Free Republic

Watch all 49 minutes of the fantastic documentary, An Impossible Job, which followed England's distasterous World Cup qualifying campaign with Graham Taylor at the helm and was originally aired in January 1994.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers bet on a pair of aces, but then went out and nearly wasted one of their bullets. The man they call "Papi" made sure this postseason wasn't remembered for a debatable decision and some ill-timed mistakes. Juan Uribe couldn't get an eighth-inning sacrifice bunt down, but he more than made up for that by launching a two-run home run to send the Dodgers into the National League Championship Series with a stunning 4-3 win over the Atlanta Braves Monday night.

Tebow may not have proven himself as an NFL QB but I refuse to believe he is not qualified to make the roster as even a third string QB. There is a different set of criteria when it concerns Tim Tebow. (Video)

Well, the 50th is in the books. The same kid won, but he was riding a different horse. There was good, there was bad, and there was not a lot of ugly, thankfully. Let’s get started with the review. The UWRC (AKA Unlimiteds) competitors were few and far between, with only 15 racers showing up for race week. But, the big iron was there. Returning champ, Strega, along with Voodoo, Rare Bear, Czech Mate, 232 and Dreadnaught all have the pedigree. All of them could win; nearly all of them HAVE won. But, it was Bob Button’s year --- finally.

I could rip Todd Haley, and it wouldn't even be sport. I could rip the Steelers' offensive coordinator for a display so sickly — 14 first downs, 195 yards — that it not only wrought a 16-9 loss to a terribly beatable Tennessee team Sunday at Heinz Field but also had fans fleeing for the exits. Early in the fourth quarter! Of the season opener! I could rip Haley for a third-and-11 receiver screen to Emmanuel Sanders in which tight end David Paulson, who can't block, was sent out to block. Paulson whiffed, and Sanders was slammed for a 2-yard...

Perhaps the coming onslaught of Obamacare won’t matter that much. After all, in whatever form it finally emerges, it will still be the biggest federal program of all time, and will likely be the straw that breaks Uncle Sam’s piggy bank. (How’s that for a mixed metaphor?) What is more tragic than the destruction of a public sector, that quite frankly has been going downhill since the Civil War, is the ruination of medicine...

More shooting and showing the cool little XDs in 9mm, as well as a reminder about the recall. I'm anxious to get this pistol back from Springfield, as it is definitely a fine shooter.http://www.springfield-armory.comhttp://www.springfieldrecall.com

With the NFL kicking off Thursday, I thought it a good time to consider the best coaches ever.  A couple of observations in advance: – these coaches aren’t the screamers;  they may be “in charge� guys but see that managing/coaching is a lot more than mantras and yelling; – these rankings aren’t based on my opinion; they take into account the team’s winning percentage during the coach’s tenure, the performance of the team before the coach arrived, the GM, the owner, the city, and expansion teams (the academic piece behind them is available here);   they aren’t perfect, as no such...

Former President George W. Bush says the current occupant of the White House should be allowed to play golf without being chastised. "I see our president criticized for playing golf. I don't. I think he ought to play golf," Bush told "In Play with Jimmy Roberts," in an interview obtained by The Hill to air on Tuesday. "I know the pressures of the job," he said, adding, "and to be able to get outside and play golf with some of your pals is important for the president. It does give you an outlet." "I think it's good for the president...

Had the Los Angeles Dodgers known the amount of controversy they would create by jumping into the Chase Field pool after winning the National League West division, they probably wouldn’t have done it. After being asked not to celebrate on the field by the Diamondbacks, members of the Dodgers ran out to the right field pool and jumped in – a celebration that irked many, including United States Senator and Arizona Diamondbacks fan John McCain, who called the Dodgers ‘spoiled brats’ – among a handful of other choice names. That didn’t sit well with Dodgers eccentric set-up man and former...

After a lot of controversies and extra sessions pertaining to the outfits of the athletes the Islamic Solidarity Games (ISG) will be held in Indonesia .The outfits of the Muslim athletes were the main focus of the discussions. According to reports from different sources the event will entertain athletes from 46 different Muslim countries around the globe. More than 1800 athletes will be joining the event in one of the most popular country of the Muslim World. The inauguration ceremony of the event was head by the Indonesian President himself. In one of his statement at the opening ceremony President...

