Free Republic

Source: #Vikings OC John DeFilippo has been fired.

Search warrants obtained by CBS 17 on Tuesday revealed the suspect, Jorge Luis Valencia Lamadrid, 51, is the father of the 21-year-old victim. According to the warrant, witnesses told police that the victim had been drinking heavily throughout the day before the physical and verbal confrontation that led to the shooting occurred. Lamadrid told police that his family had just sat down to have Thanksgiving dinner when two of his sons got into an argument about athletes taking a knee during the national anthem, warrants show... The victim then began throwing patio furniture in the backyard. Lamadrid was still holding...

The black binder tucked under Marshall Walters’s arm is more valuable than just about anything on LSU’s campus during this overcast Saturday in October. It looks no different than the binders used by college students before iPads and laptops became the note-taking standard, only this one houses important information to keep this place protected on one of the busiest days of the year: an LSU football home game. Walters is careful with the binder, unzipping its cover to give an inquiring mind the slightest peek at the contents inside: bundles of stacked papers. “This,” he gestures to the binder, “is...

As Sunday’s Green Bay Packers game kicked off, fans were perplexed when a stylized version of the American flag that looks more like decorative bunting, than our actual national flag, was paraded out onto the field for a pre-game ceremony. The strange banner caused ESPN’s Rob Demovsky to remark, “Not sure what country today’s Packers-Bills game is being played in but that’s not my flag.”

Dear NFL, I have been a lifelong fan since the age of 10 – That’s more than 50 years…. I have followed many players, and only two teams in my life. The players I have followed have always been the “stand up for the flag” kind of players, I mean it just figures because I was drawn to serve my country – Not because I had to, or because it was my only option. I chose to serve out of nothing more than the pure love of my country. After serving onboard ships for nine years and three years with...

On January 1 of this year, I penned a piece the gist of which was that despite the awful player protests during the national anthem, I was going to watch the NFL playoffs. The post garnered me the heaviest excoriation I’d yet experienced since starting at PJ Media in 2015. The essay provoked more disagreement and disapproval than any previous or subsequent submission. Out of hundreds of naysaying and sometimes nasty comments, both here and at Instapundit, I think a grand total of one person stated in cautious agreement that he wasn’t going to let a bunch of spoiled millionaire...

What do Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Obamacare, and President Trump all have in common? All of those people, and institution, have higher favorability numbers than the NFL. According to a Fox News poll released on Thursday, the NFL’s net favorability rating comes in at 42%. Only former FBI Director Robert Mueller, Rudy Giuliani, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Roseanne Barr, have lower favorability numbers. The NFL’s lack of popularity stands out even more, when looking back at where the league was only five years ago. In October of 2013, the league had a 64% favorability rating. By October of 2017,...

The National Football League has done nothing to recover during the off season from it’s miserable popularity ratings that are now at the lowest ever. Rocked by the issues of players taking a knee during the playing of the National Anthem, overly long games, and scandalous players, just 35 percent say they have a favorable view of “America’s sport.”

Bailey Davis couldn’t wait for the calendar reveal party. This was her second year as a member of the Saintsations, the New Orleans Saints cheerleaders, and she’d worked so much harder on toning her body for the calendar shoot than she had as a rookie. She’d been eating clean, going to Pure Barre and CrossFit and she’d even won a plank competition by holding the pose for 33 minutes. The result was her very first six-pack, a tangible sign of her discipline. She hoped that six-pack would help her make the cut—her own month on the calendar.

Eagles cornerback Daryl Worley was arrested in South Philadelphia on Sunday morning. According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Worley "became combative" with officers and was tasered at the corner of Broad and Pattison, right next to the NovaCare Complex, at 6 a.m. Worley was reportedly found passed out in a vehicle and 911 was called. A gun was also reportedly taken from the scene. The Eagles confirmed Worley's arrest in a statement: "We are in the process of gathering more information about Daryl Worley's arrest this morning." Worley, 23, came to town as the return from Carolina in the Torrey...

