The Cincinnati Bengals’ tiger stripes run deep for the Luehrman twins, Adam and Ryan. Growing up near Athens, Ohio, they shared Carson Palmer and Chad Johnson jerseys and had a passing chance of correctly spelling T.J. Houshmandzadeh. They know of the playoff pratfalls, the crushing injuries, the ownership’s tightfisted ways and the decades of rotten […] More
With the announcement that Rob Gronkowski will reunite with his longtime teammate Tom Brady on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, one of the most talented players and colorful characters in football returns to the N.F.L. It seemed as if we had seen the last of Gronkowski’s 6-foot-6 frame lining up at tight end when he retired […] More
Even the tight-lipped Bill Belichick admits that this week’s N.F.L. draft, and this year’s off-season, will be vastly different from any other for the New England Patriots in this century. “Over the last two decades, everything we did, every single decision we made in terms of major planning, was made with the idea of how […] More
The former commissioner of the XFL recently filed a wrongful-termination lawsuit in federal court against the football league’s controlling owner, Vince McMahon, three days after the short-lived sports venture filed for bankruptcy. The lawsuit, filed by Oliver Luck last Thursday in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, contends that McMahon breached the terms of Luck’s contract […] More
LONDON — The proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Qatar has spilled over into England’s Premier League, with a Qatari broadcast company seeking to block a Saudi Arabia-backed takeover of the Newcastle United team. The company, beIN Media Group, the rights holder for Premier League games shown in the Middle East, has sent a letter […] More
Rob Gronkowski, the All-Pro tight end who left the N.F.L. after the 2018 season, plans to return to the league, this time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Gronkowski, who did not officially retire when he stepped away from the game last March, was traded by his old team, the New England Patriots, to Tampa Bay, […] More
Football and music are Andrew Thomas’s passions, and early on, to the bewilderment of his high school coaches, he practiced both at the same time. An offensive tackle, Thomas would pretend his pads were drums, banging on them while standing on the sideline. Sometimes he would even do it in the huddle as the quarterback […] More
From his size to his post-football aspirations, there is nothing remotely tiny about Derrick Brown — nicknamed Baby Barack at Auburn. When he wasn’t thwarting triple-teams or mauling quarterbacks as one of the nation’s best defensive linemen, Brown devoted himself to helping others, on campus and in the community. He presided over the committee that […] More