Dogs owned by Oakland Raiders’ cornerback Taiwan Jones attacked and killed a Chihuahua owned by one of his neighbors in Brentwood, California. Police are still investigating, but by the sounds of the report from the San Jose Mercury News, Jones fully accepts responsibility for the attack – and feels awful about it. “It was a tragic accident and he feels terrible about it,” Doug Hendrickson, Taiwan Jones’ agent, said. “It’s never happened before. He’s sick over this, no question.” The attack happened on Monday night while the neighbor, Olivia Paredes was out walking her Chihuahua when Jones’ two pit bull...

...Most of us think in terms of Nature vs. Nurture. We have genetic traits that give us something to work with, and the environment we live in shapes us. Scott Jurek adds a dimension: he’s an agent in his own life. His will is equal to or greater than the other forces, and the success he’s achieved, the records he’s set, the boundaries he’s pushed, have been all him. - See more at: http://www.claytonlindemuth.com/2013/09/21/eat-and-run-book-review/#sthash.CxJOT43m.dpuf

It's absolutely amazing the lengths that progressive liberals will go to in order not to give any credit to a group or movement that they despise, even if the topic they're talking about is actually impacted by such entities. The most recent example of this that I've come across occurred last Sunday while I was flipping back and forth between two football games on the tv. The two games were only a few channels apart, so would just manually go up or down the channels to catch the action. Between the two channels lies one of the many channels that...

There was a festive vibe to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s Sunday visit to AT&T Stadium and the Cowboys-Giants. Traveling with the governor were his wife, Mary Pat, and their eldest son, Princeton undergrad Andrew Christie. The family came as guests of the GOP’s national finance chair Ray Washburne and sat in the suite that Washburne shares with his father-in-law, oilman Al G. Hill Jr. Last week, both Mary Pat and Chris Christie had birthdays. So a cake iced with blue stars (the governor has been a Cowboys fan since he was 7) was waiting in the Washburne-Hill suite. Among...

WASHINGTON — A Soviet-born U.S. entrepreneur has unveiled in California a revolutionary blimp prototype that he says will fly with the precision of a helicopter and that could transform the shipping industry, according to U.S. media reports. The Aeroscraft airship, brainchild of Worldwide Aeros founder and CEO Igor Pasternak, successfully underwent tethered testing Saturday, according to technology website Gizmag. Gizmag published photographs showing the 81.07 meter long and 29.56 meter wide craft, under development since 2006, lifting off the ground and remaining under control while attached to a cord. Pasternak, who was born in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan...

President Obama himself has yet to “evolve” on the issue, but Slate’s decision to not use the R-word to refer to Washington’s NFL team has in the space of a month trickled up to the Washington Post, which has declared that the name should no longer be tolerated. Editorial board: The team's name is a racial slur that should no longer be tolerated wapo.st/17wRGeD— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 13, 2013 We’re not sure if there are any Native Americans on the Washington Post’s editorial board, but it published a piece today declaring that “the team’s name — no matter its...

Many would call Dennis Rodman a propaganda proxy for North Korea. But some may describe the retired NBA player as a potential pioneer for sports diplomacy between the authoritarian country and the United States. Rodman's news conference in Manhattan apparently reflected both those aspects. He reiterated that the North's young dictator, Kim Jong-un, is a "very good guy." "The marshal told me, 'We want people to come here, because we are not a bad country,'" Rodman said. On his second trip to Pyongyang last week, Rodman not only met with Kim but also his wife, Ri Sol-ju, and their baby...

It's no secret that New Jersey's governor and potential future presidential candidate Chris Christie is a huge Dallas Cowboys fan — something that might irritate the citizens of the state in which he governs over. It's something he's not ashamed of and really, didn't care how other fans thought, as he told Mary-Ann Spoto of the Newark-Star Ledger this week. “I am a Dallas Cowboys fan. I know that that disturbs Eagles fans, Giants fans, Jets fans and probably fans of almost every other team in the NFL,” Christie said today at an unrelated press conference in Beach Haven, where...

