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Tuesday, September 26, 2017

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Giants owner ‘very unhappy’ with Odell Beckham’s end zone celebration

September 26, 2017
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Odell Beckham

Odell Beckham Jr has expressed no remorse over being flagged for pretending to pee like a dog in the end zone on Sunday, but that may change if the star wide receiver’s boss gets his way.

Giants co-owner John Mara made it clear that he is unhappy with Beckham’s touchdown celebration in an email he sent to Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post.

“I do not want to get into a discussion about this, but I will say that I am very unhappy with Odell’s behavior on Sunday and we intend to deal with it internally,” Mara wrote.

Upon scoring his first touchdown of the season in Sunday’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Beckham proceeded to crawl on his hands and knees, lift his leg and pretend to mark his territory like a dog. Here’s the video:

When asked about the celebration after the game, Beckham simply told reporters, “I’m a dog, so I acted like a dog.” There was some speculation that he may have been responding to Donald Trump urging NFL owners to fire any “son of a b—” who kneels during the national anthem, but Beckham has not said that was his motive.

On Monday, Giants coach Ben McAdoo tried to steer his conversation in a conference call away from Beckham’s end zone antics, but he indicated he was disappointed.

“We should be talking about the way he played, he made some great plays in the ballgame, some tremendous plays, some game-changing plays,” McAdoo said, per Paul Schwartz of the New York Post. “I’d rather be talking about that than a celebration penalty. I mean, it’s real simple. I don’t want to kick off from the 20-yard line, it doesn’t help our team. It makes it tough on the players who are covering kicks.”

Based on some of the things Beckham has said since Sunday, it sounds like he would risk getting flagged again if given the opportunity. The Eagles fumbled on their ensuing possession, so the penalty was not costly. That doesn’t mean the same would be true in the future.

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Four NCAA basketball assistants arrested in alleged fraud scheme involving Adidas

September 26, 2017
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The FBI announced on Tuesday that four NCAA basketball coaches are among the 10 people who have been arrested and charged with fraud and corruption in an alleged scandal involving a top executive at Adidas.

According to the indictments, Auburn assistant coach Chuck Person, Southern California assistant Tony Bland, Arizona assistant Emanuel Richardson and Oklahoma State assistant Lamont Evans were involved in a massive bribery scheme in which Jim Gatto, director of global marketing for Adidas Basketball, paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in an attempt to funnel top recruits to Adidas-sponsored programs.

TMZ obtained some of the relevant court documents, which claim Gatto tried to pay $100,000 to a player and his family to get the player to commit to a certain school.

“The investigation has revealed multiple instances of bribes paid by athlete advisors, including financial advisors and business managers, as well as high-level apparel company employees, and facilitated by coaches employed by NCAA division 1 universities, to student-athletes playing at or bound for NCAA D-1 universities, and the families of such athletes, in exchange for a commitment by those athletes to matriculate at a specific university and a promise to ultimately sign agreements to be represented by the bribe-payors once the athletes enter the NBA,” the documents read.

Person is accused of collecting more than $90,000 in bribes in exchange for funneling Auburn players to a particular financial adviser and a custom suit-maker named Rashan Michel. Investigators say Person used a portion of the bribe money to pay off top recruits and their families.

Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo Sports shared more details from the indictments, which appear to show that Louisville is one of the schools involved in the scandal.

Louisville head coach Rick Pitino has been suspended five games and the school has been placed on probation over a prostitution scandal involving recruits. Any sanctions the program may end up facing for the latest allegations could be devastating.

Packers shareholder ridiculously touted as ‘NFL owner’ ripping protests

September 26, 2017
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One NFL owner is so angry over the recent national anthem protests across the league that he is considering walking away from football entirely. Said owner’s stake in “his” team may only be worth $250, but what’s the difference, right?

David Hookstead of The Daily Caller wrote a piece Monday stating that he had spoken with a “livid” NFL owner who is furious over Sunday’s anthem protests.

“I am f—ing livid right now. I see this s— and I lose my mind,” the owner said. “It needs to end immediately. I’ll give up football completely and find something else to do with my time if this continues. This horse s— must end. These players are so out of touch. They disrespect our flag and then wonder why Trump won. It’s a no-brainer. This is so disrespectful.”

Those are some pretty powerful words from a very powerful man. Although, Hookstead did note at the end of his article that the “owner” he spoke with is actually a Packers shareholder.

To be clear, the owner we spoke with is a shareholder of the Green Bay Packers. We feel this makes him uniquely qualified to put his finger on the pulse of everyday Americans, as opposed to possibly out of touch billionaires that own other NFL franchises.

Ah, yes, the Packers are a publicly-owned team. There are more than 350,000 stockholders, and shares were last being sold for $250 each. But that’s more of a footnote than anything. The person Hookstead spoke with is technically a part-owner of an NFL team. Factually, everything that was written was right in line.

Was Hookstead trying to present the comments as a bombshell story from a powerful NFL person? I think we all know the answer to that. But again, facts are facts, people.

H/T Deadspin

Patriots apologize for charging fans for tap water after bottles ran out

September 26, 2017
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New England Patriots

The New England Patriots did not have enough bottled water to keep up with the demand of fans during Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans, but that did not stop the team from continuing to turn a profit on H2O.

Temperatures in Foxboro reached a high of 86 degrees, which is extremely warm for a late-September game. The Boston Globe reports that the Patriots tried to prepare for the heat by doubling their supply of bottled water , but the concession stands at Gillette Stadium still ran out. So how did fans stay hydrated? By shelling out in the range of $4.50 to $5 for a cup of tap water.

