2014 In Sports: The World Cup, Sochi And NFL Scandals

With guest host Michel Martin.

From the Sochi Olympics and Ray Rice to Lebron’s return to Cleveland, we’ll unpack a big year in sports.

This year the sports page moved to the front page, sparking big conversations about courage and pride, but also race, violence, and sexuality. Openly gay Michael Sam got drafted. Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s racist rants cost him his team. The Ray Rice elevator video cost him his job. Thirteen-year-old Mo’ne Davis made history at the Little League World Series. Skater Jason Brown river danced to Sochi. Germany took the World Cup. LeBron James came home to Cleveland. Did we miss anything? This hour, On Point: top sports reporters take us through the year in sports.
-- Michel Martin

Kevin Blackistone, sportswriter and professor of journalism at the University of Maryland. Regular panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn. (@profblackistone)

Shira Springer, sports reporter and columnist for the Boston Globe. (@shiraspringer)

ESPN: LeBron, World Cup hits on Facebook -- "Facebook announced its annual year-in-review data Tuesday, and sports played a significant part in mentions on the social networking site across myriad topics. LeBron James, who returned to his home-state Cleveland Cavaliers this season in free agency, was the site's most talked-about athlete, followed by retired New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter."

Washington Post: Roger Goodell, Donald Sterling and Dwyane Wade on list of GQ’s least influential in 2014 — "GQ magazine came out with its annual list called ;The Least Influential People of 2014,; and somehow one-fifth of the list is made up of sports personalities. They include: ex-L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling (No. 3); NFL commissioner Roger Goodell (No. 6), ESPN host Stephen A. Smith (No. 7),  Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade (No. 8), recently retired New York Yankees slugger Derek Jeter (No. 11) and the entire Brazilian soccer team (No. 15)."

SB Nation: The 11 greatest moments of the 2014 World Cup -- "Hindsight will insist that Brazil were eventually overwhelmed by their own passion; that they allowed a swelling sense of manifest destiny, tinged with tragedy, to override more prosaic concerns like 'defending' and 'passing to each other' and 'not playing like drunk children'. Hindsight may even have a point."