Personal information | |
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Born | Sudbury, Massachusetts, U.S. | January 26, 1980
Alma mater | Ohio State University [1] |
Occupation | Sports writer/reporter |
Employer | Sports Illustrated |
Updated on 6 October 2014 |
Albert Breer (born January 26, 1980) is an American football journalist and reporter for Sports Illustrated . Breer previously spent time covering the New England Patriots for The MetroWest Daily News [2] where he contributed stories to the Boston Herald , and later covered the NFL for The Boston Globe , The Dallas Morning News , Sporting News and NFL Network. [3]
In June 2018, Breer took over as writer of the Monday Morning Quarterback column from Peter King, who left Sports Illustrated for NBC Sports. He is also a content strategist for The MMQB, Sports Illustrated's NFL vertical.
Breer was the writer most often questioning former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick in the famous 2014 "We're on to Cincinnati" press conference. Breer has said that this led the NFL Network to ban him from covering the Patriots for the remainder of his contract. [4] Breer was suspended from the NFL Network from April 25, 2016, through June 1, 2016, for undisclosed reasons and was prohibited from posting on social media during that time. Prior to his suspension he had agreed to take a position with the MMQB. [5]
In May 2017 Breer dismissed widely reported allegations that baseball player Adam Jones was the target of racist taunts by fans at Fenway Park because, according to Breer "I've probably been to 200 games at Fenway in my life. Never heard a slur yelled at a player." [6] The same year, Breer defended NFL front offices against allegations of "blackballing" Colin Kaepernick for his decision to protest the national anthem. [7]
Gino Raymond Michael Cappelletti was an American professional football player. He played college football for the Minnesota Golden Gophers and was an All-Star in the American Football League (AFL) for the Boston Patriots, winning the 1964 AFL Most Valuable Player Award. Cappelletti is a member of the Patriots Hall of Fame, and the Patriots' All-1960s Team. He served as the Patriots' radio color commentator until July 2012. His nicknames included "the Duke" and "Mr. Patriot".
Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 23 seasons. He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots and was a central contributor to the franchise's dynasty from 2001 to 2019. In his final three seasons, he was a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brady is widely regarded as the greatest quarterback of all time.
New England Sports Network, popularly known as NESN, is an American regional sports cable and satellite television network owned by a joint venture of Fenway Sports Group and Delaware North. Headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts, the network is primarily carried on cable providers throughout New England. NESN is also distributed nationally on satellite providers DirecTV and as NESN National via select cable providers.
Benjamin Seth Watson is an American former professional football player who was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Duke Blue Devils and Georgia Bulldogs. Watson was selected by the New England Patriots with the 32nd overall pick in the first round of the 2004 NFL draft and won Super Bowl XXXIX with the Patriots over the Philadelphia Eagles in his rookie year. He has also played in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, and New Orleans Saints.
Lesley Candace Visser is an American sportscaster, television and radio personality, and sportswriter. Visser is the first female NFL analyst on TV, and the only sportscaster in history who has worked on Final Four, NBA Finals, World Series, Triple Crown, Monday Night Football, the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the World Figure Skating Championships and the U.S. Open network broadcasts. Visser, who was voted the No. 1 Female Sportscaster of all time in a poll taken by the American Sportscasters Association, was inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association's Hall of Fame in 2015 and the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.
Football Night in America (FNIA), branded for sponsorship purposes as Football Night in America served by Applebee's, is an American pre-game show that is broadcast on NBC, preceding its broadcasts of Sunday night and postseason National Football League (NFL) games. The program debuted on September 10, 2006, when the network inaugurated its Sunday prime time game package. The 80-minute program airs live at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and is broadcast from Studio 1 at NBC Sports Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. Prior to 2012, Football Night in America originally broadcast from the GE Building in New York City, first out of Studio 8G from 2006 to 2012 and in 2013, from Studio 8H, where Saturday Night Live is also taped.
Roger Stokoe Goodell is an American businessman who has served as the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) since 2006.
Alex Flanagan is the Vice president of Broadcasting for the Montag group, a Wasserman company and a former American sportscaster. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona. She began her career as a news reporter and anchor and began covering sports in 1998. She has worked for networks including, NBC Sports, NFL Network, ESPN, and Fox Sports.
Colin Rand Kaepernick is an American civil rights activist and former professional football quarterback. He played six seasons for the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football League (NFL). In 2016, he knelt during the national anthem at the start of NFL games in protest of police brutality and racial inequality in the United States.
