Can it be said that Chip Kelly and anyone else who makes judgments about quarterbacks’ hands are “handsists?”
Or are they merely annoying? Or does Jared Goff have cause to sue?
I will defer to your good judgment, fool that I am.
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Kelly also threw more smoke on the Colin Kaepernick issue, saying “Our job is acquiring talent, not getting rid of talent.” This happened only a few hours before Kaepernick’s agents asked permission to hustle up a trade from San Francisco to the Klingon Empire.
Of course, Kelly is fairly new to this clown show, but he had better get used to the calliope music.
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The much-not-anticipated Washington-Cincinnati NFL game at Wembley Stadium in London in October comes with fresh baggage, and no, it’s not the ghost of Robert Griffin III.
It’s That Name, and according to Mike Wise of The Undefeated, two members of the British Parliament are, as they say, “taking a view.” Ruth Smeeth and Ian Austin, sent a “strongly worded letter” to Roger Goodell urging him to “at the minimum, send a different team to our country to represent the sport, one that does not promote a racial slur.”
The maximum, of course, would be for Danny Snyder to change the name, but as the Brits aren’t offering, say, a billion quid, that’s not happening. Still . . .
“The exportation of this racial slur to the U.K. this autumn, when the Washington team is due to play, directly contravenes the values that many in Britain have worked so hard to instill.”
A Wembley spokesperson told Wise that “the issue over Washington's name is now being discussed internally.” As in, the NFL’s money will spend as it always has.
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The safety measures that will reduce the number of violent collisions at second base work in tandem with the end of the “neighborhood play” to result in . . . well, fewer and more collisions at the same time. Hurray committees!
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Knowing how people like to fixate on acts of disrespect as regards the Golden State Warriors, sad acts that they are, have a chew on this.
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The Oakland Raiders’ chances of becoming the Los Angeles Raiders grew shorter when Dean Spanos asked for an additional $200 million from the city of San Diego for a downtown stadium the city doesn’t want to offer.
Of course, that means the Oakland Raiders’ chances of becoming the San Diego Raiders increase because Mark Davis would allow the city to put the stadium inside the zoo.
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That said, Mark Davis is one of the two NFL owners who don’t have any recorded political contributions, according to The Big Lead’s analysis of the insidegov.com database, so he’s not getting into the cutting edge of the what-can-you-do-for-me game. The other owners with no contributions listed are Shahid Khan of Jacksonville and Malcolm Glazer of Tampa Bay, although we suspect they mean the Glazer family, since Malcolm Glazer’s contributions have been reduced to zero since his death in 2014.
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Oh, and Jeddy Y?
Two contributions to the league’s political action (read: lobbying) committee, and $1,500 to what we can best gauge was the Otto Lee for Congress campaign in 2012. It’s probably snotty to say this, but Lee was routed by the incumbent by the football equivalent of 41-14.
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The A’s, who just picked up Chris Coghlan from the Cubs Thursday after getting Khris Davis from Milwaukee two weeks earlier, have discovered the latest market inefficiency.
The Spring Training Opening Game Trade Deadline, with David Forst being played in the movie by Bradley Cooper.
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The steamy mess that is the Houston Rockets has reopened the discussion in CBSSports’ Ken Berger’s head about how much input players should have on non-uniformed personnel , and it’s worth a read to remind us that Stephen Curry, who lobbied for the retention of Mark Jackson as coach 21 months ago, is 0-1.
On the other hand, Leandro Barbosa is being credited here, if nowhere else (since it isn’t actually true), for single-handedly selling the franchise on Anderson Varejao.
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And finally, FC Midtjylland nearly became the first suburb of Narnia to beat Manchester United, but no. Despite playing in a Danish city that could fit twice inside Old Trafford, the plucky Midtjyrs gave up four unanswered goals after the interval and were ejected from the Europa League. Just one more reminder, children of all ages, that life is unfair, gravity sucks, you can’t always get what you want, and then your hips start to go.