Claiming Tim Tebow was a bad quarterback in 2012 is almost an unfair statement. The former Florida Gators standout only threw the ball eight times as a New York Jet—and to his credit, completed six of those passes. Surely fans, prospective front offices and even vocal ex-teammates would need a slightly larger sample size to evaluate the talent and future of a player.

Yet, there will not likely be any more chances for Tim Tebow to prove himself in the National Football League—at least not in the foreseeable future. The New York Jets released their fourth string QB after surprisingly drafting West Virginia star Geno Smith 39th overall, making Tebow an unrestricted free agent. Apparently, only the Omaha Beef indoor team has knocked on Tebow's door since. Heck, even the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League passed on him.

Tebow has become somewhat of an enigma in the professional sports circuit. While his performance on the field has been anything but exceptional, his sterling brand has remained remarkably strong. Very strong, in fact, according to Henry Schafer, the executive Vice President of The Q Scores, which rank athletes and celebrities based on their positive impressions in the public. This now-mainstream analytics measurement has helped Tebow land a variety of endorsements throughout the years, and may ultimately contribute to a stay in his popularity.Continue reading...

Soccer fans in China were recently dealt a nasty blow when news came out of just how rigged the system has been there. Close to 60 Chinese soccer officials, including two former heads of the Chinese Football Association and the nation’s most-respected referee were recently banned from the sport for anywhere from five years to life for fixing games.

In addition to the corruption scandal, Chinese football has also just lost two of its biggest stars—the Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba and France’s Nicolas Anelka—long before soccer fans in the country expected them to leave.

What’s the most-populated nation in the world to do? Hire the world’s most well-known soccer player under the age of 40 to help shift its image, of course. The 37-year-old David Beckham, who is now on the roster of Paris Saint-Germain Football Club in France’s Ligue 1, has signed on to be the brand ambassador for Chinese football, the BBC reports.Continue reading...

The horrific actions of former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky have gripped a nation since he was arrested last fall and found guilty of 45 counts of child abuse a month ago. Now it is Penn State’s turn.

The release of former FBI Director Louis Freeh’s independent report Thursday morning is a major blow to the PSU brand, with one immediate fallout: Nike immediately reversed its November decision to stand by Sandusky's former boss, the late Joe Paterno, whose name graces a childcare center at its global HQ.

Before the report's release, even with the Sandusky talk swirling before his trial and conviction, the University managed to raise millions of dollars. In fact, the 2011-12 fiscal year had the school bringing in the second-highest annual fundraising tally in its history: a whopping $208.7 million.

It remains to be seen how much money comes PSU’s way now that its former leaders are more in the public eye than Sandusky, who has now been entered into American criminal lore as one of the most clued-out offenders of all time — and protected. As the Freeh report on Penn State's role states in one damning sentence, "In short, nothing was done and Sandusky was allowed to continue with impunity."Continue reading...

Nike has taken over the NFL’s jerseys from Reebok and redesigned them entirely, but don’t go thinking it’s the only North American football league that’s going through this process this year.

The Canadian Football League is going to have its own “re-engineered jerseys” from Reebok before the CFL's June training camps kick off, according to Canada's National Post.

The eight teams of the CFL will each get new jerseys designed by Reebok as part of the league’s 100th anniversary celebration of the Grey Cup, the championship of the CFL.

“While we will mark this historic milestone in many ways, we have also worked with Reebok to re-engineer team jerseys for the way the game is played today — and to help our athletes succeed tomorrow,” commissioner Mark Cohon said in a statement.Continue reading...

And the votes are in... This past Super Bowl was one heck of a showdown, and not just involving the teams. The highly anticipated and heavily judged commercials have been hotly debated all week. As rated by ad-trackers including Hulu, USA Today and Nielsen, the outcome of votes have made it clear which ads reign supreme. Check out the winners below.Continue reading...

Not only will the NFL's uniforms change partners from Reebok to Nike, it looks like the Panthers are taking advantage of this opportunity with the team's first logo change ever since entering the NFL in 1995.

The idea was to modernize the logo without "losing the dramatic essence of the mark," says Carolina Panthers President Danny Morrison. The logotype has also been changed (below) to integrate the logo into the type itself. Also watch their Logo Evolution video below.Continue reading...

English football isn’t always known for its family friendliness but the West Ham United Football Club (known as the Hammers) in East London took a step in that direction Saturday by adding another mascot to sports pantheon of cute and fuzzy mascots.

The Hammers' new mascot, Hammerhead (at right), isn’t a shark but, yes, it is a hammer. A dancing, showboating hammer. Hammerhead had something to strut about Saturday as his team topped Barnsley F.C. Tykes 1-0. (And it’s not really nice to pick on tykes, is it?)

The team’s fans, though, weren’t sure what to make of Hammerhead, according to Metro.co.uk. On one fan forum, the site notes, one commenter stated, “Rarely have I been so embarrassed at Upton Park” while another wrote, “I personally thought it was much more entertaining than the game.”Continue reading...

The quadrennial FIFA men’s World Cup always has a huge international draw on television, but the numbers watching in India are growing. It is estimated that in the first two days of last year’s Cup, 20 million people watched in India, a 35% increase from 2006, according to the Times of India. Before the Cup ended, the paper notes, 287 people in India had watched the event.

Those kinds of numbers have some thinking that India “will become the largest football-consuming nation in the world,” the paper notes. Those kinds of numbers and that kind of interest, of course, have businesses looking to capitalize. The Times reports that “several English football clubs are entering into licensing arrangements with Indian partners to deliver a complete football lifestyle experience.”

Manchester United, the Premier League’s version of the New York Yankees with the most league titles (19) and a steady stream of big-name players, has been the most aggressive in India, partnering with Future Group-owned Indus League Clothing to create “exclusive ManU branded stores” that’ll carry everything from jerseys and refrigerator magnets to slippers for the more refined fans.Continue reading...