Football
September 25, 2017 — John Hinderaker
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders did a press briefing today. She began by talking about several items the White House is working on. Here is the first sentence or two on each topic that she raised in her remarks: On the economic front, this week, the President will continue his push to secure tax relief for hardworking American families. … We are pleased to announce that the President will be traveling
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September 25, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Alejandro Villanueva was lauded today for standing up during the national anthem while his less patriotic Pittsburgh teammates all refused to honor it, electing to stay off the field instead. However, Villanueva has now apologized for his show of respect for America. He claims it was the result of a misunderstanding of what the team was going to do. You can read his explanation here. Villanueva tweeted: Every single time
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September 23, 2017 — John Hinderaker
President Trump’s Huntsville, Alabama, speech, which Paul wrote about here, continues to reverberate. One of Trump’s riffs related to the National Football League: When people like yourselves turn on television and you see those people taking the knee when they are playing our great national anthem – the only thing you could do better is if you see it, even if it’s one player, leave the stadium. I guarantee things
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August 11, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Actually, this is a Ryan Mallet update. However, it’s relevant to Kaepernick because Mallet is the backup quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens, a team that has contemplated signing Kaepernick. The Ravens starting quarterback, Joe Flacco, is injured. Thus, Mallet started last night’s pre-season game against the Washington Redskins. Mallet was awful. He completed 9 of 18 passes for only 58 yards. His rating was 57.2. Mallet’s actual performance was worse
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August 9, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Last year, playing for a bad San Francisco 49ers team, Colin Kaepernick had a quarterback rating of 90.7, completed 59.2 percent of his passes, and threw for 16 touchdown with only four interceptions. These numbers, other than the touchdown passes to interceptions ratio, aren’t outstanding. However, they suggest that Kaepernick is one of the 32 best quarterbacks in football and certainly one of the best 64. Yet, as of today,
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June 19, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
The Supreme Court ruled this morning that the government cannot deny full trademark protection to allegedly racially offensive trademarks. The opinions are here. The case involved an Asian-American band called “The Slants.” It sought federal registration of that mark. The Patent and Trademark Office denied the application under a Lanham Act provision prohibiting trademarks that may “disparage. . .or bring. . .into contemp[t] or disrepute” any “persons, living or dead.”
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March 20, 2017 — Steven Hayward
News out of the sports world is that no NFL teams want to sign free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick, not merely because he may be washed up, but because of his political stunts. An unnamed NFL insider told Bleacher Report: “[Many teams] genuinely hate him and can’t stand what he did (kneeling for the national anthem). They want nothing to do with him. They won’t move on. They think showing
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February 6, 2017 — John Hinderaker
It wasn’t the Atlanta Falcons, or Matt Ryan, or Dan Quinn, or even the bettor who put down $1 million on the Falcons not long before game time. No, the Super Bowl’s biggest loser was Touré. If, like most people, you haven’t heard of Touré, he is a far-left commentator on MSNBC. Here, for your entertainment, are some of Touré’s tweets during the Super Bowl, in chronological order: Trump is
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February 6, 2017 — John Hinderaker
Scott and Paul have already written about last night’s classic, and Steve has added a picture gallery. I just want to comment on a couple of aspects of the evening. First, the ads. I didn’t pay attention to most of them. Half the time, I can’t figure out what is being advertised, at least not until the end. And there are quite a few ads that I can tell feature
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January 1, 2017 — Steven Hayward
Anyone who watched either of yesterday’s BCS “playoff” games has to come away with disgust for whoever came up with the scheme to have a faux college football championship. Washington played creditably against Alabama for much of the game though the result never seemed much in doubt, but Ohio State didn’t even belong on the same field with Clemson. The Buckeyes took more black eyes than Rhonda Rousey in a
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December 30, 2016 — Steven Hayward
As has been widely remarked, TV ratings for the NFL are down sharply this year. I don’t have an opinion about whether it is partly to to Colin Kaepernick’s capers, or other defects of the game today, but at least we still have NFL cheerleaders to cheer us up. Unless you’re a Cleveland Browns fan. There, apparently, even the cheerleaders can’t cheer up anyone. That’s the subject of our Video
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October 16, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
I wrote here about the absurd personal foul that was called a few weeks ago against Josh Norman of the Washington Redskins for celebrating a big play by pretending to shoot a bow and arrow. This week, Vernon Davis, also of the Redskins, was assessed a personal foul for something at least as innocuous — shooting a jump shot with the football. Davis is a native Washingtonian who played his
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October 10, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
I wrote here about the decline in the television ratings of the National Football League so far this season. The decline is relative, though. NFL ratings are still excellent. The appeal of the NFL’s product was evident yesterday in the Washington, D.C. metro area when the following sports events were competing for viewers: (1) a regular season football game between the Washington Redskins and the Baltimore Ravens and (2) a
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October 8, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
The National Football League’s television ratings have declined significantly this season. After four weeks, the NFL’s ratings are down 11 percent across FOX, CBS, NBC and ESPN. And the Thursday night game that kicked off Week Five experienced a 17 percent drop in viewership compared to the corresponding game last season. The biggest hit is on prime time. On Sunday afternoon’s, the traditional NFL slot, the decline is only around
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October 3, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
These are words I never imagined I’d hear from an NFL referee. But that was the call against Washington Redskins corner back Josh Norman yesterday. Don’t get me wrong. Shooting a bow and arrow on a football field should, at a minimum, be a personal foul. Sure, the players have plenty of padding and protection, but not enough to guarantee their safety if shot by an arrow. The problem is
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September 25, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
It will be a cold day in hell before I root for the New York Giants to beat the Washington Redskins (or any other team not named the Cowboys). But after today’s game between New York and Washington (won, somehow, by the Redskins), I have a strange new respect for the football Giants. Why? Because every member of the team stood with respect during the playing of our National Anthem.
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September 25, 2016 — Steven Hayward
I’m a certified New England Patriots hater. Don’t even get me started. But you do have to tip your hat to them when they deserve it. Their 3 – 0 start without pretty boy quarterback Tom Brady is a remarkable feat of coaching by the worst-dressed coach in all of pro sports, Bill Belichick. But something else Belichick is doing is a terrific example of the law of unintended consequences
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