CFL Pickem Week 17: Indigenous Edition: There are Friday and Saturday doubleheaders in the CFL this weekend, beginning tomorrow with 12-1 Toronto at 10-4 Winnipeg, a game that would be more interesting if any team in the East was close to the Argonauts. I'm in first place by 18 over Ic23b. Make your picks and join the CFL in recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Saturday.

posted by rcade to football at 11:08 PM - 7 comments

NFL Pickem Week 4: 70 Point Edition: The Lions visit the Packers Thursday night with both teams 2-1 for their first divisional clash of the Jordan Love era. Tommybiden and Ic23b are tied for first place. Nobody had the Dolphins by 50 over the Bears. Make your picks.

posted by rcade to football at 11:56 PM - 30 comments

Girl Power: I so look forward to her first sack.

posted by The_Black_Hand to football at 01:36 AM - 2 comments

CFL Pickem Week 16: Elks on Fire Edition: There's a Friday night doubleheader to start the Canadian football weekend tonight. Ic23b now leads by 14 points in the pickem, which pains me to report. Make your picks and watch out for rampaging Elk.

posted by rcade to football at 12:53 PM - 8 comments

NFL Pickem Week 3: Season-Ending Injury Edition: The New York Giants travel to the San Francisco 49ers Thursday night to begin week 3 of the NFL season. Tommybiden leads the NFL Pickem by 7 over Ic23b, who won the week with 108 points. Make your picks.

posted by rcade to football at 11:44 PM - 22 comments

NFL Pickem Week 2: David After Dentist Edition: The NFL season without Aaron Rodgers begins Thursday night when the Vikings play the Eagles. The leader of the NFL Pickem out of the gate is Tommybiden, who scored 86 points. Nobody had the Cowboys over the Giants by anything close to 40. Everyone had the Vikings over the Bucs.

posted by rcade to football at 11:34 PM - 24 comments

CFL Pickem Week 15: Placeholder Headline Edition: The CFL returns with doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday nights. Ic23b continues to lead the pickem by four points. Make your picks!

posted by rcade to football at 10:51 PM - 7 comments

Aaron Rodgers out for the season: Aaron Rodgers tears his Achilles tendon fourth play into the Jets' season. Is this the most Jets thing to Jets in the history of the Jets? Well, since 1999, yeah. Does this mean that the Patriots will hire the Jets defensive coordinator, Jeff Ulbrich, after Saleh retires at the end of the season and appoints Ulbrich as the new head coach?

posted by NoMich to football at 02:12 PM - 4 comments

CFL Pickem Week 14: Saturday Tripleheader Edition: There’s a game tonight and another three on Saturday in Canada. Since there’s no other football being played at those times you might as well watch. Ic23b has overtaken me for first place despite us picking the same teams to win, which is, if I may speak Canadian for a moment, neat.

posted by rcade to football at 10:35 AM - 6 comments

Enter the SportsFilter NFL Pickem: The season-long NFL Pickem has returned for an 18th year! Starting Thursday night when the former Portsmouth Spartans face the former Dallas Texans, pick the winners, the spread and optionally lock the games to double your points in victory and sorely regret your life choices in defeat. First prize is the official NFL football you've wanted but would never buy for yourself because have you looked at the price?

posted by rcade to football at 05:06 PM - 20 comments

CFL Pickem Week 13: Labour With a U Edition: The CFL gets a late start to the week as B.C. visits Montreal on Saturday night. Winnipeg goes to Saskatchewan on Sunday and then there's a Labour Day doubleheader of Toronto/Hamilton and Edmonton/Calgary. I hold on to first in the CFL Pickem with Ic23b winning the week and 14 points back. Happy Labo(u)r Day!

posted by rcade to football at 11:11 PM - 7 comments

Play NFL Survivor on RunYourPool: Last year I finally succumbed to the lure of a Survivor Pool, where you pick one winner each week, can't pick that team again for the season and stay in the running until you lose. Use the link to enter the pool I joined. It's $10 per entry and you can buy multiple entries. This pool begins in week 2.

