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Have you noticed just how violent professional football is? Does it strike you as odd that so many are excited about a game in which players are knocked senseless and many are maimed? The players strike each other with such force that the collision sounds can be heard high in the stands and on TV. The quarterback position is acknowledged as the most important, but rare is the quarterback who is able to play a whole season without significant injuries. More important than the broken clavicles, the shoulder dislocations, and even the gruesome orthopedic disasters like the career-ending injury of...

NFL Live Thread 2016 Conference Championships Sunday, January 24 Patriots Vs Broncos 3:05 EST Cardinals Vs Panthers 6:40 PM EST

United Nations (United States) (AFP) - A UN study of new sources of financing for its multi-billion-dollar aid operations is recommending a voluntary tax on football matches or concerts as one option to raise funds. The report released Sunday in Dubai also recommended tapping into Islamic social finance and mandatory alms-giving (zakat) as well as improving the transparency of relief operations to cut costs. More wars and natural disasters over the past decade have sent the price tag for global UN aid efforts skyrocketing, from $2 billion in 2000 to $ 24.5 billion in 2015, according to the nine experts...

The 49ers on Thursday hired Chip Kelly to become the organization’s seventh head coach of the past 15 years. CEO Jed York made the announcement on Twitter: "After a thorough search, Trent & I are thrilled to announce Chip Kelly as the new #HeadCoach of the @49ers"

Former NFL star Lawrence Phillips has been found dead in his prison cell. The 40-year-old, who was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the first round of the 1996 NFL draft, was serving time at Kern Valley State Prison in California at the time of his death for two separate incidents - assaulting a girlfriend and hitting three teenagers with his car. It is believed his death was a suicide. Phillips was also facing additional charges at the time of his death after being accused of murdering his cellmate last year, Damion Soward.

It's over. The NFL owners voted tonight to allow Stan Kroenke to move the Rams to Los Angeles, ending the team‘s 21-year run in St. Louis. The owners also agreed to let the San Diego Chargers explore a move to the same facility, in suburban Inglewood, which is south of L.A. The Rams will be gone in time for next year's season.

Johnny Manziel is in danger of losing his biggest sponsor -- Nike -- with sources telling TMZ Sports the company is "on the fence" about dropping the QB from its roster this off-season. In fact, one highly placed Nike source tells us ... "We are worried about him and hope things will turn around in the right direction ... but we are on the fence if [our relationship] will continue."

Donald Trump may be the only person in America, outside of the residents of Cincinnati and Minneapolis, who has watched these NFL playoffs and doesn't like what he sees. "Football has become soft like our country has become soft," the GOP presidential frontrunner told a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada on Sunday. "We're going soft, just like the NFL, we're going soft."

Robert Griffin III is saying goodbye to the Washington Redskins. Four years after signing a $21.1million four-year contract with the team, that came with a $13.8million signing bonus, Griffin was seen cleaning out his locker for the final time following the Redskins loss to the Green Bay Packers in the first round of the playoffs on Sunday. It was a difficult four years for Griffin, who after a stellar rookie season faltered in his second year and was replaced by Kirk Cousins, never returning to his post as starting quarterback.

The state of Alabama doesn’t have an NFL team, an NBA team, or an MLB team, but in one sport, at least, it’s number one with a vengeance. Alabama is the college football capital of the United States. Since head coach Nick Saban took over at the University of Alabama in 2008, the Crimson Tide has won three national championships while cross-state archrival Auburn has one. And on Monday night, No. 2-ranked Bama goes for its fourth crown in seven years against No. 1-ranked Clemson in the College Football Championship Game in Glendale, Arizona. You might argue that some other...

A documentary (teaser) that explores the game of Shrovetide football that has been played in the town of Ashbourne, England for the past 350 years. There are almost no rules and the object is to get the ball from the center of town to one of two goals three miles apart at the opposite sides of Ashbourne. The winner is whoever scores more goals over two days of play.

NFL DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF WEEKEND Saturday, Jan. 16 AFC Divisional Round Game 1 Kansas City Chiefs vs. New England Patriots 4:35 p.m., CBS NFC Divisional Round Game 1 Arizona Cardinals vs. Green Bay Packers 8:15 p.m., NBC Sunday, Jan. 17 NFC Divisional Round Game 2 Carolina Panthers vs. Seattle Seahawks 1:05 p.m., FOX AFC Divisional Round Game 2 Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Denver Broncos 4:40 p.m., CBS

Bengals intercept a pass to seal the game. Promptly fumble it back to the Steelers. Then commit 30 yards of penalties in the final seconds to allow Pittsburgh the game-winning chip shot field goal.

As absurd as it sounds, Nick Saban had found time to relax. The coach was at a restaurant near his Georgia vacation home at Lake Burton, more than 300 miles from Alabama’s campus in Tuscaloosa. It was summer — far closer to next season than the previous season.

The Cincinnati Bengals have officially ruled out quarterback Andy Dalton for the team’s playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers Saturday. Dalton sustained a fractured right thumb during the Bengals’ Week 14 loss to the Steelers. Dalton had the cast removed from his hand earlier this week.

American football has become a fertile training ground for elite military combat units in Israel. Some 2,000 Israelis now play the game citing brotherhood, discipline and fitness as its main draw.

<p>More than 100 Missouri Republican lawmakers are calling for the firing of a University of Missouri assistant professor and a staff member who received nationwide attention after a video captured the two women attempting to intimidate student journalists at the site of a campus protest in November.</p>

Johnny Manziel reportedly wore a blond wig, fake mustache and sunglasses to party at a Las Vegas club incognito on Saturday night. Manziel, 23, was ruled out of Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, as per the NFL's post-concussion protocol, but was absent from the required doctor's visit that morning. Employees and a customer at Planet Hollywood reported seeing Manziel eating and playing blackjack at the casino on Saturday night. Then, ESPN Las Vegas added to the story, saying the quarterback wore a disguise and said his name was Billy while out in Sin City. There is also reportedly video...

The Chargers made it official Monday night. The AFC West franchise wants out of San Diego, its home since 1961. The Chargers, nearly seven months after breaking off negotiations with San Diego city and county officials, formally submitted relocation documents with the NFL on Monday, the first day of the league’s window for franchises to apply to move. The Rams and Raiders also applied for relocation Monday night, setting up a three-way race for no more than two spots in the Los Angeles-Orange County market that will likely be decided by a vote of the league’s owners next week in...

With the 2015 regular season coming to an end, which coaches and GMs will get their walking papers? The Browns got things started a day early on Sunday by parting ways with Mike Pettine and Ray Farmer, but there are surely more to come. Read on for updates, reactions and analysis as the firings of Black Monday roll in.