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“Warded” Off, Hines Ward’s 14-year Tenure With Steelers Comes To An End
Hines Ward’s constant, ear-to-ear smile tucked behind a black facemask has been a lasting image for Pittsburgh Steelers fans the past 14 seasons.
They won’t see it again.
At least, not in a black-and-gold uniform.
The franchise’s all-time leader in just about every meaningful receiving category will be released sometime in the next two weeks said president Art Rooney II on the team’s website on Wednesday.
“We had a conversation today with Hines Ward and informed him that we plan to release him of his contract prior to the start of the 2012 NFL calendar year,” Rooney said. “Hines has been an integral part of our success since we drafted him in 1998, and we will forever be grateful for what he has helped us achieve.”
A four-time Pro Bowl selection and MVP of the 2006 Super Bowl, Ward will finish his Steelers career with 1,000 catches, 12,083 yards and 85 receiving touchdowns. He helped Pittsburgh to three AFC championships and a pair of Super Bowl wins. Read More >>
Documentary, “Undefeated”, Blindsides Competition At The Oscars
It may not be “The Artist,” but on Sunday, “Undefeated” nabbed the Best Documentary Oscar at the 84th Annual Academy Awards with an upset win over presumed favorite “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory.” The film, directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin (Western Washington University Graduate), follows a the football program at Manassas High School in Memphis, Tennessee, and coach Bill Courtney, who looks to lead the team to their first playoff birth in the school’s 110-year history. “Undefeated” is in limited release now. Watch a short preview of the movie above. The documentary has been compared favorably to 2010′s Academy Award Best Picture nominee “The Blind Side”. A ’based on a true story’ film (that follows Undefeated’s similar story) of an inter-city youth overcoming his traumas and poverity while rising to prominence with the help his high school football team; eventually, becoming a star in college at Ole Miss, and a future 1st round NFL Draft pick by the Baltimore Ravens.
Deal Or No Deal? Franchise Tag Most Likely For Hawk’s Lynch.
The Seahawks have slightly more than a week remaining to get a deal done with free agent running back Marshawn Lynch. If the Seahawks and Lynch cannot come to terms on a new contract by March 5, the Seahawks have the option of tagging him their “franchise” player, which would virtually assure Seattle would retain Lynch’s services.
If the Seahawks apply the franchise tag to Lynch, any other team signing him to an offer sheet would have to compensate Seattle with a pair of first-round draft choices, absurd compensation, particularly for a running back, and especially for one already in the second half of his NFL career.
Seattle’s other option is to use the “transition” tag on Lynch. In this event, the Seahawks would not be entitled to draft picks if Lynch signed an offer sheet with a competing club, but they would be able to match that offer. A match would ensure that Lynch, Seattle’s leading rusher the past two seasons, would remain a Seahawk. Read More >>
Twisting and Turning in the Mountain West
Since being established in 1999, the NCAA’s youngest D-I FBS conference, the Mountain West, has been gaining exponentially more media coverage and national respect over the past few years, as a growing mid-major conference that can compete and win against the other high-major conferences: Pac-12, Big 12, Big 10, Big East, Southeastern and Atlantic Coast. Of the five mid-major conference BCS births since the 2004 NCAA College Football season, four of the five have been from the Mountain West (Utah in ’05, Boise State ’07, Utah ’09, Boise State and TCU ’10 and TCU again in ’11), going a combined 5-1 in those BCS appearances, possibly 6-0 if Boise State and TCU had not been bidded against eachother in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl. Mountain West men’s basketball has not been meek in competitive spirit either, appearing in 29 NCAA Tournaments since the Conference’s inception; on average, almost two and half teams a year. Most notably in my mind, the Mountain West has had three #1 overall draft selections for each major professional sport: the NFL’s Alex Smith of Utah and the NBA’s Andrew Bogut of Utah in 2005; MLB’s Stephen Strasburg of San Diego State in 2009. Read More >>
NBC ‘versus’ ESPN
As of Jan. 2, 2012 Versus, a channel known for broadcasting NHL games and a number of outdoor and combat sports, became the NBC Sports Network. The transition and rebrand weren’t completely unexpected. When Comcast, the original owner of Versus, bought the majority stake of NBC February 2011 it started merging NBC’s own sports content into the channel, and started relaunching Versus as a sort of extension to NBC normal sport’s broadcasting. As the months progressed the executive decision made sense to rebrand Versus as NBC Sports Network.
The rebrand is expected to make Versus into a more creditable channel that would appeal to a more mainstream sport’s audience; essentially, a channel that could compete with ESPN’s sports monopoly. An advantage of the new NBC Sports Network is NBC Universal’s recent procurements of lengthy contract extensions of viewership rights with the NHL and Olympic Games, helping Versus with its initial step towards its vision.
Brightening for the future expansion of the channel was the announcement of a new TV deal next year with the growing MLS over its original broadcaster partner, Fox Sports Channel. The deal was even announced for less money than Fox was offering, because executives were convinced on the future direction of the sports network. With soccer gaining ground each year in the US, the MLS has been thriving more than ever, and should be able to continue growing exponentially if NBC Sports Network can continue growing along with it. Read More >>
Super Story… (46)
The seconds passed, Brady steps into, out and back into the pocket again, fixes the spot in the endzone he wants to place the ball, and throws the last pass of Super Bowl 46. Down 21-17 in the last minute of the game, Tom Brady and Patriots tried to construct one last drive to win the game.
