Ugh.
We aren't going to see our rocket-armed savior pitch again until 2015. So why the fuck are you making him dress in uniform to sing Christmas carols? A season without Matt Harvey does not make for a "happy holiday."
Lucas Duda just looks stoned.
It’s a Thanksgiving miracle!
During a recent Oklahoma State blowout win over Kansas, one fan was caught waving a turkey leg, only to suddenly realize this fact himself, so he did what anyone would do in that situation and took a bite without breaking stride.
Just a dude enjoying the game.
Aaaaand best surprise ever.
Mike Tomlin stepped on the field last night and ruined a potential TD return. Sadly, this wasn’t the first time he’s done this.
“What happened with Grambling is like the canary in the coal mine.” How the financial crisis facing historically black colleges sent one of the proudest football programs in the country into chaos.
Joel Anderson / BuzzFeed
PINE BLUFF, Ark. — Long after the final whistle of the game, long after Grambling State University's football team trudged back to the visitor's locker room following another defeat, and not so long after the marching band played its last amped-up R&B tune of the evening, Doug Williams was waiting outside of the stadium gates.
Darkness had already descended upon south central Arkansas, and there was a chill in the autumn air. In a thick maroon hoodie and jeans, Williams distractedly mingled with a few old friends and former classmates and teammates from better days as the football team — a team he coached as recently as two months prior — marched to the buses idling in the nearby parking lot.
Williams, the former Grambling football hero and the first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl, was almost certainly the most famous person in this dreary little town of 47,000 — if not the entire state and a couple of surrounding ones. He still cuts an imposing figure, at 6 feet 4 inches and broad-shouldered with hands the size of catcher's mitts.
But here, from the outside looking in, Williams had the look of an estranged family member.
Williams made no attempt to alert anyone to his presence, never raising his voice. No university officials greeted him. Still, all but a handful of football players acknowledged him on their way off the field to the locker room or the buses.
Despite the figurative distance, Williams remains the symbol of both the school's gilded legacy and its precipitous decline. His career has made Grambling and north Louisiana proud, but today he stands for the division and descent of one of the nation's most storied football programs.
Three weeks before this Saturday in early November, the school had begrudgingly been thrust into the national spotlight when its football team refused to board buses for a game at Jackson State University. The player-led protest capped two turbulent months for the school's program, which began with the surprising dismissal of Williams on Sept. 9.
"The kids did what the grown-ups couldn't do," said Henry Dyer, a former president of the Grambling Legends alumni group who played in the NFL in the late 1960s. "Somebody had to come forward."
Courtesy Grambling State University
Probably the best way to get to Grambling State University is to catch a flight into Shreveport, take the ramp onto Interstate 20, drive about 65 miles east, and then exit onto Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones Drive. Take the two-lane highway for about two miles — just follow the curve of the road — and you will find yourself on the campus of a school founded in 1901 to educate blacks (many of them the children of farmers) in the rural northern part of the state.
Near the entrance to the campus, alongside the administration building, is the Eddie G. Robinson Museum. This is the palatial red-brick monument to the late Robinson, who retired in 1997 as the winningest football coach in NCAA Division I history and built Grambling State into a powerhouse during a time when black players were prohibited from playing for major college programs.
Robinson spent 56 years on the sideline, compiling a record of 408-165-15. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame immediately upon his retirement. When he died in April 2007, his funeral was the first event in the school's 7,000-seat Assembly Center, which sits only a few dozen yards from the football stadium that also bears his name.
"He was all of ours' coach," Rev. Jesse Jackson told the audience of roughly 5,000 during Robinson's funeral. "He made the world come to Grambling."
The world hadn't been back much since that day. Not until mid-October, when word first started to leak that the football team was considering a boycott of its upcoming game at Jackson State.
The players met with school administrators on Oct. 15, a meeting they'd sought since Williams' termination on Sept. 9. Many on campus held the belief — repeated later in more than a dozen interviews with BuzzFeed — that Williams had been fired because of a power struggle with the school president, Frank Pogue.
At the meeting with Pogue and Athletic Director Aaron James, the players detailed their frustration with the state of the program: 17 straight losses, the poor condition of the athletic facilities, lengthy bus rides to places like Kansas City (1,200 miles round-trip) and Indianapolis (1,500). Increasingly dissatisfied with Pogue's responses, the players stormed out of the meeting.
