Super Bowl ain't for pansies
SO THERE was an Australian, a Pole, a Brazilian, an Israeli, a Frenchman, a Dutchman and a South African.
We were at Super Bowl 43 on Sunday, all of us sports writers and guests of sports broadcaster ESPN.
None of us, barring the Israeli, knew what the hell was going on.
Our jaws spent those four mad hours on the floor. The Super Bowl might not come close to the World Cup final in viewership or global appeal, but when it comes to majestic, cartoonish spectacle, it makes soccer's greatest game seem like a Sunday morning kick-about.
To start, a 300-hundred-strong brass band, fronted by a squadron of dancing girls in tiger-print suits. Then five jet fighters screaming over the stadium, their arrival timed with spooky precision to follow the anthem's final note. Bruce Springsteen shaking his bones at half-time, illuminated by the torches dispensed to each of the 72 000 spectators. Vast plumes of fireworks honouring each apparent touchdown, whether or not the officials later disallow it.
But the show's lead actors outdo all the sideshows. The star of any play, small or momentous, makes sure you know it's him. He screams and struts and exhorts the crowd, milking his moment like a wrestler. An exception on Sunday night was giant Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison, who intercepted Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner's pass on his own line - and galloped the length of the field for a record-breaking touchdown. He just lay down in the end zone like a corpse.
At the entrance to the locker room at the Raymond James stadium, there's a big poster that reads: "LOOK WHERE YOU'RE HITTING", with a fat red line drawn across a sketch of a footballer hurtling horizontally and head first into an opponent's chest.
The stakes are so dizzyingly high, on both the personal and team levels, that inaccurate, reckless aggression is rare in NFL football. Post-tackle fights don't last longer than a few seconds.
On the other hand, the game is impossible to play timidly: it is truly gladiatorial, a word usually used too cheaply to describe sporting contests.
Take Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, the Schalk Burger of the NFL. Though a comparative midget at just 94kg and 178cm, he hurtles about the pitch to inflict hits so monstrous that they trigger mini-tsunamis in Samoa, whence his ancestors came. Polamalu's mass of frizzy hair sprouts comically from his helmet, as though he were sharing it with a French poodle.
On occasion, tacklers have yanked him down by his locks, but the brand identification is worth the pain. And besides, Polamalu almost relishes pain. "Football just loses so much of its essence when it becomes a pansy game," he told reporters recently.
Well, if Polamalu thinks NFL football is in danger of becoming a "pansy game", he should catch a soccer match sometime.
(c) 2008 AVUSA, Inc.
Warner's legacy beyond football is already written
Tampa, Fla. - To heck with Canton, Ohio, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. If you ask Dick Vermeil, Kurt Warner's bust belongs in Camelot.
"It takes as much to get there and lose as it does to get there and win," Vermeil, Warner's old coach with the St. Louis Rams, said of the former Iowa Barnstormers and University of Northern Iowa quarterback.
"When you examine what that franchise has done over the years compared to what they did this year? They ought to knight him. They ought to knight him and make him honorary governor of the state."
The legacy grows. Pass upon pass, layer upon layer.
Tonight, Warner will lead the upstart Arizona Cardinals into Raymond James Stadium, site of Super Bowl XLIII. It is Warner's third Super Bowl in 10 years. He will become only the second player in NFL history to start for two different (and historically wretched) teams in two Super Bowls - a savior in stubble.
The greatest professional football player to ever hail from Iowa. Perhaps the greatest professional athlete, period.
Only two other quarterbacks who've started and won two Super Bowls have yet to reach the Hall of Fame. One is Tom Brady, the boy wonder of the New England Patriots. The other is Jim Plunkett of the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders in the early 1980s.
"His destiny," said Chad Hennings, the Iowa native who played in three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys, "is in his hands."
Beat Pittsburgh, and your ticket to Canton is all but punched. Lose, and the debate continues into the misty Florida night.
"The football stuff, that's all gravy," Warner told reporters last week. "Whatever people want to talk about, whatever comes with it, that stuff's great. But the bottom line for me is that I want to impact the people that I've been around."
You want impact? Whenever Warner and his family go out to dinner, they call the waiter over and arrange to pay for the meal of one other table in the restaurant. Anonymously.
Every year, he and wife Brenda take needy, sick, or at-risk youth and their families to Disney World and hang out with them for a week.
In 2008, the Cedar Rapids native partnered with Habitat for Humanity to raise $450,000 - including $100,000 out of his own pocket - to rebuild homes through the flood-ravaged Midwest.
When you talk about legacy, no matter what happens tonight, start with that.
