• Archives

Author Archives: Thomas Cunningham

Jeremy Shockey Cut by Saints

February 22, 2011   Chris Harry   No comments

Filed under: ,

Jeremy ShockeyThe NFL may be days away from a lockout, but it’s still business as usual for now. Just ask Jeremy Shockey, who Tuesday was released by the New Orleans Saints.

The move was first reported by FOX Sports.

“It’s a business, I understand,” Shockey told ESPN. “I’ll just go play hard for someone else. Whoever gets me, it’s going to be a steal.”

The Saints got Shockey via a trade in 2008 with the New York Giants, who selected the former University of Miami star in the first round (No. 14 overall) of the 2002 draft. New Orleans gave up second- and fifth-round picks for a player who went to four Pro Bowls during his standout six seasons in the Meadowlands but never matched that productivity in the NFC South.

With the Saints, Shockey was nowhere as dominant as he was a Giant, missing at least three games each of his three seasons. After averaging nearly 62 catches and five touchdowns per season in New York, Shockey’s numbers slipped to just over 46 catches per season and a total of six touchdowns as a Saint.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read More

One Last Time, Gritty Packers Overcome Unexpected Adversity

February 06, 2011   Chris Harry   No comments

Filed under: , , ,

Charles WoodsonARLINGTON, Texas — Inside the Green Bay locker room at halftime, Charles Woodson was too choked up to say more than a few words.

The former NFL Defensive Player of the Year and leader extraordinaire had a broken collarbone and would not finish Super Bowl XLV against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“I couldn’t do it,” Woodson said. “I was just too emotional.”

As if the sight of a speechless Woodson, 34, wrapped in a sling wasn’t deflating enough for the second-youngest team in the NFL, across the locker room was wideout Donald Driver, the club’s all-time leader in receptions and an offensive stalwart, hobbled and done for the night with a high ankle sprain.

“It started to get crazy in there,” Driver said. “But we knew we had a bunch of young guys who would be ready when called on.”

In other words, why should their Super Bowl have been any different than the rest of the season?

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read More

Marshall Faulk, Deion Sanders Lead 7-Man 2011 Hall of Fame Class

February 05, 2011   Chris Harry   No comments

Filed under:

Marhall Faulk, Shannon Sharpe, Deion Sanders

DALLAS — The NFL moved its Hall of Fame induction announcement to prime time this year. Coincidence?

Yes, but also fitting, given the next wave of greatness on their way to immortality.

Cornerback Deion Sanders, who made the moniker “Prime Time” his own, and NFL Films creator Ed Sabol, whose historic and famous footage changed the way the game was watched, led a seven-member Class of 2011, announced live Saturday night on the NFL Network.

Sanders and Sabol were joined by defensive end Richard Dent, running back Marshall Faulk, tight end Shannon Sharpe and a pair of veterans committee inductees in linebackers Chris Hanburger from the 1960s-70s and Les Richter from the ’50s.

The trio of Sanders and Faulk made it in in their first year of eligibility. Sabol, now 95, also was up for induction for the first time after a small faction of voters lobbied for him to be considered for the impact his creation, NFL Films, had on the game.

The new class will officially be enshrined at the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio in August.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read More

With Lockout Looming, Plans Continue For Super Bowl XLVI

February 05, 2011   Chris Harry   No comments

Filed under: , ,

DALLAS — Convenient, connected, compact and central.

That’s the mantra of the Super Bowl XLVI Host Committee.

The fine folks from the Hoosier State have manned their booth at the NFL‘s media center all week and were all too glad to speak to — make that trumpet — the virtues of the world championship game set for Feb. 5, 2012 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The league’s fourth cold-weather Super Bowl site — and that’s not counting the current one, by the way — figures to be the anti-Dallas. Where Super Bowl XLV is spread out across the plains of North Texas, the XLVI version will be confined to downtown Indy, which hosts NCAA men’s basketball Final Fours every five years and already has a great reputation as fan friendly for big events, with everything nestled inside a few tight city blocks.

