CARL KASELL: From NPR and WBEZ-Chicago, this is WAIT, WAIT...DON'T TELL ME!, the NPR news quiz. I'm Carl Kasell. We're playing this week with Charlie Pierce, Amy Dickinson, and Tom Bodett. And, here again is your host, Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts, Peter Sagal.
PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Thank you, Carl.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: In just a minute, it's just a step to the left, Carl does the Rhyme Warp Again, in our :istener Limerick Challenge. If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1-888-WAIT WAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. But right now, panel, some more questions for you from the week's news. Amy, this week ESPN backed out of a documentary they were going to make with PBS about concussions in the NFL. They're not saying why they back out, but ESPN says it has nothing to do with their multibillion dollar contract with whom?
AMY DICKINSON: With the NFL.
Yes indeed.
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DICKINSON: Either that or they just forgot.
SAGAL: It's possible.
(LAUGHTER)
DICKINSON: Because they've been hit on the head one too many times.
SAGAL: It's not clear what the NFL did to pressure ESPN, but ESPN executives were seen this week with huge sacks with dollar signs on them.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ESPN says that they'll continue looking into concussions on their own, or as they keep calling them now, "brain cuddles."
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: They'll be making their own documentary about concussions, in partnership with the NFL, called "Concussions? What Concussions?"
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SAGAL: ESPN defends itself. It says it maintains complete journalistic independence, has never been pressured to change their coverage. Though you have to wonder about their previous specials "Lance Armstrong: Born With Goat Hormones In His Blood."
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: And "Alex Rodriguez: Hey, Look Over There!"
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SAGAL: PBS employees, they were astonished that ESPN would back out of the partnership just for money, saying you guys get money for putting stuff on TV?
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: It should've fit better, in the average three-hour NFL game - have you heard this - there's only 11 minutes of action. That's about the same for three hours of PBS.
(SOUNDBITE OF DISGUST)
(LAUGHTER)
DICKINSON: I think they should sic Suze Orman on them.
SAGAL: Yeah, that's it. Yes. We have journalistic integrity PBS. And here to explain it is Suze Orman.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Amy, you probably know that Hong Kong has some of the worst pollution in the world, but city tourism officials have come up with a solution. What?
DICKINSON: Oh, tourism. It's something they give to tourists to wear.
SAGAL: No.
DICKINSON: It's not a Hello Kitty face mask then.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: It's a little - it's like pre-photo shopping your travel album.
DICKINSON: A respirator and a studio where you can stand in front of a green screen.
SAGAL: I'll give it to you. You stand in front of a picture of the Hong Kong skyline.
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SAGAL: Because what everybody does, right, if you've been to Hong Kong you stand in front of the famous skyline. But the problem is that the smog is so bad that nobody has seen the skyline since 1997, right?
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: So they put up backdrops of what the city probably looks like behind all that stuff and the tourists can use it to take their pictures.
DICKINSON: That's sad. That's like when I went to the White House and I got my picture taken with Barack Obama, the cutout, you know, the guy.
(LAUGHTER)
DICKINSON: And it's just like, no one was fooled.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: How long did it take you to realize that it was just a cutout, Amy?
(LAUGHTER)
DICKINSON: Well, I know. We went out briefly...
(LAUGHTER)
DICKINSON: ...we said some things...
(LAUGHTER)
CHARLIE PIERCE: A lot shallower than you thought he was.
DICKINSON: Yeah, really.
(LAUGHTER)
DICKINSON: So two dimensional, really.
SAGAL: Tom, according to a new survey, 32 is the age humans officially turn into what?
(LAUGHTER)
TOM BODETT: Thirty-two is the age we turn into actual adults.
SAGAL: No.
BODETT: No?
SAGAL: It's something that most people don't want to be.
BODETT: Average.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: It's like, when I grow up I want to be just like you. No.
BODETT: Oh, officially developed - who they are?
SAGAL: Just like...
BODETT: Their parents.
SAGAL: Just like their parents. It turns out it happens at age 32.
BODETT: Thirty-two?
SAGAL: Thirty-two.
BODETT: What year was that? Let me think. Oh my god, it did.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: You probably swear this will never happen to you - we all did. But according to a highly scientific study from the British website netmums.com...
(LAUGHTER)
BODETT: Their research department is massive.
SAGAL: ...it happens at age 32. You start saying to your kids the ridiculous things your parents used to say to you, like because I said so and I'll turn this car around, and don't ask why the FBI is after us, just put on this wig and remember your name is Sally now.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: You become your parents when you have children, right?
BODETT: Right.
SAGAL: Because there's this moment where all of a sudden you don't know how to deal with your child and you don't have any other models except for what was done to you. So you find yourself doing the same things that had no effect on you...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...to your children. It has no effect on them but it's all you know.
DICKINSON: Oh, you mean like losing them at the state fair, like that?
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SAGAL: Just like that.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.