SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Now it's time for sports.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: The Super Bowl - one week away - had you heard? And the WNBA expands. Michele Steele of ESPN joined us. Michele, thanks so much for being with us.
MICHELE STEELE: You can smell the beignets in New Orleans right now.
SIMON: Aw. Well, you've spent the last two weeks in Kansas City with the Chiefs. And some of us can smell the barbecue. Look...
STEELE: (Laughter).
SIMON: ...They have a league leader in Patrick Mahomes, a great coach Andy Reid. The Chiefs are just, you know, just one win away from a third straight Super Bowl. But they had some close calls during the regular season. How do you motivate a team with players who may begin to ask, ah, but how am I going to wear a third ring?
STEELE: (Laughter) They had some close calls, but they emerged triumphant in nearly all of their games in the regular season. They only dropped, I think, two all season, despite winning a bunch of games by just one score. Now, Mahomes did tell me at the end of last season, Scott, that at some point, he'll probably need a pinky championship ring because they are going for a third-straight Super Bowl victory. That's obviously never been reached in the Super Bowl era.
And you would think that, you know, making that history would be amazingly motivating. But what I hear players actually talking about amongst themselves isn't a three-peat, but, hey, let's go win a Super Bowl for the guys in this locker room who don't have one ring, much less three. There are a few ringless veterans, believe it or not, in the Kansas City Chiefs' Locker room, including 29-year-old Kareem Hunt and 32-year-old DeAndre Hopkins. You know, Hunt is on a second stint with the team. He missed their Super Bowl success. Hopkins who was traded midseason - he's never been this far in the playoffs. And guys will say all the time, you know, let's get this for DHop, for example. You know, 29 and 32 are not old by any stretch of the imagination, but it's actually a little old in an...
SIMON: Yeah.
STEELE: ...NFL locker room, and they're really rallying around their elders - so to speak - on this Super Bowl run.
SIMON: To ask you about uglier turn of events in the NFL this week. Baltimore Ravens place kicker Justin Tucker is being accused of sexually inappropriate behavior. A story was broken by the Baltimore Banner included accounts from six massage therapists. Justin Tucker denies the allegation. He calls them unequivocally false. What else do we know? How's the league reacting?
STEELE: Gosh, what a story, Scott, for the Baltimore Banner. I think they started just a few years ago, and this is one of the biggest scandals to rock the NFL this season. It involves current Ravens kicker, Justin Tucker. He is the most accurate kicker in NFL history. He was on the team when they won a Super Bowl in 2013. He's being accused, like you said, inappropriate sexual behavior. Some massage therapists refused to work with him, period. Two spas allegedly banned him from coming back. And all these claims, Scott, stem from a period between 2012 and 2016.
League spokesman said they're taking this seriously. They're looking into the matter. And that sounds kind of rote, but it's very serious. He could be subject to the league's personal conduct policy, like Deshaun Watson was, and could be subject to a very long suspension. And a lot of people are talking about whether or not Tucker decides just to retire after this.
SIMON: WNBA is expanding - going to be new teams in San Francisco, Portland and Toronto in the next two seasons. Then a franchise in a yet-to-be-named city by 2028 - they're ownership groups contending in Detroit, Nashville, Philadelphia. Nashville's got an interesting proposal for a name, doesn't it?
STEELE: Yeah, interesting, to say the least. I think it's really cool. In Nashville's bid for a WNBA team, they say they would call the team - if they do get granted an expansion franchise - they would call the team the Tennessee Summitt in honor of the late Pat Summitt, of...
SIMON: Yeah.
STEELE: ...Course, the legendary coach of the Lady Vols for 38 years. She died - I couldn't believe how long it's been - she died in 2016 after battling early onset dementia.
SIMON: Yeah.
STEELE: And one of Summitt's former players, Candace Parker, is actually part of this prospective ownership group. And she was so close to Coach Summitt. And she said that Summitt was so impactful on her life, made her the best version of herself, and she's honored to be part of the Tennessee Summitt ownership group.
SIMON: Ah. That's so...
STEELE: Yeah.
SIMON: ...Nice.
STEELE: Pretty neat.
SIMON: Michele Steele covers sports for ESPN. Thanks so much for being with us.
STEELE: You bet, Scott.
(SOUNDBITE OF JUNIOR REID AND K-SALAAM & BEATNICK SONG, "BABYLON FOOD (DUB VERSION)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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