NFL Players Will Have Tracking Chips in Shoulder Pads: NFL players this regular season will have RFID chips in their shoulder pads that enable their movements to be tracked in real time. Signal receivers at 17 NFL stadiums will collect and report the data in real time so it can be presented to broadcasters and fans. The 17 stadiums include all 15 that will host Thursday Night Football games. A not-yet-attained goal of the chips is to put them in footballs for first down and touchdown measurement.

posted by rcade to football at 05:52 PM - 9 comments

SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 12 comments

Holy Sidd Finch! Minnesota Twins Sign Unknown with 100-Mph Fastball: The Minnesota Twins have signed a 24-year-old who throws a 100-mph fastball but has never been drafted. Brandon Poulson of the Healdsburg Prune Packers, a collegiate summer league team, got a $250,000 deal. He's a 6-foot-6 right-hander and fitness freak who was timed at a 6.6-second 60-yard dash in his socks and has a 40-inch vertical leap. "He's a physical specimen. He's got the best pure arm strength I've ever seen," said Twins scout Elliott Strankman.

posted by rcade to baseball at 05:39 PM - 5 comments

CFL Pick 'Em, Week 6: The underdogs win three of four, which makes for entertaining viewing, but doesn't help out much in the pick 'em scoring department. Pick yourself up, appreciate the one or two points that Saskatchewan generously threw your way, and make your picks inside.

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 09:44 AM - 13 comments

SportsFilter: The Wednesday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 11 comments

"Kyle Korver: An Offense Unto Himself": Zach Lowe explains the evolution of Kyle Korver's game over his career, along with a bit of advice from Jeff Hornacek.

posted by yerfatma to basketball at 02:36 PM - 3 comments

The NBPA Makes History With The Hiring Of A Female Executive Director: Receiving 32 of 36 possible votes, Michele Roberts takes over the position left vacant after Billy Hunter was fired amid accusations of shady business practices. Roberts becomes the first woman elected to lead a union representing male professional athletes.

posted by Ufez Jones to culture at 01:34 PM - 1 comment

SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 6 comments

SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 1 comment

SportsFilter: The Sunday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 10 comments

Baseball Hall of Fame Announces Changes to Voting Process for Recently Retired Players:
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s Board of Directors today announced changes to the rules for election for recently retired players, reducing the length of stay on the ballot for players from a maximum of 15 to 10 years...

posted by grum@work to baseball at 12:42 PM - 4 comments

SportsFilter: The Saturday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 0 comments

Drogba!: "He is coming with the mentality to make more history."

posted by rcade to soccer at 09:09 PM - 0 comments

SportsFilter: The Friday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 4 comments

Ray Rice Suspended for 2 Games: the Baltimore Ravens running back will be suspended for the first two games of the regular season under the NFL's personal conduct policy and fined a third game check. The ban comes in response to Rice allegedly striking his then-fiancée and now wife, Janay, unconscious in February in Atlantic City. Rice was able to avoid prosecution after being accepted into a pre-trial intervention program.

posted by tahoemoj to football at 02:42 PM - 21 comments

SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 6 comments

California Limits Full-Contact School Football Practices: California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) announced Monday that he has signed a bill limiting full-contact football practices at middle and high schools in response to concerns about concussions. Under the legislation taking effect in 2015, drills involving game-speed tackling are prohibited in the off-seasonandare limited to 90-minute sessions twice a week the rest of the year. The rules apply to public, private and charter schools. Texas has even stricter rules by allowing only one 90-minute full-contact session a week.

posted by rcade to football at 07:06 PM - 0 comments

Bartolo Colon Has Perfect Game Through 6 Innings: New York Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon has a perfect game against the Seattle Mariners through six innings Wednesday afternoon. Colon has thrown four strikeouts with 50 strikes on 73 total pitches. The 41-year-old threw a one-hitter in 2000 for the Cleveland Indians against the New York Yankees. The Mets lead 2-0.

posted by rcade to baseball at 05:36 PM - 8 comments

SportsFilter: The Wednesday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 4 comments

SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 8 comments

SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 22 comments

CFL Pick 'Em, Week 5: Blowouts and nailbiters last week make big points tough to come by. That extra two points is the difference between hitting oil and hitting tundra. Roll your caribou-skin dice again and make your picks inside.

