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      The Weeknd’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Breaks With Tradition

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesSee Your Local RiskVaccine InformationWuhan, One Year LaterAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe Weeknd’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Breaks With TraditionThis time, the field won’t be swarming with fans crowding the stage. In fact, the stage won’t be on the field at all, but in the stands.The Weeknd in concert. He will be headlining the Super Bowl halftime show in Tampa on Sunday.Credit…Hayoung Jeon/EPA, via ShutterstockJulia Jacobs and Feb. 4, 2021, 3:09 p.m. ETWhether it stars Al Hirt, Michael Jackson or Beyoncé, the Super Bowl halftime show has always taken center stage on the field.But for the first time in the 55-year history of the game, the Weeknd, who is headlining this Sunday in Tampa, Fla., will perform on a stage set up in the stands in keeping with strict coronavirus protocols intended to limit contact with the players and coaches; his act may, however, include a brief interlude on the field.In a typical year, a massive stage is rolled onto the field and hundreds of fans pour out to surround it; this year only about 1,050 people are expected to work to put on the show, compared with 2,000 to 3,000 most years. Performers and crew members will receive Covid-19 tests before rehearsals and before the performance.When he strode to the microphone Thursday at a news conference, the Weeknd took in the room and noted, “It’s kind of empty.” His words were perhaps a preview of how the stadium might look to people watching from home. (About 25,000 fans will be in the stadium — less than half its 65,000-person capacity — joined by thousands of two-dimensional cardboard cutouts of fans provided by the N.F.L.)The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye), is a 30-year-old Canadian pop star known for hits including “Can’t Feel My Face” and “Starboy.” His concerts often have a brooding feel and a dark, avant-garde edge. (The music video for his latest hit, “Blinding Lights,” opens with the Weeknd laughing maniacally, his face covered in blood.) He said that his halftime show would incorporate some of his trademark artistic themes but that he plans to be “respectful to the viewers at home.”“The story will continue,” he said, “but definitely we’ll keep it PG for the families.”This will be the second Super Bowl halftime show produced in part by Jay-Z and his entertainment company, Roc Nation, who were recruited by the N.F.L. in 2019. At the time, performers were refusing to work with the league, in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who began kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice.The Coronavirus Outbreak More

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      Will the Super Bowl Be Decided by Penalties?

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Super Bowl 2021Chiefs Fans’ Generational DivideReconsidering Tom BradyToned Down TV CommercialsLuring Online Sports BettorsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyOn FootballWill the Super Bowl Be Decided by Penalties?Statistics from the regular season indicate that the Buccaneers benefited more from officiating calls than the Chiefs did.Buccaneers opponents were charged with 24 pass interference calls in the regular season, the highest total since the statistic started being tracked in 1985. If pass interference were a person, it would be the Buccaneers’ sixth most productive receiver.Credit…Jason Behnken/Associated PressFeb. 4, 2021Updated 9:25 a.m. ETSuper Bowl LV could be decided by penalties. And if that happens, Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have a distinct, unsurprising and perhaps unfortunate (for the Kansas City Chiefs) advantage.Buccaneers’ opponents were charged with 24 pass interference penalties during the regular season, the highest total since Football Outsiders began tracking the statistic in 1985. The Buccaneers benefited from 395 yards on those infractions. If pass interference were a person, it would be the Buccaneers’ sixth most productive receiver, contributing more yardage to their passing game than tight end Cameron Brate.Now, suggesting that Brady gets reputation-based “superstar calls” would be as sacrilegious as insinuating that Michael Jordan got away with traveling now and then or that Alex Rodriguez benefited from a narrower strike zone than the average slugger’s. Perish the thought.A less sinister explanation of the Buccaneers’ pass interference record is that an experienced quarterback like Brady can spot defenders jostling his receivers and throw passes in their direction knowing he will get either a catch or a flag. In fact, the league-leading beneficiaries of pass interference penalties in recent seasons have indeed been wily (read: old) veterans — Philip Rivers in 2019 and 2017, Drew Brees in 2018.
