At the end of election week, NPR's Tom Goldman joins Scott Simon to reflect on a year in which politics seeped into every aspect of America life, including sports.
"I will forever be known to some people as Jack Buck's son," the announcer says. "And thank God he and I were best friends or that would drive me nuts." His new book is called Lucky Bastard.
2016 is the year the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA title, and it's the year the Indians made it into World Series action. Now, the Browns would like to win just one game. The NFL team is 0-9.
Hanan Abu Qassem is one of a handful of female emergency medical technicians working at Palestinian soccer games. Stares and jeers don't faze her. "I'm anxious to be a very famous EMT," she says.
Mary Keitany has won the women's race three years in a row. Tatyana McFadden won her fourth consecutive title in the women's wheelchair race. Ghirmay Ghebreslassie became the youngest man ever to win.
It's an aggressive game that requires full body contact like hip and shoulder checks. It's empowering. And that's exactly why these young Egyptian women love it.
Chicago and Cleveland are both cities with real problems. But while their baseball teams played out the World Series, Indians fans and Cubs fans connected and commiserated with each other.
The team had a tradition of writing and circulating vulgar, degrading and sexually explicit "scouting reports" about the women's soccer team. The practice was revealed by the student newspaper.