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Speaker 1: Hey, yourballers, listen. You already know that we've got good

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Speaker 1: friends over at the Athletic, so we're very excited to

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Speaker 1: share with you a new daily sports podcast from the

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Speaker 1: Athletic and wondering you gotta check it out. It's called

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Speaker 1: The Lead. The Lead. It's for every type of sports

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Speaker 1: fan who wants to go beyond the box score. You

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Speaker 1: get it. Every weekday morning, The Lead's going to bring

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Speaker 1: you one big story from the Athletics all star team

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Speaker 1: of local and national sports reporters. Some stories are going

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Speaker 1: to be a fresh take on a major news event.

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Speaker 1: Other episodes will feature an in depth look at what's

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Speaker 1: been happening off the field, from the story of how

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Speaker 1: a terrible call in last year's NFL Playoffs made the

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Speaker 1: entire city of Dwarleans lose its mind, to in depth

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Speaker 1: interviews on mental health and sports. The Lead is your

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Speaker 1: daily lens into the biggest stories of the day, told

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Speaker 1: by the people who write them. The show's hosted by

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Speaker 1: sportswriter Kavifa Davidson and Peabody Award winning journalist andras Kelto

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Speaker 1: They're taking you close to each and every story through

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Speaker 1: comprehensive reporting, fascinating clips, and exclusive interviews you're not going

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Speaker 1: to hear anywhere else. What you're about to hear is

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Speaker 1: a preview of the Lead that looks at what really

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Speaker 1: went down after that blown call in the twenty eighteen

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Speaker 1: NFL Playoffs between the Rams and the Saints. While you're listening,

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Speaker 1: go subscribe to the Lead on Apple Podcasts or wherever

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Speaker 1: you're listening to this right now. There's also a link

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Speaker 1: in the episode notes that will take you there. Enjoy

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Speaker 1: going direct.

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Speaker 2: In last season's NFL Playoffs, as every football fan remembers,

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Speaker 2: the New Orleans Saints were on the verge of a

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Speaker 2: trip to the Super Bowl.

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Speaker 3: Quick now praise, but then sat and complete no flag

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Speaker 3: for Tommy Lee.

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Speaker 2: Lewis one of the worst calls in sports history.

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Speaker 3: Wrout's gone crazy as there's no flag right on the

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Speaker 3: Saints sideline.

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Speaker 4: It was all anyone could talk about for days.

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Speaker 3: The bad call that had Saints fans screaming last night.

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Speaker 1: A glaring case of past interference.

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Speaker 3: One of the most obvious case you'll ever see, and

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Speaker 3: it wasn't penalized.

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Speaker 4: And it led to an unprecedented response from Saints fans, billboards, boycotts,

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Speaker 4: federal lawsuits against the NFL.

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Speaker 3: Including reports of a possible class action lawsuit against the

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Speaker 3: NFL filed by people who lost big money betting on

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Speaker 3: the Saints.

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Speaker 2: The issue even ended up on the floor of the

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Speaker 2: US Senate.

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Speaker 4: The state of Louisiana is outraged because of what happened

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Speaker 4: in the Superdome last Sunday.

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Speaker 2: Yesterday, the teams met in a highly anticipated rematch, and

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Speaker 2: once again, the Saints were on the wrong end of

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Speaker 2: a bad call.

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Speaker 3: This should have been a touchdown for the New Orleans Saints.

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Speaker 4: And today we're going to talk with the athletics Larry Holder,

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Speaker 4: a football columnist who lives in New Orleans, about Saints

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Speaker 4: fans epic quest for justice after last season's blown call.

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Speaker 2: And we'll hear from Saints fans at yesterday's game. Who

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Speaker 2: let's just say, we're not feeling great.

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Speaker 3: I'm feeling dejected and I'm thinking, you know, a we

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Speaker 3: can't catch a good call.

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Speaker 2: From wondering on the athletic I'm Kavitha Davidson and I'm

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Speaker 2: Andres Kelto.

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Speaker 4: It's Monday, September sixteenth, and this is the lead.

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Speaker 3: It felt like something great was happening. There is just

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Speaker 3: something about the emotion and.

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Speaker 4: That because you got this, you can't never seen anything that's.

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Speaker 3: Not good news. This isn't a story where you interview

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Speaker 3: the athlete, go home. It stays with you.