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img{border-radius:4px 4px 0 0;}.css-z54dpx{margin:0 6px 0 0;width:6px;height:6px;border-radius:50%;background-color:#ccc;-webkit-transition:background-color 0.2s ease;transition:background-color 0.2s ease;background-color:#333 !important;}.css-nw5im6{display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;white-space:nowrap;width:36px;height:36px;border-radius:50%;border:1px solid transparent;background-color:#f3f3f3;cursor:pointer;outline:none;left:0;}.css-nw5im6:after{content:”;display:inline-block;margin-left:2px;margin-bottom:1;width:8px;height:8px;line-height:0;border-top:2px solid #6288a5;border-right:2px solid #6288a5;border-color:#121212 !important;}.css-nw5im6:hover{background-color:#e2e2e2;}.css-nw5im6:focus{border:1px solid #ccc;}.css-nw5im6:focus:after{border-color:#666 !important;}.css-nw5im6:after{-webkit-transform:rotate(-135deg);-ms-transform:rotate(-135deg);transform:rotate(-135deg);}.css-nw5im6:after{border-color:#b3b3b3 !important;}Super Bowl LV by the NumbersBenjamin HoffmanReporting on the Super Bowl 🏈Super Bowl LV by the NumbersBenjamin HoffmanReporting on the Super Bowl 🏈Eve Edelheit for The New York TimesOn Sunday, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs take on Tom Brady and the Buccaneers in the 55th Super Bowl.Here are some interesting stats for the game from Sportradar, a leading data and technology company in sports →Super Bowl LV by the NumbersBenjamin HoffmanReporting on the Super Bowl 🏈AJ Mast for The New York TimesThe Chiefs dwarf the Bucs in Super Bowl experience. Kansas City’s active roster has 33 players with a combined 34 appearances. Tampa Bay has six players with 17 total Super Bowl trips — nine of which came from Brady.Super Bowl LV by the NumbersBenjamin HoffmanReporting on the Super Bowl 🏈Ben Solomon for The New York TimesThe Bucs are trying to become just the fifth team to win the Super Bowl a year after finishing with a sub-.500 record (7-9). The previous four were the 2017 Eagles (above), the 2001 Patriots, the 1999 Rams and the 1981 49ers.Super Bowl LV by the NumbersBenjamin HoffmanReporting on the Super Bowl 🏈Vincent Laforet/The New York TimesThe Chiefs hope to be the ninth team to win back-to-back Super Bowls — a feat last accomplished by Brady and the Patriots after the ’03 and ’04 seasons. This is the longest drought without repeat winners in the Super Bowl era. Super Bowl LV by the NumbersBenjamin HoffmanReporting on the Super Bowl 🏈Barton Silverman/The New York TimesThe Bucs are the fifth team seeded No. 5 or lower to reach the Super Bowl. The last three No. 5 seeds to reach the title game — a group that includes the 2010 Green Bay Packers (above) — have each posted upset victories.Super Bowl LV by the NumbersBenjamin HoffmanReporting on the Super Bowl 🏈Jeff Roberson/Associated PressThe Chiefs’ 38-24 victory over Buffalo in the A.F.C. championship game was their fourth straight playoff win in which they trailed by at least 9 points, matching the 2014-17 Patriots for the longest such postseason winning streak.Super Bowl LV by the NumbersBenjamin HoffmanReporting on the Super Bowl 🏈Morry Gash/Associated PressThe Bucs have scored at least 30 points in each of their last six games, including all three of their playoff games. They can become the first team in N.F.L. history with four 30-plus point games in a single postseason.Check out more Super Bowl coverage: The teams, the ads, the recipesWhat to Know About Covid-19 and the Super BowlMadonna? Harry Potter? Churchill? Tom Brady May Be Beyond CompareFeb. 2, 2021Item 1 of 8Swipe to continue reading →
      Over all in the regular season, the Buccaneers were charged with 11 fewer penalties for 300 fewer yards than their opponents, the largest net differential in the N.F.L. The Chiefs were closer to the other end of the spectrum: They committed eight more penalties than their opponents for 159 more yards, the sixth-worst net yardage differential in the league.The Chiefs committed 23 offensive holding penalties, the N.F.L.’s second-highest total during a regular season in which officials called the infraction the fewest times since at least 1998. The Chiefs committed 23 false starts, tied for the third-highest figure. Most troublingly for a team about to face Brady’s Untouchables, Chiefs defenders were flagged for 15 defensive pass interference penalties, the third-highest total in the N.F.L.The Chiefs also had an unfortunate pattern of having big plays called back because of offensive infractions. According to the N.F.L. Game Stats and Information System, the Chiefs had 310 offensive yards nullified by penalties, the second-highest figure in the league. A holding penalty negated a would-be touchdown in their Week 5 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, and several Chiefs victories were narrower than they should have been because apparent touchdowns or 20-yard gains turned into 10-yard losses.The Buccaneers had just 142 yards nullified by penalties. After all, only a fiend would throw a flag that might deny our beleaguered society an opportunity to cherish one of Brady’s last memorable moments, right?According to the N.F.L. Game Stats and Information System, the Chiefs had 310 offensive yards nullified by penalties, the second-highest figure in the league. Credit…Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesKidding aside, officials are generally too busy making split-second interpretations of the N.F.L.’s arcane rule book to keep track of whether the pass that tangled a defender with a receiver was thrown by a living legend or a mere mortal. Still, the Chiefs have earned a reputation as brilliant-but-scatterbrained students who lose points for forgetting to write their names atop their assignments, while Brady is so irreproachable that the teacher is more likely to believe him than the answer key.Whether or not there’s a teensy bit of unconscious bias at play, each team’s penalty