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 08:44 PM - 18 comments

Padres' Odrisamer Despaigne Throwing No-Hitter Through 7: In just his fifth Major League start, San Diego Padres starter Odrisamer Despaigne is throwing a no-hitter against the New York Mets through seven innings.

posted by rcade to baseball at 06:16 PM - 3 comments

Pitcher Freaks Out Because of Bunt in 2-Run Game: Texas Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis has added a new entry to baseball's unwritten rulebook: Don't bunt to reach base with two outs and nobody on when your team is leading by two runs in the fifth inning. Colby Rasmus did that in a 4-1 Toronto Blue Jays victory Saturday. "I don't think that's the way the game should be played," said Lewis, who yelled at Rasmus after the play. "I felt like you have a situation where there is two outs, you're up two runs, you have gotten a hit earlier in the game off me, we are playing the shift, and he laid down a bunt basically simply for average."

posted by rcade to baseball at 08:05 AM - 13 comments

SportsFilter: The Sunday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 8 comments

SportsFilter: The Saturday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 3 comments

SportsFilter: The Friday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 3 comments

SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 1 comment

SportsFilter: The Wednesday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 18 comments

Over the Hill: The late career decline of Steve Nash, a review essay covering The Finish Line and 7 Seconds or Less. “If you ever see a child move,” [Nash] says in the first episode of the series, “they’re totally uninhibited. They just move freely, they don’t think about it, they’re not straining or protecting, they just are. You know, at my best, I am childlike out there.” It may be the most tragic line in the whole series; in capturing precisely what he once had, we also understand what he’s lost.

posted by rumple to basketball at 12:46 PM - 1 comment

SportsFilter's World Cup Confidence Pool Winner: The World Cup Confidence Pool has been won by Tron7 by 24 points over Goddam and 36 over Rcade (sigh). Two factors in the win were putting Spain out of the top 5 and Netherlands at 5, higher than anyone else in the top 10. My son Ecade takes home the coveted Costanza by being best at scoring the fewest points (you have to be encouraging as a parent). Tron7 wins an Adidas Brazuca Glider Soccer Ball.

posted by rcade to soccer at 10:16 AM - 5 comments

How is Qatar building a national team for the 2022 World Cup?: by importing promising children from poor countries. Their families are given stipends and the boys come to live in a beautiful, possibly insane facility ("Across the campus, speakers pipe in the sounds of birds chirping throughout the day.") in hopes of some day making it onto the Qatar-owned team in Belgium. Doubly so since their options, much like those of the people building stadiums for 2022, limited:

Aspire executives were displeased by the departures. "They didn’t want us to talk to other agents, they definitely did not," said Tchoutou, who now plays for A.S. Roma’s top youth team. But after three years, he decided to leave with their approval or not. According to one scholarship agreement, the boys pledge not to sign any contract without the written authorization of Aspire. Of the few boys who have left the program, Bleicher said agents approached them secretly and made promises.

posted by yerfatma to soccer at 08:33 AM - 6 comments

SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 3 comments

CFL Pick 'Em, Week 4: A tale of two leagues: the CFL has five teams who are either undefeated or winless. Our little pick 'em has eight players within three points of each other. If you're looking to beat the streak, do you take Edmonton, Winnipeg, or bender's coin? Grab your nickel and make your picks inside.

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 08:51 AM - 15 comments

SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 7 comments

Germany Wins World Cup: Germany won its fourth World Cup after a tense 1-0 victory over Argentina on Sunday. Mario Gotze's strike, seven minutes from the end of extra time, ensured Germany ended its 24-year wait for glory at Rio de Janeiro's Maracana Stadium. Deadlocked at 0-0 after 90 minutes, it was left to substitute Gotze to provide the game's defining moment with a touch of magic. The Bayern Munich star took Andre Schurrle's pass on his chest before displaying exquisite technique to volley the ball past Sergio Romero.

posted by rcade to soccer at 10:22 AM - 15 comments

SportsFilter: The Sunday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 9 comments

SportsFilter: The Saturday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 6 comments

