Free Republic

Following Bowling Green’s 73–60 victory in the women’s NIT Super 16 on Thursday night, an ugly scene broke out during the handshake line between Falcons players and the Memphis players and coaching staff. Memphis star player Jamirah Shutes stopped the line and exchanged some words with Bowling Green senior Elissa Brett. After a brief altercation, Shutes punched Brett in the face before being pulled away by members of the Tigers coaching staff.

Master falconer Rodney Stotts has written a book about his life path from drug dealer on the streets of Washington to wildlife expert, hoping to inspire others to take solace in nature. "I went from 'flipping birds' - selling cocaine - to flying birds, and the destruction that I used to cause in that life," Stotts said. "I'm just trying to make up for it." In his new memoir "Bird Brother," the 51-year-old credits the "healing power of wildlife" for transforming his life.

Sunday marked the end of the season for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and the beginning of a new chapter in the love story of team cheerleader Benjamin Ajani and his boyfriend, Dominic Williams, who surprised Ajani with a marriage proposal at the final game.

Dan Reeves, an NFL player, assistant coach and head coach who retired having participated in a then-record nine Super Bowls, has died at the age of 77.

Former NFL player Phillip Adams, who shot and killed 6 people before taking his own life in April, had severe brain damage from CTE, researchers from Boston University said in a statement Tuesday. "His 20-year career put him at high risk for development of CTE," Dr. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist and expert on neurodegenerative diseases at Boston University who conducted the study on Adams' brain, said during a press conference attended by insider. "It's a progressive disease that worsens with age. In many instances, it is a disease of the young," she added. McKee said Adams had severe CTE in...

When Bill Fralic was an eighth-grader in the Penn Hills school district, he worked at a local golf course over the summer. It was there that he first met Pitt coach Jackie Sherrill. “What college do you play for?” Sherrill asked the 6-foot-3, 235-pound Fralic. Fralic told him he was going into the ninth grade. Needless to say, Sherrill had his No. 1 recruiting target for the recruiting class of 1981, and he would not be disappointed as he followed Fralic throughout his storied scholastic career. Fralic, who went on to become an All-American lineman at Pitt and an All-Pro...

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....

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.

Relive the famous comeback in Super Bowl LI through the eyes of Peyton Manning.

Matt Ryan Pulls A Hillary Clinton While Tom Brady Trumps The Falcons In 2017 Super Bowl! ***WARNING LANGUAGE** (Tommy give his post-Super Bowl commentary)

.....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. “I’m troubled by anything directionally in our country that separates people,” Blank told Newsday. “America started without any of us, other than Native American Indians. This country was built on inclusion and diversity, on celebration of those differences, supporting those differences...

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.

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

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,...

Nine of the Qataris kidnapped from Iraq's Samawa desert are members of the ruling family: sources Published December 19th, 2015 - 20:00 GMT via SyndiGate.info As the mystery surrounding the abduction last week of a Qatari hunting party in Iraq deepened, a report in Kuwait said that nine of its members were from the Al Thani Ruling family. The Al Thani hunters abducted are Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Mohammad Al Thani, Shaikh Nayed Bin Eid Mohammad Al Thani, Shaikh Abdul Rahman Bin Jasem Abdul Aziz Jassem Al Thani, Shaikh Jassem Bin Fahad Mohammad Thani Al Thani, Shaikh Khalid Bin Jassem...

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...