tendencies could create the perception of one-sided officiating, which could then overshadow the Super Bowl itself.Spotty officiating has already become one of the major subplots of the 2020 postseason. The Buccaneers benefited from just one pass interference penalty in the playoffs, but it was a whopper: A fourth-quarter call on Green Bay Packers defender Kevin King against receiver Tyler Johnson in the N.F.C. championship game granted the Buccaneers a third-down conversion, allowing them to run out the clock. The call was appropriate — Johnson’s undershirt can clearly be seen stretching away from King’s grasp on replays — but officials in that game stopped just short of allowing defenders to take piggyback rides on receivers’ shoulders for the previous 58 minutes.In the divisional round, the Chiefs benefited from an uncalled helmet-to-helmet hit that turned a possible Cleveland Browns touchdown into a fumble for a touchback. The no-call just happened to favor the more popular and marketable team.The last thing the N.F.L. wants is a repeat of Super Bowl XL, in which the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Seattle Seahawks, 21-10, with the help of some famously dubious officiating, including a touchdown call for the Steelers after a run on which Ben Roethlisberger’s helmet (but no other part of his body, nor the football) crossed the plane of the goal line on a sneak. The call added to speculation that N.F.L. was eager to nudge the more popular team toward victory.The Buccaneers are, of course, hosting Super Bowl LV, where the 25,000 socially distanced fans in attendance will probably skew toward the home team. And while the Chiefs have no shortage of star power, a seventh Brady championship sure would make a compelling climax to this pandemic-stricken season.The N.F.L. does not fix its results, of course; if it did, the Jets would at least be competitive once in a while. The officials will by no means conspire to hand Super Bowl LV to Brady and the Buccaneers. But the season averages suggest that the Buccaneers could hold an edge of 40 to 50 yards on penalties, which would probably come in big chunks of pass interference calls and negated Chiefs touchdowns.Should that happen, the conspiracy theorists will have plenty to talk about after the game.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Super Bowl LV by the Numbers

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      Super Bowl LV by the NumbersBenjamin HoffmanReporting on the Super Bowl 🏈Eve Edelheit for The New York TimesOn Sunday, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs take on Tom Brady and the Buccaneers in the 55th Super Bowl.Here are some interesting stats for the game from Sportradar, a leading data and technology company in sports → More

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      These Women Were N.F.L. ‘Firsts.’ They’re Eager for Company.

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Super Bowl 2021Chiefs Fans’ Generational DivideReconsidering Tom BradyToned Down TV CommercialsLuring Online Sports BettorsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThese Women Were N.F.L. ‘Firsts.’ They’re Eager for Company.Two women will coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in this year’s Super Bowl, a milestone in the N.F.L.’s gender diversity efforts. Women in football hope their presence quickly stops being noteworthy.Maral Javadifar, right, an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Lori Locust, a defensive-line assistant, will coach in Super Bowl LV. It will be the first time that two coaches who are women will work the title game.Credit…Julio Cortez/Associated PressGillian R. Brassil and Feb. 3, 2021Updated 4:56 p.m. ETThe football pioneers arrived quickly over the past year: the first woman to coach in a Super Bowl, the first woman chosen to officiate a Super Bowl, the first Black woman to be named a full-time coach in the N.F.L.They can’t wait to have a lot more company.“What is really going to excite me is when this is no longer aberrational or when this is no longer something that’s noteworthy,” said Amy Trask, who in 1997 became the Oakland Raiders’ chief executive and the first woman of that rank in the N.F.L. Few have followed in similar roles.The coaching ranks took much longer to welcome women — until 2015. Eight female coaches were on N.F.L. staffs this season, the first time there had ever be more than two women coaching simultaneously in the league, according to The Institute of Diversity and Ethics in Sport, which tracks hiring across a variety of roles in five major sports.Other professional sports had groundbreaking moments, as well, in the past year. The Miami Marlins hired Kim Ng as M.L.B.’s first female general manager and Becky Hammon became the first woman to serve as a head coach in the N.B.A. But the ascent of women to top sports jobs remains an aberration and not the norm, as it is for men to lead many women’s professional and college teams.Jen Welter, the first female to coach in the N.F.L., said that she initially turned down her first opportunity to coach a men’s team — in the Champions Indoor Football league — because she worried about feeling isolated.“I was a highly decorated women’s player — two gold medals, an eight-time Pro Bowler — also had a master’s degree in sports psychology and a Ph.D. in psychology, and my instinct was, ‘no,’ because there were no women,” Welter said recently in a telephone interview. “Representation matters.”Callie Brownson, the chief of staff for the Cleveland Browns, said players were unfazed when she had to fill in as coach of the tight ends for two games this season and the wide receivers for one, when the full-time coaches for those positions were out on paternity leave or placed on the Covid-19 reserve list.