posted by rcade to football at 01:06 PM - 3 comments

Coach Prime Decimated the Roster in Colorado: Deion Sanders has 86 new players on his roster in Colorado including 53 incoming transfers, the most ever in college football. Only 10 scholarship athletes survived the purge. Former FSU defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews, a Sanders mentor who played under Alabama legend Paul "Bear" Bryant, said, "It reminded me so much of Coach Bryant. His deal was you get in or you get out. He wasn't going to have a meeting and try to encourage you to join his team."

posted by rcade to football at 12:25 PM - 4 comments

CFL Pickem Week 12: Edmonton Triumphant Edition: The Montreal Alouettes face the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Thursday night's opener to week 12 of the CFL season, the only matchup between two teams with winning records. On Sunday the Ottawa Redblacks visit the Edmonton Elks, who are seeking their second win in a row. I have taken the lead in the pickem over Tommybiden after predicting that Elks victory.

posted by rcade to football at 11:43 PM - 11 comments

CFL Pickem Week 11: Nathan Rourke Edition: There are no cruelty laws in Canada that can stop Edmonton from playing football. The Elks travel to Hamilton for a Thursday night matchup to start the CFL weekend. In the pickem I win the week with 90 points but still trail first-place Tommybiden by 4. Make your picks and say your prayers and someday maybe Nathan Rourke will play for your hometown team.

posted by rcade to football at 11:16 PM - 10 comments

Lawsuit: The Tuohy Family Robbed Michael Oher Blind: Everyone knows the heart-warming story of how the affluent southerners Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy adopted Michael Oher out of homelessness and poverty and he became a star offensive lineman at the University of Mississippi and Baltimore Ravens. Oher's newly filed lawsuit alleges that they didn't adopt him, but they did trick him into signing a conservatorship that has enabled the Tuohys and their two biological children to earn millions in royalties from The Blind Side movie and related projects while Oher didn't see a penny.

posted by rcade to football at 05:34 PM - 5 comments

CFL Pickem Week 10: Hot vs. Cold Edition: There's a game from Thursday to Sunday as the CFL season moves into double digits, starting tomorrow night when winless Edmonton hosts a Winnipeg team that just hung 50 points on B.C. Tommybiden holds on to first as every player but Ic23b scored 20 via many different routes. Make your picks.

posted by rcade to football at 07:33 PM - 10 comments

Things Looking Dire for Last 4 PAC-12 Schools: Washington State University president Kirk Schulz didn't paint a pretty picture of the school's athletic future after it, Oregon State, Cal and Stanford became the last four programs in the PAC-12 following the departure of Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten. WSU now faces a 40% drop in its athletic revenue and already had an $11 million deficit to cover, but he claims it will still spend like a Power 5 school. The call with the quitters was brief, he said. "It's like a breakup; it's awkward."

posted by rcade to football at 05:41 PM - 2 comments

CFL Pickem Week 9: Best of the West Edition: B.C. and Winnipeg play tonight in a matchup of the top two teams in the West. In the pickem Tommybiden takes first place back from Ic23b, scoring 72 points to tie for best week with Jagsnumberone. Make your picks.

posted by rcade to football at 09:35 AM - 6 comments

CFL Pickem Week 8: Come On You Elks Edition: This week's CFL slate will be three games because the post went up late. Saskatchewan visits undefeated Toronto on Saturday afternoon, British Columbia visits winless Edmonton on Saturday night and two-win Calgary visits two-win Montreal on Sunday night. Our pickem has a new leader after ic23b scored 84 points to win the week and passed Tommybiden by 4. Make your picks.

posted by rcade to football at 07:43 PM - 10 comments

Nyheim Hines to miss 2023 season: Garner, NC legend and Wolfpack icon likely to miss the 2023 NFL season with a leg injury. He was struck in the knee by another jet skier as he was sitting on his jet ski. No word if any Bojangles Hard Ice Tea was involved in the accident. Wait! Who? Yeah, the guy that made all of Hollywood's writers take to the picket lines because his storybook kick off return was something that writers were in no way allowed to ever write.

