The league's roster of outspoken gay rights supporters has been depleted, and just when the NFL appears to need them most: Football is preparing for its own Jason Collins moment, a week after the first major American team sport athlete came out. But were these less prominent voices released because of their loud voices on the NFL's big gay issues, or because they weren't good enough? And will the real Pro Bowlers please stand up?
As the sports world continues to react to news of America's first openly gay major pro athlete, the NFL has reinforced its discrimination policy in an internal memo, and an NFL official tells The Atlantic Wire that one outspoken player's social media response to the Collins announcement has already drawn an inquiry.
Perhaps fittingly for the city and the man, Tebow's time with the New York Jets will be remembered more for the unending media hype than anything he actually did under center. And it was a local tabloid story turned national, with seemingly every outlet from TMZ to the Newark Star-Ledger going full-on New York Post at one point or another.
As the clock wound down during the final rounds of the NFL draft on Saturday, only two kickers were chosen — and 23-year-old openly gay former Middle Tennessee State placekicker Alan Gendreau was not one of them.
The biggest story of last night's NFL draft wasn't who got picked in the first round, but who didn't. Specifically, Manti Te'o.
Known for bringing his dulcet, almost restful near baritone to the restlessness of the NFL as a play-by-play announcer on CBS, Fox, and ESPN, Summerall also played nine seasons in the league with the Detroit Lions, Chicago Cardinals, and New York Giants.
The NFL said that "half the league" would never get away with playing under the influence of the little blue pills, no matter what Seattle Seahawks All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman says.
Yesterday a rumor about four gay NFL athletes coming out of the closet together seemed to push the gay rights in sports debate to the precipice. Except that rumor was more than a little untrue, and now gay rights in sports advocates are more than a little mad.
According to Brendon Ayanbadejo, the outspoken gay rights advocate and now former Baltimore Raven, there are at least three more gay players ready to speak out than previously believed. The Baltimore Sun sort of buries the lead, but there is a vague plan in place for as many as four players to announce publicly that they are gay, and on the same day.
A big week for gay rights in Washington was a big one for the entertainment world, too, and it looks like the NFL could have its first gay player come out of the closet in time for Week One of the new season. Here's a rundown of the locker rooms where the NFL's mystery man might feel welcome — and less so.
Though the N.C.A.A. remains immensely popular, its older brother has recently lost ground to the 20-year-old MLS. Yes. soccer. The inevitable New York Times trend piece almost writes itself.
If a new report about an NFL player coming out comes true, the league could find itself opening up to an unprecedented reality — and might find itself as the surprise leading voice on gay rights in sports.
At this year's scouting combine — the annual gathering of football recruits to determine how well they could potentially play on an NFL field — teams reportedly asked players about their sexuality. The NFL launched an investigation into the matter, and we haven't heard from them since. Until now.
Another 214 people have filed briefs on the gay marriage cases that the Supreme Court will soon consider and, well, two of them work in football stadiums and the other 212 work on Capitol Hill. And a surprising number of Congressman didn't join them.
After questions were raised over the legality of asking potential NFL draft picks questions about their sexuality, the NFL is now investigating which teams posed such questions and cracking down on whether or not they're legal.
Now that National Football League executives are asking players about their sexual orientation — not just wondering in the shadows about Manti Te'o but grilling them in job interviews — it may be time for the commissioner to do something. It may even be breaking the law.
Manti Te'o is reportedly raising eyebrows among general managers doing the hiring who "want to know" about his sexuality, even as teams refuse to speak out about gay players and critics charge that GMs still actively recruit players with criminal pasts.
This weekend is the NFL Combine, where the new crop of rookies run and jump and are analyzed by professional scouts before the annual draft. Among this year's crew is Manti Te'o. You may have heard of him. He dated a girl that didn't exist. The press had some questions for him.
If you look at the numbers, the network is missing Sunday Night Football — and Donald Trump — a lot more than anyone thought.
