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NFL stuck in the red zone

Well, NFL owners and players had a “productive” meeting on social issues in Manhattan Tuesday – code for nothing but smoke and mirrors designed to placate two mutually exclusive viewpoints. There was, incredibly, no discussion of the National Anthem protests that have been designed to draw attention to the very social issues that were on the agenda. You can’t make this stuff up. ...

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'Public laundry': Aaron Rodgers, Ivanka Trump and the family ties that bind

In some ways, The New York Times is the same old Times, getting its knickers all wet at the prospect of Roger Federer’s return from a back injury and, no doubt, a possible Stuart Restoration, or something. The Times has already carried two Feddy articles, one announcing his return and the other exploring how he’s looking to old rival Rafael Nadal for inspiration in his comeback. Given that Rafa hasn’t been the same player since his 2013 return and that his rivalry with Novak Djokovic – or, for that matter, Nole’s rivalry with Fed – has been longer and more exciting, you have to feel that the Old Grey Lady and Feddy Bear are both grasping at straws.

These are not the best of times for The Times. The Paper of Record “backed the wrong horse” – to switch our sports metaphors – in the election, as many of us did.

Since then, its coverage has been at times overwrought, as if it were determined to be a journalistic Cassandra, preaching and prophesying when many don’t care. ...

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Where have you gone, Jackie Robinson?

I saw Jackie Robinson in person once.  It was at Yankee Stadium on Old Timers’ Day, and Iike a lot of other wiry kids, I craned my neck to take in as many legends on the field as possible. I thought then that Robinson looked old and sickly for his age. (And indeed he would die of a heart attack, complicated by diabetes, at age 53.) The other thing I remember thinking was that he was a big man, larger than life – which he certainly was.

I was reminded of Robinson – the man who had that special combination of physical and spiritual grace to break baseball’s color barrier in 1947 – because Ken Burns’ miniseries about him is set to debut Monday and Tuesday, April 11 and 12, and because Jay Caspian Kang has written a column for The New York Times Magazine’s April 10 edition in which he suggests that racism is killing baseball. ...

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No deflating Mets, Packs, Djoker

Sunday, Oct. 18 was a great sports day as Novak Djokovic, Aaron Rodgers’ Green Bay Packers and the New York Mets all continued to roll and Colin Kaepernick’s San Francisco 49ers continued to improve on the comeback trail.

Nole in particular is having an amazing run as ESPN noted

“He became one of three men to play in all four Grand Slam finals in a single season in the Open era, joining Roger Federer and Rod Laver. ...

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Peerless Nole, awesome Aaron: Djokovic and Rodgers on a roll

“Happiness,” New York Yankees’ owner Col. Jacob Ruppert said in the 1920s, “was watching the Yankees score eight runs in the first inning and then slowly pull away.”

Oh, for those days, right, fellow Yankee fans?

But Green Bay Packers’ fans and those of tennis No. 1 Novak Djokovic understand the sentiment. Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Nole are quite simply on a roll in their respective sports. Yes, the San Diego Chargers could route the Packers Sunday, Oct. 18 while half a world away Jo-Wilfried Tsonga could defeat Nole in the finals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters. ...

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Rafael Nadal and Colin Kaepernick: Running to daylight

When things are going bad, you look for any sign of hope. Rafael Nadal lost the China Open Sunday to Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-2, while the Colin-Kaepernick-led San Francisco 49ers lost to the New York Giants 30-27.

Rafa is having one of his worst years, and the Niners are off to a terrible start (1-4). And while there are plenty of naysayers for both, I prefer to accentuate the positive, as the song says. ...

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