ff Page 379 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

NFL's VP Of Officiating Defends Very Bad Year Of Officiating
One of the defining characteristics of this NFL season has been late-game officiating controversies. There was the tumultuous ending to the Patriots-Bills game, the weird anti-Cam Newton grandstanding by Ed Hochuli, the phantom offensive pass interference call that allowed the Broncos to give the Pa...

Today Was A Great Day For American Soccer Players In Europe
Right now is not a banner time for American soccer players in Europe. There are precious few starters for top-tier European clubs, and many American stars have repopulated MLS rather than try to hack it in the big leagues....

Who Will Free The Cursed Soul Trapped Inside This Matt Stafford Statue?
This custom-made, 62-inch wooden statue of Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford is currently on sale for $1,500. It is imperative that someone out there buy it and destroy it, so that the curse binding a tortured soul to it for all eternity can be broken....

The Facemask Penalty On The Lions Was The Right Call In The Moment
This will sound self-contradictory and bring consolation to absolutely no one, but the facemask call that extended the game and gave the Packers the chance to win on a hail mary was the wrong call—and one that no official should be blamed for making....

Sports Broadcaster Howard Eskin Is So Mad About Cliff Lee, He Can't Type
Everyone has typos. They’ll always happen, no matter how many times someone checks their copy. (This article is the exception. It’s infallible.) Philly sports personality Howard Eskin transcended the regular typo, however, with his reaction to Cliff Lee’s desire to pitch in MLB next season....

<i>The Comedians </i>Is The Deep-Dive History Stand-Up Comedy Deserves
For close to a decade, Kliph Nesteroff, a former stand-up comic from Vancouver, has been exploring the underbelly of showbiz, and especially comedy, history, mainly for WFMU’s Beware of the Blog, the New Jersey freeform radio station’s online home for longform ephemera. Though the writing was clearl...

NFL Demotes Officiating Crew After Screwups In Cardinals-Niners Game
Sunday’s Cardinals-49ers game was a disaster for the officials, one that stood out even against the backdrop of an especially woeful season for the zebras. How bad was it? The crew responsible has been demoted from primetime....

Texas Tech Beats Texas On Trick Play Touchdown
For the first time since 1997, Texas Tech beat Texas in Austin last night in a 48-45 thriller. The Red Raiders sealed the deal with this rather clever bit of misdirection and running by Jakeem Grant, who has a history of spectacular runs. Coach Kliff Kingsbury said last night that the play is called...

<i>Red Cliff </i>Is The Crazed War Epic John Woo Was Reborn To Make
It’s probably fair to say that John Woo went limping back to Hong Kong. In the ’80s and early ’90s, Woo changed the Hong Kong film industry by making some of the best action movies of all time: Hard Boiled, The Killer, A Better Tomorrow, Bullet in the Head. He then spent a decade in Hollywood, where...

Blake Griffin And Nuggets Coach Mike Malone Got Into It Over "Hack-A-DJ" Strategy
It’s not often we see a coach being held back by his team from going after an opposing player, but things got chippy in the fourth quarter of the Clippers’ 111-94 win in Denver. The scuffle—limited to a verbal one—was sparked by Griffin’s displeasure with the Nuggets’ “Hack-A-DJ” strategy, and damne...

Blake Griffin Nails Alley-Oop Three
Midway through the third quarter, Blake Griffin was set up outside the three-point line, but couldn’t repress his alley-oop instincts enough to shoot this here shot while earthbound....

Report: Bad Call At End Of Patriots-Bills Game Was Because Official Forgot He Wasn't In College
The inadvertent whistle is justly getting most of the attention, but the Patriots’ 20-13 win over the Bills was a terrible game all around for the zebras. And the Boston Globe has a source in the referees’ union who blames the blown call on the final play of the game on an official who mixed up a co...

What's Wrong With NFL Officiating?
It’s getting exhausting emerging from each weekend with our choice of questionable and downright bad refereeing decisions to analyze, but it feels unavoidable these days. I don’t know if it’s confirmation bias or if it’s real, but NFL officiating feels as bad this season as it’s ever been. Last nigh...

Officials Blow Inadvertent Whistle On Completed Pats Pass, Then Screw Up Ruling
The Patriots are locked into a tight game with the Bills, tied 10-10 in the third quarter. But that scoreline might’ve been very different, if not for an enormous refereeing blunder....

Colin Kaepernick Might Be Done As A 49er
Even before the 49ers put Colin Kaepernick on the IR this morning, it was clear that he was ancillary to the team’s plans going forward. Coach Jim Tomsula benched him in favor of Blaine Gabbert (Blaine Gabbert!) for their Week 9 win over the Falcons before the extent of his shoulder injury was revea...

Man Convicted Of Killing Adrian Peterson's Son Sentenced To Life In Prison
A South Dakota judge sentenced Joseph Patterson to life in prison without the possibility of parole Thursday, the mandatory minimum sentence. Patterson was convicted of second-degree murder in September for the death of Adrian Peterson two-year-old son, Tyrese Ruffin. Peterson learned that Ruffin wa...

Rex Ryan Has Had It With The New England Media
An unprecedented and frankly offensive thing happened today: a coach was asked questions about the team he’s playing, by reporters who cover that team....

Cris Carter, Lame Dad Who Doesn't Know What Dabbing Is, Defines Dabbing
Okay, so we’re now into the third day of talking about Cam Newton dabbin’ on dem folk and this morning on Mike and Mike, Mike Greenberg and Cris Carter discussed what dabbing is. Greenberg, a lame dad, wasn’t familiar with the dance, so he asked Carter. Carter, himself a lame dad, wasn’t familiar wi...

NFL Admits Officials Screwed Ravens Out Of A Win
Yesterday’s Jaguars-Ravens game ended with the Jags kicking a game-winning field goal on the final play of the game. According to an NFL spokesman, that play should have never happened, and the Ravens should have won....

NFL Admits It Fucked Up With Pajama Uniforms That Ruined Game For Colorblind Fans
The absurd “color rush” uniforms worn by the Jets and Bills last night were bad enough if you could see them. They were worse for the millions of viewers who couldn’t. The NFL says: oops....