Sports Then and Now

Tom Brady hopes the 2010 season has a better ending than occurred a year ago.

There I was the other morning, just trying to enjoy a leisurely breakfast, when through the sound of my own frantic chewing I hear that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been involved in some sort of car accident in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, near the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and Gloucester Street.

I nearly choked on my Lucky Charms, as phrases like “New England star sidelined with broken arm,” and “Patriots head into bye week 0-4,” danced through my head, and visions of Brian Hoyer, unable to make Brady’s signature quick reads at NFL speed, getting folded like paper money by oncoming pass rushers flashed before my terrified eyes.

I cowered at the thought of how “unwanted” Randy Moss would feel after several weeks of Hoyer at the helm, and the memory of what things can get like when Moss decides he isn’t happy (just ask a Raiders or Vikings fan).

There was only one thing I could do. Manipulating the marshmallows in my spoon until there was nothing but green clovers for luck, I swallowed the talismanic mouthful and began to feverishly search the internet for details of the incident. It didn’t take long to find out that it was a relatively minor affair, and Brady had suffered only the most superficial of injuries, although a passenger in the other vehicle needed to be freed from the wreckage using the jaws of life and later underwent back surgery.

It would be pure folly for me even to attempt and explain the relief that I felt when I heard the news of Brady’s continuing structural integrity. The incident provoked a staggeringly oppressive feeling of anxiety that had started to swirl through my chest cavity and spread gradually throughout the rest of my body before finally dissipating and leaving me spent and broken, a shell of myself, clutching the edge of the kitchen table and gasping to regain my breath.

Just when I thought I was out of the woods, I began to recover my auditory senses and heard the rest of the morning’s sporting news, and before I knew what hit me, I was on the floor and being beckoned towards an ultra-white light by a man who bore an uncanny resemblance to Morgan Freeman.

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Before even taking an NFL snap, Sam Bradford has signed a contract that guarantees him $50 million.

If you weren’t previously convinced that something needs to be done regarding the exorbitant guaranteed money that is being handed out to NFL rookies then hopefully the $50 million in guaranteed money the St. Louis Rams agreed to pay Sam Bradford might persuade you.

In case you might have forgotten, this is the same Sam Bradford who lost in the BCS Championship Game with Oklahoma in January 2009 and then nine months later suffered a serious shoulder injury that eventually needed surgery.

This is also the same Sam Bradford who has yet to throw a pass in an NFL game.

Yet, he now has signed a contract that dwarfs the current deals of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, a pair of all-time greats who are getting nowhere in their attempts to sign new long-term contracts. Read the rest of this entry →

Who is the best all around qb?

This is the debate that may never be answered.

The arguments of all arguments.

Who is the best quarterback in the NFL today?

Is it Tom Brady? Peyton Manning?

Some can even make an argument for “Big Ben” Roethlisberger. However, I think Roethlisberger needs about four more years to add to his body of work before he can be held in the same breath as Brady and Manning.

So how do we make the determination of who is the best all around quarterback? What variables will be used to measure both quarterbacks?

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Peyton Manning passed for more more than 42,000 yards in the decade while leading the Colts to double digit victories nine times.

It was a banner decade for the NFL with many franchises building new stadiums and posting record attendance. The caliber of the play on the field was arguably the greatest of all time with many superstars putting their stamp on the decade.

Unlike previous decades where a Super Bowl blowout was a common occurrence, the 2000’s saw six Super Bowls decided by a touchdown or less, including dramatic endings to the final two Super Bowls played in the decade.

Offenses generally ruled the roost with high-powered attacks lighting up scoreboards across the league. However, defense was still an important component of most championship teams.

Because NFL careers are often short, selecting the top 10 players of the decade is a challenge because many of the best players at the end of the decade were not even in the league when the decade started.

Most of the players on this list were key performers on teams that achieved playoff and often Super Bowl greatness. Please feel free to share your thoughts on who else you think is deserving of being considered among the best of the decade.

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Below is our list of the top players of the decade:
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Things sure have flipped in the NFL. The New Orleans Saints are among the best teams while the St. Louis Rams are vying for the title of worst team in the league.

With 10 weeks of the NFL season now in the books, here are 10 observations about what we have seen so far and what we could see over the final seven weeks of the 2009 NFL regular season.

Big Happenings In The Big Easy
The New Orleans Saints aren’t just the most explosive and exciting team in the NFL; they may also be the best team. Without question the Saints have an offense that can put pressure on any defensive unit. Ranking in the top five in the NFL in both passing and rushing yards makes them a nightmare for defensive coordinators.

What makes the Saints particularly dangerous is that over the last three to four years they have accumulated an amazing collection of talented athletes on both sides of the ball. Their defense is ranked near the middle of the pack in most categories, but they do what they have to in big situations. Most specifically, they don’t have one glaring weakness that can be easily exploited by opposing quarterbacks.

Drew Brees has developed into one of the 3-4 best quarterbacks in football, but the best quality for the Saints is that he does not have to do it alone. With a solid corps of runners and receivers, the Saints don’t have to rely on one player to win games for them.

It may seem very strange to say the words Saints and Super Bowl in the same sentence, but unless something dramatically changes over the last half of the season they could have a chance to punch their ticket to the Super Bowl for the first time in the 42-year history of the team.
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First and foremost, I am a Patriots fan and season ticket holder of 15 years. To say

It's all about respect between the Patriots and Colts.

the least, I am a die hard Patriots, but I DO NOT HATE the Colts.

I HATE the Steelers and Jets.

I want to BEAT the Colts.

There is a difference between hating a team and wanting to beat a team.

If you hate a team, you hate every player on the team and you hope they have a horrible season.

They may trash talk you and never can back it up.

Then there are teams you want to BEAT.

They don’t trash talk and they back it up on the field.

They are true professionals.

You want them to be competitive, so you have to bring you’re A game to beat them.

You don’t hate their players, you respect them.

You have to beat the best to be the best.

Because they are very similar to you.

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