Many years from now, when films are being made about the present strangeness, it will not go unnoticed that professional football’s collective indecisiveness managed to make the government’s daily press briefings look structured and resolute.
Football is not important at the moment; one can only agree with Sir Dave Brailsford’s conclusion that sport in general has been taught its place in the overall scheme of things by the events of the last few months. Though what seems likely to be remembered is that when the gravy train hit the buffers the national sport could not agree on anything.
Not the right way to go about trimming the enormous wages of players now being mothballed, not a unified approach to the outg…
It is undoubtedly one of the more remarkable managerial appointments in recent history, and Mark Hughes’s unveiling as the new Bradford City manager may not have been possible at all had the Bantams’ chief executive, Ryan Sparks, not been so thorough when it comes to checking his email account.
The League Two strugglers caused a huge shock on Thursday when they announced that Hughes, the former Manchester City and Southampton manager who has never taken charge of a club outside the Premier League, had been appointed as Derek Adams’ successor on a deal until the summer of 2024.
The move marks Hughes’s return to management since being sacked by Saints over three years ago, but it almost didn’t come to fruiti…
Sarina Wiegman is in line to manage Great Britain at next summer’s Olympics in Paris should qualification be secured, the Football Association has announced.
The women’s football tournament there will feature three European sides: the hosts France and two teams who will secure qualification via the inaugural Women’s Nations League that is just about to get under way.
Olympic qualification and three divisions: how new Women’s Nations League worksRead more
England have been nominated as the home nation with eligibility to obtain a spot for Great Britain, and thus also the employing and appointing body for Team GB staff.
Wiegman, under whom England have won Euro 2022 and finished as run…
Every year, NFL social media teams have made the schedule release a big annual tradition. While the schedules typically get leaked online before the formal announcement, it’s always fun to see what each team will do to throw shade at opposing teams while getting their fanbase juiced for the upcoming season. Let’s rank the top ten NFL schedule release videos. 10. Kansas City Chiefs ASMR Trend The Chiefs did, literally, crush it last year. This was a creative play on a viral trend and I was happy to see Kansas City go this route instead of trying to make some sort of corny Taylor Swift pun. 9. Baltimore Ravens Employ Comedian Stavvy Halkias Halkias is a notoriously loud Ravens fan, and this video fit his chaotic brand incredibly well. Jim Harbaugh even made an appearance in this …
Turnovers are a pretty luck-dependent stat. It doesn’t matter how great your cornerbacks can cover opposing receivers or how hard your middle linebackers can hit. Most of the time, turnovers are nothing more than being in the right place at the right time or having a series of fortunate events fall into your lap. In 2021, the Dallas Cowboys’ defense benefitted massively from the number of turnovers they forced. The Cowboys led the league in both interceptions (26) and total turnovers (34). They were also tied for the NFL lead in turnover differential (+14). That’s great! Most of the time, teams near the top of the turnover differential leaderboards tend to see continued success from season to season. Whether it be because of a quarterback with an uncanny ability to take care of the…
Every two weeks, the gents at Free Darko will be taking a look at the deranged ecosystem that is the National Basketball Association in their own indelible fashion. Here's this week's entry, from Bethlehem Shoals. By most yardsticks, I am kind of a fuck-up. I'm almost 30 and have only had one full-time job; I got fired after six months for taking long lunches and refusing to obey direct orders. I have a Master's, but wasn't disciplined enough to bother with a PhD. And while I've more or less supported myself through writing, you probably won't see my byline in the Times anytime soon. Yet despite my unimpressive resume and shoddy life-choices, it's been a while I've thought of myself as "immature." According to the dictionary, biolo…
The 2016 NBA Draft proceeded in a calm, orderly fashion for most of the evening, with only one big trade coming down the pipeline, and the chaos that was promised this year (like the chaos that gets promised every year) mostly amounted to teams staring each other down then doing nothing (as they do every year). The draft was a very international affair, as 14 of the 30 first rounders were born outside the United States, and a record-tying eight players had never played for U.S. teams. As expected, the Lakers took Brandon Ingram with the second pick, but then Boston and Phoenix went off script by selecting Jaylen Brown and Dragan Bender with the third and fourth picks, respectively. The Timberwolves and Bulls then glowered at each other for a while about a possible Kris Dunn for Jimmy Bu…
Not really sure what else there is to say that hasn't already been said. This is weird, an injury—technically—and it is baseball-related. Oh, and it happened in 2013. While Gio's injury is not all that serious—he was able to make his first start of the spring today and pitched relatively well—no weird injury is too mild to cover. His dog's name is Hollywood and she is a booze hound. Could explain the violent outbursts. Previously: The First Weird Baseball Injury Of 2013: Twins Reliever Breaks Ribs During "Horseplay"
The Second Weird Baseball Injury Of 2013: Red Sox Prospect Bryce Brentz Shot Himself In The Leg Image via Gio Gonzalez got rug burn on his forehead from wrestling with his bulldog, "Hollywood" [Nats Enquirer] Relatedbetting …
Zak Showalter hit a miracle three with two seconds remaining to send his Wisconsin team to overtime against a Florida Gators squad that led throughout the second half. He followed it up with a certain branded signature gesture aimed at Aaron Rodgers, in attendance and rooting on the Badgers. Here’s how the call sounded on Westwood One radio: [TBS] …
data-mm-id=”_xrt04v1s1″>The lack of diversity among the head coaching ranks of the NFL is once again front of mind. The lingering problem has been discussed for years but the numbers are actually moving in the wrong direction. Currently, only four of the 31 filled positions are held by a minority. This coaching carousel has seen lesser-known candidates like Joe Judge come from the clouds and get a position Eric Bieniemy or Jim Caldwell didn't get. It's easy and correct to point the finger at ownership, which is overwhelmingly older and and whiter. They are the ones making the ultimate decision and, oftentimes, making a mockery of the Rooney Rule. But this issue is complex. And Mike Golic offered a supplementary point during his show this morning, highlighting how bad NFL head…