Sports

Melissa Block talks with BBC correspondent Emma Tracey, who is at the Paralympic Games in London. Yesterday the so-called "Blade Runner" — South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius — complained immediately following the 200m race that a Brazilian competitor who won the gold had cheated. Pistorius' initial reaction was to criticize the design of his competitor's prostheses as having given him an unfair advantage. Pistorius has since apologized for those remarks.

Melissa Block talks to Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated about the U.S. Open.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The Oakland A's, with one of the smallest payrolls in Major League Baseball, faced the big-spending Boston Red Sox on Sunday with hopes of capturing their ninth straight victory. And as you can hear from KGMZ radio in San Francisco, the A's won 6-2.

(SOUNDBITE OF KGMZ BROADCAST)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Lavarnway way strikes out. And the A's have swept the Red Sox at the Coliseum for the second time this year.

Ross Ventrone has been hired, promoted, or fired by the New England Patriots no fewer than 29 times in two years. The transition the defensive back from Villanova made into the world of professional football has been different from what most people would assume, he tells Guy Raz, host of weekends of All Things Considered.

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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer. Now, to sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIFE IS A BALL GAME")

WYNONNA CARR: (Singing) Life is a ball game, being played each day...

Correction: the Runner's World calculator discussed below is used for training purposes. A pace calculator estimates that Ryan would have needed to run at about 6:50 per mile to complete a marathon in 2:59.

Our original post:

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

And I wait all week to say time for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIMON: The 2012 tennis season is in the home stretch - or is it the last set? What do we call it? The U.S. Open in New York, and it's been eventful. We'll also hit the gridiron in a moment. First, Howard Bryant of ESPN.com and ESPN the Magazine joins us now from New York. Howard, good morning.

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