Potential football innovations
“It’s more about the journey,” Yankelevitz told ESPN. “Texting friends and conversations with friends than winning the bet.”
That journey has left the friends on
And perhaps, for anyone keen to cast a sympathetic eye, that mentality also hints at the heart of Kyrgios’ impudence. After all, anyone who has read Andre Agassi’s Open will know the inner turmoil that can be felt by an athlete stuck in an isolating sport like tennis with seemingly no escape. Not everyone emerged from last weekend’s divisional round of the NFL playoffs as happy as those new Packers fans, though.
Four teams’ seasons came to an unfortunate end and, understandably in the cut- throat world of professional sport, some of those vanquished were left feeling a little emotional.
Take Travis Kelce, for example, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end who found a rather amusing way to deliver some stinging. criticism of a referee after his team were bundled out by the Steelers.
The Chiefs thought they had tied the game with a late two- point conversion, only to see the score
So we should probably be careful to condemn Kyrgios’ delinquency. We have little idea why he would decide to play a ‘ tweener’ while attempting to save the fifth set in his embarrassing loss against Andreas Seppi — but even less clue about what’s happening inside his head during each point. wiped away when an official whistled for a holding penalty. Needless to say, Kelce was not too pleased, taking a rather pointed swipe at the men in the white- and- black stripes.
“For it to end like that, with the ref literally taking it out of our hands, that hurts,” Kelce said. “Ref No 51 shouldn’t even be able to wear a zebra jersey ever again. He shouldn’t even be able to wear it at f— ing Foot Locker.”
The joke, however, turned out to be on Kelce, because the referee in question — Carl Cheffers — might be a little busy in the next couple of weeks to submit a job application to any shoe stores, given he was on Thursday announced as part of the eight- man officiating crew for the Super Bowl. In the fervent moments after the Steelers caused Kelce and the Chiefs so much upset, Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin had a stirring message for his team in the locker- room, looking ahead to Monday’s AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots.
“We just spotted these assholes a day- and- a- half,” Tomlin seethed.
Labelling him a brat is reductive and, rather than driving him away from tennis, we should all be hoping Kyrgios realises his potential.
At least until he starts winning grand slams, then we can all go back to rooting against another upstart Australian. “They played yesterday, our game got moved to tonight. We’re going to touch down at 4 o’clock in the f— ing morning. So be it. We’ll be ready for their ass. But you ain’t got to tell them we’re coming.”
Unfortunately for Tomlin, given the fact you just read that quote, someone did indeed tell the Patriots the Steelers were coming. And that someone was the Steelers own star wide receiver Antonio Brown.
In a mix of modern technology and more traditional idiocy, Brown decided it would be wise to open up Facebook and live- stream his coach’s address. That decision did not go over too well, with some upset at Brown for violating the sanctity of the lockerroom and others wary of providing the Patriots with bulletin- board material.
On the latter, at least, New England coach Bill Belichick was typically unruffled, seizing on his latest opportunity to prove just how grouchy and football- focused he really is.
“As you know, I’m not on SnapFace and all that, so I don’t really get those,” Belichick said on radio station WEEI. “I’m not really too worried about what they put on InstaChat, or whatever it is.”
Well played, old man. Well played. The new 48- team World Cup is a reality: the votes have been counted and the format is set to tarnish the jewel in Fifa’s crown from 2026. Strangely enough, inviting almost a quarter of the globe will have a couple of complicating effects on the group stage. First, the bloated format will see 48 largely- pointless games played before a paltry 12 countries are sent home. And second, to avoid being one of the unlucky dozen, teams will be incentivised to play out mutuallybeneficial draws. Nothing can be done about the former problem, but to solve the latter Fifa may potentially eliminate draws in the group stage and institute penalty shootouts from game one. While such a prospect could be too much of a good thing, that’s not the only innovation Fifa is currently considering to change world football.
All qualms about the surge in penalty shootouts immediately disappear when considering the delicious possibility of removing ‘ penalty’ from the equation. Rather than taking a spot kick, a player would start 25 metres from goal and have eight seconds to score past a goalkeeper restricted inside the area. It would be appointment viewing.
No one likes watching sport when the clock is ticking and nothing is happening ( well, except for fans of most other team codes). In football, this can be a particular scourge when a team clings to a narrow lead by simulating injuries or taking an eternity over stoppages. Well, timewasting could soon be history, with Fifa discussing stopping the clock every second the ball is inactive in the final 10 minutes. Sounds complex, but an admirable goal.
The problem with yellow cards is they don’t necessarily benefit the aggrieved party, unless through individual accumulation. The problem with instituting a sin bin, though, would be the glee with which some referees reduce games to seven- a- side. Too messy, too against the fabric of football, too little reward.