AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyIn Argentina, Maradona’s Death Sets Off a Vivid Display of Public GriefFor many Argentines, Diego Maradona, who died on Wednesday, was no mere soccer superstar. “I feel like a member of my family just died,” said one.A makeshift memorial for Diego Maradona in the San Telmo neighborhood in Buenos Aires.Credit…Sarah Pabst for The New York TimesBy More
Diego Maradona brandishes the World Cup won by his team after a 3-2 victory over West Germany in 1986.Credit…Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesSkip to contentSkip to site indexOne Nation, Under MaradonaImages from the life of one of soccer’s — and Argentina’s — biggest icons.Diego Maradona brandishes the World Cup won by his team after a 3-2 victory over West Germany in 1986.Credit…Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesSupported byContinue reading the main storyBy More
At Colorado, the Thanksgiving meal for football players, a ritual since at least the mid-1990s, will not happen. Ohio State’s seniors will miss out on a tradition of Thanksgiving practice. At Virginia, any players who attend a large Thanksgiving gathering could have to quarantine.College football players across the country are accustomed to playing and practicing through Thanksgiving. But as with everything else during this season like no other, the coronavirus pandemic is forcing some teams to make changes large and small to their well-honed routines.Public officials are warning this holiday that a potentially lethal combination of widespread travel and large indoor gatherings will rapidly increase the already surging spread of the virus. University administrators are scrambling to offer guidance to students.John Thrasher, the president of Florida State University, is asking students not to return to campus if they leave for the holiday.“Students, if you go home for the Thanksgiving break, please stay there until the start of the spring semester,” he wrote in a campuswide email last week. Florida State has two weeks remaining in the semester after Thanksgiving — two weeks Thrasher would prefer those students complete from home.But his email does not apply to the Seminoles, Florida State’s 2-6 football team, who postponed last weekend’s game against Clemson over virus-related concerns. They face Virginia on Saturday.“Our team will stay here in Tallahassee and practice before traveling on Friday,” a Florida State spokesman, Robert Wilson, said in an email.Practicing during Thanksgiving week is typically one of the nuisances of being a college football player, a sacrifice made each autumn often in service of rivalry games. This season, however, skipping past Thanksgiving might be a saving grace for college football, which has already had more than 90 games canceled or postponed because of the coronavirus.The New York Times contacted all 65 football programs in the Power 5 conferences — the Atlantic Coast (which includes Notre Dame this fall), the Big Ten, the Big 12, the Pac-12 and the Southeastern — to ask how they were handling Thanksgiving this season. Among the 47 that responded, the answers were quite similar: They are mostly treating this week like any other coronavirus-inflected week.The University of Illinois doesn’t have classes during Thanksgiving week, but it is an otherwise normal week for the Fighting Illini, who will host the third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday. Players will be tested for the virus between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. on Thursday, practice at 8 a.m. and have a team Thanksgiving meal at 11 a.m., according to Kent Brown, an associate athletic director.“The schedule isn’t much different than past seasons, although players were able to leave campus to gather for Thanksgiving at a local team member or coach’s house for Thanksgiving before reporting back Friday morning,” Brown said. “But in the past, players never had to test for Covid every morning.”Colorado has had a game the weekend after Thanksgiving every year since 1996, when the Big 8 became the Big 12. There is traditionally a Thanksgiving meal for players and staff members, but it will be scrapped this year, said David Plati, an associate athletic director at Colorado. The team has dispensed with all communal meals this year.