Sure, they excluded Joe Cool himself, Joe Montana, and there's some other notable snubs: Rickey Henderson in baseball, Bird, Magic and Kareem in basketball, and John McEnroe and Andre Aggasi in tennis. Still, Gentleman's Quarterly does a great job listing the 25 coolest athletes of all time:
Muhammad Ali
Mario Andretti
Arthur Ashe
George Best
Bjorn Borg
Tom Brady
Jim Brown
Julius Erving
Walt Frazier
Bob Gibson
Allen Iverson
Bo Jackson
Michael Jordan
Jean-Claude Killy
Evel Knievel
Tim Lincecum
Pete Maravich
Joe Namath
Arnold Palmer
Pelé
Gary Player
Derek Sanderson
Kelly Slater
Ken Stabler
Ted Turner
Showing posts with label Tom Brady. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tom Brady. Show all posts
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Football Season Is Over: 2011 Officially Begins
In the final insult to a completely humiliating season for Brett Favre, the Green Bay Packers won Super Bowl XLV, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25. It's their fourth SB title, and it took Packers QB Aaron Rodgers three years to win one, as many as Favre had in his entire career. Rodgers, unlike Favre, also won the game's MVP award, passing for 304 yards and 3 touchdowns. The curse of the Lutefisk continues...
The game was watched by a record 111 million in the US, 4.5 million more than last year's game and 5 million more than the final episode of M*A*S*H. Probably the coolest ad: a young boy dressed like Darth Vader trying to use The Force to open a 2012 Volkswagen Passat.
The NFL changed things around this year, presenting all the season best awards during the week. Here's the winners:
MVP: Tom Brady, New England Patriots
Offensive Player of the Year: Tom Brady, New England Patriots
Defensive Player of the Year: Troy Polamalu, Pittsburgh Steelers
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Sam Bradford, St. Louis Rams
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Ndamukong Suh, Detroit Lions
Coach of the Year: Bill Belichick, New England Patriots
Comeback of the Year: Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles
And finally, the Hall of Fame picks: modern era players Deion Sanders, Marshall Faulk, Richard Dent and Shannon Sharpe, NFL Films founder Ed Sabol and senior picks Chris Hanburger and Les Richter. A good list, though it contains some snubs: Faulk got in over running backs Jerome Bettis and Curtis Martin, wide receivers Chris Carter and Tim Brown were left out, and five time Super Bowl champ Charles Haley failed to make the cut. And then there's Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler and punter Ray Guy, the two most offensive long-term snubs from Canton...
The game was watched by a record 111 million in the US, 4.5 million more than last year's game and 5 million more than the final episode of M*A*S*H. Probably the coolest ad: a young boy dressed like Darth Vader trying to use The Force to open a 2012 Volkswagen Passat.
The NFL changed things around this year, presenting all the season best awards during the week. Here's the winners:
MVP: Tom Brady, New England Patriots
Offensive Player of the Year: Tom Brady, New England Patriots
Defensive Player of the Year: Troy Polamalu, Pittsburgh Steelers
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Sam Bradford, St. Louis Rams
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Ndamukong Suh, Detroit Lions
Coach of the Year: Bill Belichick, New England Patriots
Comeback of the Year: Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles
And finally, the Hall of Fame picks: modern era players Deion Sanders, Marshall Faulk, Richard Dent and Shannon Sharpe, NFL Films founder Ed Sabol and senior picks Chris Hanburger and Les Richter. A good list, though it contains some snubs: Faulk got in over running backs Jerome Bettis and Curtis Martin, wide receivers Chris Carter and Tim Brown were left out, and five time Super Bowl champ Charles Haley failed to make the cut. And then there's Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler and punter Ray Guy, the two most offensive long-term snubs from Canton...
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Just another Patriots-Colts classic
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/don_banks/11/21/pats.colts.insider/
Sunday November 21, 2010
Don Banks
INSIDE THE NFL
Just another Patriots-Colts classic
Story Highlights
Wouldn't it be great if we could be treated to Patriots-Colts four times a year?
Again, Peyton Manning was down 17 and he almost brought them all the way back
Manning took full responsibility for his errant throw which thwarted the rally
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- It's more compliment than complaint, but here's the problem I've got with these annual Colts-Patriots showdowns, the ones the NFL use as the centerpiece of its entire 256-game regular-season schedule every November: They only serve to make us realize what we're missing the rest of the year.
Let's face it, watching the Colts and Patriots tangle really is as good as it gets in the NFL. It's not hype. It's just the truth. I'd take Peyton Manning against Tom Brady four times a year if the league would make it happen, and early Sunday night at Gillette Stadium reminded us all why we can't get enough of this rivalry.
When these two teams and these two quarterbacks meet, stuff happens. Good stuff. Memorable stuff. Stuff like 4th-and-2 last year, and James Sanders' game-saving interception this year. There's must-see TV, and then there's Colts-Pats. And so it goes, with another gripping chapter being written this time in New England's 31-28 nail-biting victory over Manning and Co. For a game in which the lead never changed hands, could you have asked for anything more?
"It was a classic game,'' said Patriots tight end Alge Crumpler, a 10th-year NFL veteran, but a rookie when it came to taking part in this Indy-New England rivalry. "I wasn't here last year, but I was brought up to speed real fast on this rivalry. This is one of the best non-division rivalry games I've ever seen. It was good just to be a part of it.''
The Patriots for a good bit of the game looked to be in command against the short-handed Colts. New England was up 14-0 early in the second quarter, and led 31-14 almost five minutes into the fourth quarter. But no matter. You can't be in command, or ever get comfortable, when Manning is the quarterback for the opposing team. He's going to bring his team back. You know it. He knows it. And of course, the Patriots are uniquely positioned to know it.