Sometime between the Baltimore Ravens beating the San Francisco 49ers and the Ravens crushing the 49ers, half of the lights in the Superdome went dark, and Twitter lit up with curiosity — and jokes.
Parents, football fans, and bloggers are asking whether the NFL might be exploiting the 26 students scheduled to sing "American the Beautiful" with Jennifer Hudson on the field this Sunday.
Just when the NFL was starting to shed its homophobic reputation and look like an accepting place for gay athletes, one San Francisco 49ers player had to come along and ruin all of that — and all under the Super Bowl spotlight.
With the Super Bowl just days away and the so-called Bountygate scandal still bubbling over, New Orleans Saints fans were really excited for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's AMA on Reddit this afternoon. He wasn't as excited to answer their questions.
Call it the Civil War of football or, as cheesy headline writers prefer, the HarBowl. Either way, the upcoming Super Bowl will be a dramatic one since the two teams are coached by two brothers.
Nate Silver has made a life for himself by predicting things. He is not bad at it, either. He is right more often than he is wrong, except when it comes to football.
A post-mortem analysis of Junior Seau's brain tissue has diagnosed the former NFL linebacker with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a degenerative brain diseased linked to football and head injuries.
If Robert Griffin III's knee was the first casualty of the Redskins offseason, consider this the second.
The commentator will not be losing his job for calling the Redskins quarterback a "cornball brother." Instead, he's being suspended for 30 days before he can return to work.
The columnist responded to the controversy for the first time since calling the Redskins quarterback a "cornball brother" and being suspended by ESPN.
As the NFL wrestles with the murder-suicide involving the Kansas City Chiefs' Jovan Belcher, an informal new survey claims that gun ownership in the NFL vastly outnumbers that in the general population.
Details are slowly emerging about an unsettling incident involving Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher, his girlfriend and a morning full of violence.
Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall swears he never took any performance enhancing drugs. But he tells the AP he's heard of "some crazy stuff," like "guys using Viagra."
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
Does being the last undefeated NFL team make a difference in playoffs? Yes, according to this chart by reddit user Tripp Jones.
This week Burberry showed us the perks of exclusivity while Capcom rode yet another Resident Evil launch to a rise in the rankings.
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
A certain labor dispute had Americans talking about the value of working men this week, Jon Stewart explained on The Daily Show last night.
The NFL and the NFL Referee's Association have come to an agreement on a new, long-term collective bargaining agreement that will even put the real refs back on the field for Thursday night's Baltimore-Cleveland game.
Every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the video clips that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention.
ESPN's Chris Mortensen is reporting that the NFL and its referee union are so close to a new contract that they could be back to work this weekend.
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
Newt's undying love of the small and cuddly is well documented, so it wasn't a surprise when he weighed in on the NFL's replacement ref's gaffe from last night with a drawing of an adorable elephant in a Green Bay helmet.
One consequence of last night's officiating tragedy that was not lost on football fans was that the refs did not just take victory away from one team and give it to another, they also flip-flopped wins and losses for millions of NFL gamblers.
Football fans are beside themselves after a crew of replacement officials — subbing for referees who are locked out by the NFL — took away a victory from the Green Bay Packers with a controversial call on the last play of the game.
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
Statistics show that the NFL's beleaguered replacement referees may be guilty of home cooking, are definitely guilty of calling more defensive pass interference calls, and have made this season's games longer--and yes, your bookie has adjusted accordingly.
The money, the fame, and the excesses that come with being the guy on a pro football team are the things kids fantasize about. But sometimes things don't work out. Sometimes you make the NFL, but end up broke anyway. Vince Young, after six seasons, is learning that the hard way.
When George Will described American football as a liberal institution in his weekend column for The Washington Post, the missive was discarded as an outgrowth of Will's reactionary crankiness.
The NFL is making efforts to improve the live experience of seeing a professional football game, but one of their big ideas is to make an app that lets you listen to players hooked up with microphones on the field. Does this seem like an obviously bad idea to anyone else?
Today in Sports: A new NFL lawsuit, Golden State is building a new home, and NBC is all-in on the Olympics.
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