“The team hasn’t even eaten a meal together — everything has been grab-and-go, even on the one road trip,” Plati said. Active players also have not been allowed to go home since training camp began on Oct. 9.At Ohio State, adapting to the pandemic means postponing a beloved Thanksgiving rite.The Buckeyes typically have their final regular-season practice on the morning of the holiday. After that weekend’s game, at least in an ordinary year, the only games left are the Big Ten championship (if they qualify, which they have in each of the last three seasons) and at least one bowl game. The Thanksgiving practice usually concludes with Senior Tackle, when each senior addresses the team and then hits a blocking sled or tackling dummy one final time.Afterward, players who live in or near Columbus can take some teammates home for Thanksgiving, while others have their own families in town or go to a coach’s house.“This year, however, no one will be going home for Thanksgiving and the team will dine together on Thursday,” Jerry Emig, an associate athletic director, wrote in an email. “Senior Tackle won’t take place until later. We fly to Illinois Friday afternoon.”.css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-vadvcb{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.25rem;color:#333 !important;}.css-rqynmc{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-rqynmc{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-rqynmc strong{font-weight:600;}.css-rqynmc em{font-style:italic;}.css-2q573h{margin-bottom:15px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.5625rem;color:#333;}.css-1dvfdxo{margin:10px auto 0px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.5625rem;color:#121212;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1dvfdxo{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}.css-121grtr{margin:0 auto 10px;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}.css-1k4ccaz{background-color:white;margin:30px 0;padding:0 20px;max-width:510px;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1k4ccaz{padding:0;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin-right:auto;margin-left:auto;}.css-1k4ccaz strong{font-weight:700;}.css-1k4ccaz em{font-style:italic;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1k4ccaz{margin:40px auto;}}.css-1k4ccaz:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}.css-1k4ccaz a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;border-bottom:2px solid #ccd9e3;}.css-1k4ccaz a:visited{color:#333;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;border-bottom:2px solid #ddd;}.css-1k4ccaz a:hover{border-bottom:none;}.css-1k4ccaz[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-1k4ccaz[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-1k4ccaz[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-1k4ccaz[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-1nbniso{border-top:5px solid #121212;border-bottom:2px solid #121212;margin:0 auto;padding:5px 0 0;overflow:hidden;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1nbniso{border-top:2px solid #121212;border-bottom:none;}Schools During Coronavirus ›Back to SchoolUpdated Nov. 23, 2020The latest on how the pandemic is reshaping education.After a “covid semester,” the University of Michigan is drastically shifting its approach to virus control.When New York City public schools reopen, about 700,000 students won’t be there.How risky are indoor youth sports like basketball and hockey? Parents are agonizing over whether to enroll their kids.As winter looms, outdoor schools face tough decisions.Most schools said they did not give their players any specific guidance for Thanksgiving, relying on the messages they have conveyed for months. That message, as John Bianco, an associate athletic director at Texas, put it: “They’re constantly reminded by our team medical personnel and coaches to always wear a mask, wash hands, stay at a safe distance and to not be in any large crowds.”One of the few schools that did give players Thanksgiving travel guidance was Virginia, which updated the travel policy sent to all athletes in October, said Jim Daves, an assistant athletic director.If a player has a Thanksgiving meal in a hotel with family members without social distancing? He will have to quarantine. If the gathering is small, with mask wearing and social distancing? No quarantining necessary. If a player visits home for just a day and social distancing is followed? No quarantine. But if he somehow finds enough time to go home for more than one day? Quarantine.Travel- and family-related peril has been ever-present this season. With shorter schedules because of fewer, or no, nonconference games and some leagues starting the season late, as well as unexpected open weekends after games were postponed or canceled, athletic departments have fretted over off-days all season long.