The Pro Bowl Isn't About You
Sure, the Pro Bowl doesn't carry with it the importance of home-field advantage in the World Series, a la Major League Baseball's All-Star game, and it doesn't have the can't miss slam-dunk and three-point contests like the NBA All-Star game, but it is still vitally important and a great honor to those who are here in paradise.
I'm not going to make a case that the Pro Bowl game is must watch television, because it's not. The all-out, gladiator like effort on every play in every game, however meaningless a game may be in terms of postseason, makes the NFL a must-see event every single week. Even if there is a lousy game on Monday night, America is still tuning in. The Pro Bowl doesn't feature that type of win or else effort where people are flying around the football field trying to decapitate each other.
I asked Denver Broncos Pro Bowl receiver Brandon Marshall how important winning this game is, and this was his response-
"It's a pride thing, at the end of the day we all want to go home healthy," Marshall admitted. "We want to have a fun game, an entertaining game, and a lot of what's brought a lot of people out here so we want to get that big check so we can pay for all our guests."
The winning players get a $40,000 check, and the losing team gets $25,000. The $15,000 pre-tax difference may not mean a bunch to players with huge contracts such as Peyton Manning, but it's a sizeable sum to guys who are on their rookie deals like Brandon Marshall and Brendon Ayanbadejo.
Still, this game is more about vacation than it is winning, and most players are not on board with the game moving away from the island next season.
"I think Miami will be nice, but I love it here, it's Hawaii," former Bethune-Cookman College and now Green Bay Packer Nick Collins said. "It's really a vacation."
Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl champion linebacker James Farrior was a little less politically correct when he was asked about the game moving to the mainland.
"This is beautiful, there's nowhere else I'd rather be, Farrior said with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell looking on. "Now that I'm in Hawaii, I'm going to relax and sit back."
Sitting back and relaxing has been pretty much the tone of the trip for seemingly all of the athletes. The practice sessions looked entirely different than anything you would see at even the softest spring mini-camp, especially the Texans mini-camps. Offensive linemen are standing around in groups, playing little games bouncing the footballs, receivers are jogging routes, and quarterbacks are laughing as they throw the ball.
"This whole thing has been pretty much a vacation," Texans star defensive end Mario Williams said.
At practices, there are no position coaches screaming, no people diving for balls, players wearing hats instead of helmets, and ridiculous trick plays that most of us haven't seen since the days of sandlot football. Instead it's just a celebration of hard work displayed throughout the regular season and a way that players from each of the teams represented with the exception of the champions can sun and party away the disappointments of falling short.
"It hurts," Arizona Cardinals strong safety Adrian Wilson said of his team's narrow Super Bowl defeat. "I would have rather lost by 30 than the way we did."
Everyone is genuinely having a great time and it's a great consolation prize for the losing coaching staff from the conference title games. Maybe that's why Andy Reid has headed up the NFC roster four times?
The Pro Bowl also allows players to interact, and meet some of their heroes growing up. I asked Owen Daniels if there was anyone that made him a bit "star-struck" this week.
"Peyton Manning," Daniels responded with a smile on his face. "Even though we play against him twice a year, I've never really met him before. He's one of the nicest guys around, and he took time out to have a conversation with me, as we were hanging around the pool and stuff. I was like, 'oohh, that's Peyton Manning!' "
The laid back nature of the Pro Bowl game is certainly contradictory to what makes the NFL America's passion, but before you talk about doing away with the game, remember that it's the last bit of football you will get until late summer. And if you still hate the game, it doesn't matter. It's not about you, it's about them.
Copyright (c) 2009 BattleRedNation.com and Scout.com
Ben Graham set to play in Superbowl
Aussie Ben Graham has passed a final fitness test and will become the first Australian to play in the Super Bowl.
Graham's suspect groin was given the thumbs-up and he'll now try to help his Arizona Cardinals upset the Pittsburgh Steelers in Florida.
The Steelers are strong favourites having won American sports biggest event 5-times.
Arizonais using his educational background to work out how to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, as the clock ticks down on the Super Bowl XLIII.
The Arizona Cardinals may be underdogs but there are still many around the NFL who believe that Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt and his troops could land a first ever Super Bowl for the franchise.
