Super Bowl
Patriots Ty Warren Foregoes Bonus for Degree
Thursday, March 18th, 2010 | New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, NFL, Sports | No Comments
New England Patriots defensive lineman Ty Warren is teaching his 3 children a valuable lesson. It’s more important to earn an education and a degree than play a professional sport, because you can’t play sports forever.
Warren is skipping the Patriots’ initial voluntary workouts this spring because he is returning to Texas A&M to finish his degree. Warren was the Patriots’ 13th pick in the 2003 NFL Draft. He has played in 105 games in his 7-year Patriots’ career, but he never forgot about his education. So much so that he is willing to forego a $250,000 bonus that would be paid to him for attending the spring workouts to attend the last few classes at Texas A&M that will earn him a degree at the end of the semester. Warren says that he is making this sacrifice to send a message to his 3 children — “I try to put the kids in the best educational system possible and I think there is something to be said for their father, who has been blessed to play in the NFL and do something he’s loved to do, going back and finishing what he started. In the big picture, I think it’s important for me to do what I’m doing. I can sacrifice that bonus for that.”
As a veteran leader on the Patriots defense, the club shouldn’t have to worry that Warren will slack off on his football preparation while in classes this spring — “Working out has never been a problem of mine, I do it regardless. I’m self-motivated. I’ve always been a working person. Ask anyone who knows me, I’ve been working and supporting my two siblings and now my wn family since I was 13. No matter how much I have in the bank account, I’ll always work.”
It’s nice to hear about these stories in professional sports today. Too often we’re inundated with drunk driving missteps, assault charges and other self-less actions on the parts of professional athletes today. Lately, it seems like we are hearing more of the “feel-good” stories in sports today (see Scott Fujita donating his Super Bowl bonus to the city of New Orleans and the victims in Haiti) — it’s about time.
Saints Top Colts 31-17 to Win 1st Ever Super Bowl Championship
Monday, February 8th, 2010 | Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, Sports | No Comments
The New Orleans Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 to win the Super Bowl crown on Sunday in Miami. The Saints used the steady play of Quarterback Drew Brees and a confident defense that held the Peyton Manning and the Colts offense to just 1 score in the final 3 quarters of play to ride to victory. The Saints and their fans are sure going to be celebrating big time in the Big Easy over the next few weeks.
Drew Brees was named the game’s Most Valuable Player – 32 of 39 passing (82% completion rate), 288 yards passing, 2 passing touchdowns – all good for a 114.5 QB rating.
Manning had similar numbers (31 of 45 passing, 333 yards passing, 1 passing touchdown – all good for a 88.5 QB rating), but his costly interception at the end of the game sealed the Colts’ fate. As the Colts marched down the field trailing by 7 points, it looked like Manning would be able to lead his team to a game-tying touchdown drive. Instead, Tracy Porter made a great play to pick off Manning’s pass intended for Reggie Wayne, and Porter raced the final 74 yards to paydirt to clinch the Super Bowl win for the Saints.
Some interesting tidbits from the game:
The Saints risky onside kick to start the 2nd half was the 1st time that a team had ever tried an onside kick in a quarter other than the 4th quarter in a Super Bowl. It was also the 1st ever career onside kick attempt by Saints punter Thomas Morstead. Saints head coach Sean Payton had hinted all week that the Saints would play aggressive – even in the biggest stage of the Super Bowl – and he did not disappoint with that decision. After recovering the onside kick, Brees connected with Thomas Pierre on a 16-yard catch and run, giving the Saints their 1st lead of the game at 13-10 (erasing what had been a 10-0 Colts lead). The momentum clearly shifted from that point on. Payton had this to say about the play and his team’s victory: “We knew we were going to call it at some point. At halftime I told them, ‘We’re going to open up the second half with this. Let’s go make a play’… We really felt as underdogs we had the better team. To be in that position where maybe a lot of people were picking against us, we liked the spot we were in.”
Saints kicker Garrett Hartley connected on 3 field goals from 40 yards or more – 46, 44 and 47. The 23-year old also kicked the game winning kick in overtime of the NFC Championship Game against Minnesota Vikings to send the Saints to the Super Bowl. Hartley only played in the final 5 regular season games for the Saints and he was 9 of 11 in field goal attempts. During those 5 games, he never even tried 1 field goal from the 40-49 yard range. To go from that to kicking 3 field goals in the Super Bowl is simply astounding.
