Free Republic

Probably the last person in the world who needs to be giving commentary on covering up crimes is Ray Lewis. But that’s exactly what he did this morning on ESPN.

There was a time not too long ago where you could turn on ESPN or sports talk without being subjected to politics. Unfortunately sports programing has turned into an endless stream of political issues pushed almost exclusively by sports journalists. The NFL is their current target. Ray Rice beat up his then fiancee. Everyone has known that he punched her for over six months, the NFL responded with a 2 game suspension. Then a video of the attack came out. Suddenly the NFL suspended Rice indefinitely and ESPN has decided to have a “national conversation” about how we need to...

When the Baltimore Ravens released Ray Rice earlier this week, the NFL followed suit with its own punishment and suspended the running back indefinitely. How long that suspension may last is unclear, but it sounds like Rice plans to fight it. Citing multiple media reports, NBC Sports' Pro Football Talk says Rice intends to file an appeal Monday that "will be handled by the NFLPA and by an outside lawyer retained by Rice." Initially, Rice received a two-game suspension in July, after an initial video showed him dragging his unconscious then-fiancee, Janay Palmer, out of a casino elevator in New...

Four sources close to Ray Rice have told ESPN [link at URL] that the former Ravens running back acknowledged to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell during the league's investigation that he punched Janay Rice in an Atlantic city elevator, knocking her unconscious. If that is the case, it would seem to contradict Goodell's statement to CBS this week that Rice's account of the February assault in the Revel casino to investigators was 'ambiguous'. "Ray didn't lie to the commissioner," one of the sources said on ESPN's "outside the Lines." "He told the full truth to Goodell - he made it clear...

Ray Rice has been fired from the Baltimore Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the NFL. Why? That’s the million dollar question at this point. It seems to be more about political correctness and caving to political lobby’s than anything else. We’ve known for months that Rice beat up his then fiancee and knocked her unconscious. This fact resulted in a minor criminal case and a two game suspension from the NFL. Earlier this week gossip site TMZ got hold of the closed circuit video of the attack and now ESPN’s hoard of commentators is completely outraged, Rice has been fired...

The raw numbers look nice for those who favor keeping the name, but pay attention to the trendline. Way back in 1992, just eight percent supported changing it; last year, as the lefty messaging machine got rolling, it bumped up to 14 percent. Through eight months of this year, it’s up another nine points. Where will it be five years from now?Glass half-full or half-empty?Don’t read too much into the numbers among liberals. They’ll become strongly negative soon enough, as opposition to “Redskins” slowly joins the canon of What Good Progressives Believe. The number among the under-45 set is...

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- The St. Louis Rams released defensive end Michael Sam on Saturday, according to multiple league sources. Sam's efforts to become the first openly gay player in NFL history came up just short in a competition against undrafted rookie Ethan Westbrooks. Westbrooks is one of nine defensive linemen to land a roster spot. Sam officially hit waivers Saturday at 4 p.m. ET when all NFL teams had to trim their rosters down to the league-mandated 53 players. From there, the other 31 teams will have 24 hours to put in a claim for Sam.

I don’t get it. After it found itself at the epicenter of a storm of criticism over a report on the shower habits of Michael Sam, the first openly gay player on an NFL roster, and his teammates, ESPN responded Wednesday morning with a further statement on the report.“ESPN regrets the manner in which we presented our report. Clearly yesterday we collectively failed to meet the standards we have set in reporting on LGBT-related topics in sports.”…In its initial response to the firestorm, ESPN reponded Tuesday: “In response to recent questions about Sam fitting in with the team, multiple...

Tuesday's SportsCenter featured an awkward break down of Michael Sam -- Rams defensive lineman and the first openly-gay player in the NFL -- and his shower habits. While Josina Anderson reported Kendall Langford said Sam is "one of the guys and seems to be taking a rookie approach in terms of listening and learning at his own pace" she also reported one unnamed Rams defensive player's position on Sam's showering with teammates. "Another defensive player told me Sam is 'respecting our space' and from his perspective he seems to think Michael Sam is kind of waiting to take a shower...

On his Friday program, Keith Olbermann called on ESPN to "officially" ban the use of "Redskins." Citing Greg Gumbel, Tom Jackson, Peter King, Phil Simms, Mike Caray, Tony Dungy and others who have expressed concerns about using the team's name, Olbermann said that ESPN is the "conduit of sports" in the country while also being "loathe to be the news." Olbermann said that list of the words he and his colleagues cannot say on the air is "justifiably long" and "way less offensive than the name of the Washington team." He said he personally felt that "it is time for...