“I remember walking up to the tight ends at practice on Wednesday and saying, ‘Hey, just so you guys know, I got you guys this weekend, I got you on game day,’” she recalled in a phone interview. “And it didn’t faze them at all, like: ‘Cool, OK, great, looking forward to it, let’s roll.’ That was powerful to me as a woman.”But, Brownson said, she has encountered resistance elsewhere. She recalled that at least one job interview felt like “checking a box,” and said that she had heard insulting quips — including “It’s funny to hear a woman talk about routes” — from men inside and outside the game.Like Trask, Brownson said: “I look forward to the days where we stop talking about how ‘she’s the first this’ and we’ve accomplished all those things, and women can just naturally fit into these coaching roles, scouting roles and operational roles.”Trask, who left the Raiders in 2013 after nearly 30 years in various jobs with the franchise and now serves as an analyst for CBS, recalled only a few moments when people questioned her role because of her gender.Once, she said, a reporter called out to Gene Upshaw, a Hall of Fame offensive lineman, at the end of a long practice: “Hey Gene, what’s it like having a girl on the team?”Trask recalled that Upshaw, who became the longtime leader of the N.F.L. players’ union, spun around and replied: “She’s not a girl. She’s a Raider.”Al Davis, the Raiders’ former team owner who hired Trask, also hired Tom Flores, the league’s first minority head coach to win a Super Bowl, and Art Shell, the first African-American head coach in the N.F.L. since the 1920s.“This was someone who hired without regard to race, gender or any other individuality, which has no bearing on whether someone can do a job,” Trask said of Davis, who initially hired her as an intern in 1983, when the team was based in Los Angeles and she was a law student who cold-called the Raiders’ headquarters seeking a job. “And he was doing this decades and decades before this was discussed as a subject within the football world, the sports world and much of the world in general.”Mold-breaking employees seem to be concentrated in certain organizations, such as the Raiders and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who will face the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl on Sunday. The Bucs will have a two female coaches on the field — Lori Locust, a defensive line assistant, and Maral Javadifar, an assistant strength and conditioning coach — just a year after the San Francisco 49ers’ Katie Sowers became the first woman to coach in a Super Bowl. Also on Sunday, Sarah Thomas will become the first woman to officiate the title game.Buccaneers Coach Bruce Arians, who made history by hiring Welter as an intern for the Arizona Cardinals in 2015, also has the only staff in the N.F.L. on which the offensive and defensive coordinators are both Black.“We support each other unconditionally,” Locust said of the women coaching in the N.F.L. “We may talk a little bit of trash — just a little bit while we’re playing one another — but it never gets malicious.”Credit…Daniel Kucin Jr./Associated PressThe league itself has pushed a number of diversity initiatives aimed at getting women and people of color into coaching positions over the years, including the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship, which started in 1987, and the Women’s Careers in Football Forum, which began in 2017. Most of the N.F.L.’s female coaches were brought in through one of those programs.Some, like Jennifer King — recently promoted by the Washington Football Team to become the league’s first full-time Black female coach — have been supported financially by the Scott Pioli & Family Fund for Women Football Coaches and Scouts, named after the former longtime front office executive, and administered by the Women’s Sports Foundation.These pipelines have helped bring the handful of women coaching in the league together.“We support each other unconditionally,” said Locust of the Buccaneers. “We may talk a little bit of trash — just a little bit while we’re playing one another — but it never gets malicious.”Though the women hope their ranks keep expanding, the limited racial diversify in the league’s coaching ranks suggests a possibility of backsliding. The highest number of nonwhite N.F.L. head coaches at any given time has been eight — last reached in 2018, matching the current total of women with coaching jobs. Now, in a league in which about 70 percent of the players are Black, only three of the current head coaches are, and only two others meet the N.F.L.’s standard for diversity hiring. The N.F.L. did not respond to multiple interview requests for this article.Yet as women in the N.F.L. hope for the days when they are no longer groundbreakers, they appreciate the progress that this weekend represents. Thomas, the Super Bowl official, was part of the N.F.L.’s first pregame handshake involving two women: Her first game — a preseason matchup in 2015 — was also Welter’s debut with the Cardinals.“I always think about that handshake as basically like a deal or a promise,” Welter said recently, “that this is going to continue, that more women will have opportunities to have that handshake.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Madonna? Harry Potter? Churchill? Tom Brady May Be Beyond Compare

