Free Republic

The Atlanta Falcons have become the first and only NFL team to have a 100% COVID-19 vaccination rate among players, the team announced Monday, weeks before the start of the regular season. The team had reached a 92% vaccination rate on July 23 and now, every player on the team is inoculated against the virus. "Each player will now enjoy the benefits of being able to work out and eat together," the team's website said. "They won't have to test daily, won't have to wear masks around the facility and won't have to quarantine following a close contact with someone...

Falcons owner Arthur Blank expressed concern about Trump because on Holocaust Remembrance Day, Trump’s commemorating statement did not specifically mention the six million Jews who were killed during World War II. Blank himself is Jewish.

FULL TITLE: Two Miami Dolphins wide receivers become first players of 2018 season to take the knee during national anthem, just hours after Trump blamed the sport's poor TV ratings on the ongoing protest President Donald Trump is slamming the National Football League for low ratings and blaming players for protesting during the national anthem as two Miami Dolphins players took to the knee Sunday during 'The Star Spangled Banner' as football season began in earnest. 'Wow, NFL first game ratings are way down over an already really bad last year comparison. Viewership declined 13%, the lowest in over a...

Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Chris Long said he won’t visit President Trump’s White House if his team defeats the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII on Sunday. “No, I’m not going to the White House,” Long said in an interview on Barstool Sports’ podcast Pardon My Take. “Are you kidding me?” Long, who was originally drafted by the St. Louis Rams and is playing in his 10th NFL season, played for the Patriots last season. He was one of several players who skipped the team’s White House visit after New England defeated the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI....

The dome that opened in 1992 was flattened in 15 seconds at 7:30 am. The Georgia World Congress Center Authority said prior to the blast that it should take 12 seconds for the explosives to go off plus another 3 seconds for sections of grandstands to be on the ground. The 71,250-seat dome -- which was the site of high school football state championships, Peach Bowls, SEC championship games, two Super Bowls, 1996 Olympic basketball, three Final Four NCAA basketball tournaments, concerts, pro wrestling and other events -- has been replaced by the $1.6 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium next door.

FLOWERY BRANCH — Falcons coach Dan Quinn said the team will lock arms during the national anthem and will encourage the fans to do the same before they play the Bills on Sunday. “For us, we will lock arms together during that time, and we would encourage our fans to do the same,” Quinn said Wednesday. “I think that would be kind of a nice tribute as we’re getting started. It’s an important time in our world. There are a lot of issues that are really important to talk about, and we’ll spend some time and we have as a...

ATLANTA - The NAACP has called for a boycott of the NFL. The organization says the league treated free agent Colin Kaepernick unfairly for his headline grabbing protest during the national anthem. --SNIP-- Kaepernick has not been signed by an NFL team. This boycott is not just here in Georgia. It is nationwide. The NAACP says they are planning to send a strong message to not only commissioner Rodger Goodell, but NFL owners like Arthur Blank.

Pick your winner, and then we can discuss as the game unfolds!

Super Bowl Opening Night took place at Minute Maid Park in Houston on Monday, and a topic of conversation surrounding the event was President Donald Trump. Falcons owner Arthur Blank expressed concern about Trump because on Holocaust Remembrance Day, Trump’s commemorating statement did not specifically mention the six million Jews who were killed during World War II. Blank himself is Jewish

A badly burned body found on the floor of a River North parking garage early Tuesday has been identified as a 60-year-old real estate attorney, officials said. Louis S. Cohen, 60, was of the 200 block of Ivy Lane in Highland Park, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy Wednesday was pending and did not determine a cause and manner for Cohen’s death, the office said. Just before 6 a.m. Tuesday, police and fire crews responded to a fire in the 11th floor of a parking garage in the 300 block of North LaSalle Drive and found...

For the first time since 1998, the Atlanta Falcons are going to the Super Bowl. Thanks to a beautifully dominant 44-21 beat down of the Green Bay Packers on Sunday at the Georgia Dome, Matt Ryan and Co. left no question as to which team was best. After Green Bay's 11-second, three-and-out drive to start the second half, one which included a pair of drops from tight end Jared Cook, Falcons head coach Dan Quinn was caught in a moment of rare emotion on the sidelines. He was smiling ear-to-ear before snapping back into the typical blank coaching façade we've...

