Monthly Archives: April 2017

New England Patriots

Jackie Robinson’s spirit and legacy continues to inspire more and more actions that are meant to help others

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The sheet of initial props comes from William Hill U.S., which also made the request. Although one still can’t bet on when specific prospects will be taken or what NFL teams do in the draft — two things that could be corrupted by inside information — there are plenty props.

DT Jonathan Allen, TE O.J. Howard and ILB Reuben Foster are the locks, but OT Cam Robinson, CB Marlon Humphrey and OLB Tim Williams are major wild cards with their positions being strong early in the draft. From what we know, the total is not hitting five.

Jackie Robinson’s spirit and legacy continues to inspire more and more actions that are meant to help others, and even baseball itself. Today, MLB clubs are hosting 50 scholars from the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which is dedicated to giving scholarships to motivated students who demonstrate financial need (among other things) and shepherding them through a four-year college. In March, the Jackie Robinson Foundation received a $6.5 million gift that will enable it to expand its scholarship program but also break ground on the Jackie Robinson Museum.

Today, April 15, is Jackie Robinson Day. It’s the 70th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier by taking the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Today, every player in Major League Baseball will wear the number 42, which is the only time you’ll ever see it worn in a game. MLB has a ceremony planned at Dodger Stadium today to celebrate Robinson’s incredible accomplishments. Robinson’s wife, Rachel, and his children, Sharon and David, will be there to help unveil the new statue of Robinson, and Dodgers owners and legends (like Vin Scully and Sandy Koufax) will be there as well.
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Houston Texans

the Raiders have worked diligently and in good faith to improve the club’s stadium situation in Oakland.

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For more than a decade, the Raiders have worked diligently and in good faith to improve the club’s stadium situation in Oakland. The NFL determined not to accept relocation applications prior to the 2015 season, and the Raiders were not permitted to relocate to Los Angeles prior to the 2016 season. This gave Oakland leadership additional time to address the Raiders’ acknowledged stadium issues.

The NFL emphasized that the member clubs would be unlikely to accept contingent or uncertain stadium proposals as a basis for requiring a club that otherwise qualifies for relocation to remain in its home market.

Game Womens Tharold Simon Jersey The stadium proposals received from Oakland are dependent on various contingencies and involve a number of significant uncertainties that the membership concluded cannot be resolved in a reasonable time. This is true even though the League has long accepted the community’s position that it will not invest public funds into stadium construction.

Kids Elvis Dumervil Jersey The proposal to relocate to Las Vegas involves a clearly-defined and well-financed proposal for a first-class stadium in a diverse and growing community that is well-recognized as an entertainment destination. It offers the Raiders a genuine opportunity to resolve longstanding stadium issues and is expected to provide the club with solid future prospects.

Houston Texans

Ray Rice helps NFL put together ‘social responsibility presentation’

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Ray Rice is still working to repair his reputation after the fallout of punching his then-fiancee in an elevator in 2014.
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The former Ravens running back contributed to the NFL’s annual social responsibility presentation to players and staff, where he will discuss how his actions impacted his life.

We shot a video that just highlights everything that I’ve been talking about decision-making, how things happened in my life, how things unfolded, Rice said, via ESPN.com. The guys get to hear it from me, how it unraveled.

Womens Jordan Jenkins Jersey It’s the fourth year the NFL has put together a behavioral video, and this invitation is the first time Rice has worked with the NFL since he was suspended — then dismissed — from the Ravens. This year, the emphasis of the video will be on making healthy choices and healthy masculinity, and will eventually be released to schools for students and athletes to watch.

You know why he’s been able to play at a high level in this league for so long, which helps me, because I want to be great, he added. I want to be considered one of the best players in the league. To see that [after] 10 years, this man is still outworking everybody in his own facility, it’s amazing. It’s very eye-opening to me and motivating.

Peterson missed almost all of last season after suffering another major knee injury. He still wants to play, but teams haven’t really jumped at the opportunity to sign the 32-year-old running back at his asking price.

Tampa Bay might need a running back next season with two-time Pro Bowler Doug Martin suspended for the first three games after violating the league’s substance abuse policy.

Houston Texans

Cavs fans are making a mess of r/cavaliers, a subreddit for dog enthusiasts

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So, they turned to humor.

Over time, Cavalier King Charles spaniel enthusiasts became content with their lot in life. Frequent visits from Cavs fans softened them, and soon very nice interactions were happening on posts about LeBron and the Cavs.

Now the two coexist peacefully. The yin and the yang of Reddit. Dog owners looking to discuss their favorite breed, and Cavaliers fans looking to discuss their favorite lead — which was a 3-1 lead the Warriors blew in the NBA Finals.

One of the sweetest things to see is the families of deployed military members get surprised by their loved ones with unexpected homecomings. During Nebraska’s spring game on Saturday, the family of Staff Sergeant Matthew Hawke, who had been deployed for 10 months in Afghanistan, got to toss the coin before kickoff.

Little did they know, they’d be able to see Hawke very soon. Hawke, a lifelong Husker fan, dressed up in a Nebraska football uniform and ran out of the tunnel with the rest of the team.

Before the big surprise, Hawke’s wife talked about how big of Husker fans her and Matt both were.
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Game Youth Tani Tupou Jersey “Growing up my family was always real big Husker fans. And then I met Matt, and then I really learned what a Husker fan was. We have date nights for Saturday nights, except for football season. My husband is super jealous.”