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Super Bowl 2021Conference ChampionshipsBrady is BackIs Tampa the New Titletown?The N.F.L. and Black CoachesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyMadonna? Harry Potter? Churchill? Tom Brady May Be Beyond CompareTom Brady rose from obscurity to become a standard-bearing quarterback hero, jousting with many characters along the way. We asked experts in various fields if they could cite similar sagas through history.Scholars compared Tom Brady to a variety of figures, real and fictional: (clockwise from top left) Winston Churchill, Harry Potter, Pope Benedict and Bill Clinton.Credit…Stanley ChowFeb. 3, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETThe arc of Tom Brady’s career — his rise to Super Bowl mainstay as quarterback of the New England Patriots and now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — reads as if it were a folk tale.An unwanted N.F.L. orphan out of college is consigned to a woebegone, frosty football hamlet. Something akin to a miracle — a near-death experience by a co-worker — vaults him from obscurity into his dominion’s brightest spotlight, where he slays a two-touchdown favorite to win the Super Bowl. Next, this one-time nobody wins two more Super Bowls.He has it all: fame, fortune, a goddess for a wife. But he is also controlled by a Svengali-like mentor (the Hoodie), who draws him into a secretive clan known for outlaw tactics. As its ringleader, Brady is demonized outside his kingdom, the fiefdom of Dunkin’, and is briefly banished by the princely overlord, Roger the Goodell of Park Avenue.Brady plots his revenge, leading a patriot army to three more championships, achieving deity-like status signified by mythic comparisons of him to a mountaintop goat. Alas, in time even Brady’s powers diminish and he appears ready to be dethroned. Then, in yet another twist, Brady spurns his crafty swami to launch a new crusade in a foreign land where Ponce de León once sought the fountain of youth. Imbuing a bunch of football wannabe-greats with Brady wizardry, he claims another kingdom, from which he plots utter sovereignty.Quite a story, right?Folk tales gain their popularity for being universally applicable. So we wondered, are there other fields in which a Tom Brady-like figure exists? Whose storied life has been comparable? In the worlds of literature, politics and business, who is their Tom Brady? In the Bible? Theater? Greek mythology? TV or music? Does Tom Brady have any analog?In a chat room created to discuss which fictional character might be an apt comparison to Brady, the first response typed was “Harry Potter.”Credit…Stanley ChowLike everything else related to Brady, opinions clashed. Imagine Alexander the Great in a sword fight with Madonna.For example, in a chat room created to discuss which fictional character, or historical figure, might be an apt comparison to Brady, the first response typed was “Harry Potter.”The second reply: “Voldemort,” the literary saga’s villain.OK.On second thought, a roll call of experts from myriad fields was consulted — with entertaining results.The filmmaker and author Gotham Chopra, who made Brady the subject of a 2018 documentary film and of a nine-part documentary series set to air later this year, suggested that Brady was two conflicting biblical figures, David and Goliath.“He’s the ultimate underdog who came out of nowhere,” Chopra said. “But with all the success, over time he turned into Goliath, which is sort of interesting.”Hunter R. Rawlings III, a classics scholar and the former president of the University of Iowa and Cornell University, said there was no perfect fit in history for every part of Brady’s life narrative, even in mythology, but he found a link to Alexander the Great.“He never lost a battle, though fighting against Greeks, Egyptians, Persians, Afghans, Indians, and countless others,” Rawlings wrote in an email.Rawlings also noted, for those who believe that Bill Belichick is pivotal to the Brady story, that Alexander’s childhood tutor was none other than Aristotle. Alexander was also occasionally despised.“Alex and Brady, it strikes me that there is never enough winning for such people,” Rawlings said, adding: “Those two are definitely G.O.A.T.’s, but somehow seem to spawn as many detractors as admirers.”David Maraniss, author of best-selling biographies of presidents and prominent athletic personalities, said he found elements of Brady in Winston Churchill.Credit…Stanley ChowDavid Bianculli, a television critic and professor of film and TV at Rowan University, cited the 1978 movie “Heaven Can Wait,” a fantasy-comedy that starred Warren Beatty as a resolute N.F.L. quarterback who overcomes numerous obstacles. Beatty’s character dies and comes back to life twice, which is undoubtedly the ultimate fourth-quarter rally.The resourceful, adaptable community of world leaders seemed a ripe sub-society to mine on the subject of Brady analogies. David Maraniss, author of best-selling biographies of presidents and prominent athletic personalities, said he found elements of Bill Clinton and Winston Churchill in Brady.“I mean in terms of latching onto a Machiavellian sort of master of the dark arts to help you,” Maraniss said, pointing out that Clinton had used the adviser Dick Morris “as his political manipulator to get where he wanted to go.”“There’s a little bit of Churchill there, too,” Maraniss added, “for coming back at an old age and being at his best again.”The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author who frequently writes and comments on religious and spiritual topics, said the parts of Brady’s narrative with the most striking historical similarities were his career comebacks or revivals.“I do not, however, think he’s exactly Lazarus,” Martin said.Martin believes the most obvious comparison in the Bible is King David, who Martin noted led a “very complicated life and was clearly seen as someone who had fallen but still was a revered leader of the people.” King David conspired to kill Bathsheba’s husband, the soldier Uriah, by having him placed up front in battle and then abandoned to the enemy.“He basically has him assassinated, and people are obviously upset with that,” Martin said. “He is a person who’s not perfect but nonetheless beloved in his area. And his people knew his flaws better than anyone.”Martin, whose book “Learning to Pray” was published this week, also suggested Pope Francis as a possible parallel to Brady, because he did not ascend to the papacy until he was 76.