Free Republic

The dome that opened in 1992 was flattened in 15 seconds at 7:30 am. The Georgia World Congress Center Authority said prior to the blast that it should take 12 seconds for the explosives to go off plus another 3 seconds for sections of grandstands to be on the ground. The 71,250-seat dome -- which was the site of high school football state championships, Peach Bowls, SEC championship games, two Super Bowls, 1996 Olympic basketball, three Final Four NCAA basketball tournaments, concerts, pro wrestling and other events -- has been replaced by the $1.6 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium next door.

Link only per agreement with Gannett. Video at link

President Trump complained Sunday that the father of one of the three UCLA basketball players who were arrested in China for shoplifting had played down his role in winning their release, and that he therefore should not have interceded with China’s president. “I should have left them in jail!” the president tweeted. Trump’s tweet drew a quick backlash on social media. Many expressed incredulity that a sitting U.S. president would publicly regret having come to the aid of American citizens being held by an authoritarian government. Among Trump’s sharper critics was Rep. Adam Schiff, (D-Burbank) who tweeted back, “How can...

Here are 10 takeaways from the day that was – and, really, wasn’t – in college football: 1. The slate skies, persistent sleet and high winds that pockmarked a majority of the country on this dreary Saturday set a fitting backdrop for the season’s most sluggish weekend. There ended up being just two top 25 upsets – Wake Forest over No. 19 N.C. State and Kansas State over No. 13 Oklahoma State – making Saturday the season’s most drama-free day of the 2017 season.

Live from Sydney Australia. Prelims at 8 Eastern on Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports Go, Main Card at 10, same channel. Former HW Champ Fabrício Werdum vs. Marcin Tybura in the main event

I’m from Green Bay; my high school colors were green & gold and I am part owner of the Green Bay Packers from when they sold stock after the 1997 Super Bowl victory. So, it took quite a bit to get me to boycott the NFL, but they managed it. Until the owners require their players to stand for the national anthem, or sit for the game, I won’t watch a minute, and I’m not alone. Since Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the anthem in a misguided protest against police violence, the NFL has been hemorrhaging fans. Both TV viewership...

On Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the USC Trojans will face the UCLA Bruins in football for the 87th time since 1929. Saturday’s game falls on the 50th anniversary, to the day, of what many consider to be the biggest, best, most dramatic and most important football game played in the rivalry. That game, played on Nov. 18, 1967, would determine the city and conference (AAWU at the time, now the Pac-12) champion, the Rose Bowl representative and, ultimately, the national champion. Oh, and also the Heisman Trophy winner.

Gymnastics star Gabby Douglas slammed fellow Olympian Aly Raisman on Friday for dressing in a “provocative/sexual way” after Raisman accused her former gymnastics team doctor of sexual assault. Douglas responded to a tweet from Raisman that detailed the victim shaming she has recently received after launching the allegations because she had once done a “sexy photoshoot.” “Just to be clear,” Raisman posted on Friday. “Just because a woman does a sexy photoshoot or wears a sexy outfit does not give a man the right to shame her or not believe her when she comes forward about sexual abuse.”

Most of the time, Chris Coon is a mild-mannered, low-key pastor at Urban Village Church in Chicago.But when the collar comes off and the running shorts—and especially a race bib—go on, the 49-year-old turns into a different person. An angry one. The things that stoke his ire? Poor race organization. Course volunteers who don’t direct runners at turns. And cars, especially those that don’t yield the right of way or even acknowledge his presence in an intersection. Not only does anger bubble up more frequently when he’s running, he says, he’s also more likely to act on it. “I’ve flipped...

ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt joined the latest edition of “Off The Board,” hosted by Jimmy Traina, and fought back hard against claims the World Wide Leader is dying. With ESPN recently losing subscribers and facing ratings that aren’t as strong as they once were (Van Pelt’s midnight edition of SportsCenter is actually up 20 percent year-over-year among total viewers), some critics of the network have said its a sinking ship. Van Pelt is having none of it. On how frustrated he gets with the narrative that ESPN is in trouble: “I push back against it. I get it everyday. Largely,...

