Free Republic

Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager is a bit of a fitness nut. He’s climbed Mt. Whitney, regularly takes part in obstacle course races and “mud runs” and has made getting county residents healthier one of his missions during his time in elected office. So it’s no surprise that he would welcome the task of tackling the “Magnificent 7,” a collection of trail hikes that the Santa Clara County Parks Department is showcasing with the “#PixInParks” challenge announced in January. The surprise was when Yeager invited me to join him on the first of them, a 1.7-mile trek along the...

Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is leaving football and going into broadcasting with CBS, league sources told ESPN. Romo has reached a verbal agreement with CBS to be its No. 1 color commentator -- replacing former NFL quarterback Phil Simms -- alongside play-by-play veteran Jim Nantz, sources confirmed to ESPN. He also had drawn interest from Fox and NBC. The Sports Business Journal first reported Romo's agreement with CBS.

Sources have stated that the Dallas Cowboys will release Tony Romo today, who will pursue a broadcasting career. His health seems to be the factor making this decision. Good luck, Tony

A group of Swedish football fans have launched a protest against a new ban on wearing masks at stadiums, exploiting an exception to the ban by wearing niqabs to cover their faces. On March 1st, the ban on wearing masks in the stands at Swedish football stadiums entered into force in an effort to combat violent behavior at games. Exceptions to the ban can be made however for people covering their faces in the line of duty like police, or people who cover their face for religious reasons. And it was the latter exception that some supporters of Stockholm club...

A Pennsylvania mother of three died shortly after crossing the finish line of the Scranton Half Marathon on Sunday. Lindsay Doherty, 36, collapsed just after completing the 13.1-mile race, according to a statement from Lackawanna County Coroner Timothy Rowland. "Despite immediate medical intervention by our onsite doctors and EMS crew, she died in the Geisinger Community Medical Center emergency room after resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful," said the Scranton Half Marathon Committee in a statement. ... Over 2,000 runners took part in the fourth annual race in Scranton alongside her. An autopsy, which is scheduled for Monday, will hopefully shine some...

Georgetown has hired former star player Patrick Ewing to be the school's new head coach, the team announced. He replaces John Thompson III, the son of Ewing's former coach with the Hoyas, John Thompson Jr.

New England Patriots star tight end Rob Gronkowski made an appearance at Sunday’s WrestleMania 33. Gronkowski jumped into the ring after Jinder Mahal threw a drink at him while he was in the stands cheering on his friend Mojo Rawley during the 4th annual Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

NCAA women’s basketball champion Dawn Staley says she would accept an invitation to the White House if offered. South Carolina’s coach won her first title when the Gamecocks beat Mississippi State 67-55 on Sunday night. “I’ve got options now. Yeah, I’m going to the White House,” Staley told The Associated Press. “It’s what it stands for. It’s what national champions do. We’ll go to the White House.”

Sportswriter: “You hit only two home runs all last year and already you’ve hit seven this year [1969]. What’s the difference?” Reds outfielder Alex Johnson: “Five.” See? Baseball numbers aren’t difficult. But be precise: As players say after a close play, “Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” And don’t be discouraged if some questions stump you. As Phillies manager Danny Ozark said in 1976, “Even Napoleon had his Watergate.” And as Brewers manager Harvey Kuenn said after losing the 1982 World Series to the Cardinals, “We’re going to hang our heads high.” Now, name the player or players...

The gambling industry here and football have been seeing each other secretly since the 1960s. But Monday’s 31-to-1 vote by league owners to permit the Oakland Raiders to move to Las Vegas with (for now) no stipulations about sports betting is a sign that the league’s and city’s status has changed from “it’s complicated” to “in a relationship.” The reason? Las Vegas has been sanitized a bit, and the National Football League isn’t as clean-cut as it once appeared. So what changed before Monday’s vote? Las Vegas is no longer a desert oasis dominated by gambling; it’s a major metropolitan...

We need this. Need it? Around New York, when it became apparent the chill wasn’t going to abandon our bones one second earlier than required, we’ve been circling this date, pining for it, counting down toward it, from the moments last autumn when baseball expired, abandoning us at the most inopportune time. That was the most timeless thing Bart Giamatti was talking about all those years ago, after all, when he wrote about how baseball is built to break your heart. That’s the part that still reaches into your soul for a squeeze every year: “As soon as the chill...

Yet not making the ( West Point) baseball team may have been a blessing in disguise, because Ike had a potentially-explosive secret. After finishing high school in 1909, he spent two years working at a creamery to help pay Edgar's way through the University of Michigan. He also played baseball for money under an alias. Taking money, regardless how small the amount, would have ended his amateur status. If he had made the Army team, and had word of his earlier play for pay leaked out, he would have been expelled for breaking the Academy's Honor Code.

Graca quickly learned that the Black Sox were part of the Arizona Territories Vintage Base Ball League; a collection of seven teams from Prescott to Bisbee and everywhere in between which features baseball rules from 1860 as established by the National Association of Base-Ball Players on March 14, 1860. That includes specific equipment and rules allowed. No gloves. A hand-sewn 1870s white lemon peel replica ball. Underhand pitching. Vintage uniforms add to the atmosphere. Even a ban on any shoes or cleats with modern day logos. In other words, if 1860s players didnÂ’t wear Nikes, Arizona Territories Vintage Base Ball...

Opening Day of Baseball God Bless America

Trump sings take me out to the Ball Game

NBA commercials, billboards and game tickets promote its star power. The spectacle of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook squaring off is mentioned more than the teams involved. So, it’s no surprise that the absence of a superstar has drawn debate, surprised television viewers and disappointed game goers in recent weeks. Visiting baseball players can skip a night and still be seen on another night of the series. Football players gear up for only 16 games, normally with six days of rest. Golf and tennis stars play in or withdraw from tournaments at their discretion. In the NBA, a news cycle...

Bulldogs take down UConn in game of the year!

And it's these climbs in the so-called Flemish Ardennes – the hellingen, as they're known – that characterise the race, now in its 101st edition. Short, often cobbled, always punishingly steep, and lined with cycling-obsessed locals who've been drinking Belgian beer since the early hours, they provide some of the most dramatic – and certainly the most atmospheric – racing of the season.

Kentucky has the best and worst fans in college basketball. Both of them in large quantities. More good than bad, definitely, but the bad is not an insignificant number. When the Wildcats are eliminated in the NCAA tournament, guess which faction takes over? The lunatics. The freaks. The no-lifers whose sole coping mechanism is to lash out and blame someone because the young adults wearing their school’s jerseys lost a game to young adults wearing another school’s jerseys. And their target is almost always the officials.

So, stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Biological male who decides he’s a woman, gets permission to compete in women’s athletics, and then proceeds to use his natural physical advantages to dominate all the biological females. Okay, don’t stop me.