Free Republic

The Titans — and the officiating crew — played right into the hands of the Patriots in Saturday night’s 35-14 rout of Tennessee in the AFC divisional playoff game at Gillette Stadium. The 14-3 Patriots, as defending Super Bowl champions, shouldn’t need such help. Not that they were turning it away or complaining. The first questionable call that went against the Titans came in the second quarter on a third-and-4 play from the Tennessee 27-yard line. Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota connected with former Jets receiver Eric Decker on a pass that appeared to give Tennessee a first down to keep...

Last August, after several accidents and deaths among climbers on Mont Blanc, Western Europe’s highest and most treacherous mountain, Jean-Marc Peillex, the mayor of the French town of St. Gervais-les-Bains, issued an order: Anyone attempting to climb the nearby Gouter route up the mountain must now have specified gear including a harness, rope and headlamp. Those who do not take these precautions are to be fined. On the face of it, the order is common sense. Mont Blanc, known among climbers as the White Killer, is 15,774 feet high, and as the recent spate of casualties make clear, its ascent...

First event of the new year, prelims at 8 Eastern on Fox Sports One and Fox Sports Go, Main Card at 10. Jeremy "Little Heathen" Stephens faces Korean knockout artist Doo Ho Choi in the main event. Major chick fight between Paige VanZant and Jessica-Rose Clark, Clark sadly had her house burgled and her cat mortally wounded by the perps just days ago. Darren Elkins vs. Michael Johnson Unfortunately the co-main event, Uriah Hall Vs. Vitor Belfort was called off as Hall....you guessed it, was hospitalized after a failed weight cut. Major problem in the sport.

A reportedly drunken golf cart ride New Year’s Eve in Fairfield sent one elderly man to jail and his two companions to local hospitals. According to the California Highway Patrol, the crash occurred just shy of 10:30 p.m. at the Green Valley Country Club. Dino Glennon Forristall, 65, of Pinole, was driving the cart and Christine Forristall, 63, also of Pinole, and Sherri Jeha, 65, of Crocket, were riding with him. Dino made an unsafe turning movement, officials said, resulting in the cart traveling off a 30-foot embankment. Dino suffered minor injuries while both passengers suffered major injuries. Officials described...

SNIP The hermit kingdom’s leading girl band — which shares a bit of style with the Spice Girls, the 1990s British chart-busting pop group — looks to be making a play for an appearance at the Winter Olympics. If they pull it off at talks due to start Monday in the Panmunjom peace village, the world may be treated to such Moranbong band hits as “My Country is the Best!” and “Let’s Support Our Supreme Commander with Arms.” An Olympic appearance would be the first time on an international stage for Moranbong, whose 20 mini-skirted members were “hand-picked” by Kim...

Keith Jackson, who was widely regarded as the voice of college football by several generations, died late Friday night, his family said. He was 89. Jackson, who retired in 2006, spent some 50 years calling the action in a folksy, down-to-earth manner that made him one of the most popular play-by-play personalities in the business. "For generations of fans, Keith Jackson was college football," said Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company. "When you heard his voice, you knew it was a big game. Keith was a true gentleman and memorable presence. Our thoughts and prayers go...

Easily the most unexpected NBA story I’ve read today comes from ESPN’s Ian Begley. Knicks center Kyle O’Quinn, it turns out, loves going to bar and bat mitzvahs. His agent, Andy Miller, invited O’Quinn to his daughter’s bat mitzvah a few years ago, which O’Quinn called “one of the best parties I’ve been to in my life.” He was hooked, and now he books bar mitzvah appearances on a semi-regular basis. "A lot of times, I go and I stay longer than I'm supposed to because it's so much fun," O'Quinn said. "The food's always good. The only thing that...

In a two-hour ABC special on Harding's life, LaVona "Sandy" Golden contradicts her daughter's claims that she beat her children almost daily and once threw a knife at Harding. In her first interview since the release of the Tonya Harding biopic I, Tonya, the real figure skating champion's mother LaVona "Sandy" Golden disputes her daughter's — and the film's — depiction that she was violent and abusive with her children. During the ABC News two-hour special Truth and Lies: The Tonya Harding Story, which aired Thursday night, Harding claims that Golden beat her at least six times a week and once...

A “take a knee” rally protesting police violence is planned for Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium ahead of the Vikings playoff game against the New Orleans Saints. The group Take A Knee Nation Twin Cities says the demonstration will be in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On Facebook, the group said that if he were alive today, the civil rights leader would be protesting police violence. The Sunday demonstration is planned for 2:30 p.m. outside the downtown Minneapolis stadium. It’s slated to go for about an hour, up until the game starts at 3:40 p.m. Over the course...