Leading MVP candidate Matt Ryan riddled Seattle's secondary for 338 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Atlanta Falcons to a convincing 36-20 victory over the Seahawks in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. Here's what we learned in Saturday's game: After both teams traded clinical opening-drive touchdowns that spilled over to the second quarter, a holding penalty on special teamer Kevin Pierre-Louis swung the game in Atlanta's favor. Devin Hester's 80-yard punt return would have set the Seahawks up at the seven-yard line with a chance to take a commanding 17-7 lead. Instead, Seattle lost 84 yards of field position,...

The Indianapolis Colts, already reeling with injury and performing below expectations, received even more terrible injury news on Tuesday: quarterback Andrew Luck suffered abdominal injury in the team's victory over Denver. Luck is expected to miss two to six weeks. Colts head coach Chuck Pagano announced the injury on Tuesday afternoon, saying Luck suffered a lacerated kidney and a partially torn abdominal muscle on a fourth-quarter scramble. This is in addition to the report from earlier this season that Luck had been playing with multiple fractured ribs. The Colts are in a bye week this week, then face the Falcons,...

The Pentagon Paid Millions to Pro Sports Teams for Military Tributes That time 80 members of the National Guard unfurled an American flag on the turf during an Atlanta Falcons football game? You paid for that. That on-field swearing-in ceremony for soldiers at a New York Mets game? You pairs for that, too. That's because the Department of Defense paid at least $6.8 million in taxpayer money to professional sports teams for military tributes over the last few years, according to a new report by U.S. Senators John McCain (R) and Jeff Flake (R), both of Arizona. The document shows...

The 2-6 San Francisco 49ers are benching quarterback Colin Kaepernick and starting Blaine Gabbert this weekend against the Falcons, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Monday. Niners head coach Jim Tomsula said earlier on Monday that he was "evaluating everything." Later in the day, Schefter reported that San Francisco had traded veteran tight end Vernon Davis to the Denver Broncos for a 2016 7th-round draft pick and 6th round picks in 2016 and 2017. Kaepernick, who led the 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2012 and the NFC Championship Game in 2013, is having the worst season of his career. He's thrown...

The Atlanta Falcons aren't dead -- far from it. Mike Smith's team moved into a first-place tie in the lumpy NFC South with a 19-17 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Our takeaways: 1. Give the Falcons credit: They could have folded after Cam Newton led the Panthers on a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown drives, turning a 16-3 Atlanta lead into a 17-16 deficit. But Matt Ryan led the Falcons back down the field, got the go-ahead field goal from Matt Bryant, then held on defense with the help of Graham Gano, who missed a 46-yard kick, then had...

April 2, 2014 After attending pro-cockfighting rally, Senate candidate Matt Bevin says it's a state issue BY SAM YOUNGMAN Matt Bevin, left, is challenging incumbent Mitch McConnell in therace to be the GOP's nominee in Kentucky's U.S. Senate race. Republican U.S. Senate candidate Matt Bevin believes the legality of cockfighting should be decided by states and not the federal government, his spokeswoman said Wednesday following a news report that Bevin attended a pro-cockfighting rally over the weekend."Matt doesn't believe this is a federal issue, and the state government can handle it," said Rachel Semmel, Bevin's spokeswoman.The News Journal in Corbin...

Monday night will be an emotional one for the San Francisco 49ers and their fans, as the team's matchup with the Atlanta Falcons will be the last regular-season game at Candlestick Park. For Tony Gonzalez, who will be on hand with the visiting Atlanta Falcons, it will also mark his final visit to the site where he experienced what he calls the "strangest thing that ever happened to him." On a conference call with Bay Area reporters, Gonzalez recalled how during a game between his then-team, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the 49ers at Candlestick Park he was pushed out...

Banks still might have a future in Atlanta, media sources reportThe Atlanta Falcons have waived Brian Banks, a Los Angeles linebacker who was imprisoned for five years after being convicted of a rape that never happened. Banks, 28, spent five years in prison and five years on probation following his conviction of rape and kidnapping charges a decade ago. The woman who made the charge when Banks was a 16-year-old football standout later recanted her accusation. The conviction was overturned by a California court last year.

By now, Brian Banks is used to waiting. He sat in prison for five years, punished for a crime he didn’t commit. Freed last May after the victim admitted she had falsely accused him, the former USC recruit has been trying patiently but persistently to get a shot at the NFL. Finally, he’s getting one. Jay Glazer of FOX, who has worked extensively with Banks to get him into NFL shape, reports that the Atlanta Falcons have signed Banks to a contract. Banks, a linebacker, received tryouts last year from the Seahawks, Chargers, and Chiefs. Eventually, he joined the UFL...