Sports

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News, I'm Scott Simon and I've wait all week to say it's time for sports.

Basketball playoffs, two teams come back from a three-game deficit just not far enough. In baseball, Angels in the outfield but rarely on the bases. How much money do they have to spend to get a few hits? And some national concerns that have nothing to do with congress. Howard Bryant, columnist for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine joins us. Morning Howard.

HOWARD BRYANT: Good morning, Scott. How are you?

On Saturday night, 150,000 people will pack Louisville's Churchill Downs to watch the Kentucky Derby. But only a few will celebrate the victory from the winner's circle.

Stephen Johnstone has experienced that celebration many times. He's been in the winner's circle with the winning families, jockeys and governors — but not once was he invited.

Johnstone is a retired gate-crasher. The first time he crashed the Kentucky Derby was in 1963. Johnstone and several college friends slipped underneath a fence at Churchill Downs.

A lot of people have called basketball player Jason Collins a hero for coming out as the first openly gay male athlete in a major American sport. But the Barbershop guys ask if it's heroism or hype.

This is a post for everyone (like us) who tunes into horse racing just once a year, on the first Saturday in May when the Kentucky Derby is run. Here are three horses that those who pay much closer attention say you should know about:

A relatively high-profile black man came out this week. And with it, a hardy old narrative got another moment in the sun.

When Jason Collins, a journeyman NBA center, announced that he was gay, many commentators who applauded his disclosure still nodded to the idea of heightened opposition to gay rights among black people.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

After years of surging popularity, NASCAR has hit a speed bump. Same with IndyCar. Meanwhile, Formula 1, the premier motor sport in the world, has never really gained traction here in the United States. But as NPR's Nina Gregory reports, there is a new entry in the racing world. It's called drifting.

NINA GREGORY, BYLINE: You may not know it but you've seen drifting.

(SOUNDBITE OF CAR)

Tuesday night, forward Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers became the latest star to go down with an injury. The Memphis Grizzlies took advantage of Griffin's absence and beat the Clippers 103-93 to take a 3-2 lead in their first-round series.

It may be hard to imagine that people can distill their thoughts on a topic as complicated as race into just six words. But thousands of people have done just that for The Race Card Project, in which NPR host/special correspondent Michele Norris invites people to send in their microstories about race and cultural identity.

My friend the Sports Curmudgeon called me the other day: "Hey, Frank, I got a few things to get off my chest." He was about to take off on a Fantasy Fan cruise, where devoted sports buffs are drafted as fans for desperate losing teams, but he promised to text me his complaints once the ship got out to sea.

Sure enough, here came the Sports Curmudgeon's latest rants.