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Sports Tag

Posted by Amy Miller on May 14, 2015 32 Comments
Earlier this week we reported on the NFL's verdict in the "deflategate" scandal involving the Indianapolis Colts, the New England Patriots, and a sack of deflated footballs. Following an investigation, the Patriots were fined $1 million and lost their first round draft pick for 2016 and fourth round pick for 2017. Additionally, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was suspended for the first four games of the 2016-2017 season, and locker room attendant Jim McNally and equipment assistant John Jastremski were both suspended without pay, and cannot return to their jobs without the permission of the NFL. The punishments were rendered based on the contents of the now-famous "Wells report", which was issued last week and revealed the results of an independent investigation into the footballs used in this year's AFC Championship game. Brady today announced that he is appealing the suspension, and the Patriots issued a blow-by-blow response to the Wells report. "The Wells Report in Context" asserts that the findings of the Wells report are "at best, incomplete, incorrect and lack context," and seeks to "provide additional context for balance and consideration."

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 11, 2015 47 Comments
Following a lengthy investigation, the 'Deflategate' verdict was handed down by the NFL early this evening. Boy is it tough. New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady was suspended for the first four games of the 2015-2016 season, the team incurred a $1 million fine, and the Patriots will lose their first round draft pick in 2016 and fourth round pick in 2017. Two employees who handle footballs for the club were also implicated. "Patriots employees John Jastremski and James McNally have been indefinitely suspended without pay by the club, effective May 6. They aren't allowed to be reinstated without the NFL's permission," reports Yahoo News. Multiple sources including Yahoo Sports claim there's no evidence that Brady, coach Bill Belichick, or Patriots owners were directly involved in the Deflategate scandal. According to Yahoo Sports, the NFL handed down the unprecedented punishments, "for violating playing rules and not cooperating fully in the investigation." Is the finding that Brady was most probably aware befitting of a four-game suspension though? CNN reports, "The Wells report found that "it is more probable than not" that Brady was "at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities" of locker room attendant Jim McNally and equipment assistant John Jastremski. Jastremski has been with the team for 14 years, the past three as the staffer in charge of preparation of the game-day footballs." Yahoo Sports has the breakdown:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 04, 2015 12 Comments
(This post is just an excuse to gloat over the Patriots' victory, but please read on, there's a point here someplace.) Has there ever been a more exciting Super Bowl final quarter than the one we saw during the Patriots' latest win? First, there was the improbable, amazing, super-stupendous "what the **** just happened" catch to put the Seahawks on the verge of victory: Then, there was Bill Belichek playing mind games with Pete Carroll by not calling a time out, which caused "the call" and "the interception":

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 02, 2015 32 Comments
While Professor Jacobson was surfing the Twitter stream during the Super Bowl, I was savoring the free market creativity of American advertisers. The runaway favorite commercials feature cute puppies and horses. One particular ad, however, brought out an entirely different animal in me: The Mama Grizzly. I have a serious recommendation to T-Mobile executives: Fire the idiot feminists and their beta-male minions who came up with this commercial: The dialog for one of the scenes, in which Sarah Silverman & Chelsea Handler characters duel over first-world lifestyle quality, has Sarah Silverman's insipid character inform a newborn's mother: "I'm sorry, it's a boy." It was a real piece of #WarOnMen propaganda. As a mother of a son, who is a 100% all-boy alpha male that I have been delighted to raise as such, I was appalled by the crass anti-maleness of the statement. Let's play a game of substitution, shall we?