In a startling example of hypocrisy, ESPN features a video of singer Chris Brown "breaking ankles" during warm ups for a celebrity basketball game, praising his "skills" less than a month after suspending its own commentators for open and honest discussion on domestic violence. The clip, obtained from the Instagram account of "nitty71" was featured ob the sports networks site with the gushing title Chris Brown Breaks Ankles (video at end of article). Courtesy of ESPN. ESPN had suspended commentator Stephen A Smith for comments he made in late July related to the suspension of NFL running back Ray Rice,...

Education reformers often cite reducing suspensions in our nation's schools as a top priority. Lots of recent studies show that this form of punishment does more harm than good. They might do well to read some of those studies over at ESPN's Bristol campus, where the lords of discipline are now handing out suspensions at a rate that would make even an old school junior high principal wobble. Pundits tasked with discussing controversial topics on cue—and, above all, inspiring a reaction—are now worried not just about doing their jobs, but about not saying the wrong thing, even if no one...

Second ESPN host suspended after admitting he hit his girlfriend in Ray Rice domestic violence discussion just days after another tells women not to 'provoke' men Max Kellerman has been suspended from his ESPN positions He told listeners on ESPN-LA radio that he once hit his now-wife when they were in college The admission came during a discussion of Ray Rice's domestic abuse of his wife ESPN's Stephen A. Smith has also been suspended for comments he made while discussing the same case A boxing commentator and radio host has been suspended from his job with ESPN-LA Radio following a...

ESPN's message was sent out loud and clear Thursday: Don't go at The King. Dan Le Batard, host of "The Dan Le Batard Show" on ESPN Radio in Miami, decided to poke LeBron James by taking out a billboard in Akron that said "You're Welcome, LeBron. Love, Miami" with a picture of two championship rings. Le Batard executed the stunt in response to James' letter in Sports Illustrated in which he announced he was returning to Cleveland but did not thank the fans in Miami.

There are days when Mika Brzezinski will surprise you. Take Morning Joe today, and Brzezinski's comments on the news that ESPN had suspended Stephen A. Smith for a week for his comments about women "provoking" domestic violence. Said Mika: "I think it's too bad we can't have a conversation without people exploding, because I think he was trying to make a point. It might have been inartful but there was a point to what he was saying that is absolutely valid and has value." Surprising, no? View the video here.

Along with being one of America's most honest and entertaining personalities in sports media, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith is member of a distinguished club of individuals who are regularly vilified and edited so as to be taken out of context as a consequence of supporting policies which incur liberal wrath. The latest faux controversy over allegedly controversial statements he made with Skip Bayless on ESPN's First Take. During the discussion which focused on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's decision to suspend Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice for two games as a result of his domestic violence charges, generally thought to...

The NFL hasn’t been sufficiently accepting of Michael Sam, who came out as the first openly gay professional football player earlier this year, due to the religious Right’s influence in NFL locker rooms, says one ESPN commentator. On Tuesday, Pardon the Interruption’s Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon were discussing former NFL coach Tony Dungy’s recent comments that media attention would have pushed him away from drafting Sam. Kornheiser said he was optimistic that NFL players would be personally tolerant of Sam, though. “I’m more skeptical,” Wilbon countered. “I think there is a component, a subculture of the religious Right, that...

During the ceremony, Michael gave an incredibly emotionally-charged acceptance speech Michael Sam became the hero of the 2014 ESPYs last night when he not only proudly walked the red carpet with his boyfriend, but also brought the audience to tears with his emotional and inspiring speech when accepting an award for his incredible courage.

On Saturday, President Obama interrupted his busy schedule of playing pool, drinking beer and jumping lines at BBQ joints to play golf an exclusive private country club in Maryland with ESPN host Michael Wilbon. Not like he has anything else to do, right? There’s nothing unusual about the president hitting the golf course – he’s done it at least a record-setting 177 times over his term. But it’s who he is playing golf with that’s interesting. As IJReview’s current Editor-at-Large Larry O’Connor reported for Breitbart in November 2013, Wilbon made the eyebrow-raising comment: “People can be upset with me if...

A New York man who was caught sleeping at a recent Yankees game against the Red Sox on ESPN is filing a $10 million defamation suit against broadcasters Dan Shulman and John Kruk for their "avalanche of disparaging words," according to the New York Post. Andrew Robert Rector admitted that he "briefly slept" while in attending the April 13 game between the A.L. East rivals, and when ESPN cameras caught him sleeping during the fourth inning, the Sunday Night Baseball announcers launched into what he described as an "unending verbal crusade" against him, with their "vituperative utterances" redistributed on the...