LeBron James Returning to Cleveland: LeBron James stunned the NBA on Friday when he announced he's returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers and leaving the Miami Heat. James made the announcement on Sports Illustrated's website in a letter. He wrote: "Before anyone ever cared where I would play basketball, I was a kid from Northeast Ohio. ... In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have. I'm ready to accept the challenge. I'm coming home. ... My relationship with Northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball. I didn't realize that four years ago. I do now."

posted by rcade to basketball at 12:32 PM - 51 comments

Liverpool Sells Luiz Suarez to Barcelona: Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez is being transferred from Liverpool to Barcelona for a reported transfer fee around 80 million Euros. The 27-year-old serial biter is serving a four-month suspension from soccer as punishment for chomping Italy's Giorgio Chiellini during the World Cup. Barring his appeal, Suarez will miss 18 games for Barcelona, including three in the Champions League, one for Copa del Rey and nine in La Liga.

posted by rcade to soccer at 08:56 AM - 10 comments

SportsFilter: The Friday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 8 comments

Blackhawks Sign Toews, Kane Through 2023: The Chicago Blackhawks signed Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane to identical eight-year, $84 million contract extensions Wednesday. Their yearly salary cap hits of $10.5 million apiece are the highest in NHL history.

posted by rcade to hockey at 11:31 AM - 4 comments

SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 11 comments

Argentina Faces The Netherlands for Spot in World Cup Final: Argentina plays its first World Cup semifinal since 1990, facing today a Netherlands team looking to reach its second consecutive final. The countries have met four times in the tournament and four other times. Argentina won only one of the matches, but it was the 1978 World Cup final.

posted by rcade to soccer at 02:31 PM - 8 comments

How (Not) to Survive the Running of the Bulls: A coauthor of the book Fiesta: How to Survive the Running of the Bulls was badly gored on Wednesday in the morning bull run at Pamplona's San Fermin festival. Bill Hillmann, 32, tripped and fell when a bull gored him in his right thigh, according to festival website SanFermin.Com, which has photos of the incident. There have been 14 fatalities over the past century at the fiesta, which dates to the 13th century.

posted by rcade to extreme at 10:33 AM - 2 comments

CFL Pick 'Em, Week 3: The roller coaster ride continues (literally, Edmonton's roller coasters just opened—ride 'em now before the permafrost advances again in August) as we have a new contestant in first place AND a remarkable streak of zero points. Tune your intrigue-o-meter and make your picks inside.

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 10:21 AM - 18 comments

SportsFilter: The Wednesday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 7 comments

Nate Silver Had Brazil at 65% to Win Today: "We have some reasonably good news for Brazil. Even without Neymar and Silva, the team remains the leading contender to win the World Cup in our estimation. You may or may not agree with the math, but the intuition behind it is this: Soccer is a team sport, and Brazil is a very deep team. ... If we run the new numbers through the SPI match predictor, we come up with a 65 percent chance of Brazil prevailing against Germany." -- Nate Silver's pre-match prediction on 538

posted by rcade to soccer at 08:51 PM - 9 comments

Brazil Faces Germany for Spot in World Cup Final: In the worst World Cup loss by Brazil in the country's history, the host nation lost 7-1 to Germany in the semi-final after goals by Thomas Mueller, Miroslav Klose, Toni Kroos, Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira, Andre Schuerrle and Andre Schuerrle. Oscar scored for Brazil.

posted by rcade to soccer at 03:45 PM - 26 comments

Oakland Raiders: Not the Worst Team in the NFL in 2013, Won’t Be in 2014 Either: It seems Mike Wilkening of Pro Football Talk doesn’t think too highly of the Oakland Raiders‘ efforts as he slotted them in the 32nd position

posted by bo_fan to football at 12:27 PM - 1 comment

SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 10 comments

SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 11 comments

SportsFilter: The Sunday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 4 comments

The Netherlands Faces Underdog Costa Rica in World Cup: The Netherlands and Costa Rica meet in the World Cup for the first time Saturday to decide the final spot in the quarterfinals. The Netherlands has won 10 of its last 11 World Cup matches, losing only to Spain in the 2010 finals. Costa Rica, the biggest surprise of the tournament, is the first CONCACAF team to reach a quarterfinal in 12 years.

