Sports Then and Now

In the future Jake Ballard could be making catches for, instead of against, the Patriots.

You can generally rely on the New England Patriots and Head Coach Bill Belichick to spring a surprise and create talking points for the football betting community to discuss, and that’s just what they did recently when he claimed New York Giants tight-end Jake Ballard ‘off waivers’, which prevented the Giants from slipping him onto the reserve list.

Some may say that this is a form of revenge for the Patriots who were shocked by the Giants in last season’s Super Bowl. The Patriots may waive him with the ‘failed physical’ designation, exposing him to waivers and likely setting the stage for the Giants (or someone else) to claim his contract.

Otherwise, the Pats will have to carry Ballard, who won’t play in 2012 after tearing an ACL in the Super Bowl, on the 90-man roster until the first wave of cuts in late August. Read the rest of this entry →

While Andy Griffith, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 86, was best known as America’s favorite sheriff, he actually first made a name for himself in 1953 telling the story “What It Was, Was Football.”

Featuring his country accent that would become the staple of his most famous characters Andy Taylor and Ben Matlock, Griffith (listed on the original recording as Deacon Andy Griffith) spends five minutes describing a college football game as stumbled upon by a naive country preacher who attended the game by accident and is completely puzzled by the action.

Released in 1953, the record sold more than 800,000 copies and led to Griffith’s first appearance as a guest star on The Ed Sullivan Show. It remains one of the best selling comedy records of all-time.

As we celebrate the life and career of our favorite sheriff, we also remember his great humor and description of America’s favorite pastime.

Enjoy this special look at football by one of America’s great actors.

The addition of Brandon Jacobs gives the San Francisco 49ers multiple options at running back.

Every day in the NFL players are playing for their careers and almost interviewing for their jobs, they don’t only have to worry about the opposition as much as competition from within their own team.

All the various positions have battles over them each year and they tend to pop up across the league during every off-season; some with little furor, and others which make back page headlines on a daily basis. These fights for the starting or backup jobs lend some intrigue to an otherwise dull part of the NFL calendar year.

With that thought in mind where do we think that some of these internal clashes will be happening this year? The first to come under the microscope is in San Francisco who staged one of the more remarkable turnarounds last year, much of their success due to their defense.

However, they have managed to keep all of their offensive starters from last year and have through free-agency been able to boost their offense, prompting a flurry of online bets and interest.

But with the boost comes conflict and the 49ers added to that attrition by using their second round draft pick to select Oregon running back LaMichael James adding to a very crowded backfield that already contains Brandon Jacobs, Kendall Hunter, Anthony Dixon and the incumbent Frank Gore.

It should go without saying that the starting job belongs to Gore, but that leaves four running backs to battle for what essentially amounts to two spots and that could well create some sparks over the summer in San Francisco.

There are likely to be plenty of QB head-to-head battles over the summer.

Unless you have an elite QB you need to have plenty of depth but that can cause its own problems and we can see some fun-and-games coming in Arizona where the Cardinals have spent a lot of money on Kevin Kolb.

Kolb then got injured and his replacement John Skelton, who played well down the stretch.

Kolb’s contract is expensive, and his first season was marred by injuries and the NFL lockout. He probably deserves another chance but this could be a close run thing.

In Chicago the Bears are collecting wide receivers like stamps and they will have an interesting summer deciding what to do with them all.

It goes without saying that Brandon Marshall owns the number one spot, and with Earl Bennett having been given a long contract extension it probably leaves one spot to be decided, with Devin Hester, free agent Eric Weems and rookie Alshon Jeffrey all in the running.

That gives the Bears an embarrassment of riches at wide receiver but at least one man will be happy, and that’s Chicago QB Jay Cutler, who must be excited by having that much ammunition.

Many more of these situations of attrition will occur throughout the off-season and should give us plenty to write and talk about – and will undoubtedly lead to many NFL bets being placed – before we start the real action later in the year.