The Patriot’s drive stalled just below the wrong end of the 50-yard line, when it was time for Brady’s ‘Hail Mary’ to take flight. Aaron Herndanez, Patriot’s tight end, goes up in the endzone, using all his body and fundamental basketball force to block out the three Giant’s defenders, and make a play on the oncoming ball. The football seemingly glances off all eight pairs of hands to the side, while Rob Gronkowski, the Patriot’s other notable tight end, rhin-aceously charges toward the ball, but is too late to sweep-up the football before it hits the turf. Read More >>
Look Who’s Talking Now
If you like “A 6-5, 230 pound quarterback, with a laser rocket arm” maybe Peyton Manning isn’t for you…
Football scenery in Indianapolis has shifted into the apocalyptic over the past two year. The Indianapolis Colts finished the NFL season with an overall 2-14 record; giving them the proud ownership of the 1st overall pick in the NFL Draft. And it just so happens that Andrew Luck, college football’s most highly touted quarterback prospect since (Indy’s own) QB Peyton Manning, will be foregoing his senior season at Stanford, and entering the 2012 draft.
This unique situation wouldn’t be tracking proverbial substance across the ground if Manning hadn’t sustained a severe neck injury that caused him to miss the entire 2011-2012 season, and is currently putting the future of his playing career in doubt. A $28 million contract option bonus due from the Colts to Manning on March 8th would give the Colts financial justification to part ways with the QB. And the strategic advantage of drafting the young Andrew Luck could make the ”rebuilding” phase of the talent-ridden franchise all the more smooth. (Let’s be honest, all the prime-time Colt’s games last year we’re not fun to watch). Read More >>
The Visible Spectrum
… Another year, another championship featuring a team from New York or Boston. Some years, if we’re lucky though, us spectators get the special benefit of watching two of America’s largest sport markets duke it out in the same championship game. When the right side of this coin flips, this media Supernova can leave us sport’s fans outside the market left behind in the massive glare of the oncoming media onslaught. Outside of the happenings of Upper East Side of the United States, time begins to crawl, in a unobservable manner where our attention slowly, but forcibly, approaches the day of the game. Minor news regarding team’s organizations, player’s injuries, fan reaction and strategic speculation may seem to stretch on for days. From their perspective, everything outside of their market’s big game comes to a stand-still, no passing news surrounding buzzer beaters, college upsets and player trades and signings can penetrate through the realms of their metropolitan pride. When these media Supernovas happen, we’re all subject to a cosmic censorship of the sport. Read More >>
NFL’s Con-fessional Bowl
Let me give you a scenario, and you can tell me if it seems like something you’d enjoy watching. The scenario involves a group of athletes voted to play in an all-star game. Fans have a certain number of votes per each position, and may cast an unlimited number of ballots - representing what is supposed to be 1/3 of the total vote for athletes. These athletes that eventually get voted in get to travel, usually with their family’s, to Honolulu, HI a week before the all-star game. Keep in mind these athletes are still recovering from a full 16 game season of hitting, tackling, lifting and rehabbing. The athletes will get to lounge around in 80-90 degree weather, practice a little bit with their fellow conference all-stars, play pranks on each other, converse, surf, and talk about who is going to win their sport’s champ
ionship the next week. Doesn’t sound half bad for the athletes, does it?
This scenario I’m describing is the NFL Pro Bowl, a game held (as of the past few years) a week before the Super Bowl. It is the only major sports all-star game that garners lower T.V. ratings than its regular season games. Players are voted in based on what could essentially be equated to a popularity contest. Coaches for each conference are automatically selected from the teams that lost the NFC and AFC title games, coaching teams, with usually, a good percentage of players opting out of the game for various reason, some related to injuries sustained during the regular season, some because their respective team is the one playing in the Super Bowl the following week… And if you’re Randy Moss, back before the game was held after the Super Bowl, you’ll opt out of playing, cause the week before your New England Patriots ended up losing the Super Bowl. Hawaii was just not motivating enough.
Worst Jersey Ever..? Do You Think You Could Do Better?
To be honest, when I think of the pioneering of sports jersey’s, I don’t think of the 500 different helmet, jersey and pants bottom combinations Nike has branded against Oregon Ducks. I do though get mixed feelings when I see the throwback uniforms the Memphis Grizzlies sported against the Clippers last Thursday (pictured on the right). 
The Grizzlies’ retro jersey’s, and the game against the Clippers, was to be a sentiment to the old American Basketball Assosiation, 1967-1976, a “lively” league famous for its prominent red, white and blue basketball, entertaining (.. although unconventional) half-time promotions and the adoption of a three-point shot; advertised as the “home run” of basketball. If you’ve ever seen the movie, Semi-Pro, then know Will Ferrell and the Flint Michigan Tropics weren’t far from what the ABA was at the time. The league was successful enough though that Four of ABA teams eventually were adopted into the NBA: the Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets and New Jersey Nets. Thursday was to be allusion to a rematch of the old Los Angeles Stars and Memphis Pros/Tams/Sounds; and yes, Memphis did change their team name 3 times in 5 years. Read More >>
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