JESS BRYANT

The Athletic • February 10 2025

Super Bowl 2026 odds: Eagles open as early favorites while Chiefs fall; Giants, Titans dead last

The Philadelphia Eagles picked apart the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 to thwart KC’s three-peat and win Super Bowl LIX. With this year’s championship decided, sportsbooks are already looking ahead to Super Bowl LX. The Eagles opened as the betting favorites to win it all at +650 at BetMGM, while the Baltimore Ravens (+700), Buffalo Bills (+750) and Kansas City (+750) come in next. Rounding out the top five are the Detroit Lions at +850. Despite missing the playoffs entirely, the San Francisco 49ers...

The Athletic • February 9 2025

Super Bowl 2025 betting hub: Best bets, predictions, live odds for Chiefs vs. Eagles

Super Bowl LIX between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs is here. The NFL’s top event is the most bet-on sporting affair in the U.S. each year thanks to high viewership and the wide variety of betting options available to anyone with internet access (subject to state-specific restrictions). Below you’ll find everything you’ll need when it comes to picks, predictions, live odds and more.Think of this as your cheat sheet for all things Super Bowl betting. We’re compiling expert analys...

The Athletic • January 26 2025

Commanders at Eagles: How to watch, odds, expert picks with Philly TD favorites in NFC Championship

The Washington Commanders may be the darlings of the NFL playoffs, but the Philadelphia Eagles are nearly touchdown favorites over Jayden Daniels and company. Philadelphia opened as a 5-point favorite, and the line dropped to as close as 4 points on some sportsbooks but it has since moved to 6 points and held. Injury designations did not move the line as of Sunday morning.The Commanders are in the Conference Championships for the first time since 1991 — the year Washington beat the Buffalo Bills...

The Athletic • January 15 2025

Christian McCaffrey might be the worst No. 1 fantasy football pick. And not just because of 2024

When fantasy managers score the No. 1 draft pick, the season feels ripe with opportunity. Any one of several supremely talented players can serve as your champion, leading your roster to undreamt heights in a quest for fantasy glory. Unless, that is, you draft Christian McCaffrey when he’s the consensus top pick — those managers will end up cowering in a fetal position at the base of a desolate crater McCaffrey has dug for them.The 2024 fantasy season was fraught with disappointment for those wh...

The Athletic • January 5 2025

NFL Week 18 fantasy football, betting cheat sheet: All hands on deck for Vikings and Lions

Welcome to the Week 18 fantasy and betting cheat sheet, a one-stop shop for The Athletic’s game previews, injury and weather updates, and expert analysis. Bookmark this page and check back often, as we offer regular updates through Sunday to assist with fantasy lineups and betting decisions.Player rankings referenced in this article are current as of Jan. 5. For updated rankings, see the “Fantasy football player rankings” section.The latest NFL news and headlinesLast updated: 3:05 p.m. ET, Jan....

The Athletic • January 2 2025

NFL Week 18 injuries and benchings: With playoff seeds on the line, who’s starting or sitting?

While the vast majority of fantasy leagues crowned their champions following Week 17, some leagues prefer to span the entirety of the NFL season. And that makes cobbling together a starting lineup a bit complicated for fantasy managers in Week 18 when NFL teams weigh the risk of injury against the reward of a playoff spot or improved seeding.Twelve of the 14 playoff spots are set but three division titles remain up for grabs. Several of the seed lines are locked down, but most remain up for grab...

The Athletic • December 9 2024

The top 5 fantasy football QB performances ever: Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen now tops the list

Leading NFL MVP candidate Josh Allen had the best fantasy performance by a quarterback ever in Week 14, logging an incredible six touchdowns (three through the air, three on the ground) en route to 51.88 fantasy points.Not only is Allen’s monster day the best of the fantasy era, if you applied fantasy scoring rules to earlier pro football contests, Allen still tops the charts. The second-best historical QB performance was over six decades ago, in 1961, when Houston Oiler George Blanda would have...