“Pope Francis is not married to a supermodel,” Martin said. “So that’s where the comparison slips a bit.”The Rev. James Martin said Pope Francis, who ascended to the papacy at 76, was a possible parallel to Brady.Credit…Stanley ChowAfter warming up with David and Goliath comparisons, Chopra mentioned Muhammad Ali and LeBron James as cultural figures similar to Brady, and Madonna because she had persevered.“Madonna the artist today versus the Madonna when she was 19,” Chopra said. “Radically different and yet equally accomplished.”Chopra, who has remained friendly with Brady, also told a funny story of a recent walk with Brady on the Great Wall of China. Two women passed by, and one excitedly recognized the quarterback. The other woman did not understand why he was famous until her friend said: “He’s Gisele’s husband.”“So, he’s super grounded,” Chopra said, laughing.Literary fiction seemed to be an especially fertile place to find characters who resemble Brady.Heather Klemann, a lecturer at Yale University whose specialty is 18th century British novels, pointed out Sir Charles Grandison, a central figure in a famed mid-18th century novel that bore his name. Grandison faces trials and tribulations but does so without moral flaws or malicious intent.Perhaps proving that not much has changed in 270 years, Klemann recalled literary criticism of Grandison along these lines: “Annoyance that this guy is perfect, you know?”Finally, James Shapiro, a renowned Shakespeare scholar at Columbia University, said he could find no one like Brady among the thousand or so characters in Shakespeare’s plays, though there is a reference to a “base football player” in “King Lear.”Shapiro instead saw a distinct parallel in the centuries-old play “Doctor Faustus,” about a man who makes a deal with the devil, selling his soul in exchange for 24 years of having his heart’s wishes met. By Shapiro’s calculation, such a deal for Brady would date back to his days riding the bench at the University of Michigan.“Which kind of makes sense since that’s when things turned around for him, almost miraculously,” Shapiro wrote in an email. “It makes you wonder, no?”Such a deal could expire not too long after this weekend’s Super Bowl.“But,” Shapiro conceded, “that’s a Giants fan speaking.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      What to Know About Covid-19 and the 2021 Super Bowl

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesSee Your Local RiskVaccine InformationWuhan, One Year LaterAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat to Know About Covid-19 and the Super BowlPlayers from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs are being tested for the coronavirus more often, and just 25,000 fans will attend the game.Super Bowl LV in Tampa, Fla., will be scaled down from the usual fanfare that surrounds the N.F.L.’s marque event.Credit…Eve Edelheit for The New York TimesFeb. 2, 2021Updated 7:21 a.m. ETThe Super Bowl is unlike any other American sporting event: A football game provides the anchor for parties, fanfare, and an eye-popping TV broadcast where the commercials and halftime show are just as much of an attraction for the more than 100 million fans who will watch.But like everything else in the year since the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe, Super Bowl LV in Tampa, Fla., has been adapted to Covid-19 health guidelines and scaled down, despite the excitement over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers becoming the first N.F.L. team to play in the championship game in its home venue — Raymond James Stadium.While the football being played on Sunday will look largely the same as in other years, nearly everything else surrounding the Super Bowl will be different.Super Bowl LV: Kansas City Chiefs vs. Tampa Bay BuccaneersSunday, Feb. 7, 6:30 p.m. Eastern, CBSPlayers are being tested for Covid-19 even more.Players, coaches and members of each team’s staff have been tested for Covid-19 daily throughout the season, including on game days. Since the Buccaneers and the Chiefs qualified for the Super Bowl on Jan. 24, team personnel have been tested for coronavirus twice daily.Anyone with a confirmed positive test must stay away from their team for a minimum of 10 days. The Buccaneers and the Chiefs have not had a positive test in more than three weeks.However, two Chiefs players — receiver Demarcus Robinson and center Daniel Kilgore — came in close contact with an infected person and must isolate for at least five days, Chiefs Coach Andy Reid confirmed Monday.Since the beginning of August, about 15,000 N.F.L. players, coaches and staffers have received nearly 1 million tests, far more than any in other United States-based sports league. More than 700 players, coaches and staff members tested positive during that time.Because of concerns about exposure to the coronavirus, the Buccaneers and Chiefs have departed from the normal Super Bowl itinerary. In most years, the two opposing teams would arrive in the Super Bowl city one week in advance of the game to conduct practices and scheduled interviews with media. This year, players and coaches will do those interviews via videoconferences, as was the case throughout the 2020 regular season.To further reduce the team’s chance of infection, the Chiefs are not scheduled to arrive in Tampa until Saturday. The Buccaneers won’t have to drive far.Fewer fans will attend the Super Bowl.Super Bowls typically sell out their seating capacity, even for tickets that cost $10,000 or more. Attendance has never dipped below the 61,946 who attended Super Bowl I in Los Angeles in 1967 and has in some years topped 100,000.The Coronavirus Outbreak More

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      In N.F.L., the Same Old Line and Verse About Hiring Black Coaches

