End of a quarterback, birth of an icon, as captured by AP.
Colin Kaepernick’s collusion case against the NFL is now one for the record books, though no numbers have been reported. Such is the way with private settlements. My uncle said he probably got $40 million. I think he got at least twice that. The NFL isn’t merely buying his silence in a suit that he may well have won. They’re saying adios to an activist player.
Read MoreThey’re still talking about officials’ failure to call pass interference on Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman in the NFC Championship game against the New Orleans Saints. Photograph by John David Mercer.
Sunday, Feb. 3 marks the Super Duper Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams, but much of the talk this week has been about a controversial play in the NFC Championship game Jan. 20 in which the referees failed to call pass interference on Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman as he collided with New Orleans Saints receiver Tommylee Lewis.
Read MoreSome members of the San Francisco 49ers kneeling during "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a game against the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland on Oct. 15, 2017. Photograph by Keith Allison.
Wildfires still burning out of control in California. Some border babies still not reunited with their parents. Markets reeling from Turkey’s plummeting economy, pushed further down by Trumpian tariffs.
But thank God President Donald J. Trumpet has made us safe from kneeling NFL players….
Read MoreDo you think it was the premature commemorative coin, in which “L’il Kim” Jong-un is portrayed with two chins and President Donald J. Trumpet with only one? (Which is laughable. Melania could do a step workout on her husband’s triple chins.)
The much-“Trump”eted summit between the two narcissists – which Donnie Two Scoops suddenly called off after Kim essentially pulled out – may be on again for June 12 in Singapore. Or not. We don’t know. Because that’s the way Trumpet rolls.
He sent Kim a letter that set new standards for passive aggression in what can only be described as a cross between a threatening lawsuit and an insecure society hostess’ thank you note…
Read MoreWell, 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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“The NFL Honors,” host Conan O’Brien said, would be like the Academy Awards if the Academy Awards honored black people.
Ouch.
Actually, Commissioner Roger Goodell should broadcast “The NFL Honors” every day, for it shows men of grace, humility and compassion – the qualities too often eclipsed by the tabloid headlines. On the program Saturday, Feb. 6, we heard a lot about family and living your dream and exhorting others to do the same.
Eric Berry, a Kansas City Chief safety who overcame Hodgkins’ disease to become the Comeback Player of the Year, didn’t mince words when he described the lonely nights, his father shaving his head in solidarity with his hair loss, his mother comforting him through the vomiting. He must’ve used the word “love” about 25 times in telling people to follow their passions. No one has the right to say that more than a man who has looked death in the face. ...
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On this Super Bowl weekend, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told Robin Roberts of “Good Morning America” that people around the world will be watching Super Bowl 50 Sunday, implying that the game is the center of the universe.
People may be watching the Super Bowl around the globe, but that doesn’t make it a global sport the way soccer or tennis is. Few people in Indonesia beyond some ex-pats care about the NFL – a subject I address in my forthcoming novel “The Penalty for Holding.” But there seems to be a disconnect between public and internal perceptions of the game.
For Goodell the game is one he’d be happy having a son play; arrests are down 40 percent among NFL players, with the players more upstanding than non-players in their demographic group; and, as for concussions, he actually said there’s a risk in sitting on the couch. Really.
Meanwhile, Johnny Manziel – aka Johnny Football, the soon-to-be-former Cleveland Browns quarterback – has imploded. It’s the usual – trouble with drugs, alcohol and women. ...
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