“Quite frankly, it was more of a concern a few weeks ago when we had an open week and the players had several days off,” said Steve Fink, an assistant athletic director at South Carolina.The coronavirus will threaten the season right until the end. The number of cases is spiking nationwide, and the virus has already killed more than 257,000 people in the United States. If the worst fears of public health officials are borne out, those numbers will only accelerate in December, when players are practicing for the extremely lucrative bowl games but also have unusual amounts of free time.“Who knows what will happen with any type of bowl game events?” said Steve Roe, an assistant athletic director at Iowa.Some bowl games have already been canceled. But on Tuesday night, the College Football Playoff’s selection committee released its first rankings of the season. Its semifinal matchups are scheduled for Jan. 1, and the national championship game is planned for Jan. 11. More
AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyOn SoccerBlack Goalkeepers, Big Clubs and Europe’s Uneven Playing FieldChelsea’s match against Rennes in the Champions League is a rare meeting of Black goalkeepers on club soccer’s biggest stage. But why are there so few of them?Édouard Mendy, 28, is the first-choice goalkeeper for Chelsea and Senegal.Credit…Pool photo by Ben StansallBy More
It’s one of the first rules you learn when you get taken into the backyard and taught how to play football:You can only throw one forward pass each play.On Monday night, Tom Brady tried to get away with breaking that rule. And in a way, it worked.Early in the fourth quarter of Tampa Bay’s game against the Los Angeles Rams, Brady’s Buccaneers had a third-and-10 at their 34-yard line. Brady threw over the middle, but the ball was blocked at the line of scrimmage by linebacker Terrell Lewis.A lot of good things have happened to Tom Brady in his life, and here came another. The deflected ball, which could have gone in almost any direction, caromed directly back to him. Brady reacted with lightning speed, snatched the carom out of the air and … passed the ball again?Yes, perhaps because of a brain freeze, or maybe because he thought no one would notice, Brady tried his second pass of the play. That’s a violation of the rules of the N.F.L., the X.F.L., the Canadian Football League and just about every type of organized football down to your cousin’s youth league.Brady’s second pass was completed to Mike Evans, but the officials were less than impressed. Flags flew, and Brady was called for a penalty.But wait. Evans was brought down two yards short of a first down. So with the Buccaneers now facing fourth and 2, the Rams declined the penalty. The play, and the double completed pass, stood.N.F.L. drive charts rarely make for interesting reading, but this one will forever. Tucked near the start of the fourth quarter, it dryly notes exactly what happened:“T.Brady pass short middle to T.Brady to TB 25 for -9 yards. T.Brady pass short middle to M.Evans to TB 42 for 8 yards.”It goes on to note that “Statistically, no completion for first pass as a result of the declined penalty.” So Brady, at least, will be spared the negative yards on the catch, which would have only reduced his own passing total.It was not the first time since joining Tampa Bay this year that Brady, 43, seemed to struggle with a bedrock football rule. In October, he appeared to lose track of the one about being allowed four downs each series. After failing to convert a fourth down against the Bears, he remained on the field and held up four fingers as if he thought he had another play.The Buccaneers lost that game, and they lost Monday night as well, 27-24. But at 7-4, they are still in the driver’s seat for a playoff berth.If Tampa Bay makes the postseason, Brady will need to remember that the rules of football apply there, too. More
This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.LONDON — Eric Hall, Britain’s most extravagant soccer agent in the 1980s and ’90s, often confessed that he knew little about the sport.Many said that was his greatest strength, even if it also led to the occasional mishap: He once negotiated a bonus for a player on the condition of scoring 10 goals, only to learn afterward that the player was a goalkeeper.To negotiate more lucrative deals for his players, Mr. Hall would watch British soap operas on Saturdays while games were aired, but would still write down how many goals his players had scored. It was the sort of strategy that propelled his role in the explosion of large-sum transfers in the early years of the Premier League, England’s top-tier competition.Mr. Hall died on Monday in London. Michael Hall McPherson, his nephew, who is also an agent, said the cause was the coronavirus.Known for his catchphrase, “Monster, monster,” his love of cigars and his dazzling outfits, Mr. Hall had honed his negotiating skills in the music industry by promoting the likes of Queen and the Sex Pistols, and later applied similar codes to the rapidly changing world of British soccer.