Free Republic

Shabazz Napier, point guard for The University of Connecticut's men's basketball team, recently told reporters he understands why athletes at Northwestern need a union, as he sometimes has to go to bed "starving" because he cannot afford food. "We as student athletes get utilized for what we do so well. We are definitely best to get a scholarship to our universities, but at the end of the day, that doesn't cover everything. We do have hungry nights that we don't have enough money to get food and sometimes money is needed," the senior told reporters. "I think, you know, Northwestern...

Being a sports radio host sometimes means being full of hot air when white noise would be preferable, as in the case Craig Carton and Boomer Esiason. The big names showed their small attitudes when New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy chose to be with his wife rather that at opening day of baseball season. Esiason said: “I would have said, ‘C-Section before it starts. I need to be at opening day. This is how we make our money; this is how we live our life. This is what is going to give our child every opportunity to be...

Tallahassee, Fla. Pastor Dr. R. B. Holmes, whose leadership against hazing and the infamous "stand your ground laws", has announced his candidacy for the presidency of the National Baptist Convention USA., Inc. At a National Press Club announcement last week, Holmes called on the Black church to arise and take back its historic role in fighting social justice issues. "The Black church has become too quiet, too passive, too disconnected when it comes to challenging policies programs and persons that degrade and devastate our people" said Holmes, flanked by dozens of church and community leaders. He also announced the formation...

What can be done to save the Reno Air Races? This is the question posed to me by so many of the Air Racing fans. We know changes are being made – but – are they enough. Are these changes coming too late, what are the signs we should be looking for to see if the changes are working? ... Tell me why, the day after Steven Hinton won his 5th Championship he was not being interviewed on Good Morning America, Today and the Tonight Show? This young man has unprecedented achievements and no one knows his name. I’ve said...

Like the rest of the world, I was stunned to hear Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant argue that it was somehow an unecessary burden for a black man to stand in support of the late Trayvon Martin. If anything, the Trayvon Martin case brought black people together in ways that we haven’t seen since the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The case was clear cut: Trayvon had no weapon. He wasn’t bothering anybody. He was stalked out and murdered for appearing to look like a “thug.” George Zimmerman is a free man and later showed that he...

[B.O.] chooses Florida, Arizona, Louisville and Michigan State for his Final Four picks.

NORTH LITTLE ROCK – The Arkansas Travelers introduced their final mascot for the upcoming 2014 baseball season today, Gary the Rabid Raccoon. After a long search conducted by Arkansas’ minor league baseball club, the Travelers settled on three characters that grew up in Travelers lore.The first two mascots, Ace and Otey, were unveiled yesterday. Today in a special ceremony they introduced the captain of the new mascot team, Gary. All three mascots hold deep connections to the franchise they will now represent. “We are so excited to introduce Gary to our fans. I think the kids will really love him,”...

Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder released a statement late Monday night announcing that despite widespread calls for the team to change its name, the name and logo would remain the same. But in lieu of a name change, Snyder has created the “Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation,” with hopes to “provide meaningful and measurable resources that provide genuine opportunities for tribal communities.”

In July 2013 MediaTakeOut.com broke the story that basketball star J.J. Redick had initiated an “abortion contract” with then girlfriend Vanessa Lopez to abort their baby. The contract stated the couple would attempt to ”maintain a social and/or dating relationship” for one year after the abortion, and if Redick reneged he would pay Lopez $25,000. Redick and Lopez signed the abortion contract the morning of her abortion, September 13, 2007. Lopez was never to see Redick again, but she never attempted to collect the $25,000. Paparazzi discovered the abortion contract in court documents. Neither Redick nor Lopez had anything to...

Once former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel started hanging out with LeBron James and texting him for advice, it was only a matter of time before the two ended up doing something big together. That time is, apparently, here. The world's best basketball player is the subject of a new television campaign by McDonald's in which he, not surprisingly, ends up running into Manziel hanging out in an exclusive spot.

At 15 years of age, Amy Purdy took up snowboarding and quickly advanced in the sport she came to love and master. At 19, Amy contracted meningococcal meningitis. She had less than a 2 percent chance of living. Amy miraculously survived, but not without the life-altering loss of her spleen, her kidneys, the hearing in her left ear and both of her legs below the knee because of the ravage of the disease upon her circulatory system. But against all the odds, Amy learned not only to walk again but also to snowboard. In fact, she became a world champion!...