"Things are rough, and we understand our players' frustration," Grambling spokesman Will Sutton said in a statement following the walkout. "The president is frustrated, the AD is frustrated, the students are frustrated, the alumni are frustrated, so we fully understand our players' frustration."
Later that week, on the afternoon of Oct. 18, only 22 of Grambling's 80 players reported to the two charter buses waiting in the athletic department's parking lot. Soon enough, everyone would fully understand their frustration: Grambling was forced to forfeit, denying Jackson State what was supposed to be their homecoming game.
Williams, who had been previously silent about the protest, sent a text message to USA Today: "I'm proud of them boys. They took a stance."
Suddenly, the world had a renewed interest in Grambling State. Lots had changed since their last visit.
The Michigan–Ohio State rivalry is pretty intense.
The Michigan–Ohio State rivalry is traditionally one of the most heated in the country, and this year's edition hasn't been any different. In the second quarter of today's game a brawl broke out between the two teams that resulted in three ejections.
Marcus Hall, a starting lineman for the Buckeyes, didn't take getting kicked out of the game very well and quickly became one of the most memorable ejections in recent memory.
You’ve got to be kidding me!
Well, the 2013 Iron Bowl certainly lived up to the hype. With a tie game entering the fourth quarter, the momentum was starting to shift towards the Auburn sideline and after pinning Alabama deep in its own territory, the Tigers were in a great position to flip the field. But then AJ McCarron connected with Amari Cooper for a 99-yard touchdown pass to take the lead.
And with a late opportunity to potentially put the game away, Alabama's field goal attempt was blocked — the third miss for kicker Cade Foster.
So with just under three minutes to go, Auburn marched down the field and scored on this 39-yard touchdown pass to Sammie Coates to tie the game.
And that's when things became really interesting. With seven seconds left, T.J. Yeldon rushed for 24 yards, before stepping out of bounds as time expired.
“They’re not gonna keep ‘em off the field tonight! Holy cow!”
In case you missed it, Auburn defeated No.1 Alabama on a thrilling last-second play that resulted in a missed field goal returned for a 109-yard touchdown.
It was one of the wildest finishes in football history and certainly the best in this storied rivalry. Don't believe us? Listen to Auburn radio announcer Rod Bramblett call the final play as it happens. It's one for the ages, so turn the speakers up!
h/t @jmartnyt
A man in his twenties died after a parking lot scuffle during today’s Broncos-Chiefs game. Two suspects are in custody.
Jamie Squire / Getty
Two people are in police custody after an apparent robbery turned deadly during the Chiefs-Broncos game this afternoon. The death of the man came on the one-year anniversary of the day Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher murdered the mother of his young daughter and then drove to the Chiefs' team parking lot — a short walk from the scene of today's death — and killed himself in front of witnesses.
Kansas City Police Department Chief Darryl Forte first tweeted the news at 7:06 p.m. local time, around 20 minutes after the game ended.
Sources told KCTV that the death may have occurred as a result of a robbery caught in the act:
Police sources tell KCTV5 that a man and his son had gone to their Jeep during the game. When they arrived, they found a man who they say they didn't know sitting inside the SUV. Detectives are working to determine whether the man had broken into the vehicle or was mistakenly in the wrong vehicle.
A fight then broke out among the three men. The man who was found in the Jeep collapsed and was rushed to the hospital, where he would die. The man was described as in his mid 20s.
Officers said they aren't aware of any other break-ins at Arrowhead on Sunday.
Kansas City police Officer Darrin Snapp said an autopsy will be crucial to understanding the potential crime since the man wasn't stabbed or shot. Hospital officials didn't find signs of a significant struggle on his body.
"The main thing we're trying to figure out now is exactly how this person died. The hospital says there's no obvious signs of how he passed away, so we're still waiting on that. We're going to investigate it as a homicide until we find out exactly how the person died," Snapp said.
Two suspects are in custody, and their identities have not been disclosed.
Also featuring some bad passing, tenacious QBs, and the most painful tackle of the season.
Weirdly enough, they're real!
Well, they didn't let Jacksonville score a TD on this. So there's that.
Why, Weeden, why?
Do not even think of scoring after you intercept one of Cassel's passes. HE WILL CHASE YOU.
At least 34 Olympians and professional athletes announced their support for the effort, according to Athlete Ally and All Out. “We need to take advantage of this Olympic moment,” a leading LGBT advocate said.