They saw Manning do it to them last year in Indianapolis, when the Colts trailed by 17 points early in the fourth quarter and still stormed back to win 35-34 (thanks in part to coach Bill Belichick's controversial fourth-and-2 call). They saw Manning do it to them in the 2006 AFC Championship Game, when the Colts overcame a 17-point second-half deficit to earn their first Super Bowl trip in 36 years.
And they very nearly saw history repeat itself Sunday night, when Manning had Indy on the move toward either a game-winning touchdown or a game-tying field goal in the final minute after again fighting out of another 17-point hole.
There wasn't a Patriots fan alive who wasn't thinking it was Groundhog Day all over again. But this time, the Patriots finally made the game-saving play on defense, with safety James Sanders making a leaping interception of Manning at the New England 6 with :31 remaining. It was Manning's third interception of the game, and it almost felt like the first time all night the Patriots stopped Manning when it really mattered.
"Peyton is one of the greatest quarterbacks ever, but I always say that at times he'll rush a ball,'' Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork said. "He'll take it upon himself to try to make a play. And you know what? The majority of the time, 99 percent of the time, he does it. We just had that one percent today that fell in our favor.''
And now we have another delicious Patriots-Colts debate to chew on for a while. It's not 4th-and-2, but it'll do. Indy started the play that resulted in Sanders' highlight-reel interception at the New England 24, already well within range of a game-tying Adam Vinatieri field goal. But no one was really surprised that Manning stayed aggressive and was going for the touchdown and the win, rather than put the game back on the shoulders of the Colts defense or leave it to the vagaries of an overtime coin toss.
That's how Manning plays, and that's how he has beaten these Patriots in the past. But this time, his aggressive tendencies backfired, and cost the Colts a chance to at least tie the game and force overtime. This time, Manning's failure in the clutch was the story of the game.
"He's trying to drive that stake in our heart in that situation,'' said Sanders, who said he read Manning's eyes and knew he was going to throw toward Colts receiver Pierre Garcon. "Peyton's that kind of quarterback. If he has enough time, he's going to try to win the game. He's not playing for field goals. He's done it time and time again in his career. Going against that guy, it's scary at times. Because if he knows what you're doing, he's going to tear you apart.''
Manning took the blame for the interception to Sanders, saying he had the matchup he wanted in Garcon one-on-one with cornerback Devin McCourty. He just didn't get the ball there, and Sanders found a way to drop into coverage and make the play.
"I just didn't get everything I wanted on the throw,'' Manning said. "I'm just sick about not extending the game. There's just no excuse just not to extend the game there and give Vinatieri a chance for a field goal. Certainly, we were going for the win. We had some time, had some timeouts, and felt like we had a good play call. Just a poor throw and it's really sickening.''
Manning scorched the Patriots for four touchdowns and 396 yards passing, but New England's defense had its moments, too, against No. 18, and the biggest one saved the game for a Patriots team that improved to 8-2 and stayed tied with the Jets for the AFC's best record. This isn't a dominant Patriots defense by any stretch, but it's a play-making unit that's starting to step up when the moment demands.
"Every year, every time we play these guys, it always comes down to a couple points,'' Wilfork said. "It's rare that you get blowouts when we face each other. But I felt confident (on the last Colts drive), for some reason. The game was on the line, but I felt pretty good about it. I think we reacted the way we need to react. Somebody needed to step up and make a play, and James did.
"You saw a great game today, even though it was a two-score game for a long time. But a two-touchdown lead, we've seen in the past that that's not enough with these guys. The offense realized it had to score points this week, and the defense realized there was going to come a point where we have to stand up and basically be a man out there. And we did.''
Offensively the Patriots went cold in the fourth quarter, but they did enough to win in the first three-plus quarters. Just barely.
"This is a tough stretch we've got right now,'' Crumpler said, referencing New England's win at Pittsburgh last week, and the looming rematch with the Jets in Foxborough two weeks from Monday night. "But we're playing well. Ideally you want to play a perfect game, but you're not always going to be perfect. The thing about tonight was, we didn't turn the ball over and we played a physical, hard-nosed style of football. Most times, that should win the game.''
Year in and year out, these two AFC superpowers seem to play each other so evenly that one play or one decision turns the entire game. And on that thin reed, with Sanders making the play, and Manning failing to do so, perhaps the conference's home-field advantage in the playoffs will be decided this season. With the loss, Indy fell to 6-4 and into a tie for first place with surprising Jacksonville in the AFC South, but no one in New England will be surprised if the Colts and Patriots see each other again in the playoffs.
We should all be so lucky. These two teams just played another classic, and we're already hungry for more.
Sunday November 21, 2010
Don Banks
INSIDE THE NFL
Just another Patriots-Colts classic
Story Highlights
Wouldn't it be great if we could be treated to Patriots-Colts four times a year?
Again, Peyton Manning was down 17 and he almost brought them all the way back
Manning took full responsibility for his errant throw which thwarted the rally
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- It's more compliment than complaint, but here's the problem I've got with these annual Colts-Patriots showdowns, the ones the NFL use as the centerpiece of its entire 256-game regular-season schedule every November: They only serve to make us realize what we're missing the rest of the year.
Let's face it, watching the Colts and Patriots tangle really is as good as it gets in the NFL. It's not hype. It's just the truth. I'd take Peyton Manning against Tom Brady four times a year if the league would make it happen, and early Sunday night at Gillette Stadium reminded us all why we can't get enough of this rivalry.
When these two teams and these two quarterbacks meet, stuff happens. Good stuff. Memorable stuff. Stuff like 4th-and-2 last year, and James Sanders' game-saving interception this year. There's must-see TV, and then there's Colts-Pats. And so it goes, with another gripping chapter being written this time in New England's 31-28 nail-biting victory over Manning and Co. For a game in which the lead never changed hands, could you have asked for anything more?
"It was a classic game,'' said Patriots tight end Alge Crumpler, a 10th-year NFL veteran, but a rookie when it came to taking part in this Indy-New England rivalry. "I wasn't here last year, but I was brought up to speed real fast on this rivalry. This is one of the best non-division rivalry games I've ever seen. It was good just to be a part of it.''