posted by NoMich to football at 09:36 PM - 2 comments

Jaguars Assistant Becomes First Out Gay Coach in NFL History: Kevin Maxen, the strength and conditioning coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, has become the first male coach in U.S. major sports to come out as gay. "You have other coaches who have significant others, and they're talking about their significant others," Maxen said. "And I felt guilty that I couldn't do the same thing, that I was letting myself down," he told Outsports.

posted by rcade to football at 08:54 AM - 2 comments

CFL Pickem Week 7: Mason Fine Edition: There are four games in Canadian football this week beginning tomorrow night when the winless Edmonton Elks visit the 4-2 Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The highlight of the week is when former Mean Green quarterback Mason Fine takes over the Jolly Green as Saskatchewan goes to British Columbia on Saturday. Tommybiden takes over first place with a 48-point week despite a blown lock -- probably because nobody expected that miracle last-minute Ottawa comeback over Winnipeg.

posted by rcade to football at 08:21 PM - 8 comments

The NFL’s Running Back Market Has Bottomed Out: After two of the NFL's best young running backs - Saquon Barkley and Josh Jackson - failed to reach new deals with their respective teams and are going to be playing the season under the franchise tag, Danny Heifetz writes: "The running back market has been crashing for years. When it bottomed out on Monday, you could sense players finally beginning to grieve. While it’s noble for (Derrick) Henry to say he will fight for what running backs “deserve,” it’s also sad to think about how unwinnable that fight will be. Whether these individual players are deserving has nothing to do with it."

posted by Ufez Jones to football at 05:51 PM - 3 comments

CFL Pickem Week 6: French Canadian Edition: For the third week in a row, the winless Edmonton Elks open the CFL slate, this time at home tonight against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. In the pickem La Main Noire keeps first with 266, 10 ahead of La Biden Tommy. Scooby wins the week with 92. Faites vos choix.

posted by rcade to football at 05:41 AM - 12 comments

How the Gruden Email Leak Sacked Dan Snyder: ESPN takes a deep dive into the emails that led to Jon Gruden's firing by the Las Vegas Raiders and the cast of characters who may have been involved in leaking them. They include exiting Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell,, NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith and Jay-Z's entertainment agency Roc Nation. There are such vehement denials that maybe the emails were never leaked and Gruden is still the head coach.

posted by rcade to football at 03:30 PM - 3 comments

Hazing in Northwestern's Football Program: Investigation finds evidence of hazing in football program, Pat Fitzgerald suspended. Former NU football player details hazing allegations after coach suspension. University president Michael Schill says he "may have erred" in determining Pat Fitzgerald sanction.

All 3 of those links are from The Daily Northwestern located there in Evanston.

posted by NoMich to football at 08:17 AM - 5 comments

CFL Pickem: Dutch Crunch Edition: The CFL returns to the normal four-game week tonight when the winless Edmonton Elks visit the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The game of the week occurs Sunday when the 2-1 Montreal Alouettes go to the 3-1 B.C. Lions. In our pickem, The_Black_Hand has climbed into first and leads by 26. Tommybiden wins the week with 72.

posted by rcade to football at 09:09 AM - 10 comments

CFL Pickem: Happy Canada Day Edition: The CFL plays a three-game schedule this week starting on Friday night when winless Edmonton visits winless Ottawa and continuing on Saturday with a Winnipeg/Montreal clash on Canada Day. I'm leading the pickem by four over The_Black_Hand, who skipped a game that no players won and scored a week-best 72. If someone speaks Canadian, explain to me how the CFL can play a three-game slate without wreaking havoc on the schedule since there's already one team on bye each week.

posted by rcade to football at 01:43 PM - 9 comments

CFL Pickem Week 3: I Miss Games on ESPN+ Edition: The CFL's four-game slate this week begins Thursday night when the B.C. Lions head to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in a match of the undefeated. Ic23b has taken the lead in our pickem followed by me six points back after I won the week with 94. Hooray me! Make your picks.

posted by rcade to football at 10:11 PM - 11 comments

CFL Pickem Week 2: That Had to Hurt, Trevor Edition: Week 2 of the CFL season kicks off tomorrow night when Calgary visits Ottawa with both teams looking for their first wins. Rumple has rocketed to first place with 86 points after hitting locks within the margin for three out of four picks. Hope you have better luck this week than Trevor Harris did on his final play of week 1.