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Speaker 4: Hey, Kavita, what's up? Bonders? Well, before we get started,

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Speaker 4: this is the very first episode of the Lead, and

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Speaker 4: since you and I are the hosts, I thought maybe

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Speaker 4: we should just quickly explain what the show is.

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Speaker 2: So The Lead is the show I always wish existed.

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Speaker 2: I'm a sports writer, but I was a sports fan first.

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Speaker 4: And it's really all about great stories.

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Speaker 2: Great stories from great sports reporters who are all over

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Speaker 2: the country. I mean, these are journalists who live in

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Speaker 2: these cities and know these teams and know these players.

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Speaker 4: But you don't have to be a fan of those

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Speaker 4: teams or those players to care about these stories. For example,

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Speaker 4: in this first episode, you talked to Larry Holder, who

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Speaker 4: has covered the New Orleans Saints for almost fifteen years,

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Speaker 4: about why that terrible call last season provoked such an

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Speaker 4: unprecedented response.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and it really helped me to understand why Saints

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Speaker 2: fans did what they did and why fans at yesterday's

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Speaker 2: game were so demoralized. It's really something anyone could identify with.

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Speaker 4: So should we get to the story.

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Speaker 2: Let's go for it. So, Larry, let's start with a

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Speaker 2: very basic question. How important is football is the game

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Speaker 2: of football to the city of New Orleans.

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Speaker 3: I'll just put it to you this way. When Hurricane

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Speaker 3: Katrina struck New Orleans August two thousand and five, and

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Speaker 3: of course everyone is recovering from the storm, people are

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Speaker 3: literally taking their FEMA checks to buy Saints season tickets.

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Speaker 3: That's how important the Saints are to this community. And

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Speaker 3: I'd say without the Saints returning to the city at

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Speaker 3: that point, I don't think this city would have ever

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Speaker 3: actually rebounded. So I would say unlike many, if any

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Speaker 3: NFL fan base within the league.

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Speaker 2: All Right, so let's go back to this incredible no call.

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Speaker 2: It's last year's NFC Championship game. The Saints and the

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Speaker 2: Rams are tied up the fourth quarter, and the Saints

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Speaker 2: look like they're about to score and book a trip

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Speaker 2: to the Super Bowl. Walk us through what happens next.

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Speaker 3: Tommy Lee Lewis, who is really kind of an unknown

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Speaker 3: receiver within the Saints receiving corp. He's not one of

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Speaker 3: their top targets. He's basically running free down the sideline

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Speaker 3: which no breeze, and then Nickel Roby Coleman, in absolute desperation,

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Speaker 3: flies basically headfirst into Tommy Lee Lewis as Drew Brees

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Speaker 3: has a perfect pass, says incomplete no flag for Tommy

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Speaker 3: Lee Lewis. Two officials are looking at each other. One

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Speaker 3: looks like he's about to take the flag out and

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Speaker 3: throw it. A second one basically says no, no, no,

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Speaker 3: and it's not past interference or a helmet to helmet call,

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Speaker 3: which is also of course illegal in the NFL. And

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Speaker 3: the play just goes on.

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Speaker 2: So you're you're in the stadium when this happens. How

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Speaker 2: does the crowd react?

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Speaker 3: It was utter aghast. Crowd's going crazy as there's no

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Speaker 3: flag right on the safe sideline. And then of course

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Speaker 3: the replay they put it up in the on the

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Speaker 3: big screens in the Superdome and everyone loses their minds.

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Speaker 3: I mean he all he was doing was was staring

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Speaker 3: down Lewis and just playing the man, and you add

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Speaker 3: it all together and it became a complete and utter debacle.

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Speaker 3: The Rams get the ball back. The Saints defense is

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Speaker 3: probably a little bit in shell shock. The Rams drive

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Speaker 3: down the field, they kick a field goal, send it

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Speaker 3: to overtime. The Saints get the ball first in overtime,

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Speaker 3: Drew Brees's hit throws an interception, which means when the

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Speaker 3: Rams get the ball back, all they've got to do

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Speaker 3: is kick a field goal.

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Speaker 1: That snap the check is.

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Speaker 2: That was a preview of the first episode of The Lead.

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Speaker 2: To hear the rest of the episode, listen and subscribe

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Speaker 2: to The Lead on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening

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Speaker 2: right now.