Free Republic

On Friday night, a Huntington Beach man, 43, was walking back to his car after the Los Angeles Angels played the Kansas City Royals in the American League Division Series. Three men accosted him, and then proceeded to beat him senseless. He is currently in critical condition at a local hospital after police found him unconscious. I didn't find the story particularly shocking, given that I took my father and two younger sisters to the Angels-Royals game on Thursday night. Throngs packed the stadium -- the team announced the attendance at 43,321. We had bleacher seats, which sold for $68....

Days after liberal-minded symphony attendees sat quietly while direct action protesters disrupted their evening out, red-blooded Americans attending a baseball game in St. Louis went toe to toe with Michael Brown’s defenders. There have been two Michael Brown demonstrations outside Busch Stadium since the shooting in August. Last month attorney/activist Eric Vickers indicated in a letter to Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig that upcoming playoff games in St. Louis have been identified as "protest targets." A few weeks ago, the stadium was the scene of a foiled demonstration. Organizers Sarah Griesbach and Elizabeth Vega, two middle-aged white women who...

This guy right here, the one with "I am Darren Wilson" taped onto the back of his Cardinals jersey—an homage to the Ferguson, Mo., police officer who shot an unarmed teenager named Mike Brown to death in August—was at the Cardinals game last night. He, along with many other Cardinals fans, clashed with a small group of protesters who want to see Wilson prosecuted. The guy in the Darren Wilson jersey wasn't even the worst part. Here is a video of some of the protest from last night, via Argus Streaming News. It's rather long, so I'll point out some...

American football player CJ Spillman is being investigated over an alleged sexual assault, police say. The 28-year-old, who plays for NFL side Dallas Cowboys, has not been arrested or charged. The attack allegedly took place at a Texas hotel in the early hours of 20 September, according to Grapevine police spokesman, Sgt Robert Eberling.

Arjen Robben has warned Bayern Munich to prepare psychologically for when they meet CSKA Moscow behind closed doors on Tuesday. The German champions play their Russian counterparts in the UEFA Champions League Group E clash at the Arena Khimki. However, no supporters will be in attendance as CSKA were sanctioned by UEFA in February after fans displayed "a range of racist and far-right symbols" in a Champions League match with Viktoria Plzen last December. The decision has riled Bayern chairman Karl Heinz-Rummenigge, who voiced his frustration that Bayern fans are unable to attend.

It long ago became clear to me that, despite all the pretense, protesting and politicking, no one who has ever seriously thought about equality actually believes in it. When making this case, one could point to how Eric Holder’s DOJ is currently suing the Pennsylvania State Police for treating women equally (how dare they!), but there’s perhaps no better example than a recent BBC writer who asks, “Is sport sexist?” The author, Aimee Lewis, poses the question because there are still sports where the women’s categories don’t precisely correspond to the men’s; for example, she mentions how women gymnasts and...

I know there are a number of Japanophiles out there in Freeperland, who might be able to answer a question I have about the Akibasho, Fall Sumo Tournament in Tokyo, which will conclude early tomorrow US time. As all the sumo followers know, tournaments are 15 days long, with each wrestler having one match, and the wrestler with the most wins being crowned the tournament champion. Hakuho, the top wrestler in sumo, is 13-1 going into the last day of the tournament, but Tochinoshin, who began the tournament as juryo (the sumo equivalent of baseball's AAA), is 14-0. My question:...

Race has been in the news recently, as it should be more than it is. First the tragedy in Ferguson, Missouri captured everyone’s attention, and is still making news. Then a starkly racist email sent by Atlanta Hawks co-owner Bruce Levenson brought back the topic of race relations in the NBA where the owners are mostly white and the players black. And then this week psychologist Jennifer L. Eberhardt won a MacArthur “genius” award for her groundbreaking work on the powerful influence out-of-awareness racial attitudes have in the criminal justice system. Because her research can help us understand troubling news...

Peyton Manning and sex scandal are two things you might never expect to see in the same article. If so, you don’t know about the incident that happened at the University of Tennessee when Manning was the Tennessee Volunteers star quarterback.

