Bayern Munich, Hoffenheim Players Refuse to Play Final Minutes of Match in Support of Hoffenheim Owner

data-mm-id=”_79eq8msz9″>ESPN has opted not to fill Jessica Mendoza's analyst chair in the Sunday Night Baseball booth, The New York Post's Andrew Marchand reports. The network had little choice but to shuffle things up after she brought her message of no-snitching to a car wash and failed to clean up the conflict of interest on the undercoating. Matt Vasgersian and Alex Rodriguez remain, with Buster Olney prowling the dugouts. There are two ways this could go. The first scenario involves the broadcast becoming even more Rodriguez-centric. A celebration of his eccentricity. This is something he'd presumably enjoy more than the public. The risk here is that personal brand-building completely subverts the original purpose of the telecast, which is to present visuals and aud…

data-mm-id=”_ssz1ft52h”>The NBA had the misfortune of being in the midst of its season when a global pandemic put a halt to all things, sports and otherwise. As time went on and it became clear resumption was not in anyone's immediate future, the discourse became focused on the validity of this year's championship. If the season does not get cancelled and the league figures out a way to finish the year with a team named champion, how much credit can said team really be given? Everyone has been given a free rest period to get healthy, but a good portion of the players haven't touched a basketball in months. "You only won because your superstar got healthy!" vs. "We only lost because our superstar wasn't in a groove!" will become the constant back-…

data-mm-id=”_iq3s7r5sr”>In the 1992 classic The Mighty Ducks, a high-profile attorney, Gordon Bombay, is sentenced to coach a Peewee hockey team as punishment for drunken driving. It is not meant to be a commentary on the often-capricious and slanted criminal justice system, though one wonders about the wisdom of putting someone who hates kids with kids. And, true to form, Bombay bristles at the idea of shaping a bunch of losers. His first act as coach, in fact, is to allow the entire team in a limo and drive around on the ice. His hubris and life experience tell him that it's safe, and he uses the understandable outcry from a concerned parent — Charlie's single mom — as the first step of a romantic entanglement. But this blog isn't necessarily about ethics in District…

data-mm-id=”_bwb91t047″>Mitchell Trubisky has been named the starting quarterback of the Chicago Bears in a move that makes little sense. Trubisky was terrible in 2019, his third in the league. It was so bad the Bears traded for Nick Foles and his terrible contract this offseason just to compete for the starting job. In a competitive battle, Bears are expected to name Mitchell Trubisky the starting QB, source tells ESPN.It’s due to his progression, leadership and overall performance throughout camp. Nick Foles made decision difficult for Matt Nagy, but the team feels strong about its QBs.— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 4, 2020Neither Trubisky nor Foles is a good quarterback, but Foles has at least had runs of success where he's led from the front and been aggressive.…

data-mm-id=”_roqoipss9″>The NBA season is over. The Stanley Cup is on its victory tour. The World Series will be over is just over two weeks. It won't even be Halloween. By the time the candy is counted there will be no sports remaining but college and professional football. You know, the two sports where games are canceled / postponed / rescheduled on a daily basis. We are running out of distractions.The end of the NBA season is especially bittersweet. For three months, there was basketball basically every day. And it was good basketball. The isolation at Disney World, the lack of noisy crowds and absence of usual distractions made for very high-quality basketball. Enough can't be said about the performances of all the league's stars (who were in attendance). It all cul…

data-mm-id=”_2k6pbr3sn”>Brett Favre opened his big, dumb mouth this week to say he thinks Deshaun Watson makes too much money to voice an opinion about the franchise he pays for. The implication was that Watson shouldn't demand a trade from the Houston Texans. Favre implied that he's an old school guy and that players should honor their contracts. Which is pretty funny, because he's the same guy who forced his way off the Green Bay Packers in 2008. Favre had the following to say to Minty Bets of Yahoo! Sports about Watson's situation:””I’m kind of old school. I think you know, you play, you get paid a ton of money to do a certain job, and just do it, and let the chips fall where they may. I think we make too much money to voice an opinion, but I’m not saying he’s wr…

data-mm-id=”_xvowpmkix”>Gus Johnson almost didn't go back to school. After life began to return to something resembling normal following the COVID-19 outbreak, the Fox Sports announcer applied and was accepted to Harvard University's Advanced Leadership Initiative. In fact, he was the first candidate to be unanimously accepted in the fellowship program's history. Beginning in January 2022, Johnson was to take two semesters' worth of classes at Harvard with the goal of becoming a better leader, capable of enacting the change he wants to see in the world. A life-changing experience and an opportunity Johnson never dreamed he'd have. But it almost didn't happen because Johnson, a larger-than-life figure in the eyes of millions of sports fans, felt a very huma…

data-mm-id=”_yurwyvlwb”>The New York Mets are in full-on sell mode at the 2023 MLB trade deadline, having already moved several significant pieces. Max Scherzer, David Robertson and Mark Canha are gone, and one more big name could be moved. Justin Verlander is being bandied about in trade talks. The Mets almost certainly want to get out from under his contract, which is a ticking time bomb for the franchise, or whoever acquires him.A year removed from winning the American League Cy Young Award, Verlander has had an up and down campaign with the Mets. He battled a shoulder injury early in 2023, though he's finally seemed to straighten things out and has posted a 6-5 record with a 3.15 ERA, a 1.14 WHIP and 81 strikeouts in 94.1 innings. He has turned it around in June and July and h…

data-mm-id=”_g9lja24wj”>Last year the Philadelphia Eagles discovered they had a bit of a cheat code on short-yardage situations thanks to the combination of Jason Kelce and Jalen Hurts. They rode the Tush Push or Brotherly Shove or Ass Mash to the Super Bowl and somehow got even better at the play in the offseason to the point that there's been widespread conversation about its legality. Which, of course, is a bit silly because any team that wanted to could try to do the exact same thing. And every now and again we're reminded that even though thoroughly and numbingly effective, the play does not work every single time. Like this afternoon when the Eagles attempted to plunge in the game-tying score from one yard out and Hurts coughed up the ball. On first down nonetheless!Com…

data-mm-id=”_n1yja7drs”>It's been an eventful week for Nikki Haley as she tries to gain ground on Donald Trump with the calendar flipping over to an election year. She was stumped by the ol' gotcha question of what caused the Civil War during a town hall meeting, kicking off a multi-day news cycle. With that finally calming down a bit, she was in Iowa yesterday trying to drum up interest in her presidential campaign and attempted to play to the crowd by shouting out Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark. Easy enough, right? Well, not when CNN political reporter Kaitlin Collins is on your mind. Fresh off making a fool of herself in New Hampshire, Nikki Haley confuses an Iowa basketball star with a CNN anchor: “Kaitlan Collins is phenomenal!” Her name is Caitlin Clark.pic.twi…