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 31, 2015 8 Comments
Tomorrow is the Super Bowl between The New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. "Deflate-Gate" is deflating. While there are rumors that the ball-boy may have done it, there doesn't appear to be a history of such shenanigans:
Brady, too, has denied wrongdoing, amid an NFL investigation into allegations that 11 of 12 balls he used in the first half of a 45-7 rout of the Colts in the AFC Championship game were underinflated. His denial rang true not only to a couple of former Patriots quarterbacks but an ex-ball boy who spent a number of seasons helping Brady select the balls he used in games. The former ball boy, who asked not to be identified because he is building a new career and does not want to become entangled in the national frenzy over Deflategate, said he never heard Brady express interest in the air pressure of game balls. “The only thing I knew about his preferences were that he chose the balls that were more broken in and the ones he liked the grip of,’’ the ex-ball boy said. “He never said anything about inflation levels.’’ Nor did anyone else in the Patriots organization mention game-ball inflation levels to him, the former ball boy said.
And science (!) makes the Patriots' climate change explanation plausible:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 18, 2014 49 Comments
From WaPo:
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has canceled the Washington Redskins trademark registration, calling the football team’s name “disparaging to Native Americans.” The landmark case, which appeared before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, was filed on behalf of five Native Americans. It was the second time such a case was filed. “This victory was a long time coming and reflects the hard work of many attorneys at our firm,” said lead attorney Jesse Witten, of Drinker Biddle & Reath. Federal trademark law does not permit registration of trademarks that “may disparage” individuals or groups or “bring them into contempt or disrepute.” The ruling pertains to six different trademarks associated with the team, each containing the word “Redskin.”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 20, 2014 10 Comments
I did not know who Richard Sherman was until last night. When Twitter exploded with Twit-rage over something Sherman said, I didn't know what everyone was talking about because I didn't watch the end of the San Francisco-Seattle football game. So I searched Sherman's name and then clicked on his Wikipedia page, and saw this (highlighting added): Richard Sherman Wikipedia Page Piece Human Garbage Close Up Highlighted Well, that certainly caught my interest, and it wasn't too hard to find out what happened. By the time I clicked back on Wikipedia, the "human garbage" entry was gone, replaced by a more neutral analysis. Looking back at the Edit History of the page, it's easy to see that the moment after the interview, there were numerous attempts to "vandalize" the page (times are expressed in GMT):

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 30, 2013 8 Comments

I wasn't watching live because I didn't really care. But the rubbing-it-in that's going on is quite enjoyable to watch. (I was tempted to draw political analogies, but that would have cheapened the moment.) Good collection of video/gifs/photos at SB Nation. https://twitter.com/gregorydjohnsen/status/406945912863211520 https://twitter.com/japarsons/status/406946057298259968 https://twitter.com/sbnation/status/406943478870843392 https://twitter.com/AaronWorthing/status/406950865309007872 Good luck collecting: https://twitter.com/tjboyd15/status/406829975053291520...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 23, 2012 103 Comments

The NCAA has imposed the following penalties on Penn State, via WaPo: Penn State was socked with a four-year postseason ban, the loss of 40 scholarships over four years and a $60 million fine stemming from its coverup in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 18, 2012 30 Comments

Via Reuters: A jury in downtown Washington on Monday acquitted Major League Baseball pitching great Roger Clemens of all six criminal charges against him in a trial to decide whether he lied to Congressabout using performance-enhancing drugs. Jurors deliberated for a total of about 10 hours before...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 07, 2012 4 Comments

Peyton Manning was released by the Colts today. Upon seeing the headline "Manning Released," cheers must have erupted in Salons around the world. Just one problem, as Jim Geraghty points out: ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 20, 2012 63 Comments

"Chink in the armor" is a non-racial idiom, not a single word, denoting: A vulnerable area, as in Putting things off to the last minute is the chink in Pat's armor and is bound to get her in trouble one day . This term relies on chink ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 06, 2012 57 Comments

I didn't watch the Halftime show yesterday, but I did notice Twitter light up like a Christmas Holiday tree, with shouts of Et tu Clint! Now I know why: It pretty much was an Obama commercial supporting the government bailout of Chrysler: Apparently the ad was pulled from YouTube...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 04, 2012 26 Comments

I have followed cycling for many years, and at one point was a pretty good cyclist myself. The family went to Paris in 2005 to watch Lance Armstrong's last victory ride down the Champs-Élysées (as it turned out it was not his last ride, as he...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 29, 2012 24 Comments

to watch this again. I was a student in Moscow at the time, and it was overwhelming.  No one thought it was possible.  And it wasn't, it just happened. ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 14, 2012 32 Comments

The man of God or the man who is a God in New England? I'm going hometown. I will update when the game is over, until then, it's whatever is on your mind. Post game update:  "That was so satisfying that I need a cigarette."...

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