"It's obviously always been neat to be compared or talked about as a great story," Warner said. "Whether you're the best or you're whatever, just to know that people are talking about your life or your story or gain inspiration from it. That's important to me, because I believe, when it's all said and done, that's the legacy that you want to leave, is that people remember you for what you've done. They're inspired by the way that you live."
Born-again Christian. Father of seven. The former Hy-Vee stocker who became a Super Bowl MVP and a survivor. The fall from grace in St. Louis, which begat benchings in New York and Arizona. Which, in turn, begat the rebirth, a seat on sport's brightest stage at the age of 37, the beard speckled gray, the arm still glittering gold.
It is the stuff of dreams, the fodder of fables and fiction, and yet Warner walks among us, laughs with us, cries with us, bleeds with us.
"The Kurt I know could care less if he has a legacy," said Marshall Faulk, the NFL Network analyst and Warner's teammate in two Super Bowl games with the Rams. "I've watched him grow into the player that he is. And I've watched his walk in life. You couldn't find a better man, and I'm telling you, I respect the guy for the man that he is."
The man enters the day having thrown for more yards per game (259.9) than any player in NFL history. Warner is the second-most accurate passer in league annals, completing 65.4 percent over his career. In 10 postseason games, he's lost only two.
Even naysayers who grumble about the inconsistency of his resume - five dominant seasons mixed with five pedestrian ones - no longer consider Warner to be a novelty. Or a fluke.
Nor is it sacrilege to place him on a pedestal next to Hall of Fame baseball player Bob Feller, the Van Meter native who is still widely regarded as the marquee pitcher of the Greatest Generation. Especially when you consider:
- Feller was on two World Series teams. Warner will have played in three Super Bowls.
- Feller did not win a Cy Young Award. Warner has already won two NFL most-valuable-player awards.
- Feller was a part of eight All-Star teams over an 18-year career, or 44 percent of the time. Warner's been named to four Pro Bowls over his 10 seasons, or 40 percent of his NFL career - a career that didn't begin until he was 27.
- Before the Eisenhower administration, the pitcher in baseball was regarded as the most prestigious position in an American team sports. But since the late 1950s, the glamour spot has been occupied by the quarterback.
"Whomever the top athlete is, I don't know whether it's the wrestlers or the ballplayers (in) baseball or so forth," Feller offered when approached about the subject last week. "If anybody is the greatest athlete of Iowa, that's all a matter of opinion."
Warner said, "Well, first of all, I don't think they can use the word 'athlete.' There's no question - I'm not the best athlete."
And yet he remains the best lesson. The kid who didn't take a meaningful snap until ninth grade is now discussed in the same breath as Namath, Unitas and Montana. The guy who wasn't recruited by the big boys of football and started only one season in college has brushed his NFL canvas with broad strokes of glory.
"I think I apologized to him one time," legendary University of Iowa football coach Hayden Fry recalled with a chuckle. "He's such a great, modest kid. I don't know who was in charge of recruiting him, but I'd sure like to kick him in the rump."
Warner's father, Gene, who divorced Kurt's mother when was the quarterback was young and now resides in Solon, said: "He's always felt he was going to be in the NFL, even when he was doing the grocery thing. The only time that he was really upset was at Northern Iowa, when he didn't feel he had an opportunity to play."
Warner told his family he wanted to transfer. Start over. When Gene got wind of that, he fired off a quick letter to his son. Hang in there, it read. Get an education. Things will work out. You're not a quitter.
You're an icon. A symbol.
"I think there's been a lot of people, fortunately, who've drawn hope from my situation," Warner says. "Or just people working everyday jobs that are going through struggles, and sometimes they get to hear about a guy that isn't supposed to be here and that everybody doubted, and the circumstances didn't seem to line up with what was able to be accomplished.
"I think a lot of people can take hope from that, that even though they may be in one of those situations, that yeah, you just never know."
You never do. In an age of recessions and layoffs - even the NFL is expected to fire 10 percent of its employees this month - Kurt Warner reminds us of the journey. That tough times are only temporary, that every valley offers the promise of a peak.
All you have to do is keep walking.
Copyright (c)2009 The Des Moines Register
Draft offers plenty of help for Browns' needy defense
CLEVELAND -- When the Browns' new management duo eventually prioritizes its off-season needs, an upgrade at linebacker should figure prominently.
Coach Eric Mangini left no doubt at his introductory press conference that he intends to continue to use the 3-4 as the base defense. That being said, the Browns likely will be looking for an outside linebacker to bolster the non-existent pass rush and a hard-hitting inside linebacker to start immediately.