“The NFL has told us we will be the most urban Super Bowl they’ve ever had,” said Dianna Boyce, committee director of communication. “That’s a very positive thing from a community perspective.”

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read More

Chad Clifton Thriving Years After Warren Sapp Nearly Ended His Career

February 02, 2011   Chris Harry   No comments

Filed under: , , , ,

Chad CliftonIRVING, Texas — Clearly, reliving the moment is not something Chad Clifton seems particularly interested in doing these days. The veteran left tackle would much rather live in the current moment, which happens to be with the Green Bay Packers at Super Bowl XLV this week.

“I was injured. It was unfortunate. It got a lot of media attention,” Clifton said. “I wish it hadn’t happened, but hey, it’s football.”

Actually, it was violent, brutal, ugly and, yes, wickedly compelling football, complete with fiery sound bytes and a postgame altercation — head coach vs. player — the likes of which the NFL rarely sees.

So, at least this week, it’s worth reliving.

“Oh yeah, I remember it. It was huge,” said Packers guard Jason Spitz, at the time a high school lineman in Pensacola, Fla., who has watched the play on his cell phone via YouTube. “And it was dirty.”

That’s what everybody in green and gold thought, for sure, but the league ruled differently regarding the controversial hit on Clifton leveled by one of the most controversial (and dominant) defensive linemen of the last quarter-century.

Warren Sapp remembers, too.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read More

James Starks and Other ‘Next Guys’ Have Packers on Brink of Title

February 01, 2011   Chris Harry   No comments

Filed under: , , , ,

James StarksARLINGTON, Texas — One after another, so it seemed, key members of the Green Bay Packers went down with injuries during the first half of the regular season.

The first to drop was running back Ryan Grant in the season opener with leg and ankle injuries. Linebacker Nick Barnett (wrist) and veteran offensive tackle Mark Tauscher (shoulder) were lost in Week 4. The Pack’s fifth game was a crusher, seeing rising-star tight end Jermichael Finley tear up his knee. Linebacker Brad Jones (shoulder) went down in Week 8.

The NFL has a “Next guy!” creed when it comes to casualties. It’s one thing to say, though, it’s another thing to truly live by it.

And thrive through it.

“Hey man,” running back James Starks said Tuesday. “The show must go on.”

Those words came from the floor of Cowboys Stadium, site of Super Bowl XLV, where Starks will start Sunday night for the Packers (13-6) when they face the Pittsburgh Steelers (14-4) with merely a world championship on the line.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read More

Super Bowl Top-10 Media Day Divas Through the Years

February 01, 2011   Chris Harry   No comments

Filed under: ,


DALLAS — Super Bowl XLV Media Day went on Tuesday despite the best efforts of Mother Nature and the ice storm she blanketed over North Texas overnight. Cowboys Stadium still was invaded by print hacks and electronic talking heads by the thousands.

The lines were dozens deep at the podiums of quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers. There were plenty of hairy questions for Troy Polamalu and Clay Matthews. There was Inez Sainz (hot) and Ochocinco (not) and cameos from kids from Nickelodeon.

But there was no star that outshined the event — ala Joe Namath before media day became MEDIA DAY — or shook the Super Bowl with headlines. And there were no reluctant talkers of note, like when Leon Lett excused himself from the podium twice because he got dizzy from the attention.

In honor of those newsmakers, allow us to relive some of the most famous and/or infamous Media Day divas of the Super Bowl era.

1) Ray Lewis (Baltimore), Super Bowl XXXV at Tampa, Fla.

