NYCFC’s ‘home’ game 110 miles from their temporary home ground reaffirmed the fact that one of the league’s star clubs are still without a permanent homeIt was billed as a home game, but it was the loosest definition of the term. Even Patrick Vieira admitted as much. “We treated it like an away game,” the New York City FC head coach said.On Saturday, New York City fans endured up to seven-hour round trips to East Hartford, Connecticut, for their ‘home’ game against the Houston Dynamo, a match they drew 1-1. Related: Ashley Cole still burns: forgotten man will not forget his English foes | Ewan Murray Together, we are stronger. @NYCFC pic.twitter.com/Iq1icp7ZYjEast Hartford! The New York City of Connecticut! #NYCvHOU...
On Thursday it was revealed a 27-year-old with 44 career NFL games had the brain of a 67-year-old man. Will the league do anything about it?We probably didn’t need Aaron Hernandez’s attorney to declare Thursday that his dead client had the brain of a near-70-year-old with severe dementia. Too many decisions the one-time New England Patriots star made before killing himself earlier this year at 27 made no sense. Experience has told us that when young, wealthy football players start making erratic life choices, there is probably a physical reason lurking inside their skulls. The question is: what will anyone do about it? Related: Aaron Hernandez lawyer says ex-NFL star had 'severe' case of CTE Continue reading...
NFL returns to Wembley on Sunday for the Ravens’ fixture against the Jaguars, with officials eager to play up to eight matches a season in London but obstacles to establishing a franchise are still to be overcomeTen years after the NFL first came to London the league remains hopeful of putting a team in the city. Perhaps as soon as in four years. “I said this was a 15-year project when we started in 2007, that was the sort of timeframe that seemed to work,” Mark Waller, the NFL’s executive vice-president of international and events, said. “The next four or five years should be very doable.”A lot has to happen for the league to place a full-time franchise in the...
The fine details of his brief reign as world middleweight champion are not always absorbed in recollections of his career, mainly because one of the greatest films of all time painted him in classically Shakespearean modeJake LaMotta should have been in Las Vegas to watch Gennady Golovkin and Saul “Canelo” Álvarez, two distinguished middleweights pitched together to echo the deeds of the division’s glorious past, a fight reckoned to restore boxing’s faltering image. LaMotta, who knew a lot about the game’s sullied reputation, would have given it a wry smile.The fight did not quite do its job. It was a terrific rather than a truly great contest and dreadful misjudgment by one of the officials overwhelmingly in favour of Álvarez returned a...
This week’s roundup also features pre-Sky Jeff Stelling, Kasper Schmeichel as a toddler and a dog stealing the show1) Now in its 10th season, the NFL International Series bandwagon rolls back into London for the first of its four-game run on Sunday. Before the annual helping of Jacksonville Jaguars, UK gridiron fans had to make do with NFL Europe and its predecessor the World League of American Football. The Union Jags have a long way to go before they are afforded the affection of the UK’s original franchise, the 1991 World Bowl champions London Monarchs. It is hard to understand why they were such a monumental flop based on their wonderfully 1990s series of TV ads. The Monarchs also provided...