NPR Sports

Audie Cornish talks with Mike Pesca about the success of rookie quarterbacks Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins and Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts. On Monday night, Griffin led the Redskins in a victory over the New York Giants. Andrew Luck threw for a last second touchdown to beat the Detroit Lions on Sunday. The two were the top picks in last year's draft and both are leading their teams to substantial improvement over last season.

The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is college football's most dominant program. It has won the Bowl Championship Series for the past six years. And a record six SEC teams finished in the top ten this year. Another SEC team, Vanderbilt, is also doing well. Long the doormat of the conference, the private university known more for its academics is enjoying gridiron success.

Ten years after jumpstarting Mitt Romney's political career with a widely-praised Winter Olympics, officials in Utah say they're ready to do it all over again.

But there's no word on whether the unemployed Romney is interested in reprising his role as Salt Lake City Olympics chief. He would be 78, after all, when the 2026 games roll around. That's the earliest opportunity for a Winter Olympics in the United States.

This news may not go over so well in Cleveland:

LeBron James, who led the Miami Heat to the NBA championship and Team USA to a gold medal in the London Olympics, is Sports Illustrated's "Sportsman of the Year."

According to SI, James "has morphed from the most imposing small forward in the league to the most dynamic all-around threat in the history of the league."

College football's title game is set. All football fans have to do now is endure the interminable wait until Jan. 7 when No. 1 ranked Notre Dame plays No. 2 Alabama for the BCS Championship. The final BCS rankings were released Sunday night.

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Now, we turn to sports. This past week, there was a controversial fine levied in the NBA, that has a lot of people talking. But first, to that tragedy in Kansas City, Missouri. According to police, yesterday, a player on that city's NFL team shot and killed his girlfriend. Shortly after that, he drove to the Chiefs' practice facility, where he took his own life. NPR's Mike Pesca joins us now. Mike, those are just the basics, a sketch of what happened. But what else do we know about this?

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Tonight marks the end of the on-field career of a man who's been arguably the most famous athlete in the world. David Beckham will play his last competitive game for the L.A. Galaxy. He signed with the team in 2007 and earned himself something close to a 4250 million over the last five years in salary, and his own line of underwear, sportswear and cologne. Roger Bennett joins us now, he's the voice of Premier League soccer on ESPN, an ESPN columnist and co-host of Grantland's "Men In Blazers" show. Roger, thanks for being with us.

Weekend Edition host Scott Simon talks with NPR's Tom Goldman about the week in sports, from college football to marijuana and the NFL.

Robert Siegel talks to Sports Illustrated senior writer Michael Rosenberg about a controversial decision by the basketball coach of the San Antonio Spurs. The team's coach, Greg Popovich, sent four of his top players home before the team played the Miami Heat in Florida. The Spurs were concluding a difficult road trip and Popovich wanted to rest his best players. National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern said this decision was unacceptable and has fined the team $250,000.