The Patriots for a good bit of the game looked to be in command against the short-handed Colts. New England was up 14-0 early in the second quarter, and led 31-14 almost five minutes into the fourth quarter. But no matter. You can't be in command, or ever get comfortable, when Manning is the quarterback for the opposing team. He's going to bring his team back. You know it. He knows it. And of course, the Patriots are uniquely positioned to know it.
They saw Manning do it to them last year in Indianapolis, when the Colts trailed by 17 points early in the fourth quarter and still stormed back to win 35-34 (thanks in part to coach Bill Belichick's controversial fourth-and-2 call). They saw Manning do it to them in the 2006 AFC Championship Game, when the Colts overcame a 17-point second-half deficit to earn their first Super Bowl trip in 36 years.
And they very nearly saw history repeat itself Sunday night, when Manning had Indy on the move toward either a game-winning touchdown or a game-tying field goal in the final minute after again fighting out of another 17-point hole.
There wasn't a Patriots fan alive who wasn't thinking it was Groundhog Day all over again. But this time, the Patriots finally made the game-saving play on defense, with safety James Sanders making a leaping interception of Manning at the New England 6 with :31 remaining. It was Manning's third interception of the game, and it almost felt like the first time all night the Patriots stopped Manning when it really mattered.
"Peyton is one of the greatest quarterbacks ever, but I always say that at times he'll rush a ball,'' Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork said. "He'll take it upon himself to try to make a play. And you know what? The majority of the time, 99 percent of the time, he does it. We just had that one percent today that fell in our favor.''
And now we have another delicious Patriots-Colts debate to chew on for a while. It's not 4th-and-2, but it'll do. Indy started the play that resulted in Sanders' highlight-reel interception at the New England 24, already well within range of a game-tying Adam Vinatieri field goal. But no one was really surprised that Manning stayed aggressive and was going for the touchdown and the win, rather than put the game back on the shoulders of the Colts defense or leave it to the vagaries of an overtime coin toss.
That's how Manning plays, and that's how he has beaten these Patriots in the past. But this time, his aggressive tendencies backfired, and cost the Colts a chance to at least tie the game and force overtime. This time, Manning's failure in the clutch was the story of the game.
"He's trying to drive that stake in our heart in that situation,'' said Sanders, who said he read Manning's eyes and knew he was going to throw toward Colts receiver Pierre Garcon. "Peyton's that kind of quarterback. If he has enough time, he's going to try to win the game. He's not playing for field goals. He's done it time and time again in his career. Going against that guy, it's scary at times. Because if he knows what you're doing, he's going to tear you apart.''
Manning took the blame for the interception to Sanders, saying he had the matchup he wanted in Garcon one-on-one with cornerback Devin McCourty. He just didn't get the ball there, and Sanders found a way to drop into coverage and make the play.
"I just didn't get everything I wanted on the throw,'' Manning said. "I'm just sick about not extending the game. There's just no excuse just not to extend the game there and give Vinatieri a chance for a field goal. Certainly, we were going for the win. We had some time, had some timeouts, and felt like we had a good play call. Just a poor throw and it's really sickening.''
Manning scorched the Patriots for four touchdowns and 396 yards passing, but New England's defense had its moments, too, against No. 18, and the biggest one saved the game for a Patriots team that improved to 8-2 and stayed tied with the Jets for the AFC's best record. This isn't a dominant Patriots defense by any stretch, but it's a play-making unit that's starting to step up when the moment demands.
"Every year, every time we play these guys, it always comes down to a couple points,'' Wilfork said. "It's rare that you get blowouts when we face each other. But I felt confident (on the last Colts drive), for some reason. The game was on the line, but I felt pretty good about it. I think we reacted the way we need to react. Somebody needed to step up and make a play, and James did.
"You saw a great game today, even though it was a two-score game for a long time. But a two-touchdown lead, we've seen in the past that that's not enough with these guys. The offense realized it had to score points this week, and the defense realized there was going to come a point where we have to stand up and basically be a man out there. And we did.''
Offensively the Patriots went cold in the fourth quarter, but they did enough to win in the first three-plus quarters. Just barely.
"This is a tough stretch we've got right now,'' Crumpler said, referencing New England's win at Pittsburgh last week, and the looming rematch with the Jets in Foxborough two weeks from Monday night. "But we're playing well. Ideally you want to play a perfect game, but you're not always going to be perfect. The thing about tonight was, we didn't turn the ball over and we played a physical, hard-nosed style of football. Most times, that should win the game.''
Year in and year out, these two AFC superpowers seem to play each other so evenly that one play or one decision turns the entire game. And on that thin reed, with Sanders making the play, and Manning failing to do so, perhaps the conference's home-field advantage in the playoffs will be decided this season. With the loss, Indy fell to 6-4 and into a tie for first place with surprising Jacksonville in the AFC South, but no one in New England will be surprised if the Colts and Patriots see each other again in the playoffs.
We should all be so lucky. These two teams just played another classic, and we're already hungry for more.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Brady Hits Rock Bottom... Justin Bieber Calls Him Out In New Song
http://boston.barstoolsports.com/random-thoughts/brady-hits-rock-bottom-justin-bieber-calls-him-out-in-new-song/
Brady Hits Rock Bottom... Justin Bieber Calls Him Out In New Song
elpresidente
October 14th, 2010
“Call up Mr. Brady. Tell him to leave his hair to that guy that sings Baby.”
