Raphael Stevens

More stories

  • 100 Shares189 Views

    in Football

    Aaron Rodgers's News Conference Laid Out Packers Conflict

    The quarterback aired his grievances, which had only been hinted at, making clear the chasm that needs to be closed for him to re-sign with the Green Bay Packers.Aaron Rodgers’s summer of discontent ended on Tuesday when he reported to the Green Bay Packers’ training camp, bringing to a close the months of retirement whispers, trade speculation and answers in the form of questions. Photos from the team’s social media account showed Rodgers arriving wearing tinted sunglasses, slicked-back hair and a rigid grin. He looked like Bono approaching the red carpet for the iHeartRadio Music Awards. Rodgers may not be enthusiastic to be back, but he is back nonetheless. More

  • 100 Shares119 Views

    in Football

    Deshaun Watson's Awkward First Day at Training Camp

    The quarterback remains the subject of 22 civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct. But you wouldn’t have known that as training camp opened Wednesday.HOUSTON — At 9:26 a.m. Wednesday, the man who doesn’t want to play for the Houston Texans — and whom the Houston Texans don’t want to play for them — jogged onto the practice field wearing a team-issued hoodie and team-issued pants, and no one seemed to care.There were no fans present to boo or cheer Deshaun Watson, and if his teammates or coaches were delighted or disturbed by his presence, as he remains in both legal and football limbo with 22 pending lawsuits against him accusing him of sexual misconduct, this was neither the setting nor the time, of course, to make those feelings known. He has repeatedly denied all the claims against him.This was a holy day on the N.F.L. calendar, the first day of training camp, when franchises are duty-bound to savor the return of football, and to peddle optimism and discuss The Team, not address off-field matters.“I felt the buzz,” said Coach David Culley, who was hired in January.Even if the Texans didn’t notice the cognitive dissonance between reality and the optimism they were propagating, it was striking.The players are excited. The team is excited. The organization is excited. Everyone is excited, including Watson, who has a standing request to be traded to another team. He spent most of the second half of practice Wednesday doing things that quarterbacks of his caliber — he last year led the league in passing — generally do at this time of year.Donning a No. 23 red no-contact jersey over his usual No. 4, he played scout-team defense, lining up as a safety in two-deep coverage. He caught a swing pass out of the backfield. He stood with his hands behind his back, or folded across his chest, as the Texans’ other three quarterbacks — Tyrod Taylor, Jeff Driskel and Davis Mills — participated in 11-on-11 drills.“He’s been just like everybody else,” Culley said, referring to Watson. “He’s been strictly a pro in everything that we do.”Deploying Watson in these roles is all part of the Texans’ plan, Culley said. This is training camp, and Watson needs to learn a new offense that he will likely never operate. These summer practices are just a ramp-up period, and the Texans don’t want to get into a situation where he overexerts himself, which is thoughtful on their part. He did, after all, tear a knee ligament in practice in 2017, and another freak injury could burden the Texans with his $10.54 million contract. These are similar drills to what Watson was doing then, but it’s not like players ever get hurt twice. Not when they don’t want to play for the team, and the team doesn’t want them, either.“Guys throw too much, guys’ arms get sore,” Culley said. “And we want to make sure none of those things happen.”The N.F.L. has permitted Watson to participate unrestricted in all club activities as their investigation into his conduct remains open.Justin Rex/Associated PressThe Texans did not immediately comply with Watson’s trade request several months ago, and then in March and April came the deluge of lawsuits: 23 in all (22 are active). According to ESPN, at least 10 criminal complaints have been filed with the Houston Police Department. The lawsuits and complaints accused Watson of a pattern of lewd behavior with women hired to provide personal services, such as massages.As the cases mounted, he didn’t attend the Texans’ off-season program. Watson’s only apparent incentive for reporting to the team Wednesday was so that he didn’t get fined $50,000 for missing days. Once the Texans’ franchise quarterback, he didn’t take first- or second- or third-team reps.Watson was not made available to the news media Wednesday.“It really hasn’t been a distraction,” said Nick Caserio, the team’s general manager, “and I don’t think it will be a distraction.”“It was no surprise,” Culley said of Watson’s decision to report, “so just business as usual.”That’s what everyone in football allowed Wednesday to be, a normal day. The N.F.L. hasn’t placed Watson on the commissioner’s exempt list, a paid suspension for players being investigated by the league for conduct violations. So he joined the quarterbacks in the front row of the stretching period, and he ran through ball security drills, and he bent on one knee, helmet on the ground, his hoodie pulled tight, with no one around him. The N.F.L. has not yet interviewed many relevant parties in the civil cases, and as the league continues to investigate Watson, it has permitted him to participate unrestricted in all club activities.“Every team is dealing with different things, obviously, around the league,” Caserio said, “so we’re no different.”Not at all, which explains why some players were so happy to discuss Watson’s situation.“I’m not answering those questions,” receiver Brandin Cooks said.“I don’t want to really speak much on it because it’s not my situation,” running back David Johnson said.“We’re excited to have him, but it’s up to the team and the coaches,” safety A.J. Moore said.The Texans are respectful of everybody and everything that’s involved, but they will do what’s in the best interest of their organization, because that is what Caserio said the franchise would do. All the Texans can do, really, is control their effort and their attitude and their preparation — not much beyond that. There’s nothing else the Texans could have said or done Wednesday, because a misstep might affect Watson’s trade value, and it’s pretty safe to assume that victims of sexual assault would agree that’s the most important thing.“Institutions replicate themselves,” said René Redwood, a consultant for inclusion and equality who has advised the league on issues of race and abuse. “A body in motion will remain in motion until disturbed by an outside force.”The Texans open the season Sept. 12 against Jacksonville, and it’s impossible, just impossible, to predict whether Watson will be the team’s starter that day. Houston has six weeks to figure out what’s best for the team after a first day of training camp that wasn’t at all weird or awkward or unsettling in the least. More