posted by rcade to football at 07:30 PM - 10 comments

Enter the SportsFilter CFL Pickem: The CFL season begins Thursday night when the Calgary Stampeders host the B.C. Lions. American fans can now find games on CBS Sports Network or streaming free on CFL+. Everyone else can watch on TSN or CFL+. Play the SportsFilter CFL Pickem this season with a first prize of an official CFL football.

posted by rcade to football at 10:31 AM - 11 comments

Matt Araiza Believes He Deserves Shot at NFL: Matt Araiza was one of the most hyped college punters in decades going into the 2022 NFL Draft, an NCAA record setter with a 51.19 yard average called "Punt God" by fans. Drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the sixth round and named the starter, he was released before playing a game after being accused in a civil lawsuit of gang rape at a San Diego State off-campus party. The school's investigation found no wrongdoing by Araiza and the D.A. has announced it is not pressing charges. He's fighting to clear his name and get back to the NFL. "There was a time in this country and in the world where a woman would come forward and no one would believe them, and that's not right. But the pendulum has swung to the other end. And it feels like it's instantly believed, and I don't think that’s right, either," Araiza said.

posted by rcade to football at 01:32 PM - 5 comments

RIP Jim Brown: “To the world, he was an activist, actor and football star,” Monique Brown wrote on Instagram. “To our family, he was a loving and wonderful husband, father and grandfather. Our hearts are broken.” Watch him in all his glory.

posted by NoMich to football at 08:24 PM - 3 comments

NFL Teams Want to Permanently Host Black Friday Game: Now that the NFL has invaded college football's turf on Black Friday with an annual game beginning this year, several NFL teams want to be the Detroit Lions or Dallas Cowboys of that day -- including the New York Jets and Cincinnati Bengals. The inaugural game will feature the Miami Dolphins facing the Jets on Amazon Prime.

posted by rcade to football at 11:59 AM - 3 comments

Joe Kapp, former quarterback and head coach, dies at 85: Football's most interesting man, Joe Kapp, the only QB to lead a team to the Rose Bowl, Grey Cup, and Super Bowl has died after a *15 year* battle with Alzheimers. (more inside)

posted by NoMich to football at 09:32 AM - 3 comments

Jets Complete Trade for Aaron Rodgers : Every 15 years this century, the New York Jets acquire a 39-year-old, Hall of Fame-bound, Super Bowl-winning quarterback from the Green Bay Packers in exchange for draft picks -- including one that improves based on playing time. As went Brett Favre and now Aaron Rodgers, so shall 24-year-old Jordan Love in 2038.

posted by rcade to football at 05:32 PM - 4 comments

Browns to Rebuild Stadium, Play Somewhere Else 2-3 Years: The Cleveland Browns are rebuilding Cleveland Stadium, which means a temporary move somewhere else for several seasons. A likely spot is Columbus to share Ohio Stadium with the Buckeyes. The project needs to be complete by 2028.

posted by rcade to football at 04:09 PM - 6 comments

Mike Gundy: College Football Needs Contracts for Players: Longtime Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy has a proposal to tame the wild west era of players hitting the transfer portal in big numbers to chase larger NIL dollars. He wants schools to sign players for one- to four-year contracts that bind both sides for that duration. Over that span no scholarship could be dropped and no athlete could leave without the coach's approval. "The portal’s so crazy now, it’s hard to really get your arms around it," he said.

posted by rcade to football at 10:44 AM - 0 comments

NFL Playoff Pickem Champion: NoMich: There's no time like the present to announce the winner of the SportsFilter NFL Playoff Pickem. With the Kansas City Chiefs victory and that heartwarming ad with a dog or Ben Affleck or John Travolta fresh on our minds, I can reveal that NoMich defeated Cixelsyd by 1 point. The outcome hinged on NoMich locking the Chiefs. I claim the coveted Costanza. The NFL season starts in 156 days.

posted by rcade to football at 07:52 AM - 12 comments