Los Angeles Rams heavily mocked after horrendous debut

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The Los Angeles Rams looked absolutely terrible in their first game since moving back to LA. The team got shutout 28-0 by another team that was expected to be crappy this year. That’s how bad the Rams are; they got embarrassed by a team most expected to be a 5-win franchise this season.

Here’s the thing: Not only was the Rams’ offense laughably bad, but what does it say about the team’s quarterback situation if No. 1 pick Jared Goff is third on the depth chart? He’s so bad that not one, but TWO guys were ahead of him on a team that could only pass for 120 yards against the 49ers? Just how bad is Goff?

I said all along during the draft process that Carson Wentz was the guy and that Goff wouldn’t be good. I also said the Rams screwed themselves by trading two seconds and a third in the last draft and a first and third in next year’s draft for him.

Telling you this right now: Carson Wentz is the QB to take and Jared Goff will not be a franchise QB. Don"t screw this up, @RamsNFL

— Larry Brown (@LBSports) April 14, 2016

Rams gave up 2 seconds, a third, and a first and third next year just to take a mediocre QB in Goff. They torpedoed their first 5 yrs in LA

— Larry Brown (@LBSports) April 15, 2016

Get ready for a crappy five seasons to start the Rams’ return to LA, fans. They’re off to a great start in maintaining fan interest in a city whose attention span lasts about as long as it takes to drink one of their pressed carrots and ginger organic juice shot.

Anyway, let’s take a look at the best tweets from fans mocking the Rams:

This fascinating graph shows how the Los Angeles Rams have progressed as a franchise pic.twitter.com/bZOerFtLGe

— Rodger Sherman (@rodger_sherman) September 13, 2016

case keenum be like… pic.twitter.com/IOffWD71rh

— Darryn Albert (@dirnted13) September 13, 2016

Shame the Rams died of dysentery before they made it to LA.

— sarah sprague (@sarah_sprague) September 13, 2016

Aaron Donald will be the first player ever to appeal a suspension to try to get more games.

— Alessandro Miglio (@AlexMiglio) September 13, 2016

All of Rams offensive drives today:
-Punt
-Punt
-Punt
-Int
-Punt
-Punt
-Punt
-Punt
-Punt
-Punt
-Int
-Punt
-Turnover On Downs
-End of Game

— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) September 13, 2016

Hey @NFL do the right thing and send all of us a "I survived the Rams/49ers Monday Night Football Game" t-shirt

— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) September 13, 2016

In 25 years of covering NFL, I"ve been to 600+ games. Rams offensive performance so far tonight ranks with any as worst I"ve ever seen

— Jason Cole (@JasonColeBR) September 13, 2016

We"re talking about watching this game film? It should be destroyed at the league office in the same room the Spygate tapes were expunged

— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) September 13, 2016

There were Jeff Fisher jokes:

Can the Rams bring in Pat Haden to fire Jeff Fisher on tarmac of the airport upon arriving back in LA? #3:14AM-LAX pic.twitter.com/hBel31GJhK

— Larry Brown (@LBSports) September 13, 2016

If the Rams were cool they"d have a stadium countdown for Jeff Fisher chasing the all-time loss record like Orioles did w/ Ripken"s streak

— Mike Tunison (@xmasape) September 13, 2016

By the looks of this first half the Rams have a lot of work to do before they can climb up to their normal 7-9 record

— mark schlereth (@markschlereth) September 13, 2016

The fans who want to trade the Rams back to St. Louis:

St. Louis just declared no take-backs

— Les Bowen (@LesBowen) September 13, 2016

L.A. still wondering when they"ll get an NFL team.

— Jay Posner (@sdutPosner) September 13, 2016

Streaker jokes:

#Rams GM Les Snead has apparently seen enough. https://t.co/FEvppeXKTk

— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) September 13, 2016

Fan running on the field and he just picked up more yards than the Rams. By a lot.

— Nick Wagoner (@nwagoner) September 13, 2016

And then this from a reporter:

I covered both of these quarterbacks if anyone"s wondering why I left football.

— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) September 13, 2016

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Totti saves Roma as Torino’s England ‘keeper suffers debut heart-break

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Milan (AFP) – Francesco Totti came off the bench to hit a late winner from the spot as Roma moved to within two points of leaders Juventus after a rain-interrupted 3-2 win over Sampdoria on Sunday.