Jesus Christ. Just when I think Tom Brady can’t sink any lower he does. I mean it’s one thing for Gisele to be leading him around by the balls, but now Justin Bieber is crushing him? JUSTIN FUCKING BIEBER! Are you shitting me! Cut the fucking hair Tom! Enough is enough! Seriously when Bieber is calling your shit out it’s time to make a change. Don’t get me wrong if I see Beiber walking down the street I’ll punch him right in his pretty little nutsack, but I’m sick and tired of fighting your battles. Time to be man. Let’s get back to what won us 3 superbowls. Short hair and impregnating chicks left and right. That’s what great Michigan men do! Because at the rate we’re going pretty soon Biebs is going to be balls deep in your wife while you’re just sitting their all cuckolded and shit.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Control Your Fucking Woman!
http://boston.barstoolsports.com/random-thoughts/control-your-fucking-woman/
Control Your Fucking Woman!
elpresidente
October 1st, 2010
Umm what the fuck is this shit? This is not only a slap in the face to Tom Brady, but all of New England. Seriously control your fucking woman Tom. Like I’ve had it up the here with this shit. Gisele tells you not to cut your hair so don’t cut your hair. Gisele tells you to dress like a pussy so you dress like a pussy. Gisele says she’s going to fuck other dudes and let them grope her ass and lick her clit and you’re like fine whatever dear. NO! It stops here!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The Randy Moss Trade in all its Idiocy
Dave Zirin
The Patriots trade of super star wide receiver Randy Moss to the Minnesota Vikings for a third round draft pick represents everything I despise about NFL ‘conventional wisdom, the New England Patriots organization, and their dyspeptic toad of a head coach, Bill Belichick.
For 12 years, the football media has derided Moss as a malcontent, a “diva”, even a cancer. And yet, as the hate has been rained down upon his head with annual monotony, do you know who loves Randy Moss? Quarterbacks. Moss is the kind of singular talent who turns average qbs into Pro Bowlers, and Pro Bowlers into Hall of Famers. Just look at his history since coming into the league way back in 1998. In Moss’s first season he caught a rookie-record 17 touchdowns on a Minnesota Vikings team that set the mark for most points scored in a season. His quarterback, Randall Cunningham, had the best season of his star-crossed career and was named Player of the Year. When Cunningham played poorly the following season, his backup the talented but bumbling Jeff George, was finally consistent, which he achieved by tossing up remarkable spirals that Moss snatched out of the air. After George, Moss gave Daunte Culpepper two of the best statistical seasons in NFL history. After Moss left the team for the Oakland Raiders, Culpepper’s career left as well. The two years in Oakland were uneventful – as are most years in Raider-land – but when Moss signed with the Patriots, he showed that he was truly an all-timer.
The already accomplished Tom Brady had a season for the ages, throwing a record 50 touchdowns with 23 of them going to Moss, also an all time mark. That Patriots team broke the record of Moss’s old Vikings team for points in a season. The presence of Moss has opened the field for Brady to find underneath receiver Wes Welker who has more catches over the last three years than any player in the NFL. This is why Tom Brady recently called Moss the greatest deep threat in NFL history. This is why Brady is miserable today and Brett Favre is so elated, you’d think they made Wranglers with an elastic waist. Favre has pined for Moss since the 1998 draft when he begged the Packers to take the Marshall University standout and then watched as Moss tormented the Pack for years.
That last word is key: years. For all the talk of the “mercurial Moss”, his career has actually been one for the ages. Moss has the second most touchdown catches in NFL history and is still just 33 years old. The one receiver picked ahead of him in the 1998 draft, Kevin Dyson, hasn’t played in SEVEN YEARS. And yet, despite 12 years of putting up Hall of Fame numbers and being the object of desire for every qb in the game, he is still branded as a problem player. Every team should have such problems. NFL writers who still beat this dead horse sound like conservatives crying about the end of the gold standard. We’ve seen this again today. Kerry Byrnes of Sports Illustrated, before the bags were even packed, wrote, “At the end of the day, the Patriots were a better team without Moss.” He also dismissed Moss’s impact, writing, “Wide receivers, even the all-time great wide receivers, are little more than shiny hood ornaments on NFL offenses.” For proof of this, Byrnes looked at the Packer teams of the 1960s and the Steeler dynasty of the 1970s, pointing out that they lacked a dominant receiver. This is idiocy writ large and not just because, last I checked, Pittsburgh receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth were in the Hall of Fame. In today’s NFL, where changes in the rules heavily favor the passing game, if you don’t have a top receiving core, you are not going anywhere. Instead of looking at the Canton Bulldogs, or whoever Byrnes was holding up as an example of wide receiver irrelevance, look at the last four Super Bowl teams: In 2009 it was the Arizona Cardinals led by receiver Larry Fitzgerald and the Steelers and their Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes. In 2010, the Saints and the Colts passed first and ran the ball just to keep the other side guessing.
But forget the stupidity that the Patriots are better without Moss. This is just another reason why the New England Patriots and their coach Bill Belichick deserve every last dollop of our collective contempt. Over the last five years, Belichick has coldly disemboweled the team that won three Super Bowls in four years from 2002-2005. Remember their clutch kicker Adam Vinatieri, or linebacker Mike Vrabel, or Super Bowl MVP Deon Branch, or All Pro tackle Richard Seymour? They were all expendable. Other than Brady, the only surviving player is - now injured – running back Kevin Faulk who has been on the team so long he must have pictures of Patriots owner Bob Kraft snuggling livestock. For all the talk of Randy Moss being a narcissistic diva, it’s really Belichick who believes that it’s all about him. Until I see that cranky hobbit run past Darrelle Revis and catch a touchdown with one hand, I will continue to think otherwise. As for Moss, he has the chance now to end his career in Minnesota where it all began. As he said to Vikings coach Brad Childress, "I'm just happy to be coming home." So is everyone in the land of a thousand lakes. We should cheer the Vikings and jeer the Patriots for this move. But if you take a moment and listen very carefully, you can hear a very soft thumping sound. It’s Tom Brady banging his head against a wall.
Dave Zirin is the author of “Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games we Love” (Scribner) Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.
The Patriots trade of super star wide receiver Randy Moss to the Minnesota Vikings for a third round draft pick represents everything I despise about NFL ‘conventional wisdom, the New England Patriots organization, and their dyspeptic toad of a head coach, Bill Belichick.
