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The first head football coach in Purdue history was a man named Albert Berg, who coached the team to an 0-1 record in the inaugural 1887 season. He was paid $1, which is about $25 in today’s money to do so. The result was not good for Purdue, as they lost to Butler 48-6.
Still Albert Berg was an incredibly talented and unique man who overcame the obstacle of deafness. Yes, he was able to become Purdue’s first ever football coach despite being deaf.
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Tottenham Hotspur and England star Danny Rose has given some candid commentary on the issue of race in contemporary world football that we all need to pay attention to. Rose has said that the ugly racism ever present in the beautiful game is so abominable that it makes him look forward to the days when his playing career is behind him.
Danny Rose also said the fines levied against teams when their supporters engage in racist behavior is so low that it’s on par with what he spends for a night on the town in London. Rose’s comments are making waves in media outlets all over the world, but the question is- will anything change?
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The World Series of Poker, which commences on May 29th and runs until July 16th, turns 50 this year. Yes, the ultimate pinnacle and pantheon for poker players everywhere on Earth celebrates its golden anniversary at the Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas; where it’s been staged every year since 2005.
It’s all capped off by the 2019 World Series of Poker main event- the poker’s world championship, which runs from July 3rd until the final day on July 16th. For those who can’t make it to Vegas, the ESPN family of networks will televise portions of it, every single night of the event’s duration.
By Nick Coker
Occasionally turning points occur in human history that will permanently alter the course of the future. Whether these occurrences are improbable weather events, technological advancements, conflict or diseases that incur untold casualties – things that once were considered impossible or non-existent occur or come to life and have such an impact that our very understanding of the way the world works and what is possible, changes forever.
Nicholas Taleb coined these moments ‘Black Swans’ for the black swans discovered on the west coast of Australia. Prior to their discovery the prevailing thought was that only white swans existed.
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With the Los Angeles Rams now back in the Super Bowl, it’s the perfect time to revisit their 1986 music video “Let’s Ram It,” which didn’t exactly specialize in the art of subtlety.
Remember, when the L.A. Rams recorded this monstrosity it was a very different time and political climate. When the Rams moved back to L.A. a couple of years ago, the internet’s virtual time capsule was dug up and “Let’s Ram it” was written about in several different publications. [Read more…]
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In just 12 days time, the #3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish will play in the Cotton Bowl, one of this season’s two national semifinal contests, against the #2 Clemson Tigers. If the Fighting Irish, double digit underdogs, manage to pull off the massive upset they will play the winner of Alabama-Oklahoma for the national title.
It’s a historic moment for Notre Dame, their first College Football Playoff appearance. “Oh, it’s going to decide a true national champion, there’s no doubt about that,” Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly said at the on-campus Playoff Media Day this past Saturday.
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This weekend begins the bowl season, and with it the crappy bowl games that very few of us care about. Saturday brings us a cadre of bowl games that are just as awful as whatever bowl game hosted Notre Dame and USC in the classic Christmas film “Die Hard.”
The total number of bowl games has multiplied at an absurd rate these past few decades, but one truth still remains- real bowl games don’t start until after Christmas, and for the most part well after Christmas. Genuinely desirable bowl games still adhere to tradition, and take place on New Year’s. (For a preview of #14 Notre Dame vs #17 LSU go to this link)
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George Edward Waddell, or as history as called him Rube Waddell, was born on a Friday the 13th and passed away on an April Fool’s Day. In between he lived a life that was well, covered just about everything one could hope to do. Like so many great American heroes he was taken from us too young; passing at the age of 37.
As my co-host on “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” Travis Miller said- we like to think that the reason he died so young was because he really had nothing else left to do. Here at this link, as well as in the embedded file below, we recap the highlights of Rube Waddell’s life in LGWS 7, on the Hammer & Rails podcast network.
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In the first college football game I attended as a student, the visiting team scored an 80-yard touchdown pass on the very first play from scrimmage. The visitors, Washington State, would go on to win and play in the Rose Bowl against that year’s eventual national champions, Michigan. The home team, my alma mater of Illinois, wouldn’t even win a single game that year.
More than 20 years later, I’m sitting in a Cadillac Escalade, rolling down Chicago’s Michigan Avenue and the quarterback who threw that 80-yard TD pass, Ryan Leaf, is now granting me an exclusive interview; and the topic of football is ancillary to the purpose of our discourse.
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This week is rivalry week in college football. Which conjures up memories of the Toledo War and the Frostbitten Convention.
This weekend brings awesome games with cool names like “The Iron Bowl” (Alabama-Auburn) and “The Holy War” (BYU-Utah). But only one of these rivalry games can claim an actual war in the history of its geographic region. That’s the Michigan Wolverines vs. the Ohio State Buckeyes, or “The Game,” as it’s called.
The Toledo War is one of the many reasons ESPN Classic is running a marathon of past tOSU-UM games today.
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Liverpool FC has decided not to travel attacking midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri to their UEFA Champions League group stage clash tomorrow night at Red Star Belgrade. The decision was made due to off-the-pitch, not on-the-pitch concerns with reports circulating that the Swiss international, due to his Kosvan-Albanian heritage, would be the subject of political protests in Belgrade this week.
LFC posted the following statement on their website, attributed to manager Jurgen Klopp:
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Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic took a lot of heat on social media over the weekend due to his controversial stance on the poppy emblem. Matic was the only United player not to wear the poppy emblem on his kit during Saturday’s 2-1 win at AFC Bournemouth, and this decision drew a lot of ire from football fans.
The remembrance poppy is an artificial flower that has been used since 1921 to commemorate military personnel who have died in war, and represents a common or field poppy. Matic wore the symbol on his jersey last year, but has since reversed course on the practice. He took to Instagram to explain why.
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