more important than whatever you it is you think it represents to you that you got to stand down on it it has no place in our country except as a piece of history to be talked about an exam and what do you make of n.b.a. players putting signs on their uniforms like black black lives matter. i guess as a one off in this unusual unique situation when they're in the bubble and

a huge percentage of the players in the league are african-american and many of them have expressed interest in being involved in a social justice movement i guess it's a one off it's ok but just think about the logical extension here at some point somebody is going to say hey i have different views and why can't i put whatever the view i can i put mag a 2020 there you and i might not like it but what's the justification for saying no other only certain forms of expression we agree with and others we want to allow i think that's a slippery slope for a league to find itself on if they want to do it for the 6 weeks or so it's going to take the facts out this season in the bubble ok but i don't think it makes much sense going forward more than this this this past moment shows how different times we live in bob who thought we'd been discussing these things 5 years ago. yeah and

you know when people when you heard it i've heard it stick to sports now i do not believe that politics or social issues should be so pervasive that they get in the way of people's enjoyment of the game during the game unless something comes up that you have to know during the game you should just talk about the game people want it as a diversion as a pleasure and obviously sports in compas is people across the spectrum of viewpoints and demographics and everything else but the idea that you can't talk about these issues when they intersect with sports on a pregame show a half time show which was always when i had last half time pre-game never during a game itself or in moments like this they're talking about it on c.n.n. and other places the idea that stick to sports makes any sense those people must never have heard of jack johnson jackie robinson or

a billy jean king or of arthur ashe or muhammad ali or tommy smith and john john carlos they have no knowledge of history and here's the part that's hypocritical larry what they really mean when they say that is stick to sports unless you're saying something i agree with because fox for example puts on sports figures all the time who have conservative views that align with theirs and entertainment figures what conservative view is that align with theirs and that's fine they have every right to do so but then don't turn around and tell the bron james to shut up and dribble come on be consistent we'll get into the pandemic right after these words right back with bob cautious. that's right we've entered the global depression still longer recession to get the recession. or depression this will last

a few years. immediately you think you don't need. and you don't need. music you don't need even. just you have just to get. by if someone takes the out of bed when you are a wall or. i think. she's a beacon charged because in the crisis. the spirit needs to be tracked. problem drugs don't dollars come from unscrupulous dealers but from pharmacies to in every state in the united states we seem very sharp increase in the number of people seeking treatment for addiction to prescription opioids it invaded america

under the banner of medicine persisted with the pain but instead of trying to wean him off though she just goes after dose after dose after dose and really became his drug dealer so who's to blame patients doctors manufacturers or the government. the bad old friend and a great broadcaster bob costas ok let's move to our favorite sport. baseball going to handle a 60 game season. i think the pandemic is the bigger question if was just a matter of playing 60 games even without them ends and with a few rules changes like universal d.h. and putting man on 2nd base and extra nice to get it over with more quickly i don't think that would be a problem i think fans would accept that they understand that the conditions 'd are

unique and it would be a sprint rather than a marathon almost every team would be in contention right until the end of the post-season would be interesting under those circumstances but the big question as it is for all sports and all of us is that the coronavirus doesn't care about any of this and we've learned that it's almost impossible to predict its progression it's arc so everybody just has their fingers crossed that even with the very best medical expertise and a comprehensive protocols baseball has some 100 pages of protocols that players and everybody involved has to adhere to these are a very very difficult needles that threat especially for sports 'd like baseball and the n.f.l. if and when they attempt to come back because they're not in a bubble as a fan how do you feel about no one in the stands. i accept it because of the circumstances as an ongoing thing even in a league like the n.f.l.

