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    Persian Gulf Standoff Starts to Thaw on the Soccer Field

    DOHA, Qatar — To make it to the big game, the Saudi soccer fan resorted to unusual measures. He first flew to Kuwait, where he told his parents he was going on vacation. Then he boarded a plane to Qatar, the site of a major soccer tournament this week. Officially, it was a forbidden journey: […] More

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    If the Chargers Score and No One’s There to Cheer, Does the Owner Care?

    CARSON, Calif. — It is the second quarter of the Los Angeles Chargers’ home game with the Minnesota Vikings and the fans are a cheering, chanting, delirious mass. One of their defenders has just scooped up a fumble and rumbled into the end zone for a touchdown. The defender runs to the stands and jumps […] More

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    Jaguars Fire Tom Coughlin

    The Jacksonville Jaguars fired their top executive, Tom Coughlin, on Wednesday, parting ways with him a little more than a day after the N.F.L. players union won a fight to overturn millions of dollars in fines he had imposed. Coughlin — who spent most of his career as a coach, winning two Super Bowls at […] More

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    Clásico Ends in Scoreless Draw Amid Independence Protests

    One of the world’s most-watched soccer matches was played amid heavy security Wednesday night as the Spanish authorities sought to keep Catalonia’s separatist movement from disrupting the game between host Barcelona and Real Madrid. While the game in Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium began without incident, some riot police clashed with protesters in the streets outside, […] More

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    End of the Year Means Another Contrived College Football Playoff

    The end of the American calendar sports year features a festival of college football bowl games that fill television airwaves — if not attendant stadiums — and since 2014 a four-team playoff to determine which of the blessed chosen gets to shout from a mountaintop that is, arguably, mythical. This year, however, the most memorable […] More

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    At the Top, It’s Just Drew Brees and Tom Brady. Or Is It Brady and Brees?

    Drew Brees’s four-touchdown performance on Monday night did not only lead the New Orleans Saints to a comfortable 34-7 win over the Indianapolis Colts, it also gave him more touchdown passes than any other quarterback in N.F.L. history. But a look at the statistical standings shows that another quarterback wasn’t left too far behind: Tom […] More

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    The N.F.L.’s Favorite Helmet Maker Is in Financial Trouble

    Around Thanksgiving, Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson received some news as unnerving as the sight of an all-out quarterback blitz. The N.F.L. stars and other investors in Vicis, the heralded Seattle-based helmet maker, were officially informed that the company was running out of cash. “Our employees are currently furloughed and we need to raise capital […] More

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    Drew Brees Dethrones Peyton Manning as King of Touchdown Passes

    Drew Brees, once considered too short to be an elite professional quarterback, surpassed Peyton Manning for the most career touchdown passes in N.F.L. history as he led the New Orleans Saints to a rout of the Indianapolis Colts on Monday night. Brees threw four touchdown passes to reach 541 in his career, two more than […] More