Free Republic

Last summer, nearly 23 years after he lost one of the most famous tennis matches in history to Jimmy Connors, Aaron Krickstein finally made the phone call he had always been too nervous to make. He and Connors hadn’t spoken since Labor Day 1991, when Connors beat Krickstein in five raucous sets at the U.S. Open. The match has lived longer than any other in tennis, with annual rain-delay reruns and a recent ESPN documentary. Krickstein decided the time had come for a rematch—and a new beginning to a friendship that went kaput when Connors won. On Tuesday here, Krickstein,...

CHICAGO (AP) — Little League International has stripped Chicago's Jackie Robinson West of its national title after finding the team falsified its boundary map. The league made the announcement Wednesday morning, saying the Chicago team violated regulations by placing players on the team who didn't qualify because they lived outside the team's boundaries. Little League International also suspended Jackie Robinson West manager Darold Butler from league activity.

The Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin offers $220 million towards a new Bucks arena, if Gov. Scott Walker changes his mind about a Kenosha casino

Retired NFL great Brett Favre has some advice for current NFL great Peyton Manning who is considering whether or not to retire before next season. “I think the numbers he’s put up the last few years are staggering. Can he do that again? I guess that’s a question these teams have to ask if he chooses to play.” “Initially he said this is gonna be a quick decision and it hasn’t been so quick,” said Favre. No one knows better than the NFL great how tough it is to decide to retire following a legendary career. The multiple-MVP quarterback is...

Big Ten mascots, you’ve done it again!When it comes to sticking together and joining forces on fun projects, few conference’s mascots rival the Big Ten’s. There’s this, this and this. And, who can forget their “Call Me Maybe” parody? Actually, we’re just going to go ahead and say the Big Ten boasts the best mascots.New proof of this fact surfaced Monday, when the mascots – all but Testudo, Willie the Wildcat and Nittany Lion – released their entertaining “Shake It Off” parody.For those of you who don’t know, “Shake It Off” is Taylor Swift’s catchy and highly addicting new hit.

Dean Smith, the coaching innovator who won two national championships at North Carolina, an Olympic gold medal in 1976 and induction into basketball's Hall of Fame more than a decade before he left the bench, has died. He was 83. The retired coach died "peacefully" at his North Carolina home Saturday night, the school said in a statement Sunday from Smith's family. He was with his wife and five children. Smith had health issues in recent years, with the family saying in 2010 he had a condition that was causing him to lose memory. He had kept a lower profile...

NEW YORK -- Ed Sabol, the NFL Films founder who revolutionized sports broadcasting and reimagined pro football from an up-and-coming league to must-watch theater, has died. He was 98. Sabol died Monday at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, the NFL said.

The domestic-abuse case against Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy was dismissed on Monday because the court's witness refused to testify. Hardy was convicted at a bench trial on July 15 of misdemeanor charges of communicating threats and assaulting a female. The decision was immediately appealed and a jury trial date was set for November. After a continuance, Hardy's trial was rescheduled for Monday, but the court was never able to convince Hardy's ex-girlfriend to testify.

Survivors described it as a corridor of death: a narrow route of high, chain-link security fences and barbed wire that thousands of soccer fans were filing through before entering the stadium to watch their team play. Then, mayhem broke out. Those at the front of the line were turned back by police. Those in the back continued to press forward. Jittery police fired tear gas into the middle of the crowd, creating what survivors said was "like a whirlpool" — sucking people into a crush of bodies with no way out. The stampede killed 22 people Sunday night at the...

It was a year ago - the Sunday after Super Bowl XLVIII at 8pmET - that Michael Sam turned speculation into reality: One of college football's best players, and a top NFL prospect, was gay. In the coming months he was showered with praise. Eric Dickerson would offer him congratulations. Michael Irvin would call him his friend. Robert Quinn welcomed him to the Rams. Even the President of the United States, Barack Obama himself, would laud him.