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySPORTS OF THE TIMESIn N.F.L., the Same Old Line and Verse About Hiring Black CoachesIn the latest hiring cycle, Eric Bieniemy, the Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive coordinator, watched from the sideline as white peers were chosen as head coaches.Eric Bieniemy, the Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive coordinator, will coach in his second consecutive Super Bowl on Sunday.Credit…Mark Brown/Getty ImagesFeb. 1, 2021, 3:00 a.m. ETThe N.F.L. can’t hide its Eric Bieniemy problem with poetry.The league announced last week that Amanda Gorman, America’s first youth poet laureate, whose soaring verse on a nation rived by race and conflict enthralled viewers of President Biden’s inauguration, would deliver a pregame poem at the Super Bowl on Sunday.On the one hand, that’s terrific news. Gorman’s way with words is a tonic we need right now.On the other hand, beware. Pro football’s embrace of a young Black woman like Gorman — coming on the heels of its sudden, forced support of Black Lives Matter after the killing of George Floyd — is part of a public-relations campaign that obscures troubling reality.The N.F.L. now sells itself as a champion for equality. But where change is needed most, it remains stuck in the stinging days of old.Black players make up about 70 percent of N.F.L. rosters, meaning they provide the bulk of the entertainment. Yet whites hold the power, and won’t let go. No Black team ownership. A sprinkle of Black faces in upper management. It took until 1989 for the N.F.L. to hire a Black coach for the first time in the league’s modern era. Not much has changed: Now there are three.The story, or, rather, the shameful passing over of Bieniemy, the offensive coordinator who helped power the Kansas City Chiefs to consecutive Super Bowls, puts a fine point on it. He is the best known, and most talked about, head coaching candidate in a small cluster of African-American coordinators in the N.F.L. But he continues to watch from the sideline as his white peers are chosen to lead teams.In the latest round of head coach hiring, there were seven openings. Seven opportunities for the N.F.L. to stand behind the slogans like “End Racism” that now line its fields and adorn its helmets. Seven chances, and Bieniemy was shut out again.What more can he do? His squad marched through the N.F.L. playoffs as if its opponents were stick figures. One more win, and he’s got back-to-back Super Bowl rings.The star quarterback Patrick Mahomes talks up Bieniemy every chance he gets. Andy Reid, the Chiefs’ head coach, says he’s a rare and gifted leader. Given Reid’s stature in the N.F.L., that’s like a blessing from God.Yet Reid continues to be dumbstruck at how his second in command keeps being overlooked. “I’m glad I have him, but I’m not so glad I have him,” Reid said last week. “I was really hoping he would have an opportunity to take one of these jobs. He would be great for any number of teams.”So why can’t Bieniemy get a fair shake?Naysayers claim he doesn’t call plays. But Reid and Mahomes say that’s not true. And when has not calling plays been an obstacle for white assistants hired to steer teams?Another chorus claims Bieniemy doesn’t interview or communicate well. But that belies his calm, sure manner while addressing reporters. Besides, plenty of white coaches seem incapable of expressing themselves clearly.Some say Bieniemy has not been hired because of brushes with the law that took place decades ago — including a fight in college after he was called a racial slur and an arrest on a drunken-driving charge in 2001. But this ventures into double standards for a league notorious for overlooking violent misdeeds off field with its players and blemishes with its white coaches.Does Bieniemy, 51, a former player in his 15th year as an N.F.L. assistant, somehow need more experience? Then how do we explain a league currently in love with a new prototype: the young white coach trumpeted for his genius despite little on his résumé. Consider the Los Angeles Chargers’ new coach, 38-year-old Brandon Staley. In 2016, he was an assistant coach at Division III’s John Carroll University. Now he holds the reins of an N.F.L. team.So much for experience when you look like an N.F.L. owner’s grandson.For a long while, during this same-as-it-ever-was hiring cycle, it looked as if it would be a complete shutout for Black coaches. Then, with one last job available, the Houston Texans hired the Baltimore assistant David Culley.Culley is 65. You read that right: retirement age, and he’s only now getting his first lead job in the league. He has been coaching for roughly 40 years. Is that really what it takes? Four decades of toil? It’s important to understand how discrimination alters pathways for N.F.L. assistants. But there’s another, less talked about worry: the stifling effect on the ambition of Black coaches all the way down the pipeline.Charles Adams is just one example.A few months back, I wrote about Adams and his journey as an African-American police officer and head coach at Minneapolis North high school. He inherited a struggling team from the toughest part of his city, turned it into a perennial power and won a state title. When you watch the Super Bowl and see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie Tyler Johnson catching passes from Tom Brady, know that it was Adams who guided the young receiver through high school and still mentors him today.When we spoke recently, Adams told me how he used to imagine latching on with a college team and working up the ladder from there. Maybe the pros. Maybe head coach. Why not? For years, he applied for an N.F.L. fellowship that sends Black coaches to training camps so they can network and soak up knowledge. He never got a response.That’s a stinging blow. Seeing Bieniemy being constantly overlooked is another. Together the message is awful. Don’t think too big.“For many of us, it becomes ‘Why bother?’” Adams said.That’s the overlooked tragedy. Ambitious white coaches look at the N.F.L., see plenty of open lanes and keep charging forward. Ambitious Black coaches see roadblocks and dead ends — and often dim their expectations.The cycle continues. An age-old American tale.It will be great to see Amanda Gorman recite poetry at the Super Bowl. But when you do, think of Bieniemy and all the coaches who look like him. Think of their hopes and frustrations — of their dreams deferred, again and again.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Rams Acquire Stafford for Goff as N.F.L. Quarterback Market Warms