The Spygate scandal was a National Football League (NFL) controversy during the 2007 season, in which it was discovered that the New England Patriots were videotaping opposing coaches' signals during games under head coach Bill Belichick. It began when the New England Patriots were disciplined by the NFL for videotaping New York Jets' defensive coaches' signals from an unauthorized location during a September 9, 2007 game. Videotaping opposing coaches is not illegal in the NFL, per se; there are designated areas allowed by the league to do such taping. Because the Patriots were instead videotaping the Jets' coaches from their own sideline during the game, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell deemed it to be in violation of league rules, stating that the act represented a calculated and deliberate attempt to avoid long-standing rules designed to encourage fair play and promote honest competition on the playing field. After an investigation, the NFL fined Patriots head coach Bill Belichick $500,000 for his role in the incident, fined the Patriots $250,000, and docked the team their original first-round selection in the 2008 NFL draft which would have been the 31st pick of the draft.
The National Football League (NFL) was founded in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) with ten teams from four states, all of whom existed in some form as participants of regional leagues in their respective territories. The league took on its current name in 1922. The NFL was the first professional football league to successfully establish a nationwide presence, after several decades of failed attempts. Only two founding members are still in the league, the Decatur Staleys and the Chicago Cardinals is the oldest NFL franchise.
Michael Lombardi is an American football executive and media analyst currently working as an adviser for Washington Huskies football. Until 2016, he was an assistant to the coaching staff of the New England Patriots and is a former analyst for the NFL Network and sportswriter at NFL.com. Lombardi also previously served as an NFL executive with the San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles, Denver Broncos, and Oakland Raiders. He hosts his own podcast "The GM Shuffle" formerly with Adnan Virk now with Femi Abebefe, and co-hosts a Saturday morning sports betting program on Sirius XM for Vegas Stats & Information Network along with a daily show on Vegas Stats & Information Network called "The Lombardi Line".
The New Orleans Saints bounty scandal, colloquially known as "Bountygate", was an illegal program in which the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL) placed bounties on opposing players. The consensus around the program was that if a targeted player was knocked out of a game, a bonus would be paid to the defensive player that made the hit. A slush fund for paying the bounties was found to have operated from the 2009 season to the 2011–12 playoffs.
The National Football League (NFL) is the premier professional American football league in the United States, and is also one of the major North American professional sports leagues. Controversies in the NFL include subjects such as questionable championship rulings, team relocation decisions, and criminal behavior by players. Many of the recent controversies have surrounded NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, player conduct, and/or the league's role in player safety.
Steve Wyche is an American reporter for NFL Network. He appeared in the weekday morning show NFL AM.
Malcolm Terel Butler is an American former professional football cornerback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. Butler played his first four seasons with the New England Patriots, who signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2014. In his final three seasons, he was a member of the Tennessee Titans.
The Deflategate scandal was a National Football League (NFL) controversy in the United States involving the allegation that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady ordered the deliberate deflation of footballs that were used in the Patriots' victory against the Indianapolis Colts during the 2014 AFC Championship Game on January 18, 2015. The controversy resulted in Brady being suspended for four games, while the team was fined $1 million and forfeited two draft selections in 2016.
Beginning in August 2016, some American athletes, most of whom are African Americans, have protested against systemic racism in the United States by kneeling on one knee while the U.S. national anthem is played. Beginning in 2017, many players also protested against President Donald Trump's criticisms of those involved in the protest, and some against Trump's policies during his time in office. Some observers have praised the players' social awareness. The act itself has become widely referred to as "taking the knee" or "taking a knee". Right-wing backlash to Black athletes kneeling often includes heavy criticism of the athletes for being "unpatriotic"; internet backlash against the players has raised questions over their right to freedom of speech.
The Tom Brady–Bill Belichick era, also known as the Brady–Belichick era, the New England Patriots dynasty, or the Patriots dynasty, was a sports dynasty of the New England Patriots in the National Football League (NFL) that lasted from the 2000 to the 2019 season. The dynasty is named after quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick, who are regarded as among the greatest in their respective positions. Belichick and Brady are consistently credited with the Patriots' success and are considered responsible for one of the sport's longest and most dominant dynasties. They are also credited with helping to create and sustain the culture around the team, dubbed the "Patriot Way", where there is an emphasis on personal accountability, consistent improvement, and a focus on team success over personal gain.
On October 3, 2021, during week 4 of the 2021 NFL season, the defending Super Bowl LV champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the hosting New England Patriots by a score of 19–17 on NBC Sunday Night Football. The game was highly anticipated as Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady played his first game at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts against his former team, his long-time former head coach Bill Belichick, and Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Brady had previously spent 20 seasons with the Patriots between 2000 and 2019, leading the Patriots to a league-tying record of six championships. NBC Sports marketed the game with the tagline "The Return" in promotional material.