WWDTM: Carissa Moore, Bob Costas, and Jim Rice

0:00Up First is a Golden Globe nominee because of you. Good morning. This is Up First. Your support makes it possible here in Tennessee for public media reporters around the world. Here in Montana. Here in Gyeongju. On the line from Moscow. To bring you three essential stories every morning. What's the latest from the front line? So Ukrainians want to make sure there is... Up First, now a Golden Globe nominee for Best Podcast. Hey, it's Peter Sagal. We are almost at the end of 2025. And if I may, I will speak for everybody at NPR and at your local stations and in public media and say good riddance.

0:35But despite the loss of federal funding for public media, despite attacks on the free press, we are still here for you. And we will be next year. With your support, NPR will keep reporting the news. And here at Wait, Wait, we will try to, you know, lighten the load at the end of the week with some jokes about the news and some fun conversations with interesting people. And yes, the occasional fart joke. If you are already an NPR Plus supporter, thank you so much. We see you and we are so grateful for you. If not, please join the community of public radio supporters right now, before the end of the year, at plus.npr.org.

1:12Signing up unlocks a bunch of perks like bonus episodes and more from across NPR's podcasts. Plus, you get to feel good about supporting public media while you listen. Visit plus.npr.org today. And thanks.

1:35From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm the gift you get for the person who has everything. Alzo Slate. And here's your host at the Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sago. Thank you, Alzo, and thank you, everybody. Thank you so much for being with us. Well, everybody, we made it. We made it through 2025, a year that began with terrible apprehension about the future and has ended the exact same way. My motto is, instead of worrying about what's about to happen, enjoy some things that already did. So, this hour, we're going to relish the great things we got to do in 2025, such as talking to the legendary sportscaster Bob Costas, which we did in September, along with guest scorekeeper Che Rimefest-Smith.

2:32Now, I asked Bob if, as per the cliche, he had started talking about sports because he couldn't play them. You know, I wouldn't say that I failed. I wasn't that bad by schoolyard standards, but I couldn't make my high school baseball or basketball team. And the baseball coach, who was also a math teacher, that's the way it works in high school, he actually said to me something to the effect of, You're not bad with the glove and you can run a little bit, but I don't think you can hit your weight and I don't think you weigh 130. Which might have been true when I was 16 years old. And then he actually said, you know, you're always talking about baseball and you know more about baseball than any of my players.

3:10Have you ever thought about broadcasting? And I said, that's pretty much all I think about. And he actually said, as if it was a movie, good, try that. Whoa. That's awesome. And have you ever gone and like found any of the guys who didn't make the team and say how long did your career in sports last? One of them one of them actually pitched in the major leagues for two years He did make it to the big leagues the rest of them have scattered to the four wins And I'm sure they're aware of me and I'm not quite aware of where they are and I don't care Yeah And you went off and you went off to Syracuse University right the Newhouse to learn your trade This is, of course, if you don't know, it is the Harvard of broadcasting schools.

3:51And I'm curious, how do you learn to do sports broadcasting? What are the skills you have to study? You know, you cannot learn it in a classroom. You want to get as good and as well-rounded an education as you possibly can and to be a reader because it improves your appreciation of language and turns of phrase. and the broader your frame of reference is, the more you can bring to bear where appropriate in a sports broadcast or any kind of broadcast. But the only way you actually learn to be a broadcaster is by doing it. You can't sit there in a classroom and learn it. You just have to find out if you have a knack and then you work on that knack as you move along.

4:31So, okay, you're a Hall of Fame broadcaster, an absolute legend in the industry. Nobody's perfect all the time. Can you remember a time when like you just blew it on live TV? Oh my, yes. Now I realize it's NPR. Yes. Do you want the unedited version of this? Yeah, give us the MTV version. I mean, go ahead, Bob. What are they going to do? Defund us? Here you go.

5:03Now, if everybody clapping could give$5 ,000, that would be really wonderful. Go ahead. Go ahead. All right, so here's the deal. My first job out of Syracuse, I did minor league hockey my first, my senior year at Syracuse, 30 bucks a game. But I was lucky enough right after that at age 22 to go to St. Louis, big station, KMOX, 50 ,000 watt station, to broadcast the games for the spirits of St. Louis in the old ABA. The first night they play on a Friday night, they have a big lead with about two minutes to go, and the game slips away. They're up by seven and somehow the game slips away. Two nights later, they're playing at home again, and they're ahead by five with like a minute to go.

5:45And I turned toward the analyst, who was a wonderful gentleman named Bill Wilkerson, and I said the following. Bill, it appears as if the spirits have this game well in hand, but Coach Bob McKinnon taking a time out here, wanting to take no chances because the last thing he wants to see is a repeat of Friday night's blow.