Lace up your hiking boots and dab a little Musher’s on your pup’s paws and let’s hit the trails! Nov. 17 is National Take a Hike Day. Hobo the Wonder Dog enjoys getting on a hiking trail and enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of the wilderness — and so do I. November is a perfect time to enjoy a hike with your dog. The mountains are calling and Hobo and I hear their call. Whether you head out on a tried and true hiking trail or search for a new path, your adventure is never the same. The thing...

As Roger Goodell, Jerry Jones, and the NFL engage in an ugly internal fight over the future leadership of the NFL, TV partners at CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC are staring at their own internal conflicts — namely a substantial decline in NFL ratings that is on pace to cost the four networks up to $500 million in lost revenue. Already several hundred million in lost revenue has been booked in 2017 and it has the league’s top executives and television partners scrambling to figure out what went wrong. How did a league that was setting ratings records in 2015...

The prospect of Russia boycotting an Olympics for the first time since 1984 is a step closer after its national anti-doping agency failed to have its suspension lifted. The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) was declared noncompliant with the World Anti-Doping Agency’s rules when the details of Russia’s systemic cheating first emerged in November 2015. With the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang just 12 weeks away, Thursday’s Wada foundation board meeting in Seoul was the last scheduled chance for Rusada to convince anti-doping leaders it had met the terms of a “road map” to compliance.

Bobby Doerr, the Hall of Fame second baseman dubbed the “Silent Captain” of the Boston Red Sox by longtime teammate and life-long friend Ted Williams, has died. He was 99. Doerr died Monday, the Red Sox said Tuesday in a statement. The Red Sox said Doerr had been the oldest living major league player. “Bobby Doerr was part of an era of baseball giants and still stood out as one himself,” Red Sox owner John Henry said in the statement. “And even with his Hall of Fame achievements at second base, his character and personality outshined it all. He will...

Next week’s Iron Bowl looms as a massive game for the SEC West and, possibly, the College Football Playoff. But here’s a reminder for Alabama and Auburn fans to not take the rivalry too seriously. A man in Mobile, Alabama, shot another man on Monday after they were allegedly arguing over which of the two in-state rivals was superior. From Al.com:

e’re used to it by now: the weekend before Rivalry Weekend is a little bit of a pit stop. Some teams save their FCS opponents for mid-November, and plenty of powers play non-powers. Some games that looked big in July have fizzled along the way. Still! Look beyond just the FBS schedule — which is fine on its own, IMHO — and you’ll see this is a totally enjoyable weekend of college football, like all the others.

While much of the focus on the NFL this season has been on the African-American quarterback who is not in the league, it is also important to give attention to the ones who are. As much as Colin Kaepernick deserves to be on a team based on his talent, we can safely say that if he's been blacklisted from the NFL it is not because he is black. And we can assume this because many of the players who are in the league instead of him – in spite of being worse at football – are also black.

Bob (Rapping Roberto) Costas now knows what that view from under the bus looks like. Speaking at a recent University of Maryland journalism symposium, the veteran NBC Sports broadcaster said something that has — in a variety of ways — been expressed by countless voices: Playing football can literally mess up your mind, leading to death itself. Wow, there’s a news flash: Football is dangerous. Really? The only time these remarks are big news is when an active player such as Chris Borland, 24, quits the game citing the health risk. “The issue that is most substantial, the existential issue...

For the past four years, Tim Phillips has been searching for a massive buck in the Saint Paul area of Missouri. The deer had been seen by several people over the years, but no one had been able to set it in their sights. “I knew he was out there, but had to wait for the right time,” Phillips told KSDK. On the last day of the season, Phillips shot the 39-point buck, which was estimated to be about 8-years-old. Phillips tells KSDK that he is donating the meat to Share the Harvest, a program that feeds those in need.

Just when you think the left couldn’t get any more wacky, they go and do something that proves there’s always room for more lunacy. Case in point: Monthly publication GQ Magazine named former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick as its “Citizen of the Year” in its “Men of the Year” edition, which is subtitled, “The New American Heroes.” Apparently, this is no joke.