New offensive weapons mean the Super Bowl champions are as close as the NFL gets to a super team. Pats haters may be in for a tough few monthsThere’s a good chance we have already witnessed the low point of the 2017 Patriots season. Last week the team lost its preseason opener to the Jacksonville Jaguars, 31-24, while playing without stars Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski. It was a pointless game, as most every exhibition games is. But since winning the Super Bowl in February in an historic comeback, the champions have loaded up for the games that matter and are heavy favorites to win it all again. Las Vegas sports books have them at 5-2. But there are two...
The veteran coach’s return to southern California seemed like a Hollywood script. But now Galaxy are struggling to qualify for the playoffsAs juicy narratives go, Sigi Schmid’s return to the LA Galaxy could have been scripted 20 or miles or so due north from the StubHub Center, up in the Hollywood Hills.When Schmid took over from deposed first-year coach Curt Onalfo late last month, the opportunity offered the 64-year-old redemption on multiple levels. Continue reading...
For many fans the Raiders embody the city’s grit and diversity, and their move is like ‘losing our north star’. What can fill that void?John Jones III was born in Oakland to members of the Black Panthers at a time of division and strife in America. But he remembers the Raiders’ glory days in the NFL with fondness. “I grew up in church, which is segregated. [But being a Raiders fan] was transformative and beautiful in a way that stays with me. It was, and still is, a time of racial disparity and a lot of institutions are set up to divide people. But never the Raiders ... I’ve never been a part of another entity that was as inclusive....
Baseball players will get to wear nicknames on their jerseys for one weekend in a play for the youth market, but the sport’s demographic issues run deeperBaseball has a problem. Apparently it is no longer interesting to young people. More specifically, it appeals more to those beyond a serviceable demographic deemed exciting to advertisers. According to data complied by three media organizations the average age of those who watch baseball games is 57 and that number is rapidly moving into early-bird buffet territory. The same study showed only 7% of those watching baseball are under 18.This is undoubtedly why Major League Baseball soon will dress their teams for three games in jerseys that look like soccer tops with each player’s...
This week’s roundup also features some footballer initiations, memorable Women’s Rugby World Cup moments and a basketball balls-up1) If the norovirus lays off, the London Stadium should deliver a big moment this weekend with the 4x100m: elite sprinting, Usain Bolt’s final farewell, plus potential baton-based slapstick. It’s an event that has produced some classic clips: Jamaica’s Bolt-finished world record win in 2012; Team GB’s men’s victory at Athens 2004; and a classic from Seoul 1988: USA versus East Germany versus USSR, featuring Flo-Jo. And here’s a montage of classic baton fumbles, inevitably featuring Britain and some familiar sounding commentary: “Jarrett’s gone off well, storming down the back straight, Jarrett will hand over to Braithwaite, not bad, oh! Braithwaite’s dropped the...