New England Patriots

Diamondbacks fan catches foul ball with one bare hand while balancing popcorn and phone in other

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We have a new entry in the “Fan Catches Ball While the Other Hand is Occupied” Hall of Fame. This fan at Friday’s Indians-Diamondbacks game was the lucky recipient of a Tyler Naquin foul ball, which he easily caught with one bare hand. Meanwhile, the other hand had his popcorn and cell phone stacked on one another. He probably could’ve put the popcorn down, and put his phone in his pants, but where’s the fun in that?

The aforementioned accolades of Romo’s tend to get whispered. Let’s get to the stuff that’s fun to scream about, though. Some of the failures that Romo has never been able to shake free from. We’ll run through a few:

There’s nothing to be said about this botched hold play that hasn’t been said already. Something of note, however. The second-string quarterback usually holds the snap on extra points to keep defenses honest and prepared for the fake. Romo started the season on the second string. He moved up the depth chart to starter in Week 8. Jon Kitna should have been holding snaps for 10 weeks by this point. Romo wasn’t even supposed to be out there. Poor guy can’t ever catch a break.

Dallas went 13-4 and secured a Wild Card bye. This game came down to Dallas having the ball on the Giants’ 23 while trailing, 21-17. Romo threw a 4-yard completion to Jason Witten, two incompletions, and the game-clinching interception to R.W. McQuarters. There’s not a single soul on the planet who even knows what the hell R.W. even stands for. Not even R.W. McQuarters himself.
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Miami Dolphins

The Yankees wouldn’t have won Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS.

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One of the most infamous moments in playoff history could have been avoided if MLB was checking its email. With the Yankees down 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth, 12-year-old Yankees fan Jeffery Meier interfered with a Derek Jeter fly ball that would have been likely caught by Tony Tarasco at the wall. Instead, it was incorrectly ruled that the ball was already in the stands, therefore making it a home run.

The Yankees would win the game 5-4 in extra innings, and take the series 4-1 before going on to win the World Series.

Brandon Scherff Authentic Jersey The NFL dispute with referees might have never ended. Nantz has been criticized, usually gently, for this tradition. It’s nice to give a nice necktie to a college athlete, but the symbolism isn’t the best. College basketball players don’t get paychecks, but they create many millions of dollars in revenue by playing in the Final Four. It looks weird for a well-to-do sportscaster like Nantz to, instead of rewarding players with money, reward them with a piece of fabric.

Whether the comments are honest or not isn’t the issue. The comments are counterproductive. That’s not to say Kelly should lie; the question is why even bring it up in the first place? What does Kelly gain by saying Kizer needs to grow up off the field?

If you were the parent of a kid who is considering Notre Dame, the way Kelly’s speaking about a former athlete isn’t exactly an endearing thing. For rival recruiters, throw this on the list of things with which to negatively recruit against the Fighting Irish.

Kelly is certainly not the first coach to make the mistake of criticizing a recently departed star, however.

Houston Texans

UNC may or may not visit Donald Trump’s White House after winning the NCAA title

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Kerry Wood Youth Jersey North Carolina is the men’s college basketball national champion for a sixth time, having beaten Gonzaga for that title on Monday. It’s a long-standing, unofficial tradition that the NCAA tournament’s last team standing pays a visit to the president at the White House in the months that follow. It’s not clear if North Carolina would accept such an invitation or, to their coach, if they’ll even get one.

According to The Washington Post, the massive crowds caused injuries to seven individuals, including four that were hurt by bonfires that broke out amongst the crowd.

A crowd that numbered into the thousands surged onto the streets of Chapel Hill, celebrating North Carolina’s victory over Gonzaga in the NCAA championship game, with seven people reportedly injured in the reveling.
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The party began with about seven seconds left when Tar Heel fans converged from all corners of town onto the intersection of Franklin and Columbia streets. Eventually, the number of happy fans reached 55,000, police told Raleigh’s ABC affiliate, adding that four of the seven injuries were from bonfires.
Some videos of the celebration that were posted on social media captured the rowdy scene.

With this lineup, San Jose State went 4-8, and Caragher was fired. The Spartans ranked 100th in Off. S&P+ and 112th in Def. S&P+. The Spartans were miserable until November, and when they began to improve, it was too late.

Recruiting is step one. It is only the first few miles of a journey that includes the Player Development River and the Tactics Trail, but getting through recruiting with interesting tools makes you more likely to succeed overall. And it jazzes up the fan base.

Houston Texans

6 places the Raiders could play during the 2019 NFL season

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The Raiders’ move to Las Vegas was approved at the NFL owners’ meetings on Monday in Phoenix. Out of the 32 teams, 31 voted in favor of the move. The Raiders are slated to start playing in Las Vegas during the 2020 season.

On Monday, team owner Mark Davis said in a statement, “My father always said, ‘the greatness of the Raiders is in its future,’ and the opportunity to build a world-class stadium in the entertainment capital of the world is a significant step toward achieving that greatness.”

That stadium is going to come, in a few years, though.

The Steelers held Stafford to just 35 yards in the second half as they scored 17 unanswered points. Stafford finished 19-of-46 for 362 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
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Calvin Johnson was Stafford’s favorite target as usual and had 179 yards and two touchdowns at the half. The single-game receiving yards record is 336, a mark which Johnson came just seven yards short of earlier this season against the Cowboys.

However, Johnson was shut out in the second half and finished with those 179 yards.

Missing out passing records wasn’t Detroit’s biggest problem. A fake field goal in the fourth quarter resulted in a fumble. The Steelers recovered and scored on the ensuing drive. Pittsburgh would add another touchdown for a 37-27 comeback win over the Lions.

Authentic Womens Johnathan Joseph Jersey Stafford’s first touchdown to Johnson, a 79-yard strike early in the second quarter, was the quarterback’s 100th career touchdown pass and gave him the Lions’ all-time career passing yards lead.