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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
NBA playoffs, champs on the ropes. NHL playoffs making Canadian teams great again. And da pope. Michele Steele of ESPN joined us. Michele, thanks for being with us.
MICHELE STEELE: A blessed good morning to you, Scott.
SIMON: A blessed good morning to you, too, my fellow Chicagoan. Let's begin with basketball. The top seeds in both conferences are down in the second round of the playoffs. In the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder lost to the Nuggets in overtime last night. They're down 2-1. In the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers. You know, I've got another - (yelling) Cleveland rocks. Won last night, but still trail the Indiana Pacers 2-1. And even the defending champ Boston Celtics are down 2-zip against the New York Mets. Game 3 this afternoon. Are the Celtics just out of luck this year?
STEELE: They might be, Scott. You know, not only was Boston favored in this series, but the Cs have squandered 20-point leads in both games, and now they are perilously close to going down 3-nothing in this series. Now, WEEKEND EDITION is on the case, Scott. I have made some calls to people who should know around the Celtics team, and I can report, even they don't know what's going on with the defending champs.
SIMON: Oh, wow.
STEELE: You know, Kristaps Porzingis, their big man, has been dealing with a virus, but the biggest thing is, you got to have your big-time players step up when it counts, and Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown just aren't dominating.
SIMON: Stanley Cup, eight teams remain. A quest for a Canadian champion.
STEELE: Oh, yeah.
SIMON: It seems to be going well. The Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers lead their series. Seem to be hitting stride at just the right moment, don't they?
STEELE: I'll say, and Winnipeg just shut out Dallas last night. We've got three Canadian teams in the second round of the NHL playoffs. For the first time since 2004, the Oilers play the Golden Knights in Vegas tonight. We've talked about that 30-plus-year Canadian Stanley Cup drought, Scott. Maybe this is a year. A lot of Canadians...
SIMON: Yeah.
STEELE: ...Would love to see it.
SIMON: I got to ask about Bill Belichick. He hasn't even coached a game in his new gig at North Carolina. And now, maybe the greatest football coach of all time, who's famous for keeping distractions away from his team, has run into a big one, hasn't he?
STEELE: Yeah, and she's got a name - Jordon Hudson. Seventy-three-year-old Bill Belichick's 24-year-old girlfriend, who appears to be kind of, like, managing his affairs, you know, with UNC and with the press. And, you know, we don't get into personal lives too much on this segment, but a clip from CBS News went viral, where he was asked how they met, and his girlfriend jumped in off camera and said, we're not talking about that. UNC is paying the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach $10 million a year, Scott. He's the highest-paid state employee. They don't want to see this PR mess. My friend Pablo Torre reported this week, among many other details, that Belichick's family now is very concerned about the damage being done to his reputation. You know, I covered Bill for three years.
SIMON: Yeah.
STEELE: It's hard to believe that someone who is so controlled is at the center of a drama like this.
SIMON: And, of course, the school went back and forth about whether or not Jordon was welcome on campus.
STEELE: Yeah, but if you read the language of their letter or their statement to the press, they're very careful to refer to her as a nonemployee. And nonemployees, sure, they can come into the building, but it also leaves open the door that they likely told her, you know, you can't really be involved with the football stuff anymore.
SIMON: And finally, on Thursday, a short but sacred controversy - is Pope Leo a Cubs or a White Sox fan? Local news on the case. Here's John Prevost, Pope Leo's brother, clearing things up with WGN.
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JOHN PREVOST: He was never, ever a Cubs fan. So I don't know where that came from. He was always a Sox fan.
SIMON: Oh, Michele...
STEELE: (Laughter).
SIMON: ...What's it like to be there this past week?
STEELE: Scott, I was watching TV this morning, and the anchor said, White Sox Nation is celebrating the ascension of one of their own to the papacy.
SIMON: (Laughter).
STEELE: That is an amazing sentence, Scott.
SIMON: (Laughter).
STEELE: The last 48 hours have been bonkers. The whole city is just captivated by a South-sider becoming pope. But I think, you know, the biggest thing for me is that his fandom makes him so instantly relatable. You know, for the first time...
SIMON: Yep.
STEELE: ...In 2,000 years, we've got a pope who knows that White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko hit a legendary grand slam in the 2005 World Series.
SIMON: Yeah, he was there. I've seen pictures of him there.
STEELE: He was there. You know, back then, he was Father Bob. He was in the stands for that World Series run. He's a true fan, just like us. I think the picture had him on his phone.
SIMON: Yeah.
STEELE: So I'm assuming, Scott, he was making a call upstairs, you know? And...
SIMON: (Laughter) He doesn't need a phone for that, but I take your...
STEELE: Oh, that's true.
SIMON: ...Your observation.
STEELE: The White Sox will take the prayers. Let's just say that.
SIMON: They could use them. Listen, I've got to try this out. (Singing) Go, Pope, go. Go, Pope, go. Hey, Chicago, what do you say? The pope is on his way today.
STEELE: Holy cow, Scott.
SIMON: (Laughter) Michele Steele of ESPN. Thanks so much for being with us.
STEELE: Sure.
(SOUNDBITE OF NOKIAA & GLIMLIP'S "COACH 101") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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