Free Republic

A California district superintendent recently announced that a high school football team was no longer allowed to display the Thin Blue Line at its games, but that didn’t stop Saugus High School players. When most of the team ran onto the field Friday night, the tradition of the Thin Blue Line Flag was absent. Two players then came onto the field carrying an American flag and a Thin Blue Line flag, even after Superintendent Mike Kuhlman announced they weren’t allowed to show the flag supporting law enforcement .. Kuhlman announced the decision to ban the team from displaying the flag...

Effective immediately, Washington will call itself the "Washington Football Team" pending the adoption of a new name, the franchise announced. This is not a final renaming and rebranding for the team; this is the name it wants to use until the adoption of a new name at some point. The team will continue the process of retiring the former name and hopes to be entirely rid of it on physical and digital spaces in the next 50 days, by the Sept. 13 regular-season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles.

A bus carrying Togo's national football team to the Africa Cup of Nations has been hit by machine-gun fire, injuring two players, reports say. The reported incident occurred as the bus was en route to Angola from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Africa Cup of Nations is due to start in Angola on Sunday. Togo's first game is to be played on Monday in the oil-rich northern territory of Cabinda, where rebels have been fighting for independence. ... The identities of the wounded players are not known. There are unconfirmed reports of serious injuries. ...

Keith Olbermann of MSNBC defended Limbaugh's right to buy the Rams. And Olbermann made the critics of Limbaugh on this point entry No. 3 on Olbermann's nightly "Worst Persons in the World" segment of Countdown. "There're now gonna be character tests for sports owners?" Olbermann said. "There'll only be three of them left. Unless they beat the Vikings Sunday as of next Thursday it will have been a full year since the Rams won a game. My God, if Limbaugh wants to buy them far be it for me to tell him he's flushing his money down a rat hole."

An award-winning New Jersey high school football coach who was barred by his school district from partaking in pre-game prayers with his players has filed suit alleging that his constitutional rights have been violated. Marcus Borden's lawsuit, filed with the Middlesex County Superior Court, asks that the court prohibit the East Brunswick school district from enforcing its policy on prayer. Borden wants to be able to silently nod his head during team prayers before pre-game meals with players and to kneel on one knee with the team in the locker room before the games, actions that violate the current policy....

Thailand's Muslim youths become radicalised By Amy Kazmin Published: May 3 2004 5:00 | Last Updated: May 3 2004 5:00 Just a week ago, the 19 youthful members of Baan Su So's football team were the pride of their lush, seemingly tranquil southern Thai village, winning a top prize in a league championship. But today, villagers in Baan Su So are reluctant to talk about the religious Muslim athletes, who were killed on Wednesday in a hail of police gunfire after they attacked a Thai security checkpoint 26km from home. The teammates, who ranged in age from 19 to 32,...