To keep going with kickers, Colts kicker Matt Stover became the oldest player to ever play in a Super Bowl at the ripe old age of 42 years and 12 days (his birthday is January 27, 1968). Stover only got a chance to play this season because the Colts regular kicker – Adam Vinatieri – was injured. Stover connected on 9 of 11 field goals during the regular season and 6 of 7 field goals during the post-season (including 1 of 2 in the Super Bowl).
This Super Bowl turned out to be the most-watched U.S. television event of all-time – over 106 million people tuned in to watch the game. The previous “most-watched” program was the finale of the television show M-A-S-H back in 1983.
Congrats to Payton, Brees and the rest of the Saints. You guys and the city of New Orleans deserve the big win. Boy would I like to be in New Orleans for Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday next week!
Colts, Saints Set to Face Off in Super Bowl Today!
Sunday, February 7th, 2010 | Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, NFL, Sports | No Comments
The Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints are set to play in the Super Bowl later today. Will it be Peyton Manning leading the Colts to a 2nd Super Bowl in 4 years in Miami? Or will it be Drew Brees bringing an NFL Championship crown to the city of New Orleans for the 1st time in franchise history?
Stay tuned today – it should be a fun and entertaining game to watch…
T.O. had a pool party in Miami
Friday, February 5th, 2010 | General, Sports | No Comments
T.O., Chad Ochocinco and Ludacris had a little pool party in Miami and the women involved in a custody battle with Dwight Howard showed up to dance a bit for the party. Hey, if you can’t play in the Super Bowl you should at least have some fun.
Reggie Bush – Super Bowl Ring or Engagement Ring?
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 | Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, NFL, Sports | No Comments
Saints running back Reggie Bush finds himself in a little pickle heading into this Sunday’s Super Bowl against the Indianapolis Colts. Bush is dating reality TV star Kim Kardashian, and supposedly the 2 have a bet that if Bush and the Saints win the Super Bowl, he will wed Kardashian.
Bush has denied those rumors, but it didn’t stop reporters from asking Bush about the potential marriage during Media day yesterday in Miami. Bush replied: “No, there’s no truth to that… I think it would be backwards if I were getting the ring from her. I’d rather get a ring from Commissioner Roger Goodell.” Ouch.
Now I know that Reggie was only trying to be funny, but I hope he was prepared for a rough time from Kardashian when he got back to his hotel room last night. The 2 have endured rough patches before, so not sure it was the best idea for Bush to rock the boat just 5 days before the biggest game of his career. We’ll keep you posted if Bush shows up at practice with a black eye or other signs of a tiff with Kardashian.
Super Bowl Sunday is just 4 days away now – don’t wait too long to get your tickets if you’re still planning to go down to Miami for the weekend. It is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated Super Bowls in recent history.
Vegas likes the Steelers for the Super Bowl
Monday, January 19th, 2009 | NFL, Super Bowl | No Comments
The odds-makers don’t care that this is the first time in franchise history the Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl. The Steelers are favored by 6 1/2 points in most books.
Our Super Bowl hotel rooms and tickets are now available.
NFL Scores
Sunday, January 18th, 2009 | NFL | No Comments
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University of Phoenix Stadium (Glendale, Ariz)
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Heinz Field (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
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Disgruntled Brett Favre traded from Packers to Jets
Thursday, August 7th, 2008 | Sports | No Comments
Late Monday night, the Green Bay Packers traded fan-favorite Quarterback Brett Favre to the New York Jets, ending the soap-opera-like saga in which the “retired” quarterback recently informed the Green Bay Packers that he still wanted to play. After negotiations to ink Favre to a $20 million “marketing deal” failed, the Green Bay Packers were forced to deal Favre since they had already committed the starting Quarterback position to a 4th-year Quarterback who has never started an NFL game in his career – Aaaron Rodgers. Brett Favre, on the other hand, holds the NFL records for most wins (160), most yards passing (61,655), most touchdown passes (442), most pass completions (5,377), most pass attempts (8,758) and most interceptions thrown (288). Favre led the Green Bay Packers to an NFL World Championship win in Super Bowl XXI in January 1997, he is a 3-time NFL MVP and he has started 275 consecutive NFL football games including playoff games. Why the Green Bay Packers did not welcome the Hall of Famer back to the field is a mystery to all. But the Brett Favre Packer career is now officially over and Favre will look to wreak havoc on AFC defenses for the upcoming 2008-9 NFL season. The Jets only had to give up a 4th round draft in the 2009 NFL Drafft to land the future Hall of Famer (the pick could advance to a 1st round pick if the Jets reach the Super Bowl) and gives the Jets a legitimate shot to return to post-season play for the 1st time in 2 years. GO J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!
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