  • 175 Shares169 Views

    in Soccer

    Soccer Team Was Lone Bright Spot in West Bank Village. Virus Took That, Too.

    Despite a fan base of just 1,400 people, the Wadi al-Nis club was a perennial West Bank powerhouse. But the team — most of whose players are related — could not defeat the coronavirus.WADI AL-NIS, West Bank — The bleachers were mostly empty, the coach was nowhere to be found, and the players were dejected as they suffered another lopsided defeat.A feeling of gloom hovered over the soccer pitch, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, as the Taraji Wadi al-Nis soccer team played the penultimate game of its worst season in decades.The visible frustration of the players in their bright blue-and-white uniforms had much to do with the knowledge that their storied, semiprofessional soccer club — the pride of a tiny, pastoral village of just 1,400 residents, almost all from the same extended family — would be downgraded next season to the shame of the second division.For the residents of Wadi al-Nis in the occupied West Bank, the team’s disappointing season was one more example — but a particularly biting one — of how the coronavirus has aggravated the already hardscrabble circumstances in the village, where many people suffer from poverty and inconsistent employment.Wadi al-Nis players, in blue, during a match in the West Bank city of Ramallah in April. The team’s poor season was one more example of how the coronavirus has aggravated the village’s already hardscrabble circumstances.Samar Hazboun for The New York TimesSince the pandemic first emerged in the village last year, low-income families have cut down on meat consumption, laborers who work in Israel and nearby Israeli settlements have at times been unable to reach their jobs, and some of those sick with Covid-19 have racked up hefty medical bills.“The coronavirus has been devastating for our town,” said Abdullah Abu Hamad, 46, a member of the local council and the president of the soccer team, as he overlooked the village’s rocky landscape. “It has shaken up all of our lives, from the builders to the farmers to the players.”Despite the hard life for many in Wadi al-Nis even before the pandemic, one bright spot that had long set it apart from similarly struggling villages in the occupied territories was the outsize success of its soccer team, traditionally a West Bank powerhouse.But the coronavirus has taken that, too.Trophies won by Wadi al-Nis at the team’s headquarters this month. The semiprofessional club will be downgraded next season to the second division.Samar Hazboun for The New York TimesThe financial crisis spurred by the virus has curtailed sponsorships for many Palestinian clubs, according to Susan Shalabi, a senior official at the Palestine Football Association. For the team in Wadi al-Nis, whose tiny fan base meant money was always tight, the loss of about $200,000 in government and private sector sponsorships was ruinous.Instead of practicing at rented fields in neighboring towns, the players now often train by running for hours along dirt paths beside grape vineyards and olive orchards.While the team’s floundering has depressed the spirits of almost everyone in the village, its poorest residents have concerns that go well beyond losses on the pitch.Wadi al-Nis this month. The village has about 1,400 residents, almost all from the same extended family.Samar Hazboun for The New York TimesHaijar Abu Hamad, 64, a widow, usually relies on family and friends to assist her with basic expenses like food, water and electricity bills, but few have been able to continue supporting her in the wake of the virus.“Some days I only eat a piece of bread for dinner,” she said, doing little to hide her distress. “It’s a terrible feeling: You open the fridge and there’s barely anything there.”Ms. Abu Hamad — the family name of almost everyone in the village is Abu Hamad — has two children and four grandchildren who were born with hearing deficiencies. She said the family could not afford to fix one of her grandchildren’s hearing aids.Haijar Abu Hamad, 64, at her home in Wadi al-Nis on Thursday. Life in the wake of the virus has been especially hard. “Some days I only eat a piece of bread for dinner,” she said. Samar Hazboun for The New York TimesIf soccer has been the town’s primary entertainment option, its main economic engine has been jobs in Israel or neighboring settlements.During the initial weeks of the outbreak, however, Palestinian workers faced additional restrictions on crossing into Israel. Those over 50 were generally not allowed to enter at all, while some laborers in settlements were unable to reach their jobs.