Joe with first hunt bagIntroducing young people to the traditions of hunting is important for members of the gun culture.   Hunting is a rewarding activity that teaches significant lessons about reality, responsibility, and ethics.It is a life changing activity that requires considerable thought, judgement, moral decisions, and actions. Joe's father has some medical problems, and had not been hunting for five years.  Joe had accompanied his father on a previous dove hunt, but had never shot at live targets before.   He had shot a shotgun one time before this, at a stationary target.    Joe is 16 years old.I was more...

For the last week, I have looked closely at each NFL team and evaluated them all. And after months of following the league as closely as I could, here is who I think (emphasis on the word 'think') will make the playoffs and win the Super Bowl. You will note that all the teams I have projected in the postseason have established quarterbacks. Yes, Russell Wilson, Robert Griffin III and Colin Kaepernick are young, but they have already established themselves as great talents and great leaders. And none of my playoff teams have a glaring weakness in any aspect of...

With the growing concern over the effects of competition in youth sports programs this summer, many Canadian soccer associations eliminated the concept of keeping score. The Soccer Association of Midlake, Ontario, however, has taken this idea one step further, and have completely removed the ball from all youth soccer games and practices. According to Association spokesperson, Helen Dabney-Coyle, "By removing the ball, it's absolutely impossible to say 'this team won' and 'this team lost' or 'this child is better at soccer than that child.'" "We want our children to grow up learning that sport is not about competition, rather it's...

The organizing committee for the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, (POCOG) has poured cold water on North Korea’s suggestion that it co-host some of the skiing events at its Masik-Ryong resort. North Korea’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Chang Ung on Tuesday hinted that the North was willing to host events at the resort in Wonsan, Gangwon Province. “When construction is complete, it [Masik] can be used in an international event and possibly in the Olympic Games,” Chang was quoted as saying in a telephone interview with US funded broadcaster Voice of America. However, POCOG responded yesterday by...

It's that time again. The crews are making the final touches on the race planes and the pilots are testing and growing more focused every day. The drama that is Air Racing is ready to play out in front of our incredibly loyal fans. Let’s take a look at who will be there and what to expect...

Anyone in the market for .223 and 5.56 ammo: I just got an email from Natchez Shooters Supplies saying they're having a Labor Day weekend sale. 1000 round case of American Eagle .223 for $499.50 or 1000 round case of Lake City 5.56 Green Tips for $549.50 Not the greatest prices ever but there it is. I'm not giving a link because this isn't an ad for them. Just a heads up if anyone's interested.

Companies have long been able to insure their most valuable assets against loss. In sports this means that teams can take out insurance policies that protect them against injuries to their marquee players.But apparently, player injury insurance is no longer available solely to real team owners but also to fantasy team owners as well. Fantasyplayerprotect.com now allows fantasy football owners to salvage their season in case of injuries to their key players. For example, for a mere $16.50, you can insure a $100 league entry fee against a season-ending injury to Adrian Peterson.Kudos to the company for providing a market where...

Now that the heirs of Carl Pohlad’s estate are caught up in the very confiscatory tax regime their favorite politicians helped create, it is tempting to root for the taxman just to make a point. Seems the IRS believes the Pohlad boys undervalued their prized possession, the Minnesota Twins, to the tune of $269 million as part of their late father’s estate. Now the greedy hand wants at least $121 million from the franchise the taxpayers built.

PHOENIX – There’s little doubt about the economic benefits of immigration reform for both the United States and Arizona, U.S. Sen. John McCain told business leaders Wednesday. Immigration reform would add $616 million to Arizona’s economic output and create more than 8,000 jobs by 2014, McCain said. It would also boost the Arizona economy by $5.5 billion by 2045 and add $2.5 billion to household incomes by 2020, he added.

A few months back, when I was swatting away the absolutely absurd notion that Brittney Griner could play in the NBA, I snarked, “Then again, Billie Jean King did beat a 55-year-old former pro that one time, so maybe Griner will totes fit into the NBA.” But even that bit of credit was unwarranted, apparently. Because it turns out the infamous battle of the sexes—in which the 30-year-old King routed the 55-year-old Bobby Riggs—wasn’t a legit match. Allegedly, the fix was in: The story is filled with fascinating nuggets. Like JVL, I hadn’t realized that Riggs trounced—just absolutely crushed, in...

