Musical chairs - NFL wide receiver style: Several big names finding new homes

The landscape of the NFL is changing before our very eyes. Experienced NFL commentators are finding their collective heads spinning with the number and importance of the free agency changes particularly in the ranks of the NFL’s wide receivers. Now pay attention, here’s the list. We have news for you on all of these chaps. Brandon Marshall, Vincent Jackson, Pierre Garcon, Marques Colston and Mike Wallace.

No, we have nothing on Peyton Manning. This is one piece where you will read nothing on the affable quarterback with no home. Except that. We do have, however, some really big names, either coming, going or staying, this is proving to be one of the busiest NFL free agency periods ever.
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First to troubled former Miami Dolphins wide-out Brandon Marshall. Busy week for Brandon, who was allegedly involved in an incident where he punched a woman in the eye at a Manhattan birthday bash. Marshall was also traded to the Chicago Bears. Should be pretty interesting to see how he gets on with other noted anti-hero type, Jay Cutler.



Marshall is no stranger to drama. He has a history of arrests that includes disorderly conduct, drunk driving, and domestic violence. Marshall was stabbed less than a year ago in the abdomen with a kitchen knife during a domestic dispute. Marshall’s wife, Michi Nogami-Marshall, was arrested but charges were later dropped.

Chicago, have fun with that.

Meanwhile, the ‘Team from Washington’ (This column will not use their racist team nickname, in much the same way you would not like to hear a soccer team from Denmark called ‘The Copenhagen Caucasians’) is proving a real mover and or shaker in free agency. They have nabbed former Colts wide-man Pierre Garcon. Insert comment on potential big name QB free agency signing here!

The uber-gifted and uber-hard-to-play-with (by all accounts) receiver Vincent Jackson is taking his undoubted talents to Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers and QB Josh Freeman are being seen as the big winners so far in free agency, landing Jackson with a five-year, $55 million deal that includes $26 million guaranteed. Pretty good walking-around-money, if you can get it.




On to two players who are definitely not, and probably not, moving teams but are still grabbing headlines.

One of the finest players in the NFL today, Marques Colston, is staying put in The Big Easy. Not long before free agency began on Tuesday, the Saints' star receiver agreed to a lucrative five-year contract to remain in the New Orleans. No word on if he got a cut of any of those injury incentive bonus payments the Saints hand out!
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Finally, the Steelers are making-eyes at their speedster, Mike Wallace, in the form of a reported first-round tender. As a restricted free agent, the first-round tender would guarantee him a reported $2.7 million in 2012. However, as a restricted free agent, another team can potentially swoop in and sign him. Possibly more to come on that one.

That’s it for now. Great start to the free agency period in terms of drama and big names. There are of course, a couple of big names left to talk about!

Great exercises in futility - the March Madness bracket

fu•til•i•ty (fy-tl-t)
n. pl. fu•til•i•ties
1. The quality of having no useful result; uselessness.
2. Lack of importance or purpose; frivolousness.
3. A futile act.
4. Filling out a March Madness bracket

In the 1600s, Don Quixote took part in one of the most futile ventures of all time. Driven by a desire to revive chivalry, he set out on a quest during which he assaulted a number of windmills. Pretty futile. In 1863 Maj. Gen. George Pickett expanded further on the use of the term futile by leading 13,000 men in a Civil War infantry charge towards their slaughter across open ground and against heavy Union artillery and rifle fire, losing over 50% of his men in the battle of Gettysburg. In 1939, as Panzer divisions swept through Poland, Polish Cavalry launched a brave yet incredibly futile attack on mechanized Wehrmacht columns at the battle of Krojanty. Daremny!

Whilst the above historic and literary ventures were no doubt futile, they pale in comparison to you fools who are about to complete out a March Madness bracket. Yes, sorry, we said it, you fools. You clowns. You Chug Monkeys. You who should have better things to do with your time.

To paraphrase Jeffrey Lebowski, I love March Madness, you love March Madness, that’s terrific! However, there are few ventures as futile as filling out one of those asinine March Madness brackets.
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Here’s the science.

There are a total of 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 possible bracket outcomes, making the odds of a perfect bracket over 9.2-quintillion-to-1. In fact, the odds are so bad that if every individual alive in the world completed a bracket, the odds are a billion-to-one against any of them being perfect.

