American Football: Mayo succeeds Belichick as head coach of the Patriots
One day after parting ways with long-time coach Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots from the US professional football league NFL have found a successor in their own ranks in Jerod Mayo. The Patriots announced this on Friday (local time). Various US media had previously reported unanimously that Mayo should become the new head coach. It will be officially presented at a press conference next Wednesday.
The 37-year-old played his entire NFL career from 2008 to 2015 as a linebacker for the team from Foxborough, Massachusetts, and won the Super Bowl with the Patriots as captain in 2014. Mayo has been part of Belichick’s coaching team since 2019. According to ESPN, Mayo would become the youngest head coach in the NFL.
The New England Patriots and the 71-year-old successful coach Belichick announced on Thursday that they were going their separate ways. Belichick won the Super Bowl six times with the Patriots, making him the most successful coach in NFL history. But since the departure of star quarterback Tom Brady in 2020, things no longer went as planned and a sporting decline followed. In the current season, the Patriots only won four of 17 games, suffered their worst record since 1992 and missed qualifying for the play-offs.
American Football: For $20 an hour – “Bills Mafia” is supposed to shovel snow
20 dollars an hour for night work and free food: The Buffalo Bills from the US professional football league NFL asked their fans for help shoveling snow before the play-off game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. From 10 p.m. (local time) on Saturday, the “Bills Mafia” will be busy shoveling at Highmark Stadium.
“Prospective snow shovelers are asked to dress appropriately for the weather (gloves, scarves, hats, coats, etc.) and bring their own shovels if possible,” the Bills said in their appeal. The helpers should, if possible, be older than 18 years. In addition to the financial reward, there are free meals.
Buffalo will face the Steelers in the wildcard round on Sunday (7 p.m. CET/RTL and Dazn).
Basketball: Clippers win again, Orlando weakens without Wagner
The Los Angeles Clippers have proven their strong form in the NBA. The team led by German basketball world champion Daniel Theis won on Friday (local time) with 128:119 (65:53) against the recently strong Memphis Grizzlies. For the Clippers it was the eighth win from the last nine games, the team from Los Angeles improved to fourth place in the Western Conference.
In Memphis, the Clippers took the lead and control in the second quarter and didn’t relinquish it until the end. Theis came off the bench as usual and contributed to the strong team performance with seven points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals and three blocks. The Clippers’ best thrower was Paul George with 37 points. The Grizzlies, plagued by many failures, will have to do without Ja Morant for the rest of the season. The All-Star, who was suspended for the first 25 games of the season for weapons violations, required shoulder surgery.
The Orlando Magic lost to the Miami Heat 96:99. It was the fifth loss in the last seven games for the Florida team. Moritz Wagner showed a strong performance with 19 points, five rebounds and four assists. His brother Franz Wagner missed the fourth game due to an ankle injury. After a strong start to the season, Orlando has now slipped to eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
Miami’s victory was a special one. It was only the seventh this NBA season for a team to finish under 100 points. Like Wagner in Orlando, the Heat were also missing key offensive players in Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry and Tyler Herro.
There is still little going on at the Toronto Raptors. The team led by national team captain Dennis Schröder clearly lost to the Utah Jazz 113:145. After their third defeat in a row, the team from Canada is further behind the play-in places. Schröder came off the bench and had twelve points and four assists.
American Football: Amon-Ra St. Brown voted into the NFL Team of the Season
The German-American football professional Amon-Ra St. Brown from the Detroit Lions has been elected to the NFL All-Pro Team of the season. This was announced by the Associated Press news agency on Friday (local time), which organizes the annual election among media representatives. St. Brown is one of three wide receivers on the so-called first team, the other two being star players Tyreek Hill from the Miami Dolphins and CeeDee Lamb from the Dallas Cowboys.
In the past regular season, the 24-year-old St. Brown was one of the guarantors of one of the best seasons in the history of the Lions, who won their division for the first time since 1993. St. Brown set various personal bests in his third season in the NFL. He scored ten touchdowns for the first time and caught 119 passes for a total of 1,515 yards. In all statistics he was one of the best players at his position.
St. Brown was surprisingly not nominated for the Pro Bowl, the NFL’s all-star game, at the beginning of January. Last year, the son of a German and an American came in as a replacement, and this year he still has a chance if one of the selected wide receivers gets injured or takes part in the Super Bowl.
The final on February 11th in Las Vegas is also St. Brown’s goal. On the night from Sunday to Monday, the Lions will play a home game in the play-offs for the first time in 30 years; the team is favored against the Los Angeles Rams in the first round.
Boos for Krause in Chicago: “Absolutely shameful”
It was supposed to be a celebratory evening at the United Center, but Chicago Bulls fans ruined it. When the first members were inducted into the Ring of Honor of the famous NBA basketball club, the late former general manager Jerry Krause was booed when his name was announced, and his widow Thelma experienced the undignified and embarrassing moment in the arena.
The ceremony took place during halftime in the Bulls’ NBA home game against the Golden State Warriors (131:140), and visiting coach Steve Kerr was bitterly disappointed by the incident. “For me this is absolutely shameful and I am deeply dismayed,” said Kerr, who won three titles with the Bulls as a professional and is part of the new circle of honor. He feels sorry for Thelma and the Krause family.
Krause, GM from 1985 to 2003, was the architect behind icon Michael Jordan’s six championships for the Bulls in the 1990s, but is blamed by many for the team’s disintegration. “His legacy deserves to be celebrated and respected,” Bulls CEO Michael Reinsdorf said in a statement. “We were incredibly honored to have Thelma with us tonight.”
“Chicago is a sports town, this was the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” said former Bulls player Stacey King, now an NBC pundit. “I felt sorry for this lady. She was in tears. Whoever booed her in that arena should be ashamed of themselves.”
The first members of the Ring of Honor include the entire 1995/96 team, which won 72 times in 82 games this season and became champions. Jordan, who sent a video message, as well as his then teammates Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman were not in the hall.
2024-01-13 10:02:55
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