The NFL is set to haul in $14bn this year. But the league is beset by racially charged protests, a ratings dip and players brain damaged by the contact sportWilliam Walter “Pudge” Heffelfinger was America’s first pro football player: he earned $500 for a single game for Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Athletic Association in 1892. Thirteen years later, he saved the game itself. In 1905, Teddy Roosevelt was under pressure to ban football after several much-publicized player deaths. But Pudge, a friend of the president, is thought to have talked Roosevelt into giving the game a second chance, suggesting the introduction of padding and helmets and outlawing some brutal “pig pile” tactics such as the flying wedge. Given current events in the...
Argentina’s No24 seed dug deep to overcome Dominic Thiem, and hopes to ride the crowd’s love once again in his quarter-final against the SwissJuan Martín del Potro, who has lifted the 2017 US Open out of the mire with one heroic performance, is now expected to do it all again when he meets Roger Federer in the quarter-finals on Wednesday, and that is asking a lot of the ailing Argentinian with the big game and even bigger heart.If Del Potro, still struggling physically, somehow rises to the occasion a second time in three days, and if he repeats his win over the No3 seed that delivered him his only slam title here in 2009, he will have to ride the...
The United States has four women in the US Open quarter-finals for the first time in 15 years – and none of them are named SerenaThe perpetual hand-wringing over the future of American women’s tennis can take pause, at least for a few days. The false dawns of the past decade have given way to hard-won dividends and the best could be yet to come.When Madison Keys pounded a backhand winner down the line at 11.41pm on Monday night to punctuate a gritty 7-6 (2), 1-6, 6-4 comeback win over No4 seed Elina Svitolina, the 22-year-old gave the United States four women in the US Open quarter-finals for the first time in 15 years – and none of them are...
The Green Bay Packers quarterback is the finest of his generation: when he fails it’s often down to his supporting castIt’s long been acknowledged by NFL analysts, fans and coaches alike that quarterbacks take too much blame and too much of the credit. NFL statistics are usually created by the result of the play, which means they are decided by not only the quarterback but also by the receiver who catches – or drops – his passes. When Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Kurt Warner and Drew Brees had their historic seasons, they played with great team-mates, players who didn’t need to be elevated by their quarterback to be productive. That wasn’t the case with Aaron Rodgers last season – and...
Gunners fans may well despair at their club’s woes but they should be thankful they don’t support one of his teams on the other side of the AtlanticArsenal supporters are rightly wondering if it can get any worse for their side. Two losses in three matches to open the Premier League season, a manager in Arsène Wenger who has seemingly lost his touch and precious little done during the transfer window to improve the talent on the pitch. But if Arsenal fans are dismayed at the way the club’s majority shareholder, Stan Kroenke, runs affairs at the Emirates, a glance at his US teams offers little hope things will improve.The metaphor that best describes Kroenke’s sports franchises is that of...