“It was a devastating time,” said Ghaleb Abu Hamad, 39, who works as a tractor driver in a nearby settlement and has been a longtime defender on the village’s soccer team. “Unlike Israelis who got unemployment funds, we were left to fend for ourselves.”Still, the employment picture has improved a bit. Villagers who work in Israel and neighboring settlements said that they had recently been able to reach their jobs on a regular basis, in part because they had received vaccines from Israel.The name Wadi al-Nis, which means Valley of the Porcupine, is associated with soccer success across the West Bank. For most of its existence, the team, established in 1984, has played in the territory’s most prestigious league, and it won the top division championship in 2009 and 2014, according to Ghassan Jaradat, a media official for the Palestine Football Association.A kindergarten classroom in Wadi al-Nis. The charitable organization that runs the school has faced difficulties in purchasing essential supplies such as pens and paper.Samar Hazboun for The New York TimesBut in addition to its history of soccer triumphs, there is another way in which Wadi al-Nis contrasts with many other villages in the West Bank: It has developed strong ties with the neighboring settlements.Many residents work in the settlements in construction, factory, farming and sanitation jobs. They often share holiday meals with their Jewish neighbors.“We deal with our neighbors with manners, respect and morals,” said Abdullah Abu Hamad, the village council member. “We have good relations with them.”Oded Revivi, 52, the mayor of the nearby Efrat settlement, agreed that the two communities were close, calling the cooperation “endless,” whether that meant returning a lost dog or working together. The emergency medical center in Efrat is used by Wadi al-Nis residents, he said.Instead of practicing at rented fields in neighboring towns, the Wadi al-Nis players now often train by running for hours along dirt paths beside grape vineyards and olive orchards.Samar Hazboun for The New York TimesBut like many other West Bank villages, the political future of Wadi al-Nis is tied to one of the Middle East’s most intractable struggles. And it lacks basic infrastructure such as properly paved roads, public parks, sewerage and bright street lighting. Public transportation infrequently passes through during the day; there is only one store in the center of town.For years, local leaders have tried to convince the Palestinian Authority and international donors to invest in developing the area, but they have made little progress.The Wadi al-Nis Charitable Society, which provides services to the village, said that it had historically encountered obstacles in raising money but that the virus had set it back even more.“We basically got zero this year,” said Walid Abu Hamad, 46, the director of the society. “The virus has sent us into our deepest crisis ever.”Walid Abu Hamad, director of the Wadi al-Nis Charitable Society, which provides services to the village. “The virus has sent us into our deepest crisis ever,” he said.Samar Hazboun for The New York TimesThe organization’s kindergarten has faced difficulties in buying essential school supplies like pens and paper. Its financial assistance for poor people has been slashed. Longstanding plans for a top-of-the-line community center seem further off than ever before.When it comes to soccer, though, villagers are optimistic that the club will rise again — someday.Ahmad Abu Hamad, 33, a veteran defender, vowed that the team would bounce back in the coming years. But he conceded that the team’s failure this past season had compounded the miseries of an awful period in his hometown.“We were called the king of the championships. We won cup after cup after cup and we would celebrate them in the center of town like we do during weddings,” he said as he sat beside four relatives who also play for the club. “Now, the streets are empty and quiet and the feeling of despair is palpable.”Children playing soccer in Wadi al-Nis on Saturday. Despite the hardships, residents are optimistic that the village’s team will rise again — someday.Samar Hazboun for The New York Times More

