Domestic Violence Linked to Football Upsets

Next Sunday's games will determine who advances to Super Bowl

(AP) - For Eli Manning and the New York Giants, Lambeau Field has become a familiar launching pad. After beating the Green Bay Packers at home for the second time in four years, they only hope this trip ends the same way—at the Super Bowl. Manning threw three touchdown passes and the Giants shocked the Packers 37-20 in an NFC divisional playoff game today. Manning threw for 330 yards, sending the Giants to San Francisco for the NFC championship game next Sunday night. More»

2nd complaint claims the NFL covered up concussion dangers

(NEWSER) - Another lawsuit is being leveled against the NFL over brain damage suffered by former players. Ex-Miami Dolphins team members Patrick Surtain and Oronde Gadsden, along with 19 other players, have filed suit in Miami and are charging that the NFL deliberately omitted or concealed evidence connecting concussions to long-term neurological problems, reports the AP . The NFL has reacted by denying wrongdoing, as it did against a similar lawsuit lodged earlier this week. More»

Three ex-athletes want league to monitor all ex-players

(NEWSER) - Three retired football players are suing the NFL because they say they got banged up so much in their playing days it left them with brain injuries. They want the league to set up a program to monitor the problem among all former players, reports Bloomberg . The three former athletes—Harry Jacobs, Jerome Barkum, and Tommy Mason—each suffer from brain injuries caused by frequent tackles during their careers, according to the federal lawsuit. They're also seeking unspecified personal-injury compensation. More»

Sports analysts agog after Denver Broncos' latest victory

(NEWSER) - After a stunning performance in yesterday's last-minute 13-10 victory against the Chicago Bears, sports commentators are wondering if Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow really is capable of miracles.

• Declaring Tebow his "personal quarterback and savior," Jeff Neuman at RealClearSports catalogs five miracles made in last night's game. "Zero points on his team's first 11 possessions—and then three scores on their last three, aided by a coach's weird strategy, thin air, a fumble, and a total brain cramp by a veteran running back. Truly, Tim Tebow works in mysterious ways."
• Writing for the Montreal Gazette , Ed Willes also drops the M-word, wondering if "we've ever seen a run like this in the last 50 years of sports: an athlete who's at once both divisive and irresistibly charismatic; an athlete who's in the miracle business every week; an athlete who transcends everything around him."

Move to LA looks unlikely

(NEWSER) - The Jacksonville Jaguars have been sold but it doesn't look like the deal will end Los Angeles' 17-year wait for an NFL team to replace the Rams and the Raiders. Wayne Weaver, the longtime owner of the struggling franchise, has long sought an "exit strategy" that would keep the team in Jacksonville—and he appears to have found it with Shahid Khan, a Pakistani-born Illinois businessman who is reportedly paying $760 million for the team, the AP reports. More»