NFL

On Friday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer brought on political director and Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd to discuss the latest NBC News/Marist poll on a major American institution being rocked by scandal. It wasn't the Obama administration getting the bad press, it was the National Football League. That's right, NBC News conducted an entire poll just on the controversies surrounding the…

What's next, Mika?  Giant alligators in the sewers of New York City?  On today's Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski perpetuated the hoary urban legend that domestic violence spikes on Super Bowl Sunday. Brzezinski's blunder came in the context of the panel's discussion of the NFL's domestic violence mess. Arguing that football is a violent game and that "there's a connection" with what happens at home…

With less than an hour to go until kickoff on the 2014 NFL season, NBC Sports kicked off a new season of predictably left-of-center political pontifications. Holding that dubious honor tonight was Sports Illustrated senior writer and NBC Sports contributor Peter King, who, during pre-game analysis, insisted that the Dallas Cowboys signing rookie defensive end Michael Sam to their practice…

Filling in for Alex Wagner on her MSNBC show Wednesday, Luke Russert had a segment on NFL player and defensive end Michael Sam, who was signed earlier in the day to the Dallas Cowboys after being released by the St. Louis Rams on Saturday. Russert opined that the reason there was a delay before Sam was signed by another team was not because of any media “distractions" or that he was not a good…

To close out his MSNBC show on Thursday, Ed Schultz invited on a Native American social activist to discuss the push by liberals and sympathetic members of the sports media to force the NFL’s Washington Redskins to change their name.  In discussing recent supporters of the name in Sarah Palin and former NFL coach and player Mike Ditka, author and Native American activist Gyasi Ross smeared…

Washington Post parenting writer Mari-Jane Williams took to the paper’s Thursday "Local Living" section to continue the paper’s advocating the name “Redskins” be stripped from the city’s NFL team through a conversation she had with her seven-year-old daughter after she wanted “to buy a Redskins outfit” for a bear she had at home. Upon hearing her daughter’s request, she told readers it was then…

It’s open season. Since the media attacked former NFL coach and NBC sports analyst Tony Dungy for saying he wouldn’t have picked openly gay player Michael Sam during the draft, the sports media now has its pitchforks and torches out for anyone in the NFL guilty of thought crimes. ESPN and CBS  are going after David Tyree, a former New York Giants wide receiver (who’s miraculous “helmet catch”…

These days, if a former NFL coach makes a vague statement about an openly gay sports player who was fawned over by the media, he can expect to be called a “homophobe” and “bigot” for not getting aboard the pro-gay train. Dungy, former coach of the Indianapolis Colts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers and current NBC sports analyst, told The Tampa Tribune, “I wouldn’t have taken him [Michael Sam]. Not…

What do you suppose it costs to run a 60-second ad in major markets during the NBA playoffs on ABC? And can you think of something better to do with the “significant investment” a California Indian tribe has made than to register disapproval of a sports mascot? The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation isn’t saying how much it paid for the spots, airing in New York, D.C., Chicago, Dallas, L.A. San…

On Monday's CNN Newsroom, ESPN senior writer L.Z. Granderson compared those who decried Michael Sam's kiss with his boyfriend after he was drafted by the St. Louis Rams to a racist organization that lynched minorities: "Yes, some of the objection is part of the storyline, but we didn't celebrate the KKK during...the March on Washington." Anchor Carol Costello praised Sam's "courage," and…

If an NFL team ends up taking Michael Sam in a late draft round – or not at all – don’t blame the media. The Missouri defensive end came out of the closet to near universal media adulation (coincidentally timed with the NFL Combine in February). Now, with the draft looming on May 8, ESPN and ABC are doing their parts to make sure Sam is picked. ESPN announced May 7 that it’s bestowing Sam…

Longtime NBC sportscaster Bob Costas appeared on Wednesday's edition of the network's hour-long Late Night program, which is hosted by Seth Myers. The former member of the Saturday Night Live cast threw softball questions at his guest regarding “minor controversies” he caused by inserting liberal political commentary into his sports coverage. After a discussion that included the TV…

Former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe wrote an inflammatory post for Deadspin.com headlined "I Was An NFL Player Until I Was Fired By Two Cowards And A Bigot." He claims he was released for his "gay rights activism," his wild rants and tweets against social conservatives. The “cowards” were Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier and GM Rick Spielman. The “bigot” was special-teams coach Mike…

Guns & Ammo magazine is reporting that the National Football League has nixed a prospective Super Bowl ad produced by Daniel Defense, a firearms manufacturing company based in Georgia, despite the fact that the ad in question does not even violate the league's official advertising policy. [h/t Stephen Gutowski, formerly of NB sister site MRCTV.org, now with Capitol City Project] "The…