  • 113 Shares199 Views

    in Football

    N.F.L. Sets Stiff Penalties for the Unvaccinated, Jolting Teams

    Commissioner Roger Goodell said outbreaks traced to an unvaccinated player or staff member could warrant a game forfeiture for their teams. The announcement prompted a backlash from some players.Throughout the off-season, the N.F.L. had stopped short of requiring that its players and other team personnel receive a Covid-19 vaccination, instead strongly encouraging inoculation. More

  • 113 Shares179 Views

    in Football

    Greg Knapp, a Jets Assistant Coach, Dies at 58

    Knapp, the team’s new passing-game specialist, was hit by a car while biking over the weekend and never regained consciousness, his family said.Greg Knapp, the Jets’ passing-game specialist, died on Thursday from injuries he sustained while being struck by a car as he rode a bicycle in California last weekend. He was 58.In a statement released through the Jets on Thursday afternoon, Knapp’s family said he was immediately rendered unconscious.“Greg never regained consciousness,” his family said. “He was surrounded by his mom, his wife, his three daughters and his brother.”Knapp, a California native, joined the staff of Robert Saleh, who is in his first year as the Jets’ head coach, in January after spending the last three seasons with the Atlanta Falcons as a quarterbacks coach. He had been an offensive coordinator in Atlanta from 2004 to 2006.“Greg had such an inner peace about him that people always seemed to gravitate towards,” Saleh said in a statement on Twitter, adding, “In his short time here, I believe the people in this organization had a chance to experience that connection.”During his short time with the Jets, Knapp, who was also known as Knapper, had been preparing the team’s young quarterbacks, including Zach Wilson, the No. 2 pick in the 2021 draft, for the coming season.At last month’s minicamp, Knapp told reporters that he had been enjoying coaching the young quarterback group, which also includes the second-year player James Morgan and the third-year player Mike White, neither of whom has played in an N.F.L. game.“As I’ve gotten older, I can say, here, from my experiences, I can tell you this because I’ve got enough trial and error on it,” said Knapp, who has coached veteran quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, Michael Vick, Matt Ryan and Steve Young. “And they’re getting it, they’re learning. It’s pretty exciting and it’s invigorating for me.”Knapp spent the first nine years of his coaching career at Sacramento State, where he had played quarterback. He was entering his 26th year coaching in the N.F.L. Knapp began with the San Francisco 49ers in the 1990s and eventually was promoted to quarterbacks coach and then to offensive coordinator in 2001.In addition to two stints in Atlanta, Knapp made stops in Seattle, Denver, Oakland and Houston either as an offensive coordinator or a quarterbacks coach.He was the Broncos’ quarterbacks coach when Manning threw for 5,477 yards and 55 touchdowns during the 2013 season, both league records at the time, and in the 2015 season when Manning led the team to a Super Bowl win.Arthur Blank, the Falcons’ owner, was one of many of Knapp’s former colleagues who posted their condolences on social media on Thursday. In a statement on Twitter, Blank said that Knapp was a “wonderful person who had the love, admiration and respect” of everyone he worked with.“Greg’s infectious personality is most people’s first and lasting memory of him,” Knapp’s family said. “The phrase ‘He never met a stranger’ encapsulates Knapper’s zest for life. He had a unique gift to make everyone feel special, and to Knapper, they all were.” More