The good news from the Senior Bowl is that the April 25-26 draft is loaded with linebacker talent.
Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. already has pegged the Browns to take Wake Forest outside linebacker Aaron Curry, one of the draft's highest-rated players, with the fifth overall pick.
Curry, 6-2 and 246 pounds, was not at the Senior Bowl. On a conference call, NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said, "Curry is the quintessential safe pick. He's smart, tough, aggressive. He's a guy who's played at a high level in the ACC and won't cause you any problems. Worst-case scenario is he'd be a very, very solid player."
In the Browns' scheme, Curry would be a bookend complement on the outside to sack-challenged Kamerion Wimbley.
But if the Browns use their top pick on another player, Mayock sees "a bunch" of 3-4 pass rushers in the draft to be taken later. "It's the deepest ground of 3-4 outside linebackers I've seen in the last five or six years."
Mayock singled out Texas defensive end Brian Orakpo (who didn't attend the Senior Bowl), Larry English from Northern Illinois, Cody Brown from Connecticut, FSU defensive end Everette Brown, Aaron Maybin of Penn State and Clint Sintim of Virginia, who played for Bill Belichick disciple and former Browns linebackers coach Al Groh.
Then there's the three starting linebackers at Southern California -- first-round candidates Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing, and fast-rising Clay Matthews Jr.
Mayock said all of them were exposed to 3-4 principles at USC by coach Pete Carroll.
"When I look at Rey Maualuga, I see the prototype 3-4 inside linebacker," Mayock said. "He's a big guy that can deal with big bodies, come downhill and be explosive. He's got to play in a lot of traffic, and Maualuga can handle that.
"Brian Cushing, to me, is the prototype 4-3 Sam (strongside outside linebacker). He can play over the tight end, can set the edge and also has the ability to drop into coverage. The added versatility of Cushing has a lot of teams thinking he can play the inside in the 3-4.
"I think the Matthews kid is just really interesting. I like him a lot. He can make your team a variety of different ways. He played with his hand down at USC, then they stood him up. A former walk-on.
"I think he can play outside in the 3-4. He might be most ideally suited for the Will (weakside outside linebacker) in a 4-3. But he's also USC's two-time special teams player of the year. So no matter what you take him for, this is a kid who's going to get on the field both in your base package and on special teams."
The Browns were one of the few NFL teams at the Senior Bowl not represented by their head coach or general manager. Their scouting staff was in full force at the workouts in Mobile, Ala.
The complete Browns regime is expected to attend the NFL combine in Indianapolis next month.
No, thanks: Former Browns General Manager Phil Savage has resisted overtures to join the Detroit Lions in a personnel capacity.
They all count: Although the NFL does not recognize statistics from the four-year All America Football Conference, the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton does. It's not the "NFL hall of fame," after all. That is why Browns great Dante Lavelli, who died this week, is listed with 386 catches on his Hall of Fame plaque.
Lavelli had 244 catches in seven years after the Browns joined the NFL in 1950. He added 142 in the four seasons prior when the Browns dominated the AAFC.
"Unlike some failed efforts, the AAFC was a success," said Joe Horrigan, Hall of Fame vice president of communications. "It makes all the sense in the world as the Pro Football Hall of Fame to carry over those stats."
Lavelli was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1975 on his sixth time as a finalist. Since the Hall was not opened until 1963, there was a backlog of deserving players that had to wait for years to get inducted, otherwise Lavelli would have been selected on his first try.
That Belichick tree: Scott Pioli has instituted the "media are our enemy" attitude in Kansas City.
When a Kansas City Star reporter traveled to Pioli's hometown to research a feature story on the new Chiefs GM, Pioli called former teammates, classmates, neighbors and others and ordered them to not speak with the Star's reporter.
Not for long: Good luck to former Browns defensive coordinator Mel Tucker, who heads to Jacksonville to join Jack Del Rio's coaching staff.
Del Rio's coaching staff has resembled an NFL temp service. In seven years, he has fired 17 coaches and watched six leave for lateral positions. The only one who escaped with a better job was Mike Smith, who left as defensive coordinator to be Atlanta's head coach.
Follow the leader: The Packers believe they will have a natural edge next year by switching to the 3-4 defense installed by new coordinator Dom Capers simply because so few NFC teams use the 3-4 as their base defense.
Green Bay will be the only team in the NFC North to use a 3-4 in 2009. Currently, San Francisco and Dallas also run it in the NFC. Seven teams in the AFC use the 3-4, including the Browns, Steelers and Ravens.
