Money isn’t the only benefit some receive for their work.

Two cases in the news today raise questions about the NFL commissioner’s power.

The Ames Straw Poll is like the first scrimmage of NFL training camp.

“Essentially the deal is considered a formality at this point in time.” Players should be back in locker rooms Wednesday. New league year, including free agency, would begin next Saturday.

A mistrial has been ruled in the Roger Clemens perjury trial and the judge may rule that a retrial would constitute double jeopardy.

Jeter’s 3,000 hits now “official.”

Tennis’ most aristocratic championship is also its most democratic.

The venerable Brooks Brothers is getting into the college apparel business, selling sweaters and polos for Boston College; the U.S. Naval Academy, Auburn, Cornell, Harvard, New York, Ohio State, Princeton, Stanford, and Vanderbilt Universities and the Universities of Alabama, Georgia, Notre Dame and Virginia.

A horrible tale: A standout Indiana high school basketball player with the promise of playing at the University of Michigan is fighting for his life after surviving the second plane crash of his young life. Austin Hatch, 16, of Fort Wayne, Ind., remained in critical condition Sunday in a northern Michigan hospital after the Friday [...]

BBC (“Vancouver riot after hockey defeat“): Mobs of angry fans roamed central Vancouver after the game. Riot police in Vancouver used tear gas to quell violence that broke out after the Vancouver Canucks lost the final game of the Stanley Cup. Cars were set on fire and shops were looted following the ice hockey team’s [...]

Apparently, some people haven’t gotten over Lebron James taking his talents to South Beach.

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has announced his retirement after 19 years as a pro. On Twitter.

Jim Tressel has resigned as head coach of the Ohio State football team.

Perhaps Kyle Busch thought he was at Daytona Motor Speedway rather than a public street in North Carolina: NASCAR driver Kyle Busch offered a public apology Tuesday after he was ticketed for careless and reckless driving and speeding in North Carolina. Deputies said they clocked Busch doing nearly three times the posted speed limit, according [...]

Now here’s a story you don’t see every day: The head coach of a major college basketball team leaving for a service academy.

The Baltimore Ravens Ray Lewis warns the NFL that continuing the NFL lockout into the season could lead to a crime wave: Lewis said a lockout would impact more than just NFL players. “What we’re going through right now, we’re affecting way more than us,” he said. “Too many people live through us. People live [...]

An item in the Extra Bases baseball notebook last Sunday misidentified, in some editions, the origin of the name Orcrist the Goblin Cleaver, which Mets pitcher R. A. Dickey gave one of his bats. Orcrist was not, as Dickey had said, the name of the sword used by Bilbo Baggins in the Misty Mountains in “The Hobbit”; Orcrist was the sword used by the dwarf Thorin Oakenshield in the book. (Bilbo Baggins’s sword was called Sting.)

The Washington Wizards have gone back to the future with new uniforms that look remarkably like the old Washington Bullets unis.

Hockey star Sean Avery’s recent statements supporting gay marriage has drawn fire from an unlikely source: His agent.

A Texas high school student who was kicked off her high school’s cheerleading squad after refusing to cheer for her rapist had her lawsuit dismissed as frivolous and was ordered to pay $45,000 in legal fees.

It appears that Donald Trump’s big mouth has caused him to be removed as the driver of the Official Pace Car at this year’s Indianapolis 500: A source affiliated with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway tells us Donald Trump will not be the driver of the pace car for this month’s 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis [...]

No sooner did players start coming back to team facilities, than the 8th Circuit granted the league’s request and issue as temporary stay of the injunction ending the lockout. “The purpose of this administrative stay is to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the merits of the motion for a stay pending appeal,” the [...]

Another celebrity trial shines a light on our bizarre justice system.

President Obama sees the golf course as the only place to escape the pressures of the job.

