The NFL went on to identify three mitigating factors:

NFL declines to punish Ray Rice severely for domestic violence because punishments must be in line with precedent. NFL breaks precedent to develop new, severe penalties for domestic violence.

Floorsqueak can be played any time of year. Hockey, a sport played on ice, lends itself to play in the colder months. Playing hockey in the middle of the summer would lead to unplayable ice conditions in most arenas.

Toe.* Sorry.

Deadspin's criticism of Easterbrook is asinine. It's picking off low-hanging ESPN fruit concerning a guy who writes a weekly column for a portion of the year. Meanwhile, ESPN continues to celebrate individuals over teams and sports, grovel to the NFL, base the entirety of its reporting on "sources," defend the…

"Stop liking what I don't like."

I've called it anticipation more times than I can count. It's the level of anticipation that I don't think warrants this praise.

You're badly missing my point.

I'm not disputing anything you said. Just saying that the anticipation of that particular play doesn't deserve this level of praise.

For sure. The volley was far more remarkable than the anticipation. But Aaron was lauding the anticipation.

Can we stop pretending that soccer players have supernatural abilities? Fabregas probably thought Schurrle would be where he ended up because Schurrle was running that direction. It's simple anticipation. This isn't nearly as remarkable as a blind pass, and even those are commonplace. Fabregas saw Schurrle the…