The head coach was a civil engineer at Georgia Tech and, on his Friday press conference before game weekend, he said he draws on that experience to help him in football.
'Being a civil engineer is about finding creative solutions to problems. I think in a lot of things that's very similar to football,' said Whisenhunt.
'You're going to face different defences, different offences and you have to be creative in how you attack them and how you're successful against this.
'I got great experience in learning how to solve problems, and it's helped my in football, I have no doubts about that.
'Even though there's not a lot of mathematical equations in football, there are a lot of problems that you're going to have to try to solve.'
The Cardinals limped into the play-offs, but have been rejuvenated in the post-season, and there is no doubt it will be the new team that hits Pittsburgh hard in Tampa.
Copyright Australian News Channel Pty Ltd
Vick Sues Former Financial Aide for $2 Million, Documents Say
Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Imprisoned quarterback Michael Vick is suing his former financial adviser and the company she co- owns with three National Football League players for at least $2 million, alleging fraud, breach of contract and negligence.
The lawsuit, which was filed Jan. 22 in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, seeks to recover damages related to "fraud, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion and negligence."
Vick, who in December 2007 was sentenced to 23 months in federal prison for conspiring to run a dogfighting ring, made the allegations against former financial adviser Mary Roy Wong and the Omaha, Nebraska-based company Williams and Bullocks LLC. Wong manages and co-owns the company with Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Demorrio Williams, New Orleans Saints safety Josh Bullocks and Detroit Lions safety Daniel Bullocks, Josh Bullocks's twin brother.
A telephone message left at the office of Wong's attorney, James Mitchell, and an e-mail sent to his firm, Rasmussen & Mitchell, after normal office hours weren't immediately returned.
Williams and the Bullocks brothers are investors in the United Republic Bank of Omaha, a transaction Wong helped arrange, according to the Omaha World-Herald.
Vick's lawsuit alleges that Wong misrepresented herself, failing to disclose that she had been previously sanctioned for fraud, and that Vick's funds would not be invested but instead used for the personal and business expenses of the defendants.
"We had satisfied ourselves through a diligent investigation that Mary Wong had breached her responsibilities to Michael and additionally taken funds under false pretenses that she's thus far refused to give back," Vick's attorney Peter Ginserg said in a telephone interview.
Vick Plea
Vick says in the suit that he met Wong in early 2007, invested $500,000 with Williams and Bullocks later that year and gave Wong power of attorney after his August 2007 guilty plea on federal dogfighting charges.
Nebraska securities officials in August 2008 began investigating Wong, who has advised Williams, the Bullocks brothers and other NFL players, according to the World-Herald.
In 2004, Wong lost her brokerage license when the New York Stock Exchange ruled that she put $147,000 of an Omaha woman's annuity into her own bank account, a fact Vick says in the lawsuit that he was unaware of.
The suit alleges that Wong made a transfer of $650,000 from Vick's bank account into that of Williams and Bullocks; put the $175,000 proceeds from another Vick investment into the company; and made a $200,000 transfer from an account for which Vick is a trustee, subjecting the account to penalties.
Tax Credit
It also alleges that Vick in June 2007 agreed to invest $500,000 in the company in exchange for a 10 percent annual return on the investment, for which he has not been reimbursed; and that Wong sold Vick's Georgia tax credits for $175,000 and deposited it in the company's bank account.
A sum of $125,000 has been returned by Wong and the company to Vick and placed in an escrow account, the suit says.
The amounts Vick is seeking "will be based both on the funds that she took and funds for which she was responsible that has disappeared or been lost in bad investments," Ginsberg said.
Vick, a three-time Pro Bowl selection with the Atlanta Falcons, pleaded guilty in November to a state dogfighting charge in a move that may make him eligible for early release, the Associated Press reported.
(c)2009 BLOOMBERG L.P.
Steelers, Eagles Are Favored in NFL Playoff Games
Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Pennsylvania's two National Football League teams, the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers, are favored in today's conference championship games for the right to play in the Super Bowl.
The Eagles are four-point favorites against the Arizona Cardinals in the National Football Conference title game, while the Steelers are six-point favorites over the Baltimore Ravens in the American Football Conference championship, according to Internet sports book Bodog.
