The Washington Post - USA (2020-11-22)

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SPORTS

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22 , 2020. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS M2 D

Kentucky 3 9 I ndiana 35 6 F lorida 38 7 C incinnati 36 North Alabama 14 10 Wi sconsin 7UCLA35Mississippi St.24 14 O klahoma St.13App. State 23 Virginia Tech 14 Abilene Christian 15
1 A labama 63 3 O hio State 42 Vanderbilt 17 Central Florida 33 8 BY U6 619 N orthwestern 17 11 O regon 38 13 G eorgia 31 18 O klahoma 41 15 C oastal34 Pittsburgh 47 Virginia 55

BY CANDACE BUCKNER

On the city’s South Side, about
four miles from the ballpark
where Kim Ng launched her his-
toric career, her cheerleaders wor-
ried.
At the University of Chicago,
they had watched her rise from
MVP of the Maroons’ softball
team to White Sox intern to assis-
tant general manager of the New
York Yankees before she turned
30, amassing an army of support-
ers along the way. It was only a
matter of time, they thought, until
she would be running a team of
her own.
Ng certainly thought so. She
started in baseball the same year,
1990, that Elaine Weddington
Steward became the first woman
named assistant general manager
of a major league team. At that
time, the game seemed to be
changing.
“Someday I hope to be a GM,”
Ng said in 1998. “I didn’t realize it
was quite possible until recently.
But I think the possibility is out
there.”
The years passed, though, and
so did the fruitless interviews for
general manager positions. The
Los Angeles Dodgers in 2005. The
Seattle Mariners in 2008. The San
Diego Padres in 2009. The Los
Angeles Angels in 2011. And the
Padres, again, in 2014. Each time,
Ng didn’t get the job.
She built a reputation as one of
the most qualified candidates,
overcoming sexism and racism
SEE NG ON D2

Ng waited

for years.

Baseball

caught up.

Along the way, MLB’s

first female GM faced

numerous obstacles

NATIONALS

New pitching coach Jim Hickey is a proponent of the

change-up, which could help the Nats’ young arms. D2

PRO FOOTBALL

Rookies are in the spotlight for Washington’s matchup

with Cincinnati — and have impressed all season. D6-7

ON THE NBA

Ben Golliver writes that the start of free agency made

one thing clear: Everybody is chasing the Lakers. D10

BY LES CARPENTER

detroit — E arly last Sunday
morning, still several hours be-
fore his first football telecast
started trending on Twitter, Aqib
Talib was so nervous he forgot his
phone.
This led to some awkwardness
at Ford Field’s security gate when
Talib, newly retired after a dozen
years as one of the baddest,
brashest cornerbacks in the NFL,
stepped out of a rented Mitsu-
bishi SUV, patted his pockets and
mumbled, “Umm, I’ll be right
back,” before slinking back into
the car.
Ever since Fox had told him,
two weeks before, that he would
be the network’s color commenta-
tor for the Washington Football
Team-Detroit Lions game, he had
been getting that same swirling
feeling in his stomach that he
used to have as a player in the
days leading up to games.
“Like I got to perform,” he said
earlier in the week. “It’s showtime
on Sunday.”
Then last Sunday he got up
early, put on the brown, custom-
made suit he picked out the
previous Wednesday and made
sure to be at the stadium by
9:45 a.m. in the hope he would
persuade network executives to
give him a contract such as the
reported $17 million a year CBS is
paying former Dallas Cowboys
quarterback Tony Romo. “I’m try-
ing to get me a Romo!” he had
said. Now, in his rush, he left his
SEE TALIB ON D5

Reviews

are in:

Talib ‘ raw’

but ‘real’

Brash ex-cornerback

had viewers talking,

tweeting in TV debut

Undrafted

but undaunted

On Sunday, when Chase The odds were even longer this year, but rookie Wright made it anyway

Young, the No. 2 pick of the

2020 NFL draft, faces

Cincinnati quarterback Joe

Burrow, the No. 1 pick, look

for Young to have a big day.

Why? Call it intuition. It’s

a rule of sportswriting not to

criticize an athlete with tons

of pride when he is at a low moment,

getting knocked from all sides. This column

will break that rule. Hope my nagging

helps, Chase.

After Young’s undisciplined roughing-

the-passer penalty with six seconds left last

Sunday in Detroit, a gaffe that led to a

game-winning 59-yard field goal, the entire

season of the Washington rookie came

under scrutiny.

Others are seeing — and worrying about

— things I have noticed, too. I admit to a

Young obsession. As soon as it looked like

Washington might spend an incredibly

valuable pick on him, I taped every game he

played — his last two in college and every

contest during his rookie season. I have

SEE BOSWELL ON D8

Will the real

Chase Young

please step up?

Thomas

Boswell

JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST

Isaiah Wright h as the second-most catches among Washington wide receivers. “ This situation I was coming into, I had to take it up a notch,” he said.

BY CHUCK CULPEPPER

Does college football keep

drifting toward a top-heavy tedi-

um that threatens to threaten the

sport, or is that question too

alarmist? No. 9 Indiana at No. 3

Ohio State on Saturday figured to

supply a little evidence one way or

the other. Then Ohio State’s 42-35

win in Columbus wound up sup-

plying it one way and then the

other.

Those wacky kids.

Had the Buckeyes walloped the

impressive, top-10 Hoosiers as ap-

peared likely at 35-7 just after

halftime, it would have reinforced

the idea of a Clemson-Alabama-

Ohio State-Oklahoma tier that

has hogged 17 of the first 24 Col-

lege Football Playoff berths and

has sapped the cross-country va-

riety and possibility that boosts

the sport. When the Hoosiers as-

sembled a flurry of gorgeous plays

to arrange two late possessions

from only one score down —

neither got close to scoring — it

signaled a hope for the ambitious

stragglers and a need to keep

paying attention.

If nothing else, the game re-

minded that very young people

play this sport, which can sustain

its unpredictability even when

times seem predictable. Yet there

was not nothing else but some-

thing else.

“There’s no question the gap

has been closed,” Indiana Coach

Tom Allen said, even if by “closed,”

he seemed to mean “closed some”

or “narrowed.” “We’re not there

yet. They still have a lot of very

elite players that make it

SEE OHIO STATE ON D4

In a loss, Hoosiers show

gap with elites is closing

OHIO STATE 42,

INDIANA 35

JAMIE SABAU/GETTY IMAGES

Indiana’s defense intercepted Justin Fields three times, but a second-half comeback came up just short.

BY SAM FORTIER

I

n the moment Isaiah Wright took flight — blond dreadlocks streaming behind

him, his first career touchdown within reach — it was easy to forget how unlikely it

all was. The rookie wasn’t from a football hotbed or a top college program; he

wasn’t even drafted. In normal circumstances, Washington Football Team Coach Ron

Rivera said, “Reasonable expectations for [an undrafted free agent] is to make your

practice squad and hang on.” ¶ Now, in a season with the least normal circum-

stances possible, Wright not only has made Washington’s active roster but has

established himself as an important part of a young, growing offense. He has stepped

in for injured players and become a reliable option, ranking second among the team’s

wide receivers in catches. The NFL loves to flex its star power — Washington’s game

against the visiting Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday is being billed as No. 1 draft pick Joe

Burrow against No. 2 draft pick Chase Young — but players such as Wright are the

league’s bedrock.^ SEE WRIGHT ON D8

Cincinnati at Washington | Today, 1 p.m., WUSA-9