(c)2009 Cleveland Live, Inc
Patriots Make List Of 10 Worst
Top ten lists are always a good source of information for a healthy debate. That's exactly what a recent Grand Rapids Press story has done with a list of the ten worst Super Bowl teams. Citing an Internet site's list of top ten worst teams, the article raises a good point; this year's Super Bowl will feature a 9-win team from the NFC.
Nine-win teams are not uncommon in the NFL playoffs. But a nine-win team in the Championship game is very rare indeed. According to the AP, the NFC has never had a nine-win team reach the championship game. The last time a nine-win team made the Super bowl was 1967.
So Sunday's game between the Arizona Cardinals (9-7 in the regular season) and the Philadelphia Eagles (9-6-1) guarantees that one team with a nine-win season will appear in this year's Super Bowl. Which raises a good point. Are these teams bad, or do they just have bad records?
Here is the Top 10 according to the article:
10. 2002 Oakland Raiders
9. 1985 New England Patriots
8. 1988 Cincinnati Bengals
7. 2007 New York Giants
6. 1992 Buffalo Bills
5. 2003 Carolina Panthers
4. 2000 New York Giants
3. 1987 Denver Broncos
2. 1994 San Diego Chargers
1. 1979 Los Angeles Rams
One omission to this list which could justify it's addition based on a horrible celebration dance is the 1998 Atlanta Falcons. Though Atlanta made it through the season with a 14-2 record, watching Dan Reeves do the "Dirty Bird," still creeps us out.
Though the 11-5 Patriots are at home watching, you have to think, that any Super Bowl with a nine-win team can't be nearly as interesting to watch as a team guided by a QB who hasn't thrown a pass since High School.
In addition to their sub par regular seasons, the Cardinals and the Eagles have another statistic in common; both have quarterbacks who lost a Super Bowl to the Patriots. Donovan McNabb fell an Adam Vinatieri field goal short in Super Bowl XXXIX -- a 24-21 loss. Kurt Warner fell short in Super Bowl XXXVI courtesy of last minute Vinatieri kick, 20-17.
When Super Bowl XLII concludes in Tampa in early February, there's little doubt one of these two teams will make the top ten. The question is, which one?
Copyright (c) 2009 PatriotsInsider.com and Scout.com
Familiar Foes Stand Between Eagles and Super Bowl Berth
Who saw that coming?
When the Eagles tied Cincinnati, the team was left for dead. The same happened when they stunk it up in Washington in the season's penultimate game.
Now, the Eagles have risen like a Phoenix from the ashes of their supposedly wasted season. So I guess it's appropriate that should the Eagles beat their hated rivals, the New York Giants, today, the road to the Super Bowl will take them through Phoenix.
Two games - one against their current nemesis, the other against a former NFC East division rival.
Again, who saw THAT coming?
The good news is that Eagles demolished both teams down the stretch.
The bad news is, there's PLENTY of tape for their opponents to dissect to avenge their embarrassment.
The big question is: "Which Eagles team is going to show up?"
Will it be the one with the dominating defense and a commitment to run the football?
Or will it be the one that the Brandon Jacobs gashed them for 126 yards in 36-31 defeat to the Giants?
Will Andy Reid continue to acknowledge there's more to football than an aerial bombardment?
Will Brian Dawkins continue to fly around the field like an advertisement for Red Bull?
Can the defense stymie Eli Manning once again, resulting in everyone's favorite "deer-in-the-headlights" Manning face?
And possibly most importantly, can David Akers conquer the beast that is the swirling winds at Giants Stadium?
One No. 6 seed has already advanced (Ravens).
If the Eagles can pull out a win against the Giants, two nine-win teams will meet in Arizona for the NFC Championship Game.
Again, who saw THAT coming??
Copyright (c) 2008 Bleacher Report, Inc
Boldin questionable for next round
The Arizona Republic reports Cardinals receiver Anquan Boldin (hamstring) will be evaluated over the next few days, and his status for next week's divisional playoff game is in doubt.
Boldin injured his hamstring on a 71-yard TD reception in Saturday's 30-24 wild-card victory against the Falcons. His injury also likely will be considered second-page news throughout the week. Trust me, you'll hear more about LaDainian Tomlinson's groin injury on the radio and television networks.
Boldin's injury would be devastating, no matter who the Cards face in the next round. Boldin had nine receptions for 63 yards and two TDs against the Panthers in the regular season; 11 catches for 87 yards and a TD against the Giants. That's 17 receptions for 150 yards and three TDs for those of you counting on Boldin in our Playoff Fantasy Football game.
Boldin was the second most expensive WR in the game. Monitor his status during the week, but it's time to strongly consider selling for a healthy option.