The Cardinals are leading the Eagles 24-19 at the start of the fourth quarter. Today's winners will meet Feb. 1 in the Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida.
At Pittsburgh's Heinz Field tonight, there is a 50 percent chance of snow with temperatures around 26 degrees (minus 3 Celsius) and dropping as the Steelers (13-5) and Ravens (13-4) meet for the third time this season, according to the National Weather Service.
Pittsburgh beat Baltimore 23-20 in overtime on Sept. 29 and won again 13-9 on Dec. 14. Today's matchup of the NFL's top two defenses marks the 56th time since 1970 that two teams have met three times in a season. If the Steelers prevail again, it would be just the 12th three-game season sweep since then.
Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, who turned 24 on Jan. 16, could become the first rookie quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, 26, who led his team to a Super Bowl title three years ago, can pass Hall of Fame passer Troy Aikman today for the second-most playoff wins by a quarterback in his first five seasons. New England's Tom Brady is first with nine.
Cardinals-Eagles
The weather won't be a factor in Glendale, Arizona, where the temperature is 65 degrees (18 degrees Celsius) and the Cardinals have the option of closing the retractable roof on University of Phoenix Stadium.
The Eagles (11-6-1) and Cardinals (11-7) also met on the Thanksgiving holiday. Philadelphia won 48-20 at home as quarterback Donovan McNabb threw four touchdown passes and running back Brian Westbrook also scored four times.
It's the 111th meeting of the two long-time franchises, with the all-time series tied at 53-53-5. Their last playoff meeting decided the NFL championship in December 1948, as the Eagles beat the then Chicago Cardinals 7-0. The 60-year gap between playoff meetings is the longest in history.
With a win, Philadelphia will return to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2004 season, when it lost 24-21 to the New England Patriots.
Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner is looking to reach the Super Bowl for the third time in his 11-year career.
(c)2009 BLOOMBERG L.P.
The Bengals had the most injured starters in the NFL
Newest Bengals beat writer for the Enquirer, Joe Reedy, referenced a piece by Dallas News' Rick Gosselin who charted all the team's injuries, mostly starters that were placed on Injured Reserve. So what did Gosselin find out?
Bengals starters missed 84 games this season; 12 games more than the 72 missed by the Seattle Seahawk starters. The Bengals also had six starters go on IR (that number is clearly under-stated), which is tied for most with the Seahawks, Lions and Jaguars, while only five Bengals started all 16 games.
What the chart doesn't reference, is the games and players that are not starters that affects the team's performance. It's also clearly evident that the Bengals depth is poor compared to the other teams that perform at a high level without missing a beat, disregarding the "injury excuse". Injuries are apart of sports, and the ability to play around those injuries by having good backup players, accentuates the difference between a good team, and a bad team.
But we also slightly disagree with that assessment. Injuries are apart of football. But when you lose critical components for the team's success, not just a few, but several, then it's going to hurt teams, big time. The more critical components you lose, mixed with the unjustified reasoning behind cutting critical players (say a right tackle that will play, and start, in next week's AFC Championship game) something's wrong.
So the beat goes on; bad luck, overwhelming injury, and bad personnel choices, added together, making the Bengals who they are.
Copyright 2008 Sportsblogs
Darren Sproles is Chargers Big Hero Over Colts
The San Diego Chargers are perhaps the most taken seriously 8-8 team in history. In the past, when 8-8 teams made the playoffs, no one expected anything from them. Since the Chargers started the year 4-8, and then finally won the weaker division in football almost by default, they logically should have been expected to be one and done. But few are that surprised that the Chargers finally beat the Colts in overtime last night. Many more are surprised that Darren Sproles was the one to do it, however.
Darren Sproles made modern NFL playoff history with 328 yards of offense, including the winning touchdown of the Chargers 23-17 win. Sproles had only 105 rushing yards, but also had 45 receiving yards, 106 kickoff return yards and 72 punt return yards.
Sproles' final 22 yards won it all for the Chargers in overtime. After the Colts got a few questionable flags in overtime, the Chargers were in field goal range. But Sproles made that meaningless with his touchdown, ending the game before Peyton Manning could touch the ball in overtime.
