March 21st update

Peyton Makes a Decision

• The Peyton Manning sweepstakes ended on Tuesday when he decided to sign a 5-year $96 million deal with the Denver Broncos to become the highest paid player in the NFL by annual salary. Manning, the most sought after free agent on the market, was released by the Indianapolis Colts two weeks ago so they could avoid paying him a $20 million bonus.
• The Broncos emerged as a leader for Manning over the weekend. Manning will go to a team with a stout defense and a strong running game that went to the second round of the playoffs last year with a quarterback who is not as talented as Manning.
• The addition of Manning to the Broncos makes last year’s starter Tim Tebow expendable. There is a bit of controversy, as Tebow was riding an incredible wave of fan support for his incredible success either real or perceived, after taking over the starting job last season. Rumors are currently swirling about what the Broncos will do with Tebow. There are many teams who could use him, especially the Jacksonville Jaguars, whose fan base is closely linked to Tebow's Florida Gators and who would come out in droves to watch him play.


Big Injury in NCAA Tournament

• Before the tournament started, the most famous wrist in the tournament was of UNC’s forward John Henson. Henson, who injured it against N.C. State in the ACC tournament, returned to play against Creighton in North Carolina's second game of the NCAA tournament and UNC fans breathed a sigh of release.
• Unfortunately, later in the same game of Henson’s return, irreplaceable point guard Kendall Marshall was fouled hard on a drive and landed hard on his right wrist. (Marshall is left handed). Similar to the Henson injury, Marshall played for a while after incurring the injury, but was in noticeable pain as the game neared its end.
• Undergoing emergency surgery on Monday, Marshall has not been ruled out of UNC’s next game, against the Ohio Bobcats on Friday. There is a chance the wrist heals to a point where Marshall can play. UNC Coach Roy Williams has said the team is preparing for the weekend game(s) with the assumption Marshall will not play.

March 7th Update

Saints leaders take blame for scandal

• New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis apologized and took the blame for violations that happened under their watch, referring to Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams' "bounty" system that rewarded players for knocking opposing competitors out of games.
  
• LB Jonathan Vilma even claimed that he had offered $10,000 out of his own pocket to have Brett Favre knocked out of the 2009 NFC Championship game. This ended up happening (pictured) as the Saints were able to force Favre to the sidelines part of the way through their game after a painful looking hit. Other players, like the Chiefs' Eric Berry, have wondered if other teams had bounties on them.
  
• While there is no precedent for what kind of penalties will be enacted, one can only imagine that the NFL's hard line stance on player safety in recent seasons will only make them want to make an example out of the Saints in this situation.

Peyton Manning to be released by Colts

• The Indianapolis Colts are set to part ways with one of the best players in their history, according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen. Quarterback Peyton Manning, who has been on the team since 1998, was set to make a $28 million bonus if he was on the roster on Thursday at 4PM. The Colts decided to release Manning instead of paying him this massive bonus
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• Manning, who missed this last season due to a neck injury, had played every other game since he was the number one pick in the 1998 NFL Draft. After 2 neck surgeries in the last off-season, Manning was unable to play this past year. However, in the past few days a very grainy picture has "leaked" of Manning working out and looking pretty good.
  
• With Manning out, the Colts stumbled to a 2-14 record which gets them the #1 overall Draft pick in this year’s NFL Draft. They are widely expected to select Stanford QB Andrew Luck, who many have called the best college quarterback prospect since Manning. Luck is expected to be ready to play for the Colts on Day 1, so the need to keep Manning on the roster is non-existent.

September 10th Update

NFL Puts Offseason Troubles Behind it

• After an offseason that put this weekend in doubt the NFL began its regular season with whats become an annual season kick-off event featuring the previous year’s super bowl champion (more on that in a bit). In addition to a Thursday game, there will be two Monday Night Football games and 13 on Sunday.
• One of the bigger stories over the past few days is that of Peyton Manning. Manning had the longest active consecutive game played streak in the NFL at 208 games played without missing a start. He was 91 games short of the record and many thought he would reach the mark set by Brett Favre. However, late offseason neck surgery and a slow recovery will put an end to that streak. After Manning, Ronde Barber has the longest streak at 178 consecutive games. Peytons younger brother Eli has a streak of 103 games, must be something in the water of the Manning household.
• Other big games this weekend include the unveiling of the new and improved Philadelphia Eagles and the super-team they constructed this offseason. The Eagles will play the St Louis Rams on Sunday. The intra-division rivalry of the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers will also take the field on Sunday. These two teams honestly hate each other and always play close, physical games.
• As promised, the first game of the NFL season showcased the two previous Super Bowl Champions. In a very high scoring affair, the Green Bay Packers defeated the New Orleans Saints 42-34. This game came down to the final drive, as the Saints had the ball at the 1-yard line with a chance to score and tie the game. The Packers were able to stop rookie Mark Ingram from getting into the end zone. The breakout star of the game was Packers wide receiver Randal Cobb who caught a touchdown, and also returned a kick-off 108 yards for a score. Cobb is the first player born in the 90s to play in the NFL.