  • 138 Shares99 Views

    in Soccer

    Olympics: Daniel Alves and the True Value of a Gold Medal

    The Olympics may be a major championship for women’s teams, but they remain an afterthought for the men.Daniel Alves has seen it all, done it all. He has won league titles in three countries, picked up nine cups, conquered Europe with his club and South America with his country. He has 41 major honors to his name, officially making him the most decorated player in history. But still, when André Jardine asked him to take on one last job, his eyes lit up.Jardine, the manager of Brazil’s Olympic men’s soccer team, had framed his pitch smartly. There was, he told Alves, still one thing missing from his career. For all that he had achieved, he had never been to an Olympic Games, much less won a medal. “Let’s complete your résumé,” Jardine said. At 38, entering a third decade as a professional, Alves could not resist.The appeal, for Jardine — only three years older than the player he has appointed as captain for Brazil’s campaign in Tokyo — is obvious. Men’s soccer at the Olympics is, essentially, an under-23 affair: A majority of each team’s squad in Japan can have been born no earlier than Jan. 1, 1997. But there are spaces reserved for three “overage” players.Jardine had been considering how best to fill those spots on Brazil’s roster when it emerged that injury would rule Alves out of the Copa América. Here, he felt, was the chance to draft a figure who is “respected by all Brazilian players, a leader, a winner,” a player not only with “lots of charisma” but with a wealth of experience to help guide his younger teammates. It was too good an opportunity to pass up. If anything, it felt like a sign. “The universe wanted it this way,” Jardine said.It is easy to understand why it struck such a chord with Alves, too. “Challenges like this really motivate me,” he said. “The Olympics are magical: You get emotional thinking about them. To represent my country, my people, in a competition as important as the Olympics is really, really incredible.”“The Olympics are magical,” Alves said. Not everyone sees it that way.Phil Noble/ReutersAnd yet — setting aside the warming, rosy glow of the idea of Alves’s adding yet another trophy to his personal palmarès, all in the name of defending his country’s honor — his presence at the tournament does not necessarily feed into the idea that men’s soccer at the Olympics is especially important at all.That is not to question his motives: Alves is in Tokyo to perform, and to win. His “ultimate ambition,” he has said, is to compete for Brazil in the World Cup next summer; only injury denied him a place in Tite’s squad for the Copa América this summer. This is a chance for him to stake a claim, to prove he can still cut it when surrounded by players a decade and a half his junior. He is not, by any stretch of the imagination, just along for the ride.But the sight of Alves, one of the finest players of his generation, in a cobbled-together under-23 team serves to highlight the inescapable sense that Olympic men’s soccer is something of a novelty act, simultaneously a major international tournament and an inconvenient afterthought, an honor with no clear meaning, a trophy with an asterisk.A glance at the other overage players joining Alves in Tokyo illustrates the issue. New Zealand has selected arguably its best player, in the burly shape of the Burnley striker Chris Wood, to give it the best chance of securing a medal. France, on the other hand, has chosen André-Pierre Gignac and Florian Thauvin, currently playing for Tigres, in Mexico, and the Montpellier midfielder Téji Savanier, none of whom might be regarded as their country’s best player.France called up 35-year-old André-Pierre Gignac for the Games.Franck Fife/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesArgentina and Romania, meanwhile, have named only one overage player each. One is a goalkeeper, and the other is a defender who does not currently have a club. Neither country has been tempted to send anyone who might count as a star. Or, rather, neither has been able to, because clubs are not mandated to release their players for the Olympics, because the Games do not feature on men’s soccer’s official, sanctioned calendar.Despite that, Spain seems to be taking the whole thing seriously: A clutch of players fresh from the semifinals of Euro 2020 have traveled to Japan, including Pau Torres, Dani Olmo and Pedri. Germany’s 22-man delegation, on the other hand, contains not a single player knocked out of the European Championship in the round of 16.All of the players in Japan will, of course, regard being at an Olympics — even in Tokyo’s diminished circumstances — as a rare privilege. Those who have competed in previous Games, even established stars of Europe’s major leagues, have been awed by the atmosphere (and, to an extent, the abandon) of the athletes’ village, star-struck by their sudden proximity to the