Crunch!
American Football
Thu, 2012-06-07 12:13
#1
American Football
Thu, 2012-06-07 12:13
#2
A concussion-related lawsuit bringing together scores of cases has been filed in federal court, accusing the NFL of hiding information that linked football-related head trauma to permanent brain injuries.
Lawyers for former players say more than 80 pending lawsuits are consolidated in the "master complaint" filed Thursday in Philadelphia.
Plaintiffs hope to hold the NFL responsible for the care of players suffering from dementia, Alzheimer's disease and other neurological conditions. Other former players remain asymptomatic, but worry about the future and want medical monitoring.
The suit accuses the NFL of "mythologizing" and glorifying violence through the media, including its NFL Films division.
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/nfl/story/2012/06/07/sp-lawsuit-accuse...
Fri, 2012-09-21 15:17
#3
Catchfire
Pressure intensifies on NFL to bring back locked out refs
Criticism of NFL replacement officials has intensified after the second week of games, with loud, public pleas by players and commentators for the league to reach an agreement with its locked-out referees and get them back on the field.
“It’s just like a team of rookies,” Redskins linebacker Lorenzo Alexander said of the replacement officials, who, some players and coaches said, nearly lost control of Washington’s contest with the St. Louis Rams. “If you’ve got a whole bunch of rookies on an NFL roster, you’re going to have a lot of mistakes out there. So it’s the same thing and that’s what we’re getting.”
Mike Pereira, the league’s former vice president of officiating and now an NFL rules analyst for Fox, publicly asked Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, a member of the NFL negotiating committee, to end the lockout.
“Arthur... get the refs to the table tomorrow and get this done,” Pereira wrote on Twitter Monday during the Falcons-Broncos game.
Here Are The 21 Worst Replacement Referee Mistakes From Sunday
Fri, 2012-09-21 17:56
#4
So the NFL Player's association is fine with working side by side with scabs. How sweet.
Fri, 2012-09-21 18:45
#5
I haven't seen anything to support that assumption.
If by "fine" you mean that the NFLPA hasn't called a secondary action in support of the officials, you're correct. I don't think that should come as a surprise.
If you think they've been neutral on this, no.
we reserve the right to assert that utilizing replacement officials jeopardizes the health and safety of our members and to take appropriate action to protect our members. In addition, [b]our players request that the locked-out officials immediately be allowed to return to work for this weekends’ games to ensure the players’ health and safety is protected until you reach a new agreement with them.[/b]
[url=http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/16/nflpa-still-concerned-ab... still concerned about replacement officials[/url]
the NFL Players Association remains concerned about the quality of the officiating, both as it relates to the integrity of the game and the health and safety of the players.An NFLPA source tells PFT that the union noticed “a lot more pushing and shoving and the play,” and that in the assessment of the union the officials “almost lost control of a few games today.”
The union, we’re told, has asked the individual player representatives to provide a brief report regarding the performance of the replacements, including any obvious health and safety issues.
The NFLPA previously asked for comprehensive background information regarding the replacements. They’ve received some information, and the union is in the process of digesting it.
“[b]To us,” the source said, “this is still about a basic and dangerous union-busting agenda.[/b] They are hurting the game and hurting the NFL brand, in our view.”
Many players, including NFLPA reps, have also spoken out in support of the regular officials.
Tue, 2012-09-25 02:00
#6
[url=http://www.thenation.com/blog/170111/nfl-scab-referees-and-return-tv-blo... Scab Referees and the Return of TV Bloopers[/url]
the National Football League owners and their Commissioner Roger Goodell, in their infinite greed, has returned the blooper show to the airwaves with the weekly hi-jinks of it’s stumbling, bumbling, scab referees. The lockout of union refs has turned the nation’s Sunday NFL ritual into a profane farce. You could look at it as a living argument for the importance of trained union labor, or like a dangerous practical joke: a group of Sacha Baron Cohens in black and white stripes poking at fans and players to see just how much they’ll take before they snap.Yesterday we were served the spectacle 49er coach Jim Harbaugh, berating some meek scab into giving him both an extra challenge flag and an additional timeout. Then there was the sight of the referee who threw his hat on the field of play, causing receiver Kevin Ogletree to step on it and slip awkwardly in the end zone. Fortunately his knee ligaments remained attached. But this was all high comedy compared to seeing helmet to helmet hits go unregulated, Bill Belichick physically accosting an official, and 70,000 fans in Baltimore chanting "bullsh*t" in unison for a solid minute. The owners might want to note that it’s only funny until the peasants grab pitchforks.
