"There are certain issues that go along with Colin Kaepernick, and that may have scared some teams away. But there is absolutely no blackball going on here. I just don’t see that at all" -- Giants President & CEO John Mara, on the perception the anthem protest is keeping Kaepernick off NFL rosters (ESPN.com, 8/8).
"They have betrayed their fan base, their global fan base, and they’ve betrayed the players that would like to have this unique chance to represent their country in the Olympics. I think that ultimately translates into bad business because there’s a price for ignoring your players and your fans and they’ve got to think about that" -- Canadian IOC member Dick Pound, on the NHL not sending its players to the '18 PyeongChang Games (“Prime Time Sports,” Sportsnet, 8/8).
"The International Football Betting Conference is somewhere between -- I would imagine -- the AVN Awards and High Times’ Cannabis Cup on terrible places to announce that you want to mold the minds of young college students" -- ESPN’s Pablo Torre, on former NFLer Johnny Manziel stating he wants to coach football in the future while attending a gambling conference in Costa Rica (“PTI,” ESPN, 8/8).
