SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And now it's time for sports.
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SIMON: And so much sports - Wimbledon, Olympics, the Baseball All-Star Game, Euro Cup, Copa Cup, NBA finals, maybe one last chance for me to shout fear the deer. Howard Bryant of Meadowlark Media joins us. Howard, thanks so much for being with us.
HOWARD BRYANT, BYLINE: How are you, Scott?
SIMON: I'm fine, thanks. And Wimbledon women's final just over, and some history made, right? Ashleigh Barty.
BRYANT: And some history made. Good day to be Ashleigh Barty, who wins the championship for the first time in her career, second major overall. She won the French earlier. First Australian woman to win Wimbledon since Evonne Goolagong in 1980. Just a fascinating match as well. She won the first 14 points of the match. And, you know, if you win 24 in a row, that's a golden set, which doesn't happen very often. And it was just incredible how Pliskova got to turn it around a little bit. The nerves - it's so fascinating when you watch these matches that you live your whole life to get to these moments, and then the nerves just devour you. Barty was serving for the championship in the second set, and then Pliskova came back. And then Barty sort of reset, found her way and got her way to the championship, 6-3 in the third. Great stuff.
SIMON: I have to ask you about, obviously, a much more somber story. Trevor Bauer of the LA Dodgers is on what's called administrative leave until next week. He's been accused by a woman of graphic sexual misconduct and assault. There's a police investigation, MLB investigation going on. Trevor Bauer has denied the allegations. What do you make of where things stand now and the team's attitude, particularly that of Dave Roberts, the Dodgers' manager?
BRYANT: Yeah, it's a terrible story, Scott. It's a very disturbing story. And I think the most disturbing part of it, in addition to the allegations, was the Dodgers' reaction. Instead of being proactive, instead of doing something to show their fan base that this is not going to be tolerated, the manager, Dave Roberts, just said, it's out of our hands, and we're going to let Major League Baseball decide. The Dodgers had planned on letting Trevor Bauer pitch last week until MLB intervened. Not a lot of leadership there from them. It was very disappointing, considering baseball has said so much that it was in support of women and not going to tolerate these types of actions. So we'll see what they do going forward. But it was not a very strong display of leadership either from the Dodgers or from the manager, Dave Roberts.
SIMON: Men's final at Wimbledon tomorrow. Copa America final is today. The Euro Cup final tomorrow.
BRYANT: (Singing) Ole, ole, ole, ole.
SIMON: (Laughter) So many things happening. Game 3 - fear the deer - of the NBA finals. Tampa Bay won their second Stanley Cup in a row. What are you going to watch? I guess you kind of have to...
BRYANT: Well...
SIMON: ...Watch it all, don't you?
BRYANT: A quick shoutout to the Montreal Canadiens, who hung in there. They weren't even supposed to make the Stanley Cup final, and they ended up getting there. They weren't supposed to get out of the first round, so hats off to them. Tampa Bay, the best team in the league two years in a row, absolutely proved it. Novak Djokovic going for his 20th to tie Nadal and Federer going up against Matteo Berrettini, first Italian to make a major final since 1976. So many things to watch. And then, of course, you've got the Euro Cup as well. And let's see what the deer does. I would like to see a competitive series. Phoenix up two games to none, but Milwaukee's a good team. They've got to show up at home. And it's a paradise if you're a sports fan this week. And then there's one other thing, Scott, for D.C. Rafael Nadal is coming to Washington...
SIMON: You said that, yes.
BRYANT: ...Next month for the first time for the D.C. open - for the city open, rather, in D.C. All good stuff.
SIMON: I just want to say, you know what a great competition would be? Shohei Ohtani pitching against Shohei Ohtani in the home run derby for the All-Star Game.
BRYANT: Oh, and the All-Star Game as well. How could I forget Ohtani?
SIMON: Yeah. Yeah, well, we will have years to talk about Shohei Ohtani. Howard Bryant of Meadowlark Media - Howard, thanks so much.
BRYANT: Thank you, Scott.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