Saw these on Vsauce2 just now and thought they were pretty cool. Apparently these skateboard wheels have LEDs in them that light up when the wheels spin. The LEDs have a 100,000 hour life expectancy and there are no batteries. The spinning of the wheels generates the current necessary. I have no idea how durable they are, though. The website says a set of 4 wheels is $40. A whole board is $100. I'm not gonna link directly. I will put a picture or two for people who don't YouTube.

I have been watching and thoroughly enjoying the Little League Championship games. If I could re-live any of my years, it would be the years my son was playing Little League. Baseball is such a great game to learn sportsmanship, values, and life lessons. That is why it is so sad to see so very few Black children playing in these Little League games. In the 2013 U.S. championship game about to start, California has two Black players and Connecticut doesn't have any. Where are the Black kids in Little League, and why aren't they there? They aren't there because...

While there are always plenty of progressive liberals that seek to undermine our liberty to highlight as Jerk of the Week, it's a nice change of pace to showcase individuals who stand up to do the right thing. We have multiple people selected to be our Hero of the Week and they are Ike Boutwell and three members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins Our first Hero of the Week is Ike Boutwell, who is a theater owner in Kentucky. Boutwell owns the Movie Palace and Showtime Cinemas and refuses to show The Butler, which was number one at the box...

Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully, an icon in American sports history, will return to the Dodger broadcast booth for an unprecedented 65th season in 2014, it was announced. Scully will again call all Dodger home games and road games in California and Arizona. "I have thoroughly enjoyed the excitement of this season and there is no way I could leave this truly remarkable team and our great fans," Scully said. "With my wife Sandi's blessing, I've decided I'd like to come back and do it again next season. I love what the new ownership has brought to the team,...

In our first look at what may have motivated the three teens accused of murdering Australian baseball player Chris Lane, we looked at the Facebook and Twitter feeds of James “Lilbuggy� Edwards. His social network posts suggest strong interests in rap and gang culture, and enjoyment of violent behavior. In fact, new evidence says he’s a Crip. Note the hashtags under the photo — they use both “Crip� and “cc,� which is a Crip affectation.Lilkadda90 is one of Edwards’ rap associates. In the screencap above you can see Edwards request Lilkadda90 to post this photo on Facebook so he can...

Russian female athletes Yulia Gushchina and Ksenia Ryzhova denied Western media reports that said that their kiss at the award ceremony of the 2013 Athletics World Championships in Moscow was an action to support sexual minorities. "I did what everyone does on a pedestal," said Gushchina, having learned about the response of Western journalists to the photograph, on which the two athletes are shown kissing on a pedestal at Luzhniki stadium. According to her, the kiss was an expression of joy for the gold medal and nothing more.

Taiwan Jones' NFL career got off to a slow start when a variety of injuries and the inability to hold onto the ball kept him off the field for much of his first two seasons with the Oakland Raiders. Now the former running back with sprinter's speed is getting a second chance at establishing himself as an NFL player following a position switch to cornerback. While his coverage skills are still a bit raw after not playing cornerback since his freshman year at Eastern Washington, Jones still has that blazing speed that tantalized the Raiders those last two years. Combined...

A Missouri State Fair rodeo clown wearing an Obama mask while seeking to divert the attention of bulls from goring their dismounted riders has sparked widespread indignation. White House spokesman Josh Earnest denounced it as “probably one of the top ten worst things to have ever happened in my home state. We have to ask ourselves how bad has our country become when such egregious disrespect for the President can be displayed so openly. We're hoping that the lifetime ban on the individual involved will send a strong message to others not to cross that line.” The Missouri chapter of...

RG3 makes statements encouraging Homosexual football players to "come out" and appears to be ok with their lifestyle "as a Christian" because we're all sinners. Popular platitudes about Christians being "judgmental" and gay propaganda in the pulpit examined...(video)

If Chinese Soccer wants to flourish, it needs to go step by step, following the successful experience of modern soccer and respecting the relevant laws. Applying the useless label "Kung-fu" to soccer will achieve nothing. Recently, talk of "Shaolin Soccer" has been hyped by the mass media. One martial arts coach claimed that Kung-fu could combine successfully with soccer. He suggested that kicks in Kung-fu such as the twelve-routine of snap-kick boxing, Standing Qigong, and other fist positions would help to improve the students' footwork, impact resistance, and physical coordination. He hoped that applying these techniques in regular training would...