For 12 years, the football media has derided Moss as a malcontent, a “diva”, even a cancer. And yet, as the hate has been rained down upon his head with annual monotony, do you know who loves Randy Moss? Quarterbacks. Moss is the kind of singular talent who turns average qbs into Pro Bowlers, and Pro Bowlers into Hall of Famers. Just look at his history since coming into the league way back in 1998. In Moss’s first season he caught a rookie-record 17 touchdowns on a Minnesota Vikings team that set the mark for most points scored in a season. His quarterback, Randall Cunningham, had the best season of his star-crossed career and was named Player of the Year. When Cunningham played poorly the following season, his backup the talented but bumbling Jeff George, was finally consistent, which he achieved by tossing up remarkable spirals that Moss snatched out of the air. After George, Moss gave Daunte Culpepper two of the best statistical seasons in NFL history. After Moss left the team for the Oakland Raiders, Culpepper’s career left as well. The two years in Oakland were uneventful – as are most years in Raider-land – but when Moss signed with the Patriots, he showed that he was truly an all-timer.
The already accomplished Tom Brady had a season for the ages, throwing a record 50 touchdowns with 23 of them going to Moss, also an all time mark. That Patriots team broke the record of Moss’s old Vikings team for points in a season. The presence of Moss has opened the field for Brady to find underneath receiver Wes Welker who has more catches over the last three years than any player in the NFL. This is why Tom Brady recently called Moss the greatest deep threat in NFL history. This is why Brady is miserable today and Brett Favre is so elated, you’d think they made Wranglers with an elastic waist. Favre has pined for Moss since the 1998 draft when he begged the Packers to take the Marshall University standout and then watched as Moss tormented the Pack for years.
That last word is key: years. For all the talk of the “mercurial Moss”, his career has actually been one for the ages. Moss has the second most touchdown catches in NFL history and is still just 33 years old. The one receiver picked ahead of him in the 1998 draft, Kevin Dyson, hasn’t played in SEVEN YEARS. And yet, despite 12 years of putting up Hall of Fame numbers and being the object of desire for every qb in the game, he is still branded as a problem player. Every team should have such problems. NFL writers who still beat this dead horse sound like conservatives crying about the end of the gold standard. We’ve seen this again today. Kerry Byrnes of Sports Illustrated, before the bags were even packed, wrote, “At the end of the day, the Patriots were a better team without Moss.” He also dismissed Moss’s impact, writing, “Wide receivers, even the all-time great wide receivers, are little more than shiny hood ornaments on NFL offenses.” For proof of this, Byrnes looked at the Packer teams of the 1960s and the Steeler dynasty of the 1970s, pointing out that they lacked a dominant receiver. This is idiocy writ large and not just because, last I checked, Pittsburgh receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth were in the Hall of Fame. In today’s NFL, where changes in the rules heavily favor the passing game, if you don’t have a top receiving core, you are not going anywhere. Instead of looking at the Canton Bulldogs, or whoever Byrnes was holding up as an example of wide receiver irrelevance, look at the last four Super Bowl teams: In 2009 it was the Arizona Cardinals led by receiver Larry Fitzgerald and the Steelers and their Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes. In 2010, the Saints and the Colts passed first and ran the ball just to keep the other side guessing.
But forget the stupidity that the Patriots are better without Moss. This is just another reason why the New England Patriots and their coach Bill Belichick deserve every last dollop of our collective contempt. Over the last five years, Belichick has coldly disemboweled the team that won three Super Bowls in four years from 2002-2005. Remember their clutch kicker Adam Vinatieri, or linebacker Mike Vrabel, or Super Bowl MVP Deon Branch, or All Pro tackle Richard Seymour? They were all expendable. Other than Brady, the only surviving player is - now injured – running back Kevin Faulk who has been on the team so long he must have pictures of Patriots owner Bob Kraft snuggling livestock. For all the talk of Randy Moss being a narcissistic diva, it’s really Belichick who believes that it’s all about him. Until I see that cranky hobbit run past Darrelle Revis and catch a touchdown with one hand, I will continue to think otherwise. As for Moss, he has the chance now to end his career in Minnesota where it all began. As he said to Vikings coach Brad Childress, "I'm just happy to be coming home." So is everyone in the land of a thousand lakes. We should cheer the Vikings and jeer the Patriots for this move. But if you take a moment and listen very carefully, you can hear a very soft thumping sound. It’s Tom Brady banging his head against a wall.
Dave Zirin is the author of “Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games we Love” (Scribner) Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.
Monday, September 15, 2008
And so is Matt Drudge...
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/female_fans_out_for_season_withFemale Fans Out For Season With Tom Brady's Knee Injury
September 11, 2008 Onion Sports
FOXBOROUGH, MA — More than 90 percent of female football fans were lost for the season on Sunday when New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady suffered a left knee injury that will require extensive treatment. The Patriots announced Monday that Brady, the 2007 NFL Most Valuable Player and arguably the NFL's most handsome man, will be placed on injured reserve, where despite being no less attractive than before his injury, he will only be partially visible for the rest of the 2008-2009 season.
Bill Belichick held a press conference Tuesday confirming that Brady will have surgery, ending his 128-game combined starting-and-high-visibility streak, the third longest for a quarterback and the longest ever for a quarterback heartthrob.
Brady left Sunday's game against Kansas City after suffering an ugly anterior cruciate ligament tear in his incredibly handsome left knee after being hit by merely average-looking Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard.
"We feel badly for the nation's women about the injury," Belichick said. "And for Tom, of course. You hate to see anyone with that kind of masculine yet boyish appeal go down. No one has worked harder or done more for this team's female fan base than Tom has, and we expect him to set his rugged, chiseled jaw, keep his twinkling blue eyes on the prize, and be ready to get back on the field and in front of the cameras by next year."
