Football

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True Sports Fan

How Sports Are Reacting To The Police Killings

Embed Code This week, we discuss the sports world’s reaction to the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis and the widespread protests that followed. We start with the NFL, which released a statement of support that was widely criticized for being empty and disingenuous. The Hot Takedown team largely agrees with that criticism: […]

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Animal Kingdom

Benny The Bull

Sea Mammal

Affirmation Of The Day

For Aspiring Performers, The NBA Is The Best Place To Be A Mascot

Graphics by Jasmine Mithani and Emily Scherer When the NBA regular season resumes later this month, the entertainment product will look markedly different. In its restart will be a rich irony: A sport that long ago went all-in on in-game entertainment will begin operations in a climate that requires none. Gone will be the pregame […]

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Offensive Team Names Are On Notice — For Real, This Time

We start with the announcement, made on Friday, that Washington is going to explore changing its team name to something that hopefully isn’t a racial slur against Native Americans. We all agree that now there’s enough social and economic pressure on majority owner Dan Snyder that a name change will happen, likely before the 2020 […]

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Cam Newton Brings Game-Changing Mobility To The Patriots (If He’s Healthy)

Sunday night was surprisingly eventful for the New England Patriots. Within a span of less than 20 minutes, it was reported that the NFL had docked the Patriots a 2021 third-round draft pick and fined it $1.1 million for illegally videotaping the Bengals sideline and — seemingly out of the blue — that New England […]

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Who’s Asking For Sports To Come Back Right Away? Republicans, Mostly.

Earlier this week, we presented a FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos poll tracking sentiments about sports returning from their pandemic-induced hiatus. The poll of 1,109 Americans was conducted from May 5 to 11 and asked a variety of questions about how sports might start again and what would make fans feel safe at games. We also broke down how […]

the football players are running on the field

Will NFL Rookies Suffer Without Minicamps? Probably Not.

In a normal year, most NFL teams would be putting pads on their new NFL draft picks and getting ready to watch them practice. But because of the novel coronavirus, all organized team activities have been postponed, and rookie minicamps — which should be starting on Friday — are an all-remote affair, with no workouts […]

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What To Expect From The Top Quarterbacks Taken In This Year’s Draft

NFL teams spent big on offense in the 2020 draft. Six offensive tackles went off the board in the first round, and 11 wide receivers were selected in the first 50 picks, setting an NFL record. But quarterback is still king. On a per-snap basis, the NFL spent more on QBs than it did on […]

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All Don Shula Did Was Win

Don Shula died Monday at the age of 90 as one of the greatest NFL head coaches of all time. Shula’s coaching career was defined by an almost preposterous amount of winning. Over his 33-year coaching career, he won an NFL record 347 games, and he remains the only head coach to lead his team […]

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Professional Football

Old Games

Womens Soccer

NFL Draft: The Good, The Bad And The Packers

Embed Code The NFL’s first virtual draft went off looking pretty effortless (unless you happen to be Roger Goodell’s armchair) and with some interesting surprises. We start our breakdown of the draft by talking about the Green Bay Packers’ selection of Utah State QB Jordan Love. On the surface, it makes sense to grab a […]

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National Football League

Which NFL Teams Reached In The First Round, And Which Found The Most Value?

After the first round of the NFL draft, the question fans most want answered is: How did my team do? It seems straightforward, but landing on a solid answer is tricky. Since the market for new NFL labor isn’t free or open, deciding whether a team got good value at a pick rests largely on […]

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Brady With Gronk Is The Best Brady

Rob Gronkowski’s return to pro football has been speculated about since just about the moment he abruptly retired in March 2019, and this week the wrestling champion actually did it. On Tuesday, Gronk unretired and was dealt from the New England Patriots to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (along with a seventh-round draft choice) for a […]

a plot showing the number of players in each team's game, and where they are

Where ESPN’s NFL Draft Model Thinks Your Favorite Player Is Going

The 2020 NFL draft, which begins Thursday, is sure to provide a lot of intrigue — and not just because the proceedings will be conducted in a fully virtual fashion for the first time in history. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, prospects’ pro days were canceled, in-person interviews had to be shifted to digital formats, […]

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Atlanta

This Year

The Atlanta Falcons Are Hoarding First-Round Talent

No NFL team believes in the power of first-round draft picks more than the Atlanta Falcons. Before they even make their choice with the 16th overall selection in this year’s draft, set for April 23 to 25, the Falcons are lousy with the best of the draft’s best. They’re set to open the 2020 season […]

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Super Bowl Commercials

Chiefs Super Bowl

Joe Montana

Kc Chiefs

Our Guide To Super Bowl LIV

Sunday’s Super Bowl matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers is one of huge contrasts: Patrick Mahomes vs. Jimmy Garoppolo. Passing vs. rushing. Offense vs. defense. Legendary barbecue vs. legendary burritos. (We can only hope the game itself proves to be just as legendary.) We’ve broken down the contest using our […]

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A 5-Part Plan To Fix The NFL’s Coaching Diversity Problem

After a recent spate of hirings and firings, the NFL is in the midst of a coaching diversity crisis. Fewer than 10 percent of the NFL’s head coaches are black — even though about 60 percent of the league’s players are. Not one of the five new head coaches hired after the 2019 NFL regular […]