nfl

Pro football has a Clancy-esque spy story going. It can even be called Patriot Games.

The New England Patriots of the National Football League are accused of conducting electronic surveillance in an effort to steal hand signals from opponents. The murky tale of rule breaking features clandestine videotaping and suspicious radio frequencies. Some in football believe that this is all wrong; not just the cheating, but some look down their noses at the kind of cheating.

This situation isn't like grabbing someone's jersey away from the refs or corking a bat. This is cloak-and-dagger stuff. We're talking … Read more

Chalk this up to overkill. The New England Patriots, victors in three of the past six Super Bowls, are accused of using technology to gain an unfair advantage last Sunday.

The NFL's front office has determined that the Patriots swiped defensive signals during Sunday's 38-14 drubbing of the New York Jets, according to a report published Tuesday on ESPN.com. League officials confiscated a video camera and tape from one of the Patriots' assistant coaches after he allegedly was caught taping Jets' coaches sending hand signals, ESPN reported.

A spokesman for the league could not be reached for … Read more

It's almost September, and that can mean but one thing: Football. And here at Crave, we do our level best to help you keep apprised of all your scores, fantasy or otherwise, as we did by alerting you to the "Game Time" sports watch in time for Father's Day.

But if your heartless and inconsiderate family missed that opportunity, there's still hope. Enter the "SportsCase Wireless Football Scoreboard," a $75 (on sale) gadget that provides scores received via satellite with no subscription needed, as well as standings, schedules and statistics.

Sure, it's … Read more

Editors' note: This blog initially misstated Bing Gordon's title. He is chief creative officer of Electronic Arts.

A new football season is around the corner, and gamers have a new version of Electronic Arts' running hit Madden NFL 08 to prepare for their fantasy drafts. That is, PC and console gamers.

EA Chief Creative Officer Bing Gordon said at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June that the company would simultaneously release Madden NFL 08 for both Windows PCs and Macs when the title went on sale last night. However, as noted by VNUnet, the Mac version is nowhere … Read more

Like many Americans, NFL referees will spend a fair amount of time this fall watching football in HD. The NFL is upgrading the replay equipment in all but three of its stadiums so that its officials can review plays in high-definition. Fans of the Giants, Jets, Colts, and Cowboys will be dismayed to learn that their home games will lack HD instant replay until the stadiums in New York Jersey, Indianapolis, and Dallas are replaced in the next few years. Along with reviewing controversial calls in HD, the refs will also get to view replays on larger 26-inch screens--up from … Read more

During football season, there are really only two times of day: game time, and the lame 164 or so hours a week when your team isn't playing.

Finally, there's a watch that realizes this. The Pro Sports Schedule Watch comes preloaded with your favorite NFL or MLB team's season schedule.

These $130 watches aren't one-year wonders, either. The USB-compatible watch can download future schedules from the Web, so you'll always have the current schedule on your wrist.

When it's game time, the watch plays "The Star Spangled Banner" for football games or &… Read more

National Football League rules for the upcoming season require press photographers to wear red vests that sport Canon and Reebok logos, and some shooters are objecting.

A Wall Street Journal story mentioned the new rule, and the National Press Photographers Association objected on Wednesday.

"It totally goes against our Code of Ethics to force photographers to advertise as if they were some sort of Nascar vehicle," John Long, chairman of NPPA's Ethics and Standards Committee, said in an article on the organization's Web site. The article also quoted Pete Cross, photography managing editor for The Palm … Read more

Football-loving couch potatoes rejoice: here's a new way for you to get your NFL fix on during the tragically long off-season. SI.com, the online arm of Sports Illustrated, will be launching a new video portal, NFL Draft FilmRoom, so that you'll have access to video highlights of each of the college football players who have been selected to the NFL's 2007 draft. (If you're not a football fan, FYI, this is a huge deal.)

The picks for the '07 NFL Draft will be announced on April 28 and 29 in NYC.

The power behind this … Read more

When the New England Patriots visit the Indianapolis Colts this Sunday in the NFL's AFC Championship game, Boston.com hopes the result will be a foregone conclusion: the Patriots will win 38-31.

That will be the final score, according to a Madden NFL 2007 simulation of the game performed by Boston.com on an Xbox 360. This is thanks in part to Colts kicker--and former Patriots hero--Adam Vinatieri missing two field goals. A video of the game's virtual highlights is posted on the site.

Boston.com's game is not the official EA Sports Madden NFL 07 simulation … Read more