“That was the first time I’ve ever felt afraid of taking a penalty,” the 39-year-old veteran, who is in his 24th and final season at the club, told Sky Sport minutes after being mobbed by teammates under the stadium’s popular Curva Sud end.

“You just can’t afford to miss under the Curva (sud)!”

Roma looked to be heading for a difficult second half at the Stadio Olympico after Sampdoria surged to a 2-1 half-time lead when goals from Fabio Quagliarella and Luis Muriel cancelled out Mohamed Salah’s eighth minute header for the hosts.

But Roma coach Luciano Spalletti was given extra time to consider his tactical options when officials delayed the restart by over 30 minutes to render the pitch playable again following a first-half deluge of rain and hailstones.

Totti replaced Diego Perotti and Edin Dzeko came on in place of Stephan El Shaarawy for the start of the second half, and the changes made an immediate impact.

After Kevin Strootman saw his drive palmed away by Emiliano Viviano, Totti set Dzeko up for a shot that forced Viviano to parry for a corner.

Two minutes later, Totti sent Dzeko through in the box and the Bosnian shimmied around Viviano before tapping home from close range to pull the hosts level.

Roma had the momentum, but Salah glanced a header wide and only the trailing foot of Viviano stopped Dzeko’s goalbound shot from crossing the line.

Roma looked all set for a share of the spoils until Dzeko made the most of a Milan Skriniar’s challenge in the area to win a penalty that Totti cooly slotted past Viviano.

Roma are now two points behind leaders and champions Juventus, who claimed their third successive win with a 3-1 defeat of Sassuolo on Saturday.

And Spalletti, who endured a lengthy spat with Totti last season, said he’s on the lookout for a bunch of new Tottis.

“I want four or five [Francesco] Tottis in this team,” said Spalletti, who was called out by the club talisman last season over his lack of playing time.

“If I don’t play him people get annoyed at me but I want to produce another player like him.

“One great player is not enough – you need more than that. I want to find more Tottis in my team.

“I want to see some of the other players in the squad develop into players like Totti – that’s what we need.”

Napoli sit in second place, also two points behind Juve, following a 3-0 rout of Palermo on Saturday when Jose Callejon added a brace to Marek Hamsik’s 47th minute opener.

Earlier, England goalkeeper Joe Hart conceded twice on his Torino debut as Atalanta secured a 2-1 win in Bergamo.

Hart, deemed surplus to requirements by Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, completed his move to unfashionable Torino on a season-long loan deal two weeks ago.

Torino made light of injury-enforced absences up front to take a 54th minute lead through Iago Falque.

But Atalanta only two minutes later Hart came off his line to palm a corner away with one hand, and Andrea Masiello punished the move by deftly volleying the loose ball into the net.

When Alejandro Gomez was hauled down by Lorenzo Di Silvestri inside the penalty area with only eight minutes on the clock, Ivorian striker Frank Kessie stepped up to coolly send Hart the wrong way to seal the win.

Torino coach Sinisa Mihajlovic was sent off for dissent, and tried to justify his outburst: “I protested to the referee because he didn’t whistle when (striker) Maxi Lopez suffered two fouls, while at the other end they blew the whistle immediately.”

In Sunday’s late game Inter Milan had Mauro Icardi to thank for a second-half brace that secured their first win of the season in a 2-1 defeat of new boys Pescara.

The post Totti saves Roma as Torino’s England ‘keeper suffers debut heart-break appeared first on World Soccer Talk.

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Dad Reduced To Blubbering Mess After Son Makes MLB Debut For Pirates

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Trevor Williams"s dad is a good dad.

Athletes are not robots. They are not machines. They have emotions and they have families and loved ones who have seen and known their sweat and labor. And sometimes when it all comes together, and they reach a pinnacle to their careers, we see this. We see the walls come down and the humanity show.

We see Trevor Williams make his major league debut for the Pirates and earn his first win. We see him hug his wife and his young child. And we see his father watching it all and damn near breaking down in the stands at PNC Park.

We see videos and moments of this, and when they"re captured and played for us, no one needs any extra schmaltz or sappy editing. Just watch the raw feed and feel the emotion of it.

Daaaaawww.

"It was an incredible moment for me and my family," Williams said. "He"s an emotional guy. He wears his heart on his sleeve. As soon as we embraced all the emotions came out.