biggest names in track and field.Lionel Messi won an Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games, but almost no one counts it among his career highlights.Cezaro De Luca/EpaBut exactly what success — or failure — means in a soccer sense is less obvious. It is only a few weeks since Lionel Messi was celebrating winning his first major international honor with Argentina at the Copa América. At last, Messi had ended not only his long wait to achieve something with his country, but Argentina’s restless purgatory in the international wilderness. It was, all the stories said, the nation’s first major trophy since 1993.Except, of course, that it wasn’t. Argentina won gold in the Olympics in both 2004 and 2008. Messi was part of the latter team. That neither was mentioned highlighted the stark, and perhaps unfair, truth about Olympic men’s soccer: Ultimately it does not count, not really, not properly. It exists in an uneasy, liminal sort of zone, somewhere between a youth competition and an adult one, between authentic and ersatz.In the women’s game, of course, that is not the case. Or, at least, it has not traditionally been the case. The Olympics have at times been the most high-profile event in the women’s calendar, the grandest stage that the game could offer.When Abby Wambach, the former U.S. striker, released a book on leadership in 2019, she was trailed on the front cover not as a World Cup winner but as a “two-time Olympic gold medalist.” To some extent, that may have been an attempt to market her work to a non-soccer-specific audience, of course, but still: The choice of honor felt significant.Dzsenifer Marozsan helped lead Germany to its first women’s soccer gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. The title is on par with the World Cup in the women’s game.Ueslei Marcelino/ReutersThe team that the United States sent for its opening game of the Olympic tournament on Wednesday — a 3-0 defeat to Sweden, in which Megan Rapinoe suggested that the team had done some “dumb” things — contained only two changes from the side that started the World Cup final two years ago. So many of the biggest names in the women’s game are in Tokyo, in fact, that the tournament has the air of an all-star competition.The temptation is to believe that the event’s status will wane as the World Cup continues to grow, that the adage — that the Olympics is the pinnacle for sports that do not have one of their own — will hold, that no sport, ultimately, can have two pinnacles..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-uf1ume{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}.css-wxi1cx{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}That is not necessarily true. Golf and tennis have both embraced their relatively new status as Olympic disciplines. Winning gold at the Olympics — competing at the Olympics — always means something. What it means, though — how much it means — is not fixed. Alves sees it as a step on a journey. Messi saw it as a road to nowhere. Rapinoe may well see it as a destination in itself. But all of that can change. The value of gold, after all, can rise and fall.CorrespondenceA frankly unlikely claim of clairvoyance from Carl Lennertz as regards to Lionel Messi’s signing a new contract with Barcelona. “I knew he’d re-up when his kids cried last year at the thought of leaving,” he writes. “I’m glad he chose family happiness.”Carl’s prescience is not without foundation, as it happens. It is rarely discussed in the context of transfers — which we tend to assume are determined by money and ambition and status, probably in that order, and nothing else — but family deserves to be in that mix, too. It is often why players choose one country, or one city, over another; or why, as in Messi’s case, staying is easier than going.That does not apply to only the finest players, either: One player I spoke with in the past few months wanted to sign a new contract, ignoring a potential Premier League move, because his daughter had just started school and he did not want to force her to make new friends. Footballers, in other words, are humans, too.Shawn Donnelly, meanwhile, has his finger on the pulse of all the major issues of the day. “If we are going to keep calling it a ‘back heel’, then we should start calling a toe poke a ‘front toe,’” he wrote. I am currently trying to teach my son the back heel, with considerable success: He now uses it as his default passing option, like some louche South American playmaker. And it has, in the course of that educational process, occurred to me that it does border on tautologous.And it falls to Mark Hornish to make the semiregular plea for some coverage of Major League Soccer in this newsletter. “It may surprise you to learn that the United States has a domestic league,” he wrote, with a healthy slice of sarcasm. “It would be great if you could turn your gaze on it in these coming weeks.” I will do my best, Mark. Leave it with me. More

