Printable View
In 2005, the Patriots defeated the Eagles to win their third Super Bowl in four years. The Eagles just won the NFC championship by defeating the Vikings, 38-7, and will once again face the Patriots in the Super Bowl. NBC's telecast of Super Bowl 52 begins at 3:30 PM February 4. (This is 21st-century America, not third-century Rome, and I refuse to use Roman numerals. I don't know why the NFL does.)
This will be Tom Brady's 8th Super Bowl. He has been in more Super Bowls than any other player. He won 5 of them and I think he will win next week's game too.
Bettors supposedly like to go with underdogs. In this case, I guess we could say under-eagles. More people are betting on the Eagles than on the Patriots. Last night the Patriots were favored by 5½ points in Super Bowl 52. Tonight they're favored by 5 points and by game time they could be favored by only 4 points. But the Eagles will still be the underdogs.....or under-eagles.
Super Bowl updated odds: Line makes an early move toward underdog Eagles
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/su...derdog-eagles/
The Giants today hired Pat Shurmur as head coach. He coached the Browns for two seasons and was an offensive coordinator for the Rams, the Eagles and, in 2017, the Vikings.
The Titans' new head coach is Mike Vrabel, former defensive coordinator for the Texans. As a linebacker, he played four seasons with the Steelers, eight with the Patriots (and won three Super Bowls!) and two with the Chiefs.
Veterans org accuses NFL of refusing to run #PleaseStand ad
New York Daily News, Jan 23 2018 3:15 PM
A service organization representing 20 million U.S. military veterans is accusing the NFL of "corporate censorship" for refusing to run an ad that featured the phrase #PleaseStand along with a picture of service members holding an American flag. In a scathing letter from American Veterans National Commander Marion Polk addressed directly to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Polk says the league invited his organization (known as AMVETS for short) to publish an ad in the official Super Bowl LII program but Goodell’s staff "refused to publish our ad because of its simple two-word message."
"Mr. Goodell, veterans are good for more than just military flyovers, photo opportunities during halftime, or props to sell camouflage-style NFL apparel," Polk wrote in the letter. "The NFL’s stance on not allowing the veterans’ unfiltered voice to be heard says otherwise." Polk says both NBA commissioner Adam Silver and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman have allowed the ad to run in game programs in their respective leagues.
"Freedom of speech works both ways," Polk wrote. "We respect the rights of those who choose to protest, as these rights are precisely what our members have fought — and in many cases died — for. But imposing corporate censorship to deny that same right to those veterans who have secured it for us all is reprehensible and totally beyond the pale."
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/fo...icle-1.3774236
Anyone with a criminal record will not be allowed to play in the XFL. Golly gee, that will cut the number of eligible players way down.
Vince McMahon: XFL to return in 2020 without gimmicks
ESPN, Jan 25 2018 12:47 PM
WWE founder and chairman Vince McMahon announced Thursday he is giving a professional football league another go. It will be called the XFL, the same name of the league McMahon and NBC tried for one season in 2001, but it won't rely on flashy cheerleaders and antics as its predecessor did, he said. McMahon said he is the sole funding source for the league, which is slated to begin in January 2020. Its first season will have eight teams around the country playing a 10-week schedule. The initial outlay of money is expected to be around $100 million, the same amount of WWE stock McMahon sold last month and funneled into Alpha Entertainment, the company he founded for the project.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2...fl-return-2020
Wow, what a shocking headline! Who could have forseen this?
Las Vegas bookmakers backing Tom Brady's Patriots in Super Bowl
https://www.aol.com/article/news/201...bowl/23351991/
"Here's a story.....of a man named Brady....." Well, actually, there isn't much to say about Tom Brady and the Patriots. They just lost to the Eagles, 41 to 33, in Super Bowl 52. I wonder how many millions of dollars were lost by people who bet on "the Brady Bunch."
Sad news: Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson and another man were struck and killed by a drunk driver early this morning as they stood near a disabled vehicle alongside I-70 in Indianapolis.
After the game, two of the Eagles gave glory to God for the win and the coach thanked Jesus Christ for the win. It is nice to hear athletes share their faith that way.