James Blake, Olympic and professional tennis player (left), Belle Brockhoff, Olympic snowboarder (right), and several other athletes have teamed up to support the campaign.
A new clothing line will use principles from the Olympic Charter to challenge Russian anti-LGBT laws and discrimination ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi early next year, Athlete Ally and All Out announced Monday.
The LGBT advocacy organizations said wearing the clothing — branded with Principle 6, the nondiscrimination clause in the Olympic Charter — will uphold the value of inclusion in the upcoming games and subtly underscore controversial anti-LGBT policies and discrimination in Russia.
"Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter says that sport does not discriminate," said Andre Banks, co-founder and executive director of All Out. "Our campaign is a way for Olympians and millions of fans to drive that message home to a dangerously negligent International Olympic Committee."
The organizations have partnered with American Apparel, which will launch the merchandise internationally Jan. 1. The Sochi Games kick off Feb. 7.
Several Sochi-bound Olympians including snowboarder Belle Brockhoff, speedskater Blake Skjellerup, and alpine skier Mike Janyk have teamed up to back the campaign.
"As an athlete, this is a concern for me going to the Olympics, but it must pale in comparison to what lesbian, gay, bi, and trans Russians are dealing with every day," Brockhoff said in a statement. "Principle 6 is a way for everyone, everywhere to celebrate the values that inspire the Olympic Games while showing support for equality in Russia."
Several other Olympians, such as four-time Olympic gold medal diver Greg Louganis, four-time Olympic luger Cameron Myler, two-time Olympic middle-distance runner Nick Symmonds, and dozens of others are also backing the effort.
Additionally, big names from major American sports leagues announced their support, including the NFL's Brendon Ayanbadejo, Scott Fujita, Chris Kluwe, and Donté Stallworth; MLS players Stephen McCarthy and Robbie Rogers; NBA/WNBA players Steve Nash (also an Olympian), Jason Collins, Teresa Edwards, and Kristi Toliver; and several others.
The athletes will promote the campaign by wearing the Principle 6 clothing while speaking out on the issue of ending LGBT discrimination in Russia. The IOC prohibits athletes from taking political action at the games, leading many to worry that such advocacy for LGBT equality in Sochi could lead to disqualification or even jail time under the Russian laws; however, that remains unclear. Advocates contend the clothing line will be permissible while making the message clear.
"Now there's a safe way for millions of fans and thousands of athletes to be visible and take a stand," Brian Ellner, founding board member of Athlete Ally, told BuzzFeed. "That's enormously important — we need to take advantage of this Olympic moment. Our next great challenge will be to keep the world focused on the real violence and intimidation the Russian LGBT community experiences because of these anti-gay laws after the games conclude."
Hearts broken everywhere.
Even if I'm doing sporting interviews I'm getting asked, 'Do you have a girlfriend?' 'Who are you seeing?' — all that kind of stuff. I mean, I've been dating girls ... And I've never really had a serious relationship to talk about. And now I feel ready to talk about my relationships.
Come spring this year, my life changed massively when I met someone, and they make me feel so happy, so safe, and everything just feel great. And that someone ... is a guy. It did take me by surprise a little bit. It was always in the back of my head that something like that could happen. But it wasn't until spring this year that something just clicked and felt right. Like I said, my world just changed right there and then.
Of course I still fancy girls, but right now I'm dating a guy and I couldn't be happier.
People are going to have their own opinions and people are going to make a big deal of this. Is it a big deal? I don't think so. People will call me a liar ... It's going to be big. But I wanted to say something, and I feel like now I'm ready and I wanted to do it.
People will think, What will your dad say?. He always said to me that as long as you're happy, then I'm happy. And right now I couldn't be happier. And my mum's been so supportive. I can count the number of people told on one hand. All my friends and family that I've told have been so supportive.
I told the rest of my family today — let's just say they had mixed opinions. Lots didn't believe it, lots wanted me to keep it quiet.
The Olympic diving star confirmed that he is in a relationship with a man.
Getty / Tim P. Whitby
The diving star confirmed that he is in a gay relationship with an emotional YouTube video. He also expressed his anger at being misquoted in an interview earlier this year. He said that his life had changed this spring and he feels "safe and happy", although he is still attracted to girls.