After this weekend's fiascos, the pressure is starting to build on the NFL to bring back the real officials. Still, the owners are arrogant and greedy enough to let this drag on for a while yet.
[edit: MNF may prove to have been the proverbial straw that breaks the owners' back.]
Tue, 2012-09-25 08:04
#7
Tue, 2012-09-25 16:25
#8
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker finds a union he likes:
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local/wisconsin&id=8824242
Tue, 2012-09-25 17:13
#9
Wed, 2012-09-26 12:11
#10
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker finds a union he likes:
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local/wisconsin&id=8824242
if it works for football I wonder if it will work for anything else. hmmmm?
Thu, 2012-09-27 01:04
#11
[url=http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/26/daopoulos-nfl-nflra-deal..., NFLRA deal is done[/url]
Details are still not clear, but Daopoulos says that the much-debated pension issue was resolved with the current defined-benefit plan remaining in place for five years before switching to a 401(k)-style defined contribution plan.Also, it’s believed that the deal will cover five more years before this one, which means that we’ll potentially be doing this again in 2018.
UPDATE 10:56 p.m. ET: Daopoulos has provided some more facts. The officials will vote on the deal in Dallas on Friday, at which time it will become final. They’ll then participate in a clinic, and head on Saturday to the game sites. Also, the officials will receive a pay raise of four percent, with 12 guaranteed game checks this year and 19 in subsequent years (including preseason). As to the checks they’ve missed this year, the officials will divvy up $2.5 million.
Thu, 2012-12-06 17:12
#12
Catchfire
The Hard Life of an N.F.L. Long Shot
The math of making an N.F.L. roster seems straight forward. There are 40 or so players who are Ones and Twos on offense and defense. Then there is a punter, at least one kicker, a long snapper and often a third-string quarterback. This leaves just a handful of positions available. The Falcons’ starting linebackers were set: Akeem Dent would be the starting middle linebacker with Mike Peterson as his backup. Sean Weatherspoon and Stephen Nicholas would play on either side. For the other two backup linebacker spots (if the Falcons decided to go with six), Spencer Adkins, a three-year veteran from the University of Miami, and Robert James, an undrafted free agent from Arizona State who spent the last two seasons on the practice squad, seemed favorites. It would be up to the three remaining undrafted free-agent linebackers to find some way to change that math.
I watched that final preseason game on TV. Pat didn’t get a single rep on special teams, but he played the better part of the second half at middle linebacker in an inspired trance, calling checks, conducting the defense and taking down ball carriers like a seasoned pro. On one sweep, he shocked and shed two blockers, did a full 360-degree turn and somehow found the running back again, taking him down for a loss.
He ended up tying Akeem Dent for the team lead in tackles with eight. In the postgame locker room, thoroughly drained by the Florida heat, he had to hydrate intravenously.
“I was dead,” he told me later. “Played something like 60 reps. My sweat was sweating. I went into that game thinking, This is the last time you’re ever going to put on a helmet. I did everything like I did in college. Wore my face paint. Got into a zone. Didn’t give a damn what anybody thought or said. I was out there just flying around. I was a savage. Whether I got cut or not was out of my hands, but I never felt more at peace. I had no regrets.”
Coach Pires made a point of stopping by Pat’s locker. “He said: ‘You played your tail off tonight. No matter what happens tomorrow, you’ve got to be proud,’ ” Pat told me.
At just past 9:30 the following morning, Pat was back at the Flowery Branch facility getting a long-craved training-room massage when he got a phone call. It was from the Falcons’ football-operations office. They wanted to see him in the team-meeting room.
“I knew right then,” Pat told me. “I’m thinking, You have got to be kidding.”
Tue, 2013-01-08 13:57
#13
Dave Zirin: [url=http://www.thenation.com/blog/172056/rgiii-and-crisis-liberalism-united-... and the Crisis of Liberalism in the United States[/url]
Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post’s Pulitzer Prize–winning liberal political columnist, wrote that he knows who is to blame for Washington Redskins superstar quarterback Robert Griffin III’s horrific knee injury. He has seen the culprit and it is us. Reaching for a cliché with more age than the jokes at the White House Correspondents Dinner, Robinson writes, “If you are a football fan and are appalled by what happened Sunday and want to find someone to blame, look in the mirror.”