August 2 will begin four days of frenzied football fun and frivolity in Canton, Ohio: a parade, a Hall of Fame game, an autograph session, photo opportunities, a concert, a luncheon, a fashion show (!) and the Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony.
Ray Lewis, Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Brian Dawkins, Brian Urlacher voted in to Pro Football Hall of Fame
http://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/03/sp...d-dawkins.html
I saw on ESPN that the drunk driver who killed Edwin Jackson was an illegal immigrant from Guatemala and he was deported two times and kept coming back. He was also driving without a license. When we deport people, we need to make sure they do not come back. We need to have more guards at the border.
The Super Bowl Championship Delirium pandemic has hit Philadelphia. Today all the schools, courts, museums and government offices were closed so everyone could go see the Eagles (and the Vince Lombardi trophy) riding atop double-decker buses. As many as two million people were expected for the parade.
Philadelphia Eagles thank fans and share their glory with Super Bowl parade
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nation...208-story.html
"Frank Reich, you just won a Super Bowl. What are you going to do next?" "I'm going to go to another team." Ummm.......okay.
Cots hire Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich as new head coach
www.sacbee.com/sports/article199588344.html
For Seahawks fans, sad news -- but not unexpected. He tore his Achilles tendon and missed the last seven games of the season.
Seattle Seahawks release Richard Sherman
http://www.fieldgulls.com/2018/3/9/1...ichard-sherman
It took Sherman just one day to find a new team. But why do we pay teachers, firefighters and police officers so little and pay professional athletes so much?
Richard Sherman agrees to three-year, $39 million contract with 49ers
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...act/414142002/
The AAF says their game telecasts will have 60% fewer commercials than NFL telecasts. Yeah, that's probably because few companies will want to run ads during games between a bunch of unknowns.
Alliance of American Football eight-team league to launch in February 2019
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/sp...n-2019-on-cbs/
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2...urry-group-out
This is a story about all the different people who are trying to buy the Carolina Panthers. The bids are up to $2.5 billion and that would be a record for the sale of a team. If the team is sold I wonder if they will move to another city.
Last October the NFL said they would not require players to stand for the National Anthem. Today the NFL announced a new policy: Players are required to stand for the National Anthem. Players who want to kneel can still do so -- but only in the locker room.
NFL National Anthem policy: Players must 'stand and show respect'
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/sto...est/637050002/
The Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly to every American. That includes football players. By the way, a story in today's Los Angeles Times says only two -- two -- of the Eagles' players were planning to make that now-canceled visit to the White House.
NFL players who kneel during anthem aren't unpatriotic, most voters say
CBS News, Jun 7 2018 7:44 PM
A majority of voters don't believe NFL players who kneel during the National Anthem to protest police shootings of unarmed black men are unpatriotic, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. President Trump has highlighted the controversy for months now, suggesting players who kneel are disrespectful of the flag and perhaps should go elsewhere if they don't like the US.
The NFL's decision to impose fines on the teams of players who kneel, a decision Trump praised, fanned the flames of the cultural controversy. And earlier this week, the President rescinded the Philadelphia Eagles' invitation to the White House, hosting a ceremony supporting the National Anthem instead. The Quinnipiac poll found that 58% of voters don't think players who kneel are being unpatriotic, compared to 35% who do. The poll also found American voters generally disapprove of Trump's handling of race relations, 61% to 33%.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nfl-pla...st-voters-say/
What amazes me about the National Anthem controversy is that we have a President who admires and trusts Putin, Duterte, Erdogan and other dictators and who constantly attacks immigrants, Muslims, Mexicans, the news media and others and who is causing great harm to our nation by lying, boasting, sending out nasty tweets, feuding with world leaders, starting trade wars, giving huge tax cuts to the wealthy, reversing clean-air and clean-water regulations, ending protections for threatened species and opening up federal lands to mining and drilling.......and then he accuses kneeling NFL players of being "unpatriotic."
NFL puts the brakes on policy requiring players to stand for the national anthem
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nfl-put...tional-anthem/