Free Republic

It would only require one or two results this weekend – none of them farfetched – for Notre Dame to reach the College Football Playoff for the third time in four seasons, including each of the past two. Maybe Georgia blows out Alabama. Maybe Baylor or Iowa beat Oklahoma State or Michigan. Maybe Cincinnati stumbles. That’s it. That’s all it would take. If it happens, Notre Dame will compete once again in the playoff … only this time without its head coach. It is the latest example of a sport gone mad – with money, with realignment, with championship aspirations,...

Carl Nassib came out last offseason via a brief social media video. It made him the first openly gay NFL player. There were criticisms this wasn’t important or something no one needed to know. Some even accused him of using his announcement to ensure he wouldn’t be cut this year by the Las Vegas Raiders. Nassib, however, has said little since that day. He’s just done his job, and done it pretty well. It’s been far more important than that. Consider that until Monday, Nassib’s head coach was Jon Gruden, who in emails uncovered during a tangential NFL investigation freely...

Last January, Case Keenum threw 20 incompletions, threw two picks, and threw away what felt like a Super Bowl in the cold of the NFC championship game in Philadelphia. The Minnesota Vikings saw their quarterback get outdueled by Eagles backup Nick Foles, dashing the dream of hosting the Super Bowl. Afterward, the franchise focused on a single thing – get a quarterback, just about any quarterback, at just about any price. All the other pieces were there, they believed. So they went out and got Kirk Cousins, for $84 million over three years, convincing him to come to Minnesota because...

The strange part of the circus that surrounds Tim Tebow's every move – including reports Monday that he's going to sign with the New England Patriots – is that he does so little to keep it alive. He doesn't court the media. He doesn't say outlandish things. He doesn't complain about coaching decisions or teammates. He doesn't publicly beg for another chance. Even the quarterback's outward displays of faith (Tebowing, for instance) are nothing that dozens of other NFL players don't do each week after scoring a touchdown. Tebow is a good soldier, a young player who never said he...