Free Republic

There’s so much to like about what James Franklin has done at Penn State. He’s rebuilt the program from the throes of NCAA probation, turned the Nittany Lions into a consistent College Football Playoff contender and brought a sense of football normalcy to a town and program that desperately needed it. Franklin is one of the sport’s top-10 coaches, something that can’t be questioned after his resuscitation of Vanderbilt and resurrection of Penn State. He’s won 70% of his games at Penn State and averaged 10.5 wins the past four years. Since taking over at Vanderbilt in 2011, game management...

As an elite competitive triathlete, César Villalba, 34, of Los Angeles knows his body. So, though he can perform “acceptably” on a pulmonary test months after his initial bout with COVID-19, that’s anything but “acceptable” for the professional designer who is used to racing around the world. “I can do that with 60 percent of my lung capacity,” Villalba says with the heavy sigh of a man who would really just like to be better. Villalba was never officially diagnosed with COVID-19, because he got sick before the pandemic hit full steam. “I had pneumonia, sore throat, fever for a...

Green Bay Packers legend Brett Favre waded into rough terrain this week when he tackled the topic of politics in sports.

West Point will host the 121st Army-Navy game on Dec. 12 instead of it being played in Philadelphia as planned, because attendance limits in the state of Pennsylvania during the coronavirus pandemic would prevent the Brigade of Midshipmen and Corps of Cadets to attend the game, the service academies announced on Friday. It will be the first time since World War II -- when Annapolis hosted the 1942 game and West Point the 1943 game -- that the rivalry has been played at a home site. The two schools also rotated hosting the first four games from 1890 to 1893.

LeBron James is no big fan of President Donald Trump, and he made that very clear on Thursday night during the final Presidential Debate.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture is now displaying an NBA Finals jersey worn by the late Kobe Bryant, the museum announced on Monday. The NBA icon was killed in a helicopter crash along with his daughter Gianna and seven others this January.

Boris Becker has fronted a London court accused of failing to hand over his grand slam trophies in order to settle debts of about $6 million. The German tennis legend has been accused of failing to hand over the trophies - including the 1985 Wimbledon men’s cup that catapulted him to sporting stardom - so they could be sold to settle his debts. The 52-year-old, who was declared bankrupt in June 2017, is accused of not complying with obligations to disclose information. Boris Becker has fronted a London court accused of failing to hand over his trophies in order to...

Autódromo Internacional do Algarve First Grand Prix2020 Number of Laps66 Circuit Length4.653km Race Distance306.826 km Lap Recordnull null (null)

A 29-yard field goal for a professional kicker — or a college kicker or most high-school kickers — should be automatic. Keep that in mind. On Thursday, a bettor made a big play on the Philadelphia Eagles-New York Giants game. He or she put $250,000 on the Eagles -3 in the first half. The payout would have been $488,095.25. OK, back to the 29-yard field goal.

Michigan football helmets are one of the most distinguishable lids in college or pro football. The Wolverines winged look with the Maize and Blue colors has been in place for a century, but there will be a slight modification for this coming season. When the Michigan Wolverines hit the field for Saturday's season-opener at Minnesota, they'll have an "EQUALITY" sticker on the back representing the diversity and commitment to unity. The helmet decals will be worn by all Michigan's varsity sports this year after a student-athlete initiative in conjunction with the athletic department developed the designs that will be worn...

The College Football TV Schedule for the 2020 season is listed below. The schedule includes all Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) games scheduled for this season with the date, time, and TV. Rankings are based on the AP Poll until the College Football Playoff Rankings are released.

The Big Ten is slated to begin its 2020 football schedule this week. But when one team takes to the field, they’ll be sporting a black helmet logo to show solidarity with the fight for social change. On Thursday, the Illinois football team announced that their players will be wearing a black Block I decal on their helmets for their season-opener against Wisconsin tomorrow. The move is the result of an initiative from the student-athletes in support of advocating for social change.

Troy Aikman found himself at the center of some controversy this week when he was caught on a hot mic mocking military flyovers. The incident occurred during Sunday’s showdown between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Green Bay Packers.

A Florida fisherman has shattered a Georgia record with his enormous catfish catch over the weekend. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources says that Havana, Florida resident Tim Trone is the new state record holder for biggest blue catfish after a tournament on Oct. 17. Trone's catch weighed 110 pounds... ========================================================================= A Florida fisherman has shattered a Georgia record with his enormous catfish catch over the weekend. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources says that Havana, Florida resident Tim Trone is the new state record holder for biggest blue catfish after a tournament on Oct. 17. Trone's catch weighed 110...

Game 1 of Major League Baseball’s “Fall Classic” turned out to be a ratings classic, in that it was classically awful. Viewership for the game came in at 9.2 million. Big numbers if you’re the NBA who didn’t reach that mark in any of their Finals games. However, for MLB, it was the lowest number of viewers in recorded history. The pathetically small viewing audience resulted in a 25% drop from Game 1 of the 2019 World Series.

It’s not often you see a professional sports team outright endorse a presidential candidate, but that’s the direction in which the WNBA has been openly moving in recent years. The Seattle Storm, coming off their fourth WNBA title, threw their full support behind former Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Joe Biden made a novel suggestion for cops and people who want to defend themselves against violent criminals: making them slip on a banana peel. "Look, Jack, if a criminal is running toward you, you don't have to shoot them," Biden said at last night's town hall on ABC. "All you have to do is pull out your trusty banana peel, throw it on the ground, and they'll slip. It's safe, humane, and hilarious." "Back in my day, cops didn't even have guns. They just dropped anvils on bad guys, littered rakes around them so they'd get smacked in...

The NBA season has come and gone, but certain decisions from this past year are continuing to be relitigated in league circles. This past week, one agent came out of the woodwork and publicly blasted all parties involved for the social justice messaging that took place over the past few months. This past week, The Athletic published results from a survey it conducted with 20 agents around the NBA. While they discussed a number of topics, what stood out most was one anonymous agent’s rant about the impact of Black Lives Matter (BLM) messaging on the league as a whole....

Joe Buck’s necessities for the next two weeks: one giant suitcase, two garment bags, plenty of room service and at least nine novel coronavirus tests. That’s the price of entry for the unusual stretch he is in, calling what could be 13 baseball games and four football games in 18 days. As the sports schedule has been scrambled this fall by the pandemic, Buck, the lead play-by-play announcer for Fox Sports’s baseball and football coverage, has seen his itinerary warped, too. Image without a caption “The silver lining in all of this, at least in my life, is baseball is...

In the latest TV ratings, Fox’s coverage of the World Series opener between the Dodgers and Rays averaged 7.2 million total viewers and a Tuesday-topping 1.8 demo rating — though down sharply from the preliminary numbers (11.6 mil/2.9) for last year’s Nationals/Astros Game 1. Check back later for the final tally! NBC | The Voice (7.5 mil/1.0) was down a tick from Monday’s premiere, but teed up Transplant for Stateside highs of 4.3 mil/0.6. ABC | The Bachelorette (4.1 mil.1.1) slipped about 20 percent from last week. Leading out of that, a Supermarket Sweeeeeeep! encore did 1.8 mil and a...