The Colts and Chargers traded blows all night, with the Colts looking likely to get a knockout. But after the Colts were pinned at the 1 with three minutes left, the Chargers held them down and got the ball at the Colts' 38, getting a field goal to tie the game. Chargers punter Mike Scifres was credited as another star of the game, with an average of 52.7 yards a punt.
Sproles was the final big hero, stepping in for LaDainian Tomlinson, who tried to play through a painful groin injury and made a minimal impact. Sproles made Tomlinson's absence irrelevant, which could set up a big off season debate.
Tomlinson, the NFL MVP and record setting touchdown king two years ago, has been injury prone since. Tomlinson is also approaching 30, which is when many running backs begin to decline. Sproles is about to be a free agent, and may have just guaranteed himself big money by beating the Colts.
Chargers fans remember well what happened when the Chargers let Tomlinson's last backup, Michael Tucker, leave for the Falcons. Tucker then became the second-leading rusher in the NFL and led the Falcons to the playoffs, despite being stopped cold by the Cardinals in yesterday's playoff loss.
After Sproles gave the Chargers this win over the Colts, Chargers fan may be more keen on Sproles returning, rather than Tomlinson. Of course, that could change if Sproles is less spectacular next week.
The Chargers will next face the Titans, who they beat in last year's playoffs along with the Colts, or the Steelers, who gave them a wacky 11-10 defeat over a month ago.
(c)2009 Associated Content, Inc
Zygmunt Out As Rams GM
Rams fans could not have possibly asked for a better Christmas present this year. The past week at Rams park has been filled with front office moves that were long overdue. Owner Chip Rosenbloom stepped up and made it clear that he will no longer accept losing as an option. He is doing everything in his power to put the right people in charge of his slumping organization.
After the firing of Scott Linehan earlier this season, reports began to swirl about the resignation of GM Jay Zygmunt at seasons end, but in true Jay Zgymunt fashion he ducked out a week early.
It's hard to tell whether Jay left on his own terms or was forced out, but after 27 years of service with the Rams, a breath of fresh air was needed if they wanted to turn things around. Even though, Zygmunt has been under a lot of fire as of late, he has given the Rams organization plenty of things to applaud.
Since, moving to St. Louis in 1995 he has been one of the best salary cap managers throughout the NFL. He always made sure they had enough money to spend in the offseason, so they could go after one or two big name free agents. He also played a big hand in bringing Dick Vermeil in as head coach in 1997 and trading for Marshall Faulk, the key centerpiece to the Greatest Show on Turf.
After the Super Bowl win in 1999 and the retirement of Dick Vermeil, Zygmunt was promoted to president of football operations and the GM title was added several years later. He began overseeing many off-season draft and free agent acquisitions. GM never really became his area of expertise and the bad decisions seemed to outweigh the good ones he made early in his career.
Up until this past year drafting had become one of the biggest downfalls of the Rams organization. Zygmunt was the man who had the final say on draft day. From 2000-2007 there are only 16 out of 71 draft picks who still remain on the Rams Roster. (I did not include 2008 because Billy Devaney was in charge of the draft.) That number is absolutely atrocious, NFL teams are built through the draft, while sprinkling in one or two key free agent additions.
In addition to the bad drafting, there are the bad free agency moves that follow. It all started when London Fletcher was let go because Zygmunt believed that Jamie Duncan's skills and athleticism outweighed Fletchers or how about letting Kevin Curtis walk when he openly stated that he wanted to stay in St. Louis. Then you bring in Drew "I am always hurt" Bennett for $30 million dollars worth of headaches. When will it end? Luckily, it stops right now.
The blue print for success is laid out, all that Chip Rosenbloom has to do is make logical decisions that follow. After Zygmunt's resignation on Monday, Billy Devaney was promoted to GM. It is believed that Devaney will be in charge of the new head coach search that will take place after the season on Sunday. Devaney will also be in the charge of the draft again this year and all free agent acquisitions. With that said, the next few months at Rams park will probably more interesting than the 2008 season.
Copyright (c) 2003-2006 Ulysses Ronquillo
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