For all the things that there are to love about the NFL—idiotic and wholly unaccountable leadership, a profoundly malfunctioning moral compass, the new rules that no one even knows how to enforce, the whole Nathan Peterman Thing—the purest pleasure it offers is the chance to be wrong as hell about it. There are some things about the NFL that everyone knows are good and fun and worth all the bluster and grossness, but honestly a decent percentage of those wind up busting and being replaced with good things no one expected. The fun stuff is always what we don’t know, and being wrong is what this whole thing is about and mostly where the fun is. And with the 2018 NFL season now just about here, What We Don’t Know covers just about everything. We know that at some point this season television cameras will capture Bill Belichick looking like he’s passing a kidney stone the size of Rex Burkhead while his team is up by four scores. We can know, with a reasonable amount of certainty, that Aaron Rodgers and Joey Bosa and DeAndre Hopkins and Jalen Ramsey and Alvin Kamara and Khalil Mack are going to fuck some people up and that the Bills and Bucs and the timewarp Gruden-afflicted Raiders are going to fuck up just in general. The rest of it is blue sky, a series of contingencies subject to the whims of dumb rich people and bad rules and a violent game and cruel fate. The natural response to this, of course, is having our resident NFL genius Dom Cosentino onto the podcast so that all of us can kind of talk about what’s coming like we have any idea what’s going to happen, after first talking about sandwiches for what’s honestly a longish period of time. There is more to this than Drew’s arithmetically plausible NFL picks and deeply conflicted crush on Patrick Mahomes II, though. There is, for one thing, a frank discussion of our extremely exciting and extremely reasonably priced live podcast and Monday Night Football watch-and-bullshit event in Chicago on September 17. There is also all the usual bullshit—the latest on Papa John’s twilight struggle to destroy everything he ever built and also some conjecture about him attempting to snort his sad viscous garlic sauce like a puffier Scarface, the Trump question of the week, and the aforementioned searingly honest talk about sandwiches that have been dipped in meat juice. You are forgiven if all of this—the sandwich talk and the wrongness, the Trump speculation and the Schnatter fixation—sounds familiar. It is, but also it’s different. The NFL is back. Being wrong is fun again. You can also listen at iHeart Radio, Stitcher, Spotify, NPR One, Apple Podcasts, or GooglePlay. And don’t forget to email us tips and/or general complaints at [email protected]. Have fun out there.
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Davinson Sanchez has extended his Tottenham contract to 2024, the club have announced.
The centre-back signed a six-year deal when he joined from Ajax in 2017 and has now agreed to prolong his stay in north London.
The Colombia international made 41 appearances in all competitions in 2017-18, becoming a key part of Mauricio Pochettino s defensive set-up.
In January, he revealed he turned down the chance to join Barcelona as a 19-year-old before signing for Ajax.
The news will be a boost to Spurs given fellow defender Toby Alderweireld has been tipped to leave the club in the transfer window, with Manchester United said to be interested.
We are delighted to announce that has signed a new contract with the Club, which will run until 2024.
…
Jay Rodriguez is targeting an international recall this season after making a goalscoring return during pre-season with Southampton.
The forward spent almost 15 months on the sidelines after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in April 2014, an injury that saw him miss out of England s World Cup squad.
Rodriguez s form in 2013-14, scoring 15 Premier League goals, saw him handed his international debut by Roy Hodgson against Chile in November 2013.
The injury put his England career on hold but, after scoring twice in his first appearance under Ronald Koeman in a friendly this week, the 25-year-old aims to put himself back into contention for the national team.
As a player, you always want to play international level, so obviously for myself I wan…
Raul Jimenez hopes Wolves can repeat their upset win over Manchester City when they visit Liverpool on Sunday.
Wolves stunned City 3-2 in the Premier League on Friday, denting the champions title chances while moving up to fifth in the table.
Jimenez, who scored the equaliser as Wolves came from 2-0 down, hopes his team can deliver again when they make the trip to Anfield.
Why not? the forward said, via the club s website, about repeating the result.
It will be a tough game, but we know that.
Trailing 2-0 and playing against 10 men, Wolves scored through Adama Traore before Jimenez s equaliser and Matt Doherty s 89th-minute winner.
Our first double of the season. And what a way to do it.
— Wolves (@Wolves)
Ji…
Wayne Rooney has been appointed the new Derby County manager after impressing as interim boss.