6:12I actually said that. You did. I actually said that. They blew the game, and the thing just got kind of mangled. Well, I mean, if you think about it, I mean, it is his job, and if he blew the game, it just sort of comes naturally to that phrase, doesn't it? My thought is, I looked at Wilkerson, and he looked at me, and his eyes got as wide as saucers. And the engineer just made that circular thing with the index finger, like, keep on going, keep on going, we can't have all this dead air. And I was 100 % certain that the next morning I'd be on a flight back to Syracuse. But the station manager took pity on me and said, don't ever let this happen again.

6:51So I certainly will try not to. A lot of people called in and they were like, can we get more of that Bob Costas guy?

7:00I have been a fan, I'm a baseball fan, not on your level, but I've been watching a lot of you over the decades broadcast baseball. And I remember vividly your reaction the first year they had the wild card in the playoffs in baseball. Oh, yeah. So you're against that. You're also against the designated hitter. Now there are six wild card teams every year, and everybody has a designated hitter. What is it like to be that influential? Yeah. You know, it's just another small indication of the general decline of Western civilization. Let me ask you this. Over the years, obviously not just baseball.

7:39NFL games, NBA games, horse races, and the Olympics, of course, for many, many years on NBC. So out of all those things, can you tell me what the weirdest or most unusual sport is you've ever had to broadcast and comment on? Well, I didn't do play-by-play as the host of the Olympics. But you're commenting on and showing highlights of almost everything. curling in the Winter Olympics. Think about getting a gold medal, an Olympic gold medal, for an activity in which you can drink beer while doing it. Even more so, in the Summer Olympics, racewalking is a staple. Now, there may be, I don't know, 200 racewalkers in the United States, but in parts of Eastern Europe, like in Romania or something, racewalkers are like Michael Jordan, apparently.

8:31So 1992 in Barcelona, I'm hosting the Olympics, and there's a package of highlights, and it ends with a bunch of race walkers. And you know what it looks like, right? It looks like got to go, got to go, got to go right now is what it looks like. 15 men in shorts who really need to use the restroom. I understand. Right, exactly. So I come off of it, I think it's completely harmless, and the people on the set laughed. I said, isn't a competition to see who can walk the fastest a little bit like a contest to see who can whisper the loudest? Eventually, don't you just like cross over and start running?

9:04Now, you would think that was completely harmless, but the very small race walking community wanted my head on a pipe. And that's why you can never go back to Romania. That's correct. Well, Bob Costas, it is such a pleasure to talk to you. And we've asked you here today to play a game we're calling... And the Emmy goes to... We are right now in the eye of the Emmy storm. The Creative Arts Emmys were last weekend. The Primetime Emmys are this weekend. So no one is talking about anything but the Emmy Awards. Ooh. We're going to ask you three questions about these JV Oscars. Answered two correctly, and we win our prize, one of our listeners.

9:42Rhymefest, who is Bob Costas playing for? Bob is playing for Matt Johnson of Houston, Texas. All right. Ready to play? Here is your first question. Where does the name Emmy for the award come from? Is it A, it's the initials M-E for Mamie Eisenhower, who presided at the first awards? Is it B, strangely, it is named after our own panelist, Emmy Blotnick? Or C, it was named for the image orthogon tube, an important bit of early TV technology. I'm going with C. You're going to go with C, and you are right. The Image Orthogon team was known as Emmy. Huge advance TV technology, so much so that Emmy was named for it.

10:31Here's your next question. The whole point of the Emmys, of course, as you know, is to promote TV. But at the 2015 Emmys, Andy Samberg went above and beyond to encourage people to watch the HBO show Game of Thrones. How did he do it? A, by wearing a handmade 15-foot-long dragon costume on stage. B, by giving out to the live international audience his actual HBO login and password, or C, by playing a video in which his head was CGI'd onto every character in every sex scene from that season? You know, I should know this, but somehow I missed that particular telecast. I'm just going to guess B. You're going to guess B.

11:11He gave out his HBO login and password to the universe. He did. Yes. And people report. Everybody first immediately ran over to their televisions or whatever, and it worked for a few days. All right. Very good, Bob. Here is... Two for two. Two for two. Right. As someone in your profession might say. Yes. You're batting 1 ,000. Yes. He's batting 1 ,000. Let's see what he does with this pitch. In Dame Helen Mirren's acceptance speech after winning an Emmy for her performance as Queen Elizabeth the first she said that her greatest triumph was what was it a making her Queen Elizabeth the first recognizably different from her Queen Elizabeth the second B the voiceover work that she had done for the film Legends of the Guardians the Owls of Gablul for which she was unfairly snubbed or C she said her greatest triumph was quote not falling ass over tit as she climbed the stairs to the podium.

12:09It is without question C. You are right. You called your shot, as you might say. And allegedly, the censors who were manning that bleep button were so charmed by her British accent that the remark made it to air and now, again, to us. Rhymefest, how did Bob Costas do in our quiz? Bob got three for three. He got them all right. Congratulations.