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Before a reporter could go there with Carolina Panthers rookie running back Christian McCaffrey, right guard Trai Turner took it there. Turner rightly figured the discussion would turn to the fact that McCaffrey is among the handful of white players at his position in the NFL. “Have you seen him run?” Turner asked. “If you’ve seen the guy run, you don’t think about it [his race]. White, black, red, green — I don’t care what color he is. He’s special.” Nine games into his professional career, McCaffrey has flashed the talent that prompted the Panthers to...

Major-college football experienced its largest per-game attendance drop in 34 years and second-largest ever, according to recently released NCAA figures. Attendance among the 129 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams in 2017 was down an average of 1,409 fans per game from 2016. That marked the largest drop since 1983 when average attendance declined 1,527 fans per game from 1982. The 2017 FBS average of 42,203 fans per game is the lowest since 1997. That average attendance drop marked the second-sharpest decline since the NCAA began keeping track of college football attendance in 1948. For the first time in history, average...

You have placed your country above a stupid game. Isn't it great a number of Freepers here put their money where their mouths are and when they say they boycott the NFL..they actually do. Unlike some..well, never mind ;)

With a day to go before kickoff, four reported million-dollar bets have already been placed on Super Bowl LII -- all on the underdog Philadelphia Eagles. A bettor on Friday at William Hill placed a $1 million money-line bet on the Eagles at +155 odds. If Philadelphia pulls the upset over the New England Patriots, the unnamed bettor would net a $1,550,000 profit.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is punting on the question of who will win the Super Bowl. The president was asked by reporters Friday if he had a prediction and took a pass. He says: “I better not get involved.”

Bender's NFL Live Thread: Wild Card Playoffs Saturday, Jan 6, 2018 (All times Eastern) AFC: #5 Tennessee at #4 Kansas City 4:35pm ESPN/ABC NFC: #6 Atlanta at #3 L.A. Rams 8:15pm NBC Sunday, Jan 7, 2018 AFC: #6 Buffalo at #3 Jacksonville 1:05pm CBS NFC: #5 Carolina at #4 New Orleans 4:40pm FOX First Round Byes, AFC: #1 New England #2 Pittsburgh NFC: #1 Philadelphia # 2 Minnestota Golfing: The other 20 teams

In Western NY and Southern Ontario - Party like its 1999!!! WOOHOO!!!!!

The embattled National Football League announced its decision to cancel this week’s edition of ‘Sunday Night Football’ on Tuesday; hoping to avoid a ratings bloodbath as a less-than-stellar line-up and New Year’s Eve festivities would have caused the NFL to reach embarrassing new lows. The league opted to call-off the game before announcing which teams were scheduled to compete, adding the match-up wouldn’t have playoff implications and would likely cost the already troubled organization millions of dollars. “We felt that both from a competitive standpoint and from a fan perspective, the most fair thing to do is to schedule all...

The NFL is approaching the playoffs looking for a ratings turnaround after a year of record-low television numbers. Outcry over players protesting by taking a knee during the national anthem isn’t helping, but it’s only one of several reasons fans are turning away from professional football, media analysts say.

Bender's NFL LIVE THREAD Week 17 Sunday, Dec 31, 2017 (All times Eastern) Chicago at Minnesota 1:00 pm FOX U.S. Bank Stadium Cleveland at Pittsburgh 1:00 pm CBS Heinz Field Dallas at Philadelphia 1:00 pm FOX Lincoln Financial Field Green Bay at Detroit 1:00 pm FOX Ford Field Houston at Indianapolis 1:00 pm CBS Lucas Oil Stadium N.Y. Jets at New England 1:00 pm CBS Gillette Stadium Washington at N.Y. Giants 1:00 pm FOX MetLife Stadium Arizona at Seattle 4:25 pm FOX CenturyLink Field Buffalo at Miami 4:25 pm CBS Hard Rock Stadium Carolina at Atlanta 4:25 pm FOX Mercedes-Benz...