The former Manchester United and England captain has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the Championship club.
Rooney, 35, has overseen three wins and four draws in nine games since taking temporary charge back in November after Phillip Cocu was sacked with the Rams bottom of the table. They are now 22nd and only in the relegation zone due to goal difference.
The decision to take over as full-time boss means Rooney has officially brought his illustrious playing career to an end.
When I first arrived back in the United Kingdom I was completely blown away by the potential of Derby County Football Club, Rooney said in a statement. The stadium, training gro…
South Africa claimed a record-equalling fourth consecutive international victory Wednesday by edging Cameroon 3-2 in a Nelson Mandela Challenge thriller.
It was the fourth time the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and 2010 World Cup hosts have achieved the feat and brought a happy ending to a disappointing year for Bafana Bafana (The Boys).
Substitute striker Bernard Parker snatched the winner eight minutes from full-time after two goals from midfielder Teko Modise have got South Africa off to a great start only for Cameroon to draw level before half-time.
Outstanding midfielder Daniel Kome reduced arrears and striker Somen Tchoyi levelled for the Indomitable Lions who lacked several key players, including three-time African Footballer of the Year Samuel Eto o.
Inter coach Andrea Stramaccioni insists his side have more to worry about than just Tottenham star Gareth Bale in their Europa League tie.
Bale announced himself on the continent with a stunning second-half hat-trick against Inter in 2010 in the Champions League.
The two teams meet in the Europa League last-16 at White Hart Lane on Thursday, and Stramaccioni has warned that the Wales winger is not the only player that needs to be watched.
I think Tottenham are not only a very strong team physically, but they also has great quality, Stramaccioni told reporters.
(Inter coach Andre) Villas-Boas had the opportunity to develop with one of the best coaches in the world, Jose Mourinho.
Bale is now one of the most complete players on the European scene…
Mario Balotelli has offered an extraordinary response to Jamie Carragher s criticism of his time at Liverpool, branding the Reds great his best hater .
Following the Italian s move to Nice, the Sky Sports pundit took to his Twitter account to claim that the French club were still paying over the odds for a free transfer.
And Balotelli has now hit back on his own account, with a riposte that is likely to further enrage Liverpool supporters disappointed by his underwhelming spell at Anfield.
Jamie Carragher, bad player, wonderful hater, who cares, the 26-year-old wrote to almost four million followers.
Jamie Carragher, bad player, wonderful hater ,who cares.
— Mario Balotelli (@FinallyMario)
Balotelli scored just four goals in 28 game…
Inter have reached an agreement to sign attacker Xherdan Shaqiri from Bayern Munich.
The Switzerland international, who joined Bayern from Basel in 2012, had been heavily linked with a move away from the Allianz Arena.
Premier League sides Liverpool and Stoke City were credited with an interest in Shaqiri, a player restricted to just five starts for Bayern this season.
However, Inter have won the race for his signature, with the Serie A club confirming on their official Twitter account that a deal has been agreed.
A post read: #Inter and @FCBayern agree terms for @XS_11official. Just the paperwork to be signed
While the formalities of the transfer are still to be completed, the move is set to come as a significant boost to an Inter side th…
Prediction: Manchester City to win 4-0
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Burnley and Manchester City will face each other in the Premier League this week. The match between the Clarets and the Citizens at Turf Moor is slated to kick off at 6pm UK time on Wednesday.
Burnley
Burnley will head into the match against City at Turf Moor on the back of a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea away from home at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League. That followed a 3-2 victory over Aston Villa at home in the league.
The Clarets are an established club in the Premier League, but they are in danger of going down to the Championship at the end of the season. Burnley are 15th in the league table at the moment with 22 points from 20 matches, eight points above the relegation zone.
Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka both make their Manchester United debuts against Chelsea at Old Trafford, while Frank Lampard has selected Tammy Abraham to lead the line with Mason Mount also starting.
Centre-back Maguire joined United on Monday, costing £80million from Leicester City a fee that makes him the most expensive defender of all time.
And unsurprisingly he instantly slots into United s defence alongside Victor Lindelof, while Wan-Bissaka – a £50m acquisition from Crystal Palace – starts at right-back having impressed during pre-season.
With club captain Ashley Young on the bench, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has chosen David de Gea to wear the armband ahead of Paul Pogba, who starts in midfield alongside Scott McTominay and Andreas Pereira.