No snark. This was perfect. Good for Bob Costas.

Seriously. Never stop doing these. Great, great work.

This actually makes me nostalgic for the old ESPN, free of self-obsession.

Sad. I look forward to a day when we aren't so constrained by gender norms that a man acting effeminate isn't considered something negative or positive. Everyone in this clip should be subject to strict sensitivity training requirements going forward.

I'll preface this by saying that I know little about the video game industry's business side. With that in mind, it seems like THQ must have really struggled with some of their other titles, considering that the WWE video game series was such a consistently strong seller each year.

Here's where I am at this point (subject to change, as it has several times already):

They were 13-3 last year and Smith played well, just as he did this year before Kaepernick took over. Again, I'm not saying they should have been a prohibitive favorite, but NO ONE picking them is a surprise. It wouldn't have been crazy for SOMEONE to pick them to win it all this season.

But they went 13-3 last year and lost in overtime of the NFC Championship with Smith. It wouldn't have been a stretch to pick them to win the Super Bowl this year. You guys are acting like Smith wasn't really effective in 2011 and 2012. Again: I'm not saying they should have been a favorite. I'm saying it's…

If only...

We get it, ESPN. If the public sympathizes with Te'o instead of mocking him, it's less likely to mock the ones who botched the story (ESPN).

+1

That's bonkers, but in a good way (this time).

The Niners, with Smith, were a muffed punt away from beating the team that won the Super Bowl last year. I'm not saying they should have been the consensus pick. But I'm surprised nobody picked them. They have a very good roster and a good young coach.

Very surprising that not even one of the listed experts picked the 49ers to win the Super Bowl.

You make a valid point, but the strong trend in recent years is for school systems to be VERY risk-averse and litigation-averse. Hell, we don't even javelin at the high school level here for fear that someone might be impaled.

+1

I'm thinking 7-on-7 stuff will become the default for kids under, say, 15 (or whatever age is considered acceptable to have full contact). After that, yes, I think there will be youth organizations. The trouble will be getting / paying for insurance. I suspect that things may take a shady turn, just as they have in…

No one needs that much money. I'm just a JS Mill utilitarian. If we take $1,000,000 of Mickelson's money and give, say, $50,000 each in government benefits to 20 poor families, think about how much net good that will do for our society. The utility of that money will be greatly increased by redistribution.

To all the people attacking this article, let me remind you that Mickelson still gets to keep somewhere in the neighborhood of $24 million. That's more than anyone needs. Secondly, he makes his money playing golf and through sponsorships.

Yeah, I think there will be a domino effect in different jurisdictions. Nobody wants to be the first public school in the state to get rid of football, but, once one school system does, other school systems in the same state will breathe a quiet sigh of relief and do the same. I think most places in the South will…