nf Page 339 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

$1.5B in debt, Barcelona are broke-ass broke — and royally FC'd
We’ve spent the past year casting doubt upon American sports franchises’ claims of just how much an effect the pandemic had on their finances. They claim “biblical” losses left and right, while never bothering to provide any information to confirm that. Well, thankfully, unless you’re a Barcelona su...

Eric Bieniemy should be an NFL head coach yesterday, but he deserves better than the Texans
Eric Bieniemy is a coordinator for a defending Super Bowl champion, on its way back to the big game on the strength of the side of the ball he oversees. Bieniemy is 51 years old, has had experience as an assistant head coach with the Vikings, and has a couple of college assistant jobs on his resume,...

Matt LaFleur's garbage decision stinks to high heaven
It’s a Trash Talking Tuesday, and today I’m trashing Packers head coach Matt LaFleur....

Women and Black assistant coaches will be on display in the Super (Minority) Bowl in Tampa
As “Black Monday’’ sits in the NFL’s rear-view mirror, the ongoing conversation around the lack of African-American head coaches continues. The Rooney Rule isn’t working. The Fritz Pollard Alliance is frustrated. And as Roger Goodell and Troy Vincent, the NFL’s head of football operations, sit insid...

Madden Pro Bowl might be the NFL’s smartest move in years
ESPN reports that the NFL Pro Bowl will not only forego their annual Orlando festivities due to COVID-19, but that the event itself will be held virtually and air on television in place of the in-person game....

‘Undersized’ or not, Jaret Patterson’s talent has him ready for the next step
Not every NFL prospect takes the same journey. Not every prospect goes off to play college ball for the Alabamas and Clemsons of the world. To the casual football fan, you might not even know what the Mid-American Conference (MAC) is — they’re the NCAA D1 conference that you’ll find playing in the m...

Peacock conscripts WWE in ongoing battle for your soul
Last week, it was the announcement that NBC would be shutting down NBCSN by the end of 2021. That meant that the network’s NHL and Premier League coverage, as well as various other sports, would be spread between NBC Universal’s other entities, like USA Network. But the real goal seemed to be to get...

Frank Lampard could do the first job, but he couldn’t do the second at Chelsea
The thing about getting a dream job is that most likely it’ll turn into just another job, i.e. it won’t feel like a dream after some time, and you’ll probably get fired. The latter is even more likely in sports, even more so in soccer, and yet even more so at Chelsea. They cycle through managers lik...

Why the hell did Matt LaFleur elect to kick a field goal?
With a Super Bowl berth hanging in the balance, down eight points to the greatest quarterback of all time, this year’s presumptive MVP under center, Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur opted to kick a field goal with 2:09 left in the game. It was fourth-and-goal from the eight yard line. ...

Jim Caldwell is laughing at the Lions
Regret can be a heavy burden to carry, especially when the weight on your back is due to your incompetence....

Deadspin’s Championship Sunday ATS picks you can bank on
The NFL insisted on playing football for a season and now we get more chalk. So if it’s “normalcy” you seek in 2021, rejoice, you’ll see a lot of familiar faces today....

Texans continue streak of idiotic decisions with Josh McCown head coaching idea
With quarterback Deshaun Watson specifically asking that the Texans to interview top-tier candidates like Robert Saleh and Eric Bieniemy, the Texans, according to the NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, apparently are considering naming *checks notes* Josh McCown head coach. ...

From White House visits to NCAA reform, what should sports expect from a Joe Biden administration?
President Biden doesn’t seem to care about sports as much as his predecessor, and that’s probably a good thing....

Chiefs survive Mahomes injury, Brady heads to another conference championship
The Divisional Round is over, and for the 14th time, Tom Brady is on his way to a conference championship game. Brady and Aaron Rodgers will meet in the NFC Championship Game, while Josh Allen will square off with reigning Super Bowl Patrick Mahomes, as long as he’s healthy....

Just change this stupid end zone fumble rule already
I hate bad rules in sports. I hate them even more when they cost teams a game. I hate them even more when it potentially costs a team a playoff win. The Browns were the subject of my least favorite rule in sports – the shitty end zone fumble touchback thingy....

Liverpool, Manchester United draw to leave door open for Manchester City
Perhaps no match felt weirder without fans than the biggest rivalry in English football. Usually the atmosphere for a Liverpool-Man United match can be described as overly passionate, vitriolic, psychotic, poisonous, and/or blood-thirsty. Without the 55,000 baying until their lungs shriveled and fil...

Joe Ricketts, the man who burned down a newsroom for trying to unionize, is at it again
Joe Ricketts, actual owner of the Chicago Cubs and producer of a special class of doofus-progeny, wants to get back into the news game. You can look forward to any personality that attains any popularity on this network to be shipped off as soon as they ask for a raise, replaced by a college sophomo...

It's been a while since we've talked about Buffalo in the context of a Super Bowl run
In one week, the Bills will be in the AFC title game for the first time in 27 years, when, perhaps in a bit of foreshadowing — depending on the outcome of Sunday’s divisional playoff — Buffalo hammered Kansas City, 30-13, to advance to Super Bowl XXVIII....

NFL Divisional Round historical oddities: Brady vs. Brees, young coaches & an AFC/NFC experience chasm
The NFL Playoffs are wonderfully bizarre this year, and I love it. As the divisional round of the NFL Playoffs kicks off later this afternoon, there are some fascinating storylines to watch – some of them can be beautifully illustrated with numbers. I previously did a breakdown of the matchups, as w...

San Francisco Giants owner called out for financing seditionists & traitors feigns outrage
Renel Brooks-Moon is the public address announcer for the San Francisco Giants. She was only the second woman to get that job in Major League Baseball when she took over for the first, Sherry Davis, in 2000. She’s also one of the few Black public address announcers in MLB....