Matt Cassel, who analysts say looked "consistent and confident" while guiding New England to its 20th straight regular-season win after Brady was hurt and "okay but not remarkable" in jeans and a polo shirt after the game, will start Sunday at the New York Jets, although there are doubts Cassel can win as many games and women as Brady.
"Well, as far as my role on this team goes, I'm not trying to be Tom Brady. I'm just trying to be Matt," Cassel said when subbing for Brady on his regular weekly radio show. "I mean, I have to just be myself, or else the ladies will sense I'm faking it, and in the end, that'll make it worse. I just hope there's one special fan group out there for me."
Cassel has been a second fiddle his entire football career, even in college at Southern California, where he was backup and wingman to lovable tousle-headed manchild Matt Leinart.
But football and demographics analysts agree that Brady's injury surely changes the rugged, weatherbeaten complexion of the entire NFL, where the Patriots, winners of three Super Bowls since 2001 with Brady as their quarterback and spokesmodel, were the strong female-fan favorite. However, Belichick denied the team reached out to any other more experienced or handsome quarterbacks.
Although losing Brady's strong arm and sculpted face will not be easy for the Patriots, the impact of his loss is expected to be felt around the NFL, where Brady has been the leading performer both on and off the field for the last several seasons. League commissioner Roger Goodell called an emergency owner's meeting Monday in which attendees discussed measures designed to compensate for Brady's loss, such as giving poise and diction lessons to Peyton or Eli Manning, getting Brett Favre a new wardrobe and a decent haircut, or teaching Ben Affleck how to play football.
Unfortunately for the NFL, Brady's loss seems to have affected more than just the Patriots and women. Many Boston-area fans of both genders, claiming that the team isn't worth watching without Brady, have concentrated their attention on the waning and somewhat disheveled Red Sox season or the attractive upcoming Celtics' NBA title defense. The sports media has likewise gone into shock, with columnist Bill Simmons saying he will no longer watch football this season, Sports Illustrated canceling large Brady-themed sections of this years' upcoming swimsuit issue, and NBC Football Night In America analyst Cris Collinsworth bursting into tears and collapsing into Peter King's arms upon receiving the news.
"No one else in football has Brady's unique talents—the physical gifts of build, height, arms, cheekbones, piercingly sultry field vision, the combination of arm strength and accuracy with a sense of tenderness, the combination of smirk and pout—along with the intangibles and the ability to look good in everything," said Tom Chiarella, who scouted and evaluated Brady for the September issue of Esquire. "It's impossible to estimate the impact of his loss, but it will almost certainly mean the loss of most female fans, many Boston-area fans, fair-weather fans, and the majority of mainstream media fans. The NFL is really looking at a worst-case scenario here, one that it never wanted to happen: A football season that's only watched by actual football fans."
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Brady's Season Appears Over
http://views.washingtonpost.com/theleague/nflnewsfeed/2008/09/bradys-season-appears-over.html
Brady's Season Appears Over
By Mark Maske
September 7, 2008
An NFL source said tonight the New England Patriots believe they have lost quarterback Tom Brady for the remainder of the season with a serious knee injury.
The Patriots are resigned to the fact that Brady likely suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and perhaps other damage in his left knee during today's game against the Kansas City Chiefs, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss Brady's condition publicly.
Brady exited the game after taking a hit to the knee and was replaced by backup Matt Cassel.
Cassel finished the game, won by the Patriots.
He probably would become the Patriots' starter if Brady indeed is sidelined.
Brady, a three-time Super Bowl winner, is coming off one of the best seasons that a quarterback ever has had. He threw 50 touchdown passes and only eight interceptions during the regular season last year while the Patriots went 16-0. He was named the league's most valuable player but fell short of a fourth career Super Bowl title when the Patriots were upset in the Super Bowl by the New York Giants.
He has been beset by a series of injuries beginning with the AFC title game last season, when he suffered a high ankle sprain on his right leg. He was sidelined for this entire preseason because of a sore right foot, and now comes this injury.
Brady was hurt when he was hit by Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard after delivering a throw.
Free agent quarterback Chris Simms, released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their final round of roster cuts, is scheduled to work out for the Patriots on Monday and could be signed by day's end. The Patriots also could consider free agent Tim Rattay, a source said.
Brady's Season Appears Over
By Mark Maske
September 7, 2008
An NFL source said tonight the New England Patriots believe they have lost quarterback Tom Brady for the remainder of the season with a serious knee injury.
The Patriots are resigned to the fact that Brady likely suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and perhaps other damage in his left knee during today's game against the Kansas City Chiefs, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss Brady's condition publicly.
Brady exited the game after taking a hit to the knee and was replaced by backup Matt Cassel.
Cassel finished the game, won by the Patriots.
He probably would become the Patriots' starter if Brady indeed is sidelined.
Brady, a three-time Super Bowl winner, is coming off one of the best seasons that a quarterback ever has had. He threw 50 touchdown passes and only eight interceptions during the regular season last year while the Patriots went 16-0. He was named the league's most valuable player but fell short of a fourth career Super Bowl title when the Patriots were upset in the Super Bowl by the New York Giants.
He has been beset by a series of injuries beginning with the AFC title game last season, when he suffered a high ankle sprain on his right leg. He was sidelined for this entire preseason because of a sore right foot, and now comes this injury.
Brady was hurt when he was hit by Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard after delivering a throw.
Free agent quarterback Chris Simms, released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their final round of roster cuts, is scheduled to work out for the Patriots on Monday and could be signed by day's end. The Patriots also could consider free agent Tim Rattay, a source said.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Brett Favre's daring, dangerous brand of football
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/2008-03-04-1901653630_x.htm
Brett Favre's daring, dangerous brand of football
By Dave Goldberg, AP Football Writer
3-4-8
Maybe Brett Favre wasn't the best quarterback in NFL history, although he was pretty close.
There was always a sense of danger - both to his Green Bay Packers and opponents - when Favre dropped back to pass, the ball often held in one hand while dodging defenders. "Gunslinger" was the word many coaches and players used upon hearing of his retirement Tuesday.