Most of us relish the spectacle of college football on crisp Saturday afternoons, sitting in the stands at a mammoth football stadium in the heart of the Big Ten or the SEC.

We love the marching bands, the half-time entertainment and the spontaneous camaraderie in the stands. On game day, whether Division I or II, or III, college football remains as much a part of post-secondary academia as libraries, classrooms and puny-sized dorm rooms.

It comes from our rich heritage—the love we have for our respective alma mater. All this enhanced by football hoopla, beer foam, and online bets with bookies. These incentives—along with the added bounty of bone crushing hits—make us all look forward to the gridiron experience each and every Saturday after Labor Day.

College football IS America in 2012.  It is what we have evolved to since the 1950s.  Athletes have become bigger, stronger, and faster. Effective training has shaved seconds off scoring dashes down field while increased duration and strength training make the player from 60 years ago to seem almost comical by comparison.

We are assured by experts that modern equipment plus critical changes in football rules provide the modern player with adequate protection on the playing field. Yet, because of the current size and speed of college athletes, the brute force inherent in being tackled or tackling remain exponentially greater than they were even 20 years ago.

Still the thought of banning college football seems—well—it seems preposterous.  It would be like banning Little League or the Pinewood Derby.  Life just would not be the same. How could it be?

But consider this. According to Malcolm Gladwell, well-known author and columnist for the New Yorker magazine, the most compelling reason for banning college football is the number of head injuries college football players sustain in the course of a game, compounded over a season—additionally many seasons.

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Junior Seau 1969-2012

Hearing about the death of former Chargers, Dolphins and Patriots linebacker Junior Seau yesterday was just tragic and incredibly sad. Seeing his mother devastated and screaming out to take her instead of her son was absolutely heartbreaking. So instead of wallowing in the sadness of his passing, let’s celebrate his life.

Let’s remember his smile.

Let’s remember everyone’s “Buddy”.

Nothing encapsulates the man Junior was than this video from Versus’ “Sports Jobs”. Junior visits the TD Garden’s Bull Gang prior to a Bruins game.

Love how he was poking fun at the Boston accent.

Here is a great tribute from USC with Junior singing and playing the ukelele.

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It seems hard to believe that Peyton Manning has played his final game in an Indianapolis Colts uniform.

During 13 stellar seasons as the quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts Peyton Manning was often characterized as being one of the all-time great players in NFL history. With his official release from the Colts, Manning will now join other former NFL greats including Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas, O.J. Simpson, Franco Harris, Joe Namath and Jerry Rice by completing his career with a different team than the one for which he became a star.

Given the financial ramifications and having one of the best quarterback prospects since Peyton Manning waiting in the wings, there really was no other choice for Jim Irsay and the Colts organization.

It also is clear that moving on is ultimately in the best interest for Manning, despite his desire to be forever remembered as a Colt.

Had he remained in Indianapolis, the team would have been salary strapped with a huge portion of their salary cap going to pay two quarterbacks when only one can be on the field at a time. With Manning still on the squad the Colts ran the risk of either stunting the development of Andrew Luck or damaging their relationship with Manning.

Reports are that Manning might have been able to stay in Indianapolis to mentor Luck, but would have had to agree to allow the young quarterback a certain amount of practice snaps with the first team. Given that without Manning the Colts won two games in 2011 and will be losing several veteran stars due to free agency, even with Manning under center it is not likely that Indianapolis would be automatically back as a contender in 2012.

Now, the Colts can go through a retooling process with a new quarterback, a new coach and a new general manager and look to build another consistent winner like the team that Manning led to 11 playoff appearances in 13 seasons.

For Manning, assuming that he is physically capable of playing, leaving Indianapolis has probably prolonged his career by a couple years. There is no way that with Andrew Luck waiting in the wings the Colts would have allowed Manning to be the starter for four or five more seasons. Read the rest of this entry →