Month: October 2024

As usual, the road to . . . well, maybe not the Super Bowl, but at least the playoffs goes through Green Bay. And while Aaron Rodgers and the Packers aren’t as dominant as they once were, despite going 13-3 in Matt LaFleur’s first season as a head coach, no one else in the division has really stepped up to challenge them for the crown. At the same time, the Packers haven’t done much to improve from last year, and only time will if Rodger’s initial displeasure over not getting the help he wanted at wide receiver, and instead getting his presumptive replacement at QB in Jordan Love, will impact his play. Minnesota has a history of looking good on paper only, no one knows what to expect from the Chicago’s QB carousel, and the Lions are still the Lions. Green Bay goes into the seas…

There is something magical about Lord’s cricket ground and it is particularly striking when it lies empty, when the sense of history, beauty and grandness rises out of the stillness.

Gareth Southgate wanted his England footballers to experience it, to drink in the aura and so he took them there for a walkabout on the immaculate outfield. The twist was that he did so on Tuesday morning, before the final Euro 2020 group tie against the Czech Republic that night.

England’s Mason Mount ready to start against Germany despite isolationRead more

It was the perfect example of Southgate’s desire to stimulate his players in ever-different ways, to keep their minds open and relaxed, to cut through the tension of a tournam…

MAKE A NOISE AND MAKE IT CLEAR

There’s more to Sean Dyche than meets the ear. His gravelly voice, which makes Phil Mitchell sound like a pubescent teenager in comparison, has reinforced the image of Dyche as somebody who is – to use some of the praise delivered by Social Media Disgrace Twitter’s finest in the last 48 hours – a dinosaur, a thug and a footballing caveman. Oh, and about to be the new Everton manager. Yes, Dyche is set to be appointed at Goodison Park, a decision that the club’s social accounts are expected to announce sometime next month, after Marcelo Bielsa decided not to take the job. Bielsa wanted to coach the U-21s for the rest of the season, allowing the younger players to be…

It’s the 85th minute of a top-of-the-table clash between the Melbourne University Bohemians and our opponents, Barnstoneworth: 2-2, the penultimate game of the season. A point favours them – identical records but their goal difference is wildly superior.

I show for a throw, slightly mis-control it under pressure and lump it somewhere upfield. “Shit yourself there, mate,” announces their centre-mid. Jet black mid-length curly hair, I’d put him about 20 years my junior.

To be fair to him, it was a terrible touch. I wanted to explain that I hadn’t played a full 90 in about five years, that my toddler had been up since 4.50am, that I had the remnants of plantar fasciitis in my left foot, no meniscus in my le…

I remember a lot from my time in journalism school. It set the foundation for my career with tons of great professors who were happy to pass along their knowledge. Guess I was sick or had a head-splitting hangover the day the “steal from the people you’re covering” lesson took place. What are they teaching in Los Angeles? I’m sure that also wasn’t part of the curriculum, but two USC students and reporters for The Talk of Troy, a podcast supported by the school’s journalism program, were arrested last week for the alleged theft of three first-round draft pick jerseys during the 2023 NFL Draft. Eric Lambkins and Jude Ocañas were taken into custody at Kansas City’s airport. The alleged jerseys taken belonged to the Cowboys, Vikings, and 49ers. Jackson County (Mo.) police st…

Inside Lacrosse has published its 2017 Lacrosse All-Name Team, and the future of lacrosse names is exactly like the present. This year’s monikers include a Winnie, a Kiwi, two Skys, and one Rich Mix. The Stanwick family, considered “one of the first families of lacrosse,” is once again represented with the inclusion of Johns Hopkins junior Shackleford Stanwick. (He’s No. 32 in the photo above from a 2015 game, celebrating with his brother, Wellington.) Inside Lacrosse has three teams for men and women each, and Shack earned himself a spot on the men’s first team. The freshman class is strong. You’ve got Harvard’s Tate Green, Brown’s Brewster Warble, and Bryant’s Viper Scheele, who inexplicably only received a selection on the men’s third team. Maybe it’s a senio…