nf Page 758 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Did The Browns' Front Office Break Up Over Greg Schiano?
The troika of Jimmy Haslam, Joe Banner, and Michael Lombardi seemed doomed from the beginning, and the shit finally hit the fan yesterday with the announcement that the CEO and GM are out. We'll be hearing more and more insidery stuff as the days and weeks go by, but here's one early nugget on how t...

Which Cleveland Browns Rumor Is Funnier?
Browns owner Jimmy Haslam punted his general manager and CEO today, and his late front-office shuffling has produced two interesting but dubious rumors. It's difficult to decide which is better, so judge for yourself....

Michael Sam's Father Did Not Take His Son's Coming Out Smoothly
Michael Sam's Missouri teammates generally embraced him when he revealed that he was gay last August. The majority of the NFL's reaction was positive, too, after Sam told the public Sunday. But Sam's father, Michael Sam, Sr., didn't have a similar reaction when he found out. His coping involved drin...

The Bittersweet Legacy Of Steve McNair
Excerpted from Deadspin's Big Book of Black Quarterbacks. This entry is written by Billy Haisley. ...

Dutch Airline Boss Arrested For Peeing On Putin's Fence
If you're a foreigner in Sochi for the Olympics, one of the things at the top of your "Things not to do at the Olympics" list should be "Peeing on Vladimir Putin's fence." Someone should have told that to Dutch Airline mogul Atilay Uslu....

Where Olympic NHLers Are Coming From
16 Wins has put together this animated infographic showing each NHL team's contributions to Olympic rosters. I'd prefer an interactive version that lets me actually stop and look at each nation, but I get the idea....

Jon Stewart Rips NFLers Who See Michael Sam As A "Distraction"
Jon Stewart did a segment on Michael Sam during last night's episode of the Daily Show, and after dropping a pretty good burn on Tim Tebow, he got right at the heart of what's so ridiculous about certain NFL people's assumption that Sam will be a distraction for his future NFL team....

Joe Banner, Michael Lombardi Out In Cleveland
After a disastrous year capped off by a prolonged, embarrassing coaching search, the Cleveland Browns have cleaned house in the front office. CEO Joe Banner is "stepping down," and GM Michael Lombardi doesn't even get to pretend that he's leaving by choice—he's "departing the organization."...

Speed Skaters Have Gotten A Lot Faster Since 1924
Similar to what The New York Times did for the 100m dash in 2012, The Wall Street Journal has developed a great graphic to show just how much faster the top speed skaters have gotten over the years. The still above is part of an animation pitting every male 500m gold medalist against each other; the...

Mike Francesa And His Callers Talked Michael Sam And It Was Not Good
One of the dirty secrets about Mike Francesa is that underneath his lovable, old-man-watching-sports-from-an-oversized-recliner persona is someone who's... not so great when it comes to talking about gay people. His thoughts on the topic have always been more than a little perplexed....

Why Doug Williams Matters
Excerpted from Deadspin's Big Book of Black Quarterbacks. This entry is by Greg Howard....

Michael Sam Shouldn't Have To Do This Alone
So Missouri defensive end Michael Sam came out publicly last night to the New York Times (he had already been out to his teammates since before the season) and roughly 30 minutes after the RAINBOWSTREAM MEDIA broke out in celebration, the Distraction Factory cranked up in the form of these eight ano...

NFL Executives Say The League Isn't Ready For Michael Sam
There are layers to former Missouri defensive end Michael Sam's coming-out. The first is that it happened, and the sun came up with no more than the expected amounts of bigotry. The second is how it happened, and OutSports has a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the lengthy and complex preparati...

Here's How The NFL Reacted To Michael Sam Coming Out
When Michael Sam came out tonight, likely becoming the first publicly gay active NFL player next season, we knew there'd be some shocking reactions from people on Twitter, including some of those in the NFL. Here, to preserve them publicly, are those tweets:...

NFL Prospect Michael Sam Says He Is Gay
Former Missouri defensive lineman Michael Sam is projected to be taken in this year's NFL Draft. Even if he goes undrafted and a team signs him, Sam could be the first publicly gay active player in the NFL....

Here Are This Year's Sloan Finalist Papers—And Their Biggest Issue
The eight finalists for the paper contest at MIT's Sloan Conference—the most prestigious and most branded sports analytics conference in the U.S.—were announced this week. They're a fascinating mix of creative problem solving and impresario number-wrangling, and if you read through them, you'll see ...

The Beautiful Infographics Of Ted Williams's <em>The Science Of Hitting</em>
In 1971, Ted Williams and John Underwood released The Science of Hitting, the definitive treatment of the subject. Few great athletes have ever been so articulate about the mechanics of their greatness, which is one reason the book holds up even today, well into the analytics era. (A decade ago, Sci...

Randall Cunningham: The Author Of NFL's Greatest Individual Play
Excerpted from Deadspin's Big Book of Black Quarterbacks....
