Football
September 21, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Last week, I discussed how the Pittsburgh Steelers were planning to honor Antwon Rose, a drive-by shooter, by wearing his name on their helmets. Initially, only Afghan war vet Alejandro Villanueva declined to go along with this plan. He announced that he would wear the name of Alwyn Cashe, an African-American who was killed in Iraq. But then, Maurkice Pouncey, the team’s star center, also balked. He admitted he should
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September 18, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
I wrote here about how the Pittsburgh Steelers will be honoring Antwon Rose, a drive-by shooting participant and probable shooter, by wearing his name on their helmets this season. Only one player — Afghan war vet Alejandro Villanueva — refused to go along with this nauseating decision. He will wear the name of a fallen warrior, Alwyn Cashe, an African-American who was killed in Iraq. Now, however, another player, star
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September 16, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Alejandro Villanueva plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is a military combat veteran, having served in Afghanistan. This season, all of the Steelers except for Villaneuva will wear the name of Antwon Rose on their helmets. Villaneuva intends to wear the name of Alwyn Cashe, instead. Cashe, a black man, was a U.S. Army sergeant. He died of injuries suffered in Iraq in 2005. Rose, also black, was a criminal.
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September 7, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
On Saturday, I watched football for the first time since February. The game was Arkansas State vs. Memphis. ESPN carried it. I was having a fine time watching a reasonably well played and closely contested game. But then, in the second quarter, the announcing team — Bob Wischusen and Dan Orlovsky — suddenly turned away from football to racial politics. The two began by saying how wonderful it is that
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September 2, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Kirk Cousins is the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings. An “out” Christian, he has sometimes been targeted by liberal sportswriters. Several weeks ago, he gave an interview on a podcast that apparently was released today. The interview gave rise to a story in City Pages, a weekly tabloid-style rag that doesn’t pretend to do actual journalism. City Pages tweeted: Kirk Cousins says COVID-19 masks are stupid: 'If I die, I
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August 18, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
The Washington football team (formerly known as the Redskins and now in search of a replacement name) has hired Jason Wright as team president. Wright becomes the first African-American president of an NFL team. However, there have been African-American coaches and general managers — positions that, depending on what Wright’s duties will be, may be at least as important as team president. Wright was an NFL running back for several
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July 19, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
During much of last week, Washington sports fans were teased with rumors of a blockbuster scandal involving our football team that the Washington Post was getting ready to publish. The rumors included orgies, a Jeffrey Epstein connection, serious misconduct by a former coach, and more. The scandal turned out to be low to mid-level grade sexual harassment by certain team employees, all of whom were already gone or were let
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July 3, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
It looks like the wave of wokeness will cause the Washington Redskins finally to change their name. Owner Daniel Snyder says the team is undertaking a thorough review of the team’s name. It would be mighty surprising if the review concluded that “Redskins” is fine. Has Snyder had a genuine change of heart about the team name? Of course not. He’s simply come under intense pressure from corporate America. Notably,
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May 31, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Colin Kaepernick is back in the public’s consciousness. Joe Lockhart, the former White House press secretary, says the Minnesota Vikings should offer him a job. That’s just what Minnesota and the Vikings need now — a quarterback controversy involving Kaepernick. But Lockhart’s suggestion seems wise compared to this column by Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post. She writes: Two knees. One protesting in the grass, one pressing on the back
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May 19, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Today, the National Football League is considering a proposal to enable teams to improve their draft position by hiring minority candidates for coaching and executive positions. As I understand the proposal, a team that hires a minority head coach would move up six spots in the third round of the following year’s draft. Hiring a minority general manager would enable a team to move up ten spots in that round.
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April 26, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
The wide world of sports has become a narrow strip — boxing from Nicaragua, with the possibility of baseball from South Korea and soccer from Germany. However, the NFL threw us a tasty morsel last week. For two nights and one day, sports fans could savor the NFL draft. And savor it, we did. The average television audience during Round 1 of the draft was 15.6 million, a 37 percent
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April 22, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
It must have been in the Fall of 1960 that I went with some neighbors to watch our local high school football team, Wheaton, play powerhouse Richard Montgomery in the final game of the Montgomery County football season. Wheaton was hoping to gain a share of the County championship with Richard Montgomery. Optimism did not abound. Richard Montgomery had a star running back named Mike Curtis. Rumor had it that
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April 6, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Bobby Mitchell, star of the Cleveland Browns and Washington Redskins, and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, died yesterday. He was 84. No cause of death was given. Mitchell broke the Redskins’ color barrier, but said he wanted to be remembered first and foremost as a great player, rather than an historically significant one. In this post, I will honor that wish. You can read about his historical
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March 26, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Earlier this month, the National Football League decided to go ahead with its free agent signing period even though other sports were shutting down due to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. Unlike the playing of actual games, free agency required no physical contact. Every part of the the process could be performed remotely except for physical examination of the free agents, and that could be deferred. Nonetheless, some claimed that going
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March 19, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Last weekend, I wrote about whether the NFL should proceed with free agency. I thought it should. Some football writers thought it shouldn’t. Awarding big contracts to players during a time like this would be a “bad look,” they argued. The NFL went ahead with free agency. Football fans had something fun to read and think about during these somber days. Teams communicated remotely with players and their agents. Physical
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March 15, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
The NFL “league year” doesn’t begin when the regular football season starts. Nor does it begin with the Hall of Fame pre-season game or the opening of training camps. The NFL deems its “league year” to start when the scramble for free agents commences. That’s scheduled for tomorrow with the beginning of the “legal tampering” period. Hard core NFL fans look forward to this day every year. This year, with
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January 31, 2020 — John Hinderaker
First of all, the game should be good, and the teams are relatively new to the national spotlight. (“What do the Super Bowl and the Democratic presidential field have in common? No Patriots!”) I am not one of those who think the commercials are more interesting than the game; on the contrary, to the extent I watch them, I often find myself scratching my head over what product or service
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