Jameis Winston will sit out the entire game and not just the first half of Florida State's showdown against Clemson on Saturday, interim President Garnett S. Stokes and athletic director Stan Wilcox announced late Friday night. Winston was suspended for the first half earlier this week after making "offensive and vulgar" comments about women — the latest embarrassment....

When first I learned that top-ranked Florida State would be suspending quarterback Jameis Winston for one half of Saturday night’s game versus No. 22 Clemson, my initial thought was, Sure, the half when Clemson is on offense. Pardon my cynicism, but we have entered this turnstile before with the Seminoles’ Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback.

During his Wednesday broadcast, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh explained to his listeners how liberalism when overt is a failure in the media and offered various examples of where so-called liberal brands have struggled to achieve success.

The National Football League’s had a tough first three weeks of the season. The league made the news again Tuesday when New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat, introduced legislation that would put an end to the league’s tax-exempt status. Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, also reportedly plans to introduce legislation eliminating the league’s status. While Booker was pushed by the league’s handling of players involved with domestic violence, Cantwell is looking at the the NFL’s lack of force to get Washington to change its highly criticized name. Cantwell, also former chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee...

The violent beating that was delivered by Ray Rice, a Baltimore Raven running back, against his girlfriend-turned-wife Janay, was the worst example of male behavior that our society has seen. Rice deserves to go to jail for the assault. This episode is a perfect example of corporate mismanagement by the leadership of the NFL. It is inexcusable. The Commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell, needs to resign. You all saw the video of Ray Rice dragging his then-girlfriend out of the elevator. You all figured out she did not just faint. So it did not take much to surmise what...

(CNN) -- Atlanta Hawks general manager Danny Ferry is taking an indefinite leave of absence, the NBA team's CEO announced Friday, days after a report surfaced about comments Ferry allegedly made about a free agent player. Ferry made the remarks about Luol Deng during a June conference call about prospective players, according to a letter obtained by CNN affiliate WSB. J. Michael Gearon Jr., a minority owner of the Hawks, wrote that in that letter that Ferry described some of Deng's negatives, stating that "he has a little African in him. Not in a bad way, but he's like a...

DEVELOPING: Judge finds Oscar Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide, or negligent killing, in shooting of girlfriend.

The NBA's Atlanta Hawks owner has discovered that he is, Lord help him, a "racist"! How do we know this? He tells us. Owner Bruce Levenson "outed" himself by producing an email he wrote back in 2012. Now, to the untrained eye, this email might read like a standard analysis of how to attract a larger and more diversified market share. But Levenson now realizes that he was practicing ... racism! So in the interest of purging the NBA of all "racist" owners, Levenson is reluctantly now offering to sell his team. What exactly did the "incendiary" memo say? It...

Bob Suter, a member of the 1980 U.S. "Miracle on Ice" team and father of Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter, died Tuesday. He was 57. "We are very saddened by today's news that Minnesota Wild scout Bob Suter suddenly passed away," the Wild said in a statement. "The Wild organization sends its condolences to the entire Suter family during this difficult time. Not only was Bob a great hockey ambassador, he was a terrific person off the ice who will be greatly missed by all of us." The cause of death was not given.

Republican Gov. Chris Christie's administration issued a directive Monday allowing the state's casinos and racetracks to offer sports betting, a move likely to be challenged in court by sports leagues. The governor said he took his cue from previous federal court rulings that found that nothing in New Jersey law prohibits the casinos and horse racing tracks from offering sports betting, so long as it's not sponsored or licensed by the state. Soon afterward, one racetrack, Monmouth Park in Oceanport, said it was preparing to offer sports bets "in the very, very near future."

The San Francisco Giants and 49ers both said Thursday they are "disturbed" by allegations that the CEO of the company that provides concessions to AT&T Park and Levi's Stadium was caught on video kicking and abusing his dog. Media reports have circulated surveillance video of a man identified as Centerplate CEO Desmond Hague kicking a frightened puppy and choking it with its leash in a Vancouver elevator last month. The Connecticut-based company handles food and beverage sales at numerous entertainment venues, including for the Giants and 49ers. Its Board of Directors said in a statement that it has censured Hague,...