Via Jonathan Turley, a name from the past and a ten year old kid with a heart: Perry won’t say what happened to his Super Bowl XX ring, whether he misplaced it, if it was stolen or if he sold it to pay medical bills. But he was recently contacted by the family of a [...]

With the Draft only 27 days away, multiple lawsuits pending, and the lockout only in force for a few weeks, the NFL announced that an agreement on a new CBA had been reached with players.

President Obama shouldn’t be criticized for picking his NCAA tourney brackets during wartime. But he shouldn’t get much credit, either.

The federal government has spent seven years and some six million dollars pursuing Barry Bonds. Why?

If you believe Minnesota Vikings’ Running Back Adrian Peterson, the NFL is a modern-day plantation and he’s a slave.

Simplest possible NCAA Tournament bracket

Players from the Los Angeles Clippers chipped in to pay for the surgery of assistant coach Kim Hughes back in 2004. It’s been a secret until now.

President Obama is once again catching flak for his leisure activities.

No matter how the owners and players resolve their squabble, the fans are likely to get screwed.

Iran doesn’t like the logo for the London Olympics and is threatening to boycott if it isn’t changed.

Players have taken control of the NBA from the owners. That’s bad for fans. But probably a good thing.

The Wall Street Journal is joining the modern era and dropping the practice of referring to people as “Mr.” and “Ms.” But only on the sports pages.

Democratic Congresswoman Betty McCollum has received death threats after questioning the wisdom of the U.S. Army sponsoring a NASCAR Sprint Cup team to the tune of $7 million a year.

The Toomer’s Corner trees were poisoned by a rabid Alabama fan.

Sports Illustrated is trying to force subscribers to pay for a bundle of web and print services. Bad idea.

Larry Granillo of Baseball Prospectus decided to see if he could figure out if the Wrigley Field scenes in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off took place at an actual Cubs game: The scene finally shifts to Wrigley Field, where Ferris and company are sitting near the leftfield foul pole. Off in the distance, we can see [...]

Another year, another record: Interestingly, each of the last four Super Bowl’s ranks in the top five, and there’s now only one non-sports program in the top five. However, the M*A*S*H finale still remains at the top of the list in terms of percentage of households who were tuned in.

Politico has the menu for President Obama’s Super Bowl party: Here, according to the White House, is the menu for Sunday’s party: “Bratwurst, Kielbasa, Cheeseburgers, Deep Dish Pizza, Buffalo Wings, German Potato Salad, Twice Baked Potatoes, Snyders Potato Chips and Pretzels, Chips and Dips, Salad, Ice Cream. Beverages including the following beers: Hinterland Pale Ale [...]

The Holy Grail of sports film has apparently been found: Football fans know what happened in Super Bowl I. The game, which was played on January 15, 1967, was the first showdown between the NFL and AFL champions. It ended with the Green Bay Packers stomping the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10. Unless they were one [...]

The Pittsburg Steelers and the Green Bay Packers are the 2nd and 5th most popular teams in the NFL. The Dallas Cowboys are number one and the St. Louis Rams bring up the rear at 32.

Some constructive criticism from Andrew Exum.

Mike Tanier of Football Outsiders explain why Aaron Rodgers’ ranking as the best quarterback in NFL history is absurd.

Apparently the Bears loss to Green Bay on Sunday is a sore subject in Chicago: With Chicago reeling from Sunday’s painful playoff loss, Monday morning probably wasn’t the best time for car salesman John Stone to share his love for the Green Bay Packers with co-workers and customers. But Stone, 34, proudly showed up for [...]

NYT public editor Arthur Brisbane explains how it came to pass that his paper reported as fact the erroneous news that Gabrielle Giffords had been killed.

While I support a college playoff, there’s an argument to be made for the integrity of the regular season.

So reports ESPN:  Andrew Luck staying at Stanford "I am committed to earning my degree in architectural design from Stanford University and am on track to accomplish this at the completion of the spring quarter of 2012," Luck said in a statement. If that is what he wants to do, it is certainly his right [...]