Free Republic

No dynasty lasts forever. If the Holy Roman Empire could fall, so can the NFL. NFL ratings are down 11 percent from last year across the board and by double digits in prime time. Sunday night's Colts-Texans game drew just 12.9 million viewers, a 38 percent dip from last year's Patriots-Colts tilt. One game airing opposite a Presidential debate barely cracked 8 million viewers. The NFL's numbers may remain enviable to virtually everyone, but that doesn't change that they've fallen. So what's to blame? Everyone has a theory. With some help from WEEI's Mike Mutnansky, who discussed this at length...

Aubrey Loots and Danny Leclair joke that they're getting married New Year's Day in front of 80 million of their closest friends, and the men say they aren't that concerned that a few thousand others may boycott the first gay marriage at the 125-year-old Rose Parade. The Pasadena Tournament of Roses, which puts on the parade, said in a statement that it is proud to have the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's float, adding it clearly represents this year's parade theme, "Dreams Come True." "Like all of our sponsors and float designers, AHF continues to help make the Rose Parade a premier...

A 20-year-old man has been arrested and an elderly woman lucky to be alive after he allegedly hit her over the head with a shovel while high on bath salts. High: Robert William White, 20, was hand cuffed and carried out of an apartment building after allegedly getting high on bath salts and then hitting an elderly woman with a shovel (file photo) Police who responded to reports of the man trying to kill the woman at the apartment complex found White barricaded inside his apartment. White was holed up for nearly an hour before police were able to enter...

Michelle Obama graces cover of Vogue... in clothes she chose for the shoot herself It's official: Michelle Obama is the first lady of American fashion, appearing on the cover of the March issue of Vogue. ...The only other First Lady ...was Hillary Clinton. Cover girl: Michelle Obama... Mrs Obama appears wearing a magenta silk sheath dress by Jason Wu that she herself chose for the shoot.... ...the eight-page feature...is devoted to Mrs. Obama's self-described role as 'mom in chief'.... 'I'm going to try to take them to school every morning, as much as I can,' she said. ...Mrs Obama hugs...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Verizon Communications (VZ) and CBS Corp. (CBS) on Monday said they have reached a retransmission consent and video-on-demand agreement for CBS shows. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal includes analog, digital, multicast and high-definition rights to programming on CBS owned-and-operated television stations; local video-on-demand content from those stations; and CBS Television Network video-on-demand content, including series such as "CSI," "NCIS" and "Survivor." Verizon said it will offer the programming on Verizon FiOS TV, its new fiber-optic TV service, which is now available in parts of seven states