Getty / Clive Rose
ATTENTION WORLD: Tom Daley announced he has a boyfriend. Let us rejoice and be glad.
Clive Rose / Getty Images
Clive Rose / Getty Images
Dan Kitwood / Getty Images
It’s like watching Step Up 3D , only way better.
During a break in action in Sunday's Bengals-Chargers game, one San Diego fan couldn't contain the rhythm in his heart any longer and had to jump up and dance.
And boy did he bring it. After showcasing his glowstick moves, he provided the audience with a provocative tango of the tongue.
Then he slowed things down, readying himself for the finale...
Where he unleashed a culmination of every move in his arsenal.
“Best Wishes.”
No. No. No no no no no.
Sam Greenwood / Getty
An entire flight's worth of passengers headed from Gainesville to Atlanta on Sunday were told their plane had "mechanical problems" and could not be used — only to see the University of Florida basketball team board the aircraft and take off, the Gainesville Sun reports.
A maintenance delay grounded the aircraft meant to carry the team from Gainesville to Storrs, Conn., for its Monday-night game against the University of Connecticut, which was scheduled to start at 7 p.m. The airline canceled Delta Connection flight 5059, which had been Atlanta-bound, and used the aircraft for a charter flight for the team instead.
Some of the affected passengers weren't able to find alternate flights until the next day, so there's that.
Florida lost to UConn 65-64. UConn's leading scorer was "karma."
h/t Deadspin
A celebrated, brutal tradition in Puerto Rico.
Here is a Puerto Rican cockfight from 1937.
Via Benny Johnson/ BuzzFeed
Via Benny Johnson/ BuzzFeed
Here is how the cockfights happen.
The way in which Olympic medalist Tom Daley decided to come out may have opened the door not just for himself but for other celebrities and athletes as well.
Clive Rose / Getty Images
Out celebrities are symbols as much as they are people. And in a year in which sports culture and LGBT athletes have received unprecedented attention both for breakthroughs and barriers, Olympic diver Tom Daley is well on his way to becoming the next out icon. There's just the matter of him defying any and all attempts to make it easy to say what and who he is.
Since Daley's video announcement went live, media outlets, LGBT sites among them, have said that he's gay or in a gay relationship, called him bisexual or insisted that he's not, while others have simply said he's "come out" and left readers to arrive at their own conclusions. All this despite the fact that Daley himself didn't use the words "gay" or "bisexual" at all. Rather, he shared that, since last spring, he's been dating a guy even though he "still fancies women."
Setting aside the fact that a 19-year-old college student dating or experimenting with both men and women is hardly radical, the story is not that Tom Daley has come out. The story is that an Olympic athlete who is just stepping into his prime has come out and done so in a way that forces us to at least recognize the fact that everyone doesn't fit into a conveniently labeled box.
Like Casey Legler, the out fashion model who has said, "I have too much imagination to be just one gender," Daley's real accomplishment may prove to be that he's found a different way out. Sure, some celebrities are more than ready to become spokespeople for the LGBT community. It's not easy being a symbol because symbols are fixed points: no more personal journeys, you have arrived and are expected to deliver. No ambiguity either. You have a mission now. For celebrities who presumably avoid coming out for fear they will henceforth be defined by their sexuality exclusively, Daley's decision to emphasize who he's dating rather than who he is could be the light at the end of the tunnel.
Frank Ocean's now famous Tumblr post from July 2012 took a similar route. Interestingly, the recording artist was then 19 years-old as well when he met his first love, the man who changed his life. Like Daley's announcement, Ocean's letter is both candid and selective. You can have the details of his relationship — "Most of the day I'd see him, and his smile. I'd hear his conversation and his silence … until it was time to sleep" — but if you're looking for a headline-ready term or phrase, you won't find it. Similarly, just this weekend, actress Maria Bello published a personal essay in The New York Times Magazine. The words "lesbian" or even "bisexual" are nowhere to be found. Rather, she describes her longtime friend and now lover, Clare, by saying: "She was one of the most beautiful, charming, brilliant and funny people I had ever met, but it didn't occur to me, until that soul-searching moment in my garden, that we could perhaps choose to love each other romantically." No People magazine cover here. No automatic presumption that Daley, Ocean, or Bello are new voices for an entire community.