The Athletic • November 8 2024

Ja’Marr Chase didn’t crack the top 5 fantasy football outings. Here’s who did

The Thursday Night Football matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens was electric, thrilling — all the adjectives — and Ja’Marr Chase logged a truly legendary fantasy football performance. Chase scored 55.4 points per reception (PPR) points and became the first player in the league to score over 50 fantasy points in a game on three separate occasions. But where does the star pass catcher’s Thursday performance rank on the all-time list?Surprisingly, Chase’s point total does no...

https://www.fantasylife.com • October 12 2024

Week 5 Fantasy Football Roundtable: Rookies, WR2s, and More

Welcome to Fantasy Life's Week 5 Expert Roundtable! We're using data and eye tests to make best guesses and reconstruct rosters a month into the season.The Fantasy Life staff explores which rookies have made their claim as franchise-changers, transforming both the league and fantasy lineups. We're also giving props to WR2 weekly locks, keying in on fantasy-relevant matchups, and fine-tuning our squads on the field and off (see Week 5's pop culture question).Join me and some of your Fantasy Life...

https://www.fantasylife.com • October 11 2024

Fantasy Football Expert Roundtable: Who Can You Trust In Week 4?

Every week offers more insight as to how real-life football will play out and how fantasy players can start the right players each week. In Week 3, a lot of people had Diontae Johnson, Tre Tucker, and Jauan Jennings on their benches and started Davante Adams, Nico Collins, or Tyreek Hill.It’s impossible to predict how each week will go, and Adams, Collins, and Hill are no-brainer weekly starters for now. But when it comes to Flex positions, Jauan Jennings and Tre Tucker made a case for themselve...

https://www.fantasylife.com • October 9 2024

Fantasy Roundtable: Top 5 Tight Ends, Chiefs RBs, and More

For this week's roundtable, I invited Kendall Valenzuela, Matthew Freedman, and Dwain McFarland to help fantasy players sort out the Chiefs' backfield, the Top 5 tight ends, the must-start rookies, and more. Much, much more. Let's jump in!Kendall: First of all, can someone please turn off these injuries?? The backfield will become a full-blown committee in Kansas City, but I have Samaje Perine on more of my teams than Carson Steele or Kareem Hunt. Perine is a better pass-blocker and pass-catcher...

https://www.fantasylife.com • October 5 2024

Fantasy Football's Early Surprises, Week 2 Start/Sits, and More

Week 2 is here, and with actual data from Week 1, we can make more informed decisions when setting our fantasy lineups. Deshaun Watson, Will Levis, Bo Nix, Daniel Jones, and Bryce Young all underperformed, posting passer ratings below 53.0. On the flip side, Anthony Richardson looks like a franchise quarterback, and Sam Darnold is making a solid case for Comeback Player of the Year.Fantasy Life's LG Showrunner, Ed Eck (check out our show on LGChannels.com!), emphasized to me earlier this year th...

https://www.fantasylife.com • September 5 2024

Week 1 Fantasy Football Roundtable: Must-Start Rookies, Favorite Matchups, and more

The season is finally here, and soon, we’ll be speculating less as results begin to clarify muddy waters. But this week, we still have to make predictions with no regular season games to guide us.I’m asking a litany of Fantasy Life family members to assist me in our analysis for Week 1, including:Sam Wallace: It's going to be impossible to sit players like Marvin Harrison and Malik Nabers at any point during their careers, so I'm firing up both of them this week without question.I’m also rolling...

Philadelphia Gay News • March 30 2020

An artful and queer conversation with Andrea Gibson | Philadelphia Gay News

Andrea Gibson said poetry allows a space “open to fall apart if we need to.”

A prolific genderqueer writer and spoken-word artist, Gibson performed poetry to a crowd of over 400 (nearly all LGBTQ) at Philadelphia’s The Foundry.

Andrea Gibson said poetry allows a space “open to fall apart if we need to.”

A prolific genderqueer writer and spoken-word artist, Gibson performed poetry to a crowd of over 400 (nearly all LGBTQ) at Philadelphia’s The Foundry.

On tour for two months, this time arou

Philadelphia Gay News • March 30 2020

PA lawmakers make impassioned plea for a vote on antidiscrimination law | Philadelphia Gay News

State legislators and members of the LGBTQ community and its allies held a news conference in Harrisburg this week to announce the introduction of anti-discrimination legislation, and to implore citizens and fellow legislators to support it.

House Bill 1404 and Senate Bill 614 would provide protection at work, in housing and in business services for LGBTQ people by adding sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression to the state’s nondiscrimination law, which was originally written

Philadelphia Gay News • March 30 2020

Religious nonprofit to file for review of LGBTQ foster care case | Philadelphia Gay News

Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBT and HIV project and child welfare advocates held a briefing call June 21 about a potential Supreme Court petition concerning LGBTQ discrimination in foster care.