By all means enjoy the games, there are few tournaments as exciting as March Madness. But for the love of Don Quixote, save yourself the time wasted on completing a bracket. Go read a good book. Give your Grandparents a call. Fix that shelf that needs fixing. If you spent the next two hours doing push-ups it would be time better spent than completing a March Madness bracket.

Amazingly, despite the astronomical numbers, despite the obvious futility of it all, it is estimated that one in ten Americans will complete out a March Madness bracket.

There are communities of Lemmings that live less futile existences than these people.

To those who actually place genuine, hard-earned, cash-money, financial bets on their brackets, you special people are the Polish Cavalry of the gambling world. Let me save you the bother of looking up the battle of Krojanty.

Much like the inevitable demise of your bracket, it did not end well.

Jeremy Lin continues to grab the headlines; Now has a Class A recreational drug named after him

The Jeremy Lin show just rolls on and on. Like 'Stomp' or 'Wicked', the tickets just keep on selling. The headlines have toned down a little since ESPN tried to explode the Internet with a racist headline Rush Limbaugh would have been ashamed of, but the publics hunger for Lin related news material is simply insatiable.

The content of said news 'stories' ranges from the banal, to the insane and back. Two particular stories grabbed ones attention this week. First, that bastion of modern new reporting, the New York Post, belched out a story on how Lin doesn't like women who dress 'slutty'. No, seriously. An entire piece was devoted to this. Second, we can now confirm, thanks to the New York Observer, that Lin has his own recreational drug names after him. Or at least a strain of same.

First to the Post. It 'reported', and we use that term loosely, that Lin was spotted out and about dressed in a "..classic dorky Harvard guy, jeans, sneakers, a blue plaid shirt and a white sweater..'' ensemble. Other important items brought to our attention by the Post were that Lin did not drink (alcahol, anyway, no word on what his favourite soft drink is) and that he was surrounded by teems of adoring women

Fascinatingly, the Post deemed it important to note that Lin only; ".. seemed interested in smart girls that didn't look slutty." Well now! Ring chasing, money grabbing, sluttily dressed women of New York beware, you ain't gonna get Lin's attention dressed like that!

Jeremy Lin says' ''No!!''

The Post closes by telling us that Lin left alone. But, you probably guessed that already. Informative stuff anyway, riveting! But, what do you expect from an article that contains the following in the comments section; ''The Knicks was awesome against the Cavaliers''

I am sure they 'was'. Anyway, moving on...

Jeremy Lin says; ''Maybe!!''

On to this whole recreational drug thing, brought to us by the good people at the New York Observer. We are going to tread carefully here, due to the nature of the content of the story, but the Observer tells us that; ''Jeremy Lin now has a (recreational drug) strain named after him, one that appears to be sold in an undisclosed (but fairly reputable-looking, judging by the handiwork on the label) (recreational drug) dispensary.''

No comment from the Lin camp on this one, as yet, however you can imagine the lawsuit is just around the corner, given how Lin feels about, you know, sluttily dressed women.

The Saints and 'Bounty Gate' - Sean Payton must go - VIDEO

Goodness me, the New Orleans Saints have landed themselves in quite the juicy pickle. The NFL is basically, at this moment, winding up Popeye style to deliver a debilitating haymaker right in the Saint’s kisser. Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner, is this week meeting with his minions to decide the punishment for the Saints ‘bounty’ scheme, where they paid out extra dollars to players who injured and or sidelined opposition players.

After a Mulder and Scully like investigation the NFL has uncovered in a damning report that the Saints paid ‘’$1,500 for a "knockout" shot and $1,000 for a hit that results in a player being carted off the field’’ . The sensational NFL report found between 22 and 27 defensive players on the Saints, as well as former assistant coach Gregg Williams, ‘’maintained a bounty system for inflicting injuries on targeted players.’’ Payments under the scheme doubled or tripled for the playoffs.

The Saints appear to be offering zero resistance thus far, and indeed Williams called his role in the pool a "terrible mistake" when he issued a public apology late last week. Williams, in particular, has a lot to answer for. Williams was the Redskins' defensive coordinator from 2004 to '07. The below hit on Peyton Manning took place in that time-frame, and the good people of Indianapolis would like to talk to Gregg about it.
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There is absolutely no doubt that Sean Payton, as head coach, knew about it. Unbelievably the league first investigated the Saints in early 2010, and issued a ‘cease and desist’ order. Payton knew about the order, as did Williams. Yet, still the bounty hunters plied their trade. New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson stepped in and directed the bounty program be discontinued immediately. However, they persisted. In its damning, positively toxic, release Friday afternoon, the NFL said Payton "was not a direct participant in the funding or administration of the program" but said "he was aware of the allegations, did not make any detailed inquiry or otherwise seek to learn the facts, and failed to stop the bounty program. He never instructed his assistant coaches or players that a bounty program was improper and could not continue."