New York Knicks owner and Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan told a fan to "start rooting for the Nets because the Knicks don't want you" in a contentious email exchange. In the email, Irving Bierman criticized Dolan over decisions made during his tenure as owner of the Knicks. Dolan responded by telling Bierman to root for the Nets and attacked him personally. An MSG representative confirmed to ESPN.com that the emailed response was written by Dolan.

Dean Smith, who coached North Carolina to two men's basketball national titles, died Saturday night at the age of 83. North Carolina announced Smith's death Sunday morning. "Coach Dean Smith passed away peacefully the evening of February 7 at his home in Chapel Hill, and surrounded by his wife and five children," Smith's family said in a statement. "We are grateful for all the thoughts and prayers, and appreciate the continued respect for our privacy as arrangements are made available to the public. Thank you."

With a chance to clinch at least a share of the Big Ten regular-season championship on the line, the top-ranked Iowa wrestling team steps onto the big stage today. The Hawkeyes are expected to compete in front of the largest crowd to ever watch a collegiate dual meet in their noon matchup with defending NCAA champ Penn State. A sellout crowd of at least 16,000 is anticipated at the Bryce Jordan Center, where the Nittany Lions established the existing record of 15,996 a year ago for a dual against Pittsburgh. That doesn’t impress the Hawkeyes’ fifth-ranked 125-pounder Thomas Gilman, one...

SAN DIEGO -- Billy Casper, one of the most prolific winners on the PGA Tour who was overshadowed at the height of his career by the "Big Three," died Saturday at his home in Utah. He was 83. Bob Casper said his father died quickly and peacefully with wife Shirley at his bedside. They had been married 62 years. Casper passed out in the clubhouse at the Masters last year, had work on his heart and recovered from a bout of pneumonia over Thanksgiving. His son said Casper was going to cardio rehab for the past four months and was...

SAN DIEGO -- Billy Casper, one of the most prolific winners on the PGA Tour who was overshadowed at the height of his career by the "Big Three," died Saturday at his home in Utah. He was 83. Bob Casper said his father died quickly and peacefully with wife Shirley at his bedside. They had been married 62 years. Casper passed out in the clubhouse at the Masters last year, had work on his heart and recovered from a bout of pneumonia over Thanksgiving. His son said Casper was going to cardio rehab for the past four months and was...

Does the front office of the New England Patriots prefer to have white players on its roster? There is circumstantial evidence that may be the case. While the racial makeup of an NFL team in any given year has its share of random fluctuations, the New England Patriots have seemingly had a suspiciously large amount of white players on its teams during the Robert Kraft-Bill Belichick era. Wes Welker, Danny Amendola, Danny Woodhead, Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, and Tom Brady — all have been some of the more prominent “faces” of the franchise in recent years, and they all happen...

Williams was actually trying to honor a vet in this "lie". But a group of other vets got butthurt that he didn't recognize them instead, and went viral. Most of the "heroes" in these wars since 9/11 are a bunch of self absorbed dysfunctional losers who joined because WalMart turned down their application. And now they're back home living with mom, going to the VA weekly for counseling, and sucking on the gov't tit.

Worst call ever? Check out the best of the worst insults. CNN's Jeanne Moos intercepts putdowns of Seattle's play-calling.

Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll isn't sleeping well these days. Carroll and his offensive coaching staff made the infamous decision to pass the ball from New England's 1-yard line in the final seconds of Super Bowl XLIX, resulting in Russell Wilson throwing a game-ending interception.

Savage Arms went big at the 2015 SHOT Show by going small. In the process, the monolithic rifle manufacturer may have solved one of the trickier problems plaguing firearms design. With the introduction of the A17 .17 HMR, the Massachusetts-based subsidiary of ATK looks to have produced a viable semiautomatic magnum rimfire. This is a feat other companies have attempted, but have fallen short.Of course, cracking what has proven to be a tricky nut required some out-of-the-box thinking on Savage’s part. Where the company particularly broke with tradition is jettisoning the straight blowback action so common in rimfires for a delayed blowback system.The company...