This Eagles trainer couldn’t make Jason Kelce’s last game because of cancer. He still got to tape his ankles one last time
CNN
Longtime Eagles trainer Joe O’Pella was able to play a part in Jason Kelce’s retirement announcement, just like the two of them had done across 13 years in Philly.
Jason Kelce’s recent retirement announcement led to an outpouring of emotion from all corners of the NFL, most of all from the former Philadelphia Eagles center himself. Kelce called time on his likely Hall of Fame career in a tearful press conference on Monday after 13 seasons in the league, all of them with Philadelphia. Longtime Eagles trainer Joe O’Pella was able to play a part in the retirement announcement, just like the two of them had done during Kelce’s long run in Philly. In a heartfelt Instagram post on Tuesday, O’Pella revealed that he missed the Eagles’ final game of the season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Kelce’s final NFL outing – because of his recent cancer diagnosis and therefore didn’t have the opportunity to tape the center’s ankles and thumbs for one last time That was a job that O’Pella had done for the past 13 years. So, in a poignant move, Kelce allowed O’Pella to tape his ankles and thumbs one last time for Monday’s retirement announcement.
Here we are, at the best three weeks of the sporting calendar. CNN Sports has everything you need to know to be ready for March Madness.
In a season of ticking off accomplishments, the Cornhuskers bull their way into March taking dead-eye aim at the elephant sitting square in the middle of their locker room: Their school is the only one power conference team that has failed to win an NCAA Tournament game.
Team USA avoided a World Baseball Classic disaster on Wednesday when Italy pulverized Mexico, ensuring the Americans advanced to the quarterfinals.
Cinderella is a funny girl when her glass slippers are Nike issued. We are amused by her as a lead-up to the ball, love her if earns a party-crashing admittance and then goes on to trash the place in the first weekend. But not everyone is so eager to hand her one of the coveted 37 extra tickets held in reserve.
New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch is requesting his ownership stake in the team be transferred to his children, according to an internal NFL memo.
Team USA is on the verge of one of the most embarrassing exits in World Baseball Classic history and, at this point, there’s nothing they can do about it.
Rick Barnes has been a head coach for 48 years. Won 857 games, been to the NCAA Tournament 29 times. He is not a man who needs to explain or even create a culture around his team. It sort of just exudes from him at this point.
Seven members of the Iranian women’s soccer team have remained in Australia, while the rest of the squad has now left the country for Iran, a source has told CNN Sports.
After their final defeat in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup on Sunday, supporters of the Iranian women’s football team crowded around their bus shouting at police to “save our girls” as it pulled away.
The Iran women’s national soccer team was forced to salute and sing its anthem on Thursday ahead of its Women’s Asian Cup group stage match against host Australia, sources close to the team tell CNN Sports, just days after the squad refused to do so in its tournament opener.
Lou Holtz, the College Football Hall of Fame coach who led Notre Dame to the 1988 national championship and won 249 games over 33 seasons at six schools, has died. He was 89.
North Carolina runner Molly Born won the USA Track & Field (USATF) women’s half marathon championship by a slim margin of just over four seconds on Sunday in Atlanta – but the result is only half the story.
It’s now 100 days until the FIFA World Cup is set to begin in North America, and the intensifying war in the Middle East has raised further questions around what is already a controversial tournament.