“He took showbiz into football and looked at players as stars, which they weren’t really yet in the mid- and late 1980s,” Mr. Hall McPherson said. “And in the negotiation room, he was a lion.”Mr. Hall was born on Nov. 11, 1947, in East London. He quit school as a teenager and went to work at a store on London’s Denmark Street, known for its recording studios and music shops. There, he befriended and packed parcels with Reg Dwight, who would go on to become Elton John.Mr. Hall later worked as a publicist for the British record label EMI, promoting rock bands like T. Rex and Queen. In 1976, he arranged a television appearance for the Sex Pistols that gained lasting notoriety when the band’s guitarist used an expletive against the show’s host, a rare action at the time.The agent long claimed that Freddie Mercury had written the song “Killer Queen” about him, even though Mr. Mercury himself had said the tune was about a call girl. “The truth is, I’ve been telling that story for so long that I’m not really sure myself, but Freddie would’ve loved it either way,” Mr. Hall McPherson recalled his uncle saying.His uncle had always been attracted to showbiz, Mr. Hall McPherson said. “He became famous from creating celebrities, but he preferred to be the celebrity himself.”In the mid-1980s, Mr. Hall left the music industry and, in a career that spanned over a decade, represented dozens of soccer professionals, including Chelsea midfielder Dennis Wise; Neil Ruddock, who played for Tottenham and Liverpool; and Terry Venables, who managed England’s national team.Mr. Hall also negotiated large salary increases for players and helped pioneer the creation of appearance fees, branding rights and other bonuses.In 1997, he fell into a coma for three months and was given a diagnosis of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, a rare blood disease. His list of players dwindled, and a new generation of influential agents like Jorge Mendes and Mino Raiola rose to prominence.Mr. Hall never really recovered in the soccer world. But he remained a fixture of Britain’s entertainment scene and since 2013 had hosted a weekly show on an independent radio station in East London.Mr. Hall is survived by a brother and a sister.“He lived for showbiz,” said Mr. Hall McPherson, his nephew. “And his life was a bit of a show.” More
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Keenan Allen set a single-game Chargers franchise record with 16 receptions, Justin Herbert threw for 366 yards and three touchdowns and Los Angeles held on for a 34-28 victory over the Jets on Sunday to snap its three-game losing streak.Allen also tie Antonio Brown as the fastest to reach 600 receptions. Both reached the mark in their 96th games. It is also Allen’s sixth game with 13 or more receptions, the most by a player in N.F.L. history.Allen had 145 yards receiving, including 13-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter to extend the Chargers’ (3-7) lead to 31-13. The Jets would rally to get within 34-28 in the fourth quarter on Frank Gore’s 1-yard run and Joe Flacco’s 6-yard pass to Chris Herndon.The Jets (0-10) — off to the worst start in franchise history — drove to the Los Angeles 32 with less than a minute remaining before turning the ball over on downs.Herbert, who completed 37 of 49 passes, again had a day in which he established a bunch of rookie superlatives. He extended his streak of games with multiple touchdown passes to seven and had his fifth 300-yard passing game, becoming the fifth rookie in league history to reach that mark.Herbert’s 39-yard connection with Mike Williams early in the second quarter made him only the fifth quarterback in league history to reach 20 touchdown passes in nine or fewer games.Flacco, starting his fourth game in place of the injured Sam Darnold, was 15 of 30 for 205 yards with two touchdowns. He struggled in the first half, which included a pick-6 in the first quarter to Tevaughn Campbell that gave the Chargers a 7-6 lead.The Chargers’ Ty Long had a punt blocked for the third time in four weeks as special teams mistakes affected the Chargers early and led to the Jets’ first touchdown.Jets defensive lineman Henry Anderson blew by Joshua Kelley, giving Long no chance to get the kick off. Quentin Williams recovered the ball on the Chargers’ 29-yard line, and La’Mical Perine — who later left the game with an ankle injury — went 5 yards up the middle to make it 6-0.The Jets also had special teams problems. Sam Ficken missed two extra points in his return from a groin injury that sidelined him for three games. More