"You knew he was having fun when he played, and that made him fun to watch," said Dallas quarterback Tony Romo, who grew up in Wisconsin watching Favre.
Favre would throw across his body or underhanded - left- or right-handed to a receiver. His first completion as a Packer was to himself - deflected off an onrushing lineman.
Even last season, when at age 38 he threw for 4,155 yards and led the Packers to a 13-3 regular season and a berth in the NFC championship game, he could do those things that would make even his most ardent fans cringe.
In a loss to Chicago, Favre threw a game-turning interception that was all too typical: a toss across his body toward the inside of the field instead of out of bounds. It landed in the hands of the Bears' Brian Urlacher.
"I was trying to make something out of nothing," he said at the time, one reason why he retired with the career records both for touchdown passes (442) and interceptions (288).
In fact, his last NFL pass was an interception by the Giants' Corey Webster that set up the winning field goal in the NFC championship game. That sent New York, rather than Favre and the Packers, to the Super Bowl.
Favre played as if he were still a kid. He jumped up and down at a touchdown, hugging teammates. He even honored opponents, as he did in the final minutes of the final game of the 2001 season, taking a dive for Michael Strahan that gave Strahan the single-season sack record.
Most of all, he never forgot that for all the money and the accolades football is just a game.
"I would hope 20, 30 years from now, I'm remembered for something else besides records," Favre told The Associated Press last summer. "Whether I have them or don't have them. If that's the only way I'm remembered, apparently I didn't do something right or leave a good enough impression on the fans. ...
"I've never looked at myself as being a superstar or better than anyone else. Regardless of how much success I've had, it's never - to me, I've always looked at it and I tell some of these guys sometimes, I've always looked at it as such a bonus. I feel like my personality is my personality. Whether it's on the field or off the field, I really feel they're one in the same. To me it's just normal."
Where does Favre fit in history? The records say top 10.
His 253 consecutive starts are a record for quarterbacks - they extend to 275 counting the postseason and his two Super Bowl appearances. Many were played in pain, including a full season with what was probably a broken thumb.
He's also the only player to win three consecutive NFL MVP awards (1995-97). Among his contemporaries in an era of superb QBs, Joe Montana had two straight and so did Peyton Manning. Steve Young and Kurt Warner had two. John Elway won once, Tom Brady won for the first time last season and Troy Aikman had none.
Playing in an era of free agency and a salary cap, Favre never had anything like the crew Montana had with the 49ers team that won four titles between 1981 and 1990. Although he did benefit from the arrival in Green Bay of Reggie White, the first superstar free agent.
But White was defensive end. Favre had a revolving door of receivers: from Sterling Sharpe and Robert Brooks to Antonio Freeman and Mark Chmura through Driver, the best by far of a nondescript crew in the early part of this decade that had him contemplating retirement annually.
The irony of his retirement is that last season's group was the best in a decade: Driver augmented by second-year man Greg Jennings and rookie James Jones.
Back to those rankings: How to compare Favre to a John Unitas, let alone a Sammy Baugh or Sid Luckman from the prehistoric era? How to compare him to Manning or Aikman, straight dropback passers in different offenses? Or to Elway, probably the best athlete to play quarterback?
"You're judged by winning, and (Favre's) won more games than any other quarterback who has ever played," said Denver's Mike Shanahan, Elway's last coach.
The closest to Favre may be Montana and Young. They, like Favre, played in West Coast offenses. Mike Holmgren, Favre's first coach in Green Bay, mentored all three and is a disciple of Bill Walsh, who perfected a system invented by Sid Gillman.
Montana was the purest of the three, accurate to a fraction of an inch on his passes. Young was a scrambler with the skills of a running back. Favre had the strongest arm, but his scrambling was less to run than to escape and find someone to throw to: sidearm, underhand, left-handed, whatever.
But like all of them, he was a competitor most of all.
"Brett's enthusiasm and pure enjoyment of doing what he loved is what we will all remember," Steve Mariucci, one of his first quarterbacks coaches, said Tuesday.
Favre?
"I know when I leave the game, I'm going to miss it. I know that. I'm not going to sit here and say, when I leave, it's over and I felt like I've done everything there is to do," he said last summer. "I feel like I've given every ounce of energy I can give every single time I stepped on the field."
It's the best way to be remembered.
---
AP National Writer Nancy Armour contributed to this report.
Brett Favre's daring, dangerous brand of football
By Dave Goldberg, AP Football Writer
3-4-8
Maybe Brett Favre wasn't the best quarterback in NFL history, although he was pretty close.
There was always a sense of danger - both to his Green Bay Packers and opponents - when Favre dropped back to pass, the ball often held in one hand while dodging defenders. "Gunslinger" was the word many coaches and players used upon hearing of his retirement Tuesday.
"You knew he was having fun when he played, and that made him fun to watch," said Dallas quarterback Tony Romo, who grew up in Wisconsin watching Favre.
Favre would throw across his body or underhanded - left- or right-handed to a receiver. His first completion as a Packer was to himself - deflected off an onrushing lineman.
Even last season, when at age 38 he threw for 4,155 yards and led the Packers to a 13-3 regular season and a berth in the NFC championship game, he could do those things that would make even his most ardent fans cringe.
In a loss to Chicago, Favre threw a game-turning interception that was all too typical: a toss across his body toward the inside of the field instead of out of bounds. It landed in the hands of the Bears' Brian Urlacher.
"I was trying to make something out of nothing," he said at the time, one reason why he retired with the career records both for touchdown passes (442) and interceptions (288).
In fact, his last NFL pass was an interception by the Giants' Corey Webster that set up the winning field goal in the NFC championship game. That sent New York, rather than Favre and the Packers, to the Super Bowl.
Favre played as if he were still a kid. He jumped up and down at a touchdown, hugging teammates. He even honored opponents, as he did in the final minutes of the final game of the 2001 season, taking a dive for Michael Strahan that gave Strahan the single-season sack record.