NL Central Race Brewing Up

*Note: This is part 6 of a 6 part series that will break down the division races in each of baseball's 6 divisions.

• The National League Central race has been pretty much over for much of the past month. A slow start by the pre-season favorites, St Louis Cardinals, opened the door for the Milwaukee Brewers and their league best home record (50-22) to sweep in and grab a commanding lead going into the final month of the regular season.
• Led by superstar outfielder Ryan Braun (who has one of the coolest nicknames in sports) and 1st baseman Prince Fielder, the Brewers hold an 8 game lead over the Cardinals. This division was at one point a 3-team race with the surprising Pittsburgh Pirates coming out of nowhere to compete for much of the season. However, things have been going steadily downhill for the Pirates since a major blown call. Since that game in late July, the team has swooned falling way out of contention for the playoffs.
• One of the more entertaining aspects of the Brewers this year has been the antics of mercurial outfielder Nyjer Morgan. He has shown up for interviews in various personalities and costumes. These playful antics have kept the team loose and is helpful to see why they have been exceeding expectations this year.

July 13th Update

Rangers fan’s life celebrated after tragic end

• Last Thursday afternoon Shannon Stone, a firefighter in the Dallas area, took his 6-year old son to enjoy America's past time, a major league baseball game. But unlike so many other father-son bonding moments, this was turned tragic in a bizarre twist of fate.
• During the second inning, a foul ball was hit towards left field where Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton scooped up the ball and tossed it into the stands, as many players do, to a fan (Stone) who had asked him for a souvenir earlier in the game. Hamilton’s toss was a bit short of the upper deck where Stone and his son sat in the front row. Stone, wanting to get his son a keepsake, leaned over the rail to grab the ball but somehow slipped and tumbled over, falling 20 feet.
• Stone was rushed to the hospital, but not before telling the emergency responders that his son was still at their seats. Sadly too much damage had been done in the fall and Stone passed away Thursday night. The Rangers have been very involved in Stone’s family since the tragedy, and Hamilton wants to take a big part in the life of Stone’s son, who idealized Hamilton.
• The Rangers are already known as a particularly caring franchise as in this summer's MLB amateur draft, they used a selection on a partially paralyzed player who may never walk again.

Peyton Manning: The JFK of the NFL

• Peyton Manning has been highly touted since he was a young boy growing up as the son of star QB Archie Manning. After leading his high school team to a 34-5 record in three years of football, he chose to attend the University of Tennessee breaking conference records in yards passing, touchdowns and wins as a quarterback. He graduated from UT in 1998 and was drafted number 1 overall in the 1998 draft by the Colts (at the time there was lots of debate as to whether Manning was good enough to select #1, which is hilarious to draft followers looking back... look at number 1 on this list.
• In the pros Manning has been named to 11 Pro Bowl (All-Star) teams, and been the Most Valuable Player 4 times. He lead the Colts to a Super Bowl victory in 2005 over the Chicago Bears and has led his Colts to an unheard of 9 straight 10-win seasons. His quick release and famous film-studying habits have lead him to a play in a record 208 (and counting) games to start a career (Yes, he has never missed a start in his 13 year career). Manning is famous for being a coach on the field, with many people joking the easiest job in the NFL is the Offensive Play-Caller of the Colts.
• Manning has also showed a great sense of humor. He has hosted SNL (leading to this hilarious spoof commercial), and has made a number of hilarious commercials for various different brands (please stick around for the last one, its probably the funniest)

National League wins All-Star Game 5-1

• Prince Fielder and home run derby runner-up Adrian Gonzalez both homered, but Fielder's shot came with 2 men on base and since his team won, Fielder was awarded the game's MVP honors.
  
• Probably the biggest story of this year’s MLB All-Star Game is the players NOT in the game. record number of players (16) decided to pull out of the game they were selected to due to injuries or fatigue. This list of players includes stars like Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Jose Reyes.
• The usually high scoring event, was held down for the second consecutive year. Across baseball in 2011, pitching has been fantastic and offense has been down. This pattern continued Tuesday nights with a relatively low total of 6 runs scored in the game.