Some outraged fans who were being charged for tap water took to Twitter during the game:

On Sunday night, the Patriots apologized.

“We apologize. That should not have happened,” team spokesman Stacey James said, via CBS Boston. “It is the first time that I have ever heard that complaint here. We are looking into the matter to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”

It’s hard to say what’s worse — running out of bottled water halfway through a game or charging fans for tap water. The Patriots won’t be able to offer refunds, but they have to find some way to remedy the situation.

Baker Mayfield rejects Mia Khalifa, blocks her on Twitter

September 26, 2017
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Adult film star Mia Khalifa had made a habit out of embarrassing star athletes, but she finally got a taste of her own medicine when she tried to get Baker Mayfield’s attention over the weekend.

On Saturday, Khalifa sent a tweet referencing when Mayfield told Baylor players they “forgot who daddy is” during a minor pregame scuffle.

That seemed innocent enough, but it didn’t stop there. Khalifa then took a blatant pass at Mayfield.

The Heisman Trophy contender wasn’t having it, and let’s just say Khalifa won’t be communicating with him via Twitter in the future.

We know at least one fellow quarterback who must have loved seeing Mayfield shut Khalifa down. As Mayfield mentioned, he has a girlfriend and seems quite happy with her. And why wouldn’t he be?

Date night, and yes of course there was queso.

A post shared by Baker Mayfield (@baker_mayfield) on

Things are clearly going well for Mayfield. Sorry, Mia. You can now return to your favorite activity.

H/T Barstool Sports

Mike Leach explains why 18-year-olds can’t make it in NFL

September 25, 2017
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Mike Leach

Mike Leach delivered quite a speech on Monday explaining why 18-year-olds can’t make it in the NFL.

Leach’s explanation was prompted by a question about Sam Darnold ahead of Washington State’s big upcoming game against USC on Friday night. The Washington State head coach was asked whether Darnold looked to him like an NFL-caliber QB. Leach used the opportunity to essentially show how far off Darnold and so many other youngsters are from being ready for the NFL.

Darnold is 20 years old and a redshirt sophomore. He did not open the season last year as the team’s starter, so he is just now about to have a full season’s worth of starts under his belt.

Many have still speculated that he could become the No. 1 pick in next year’s NFL draft if he were to leave school early. Darnold, who is 6-foot-4 and around 225 pounds, would not turn 21 until after the draft. There is no indication yet whether he would want to leave school early for the draft.

Addison Russell delivers nachos to Cardinals fan after knocking them over

September 25, 2017
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Addison Russell nachos

Chicago Cubs shortstop Addison Russell delivered nachos to a fan of the opposing team after inadvertently knocking over the man’s nachos while chasing a foul ball.

During the Cubs’ game in St. Louis on Monday, Russell dove into the stands while going for a foul ball and accidentally kicked over the fan’s nachos:

Though Russell cost the man nachos, he made up for it by later delivering new ones to the fan.

And you know that selfie the fan was taking as seen in the video? He posted it to Twitter:

The fan, Andrew Gudermuth, ended up interviewed on TV and was labeled as “lost his nachos.” He also changed his Twitter name to “nacho man.” He’s clearly taking pride in the incident.

Dez Bryant, Dak Prescott score awesome touchdowns

September 25, 2017
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Dak Prescott flip

The Dallas Cowboys got touchdowns from Dez Bryant and Dak Prescott in their Monday night game against the Arizona Cardinals that were scored with incredible effort.

Prescott scored the Cowboys’ first touchdown with a 10-yard rush and leap into the end zone in the second quarter. He went airborne to score it and flipped into the end zone:

A quarter later, Bryant may have scored an even more impressive touchdown. Bryant’s TD went down as a 15-yard score. His effort after the catch and after contact was incredible:

You can’t say the Cowboys don’t have heart and effort. Those were incredible plays.

10 things the college football polls got wrong in Week 4

September 25, 2017
by

Brian Kelly

Another week, another set of college football polls to digest. The week saw some major upsets and near-upsets, and some teams definitely need to be reassessed in light of their performances.

The polls did a solid job this week, but there are still some gripes to be had. Here are a few things that the pollsters should’ve taken a second look at this week.

Notre Dame deserves to be ranked in the Coaches’ Poll

The Irish have put together a strong resume so far, and they’ve been rewarded with a return to the AP poll. The coaches should have followed suit. Notre Dame overwhelmed Michigan State at home on Saturday, making it three wins out of four. Their lone loss was a one-point defeat to a consensus top-10 team in Georgia. The Irish look good, and the writers have given them their due. It’s time for the coaches to do the same.

Wisconsin over Ohio State is a mistake in the AP Poll

(more…)

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Yasiel Puig to play Tuesday after being benched two games

September 25, 2017
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Yasiel Puig

After being benched for two games, Yasiel Puig is expected to return to the Dodgers’ lineup for Tuesday’s game.

Puig made the final out in Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Giants on Saturday when he tried to steal second base and was thrown out. As a result, manager Dave Roberts benched Puig for Sunday’s game.

On Monday, Puig was once again not on Roberts’ lineup card. This time, it was due to Puig arriving late to the stadium for batting practice.

As relayed by Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times, Puig is expected to be back in the lineup on Tuesday.

Kiké Hernandez started in right field and Cody Bellinger was in left field for the Dodgers Monday night. On the season, Puig is hitting .259/.339/.474 with career-highs in home runs (26) and RBI (70).

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