Here’s where the whole story gets positively murky.



The NFL review of the situation has uncovered a very shady character, hiding in the dark shadows of the Saints guilty conscience for the last six years. The NFL report has uncovered that a convicted felon named Michael Ornstein, on at least four occasions, pledged his own money to the Saints' defense's bounty fund. Ornstein was an NFL executive in charge of marketing but was convicted of fraud amounting to $350,000 in 1996. He reappeared a decade later, as the marketing agent who represented Reggie Bush when he turned pro. It subsequently came out that Ornstein was a central figure in providing Bush with illegal benefits while at USC. Despite this, Ornstein followed Bush to New Orleans and became a member of the Saints' inner circle.

Ornstein, who is disturbingly a close friend and confidant of Sean Payton, pledged $10,000 in 2009 toward knocking an opposing quarterback out of a game. In 2011 Ornstein made two separate contributions towards targeting the quarterback. Unfortunately for Payton, Ornstein made at least one of these damning pledges in email to his buddy, the head coach of the Saints. How does the NFL know this? They have the email!

This all leads to the Superbowl of 2009. It was during that Super Bowl season that Ornstein was allegedly offering $10,000 to players to injure opposing quarterbacks. In addition, the NFL said its research has concluded that the bounty pool amounts peaked in 2009, the year the Saints won the Super Bowl.

Here’s a simple solution.

Take the 2009 Superbowl off the Saints. Award it to the Colts. They were pretty much cheated out of it when the entire refereeing crew ignored the blatant, clear as day block in Manning’s back on the interception return that won it. Take the trophy off them, fine and suspend all players involved in this scandal, and, most of all, fine and ban both Williams and Payton. Saints owner Tom Benson must act and act with conviction to protect whatever dignity the Saints organization is left with, by sacking Payton.

The weight of evidence is heavily against both coaches. These two men are completely indefensible. They encouraged a system where players were maliciously trying to injure other players.

Neither man deserves to coach in the NFL ever again.

The Emerald Diamond: The story of Baseball in Ireland: Video

John Fitzgerald, the director of the award winning documentary 'The Emerald Diamond' has created a shorter version of the movie, designed to give first time viewers a taste of the piece, and a quick look at the recent history of baseball in Ireland. The Emerald Diamond, in its original format, is a 90-minute documentary about the Irish National Baseball Team, Baseball in Ireland on the whole, and a look into the history and the future of the game therein. The film's budget of $70,000 was financed on credit cards by the first-time filmmaker, and recieved universal critical acclaim.

The film debuted to a sold out crowd in New York on February 25, 2006 and has been seen in dozens of theaters across the United States since then. It has been featured by The New York Times, New York Post, FoxNews, National Public Radio and has also been covered extensively by the Irish media. Reuters came to Corcaigh Park, home of Irish Baseball, and reported the story as such.

Frank McNally of the Irish Times wrote this brilliant article after he had seen the Emerald Diamond at the Sugar Club in Dublin.

On November 12, 2006, "The Emerald Diamond" won the Critic's Choice Award at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Film Festival in Cooperstown, NY. The award was selected and presented by film critic Jeffrey Lyons.



Without further ado, here for your viewing pleasure is the shortened, edited version of The Emerald Diamond. It is a really enjoyable, funny and informative movie. if you do find yourself drawn to it, visit the links at the foot of this article to show your support. Enjoy!


The Emerald Diamond
For a Two minute preview trailer click here

Full 48 minute edited version



Links
If you are interested in learning more about The Emerald Diamond

• The Emerald Diamond facebook page
• The Emerald Diamond official movie page
• Buy the collectors special edition of The Emerald Diamond

USA soccer team shocks Italy 1-0 - VIDEO

Clint Dempsey

Former German Uber-striker Jurgen Klinsmann may have physically taken on the role as US national soccer team manager back last July, however his reign will, in time, be considered to have started last night. The United States took a notable scalp with a hard fought 1-0 win over European soccer giants Italy.

The goal was a well worked team effort, with a crisp, efficient finish by Clint Dempsey.