posted by rcade to soccer at 02:01 PM - 7 comments

Argentina Faces Belgium in World Cup Quarterfinal: Argentina and Belgium meet Saturday in the day's early World Cup quarterfinal. The teams have met twice in the tournament before, Belgium winning in the group stage in 1982 and Argentina in the semifinals four years later. All eyes are on Argentina great Lionel Messi, who has four goals and one assist out of his country's seven total goals at this World Cup.

posted by rcade to soccer at 11:29 AM - 2 comments

SportsFilter: The Saturday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 0 comments

Brazil Knocks Out Colombia, But Loses Neymar: In a match full of hard fouls and poor officiating, Brazil defeated Colombia 2-1 with goals from Thiago Silva and David Luiz. Colombia's James Rodriguez scored on a penalty to cut the lead in half. Brazilian star Neymar took a knee to the back in the 88th minute on a hard foul by Colombia's Juan Camilo Zuniga and suffered a broken vertebra, ending his tournament.

posted by rcade to soccer at 11:43 AM - 9 comments

Germany Closes Down France in World Cup: Germany scored on a Mats Hummels header in the 12th minute and that was all it needed in a 1-0 victory over France in the World Cup quarterfinals. The win makes Germany the first country to reach the semifinals in four straight World Cups. France had a late chance as Karim Benzema launched a final-minute strike in the box, but German keeper Manuel Neuer got a hand on it. An ESPNFC writer was disappointed by the French effort, calling the game "one of the more turgid affairs of this consistently excellent tournament."

posted by rcade to soccer at 11:34 AM - 8 comments

SportsFilter: The Friday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 0 comments

This isn't The Onion : Championship League football owner cuts player from team because date of birth is unlucky.:
Cellino is so suspicious of the number 17 that he had the seats at his former club, Cagliari, taken out and replaced with 16B.

posted by grum@work to soccer at 02:39 PM - 4 comments

NHL Playoff Pick 'Em Results, Blame-the-World-Cup Edition: The results finally have been compiled for our annual NHL Playoff Pick 'Em. Cixelsyd is the runaway champion with 18 points and Rumple takes home the coveted Costanza.

posted by rcade to hockey at 01:06 PM - 5 comments

SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 14 comments

Michael Bradley Covered Most Ground in World Cup: Michael Bradley covered 54.7 kilometers during the four U.S. games, the highest total of any player in the World Cup. Headlines such as What Happened to Michael Bradley? suggest the 26-year-old underperformed, but nobody outworked him. "His positioning has been flawless and his work ethic is quite literally unmatched," wrote Beck Barnes before Monday's match.

posted by rcade to soccer at 07:37 PM - 12 comments

How Good Are the Americans, Really?: An interesting analysis of where the U.S. men's national team stands in the soccer hierarchy after its exit from the World Cup, written by Mark Satterfield of the Christian Science Monitor. "Team USA has not stagnated. The bus is still moving forward," he observes. "But the issues that made the first 105 minutes of the Belgium game -- and much of America's World Cup, frankly -- an exercise in intestinal fortitude are the same issues that have defined the USA ever since it reemerged on the world stage in 1990."

posted by rcade to soccer at 05:17 PM - 4 comments

CFL Pick 'Em, Week 2: Thrills and spills feature largely in Week 1. But no chills. Hey, I know it's Canada, but it's still only July. There'll be lots of chills 'round these parts in November, don't you worry. Put away your parka and make your picks inside.

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 02:25 PM - 14 comments

SportsFilter: The Wednesday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 15 comments

U.S. Falls to Belgium Despite Epic Tim Howard Performance: In one of the biggest games in the history of the U.S. men's soccer team, the United States lost to Belgium 2-1 in a round of 16 elimination game in the World Cup. The game went to an extra 30 minutes after it was 0-0 at the 90 minute mark. Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku scored goals for Belgium, and 19-year-old American substitute Julian Green -- the youngest player ever to take the field for the U.S. at a World Cup -- scored to cut the lead in half with 12 minutes to spare. American goalkeeper Tim Howard had the most saves in a game in recorded World Cup history.

posted by rcade to soccer at 11:34 AM - 23 comments

SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 16 comments