  • 138 Shares99 Views

    in Football

    Tom Brady Jokes About Election Results as Buccaneers Visit White House

    President Biden’s administration has revived a tradition of championship invitations that had grown sporadic under former President Donald J. Trump.WASHINGTON — Until a few hours before kickoff, Tom Brady was questionable for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ celebration of their Super Bowl title at the White House. He was the most prolific winner of titles and decliner of presidential invitations in league history.But when the band struck up and President Biden strode onto the South Lawn to meet the championship team, Mr. Brady, the quarterback and seven-time N.F.L. champion, was there, smiling in a dark suit and sunglasses, leading a small procession including his coach, his team’s owner and the commander in chief himself.A few minutes later he was back in the spotlight, tossing off political jokes like slant routes, mostly targeting Mr. Biden’s predecessor, Donald J. Trump, a longtime friend of Mr. Brady’s.Mr. Brady first needled Mr. Trump’s baseless claims that he actually won the 2020 presidential election, which many Trump supporters still believe. The quarterback said many people did not believe the Buccaneers could win the championship last year.“I think about 40 percent of the people still don’t think we won,” Mr. Brady said.“I understand that,” Mr. Biden said.Mr. Brady turned to Mr. Biden. “You understand that, Mr. President?” he said.Mr. Biden smiled. “I understand that,” he said again.“Yeah,” Mr. Brady continued. “And personally, you know, it’s nice for me to be back here. We had a game in Chicago where I forgot what down it was. I lost track of one down in 21 years of playing, and they started calling me ‘Sleepy Tom.’ Why would they do that to me?”Mr. Biden — whom Mr. Trump frequently called “Sleepy Joe” during the campaign — played along. “I don’t know,” he said.Mr. Brady, 43, is the most accomplished signal caller in N.F.L. history. After leading the New England Patriots to six championships in his first two decades in the league, he quarterbacked Tampa Bay to a 31-9 Super Bowl victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in February, shortly after Mr. Biden was inaugurated. It earned him and his teammates a request to visit the president at the White House.But as of Monday, White House officials could not say for sure if he planned to attend.Mr. Brady missed several presidential team visits under Mr. Trump and President Barack Obama after winning previous Super Bowls. He last trekked to a White House title ceremony in 2005, when George W. Bush was in office. His attendance this time around was rumored on Monday, then confirmed by photos posted to social media on Tuesday morning.Mr. Biden has in recent weeks also hosted the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, as his administration revives a tradition of championship invites that had grown sporadic under Mr. Trump after many players boycotted the festivities. An N.F.L. champion last visited the White House in 2017.On Tuesday, while Mr. Brady’s teammates stood on risers and baked in the heat of the White House lawn, the president praised the Bucs for their persistence in reeling off an unbeaten run to the championship after starting the season with seven wins and five losses.“This is a team that didn’t fold, got up, dug deep,” the president said. “It’s an incredible run.”He singled out Tampa Bay receiver Chris Godwin, who was born and raised in the same states as Mr. Biden. “Born in Pennsylvania, raised in Delaware,” the president said. “Where I come from, that’s a heck of a combination, man.”The president could not resist sprinkling in a few stories of his own, less accomplished football career. And he could not resist ribbing Mr. Brady — and himself — about their ages.“A lot has been made about the fact that we have the oldest coach ever to win a Super Bowl and the oldest quarterback to win the Super Bowl,” said Mr. Biden, who at 78 was the oldest person ever sworn in as president. “Well, I’ll tell you right now: You won’t hear any jokes about that from me. As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing wrong with being the oldest guy to make it to the mountaintop.”Eventually, Mr. Biden gave way to the team owner, Bryan Glazer, and coach, Bruce Arians, and then to Mr. Brady and his comedy routine.When the laughter from the relatively small crowd on the lawn died down, Mr. Brady and the Buccaneers prepared to give the president a customary personalized jersey, with “Biden” across the back and the number 46, for Mr. Biden’s presidency. The band prepared to play Queen’s “We Are the Champions” while players, including the quarterback, posed for photos with onlookers including several Florida politicians.But first Mr. Brady had one more joke, about how he planned to make the most of the remainder of his time at the White House.“We’re going to challenge — 11 of us — 11 White House interns to game of football here on the lawn,” Mr. Brady said.“And we intend to run it up on you guys, so get ready to go.” More