Athlon's Essential 11 Links of the Day: September 12, 2014

This is your daily links roundup of our favorite sports and entertainment posts on the web for September 12:

• Plenty of weak matchups in college football this weekend, but the cheerleader matchups are pretty good.

• There were an alarming number of purple No. 27 jerseys on display in Baltimore last night. Perhaps the news cycle is a little behind up there.

• James Brown addressed the Ray Rice elephant in the room in an eloquent opening to CBS' Thursday night game.

• An attempted celebratory mid-air bump sent a high school football coach flying.

• Inspirational story of the day involves basketball player born with one hand.

• Bill Simmons and his readers contemplate the ongoing employment of Roger Goodell.

• Hey look — Tiger actually won something!

• Scary moment last night: Giancarlo Stanton got carted off in an ambulance after being beaned in the face. The beaner, Mike Fiers, offered a heartfelt apology via Twitter.

• A Houston defensive back was apparently being controlled by a gamer with slow reflexes.

• People showed up at a high school rivalry game wearing t-shirts featuring the mug shot of a student at the opposing school.

• First-pitch follies: Joakim Noah botched his first try, but got a mulligan and threw a strike.

--Email us with any compelling sports-related links at links@athlonsports.com