where the primary source of revenue is network television as an ongoing thing. you can't sustain that i watched the soccer game over the weekend and m.l.s. game where they piped in crowds out and i was agnostic about it i didn't know whether i'd like it not like it and it was ok it was ok now that they didn't seem to modulating it when things became more exciting but the score the game was one to nothing and the team that won scored in the at the 4 minute mark it's going to be a little trickier if you're talking about basketball where many baskets obviously are scored a baseball with a situation changes runaround based on the spectacular catch home run are they going to try to modulating it so that the crowd comes up another going to be skillful enough to understand well at this games at yankee stadium we turn it up if a yankee hits a home run but we don't turn up the same level of a red sox it's a home run and vice versa if it's that at fenway park that give you a little tricky but i'm ok with it i think it's interesting give it a try is it going to be hard to get used to seattle in the dodgers in the same

division yet technically they're not in the same division but they don't play each other because teams will only to play west against west central again central when they play in early games which makes tremendous sense because you don't you want to minimize the travel like a settler at that people will accept and understand almost anything short of running the bases backwards they'll accept almost anything under these circumstances if they're able to play do i.v. idea of a man on 2nd in extra innings i hate the idea when baseball returns to normal i think one of the worst ideas i've ever heard but under these circumstances part of the motivation is we don't want them to have to be there any longer than necessary we don't want a 19 inning game and we're here for 6 hours so that's part of the motivation and again i accept that under these circumstances but sometimes i think baseball in its effort to modernize shoots itself in the foot. there are certain things that the

sting wish baseball from other sports imagine if they had that rule 'd in place during the normal season and now you get to the world series it's the 7th game of the world series you want something that gimmicky top of the 10th inning man on 2nd base to start it and let's say the visiting team doesn't score bottom of the 10th 7 game of the world series you now know is the home team you're on the one run it is for 3 months i swear not you need one run to when men on 2nd nobody out beyond the 3rd sacrifice fly world series over this at the drama you want has got to go to time capsule i don't think so are you a little more concerned that coronavirus cases keep turning up n.b.a. baseball do you think as a chance we might have sports. again as i said we can't predict we're not medical experts although i know you well larry you've always follow the

news 'd closely as have i and one thing we've learned is there's no way to predict the course of these things even at the di meola just those steeped in the scholarship of this don't know for sure that's why it's the novel coronavirus we haven't seen something exactly like this before so we learn as we go is it possible that there could be not just several positive cases but he been an outbreak in a team or within a league that's possible and then that then has to shut down but we just have our fingers crossed that will be the case the kansas state university football coach said that football in college this year is going to be a bumpy bumpy road you agree. oh yeah i think that's the best case scenario just a bumpy road but think of it this way if there is not a normal camp

a situation at any university either they're not having classes or there are only virtual classes 'd there isn't no kids on campus or a greatly reduced campus life. games can't be attended by students then doesn't that kind of expose the idea that in many cases not all there's a lot of good that comes out of college sports and one thing we have to keep in mind is that the big time sports football and basketball pay for lacrosse and tennis and swimming and crew and all that so that's an upside but we know that in too many cases the idea that these are student athletes or some kind of proper balance between academics and athletics is a fraud what could expose that more starkly that if they said you know what we're just going to play anyway even though there's no real campus life and we don't have students on campus for the most part but we're going to play for the television money and keep this in mind these are not people who are compensated other than the scholarship which is important but they're not directly compensated they do not

have a union to protect them and football of all sports where there has to be close contact on every single play i think a bumpy ride is the nicest way to describe what might be. you think that agree with dart right howard that a lot of sports should be a distraction. that we're focused on is this presidential campaign and the pandemic sports is a nice side ideally sports is a distraction and a happy shared experience where the only downside is the team you're rooting for has lost but now all of this is coming together. yes it's a presidential election year the country is more divided than any time i can recall since when i was a teenager in the late 1960 s. the vietnam war raging and and other issues and we have the pandemic and sports is

trying to return and a lot of people say well when sports comes back in whatever form it will be one indication that we're headed back to normal maybe and i understand the impulse but if you're watching a baseball game and that the umpire is wearing not not just as usual mask but. a medical mask and they are the manager comes out to talk to the pitcher but that's the socially distance and he's wearing a mask and if more than 2 people handle a baseball has to be thrown out of play and if you have a shot of the dugout and people are sitting socially distance isn't that going to remind people of how abnormal the circumstances are i mean there's just no way for sports to not be intertwined in some way with what's going on in the country can argue it an umpire right right not allowed to argue not to get this place it's as if you know