If Eugene Robinson would only turn his gaze away from all of us, he’d see that fault actually starts not in the stands but in the owner’s box with Redskins boss Dan Snyder. Snyder is a billionaire and despite years of terrible decisions, mediocre finishes and a franchise brand that’s racist as all hell, the Redskins are the third most valuable organization in the National Football League. Even though Snyder holds this reservoir of resources, the field on Sunday was in a condition that would shame a public high school.
Even worse, USA Today is reporting that Mike Shanahan has openly misrepresented what team orthopedist Dr. James Andrews said to him about RGIII’s knee. As they reported, “Andrews insisted he never cleared Griffin to return to a game in which Griffin initially injured his knee, even though coach Mike Shanahan again tried to lay the responsibility on him.” If this is true, then Mike Shanahan should never work in the NFL again. If it’s true, it’s also a horrific example of a person in authority abusing their power. Once again, this is something Eugene Robinson could have discussed. Instead, just as Shanahan passed the buck to RGIII, Robinson passed the buck onto us.Yes, football is a game unsafe at any speed. Yes, it’s governed by a toxic macho ethos that makes injuries like we saw Sunday inevitable. But there are real flesh-and-blood people we can hold to account for what took place. There was a time when we could count on liberals with a public platform to be a part of this fight. That era is starting to look as outdated as calling a team the “Redskins” or as much past its prime as a certain 60-year-old coach. If there is going to be a real fight against power and privilege, not just in sports but in politics, it might be time to champion some new fighters.
Tue, 2013-01-08 14:57
#14
autoworker
Griffin's injury reminds me of Terry Francona's career-ending mishap, on the artificial turf at the Big "O".
Fri, 2014-01-10 13:04
#15
BOSTON -- Two players violated league concussion protocol in last weekend's wild-card games, according to a letter sent by the NFL's head, neck and spine committee chairmen to all team doctors and trainers.
In a document obtained by The Associated Press, Dr. Hunt Batjer and Dr. Richard Ellenbogen say that one player actually re-entered the game and another refused to leave the sideline. The doctors did not identify the players, but one was Green Bay tackle David Bakhtiari, who went into the game for an extra-point try despite being examined for a concussion and not cleared.
The other player was Saints cornerback Keenan Lewis, who remained on the sideline but did not get back on the field.
Sun, 2014-02-02 14:44
#16
My money's on the Seahawks today - what say you?
Sun, 2014-02-02 17:38
#17
Go 'Hawks.
Sun, 2014-02-02 22:56
#18
Sweet- First time Seahawks ever won a Super Bowl!
Mon, 2014-02-03 07:09
#19
I just found out yesterday, via reading an article about Seattle's sad-sack sporting history, that their hockey team won the Stanley Cup in 1911.
This was before all the leagues were amalgamated into the NHL, and Seattle was representing something called the Pacific Coast Hockey Association.
Mon, 2014-02-03 09:27
#20
The first play from scrimmage certainly set the tone.
Mon, 2014-02-03 15:42
#21
Catchfire
Not much of an American Football fan but even I can get a certain thrill from seeing Peyton Manning humiliated.
Mon, 2015-01-12 14:30
#22
Speaking of the Manning name:
And btw are the lookin' good Seahawks going back to Superbowl 2015?
The Most Clutch Postseason Quarterback Of All Time Is Eli Manning
Mon, 2015-01-12 14:45
#23
My Pats did it with mirrors on Saturday. No run game and leading only once. Let's see how they do with a little Luck. 
Wed, 2015-01-14 12:37
#24
Not much of an American Football fan but even I can get a certain thrill from seeing Peyton Manning humiliated.
Wed, 2015-01-21 08:35
#25
Wed, 2015-01-21 09:16
#26
Belichick doesn't need to cheat, yet he still does. Why the officials don't have total control of the footballs is beyond me.
Wed, 2015-01-21 09:20
#27
I guess they probably will from now on.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/patriots/2015/01/21/new-england...
Wed, 2015-01-21 09:23
#28
What an unappetizing super bowl matchup. One team that cheats while they other gets every break in the book. At least the Cowboys were knocked out.
Wed, 2015-01-21 10:00
#29
alan smithee
Go Seahawks
Wed, 2015-01-21 10:02
#30
Agreed! 
Go Seahawks
Wed, 2015-01-21 10:45
#31
My Patriots really benefitted from under inflated footballs. First half with under inflated balls: NE 17, Cols-7; second half with properly inflated balls: Ne-28, Colts-0. Get a life NFL execs.