Nonprofit Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is filing the cert petition, which asks the Supreme Court to review the decision of a lower-level court, in the case Fulton vs. City of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia’s Department of Human Services learned last year that two agencies,

Philadelphia Gay News • March 30 2020

Philly’s Trans Wellness Conference shows growth | Philadelphia Gay News

Last week the Pennsylvania Convention Center hosted the Philadelphia Trans Wellness Conference, a three-day affair, organized by the Mazzoni Center. The PTWC is the largest trans-specific conference in the world, and this year a preliminary count asserted over 11,000 people attended the event that ran Aug. 25-27, exceeding last year’s number, according to Larry Benjamin, spokesperson for the Mazzoni Center.

Founded in 2000 by Charlene Arcila, the event was originally called the Trans Health Con

Philadelphia Gay News • March 30 2020

Pioneer of gender-affirmation surgery joins local hospital | Philadelphia Gay News

Dr. Sherman Leis, a pioneer of gender-affirmation surgery for trans people, has joined Delaware County Memorial Hospital, an Upper Darby institution that is part of the Crozer-Keystone health system, as an attending surgeon.

Leis founded The Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery, in Bala Cynwyd, which has specialists including surgeons, psychologists, endocrinologists, aestheticians, speech therapists, legal experts and others. Starting this month, suture removal, consultations, pre-opera

Philadelphia Gay News • March 30 2020

PA legislators, advocates push for conversion therapy ban | Philadelphia Gay News

State Rep. Brian Sims (D-Phila.) hosted a news conference Wednesday in Harrisburg about banning conversion therapy for minors in Pennsylvania.

Washington, D.C. and 18 states including New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland have banned conversion therapy for minors. Only 11 cities in Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Doylestown and Reading, have outlawed the practice.

On Oct. 21, Sims was joined by state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Phila.), state Sen. Katie Muth, Daniel Walin

Philadelphia Gay News • March 30 2020

Community conversations inform funding | Philadelphia Gay News

Nearly 6,000 people participated in more than 450 conversations Oct. 17 as a part of On The Table Philly — an engagement initiative designed to “elevate civic conversation” and foster community.

A project from Philadelphia Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, On The Table Philly aims to make local and regional communities “stronger, safer and more vibrant” by gathering groups, individuals, businesses, nonprofits and area residents to talk about topics including education,

Philadelphia Gay News • March 30 2020

PA LGBT students disproportionately affected by bullying | Philadelphia Gay News

Pennsylvania’s Office of Attorney General released a resource guide in October for students, guardians and educators about bullying prevention and intervention for National Bullying Prevention Month.

It offers insights from student conversations, called “TeenTALK sessions,” that occurred during the 2018-19 school year. Representatives from 13 districts, including Allentown, East Penn, Harrisburg and Downingtown participated.

The TeenTALK report indicated 70 percent of LGBTQ students were verba

Philadelphia Gay News • March 30 2020

Phila. Bar Association recommends out judges | Philadelphia Gay News

This week the Philadelphia Bar Association released its final slate of judicial ratings, which includes candidates running for judicial seats and sitting judges running for retention in the Court of Common Pleas, leading up to the Nov. 5 general election.

The 35-member Bar Association is independent and non-partisan. Ratings are based on investigations done by its 120-member investigative division.

“Our Commission’s non-partisan judicial ratings are a simple way for voters to make an informed

Philadelphia Gay News • March 30 2020

‘Denial of Care Rule’ struck down again | Philadelphia Gay News

On Nov. 19, U.S. District Judge William Alsup issued an opinion and order in Santa Clara v. Azar, a case against a proposed Trump administration rule that would allow health care workers to deny medical services — such as abortion or gender-affirming surgery — based on personal religious or moral beliefs.

Alsup denied the administration’s motion to dismiss and vacated what’s known as the Denial of Care Rule in its entirety. The court wrote, “When a rule is so saturated with error, as here, ther

Philadelphia Gay News • March 30 2020

NJ’s Transgender Equality Task Force issued report centering trans folks | Philadelphia Gay News

The New Jersey Transgender Equality Task Force issued a report on the lived experiences of trans New Jerseyans on Wednesday. From a six-month mission of research and community conversations centered on assessing legal and societal barriers to transgender equality, the report provides recommendations to the governor and legislature on ways to improve the lives of transgender people and ensure equity.

In 2017, Governor Phil Murphy signed a law establishing a statewide Transgender Equality Task Fo