Chicago -
By Cynthia Gordy/ProPublica
Super Bowl fans may still be playing Monday morning quarterback, but the stories that most shake up the sports world aren’t recaps of what happens on the field. L. Jon Wertheim, executive editor of Sports Illustrated, says the biggest headlines are won by investigative stories, from accusations of cheating in professional sports to high school hazing.
Posted on February 11, 2016
If you’re a Chicago baseball fan, there’s a lot to like in this year’s pre-season fantasy rankings for first base and third base, including my sizable but calculated gamble to rank one of the local boys as the top fantasy find at his position.
Posted on February 10, 2016
St. Louis Personal Injury Lawyer Wins The Day
“I put out a call during last night’s Super Bowl local ad break for the best and worst of your local markets, and got replies ranging from axe-murderer Joe Jacoby to HVAC-shilling Mike Tyson to an ad in Omaha for a male enhancement doctor who will make your dong so powerful it will leave your partner disabled,” Timothy Burke writes for Deadspin.
“But St. Louis residents got something a bit more straightforward: a personal injury lawyer spending 30 seconds ripping Stan Kroenke for taking the Rams to California.”
Here it is:
Posted on February 9, 2016
By Jim Coffman
For a while my belief was that no athlete should retire unless they were right on the verge of being dragged out of the game. And even then there should be plenty of kicking and screaming as the light dimmed and then went out on their time in the arena.
At least 95 percent of professional athletes will never again engage in a vocation that they execute better than they executed their sport. When they peak on the playing field, they are peaking in their professional lives. And the romantic notion of “going out on top” simply doesn’t stand up to “play as long as possible and do your best to get the game completely out of your system.” An athlete will miss it after he or she retires but they will find some comfort in the notion that they squeezed every last drop of performance out of themselves.
Posted on February 8, 2016
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
Quarterbacks? It’s all about the tight ends.
Posted on February 6, 2016
By Robin Respaut/Reuters
The Rams left behind more than bitterness when the team ditched St. Louis for Los Angeles last month – it left a stadium saddled with about $144 million in debt and maintenance costs.
Taxpayers will now shoulder the remaining payments for the Edward Jones Dome with only the help of revenue from tractor pulls, volleyball tournaments, concerts and the like.
St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed has asked the NFL to help pay off the stadium, but so far has gotten no response.
“The fans are being left holding the bag,” Reed said. “I think they should factor that into the total cost of the move.”
The leftover debt and maintenance costs are another example of the NFL’s negotiating prowess with many cities, sports economists said, and also reflects larger problems with the deal St. Louis struck with the Rams.
Posted on February 5, 2016
5-Year Extension For Supplier Of Tyrant’s Army
Bridgestone Americas, Inc. and the National Football League (NFL) announced Thursday that they have entered into a new five-year sponsorship agreement, reaffirming the world’s leading tire and rubber company as the Official Tire of the NFL.
Notably, the deal extends an eight-year relationship and advances the popular “Bridgestone Performance Moments” campaign platform, which includes the award for top performance play of the year at NFL Honors during Super Bowl week.
“We love the game, but connecting fans and drivers who recognize performance, innovation and endurance is vital to why Bridgestone chooses to sponsor the National Football League,” said Philip Dobbs, chief marketing officer, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations. “The NFL relationship provides an ideal platform for millions of women and men of all ages to engage with and learn about world-class products and services from Bridgestone.”
Posted on February 5, 2016
By Faith Driven Consumer
Days before the Super Bowl, a new Faith Equality Index score of the National Football League – 24 out of 100 – reveals the league has work to do in welcoming, embracing, and celebrating Faith Driven Consumers
Faith Driven Consumer™ (FDC) – representing 41 million Americans who spend $2 trillion annually, has earned wide recognition for its groundbreaking FaithEqualityIndex.com (FEI), which scores more than 400 major brands for compatibility with the FDC community. n Wednesday, the group released its first annual ranking of Super Bowl advertisers, which also includes a specific score for the National Football League.
Posted on February 5, 2016
It’s time to vote, America. There’s a tie at the top, but in the end, someone has to win.
I’m speaking, of course, about the 2016 Fantasy Baseball Top 40. In some polls (and caucuses, whatever those are), we have nothing but lousy choices, where the best choice is only the least of many evils. That isn’t the problem in fantasy baseball, thankfully. We’ve got nothing but top talent to choose from, and several candidates who can make great arguments why they should be The One.
Here are my choices:
Posted on February 4, 2016
By Natasha Julius
Fuck it. I quit.
In the entire course of human history, not enough alcohol has been distilled to make me drunk enough to recap a Coldplay concert. You’ll have to wait until someone else uploads the setlist to Wikipedia to learn who won this year’s bet.
This is a bad pick, and not just because Coldplay sucks. It’s a bad pick because Coldplay couldn’t possibly be less relevant to this year’s Super Bowl. They’re neither influential enough nor classic enough to matter to anyone. They’re the 40-ish divorced suburban dad of contemporary music, and honestly, that guy sucks. He’s all weird scientific non-sequiturs and pee-stained sloppiness. Who wants to sit and listen to “Fix You” in the middle of a football game? And make no mistake, they are going to play “Fix You” because that is exactly what 40-ish divorced suburban dads do.
Posted on February 3, 2016
