Slow-moving footage, metered narration, and sparkling soundtracks help make NFL Films an iconic chronicler of football acts extraordinary and mundane.Thursday’s Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, surely saw the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears conspire on more of the latter before Mother Nature intervened.With the Bears starring in “Hard Knocks,” HBO’s annual summer collab with NFL Films, however, the best sights and sounds from the game arguably are yet to come. For a Chicago fan base giddy about all the attention coming its way, Thursday’s storm-shortened exposure was only the beginning.Maybe next time, Bears faithful will get to see Caleb Williams.With most starters from both sides held out of the exhibition—namely Williams, the Bears’ starting quarterback and No. 1 pick�…

The situation for migrant workers in Qatar, which one international organization believes will result in more deaths than 9/11, doesn't appear to be getting any better. The Guardian, which has been all over this story, has a new report on migrant workers who have not received payment in over a year and have been living in roach-infested flophouses. This latest bit of mistreatment is especially offensive, as this particular group of unpaid workers built the tower where Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy—the group that is overseeing the 2022 World Cup—is making its home. Officials in Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy have been using offices on the 38th and 39th floors of Doha's landmark Al Bidda skyscraper – known as the Tower of …

I won't make fun of Michigan football for practically giving away tickets to keep its 100,000-plus attendance streak alive. The team's crummy, Saturday's opponent is Minnesota, and even a storied program has to hustle sometimes. But I will make fun of Michigan football for being so sensitive that it totally reversed course and claimed it never approved the ticket giveaway in the first place. Photos started making the rounds yesterday of displays at two convenience stores in the student union: with the purchase of two bottles of coke, students would get two tickets to Saturday's game, each with a face value of $75. Good deal, right? Students who wouldn't otherwise have gone to the game now have tickets. And Michigan gets a stronger chance of drawing more than 100…

The NCAA announced on Tuesday that it denied Louisville’s appeal of their initial findings in the escort scandal investigation, meaning the men’s basketball program will lose NCAA recognition of its 2013 national title and have to pay back millions earned in tournament money. The decision does not in any way pertain to the school’s ongoing involvement in the FBI investigation of college basketball recruiting; this series of sanctions against Louisville comes as a result of former men’s basketball staffer Andre McGee setting up high school-aged recruits with escorts to convince them to don a Cardinals jersey. The NCAA instructed Louisville to vacate all its wins and losses from 2011-2015, remove all on-campus references to the 2013 championship team, and return the money it made …

There are 26 stories in BASW 2013 and twice as many that were under consideration that didn't make the cut. So many good ones. Here are six that are worth checking out: "Coach" by William Browning. "Guns R Us" by Jeanne Marie Laskas. "A Trip to the Threshing Floor" by Eli Saslow. "Horse Power" by Guy Martin. "No Chattering in the Press Box" by Bryan Curtis. "Born to Run Back" by Jennifer Kahn. [Photo Credit: John Rooney/AP] …

Here we have some yinzer-on-yinzer violence from last night’s Chargers-Steelers game, featuring one guy with solid headbutting technique and another guy with a stronger chin than Tyson Fury. Just stay down next time, man! …

data-mm-id=”_kz4dg7t9g”>The Houston Astros are being raked over the coals over an incredibly detailed new report in The Athletic that claims the team stole signs using cameras in 2017. Despite rumors to that effect, Astros manager A.J. Hinch and the franchise have laughed off those allegations previously. Well, now we have video proof as well. The piece details how the Astros had a feed from a camera in center field fixed on the catcher's signs. It was hooked up to a television monitor just outside the team's dugout. Team employees and players would watch the feed and decode signs, then communicate them through loud noises. Loudly banging on a trash can in the tunnel was the preferred method.In one story from the piece, former Chicago White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar remember…

data-mm-id=”_ebugbggjo”>Major League Baseball may be making some subsantial changes to their postseason format that will split their fans once more. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports the league wants to expand the playoffs from five to seven teams from the AL and NL. They also want to let the top two teams in each league pick their postseason opponent. Yes, you read that correctly. From the article: “In this concept, the team with the best record in each league would receive a bye to avoid the wild-card round and go directly to the Division Series. The two other division winners and the wild card with the next best record would each host all three games in a best-of-three wild-card round. So the bottom three wild cards would have no first-round home games.”- New York Post “The…

data-mm-id=”_q6mqx1bum”>The New England Patriots were expected to find their long-term replacement for Tom Brady at some point during the 2020 NFL Draft. But, in classic Bill Belichick fashion, that didn't happen and the Patriots threw a draft curveball at all of us. Again. Not only did the Patriots not select a quarterback, they didn't really address their offensive shortcomings at all. At this point it's fair to wonder just what the heck they're doing. If the Patriots believe Jarrett Stidham is truly their quarterback of the future, then it would have made sense to get him some weapons in one of the deepest wide receiver classes ever. They failed to adequately do that, instead choosing defenders with their first three picks. In the third round, they reached on two…