Free Republic

The NFL is preparing to end the use of military honor guards to present the American flag ahead of the national anthem, according to reports. A league source claims that the policy benching military, federal, and police guards is part of its COVID-19 response, according to Front Office Sports. * * * It appears that there will be no flags on the field and the flag will only appear on electronic scoreboards during the playing of the national anthem, at least for the beginning of the season.

In this wacky, topsy-turvy biz we call television, the one constant has been the NFL. It brings in the viewers and helps bring them back for other programming. The ad dollars pile up at a predictable rate. Until this season. From the start, the NFL and its TV distributors have noticed the ratings have not been measuring up to last season. On Wednesday, Nielsen ratings cruncher Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group published a report that concludes that viewership among adults 18-49, live plus same day, is off 15.1%. The big question is why. And it's just not the NFL...

The Seahawks' Cliff Avril and Doug Baldwin told reporters Wednesday that they're contemplating joining teammate Jeremy Lane and 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in their national anthem protest. In fact, Seattle's Bobby Wagner says the team has been talking about some sort of group action before Sunday's 4:05 p.m. ET game against the Dolphins at CenturyLink Field, the Seattle Times reported. Although Wagner said he didn’t know if he would sit down during the anthem he said, “anything we want to do, it’s not going to be individual. It’s going to be a team thing. That’s what the world needs to...

SNIP That was basically the attitude of Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie after the Giants cornerback learned the NFL had admitted it erred on two key calls in the season-opening 27-26 loss to the Cowboys — blown calls that certainly could have changed the outcome of the game. “That’s just one you have to live with,’’ Rodgers-Cromartie said. “That was a tough one.’’ A third-quarter pass-interference call on Rodgers-Cromartie, who was shadowing receiver Terrence Williams on a third-and-4 play, handed the Cowboys 16 gift yards and a first down. That directly led to a Dallas touchdown. It should not have been a penalty,...