12:39It's the trifecta. It's the hat trick. It is. It's the triple crown. That's a good thing. Part of your job is coming up with catchphrases and names. What should we call it when someone goes three for three on this game? The Costi. There you go. Bob Costas is a Hall of Fame broadcaster and not coincidentally the winner of 28 Emmy Awards himself. Bob Costas. Thank you so much for joining us on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Thank you, Peter. Thank you, everybody. Take care, Bob. Bye-bye. So long.

13:17When we come back, we warm up the winter with a return to Hawaii and a talk with one of the greatest surfers of all time. That's when we return with more of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR. This message comes from BritBox. It's the coziest time of the year on BritBox. That means curling up with a gripping murder mystery, basking in the ambiance of a sumptuous period drama, or unboxing the unexpected with a hidden gem. Cuddle up with the best of British TV, including BritBox's original series based on best-selling novels like Lindley and a new season of Karen Peary. However you cozy, it's all a bit warmer with BritBox.

13:52See holidays differently when you stream the best of British TV with BritBox.

14:00From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm Alzo Slade, filling in for Bill Curtis, and here's your host at the Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building in Chicago, Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank you, Alzo. Thanks, everybody. Thank you so much. So it is late December in Chicago, and the days are short and the winds are cold, So we are all getting nostalgic for the trip we took to Honolulu, Hawaii in October. We had such an amazing time. It's hard to choose a favorite moment. Not for me. The best thing I saw in Hawaii was me standing there in Hawaii. That's right.

14:40Alzo and I were there. We did two shows in the Aloha State. And now we are going to hear part of that never before broadcast second show. We saved it for a moment when we needed it most, like now. First, a Bluff the Listener game with panelists Shane O 'Neill, Dulce Sloan, and Helen Hong. And then a visit with one of the greatest surfers ever, Honolulu native and Olympic champion, Carissa Moore. It is now time to play the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me Bluff the Listener game. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to play our game on the air. Hi, you are on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Aloha. Aloha. Aloha, yes. My name is Rich.

15:16Hello, Rich. Where are you calling from? I'm calling from Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii.

15:24Can't beat it. You can't beat it. What do you do there? I'm recently retired, and I'm very active in Rotary, and I volunteer as a mediator at the Mediation Center of the Pacific. Really? Really. I'm sorry. I mean, I know I'm a visitor to these lovely islands, but I can't imagine anybody ever has a problem they need to mediate. It just all seems like a happy place. Well, Richard, great to have you with us. You're going to play our game in which you have to tell truth from fiction. Alzo, what is Rich's topic? Carpe diem. Sometimes you have to seize the day. Climb that mountain. Tell her you're in love with her.

16:00Move to Europe forever because things got really awkward after you told her you're in love with her. This week we heard about somebody really going for it. Pick the one who's telling the truth and you'll win the wait waiter of your choice in your voicemail. Are you ready to play? Yes. Yes. I'm sorry. Did somebody in the room with you have to tell you to say yes? No, no, that didn't happen. That didn't happen. Okay. No, it didn't happen. Didn't happen. Standing there on your own, your own talents, brains brought to this, no help at all. Let's first hear from Shane O 'Neill. Kristen Elliott of Maple Bluff, Wisconsin is a busy woman, a resident at the UW hospital.

16:40She puts in 24 hour shifts in their emergency room. She goes to Pilates classes three times a week and volunteers at the soup kitchen at her local church. But when an invitation came for an ex-boyfriend's wedding, she knew she needed to squeeze in one more thing into her busy schedule, finding a date. So last Saturday, she set up 18 hours worth of mini dates. That's 180 dates in one day. She kept track of the marathon day with a spreadsheet, adding numerical ratings and columns for physical attributes, red flags, hygiene, and whether they showed up in a fleece quarter zip. Sadly, none of these dates seemed suitable.

17:16So she plans to schedule a second day of seven minute long second dates. Unfortunately, with the extra two minutes, I can only book 73 dates in a day, she said sadly, before strapping on a helmet, climbing onto her scooter, and rolling off to a sip and paint party where she plans to finish half a bottle of wine and no fewer than three paintings and two ceramics pieces. A woman seizes the day by scheduling 18 hours of speed dates during them. The next story of someone capturing the moment comes from Dulce Sloan. Rusty Albertson of Cleveland, Georgia, retired from being a middle school geography teacher for 47 years.

17:51His wife, Jeannie, also retired from nursing, and now they finally have the time and money to travel. Growing up in Cleveland, Georgia, Rusty was always fascinated that the names of cities can repeat in other states or even countries. So Rusty wondered if there were any other Clevelands. Much to his excitement, there are seven other Clevelands in the United States for a total of eight Clevelands. As a fan of the rap group Bone Thugs and Harmony, he always wanted to visit Cleveland, Ohio, but now there are six other Cleaselands for Rusty's Cleveland tour. Jeannie, on the other hand, was less enthusiastic.