One basketball player at Boston University said she felt so emotionally damaged by her coach she considered suicide. Another player said the coach, Kelly Greenberg, treated her so poorly she sought mental health care. And two other players said Greenberg’s emotional abuse ruined their love of the sport. All four women walked away from the BU women’s basketball team this academic year, an exodus that has renewed questions about Greenberg’s treatment of her student-athletes — and her future at the school.

The United States announced Monday it would boycott the upcoming Paralympic Games in Sochi to protest Russia’s incursion into Ukraine, as a State Department spokesperson said it was “likely” that the U.S. would impose sanctions on Russia. The boycott effectively means a presidential delegation will not be attending the games, an announcement that comes as President Obama and Congress scramble to respond to Russia’s aggression on Ukrainian territory in Crimea. “In addition to other measures we are taking in response to the situation in Ukraine, the United States will no longer send a Presidential Delegation to the upcoming Winter Paralympic...

Now that the big game is over it is time to rethink professional football. Many young progs are running around claiming “team ownership”, touting that it is “their” team is the best. The ugly truth is that the teams are owned by some bourgeois one percenter and they owe you, the fans, nothing. They are exploiting you and getting rich as a result. Football is a business and you have been tricked into buying branded items to advertise for them with no compensation! Stop being exploited! The last big game also showed disparity in awarding points. Denver worked so hard...

Just a day after raising eyebrows by calling Johnny Manziel an "arrogant little prick" on a St. Louis radio station, Barry Switzer is back in the headlines, this time for saying he would never recruit a white quarterback. The former Oklahoma and Dallas Cowboys coach made the comment during an interview on WNSR in Nashville on Thursday as part of a response to a question about whether he would want Manziel in his backfield. Specifically, the question was, "If you are a coach in the NFL at this point in time — we know your opinion on Johnny and his...

MOSCOW - The Sochi Olympics "opened Russia's soul" to the world and wrongfooted critics of the host country, President Vladimir Putin said in remarks broadcast on Tuesday. Taking stock after Russia topped the medals table and avoided major security problems at its first post-Soviet Games, Putin said constructive criticism from the International Olympic Committee had helped make Sochi 2014 a success. But there were other critics whose jabs were motivated by "the competitive struggle in international politics, maybe even geopolitics". "They used the Olympic project to achieve their own aims in the area of anti-Russian propaganda," he said. "Because when...

... Through Monday night, a review of the events at the Extreme Park counted at least 22 accidents that either forced athletes out of the competition or, if on their final run, required medical attention. Of those, 16 involved women. The injury rate is higher when considering that the men’s fields are generally larger. The question, a difficult one, is why. The Winter Games have always had dangerous events. But the Extreme Park, as the name suggests, is built on the ageless allure of danger. All of the events there have been added to the Olympic docket since 1992, each...

An unlikely celebrity will make a television appearance at the NBA All-Star Game this weekend: President Barack Obama. The commander-in-chief sat for an interview Thursday with NBA legend Charles Barkley, Politico reports. The interview with Obama, a noted basketball fan and longtime Chicago Bulls devotee, will air at half-time Sunday evening on TNT. The cable network tweeted a brief teaser of the president plugging the game and TNT. ---snip--- The substance of Obama's interview has not been made public but there's speculation that Barkley — known for making provocative political commentary on air — may have veered into politics. While...

Before he headed to Moscow in January 2012 as Barack Obama’s new ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul was itching to get out of government. He had dreams of moving back to Palo Alto. The weather’s nice, his family missed the place. But Obama had come to rely on McFaul, a longtime Russia scholar and the National Security Council’s point man on the country. So he offered him a posting he couldn’t decline. McFaul’s academic specialty is revolution—a detail that Vladimir Putin, hounded by a bubbling uprising, immediately seized on. State television vilified McFaul as the man Washington had sent to...

New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter says he will retire after this season. In a lengthy letter posted Wednesday on his Facebook account, Jeter, 39, started by thanking his fans and supporters throughout his career. He also referenced a "bunch of injuries" that had him sidelined for much of last season. "And this is, I could not be more sure," Jeter wrote. "I know it in my heart. The 2014 season will be my last year playing professional baseball."