As we move forward from the teenage Olympian's shaky video, we should remember that these conversations almost always say more about us than the celebrities like Daley themselves. So, let's ask ourselves what's more important: having Daley as the handsome gay icon we have so desperately been waiting for (even if it means sawing down any edges of his story that don't fit our purposes), or celebrating that, one story at a time, we are being reminded that there are an infinite number of ways to be ourselves?
The out former U.S. Olympic skater, since hired by NBC for sports commentary, has taken heat for his comments on Russia’s anti-LGBT laws. “I don’t pretend to get Russian politics,” he acknowledged Monday.
Johnny Weir skating during a skating competition in October of 2012.
AP Photo / LEHTIKUVA, Antti Aimo-Koivisto
Out gay former U.S. Olympic skater Johnny Weir called LGBT activists criticizing his position on Russia's anti-LGBT laws "idiots" during a speech at Barnard College in New York City Monday night.
Although he apologized Tuesday in a column published in the Falls Church News-Press about his " tongue getting away from [him]," his comments about the law Monday and in his follow-up appeared to rest on a limited understanding of the law against almost all public speech relating to LGBT rights.
Although Weir characterized the law, according to Gay City News, as saying "no anal sex in front of libraries," the enforcement of the law has been far more broad, including a warning given to a television station that broadcast a movie that shows two men kissing but never even shows them having sex.
A handful of activists from Queer Nation NY and RUSA LGBT picketed the event, holding a banner reading, "WEIR: RUSSIAN OLYMPIC CLOWN" and "NBC: NAIVE BLOODY COLLABORATORS" due to Weir's position that "the Olympics are not the place to make a political statement," the paper reported.
Weir, who publicly came out as gay in 2011, dismissed the demonstrators and other LGBT activists seeking to boycott the games in Sochi due to the nation's controversial anti-LGBT policies, referring to them as "idiots like the four outside," according to the paper.
Weir, 29, is a decorated U.S. figure skating champion who took home a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics. In October, he retired from skating and joined NBC as an expert analyst for the Sochi Games. He also works with the Russian Consulate in New York City and the Russian Children's Welfare Society.
"I'm a gay American. I've married into a Russian family. I've been a longtime supporter of Russia, the culture, the country, the language, everything about Russia," Weir said on the Today show Oct. 23. "While this law is a terrible thing that you can't be gay publicly in Russia, I plan to be there in full support of our brothers and sisters there and not be afraid."
Activists say Weir and NBC have the power to pressure the Russian government to change the law, but have decidedly refused to step into the controversy marring the games.
"I've never had a bad experience in Russia," Weir said, according to Gay City News. "Not gotten called a fag or beat up… I only see the rosy, golden side. I choose to see Russia in an arrogant, selfish way. I didn't know what to think about the new law."
He also noted that his expertise is in skating, not politics: "I don't pretend to get Russian politics."
His comments Monday night further angered LGBT activists. "I think he did more than just refer to us as idiots," Duncan Osborne, a Queer Nation member, told BuzzFeed. "I think he described every LGBT activist around the globe who is fighting these Russian laws as an idiot."
With that, Duncan said NBC should respond by denouncing Weir's comments and publicly rejecting Russia's laws.
"What we're seeking is a response form NBC," Duncan said. "They have to stand up and say this is wrong and we do not believe this and the laws there have to be repealed."
NBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Much of Weir's speech, however, focused on the inside politics of competitive skating and his coming out story, but after being pushed by attendees during a Q&A session, Weir said, "I apologize if I offended anyone."
The Sochi Games kick off Feb. 7.
Pictures from the first Games in Chamonix, France underline how wildly the world of sports has changed in nearly a century of ice-cold competition.
At the age of 11, Sonja Henie of Norway finished last at Chamonix but won gold in the next three Olympics. THE AGE OF 11.
Central Press / Hulton Archive / Getty
Julia Lipnitskaia, at just 15 years old, could be a dark-horse gold medal candidate in front of the home fans come February. She put on, by all accounts, a "stunning" performance at Skate Canada in October, and she could be the first Russian on the ladies' medal stand since Irina Slutskaya eight years ago.
Dave Sandford / Getty
Only four teams competed — including two from Sweden — but it was the Brits (seen here) who captured the first gold.
Topical Press Agency / Getty
Canada's Kevin Martin, 47 years old but "back and dangerous as ever," will be eyeing his second straight gold in Sochi.
Cameron Spencer / Getty