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyRams Acquire Stafford for Goff as N.F.L. Quarterback Market WarmsThe Los Angeles Rams added a productive passer, Matthew Stafford, to a sagging offense, while the rebuilding Lions took on Jared Goff, a reclamation project with an onerous contract.Jared Goff, who led the Los Angeles Rams to a Super Bowl in the 2018 N.F.L. season, was traded for Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, who is ranked fifth among active quarterbacks in passing yards (45,109).Credit…Paul Sancya/Associated PressJan. 31, 2021Updated 8:04 p.m. ETIn many other N.F.L. off-seasons, a swap of quarterbacks once drafted No. 1 over all, with a bundle of early-round future picks also involved, would signify the boldest, most intriguing move of the winter. But the trade consummated on Saturday by the Detroit Lions, who agreed to take on Jared Goff’s onerous contract from the Los Angeles Rams to sweeten their return for Matthew Stafford, might just be a prelude to a series of wild quarterback deals and signings over the next two months that upend the N.F.L. landscape.About half of the league’s 32 teams ended the regular season with uncertainty at the quarterback position. That group includes the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints — Philip Rivers retired at the end of the regular season and Drew Brees is likely to follow — but it is headlined by the Houston Texans, who are locked in a stalemate with their marvelous but disgruntled star, Deshaun Watson, who has reportedly requested a trade.The Rams had been hinting for weeks at their disenchantment with Goff, in whom they invested $110 million guaranteed via a contract extension signed 16 months ago. Rather than risk another team swooping in to acquire Stafford, long among the league’s more prolific passers, they enticed Detroit by sending a third-round pick in this year’s N.F.L. draft and first-round picks in 2022 and 2023 for the ability to offload Goff’s contract.A person in football with direct knowledge of the deal confirmed the trade, which cannot be made official until the new league year begins on March 17. The Rams, though, did wink at it Saturday night in a post to Twitter that asked whether Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw — who attended Highland Park High School in Texas with Stafford — had “heard from an old friend today?”For Los Angeles, acquiring Stafford represents just another audacious move for a franchise that specializes in them. The Rams have not drafted in the first round since 2016, when they traded up to take Goff. Unless they acquire a pick, they won’t select in that round again until 2024. But it is the team’s eagerness to part with draft compensation for production at critical positions that has consistently positioned them as a contender in the N.F.C., even boosting them to the Super Bowl behind Goff in the 2018 season.Over the last two years, though, Goff has regressed, committing 38 turnovers — 29 interceptions, tied for third most in the N.F.L. in that span — and was effectively benched in favor of the undrafted backup John Wolford at the end of the regular season even though he told Coach Sean McVay he had recovered enough from thumb surgery to start. In unburdening themselves of Goff, the Rams gain the potent downfield passing threat they have been lacking while also bolstering their capacity to compete in an N.F.C. West where Kyler Murray and Russell Wilson set a blistering pace.Pending more moves, this iteration of the Rams — the team had the league’s stingiest defense in the 2020 season — just might have more talent than any team Stafford has played on across his 12 N.F.L. seasons, all of which were with Detroit. That stretch was defined by the Lions’ inability to complement him on the other side of the ball. Stafford, who turns 33 on Sunday, is by far the Lions’ franchise leader in passing yards, completions and touchdowns, and ranks fifth among active quarterbacks in career yards with 45,109. But he has played in only three playoff games, winning none, and was selected to just one Pro Bowl, in 2014.He asked the Lions to trade him this off-season, and his departure marks another milepost in their grand organizational overhaul. After firing Coach Matt Patricia and General Manager Bob Quinn in November 2020, Detroit hired a new coach, Dan Campbell, and a new general manager, Brad Holmes, who as the director of college scouting had endorsed the Rams’ selection of Goff No. 1 over all in 2016.Goff, who is still owed roughly $43 million guaranteed, affords Detroit a credible quarterback to start in 2021 but hardly prevents the team from pursuing another quarterback in the draft. Selecting in the top eight for the third consecutive year, the Lions are stockpiling picks to be used not only to augment a barren roster but that could go toward a package for Stafford’s long-term successor.Considering the package that the Lions received for Stafford, it is presumed that the Texans, should they choose to honor Watson’s request, will try to extract an even greater total of first-round picks for a younger and better quarterback. By that logic, though, Houston would also have to take on a contract as onerous as Goff’s to receive appealing compensation.That trade-off was worthwhile for the Lions, who have sorted out their quarterback situation, and the Rams, who seem delighted to have landed Stafford. Much of the league will be busy figuring out whether to stay put or to try to surpass them.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More