John Branch

Derek Boogaard was widely regarded as the toughest man in the NHL. His tragic death in 2011 helped break the silence about violence and concussions in professional sports. 

John Branch, New York Times sports reporter and author of the three-part series “Punched Out: The Life and Death of a Hockey Enforcer,” about Derek Boogaard, a professional hockey player; Alan Schwarz, New York Times education reporter and formerly a sports reporter whose coverage of concussions in sports was nominated for a Pulitzer prize; and Dr. Robert Cantu, neurosurgeon and co-director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University School of Medicine, discussing the link between contact sports, concussions, and degenerative brain conditions.

• BUSINESS TAKEOUT:  European investors are focusing on the debt in countries like Greece and Italy, but domestic analysts will be watching the U.S. Treasury, which releases the monthly deficit figures this afternoon. New York Times finance reporter Louise Story brings us more.
• SPORTS TAKEOUT:  New York Times sports reporter John Branch brings us up to speed with the latest Olympic news.
• LISTENERS RESPOND: We asked listeners which hobby you'd like to turn into a money-making venture. Here's what you said.

• WASHINGTON TAKEOUT: We talk to Lynn Sweet, Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times who describes the political cost of the president's upcoming meeting with Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
• SPORTS TAKEOUT:  New York Times' sports reporter John Branch joins us from Vancouver with the latest Olympic news and previews the week of winter sports ahead.

Professional athletes in just about every sport imaginable are sprinting to new records: passing more accurately, throwing faster, jumping higher, swimming further. But there's one th...