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WNPR News sports coverage brings you a mix of local and statewide news from our reporters as well as national and global news from around the world from NPR.

The Scramble: Freakonomics, Tony Awards, and Rock Cats in Hartford

Freakonomics god Stephen Dubner is our SuperGuest for today's Scramble, and he talks about how to think more rationally and creatively, the upside of quitting, and the latest studies on happiness. Then, we chat with sports economist Andrew Zimbalist, and WNPR's capital region reporter Jeff Cohen, on the value of publicly-funded sports arenas. What's the status on the possible building of a baseball stadium in Hartford? Is it a done deal? What else have we learned and expect to understand about what a business like that may do to the city?

Finally, theater critic Frank Rizzo joins us to talk about the big wins for Hartford Stage's "A Gentleman's Guide to Love And Murder," which snagged the Tony Award for best new musical. The accomplishments extend to Robert L. Freedman, who won best book of a musical, Linda Cho, who won best costumes, and Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak, who became the first artistic director of a Connecticut theater to win a Tony for staging a musical.

MAYHEM AND CATASTROPHE! Something bad happened in our audio-storing equipment, and we lost some of this show. (If you insist on a technical explanation, I'm told one of the crossbeams has gone out askew on treadle.) Actually we lost all of the show, but will be able to recover the last two segments and embed them here. But my conversation with Stephen Dubner has been lost forever and will probably be acted out in crude puppet shows as part of our post-apocalyptic oral tradition. A post mortem suggests that the big mistake, never to be repeated, was allowing Chucky to be weekend guest engineer. Really sorry!

We now resume the normally scheduled webpage. What do you think? Comment below, email Colin@wnpr.org, or tweet @wnprcolin.

GUESTS:

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Colin McEnroe is a radio host, newspaper columnist, magazine writer, author, playwright, lecturer, moderator, college instructor and occasional singer. Colin can be reached at colin@ctpublic.org.
Chion Wolf is the host of Audacious with Chion Wolf on Connecticut Public, spotlighting the stories of people whose experiences, professions, or conditions defy convention or are often misunderstood.
Betsy started as an intern at WNPR in 2011 after earning a Master's Degree in American and Museum Studies from Trinity College. She served as the Senior Producer for 'The Colin McEnroe Show' for several years before stepping down in 2021 and returning to her previous career as a registered nurse. She still produces shows with Colin and the team when her schedule allows.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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