Teammate Larry Fitzgerald is the place to start. Fitzgerald will be counted on heavily either way, and he combined for 12 receptions for 186 yards in the losses to the Panthers and Giants.
If you want to walk on the cheap side, go with Steve Breaston. The second-year receiver had two catches for 39 yards on Saturday, but both receptions came at critical times. He also had nine receptions for 91 yards in the first meeting with Carolina; six receptions for 86 yards against the Giants.
Breaston is nowhere near the playmaker that Boldin is, but as he proved in the Cards' high-flying offense, he's a serviceable option. We'd like to say the same for Jerheme Urban, but we can't.
(c)2009 SportingNews.com
Colts Win 9th Straight; Shutting Out Titans in Route to Setting Many Milestones
The Titans were supposed to be the AFC's powerhouse.
After all, coming off a beat down they laid on the all-mighty Steelers should have easily propelled them with enough momentum to defeat the team they already beat before.
I remember, I remember all to well when the Titans defeated the Colts earlier this year. They were the last team to beat us before we began our amazing winning-streak. For good measure, they beat us up on prime time television on my birthday no less.
I personally thought that the 31-21 victory the Titans attained was nothing more then a temporary fix. I knew my Colts were better than that. I didn't even think we got enough credit for coming that close to the then undefeated Titans.
But that was the past and today is the present.
Same teams, different result.
Since losing to the Titans back in October, the Colts have managed to win every game since. Scratching and clawing our way back from the depths of the NFL's mediocrity. We stood 3-4 as an injured team who appeared to have no momentum, and no chance.
I always had faith in my Colts as I have seen adversity strike them many times before. I knew all too well that this 2008 Colts team was far better then our 3-4 record had indicated in October.
Sometimes I love to say I told you so...
My hopes and aspirations aside, at that point we had displayed signs of promise but lacked the health and execution needed to turn those L's into W's.
Whatever it was that was missing, we found it.
A now healthier and rejuvenated Colts team began their winning streak by defeating our long time nemesis, the New England Patriots by the score of 18-15.
Few gave us a chance going into Pittsburgh to face the Steelers. After all, we hadn't won a game there since the 1960's. The poor history of the Colts playing in Pittsburgh was wiped away as Peyton Manning led us to another dramatic victory, performing near flawless while Mr. Ben Roethlisberger on the other side...
Well, we couldn't say the same for him.
The season continued as the Colts managed to put strings of W's together like pieces of candy on a necklace (give me a break on the analogies, I'm trying). The 2008 season produced no fewer than seven 4th quarter comebacks as Peyton Manning looked like a much more elegant version of a slightly forgotten New England legend.
The milestones reached this season are quite inspiring seeing as the 3-4 Colts team we once were looked more like seasonal disappointment than perennial powerhouse.
*The Colts have become the only team in NFL history to win 12 or more games in 6 consecutive seasons.
*The Colts reach the post season for the 7th consecutive year, the longest current streak in the NFL by far.
*Tony Dungy has now led his team to the post season for ten consecutive years. He passes Tom Landry in becoming the only man to ever achieve this honor.
*Peyton Manning will be going to his 9th Pro Bowl of his 11-year career, and he will be going there for the 7th consecutive season.
*Peyton Manning eclipsed the 4,000 yard passing mark for the 9th time in his career, extending his NFL record to 9 seasons of doing so (Dan Marino ranks second with 6 such seasons and did so in 17 years).
*Peyton Manning looks to be the front-runner to win his 3rd NFL MVP award.
*The Colts seven 4th quarter comeback victories rank 1st in the NFL.
*Dwight Freeney will be going to his fourth Pro Bowl and Robert Mathis will be going to his first.
*Reggie Wayne will be going to his 3rd consecutive Pro Bowl.
*Reggie Wayne has eclipsed the 1,000 yard receiving mark for the 5th time in his career and the 5th season in a row.
*Marvin Harrison has become the NFL's 2nd All-Time leading receiver with 1,102 receptions, passing Cris Carter and Tim Brown along the way.
*Dallas Clark broke the Colts franchise mark for most receiving yards by a Tight End with 848 yards. He broke the record set by Hall of Famer John Mackey in 1966.
There were certainly many amazing accomplishments achieved this season. What the Colts have managed to do thus far in 2008 is nothing short of amazing. After now beating the Titans, Steelers, Ravens, Patriots, and Vikings, they have officially laid legitimate claim to being the best team in the National Football League.
Get set Colts fans, next comes January.
Copyright (c) 2008 Bleacher Report, Inc
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