"He"s been battling lymphoma all year. He had rigorous chemo and radiation. Right now we"re awaiting results to see if he"s in remission or not."

He adds: "There"s no one else I would rather share that moment with than my dad. He"s been with me since the very beginning, he"s taken me to Padres games when we were very young."

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Leicester City’s Slimani set for hurried debut

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London (AFP) – Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri could give a debut to record signing Islam Slimani against Liverpool on Saturday even though the Algeria striker is yet to train with the Premier League champions.

Slimani joined Leicester from Sporting Lisbon for an initial fee of around £28 million ($ 37 million, 33 million euros) on August 31 and is only due to arrive at his new club on Friday after international duty.

But despite Slimani having been absent, playing in Algeria’s Africa Cup of Nations win over Lesotho, Ranieri insists he won’t hesitate to play him at Anfield this weekend.

“I haven’t seen him but I will speak with him. He is available for Saturday, he could play but I want to speak with him, to see him and then we will see,” Ranieri said on Thursday.

“Yes (it would be a big call), but he is good. He only has to score goals. He is ready, he played all the matches with Sporting and he is ready to play with us.

“It is important when a player changes country that he has to adapt and keep calm. Of course we bought him because we believe in his ability.

“It is a goalscorer but it is important he understands the Premier League. It is different from the Portuguese league but he is a very interesting player.

“He cost a lot of money but if you see the market, it was crazy. I think as a goalscorer he cost less than others. He was a good buy for us.”

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Bravo must await debut as City host Hammers

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Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Claudio Bravo must wait to make his Manchester City debut as he prepares to watch his new club’s home Premier League game with West Ham United on Sunday from the stands at the Etihad Stadium.

The Chilean goalkeeper has completed the formalities over his reported £17 million ($ 22 million, 19 million euros) move to the Premier League, but his lack of training with his new team means manager Pep Guardiola has not considered him for a starting place.

That will almost certainly mean more frustration for unwanted England keeper Joe Hart, who has been told he can leave the club, with Willy Caballero poised to keep his starting place, as he has done in the opening two league games under Guardiola.

“He’s fit but he’s not going to play this weekend,” said Guardiola of Bravo.

Guardiola, who will be seeking to make it five wins from five competitive games with City, said Bravo fitted the bill for him as a goalkeeper and added Chilean players have as a rule flourished under his guidance. 

“He has experience, anticipates situations not in the box, in front of the box, good in the build-up plays, quick under the posts, he is a good player for us,” said Guardiola.

“I was lucky to have under my command Chilean players like Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal before and now Claudio Bravo. I spoke to Claudio and he’s going to be a good player for us. 

“I had a good experience with my previous Chilean players and I expect to have it with Claudio as well.

“And with the goalkeeper with more than 100 caps for the national team and a team that can compete with Argentina or Brazil he’s a really good asset for us.”

– Shirt-pulling warning –

Guardiola has almost a fully-fit squad from which to choose, with 30 players having taken part in training on Friday.

His only absentee is teenage striker Kelechi Iheanacho, who suffered a minor hamstring problem in the midweek win over Steaua Bucharest that will sideline him for two weeks.

One area where Guardiola wants his players to pay more attention to is in being mindful of the new rules over shirt-pulling in the penalty area.

“The referees came here and spoke to the players about the new rules so they know that,” said Guardiola.

“But we are going to speak to the players again, I don’t know what is going on, if it is happening more often, more times than it did.” 

Slaven Bilic’s West Ham will head north still smarting from their premature exit from the Europa League at the hands of Astra Giurgiu.

A repeat of last season’s victory at the Etihad Stadium will provide a timely lift, as will the imminent arrival of Juventus striker Simon Zaza.

“It is a boost,” Bilic said of Zaza.

“It was our plan for a long time now to get a top-quality striker and there were a few of them on our list, and Zaza was always mentioned there.”

Bilic also expects Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini to be close to full fitness but will not risk both playmakers.

“Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini, we’re going to know more on Saturday,” said Bilic.

“Maybe one of them will be in the squad for Sunday’s game.

“We still have one training session, but the situation is that after this game we have a couple of weeks and the temptation is not to play them because is it worth the risk?

“Of course if there is no risk we would pick them, but there is a big question mark. Only if there is no risk are we going to use them, and then only one of them.”

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