18:27She said, well, I thought he meant traveling to somewhere fun, like all the cities named Paris or Miami, to which Rusty supplied all the Miamis. I don't mind going to Indiana or Missouri, but I'll be damned if I ever go to Texas. A man sets off in his dream to visit all the towns in the country named Cleveland.

18:53Your last DM carpeed comes from Helen Hong. It's not easy getting a Guinness World Record. You might have to hold your breath for 20 minutes or eat 80 hot dogs in one sitting. Or you could create your own original world record and make it uniquely painful. That's what Gabrielle Wall did when she chose to set the first ever record for the fastest 100 meter sprint barefoot on Lego bricks. I know. Her training included jumping up and down in a kiddie pool filled with Legos. Wall also went barefoot for months. And when she explained that she was training to sprint over Legos, people inevitably asked, why would you do that?

19:42Why? Naysayers notwithstanding, Wall completed the spiky sprint in 24.75 seconds. Her husband immediately presented her with fluffy pink slippers that she'll probably never take off again. All right. Here then, Rich, are three stories of someone seizing the moment. Is it from Shane O 'Neill, someone trying to maximize their chances, having speed dates for 18 hours all fit into one day? From Dulce Sloan, a man determined to live out his dream of visiting every Cleveland in the country beside his own Cleveland? Or from Helen Hong, a woman who fulfilled a lifelong dream by setting a world record, in this case, the land speed record for running on Legos?

20:34Which of these Which of these Was the real story we found on the week's news I gotta go with number three The Lego lady I tell you She beats them all She does And you figured that out all by yourself All by myself All by yourself Alright, you're gonna choose then You're gonna choose You're gonna choose Helen's story About the Lego run Well, we spoke to someone who actually had the inside dope on this particular story. She wanted to set a world record, so she decided that she would run over Lego bricks. That was Kyle Melnick, who's a reporter for The Washington Post, talking about the record-breaking Lego run.

21:19Congratulations, Rich. You got it right. Helen was telling the truth. She's going to win a point. You're going to win. You're going to win our prize, the voice bill of anyone you choose. Thank you so much for calling. Thank you. You can share it with your backup. Yeah. Take a step towards what you all reach for. You have to take the chance and risk it all. And now the game where we ask people who are really, really good at one thing about another thing. We call it Not My Job. So not far from us, right now in Honolulu, there is a hundred foot high mural on the side of a building with two people painted on it.

21:54You've seen it. One of the two figures is Duke Kahanamoku, the legendary father of surfing. He introduced the sport around the world in the 1930s. And the other is Carissa Moore, the first ever female Olympic gold medalist in shortboard surfing and generally acclaimed as the greatest woman ever to ride a wave. And one of those two icons joins us now, Carissa Moore. Welcome to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. I'm so happy to have you. I'm so happy to have you. Since I brought up the mural, I got to ask, what is it like, because you live in Honolulu still where you grew up, what is it like to drive around and see your own sort of visage painted next to, like, one of the great national heroes, and you're in front of him.

22:48I mean, I definitely have to, like, pinch myself. It's super surreal. I can't believe they still have it up. Really? Yeah. Somebody painted a 100-foot-high painting. They don't just, like, wait a couple days and paint over it. They don't, like, erase it. Well, yeah, I hope it stays up for a little while longer. I want to show my daughter one day and be like, that's Mom. Yeah. Definitely take a lot of selfies. You know what would be great? I don't know if this is true, but if there were a liquor store across the street, and you went in, and they asked you for ID, and you just pointed at it.

23:22It's a dream. It's really cool. You grew up here in Honolulu. You grew up surfing at Waikiki, right, which was basically the birthplace of surfing. There's the statue of Duke right there. And you got famous pretty early, right? I saw an interview of you, an interview with you that was done when you were seven years old. surfing at Waikiki. And you said to the interviewer, you liked surfing because, and I will quote you, I like it because it's different each day and it's not always the same. So I ask you now, do you still stand by that? Yeah, I sounded pretty good. Yeah, you look pretty good. They said, you know, it's interesting, You were seven and they were already in the local news and people were saying this is going to be a professional surfer someday.

24:17And so that was something that you knew was perhaps on your path early on? I don't know if I knew, but my dad knew. And he's here tonight. Is he really? Yeah. Dad! I don't know where he is. He's somewhere. He's somewhere. Because he was an athlete himself, a great swimmer. Yes, he was. He's in that report, by the way, paddling out with you. So I got to see him. I know about stage moms, right? The classic. Are there surfer dads? It's like, you're going to catch one more wave. Get back out to the break. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. No, but he is the best. He still paddles out with me. He does. Wow. Do you?