Wed, 2015-01-21 14:17
#32
Very sad behavior indeed. 
It is very fortunate the game was not close.
NFL Says Patriots Used 11 Underinflated Footballs In AFC Championship Game
An investigation has found the New England Patriots used 11 underinflated footballs in their AFC Championship victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mbvd/nfl-says-patriots-used-underinflated-footba...
Wed, 2015-01-21 19:39
#33
Belichick doesn't need to cheat, yet he still does. Why the officials don't have total control of the footballs is beyond me.
If I were commish, I would suspend Belichick and Kraft for the Super Bowl.
Wed, 2015-01-21 21:00
#34
That's like a slap on the wrist to them.
And why is this not a criminal offense, or is it? Or are they too rich and powerful to be charged, eh!
They both need to be barred from professional sports for a minimum of 10 years, and maybe serve a little bit of time in the slammer to set a healthy example to others.
I hope the Seahawks crush them!
http://www.wthr.com/story/27901962/kravitz-pats-nfl-need-to-come-down-ha...
Thu, 2015-01-22 01:07
#35
The Seahawks may have benefitted from this dance and cermony. They haven't lost since it took place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=84359240&x-yt-ts=1421782837&v=JU6z...
Thu, 2015-01-22 06:35
#36
A kropotkin sighting! Happy New Year old buddy!!
Thu, 2015-01-22 07:13
#37
Any evidence that these footballs were knowingly underinflated, oh Monday morning detectives?
Thu, 2015-01-22 07:29
#38
And why is this not a criminal offense
Probably because it's about the same level of cheating as a scuffball in baseball... if that.
Fri, 2015-01-30 13:07
#39
Zirin: [url=http://www.thenation.com/blog/196601/solidarity-and-seattle-seahawks-for...—and the Seattle Seahawks—Forever[/url]
To have Marshawn Lynch consciously try to control his own labor and by doing so, dredge up the worst impulses in the sports media aristocracy was, intentionally or not, a national service. Thanks to Lynch, we have seen a layer of sports writers regurgitate all of their suppressed bile against young black athletes—tweeting things like their desire for an “English to Marshawn dictionary”—and exposing the long-standing resentments older and mostly whiter sportswriters have towards the people they cover. When Lynch looked at the media and said, “Shout out to all my real Africans out there”, you could almost hear the ventricles in the room constricting.
[...]
Pull for the team that will use the win to be more than just a brand. Pull for the team that models the idea that having an opinion about the world is a positive thing. But most of all, pull for that moment, as the confetti falls, when [that walking] talking corporate crime spree Roger Goodell has to hand Marshawn Lynch the MVP trophy.
Sun, 2015-02-01 01:11
#40
Roger Goodell gets flustered by Rachel Nichols (again) at his press conference
http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/1/30/7952967/roger-goodell-super-bowl-q...
Sun, 2015-02-01 02:11
#41
Amazing they only win super bowls when they cheat .
Go seahawks (tho I hate them too but at least they aint the cowboys or giants)
Sun, 2015-02-01 05:23
#42
Misfit
I'm cheering for Seattle for the simple reason that it took two Canadian players to get them to the Super Bowl. Their QB threw four interceptions. Their Canadian punter threw a touchdown pass, and another Canadian scored the go ahead touchdown to carry them through. Also, Seattle has pretty colours.
Sun, 2015-02-01 20:01
#43
Love my Hawks - amazin!
Sun, 2015-02-01 20:13
#44
Everyone has to watch the half time show
Sun, 2015-02-01 21:00
#45
If you were paid $40/hour to watch a 3.5 hour NFL football game, but were only paid for the moments of actual ball play, you would take home $7.33.
Sun, 2015-02-01 22:16
#46
Great, great game
Congrats patriot fans
Sun, 2015-02-01 23:10
#47
Is the Patriots' win good news for the NDP?
Mon, 2015-02-02 12:17
#48
Mon, 2015-02-02 13:37
#49
They should have run, but I understand the strategy behind it. They only had one timeout left. Had they run on second down and not got in, they would have had to use the timeout. Which means they would have had to pass on third down with so little time left. The main problem was that they chose a dangerous pass in the middle of the field rather than a fade to the corner of the end zone.
Mon, 2015-02-02 13:45
#50
Is the Patriots' win good news for the NDP?
You owe me one mouthful of expelled water.
Mon, 2015-02-02 13:48
#51
Misfit
It's four down football. They had three more shots to move one yard with one timeout and 120 seconds left in the game.