With their good looks and sharp moves, North Korea’s female cheerleaders are a marked contrast to the regime’s menacing nuclear ambitions. Dubbed the “army of beauties” in South Korea, the young North Korean women — mostly in their late teens or early 20s — have attracted huge publicity whenever they have been sent to the South. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s wife-to-be wife Ri Sol Ju was among the group who attended the 2005 Asian Athletics Championships in Incheon. The cheerleaders are set for their fourth appearance in the South after Pyongyang agreed this week to send a delegation...

While national anthem protests have slowed around the NFL, it has still dominated national conversation throughout this season. So what if such protests — namely kneeling — were to surface at the Super Bowl? Fred Gaudelli, the executive producer of the Super Bowl, told reporters Tuesday night that the network would indeed capture any kneeling at the game. "It was a pretty big story in our country this fall,” Gaudelli said Tuesday. “The Super Bowl is a live event, just like ‘Sunday Night Football.’ When you’re covering a live event, you’re covering whats happening. “So if there are players that...

SNIP But don’t be fooled. Roger Craig is a pivotal figure in NFL history, and the Seniors Committee needs to recognize him for what he was: a game-changer. To borrow a line from Bob Costas: “Roger Craig was a cutting-edge player on a cutting-edge team.” A central figure on three Super Bowl champions, Craig became the new prototype for how running backs can be used, the template for future dual threats like Marshall Faulk and LaDainian Tomlinson. Craig was the first back to have a 1,000-yard rushing, 1,000-yard receiving season. The first running back with more than 90 catches in...

BATTLE GROUND, Wash. —Tonya Harding’s name isn’t Tonya Harding anymore. “My name is Tonya Price,” she said, when she saw me taking notes. In 2010, she had just returned home to Washington from Los Angeles,(snip) She was having drinks with a friend when she spotted one Joe Price, a heating and air-conditioning worker, on the karaoke stage. He was singing “Great Balls of Fire.” “I’m going, damn, he’s got beautiful eyes,” she said. “I mean the eyes are the center to your soul, O.K.? You might have a nice butt, but I want to see the eyes.” Within weeks she...

The Big Baller Brand website is jammed with $50 T-shirts and $60 hats, the cornerstone of a business that outspoken founder LaVar Ball says is competing with big-name athletic apparel brands. But the Chino company responsible for screen-printing and embroidering the hats, T-shirts and other high-priced apparel sold by Big Baller Brand claims it hasn’t been paid.

For some Georgia fans Monday’s loss to Alabama in the College Football Championship, though tragically heartbreaking, filled them with hope and pride. For other Bulldogs watchers it was deja vu watching a team rise in joy only to crumble in defeat. And yet for others, the overtime loss was the result of a sinister force -- the Big Ten referees officiating the game. Media outlets and fans alike point to a litany of missed calls that allowed Alabama to claim its fifth title in nine seasons. Here are some of the cited incidents of flagrant favoritism to the Tide: •...

SNIP The Patriots quarterback, the subject of a forthcoming documentary series, “Tom vs. Time,” granted a filmmaker unparalleled access to his world, including life at home with supermodel Bündchen, the New York Times reports. Sitting down for a joint interview for the show’s fifth episode, the Brazilian born bombshell discussed how she and football reside on Brady’s top shelf. “It really is his main love,” Bündchen said, according to the paper. “Frankly it’s true.” SNIP “I do want to know the whys in life,” Brady said. “I do want to know why we’re here, where we’re going; trying to find...

Seals are often called the dogs of the sea, but it appears humpback whales are man’s best friend when it comes to the open waters of the ocean. According to the Portland Press Herald, celebrated marine biologist Nan Hauser found herself in a scary situation in the waters of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. It happened in October, when the 63-year-old was on a routine dive with other researchers and a documentary filmmaker, observing the behavior of the majestic humpback whale — a massive creature of which Hauser is extremely familiar. Through her vast experience, Hauser knows not...

Throughout this 2017 NFL season, television ratings have declined and fans, TV pundits, and reporters have speculated as to the biggest cause. On social media, many people railed that players protesting during the national anthem led outraged Americans to boycott. A new survey from SurveyMonkey and Ozy Media, shared first with Yahoo Finance, finds that 33% of NFL fans boycotted the league this year—but not entirely because they were outraged by the player protests. Nearly equal proportions boycotted in support of Colin Kaepernick or the protests as boycotted in support of President Trump, who vocally opposed the protests.

(ATR) According to preliminary reports, United States Vice President Mike Pence will travel to South Korea in February for the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to make the official announcement within the next 24 hours, according to a spokesperson for the National Security Council. “President Trump has committed to sending a high-level United States delegation to the Winter Olympics and looks forward to announcing the delegation soon,” the spokesperson said according to Reuters. The expected announcement follows the first high-level diplomatic talks between North and South Korea in two years that were held in the...

Reaction from Georgia Tech supporters and former players (apparently, former interior offensive linemen are especially salty) over archrival Georgia’s crushing overtime loss to Alabama in the College Football Playoff championship game was predictable. Unrepentant schadenfreude.