That’s a lovely touch from Jozy Altidore to set it up. Dempsey is fast becoming not just a great player, but one of the most successful players to have worn the USA jersey. Or, that odd-ball, high-school style jersey they had on last night, either! Dempsey’s goal makes it 25 in 83 Internationals, not a shabby haul for a midfield player, and not bad for International level either. Dempsey is already the all-time leading scorer amongst US players in the Premiership with 43 goals, and at only 29 years old he has plenty of time to add to that impressive haul.

To put the win in perspective, this was the first time the USA have ever beaten Italy. Furthermore, Dempsey became just the fourth American to score against Italy, joining Buff Donelli (1934), John Harkes (1992) and Landon Donovan (2009). If you want to be picky you can include the own-goal Italy scored against themselves in 2006.

The States continue to go from strength to strength under Klinsmann, with last night’s big win they have now won four straight under the German.

There are still plenty of ignorant doubters out there in the US sporting media, but one undeniable fact is the US sporting public loves a winner, and if US soccer continues to produce results, it is only a matter of time before soccer breaks into the cartel that is NFL, NBA, MLB and to a lesser extent NHL.

For now, those loyal US soccer fans there is can enjoy a tremendous win against a famous opponent.

Gary Neville gets it wrong (again): La Liga is the best soccer league in the world

Quiet weekend in US sports news (unless of course you were ‘glued’ to the NBA All Star game, and who wouldn’t be transfixed by ten multi millionaire playboys jogging up and down a court tossing each other alley-oops ad nauseum). Sunday in particular was an extremely lazy day in terms of sports across the Atlantic, so more American eyes than usual were trained on coverage of the English Premiership, with Arsenal entertaining Tottenham in a wildly entertaining 5-2 Arsenal come-back win.

The game had a bit of everything, great goals, plenty of passion, and some truly terrible, and I mean terrible, defending. Former Manchester United great Gary Neville was Sky Sports pundit for the day, and as the goals flowed, Gary exploded, saying that people can say what they want but the Premiership is the best league in the world.

Neville is on something of a roll. Last week, as Italian side Napoli picked Chelsea to pieces, destroying them 3-1 (it could have been 7-1), Neville dead-panned that Napoli were no great shakes. Apparently Neville had forgotten Napoli’s incredible destruction job on the expensively assembled Oil Money Globetrotters otherwise known as Manchester City.

Napoli are enjoying a tremendous season. They are daringly playing three up front, and remaining disciplined and organised at the back. On Sunday they easily dispatched former Italian giants Inter Milan, 1-0 (and in that case, it could have been 5-0 but for some heroic goalkeeping).

Neville triumphing that the Premiere League is the best league in the world is nothing short of redundant. There are so many easily-picked holes in his statement that you could write a 3,000 word article on same. How better to retort, however, than a couple of quick glimpses at what happened in La Liga on the weekend.

First, to the Rayo Valecano v Real Madrid encounter. Rayo are real minnows by anyone’s standards, but they are playing some neat, attractive football this season and charging up the Spanish league. They fenced back and forth with the Spanish giants Madrid for 52 minutes, and then this happened…



That was just the entrée. The match of the weekend didn’t happen in London, instead it was in Madrid, as Barcelona travelled to Atletico, in the hopes of clinging to their La Liga title challenge. The match was an incredibly passionate, skillful encounter. Madrid threw everything at Barcelona, and with 10 minutes to go, a 1-1 draw looked on the cards, then, this happened..



The goal itself is a thing of technical beauty. The great Messi himself could try this sweeping, curving shot 10 times and only catch the back of the net on 2 or 3 of the attempts. It was an almost impossible attempt, pulled off by a pure genius. Whatever about the technicality of it all, the reactions are brilliant to watch. The Madrid goalkeeper flaps his arms in complete dismay, whilst one of the defenders just kicks the goal post. Messi’s team mates react with a mix of ‘Oh my god did he just do that?’ and ‘Unbelievable, he just did that!’

Gary Neville’s boring, inane comment that the Premiere League is the best soccer league in the world did nothing but show him up to be a blinkered commentator. This is backed up by his insistence that Napoli, enjoying a fine season, are ‘no great shakes’. It is sad when a man talking to millions upon millions of viewers hasn’t even bothered to check out the alternatives, before a jingoistic comment that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Hey, everyone is fully entitled to their opinion, but at least taste the other dishes before you go telling everyone that Fish and Chips is the best meal available.