It had been nearly a year since Lewis, the Ravens Pro Bowl linebacker, had been indicted on murder charges stemming from a fight that broke out in downtown Atlanta and led to the two stabbing deaths during Super Bowl XXXIV weekend the year before. Lewis eventually pled guilty to charges of obstruction of justice for giving police misleading statements. He was sentenced to one-year probation. Lewis went the entire 2000 season without speaking to reporters, but was required to climb the podium on Media Day for Baltimore’s showdown against the New York Giants. Yes, the subject of the murders came up. “Yeah I got money. Yeah I’m black. Yeah I’m blessed,” Lewis railed. “But at the same time let’s find out the real truth. The real truth is this was never about those two kids dead in the street, it’s about Ray Lewis. And that’s the same thing this is about and that’s not right.” Asked if there was anything he’d like to say to the family of the victims, Lewis responded, “Na.” Five days later, he was voted MVP of Baltimore’s 34-7 victory. Not one of the game’s finer moments.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read More

Flozell Adams Feared by Many, Respected by All

February 01, 2011   Chris Harry   No comments

Filed under: , , , ,

Flozell Adams, Ben Roethlisberger
DALLAS — His Pittsburgh Steelers teammates had a surprise for Flozell Adams when he got to the airport for the team’s chartered flight to Super Bowl XLV.

They were all wearing No. 76 Michigan State jerseys, circa Adams’ sterling career at the Big Ten school in the 1990s.

“I had no idea,” Adams, Pittsburgh’s starting right tackle, said Monday upon arrival at the team’s Fort Worth hotel. “It was special for them to bring back the throwbacks and they’re all still walking around here with ‘em on.”

It was a nice gesture for Adams, to be sure, but wouldn’t No. 76 Dallas Cowboys jerseys have been a better touch?

After all, this was Flozell “The Hotel” Adams, the 6-foot-7, 338-pound whipping post of Cowboys fans for the better part of the last decade. Adams may have gone to some Pro Bowls, but he was the most penalized offensive lineman in the league during his previous 12 seasons, and the big fella did not discriminate when it came to flags. Holding penalties, false starts, tripping, personal fouls … whatevs.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read More

Charles Woodson’s Words Speaking as Loudly as His Actions

January 31, 2011   Chris Harry   No comments

Filed under: , , ,

Charles Woodson

IRVING, Texas — For Charles Woodson and the Green Bay Packers, the arrival to Super Bowl XLV wasn’t nearly as grandiose as the announcement that they’d be coming.

And not just to Dallas, either — all the way to Washington D.C.

“It was spur of the moment,” Woodson said Monday as the Packers commenced their media commitments with their opening news conference at the Omni Mandalay-Las Colinas. “It was to have a little fun. I’m not surprised it got a little air time.”

The All-Pro cornerback sent a message, first to his team, then to — get this — President Barack Obama in the postgame celebration following Green Bay’s emotional road victory over the rival Chicago Bears in the NFC championship game. Woodson and the Packers took note of Obama vowing to attend the Super Bowl if his beloved Bears got there.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read More

Fred Bednarski: Amazing Life of a Holocaust Survivor, Football Innovator

January 26, 2011   Chris Harry   No comments

AUSTIN, Texas — In the 1950s, field goals in college football were rarer sights than even facemasks, so the University of Arkansas defense immediately was suspicious that fall afternoon in Fayetteville when one of its biggest rivals, Texas, began lining up for a surprisingly long field-goal attempt in the first quarter.

Razorbacks safety Fred Akers figured something fishy was in the works as he watched Longhorns fullback Fred Bednarski move into kicking formation. Akers quickly sounded the alarm when Bednarski not only backed away from his holder, but did so at a diagonal angle.

It was an entirely different look to the single wing — with the holder kneeling behind the center — and thus set off all the familiar alarms.

FAKE! FAKE! FAKE!

IT’S A PASS!

WATCH FOR THE END AROUND!

And watch everybody did, as the ball was snapped, placed and Bednarski kicked the first soccer-style field goal in either college or pro football, stepping in from 45 degrees and bombing a 40-yarder that kick-started the Longhorns to a 17-0 upset of the 10th-ranked Hogs.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read More
« Older posts
Powered by WordPress | Designed by: suv | Thanks to toyota suv, infiniti suv and lexus suv