I was just on Tuffy Gessling’s Facebook page. It’s being reported that Tuffy was the rodeo clown wearing the Obama mask at the Missouri State Fair. On the “About” page, you can see he’s liked the Facebook page “Support Tuffy Gessling, Professional Rodeo Entertainer.” So have over 16,000 people:Let’s go ahead and make that 16,241. Too late. It’s already 16,262. There’s a call for solidarity across the rodeo clown world and have thousands of Obama masks in the rodeo arena Labor Day weekend. That would be an incredible show of support and resistance. Update: Fifteen minutes later, it’s up another...

I recently had the pleasure of appearing on the Fox Business program "Money" with Melissa Francis to discuss government subsidies for a new entertainment complex that will house the Detroit Red Wings. Ms. Francis is a talented and gracious host, making the experience on balance a positive one. I was baffled, however, by the apparent beliefs expressed by another guest on the show. Democratic Strategist Chris Kofinis repeated estimates that the project would create thousands of new jobs in Detroit. He also argued there was simply no other alternative to taxpayers picking up a large portion of the tab, saying...

Are the current personnel cuts the beginning of the end for the U.S. Marines? Could these actually be the last days of the U.S. Marine Corps? A decade ago, such a notion would have been absolutely unthinkable, but times have changed. The Marine Corps was already in the process of drawing down from a peak of 202,100 Marines to 182,100, and now Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is warning that the sequester cuts may force the Army to be cut down to a size of 380,000 and the Marine Corps to be cut down to a size of 150,000. Unfortunately for...

OK..it's sort of a slow news day. All anyone wants to talk about is Megyn Kelly getting the 9pm slot at FOX News. So, rejoicing as I am in the completely unexpected success of my beloved Red Sox this season, and hopeful of pissing off as many Yankees fans as possible, I thought I'd start a baseball thread.

“What do you mean, there’s gambling going on here; I didn’t know there was gambling going on; round up the usual suspects,” said the “Casablanca” police chief to Humphrey Bogart. This paraphrase of bewilderment on steroids comes to mind in the A-Rod debacle. The 1919 Chicago Black Sox scandal is no longer MLB’s most famous outrage, and the news boys will have to ask that iconic “Say It Ain’t So, Joe,” question all over again. “Shoeless” Joe Jackson’s written confession still is gone missing, and the Windy City is no longer numero uno in baseball’s wall of shame. The A-Rod,...

You just know it's gonna happen...

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia will enforce a new law cracking down on gay rights activism when it hosts international athletes and fans during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, the country's sports minister said Thursday, appearing to contradict assurances to the contrary from the International Olympic Committee. Russia's contentious law was signed by President Vladimir Putin in late June, imposing fines on individuals accused of spreading "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations" to minors, and even proposing penalties for those who express these views online or in the news media. Gay pride rallies also are banned. "An athlete of nontraditional sexual orientation...

What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?Let’s set aside the question of how we got the baseball moving that fast. We'll suppose it's a normal pitch, except in the instant the pitcher releases the ball, it magically accelerates to 0.9c. From that point onward, everything proceeds according to normal physics.: The answer turns out to be “a lot of things”, and they all happen very quickly, and it doesn’t end well for the batter (or the pitcher). I sat down with some physics books, a Nolan Ryan action figure, and...

With all the drama surrounding the transition from the old Unlimited Class to the new, the fans are forgetting about the other five classes of racing. I've decided to give focus this month’s column on the other classes, the innovators and racers who we don’t hear about on the forums. Who they are and what to look for this year – but let’s start with why the fans aren't as enamored with these classes, and why maybe they should be. Air Racing through the years was always about technical advancements -- especially for civil aviation. Among the first races in...

I nominate Hunter Mahan for Father of the Year!

And for proof, you have to check out this video of a muddy horserace in New York City last month. Just watch what happens. �I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.� — Acts 20: 24 2013 Brooklyn Handicap - Calidoscopio + Post Race