a lot of protestants. as olympic broadcasts of some note there was no 2020 olympics are you confident we'll have one next year. not confident. i think the hope is that they'll be either a vaccine or some sort of extremely effective treatment available short of a vaccine that would allow sports to begin with let's say baseball in the spring of 2021 but that's just a hope not a certainty of all the sports events that we follow the olympics is the one actually with the greatest peril because you'd be bringing people together from close in the case of the summer olympics around 200 nations different circumstances different levels of of medical expertise and different social conditions have them all come together and intermingle in various ways both competitively and socially and then return to their respective nations if you want to test to up to that

said gauge what would happen under these circumstances that the olympics would be a good or bad test too for that and they're aware that it would have been ridiculous and catastrophic to hold them in tokyo this summer and they have to realise or be certain that the coast is pretty much clear before they can do it in 2021 what with the secrets maybe that's a bad word about broadcasting in the olympics was it was that a difficult chore. yeah it it's difficult in that it's not the same as broadcasting even the biggest sports events is not the same as the super bowl the world series the n.b.a. finals the stanley cup finals and i spoke with the wonderful jim mckay on many occasions and in effect he was my predecessor and the gold standard when it came to hosting the olympics and he said keep in mind many people who watch the olympics

avidly don't really follow sports that closely the rest of the time and the vast majority audience are not experts on track and field or gymnastics or swimming you've got to present it in as broad a way possible still taking into account those who are rio officio not all those of the sport you know want to insult their intelligence and their knowledge that has to be part of it but it's a broad picture that you're trying to present it's not just a sports event it's a travel log and all kinds of human interest stories from the 4 corners of the globe a globe can have corners that all all of that comes together and it's part of this the story that you're telling at an olympics and i'll tell you a little story larry and i'm sure the gym had the same experience although we never talk about it there have been many times over the years dozens of times when strangers will come up to me at an airport or restaurant or something and they'll

say what do you do when you're not doing the olympics and this is during the 4 decades i was at n.b.c. and i think mesereau i don't know the world series the super the n.b.a. finals the kentucky derby but those people were honestly asking that question because the only time they saw me was there in the olympics so that's a pretty good indication of how the olympics should be presented in the broadest way possible. who are closing out are you staying healthy. yeah yeah we're we're in a good situation. though the worst thing for me and i'm glad that this is the only thing i haven't seen my kids in months we're on different coasts right now and it makes sense for everybody to be as cautious as possible thank goodness for zoom and face time and skype and all the rest can you imagine what broadcasting would be it was even 10 years ago let alone back when we got started how out will we put anything on the air without this new technology and how we stay at least this close

as possible to those we love and care about without this new technology bob thanks for your time today we'll see a pretty soon larry always great to see take care bob cautious he's truly a great we thank him for joining us we thank you for joining us remember you can join the conversation on my facebook page tweet me at kings things and don't forget to use the politicking hash tag that's all for this edition of politicking. in the analysis so seems wrong. will just don't call. me i'll get to see how it does they come up to. and in detroit because of the trail. when something you find themselves worlds apart we

just of the common ground. is anyone safe in the air or wrong conservatives are the fuck form monetized and shadow but those with the easy ones now the mob is turning on its own long face demands conformity does not dissent is freedom of speech no me or the world. we are segregated. by social class. people also in the 1st place if you're born into a 4 family if you're born into a minority family if you're born into a family that only has a single parent that really constrains your life chances are people that i wish 15 years old if you're born into generational poverty. it's

a tough fight every day so you meet your needs and the needs of your family. greetings and sell you tell you shims all right while millions and millions of people living in the united states will wake up on july the 1st with no idea how to pay their rent or earn an income in the wake of both the us congress and the trumpet ministrations abject failure to protect and support us during the cold 19 pandemic that my friends will not be the biggest news story of the week or the day no it will not no no no that slot is reserved for yet another helping of rush or date or a.