Christmas Day for NFL marketing and ticket sales departments finally arrived Wednesday with the release of the 2024 season schedule. With subplots and peripheral angles multiplying before our eyes — hello, Netflix, welcome to NFL holiday football broadcasts — Field Level Media's football-minded contributors assembled the top 25 games of 2024. 24. Jets at Cardinals, Sunday, Nov. 10: We're grabbing our popcorn for one matchup, and one matchup alone: Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. and Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner. Top five draft picks likely to be near the top of the pecking order at their position for a decade. 23. Colts at Patriots, Sunday, Dec. 1: Drake Maye, the No. 3 pick in the 2024 draft, meet Anthony Richardson, drafted fourth overall in 2023. Indianapoli…

July is a tough month for sports talk radio. The veterans don’t report to NFL training camp until the end of the month, NBA free agency talk cools after the first week, and this month is the most sluggish and steaming month of the MLB schedule. It’s the only one of the three major American sports leagues in action. Teams play nearly every day, so while there is something to talk about for local radio shows, who wants to listen to four hours about a booted ball at second base, or in the case of the Michael Kay Show on ESPN Radio with no Michael Kay, the worst hitter on the best team in MLB? This time of year is when it takes art to put together an interesting sports talk radio program, and Don LaGreca had a Prince playing “Purple Rain” at Syracuse in 1985 moment. Earlier in the s…

Because we feel like part of our job is to inform you, the blog reader, about all the different ways to artificially maximize your body's potential, we introduce you to the newest big thing in performance enhancement: cow afterbirth! Published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, a recent research study suggests that bovine colostrum — a nutrient-rich "pre-milk" produced by cows shortly after giving birth — may provide increased athletic endurance during high-intensity training. This milk is particularly high in protein, as well as antibodies vital to the development of the immune system in the newborn mammal. Research conducted on male distance cyclists found that participants who consumed bovine colostrum supplements achieved higher performance with fewer sign…

Today’s Czech Republic-Croatia match in Saint-Etienne suffered a five minute delay as Croatian fans flooded their corner of the pitch with flares and at least one explosive that blew up in the face of a steward who was attempting to clear the field for play—forcing Croatia players to plead with their fans to cease and desist. The demonstration didn’t help the Croatians much; the Czechs scored an equalizer as soon as play resumed. [ESPN] …

How hard are guns to clean, really? "Man shot in leg while cleaning gun," "Man shoots self while cleaning gun," "SAPD: Man shoots self while cleaning gun," "Florida Man Shoots Himself In Crotch With Flare Gun." (The guy with the flare gun wasn't cleaning it—but the story does note that this September "in Port. St. Lucie, Florida, a man shot himself in the penis while cleaning a gun he had purchased at a party.") Most of those incidents happened in the last week, and the results don't even include people that were too embarrassed to let the media get ahold of the story. Such as Red Sox prospect Bryce Brentz, who apparently shot himself in the leg some time ago: The Boston Herald says that Cherington told the media the &q…

Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang admitted in a court in Seoul, South Korea yesterday that he was guilty of a DUI following a December 2016 arrest after driving a rental BMW into a median in the middle of the night and leaving the scene. Kang reportedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.084 percent; the legal limit in South Korea is .05 percent. According to Yonhap News, Kang told the court: “I deeply regret what I have done. If I can get one last chance, I will become an exemplary player to earn respect from everyone.” Dashcam footage of Kang’s collision was released in December, showing him driving over a median and nearly into head-on traffic. Prosecutors are reportedly looking to fine Kang 15 million won (which Yonhap News says is the equivalent of $13,117), and …

data-mm-id=”_pdssnoy05″>The Boston Red Sox are the latest team accused of electronically cheating according to a new report by The Athletic. The team apparently used the video replay room to learn sign sequences during their 108-win 2018 season. Via The Athletic: “These rooms, intended to help managers decide whether to challenge umpires’ calls, were established after baseball introduced replay review in 2014. But some teams quickly realized the rooms also were easy places to learn a key piece of information: The sign sequence used by opposing pitchers and catchers.

Before the 2018 season, after years of barely enforcing its broad rules regarding replay rooms, the league made it crystal clear: Replay rooms cannot be used to help steal signs. The newly clarified rules, in combination…

data-mm-id=”_chjf5lh5a”>For only the second time in two decades, the New England Patriots must find a name other than Tom Brady to start under center in Week 1. After releasing Cody Kessler yesterday, their options are currently journeyman Brian Hoyer or sophomore Auburn product Jarrett Stidham, who barely played his rookie season after going in the fourth round of last year's draft. It seems likely the Patriots will add another quarterback in some form before the season starts, but the time has come and gone for New England to shoot for a quick-fix solution like Andy Dalton. Still, Cam Newton remains unsigned, and while there has been nothing linking the team to the former MVP, it's still a talking point because it makes a lot of sense. Newton's market is barebones for…

data-mm-id=”_umbcek3ll”>MLB's shortened season is scheduled to start on July 23rd. The NBA is set to return a week later. Both leagues open with double-headers on a Thursday night. Both leagues will show games on national television throughout their opening weekend. That's where the similarities end as the NBA is going to make an insane amount of basketball available to fans while baseball will go back into hiding.Take a look at the opening night double-headers. The NBA has games scheduled at 6:30 PM ET and 9 PM. There's a good chance you could watch both those games and get to bed before midnight. Meanwhile, MLB has Yankees – Nationals at 7 PM and Dodgers and Giants starting at 9 PM. The next few days are full of games for both leagues split between their various broadc…

data-mm-id=”_ep4rl07u8″>The New England Patriots started off the year looking like they'd be the same old Patriots, chugging along through the season and winning games they have no business winning en route to a playoff berth. Then the injury bug and COVID-19 struck the team hard and they spiraled for a few weeks, losing awful games to the Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers. It led to pieces declaring the Patriots are bad and their demise is not as fun as we all imagined. Last week's Monday Night Football matchup with the Jets did little to dissuade that notion. The Patriots won, but Joe Flacco toasted the defense and New England was losing to the winless Jets by 10 points before needing a last-second field goal to come away with a win. Ahead of Sunday night's prime …