Most of all, he never forgot that for all the money and the accolades football is just a game.
"I would hope 20, 30 years from now, I'm remembered for something else besides records," Favre told The Associated Press last summer. "Whether I have them or don't have them. If that's the only way I'm remembered, apparently I didn't do something right or leave a good enough impression on the fans. ...
"I've never looked at myself as being a superstar or better than anyone else. Regardless of how much success I've had, it's never - to me, I've always looked at it and I tell some of these guys sometimes, I've always looked at it as such a bonus. I feel like my personality is my personality. Whether it's on the field or off the field, I really feel they're one in the same. To me it's just normal."
Where does Favre fit in history? The records say top 10.
His 253 consecutive starts are a record for quarterbacks - they extend to 275 counting the postseason and his two Super Bowl appearances. Many were played in pain, including a full season with what was probably a broken thumb.
He's also the only player to win three consecutive NFL MVP awards (1995-97). Among his contemporaries in an era of superb QBs, Joe Montana had two straight and so did Peyton Manning. Steve Young and Kurt Warner had two. John Elway won once, Tom Brady won for the first time last season and Troy Aikman had none.
Playing in an era of free agency and a salary cap, Favre never had anything like the crew Montana had with the 49ers team that won four titles between 1981 and 1990. Although he did benefit from the arrival in Green Bay of Reggie White, the first superstar free agent.
But White was defensive end. Favre had a revolving door of receivers: from Sterling Sharpe and Robert Brooks to Antonio Freeman and Mark Chmura through Driver, the best by far of a nondescript crew in the early part of this decade that had him contemplating retirement annually.
The irony of his retirement is that last season's group was the best in a decade: Driver augmented by second-year man Greg Jennings and rookie James Jones.
Back to those rankings: How to compare Favre to a John Unitas, let alone a Sammy Baugh or Sid Luckman from the prehistoric era? How to compare him to Manning or Aikman, straight dropback passers in different offenses? Or to Elway, probably the best athlete to play quarterback?
"You're judged by winning, and (Favre's) won more games than any other quarterback who has ever played," said Denver's Mike Shanahan, Elway's last coach.
The closest to Favre may be Montana and Young. They, like Favre, played in West Coast offenses. Mike Holmgren, Favre's first coach in Green Bay, mentored all three and is a disciple of Bill Walsh, who perfected a system invented by Sid Gillman.
Montana was the purest of the three, accurate to a fraction of an inch on his passes. Young was a scrambler with the skills of a running back. Favre had the strongest arm, but his scrambling was less to run than to escape and find someone to throw to: sidearm, underhand, left-handed, whatever.
But like all of them, he was a competitor most of all.
"Brett's enthusiasm and pure enjoyment of doing what he loved is what we will all remember," Steve Mariucci, one of his first quarterbacks coaches, said Tuesday.
Favre?
"I know when I leave the game, I'm going to miss it. I know that. I'm not going to sit here and say, when I leave, it's over and I felt like I've done everything there is to do," he said last summer. "I feel like I've given every ounce of energy I can give every single time I stepped on the field."
It's the best way to be remembered.
---
AP National Writer Nancy Armour contributed to this report.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Patriots bring back Moss for another try at title
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-patriots-moss
Patriots bring back Moss for another try at title
By JIMMY GOLEN, AP Sports Writer
Mar 3, 2008
BOSTON (AP)—Randy Moss is staying with the New England Patriots.
The defending AFC champions re-signed the record-breaking receiver on Monday to a three-year deal worth $27 million, his agent said. The signing was confirmed by the team shortly after Moss posted a message to fans on his Web site.
“I want to take time out to thank all of the fans for their support and for wishing me well in my return to New England,” therealrandymoss.com quotes him as saying. “I’m ready to get back. We have some unfinished business to take care of.”
Moss’ agent, Tim DiPiero, said the deal included guarantees of $15 million, including a $12 million signing bonus to the receiver who set an NFL record with 23 touchdown catches and helped the Patriots reach the Super Bowl in his first season with the team.
“Randy was serious about wanting to stay,” DiPiero wrote in an e-mail. “Because of Randy’s record-breaking year, the interest in him was very high. Randy took less than he could have to rejoin his teammates.”
Pairing Moss with NFL MVP Tom Brady, who broke the league record with 50 touchdown passes, the Patriots breezed through the regular season with a perfect 16-0 record. They improved to an unprecedented 18-0 before blowing a chance at the league’s longest unbeaten season with a 17-14 Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants.
“What Randy did for our team last year was outstanding,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said in a statement. “He is one of our most consistent, competitive and team-oriented players and it is undoubtedly a relationship we are excited to continue.”
Moss, 31, has caught 774 passes for 12,193 yards in a 10-year career, and his 124 career receiving touchdowns are fourth in NFL history.
A four-time All-Pro, Moss took a pay cut to get out of Oakland and come to New England last April in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick. In addition to his 23 touchdowns, he caught 98 passes for 1,493 yards and largely avoided the type of turmoil that characterized his previous NFL stops.
During seven years with Minnesota, where he made five Pro Bowls, he was fined $10,000 for pretending to pull down his pants and moon the Green Bay crowd during a Vikings playoff win, and drew criticism for leaving the field with 2 seconds left in a loss to Washington.
He also bumped a traffic control officer with his car in 2002, verbally abused corporate sponsors on a team bus in 2001 and squirted an official with a water bottle in 1999.
In Oakland, he openly campaigned to be traded to a winning team. With the Patriots, he avoided controversy until the playoffs, when a woman sought a restraining order against him, claiming that he committed “battery causing serious injury.”
Moss denied the allegation and said the woman was trying to get money from him.
Also Monday, the Patriots signed free agent receiver Sam Aiken.
The 27-year-old has played five seasons with the Buffalo Bills with 19 career receptions for 250 yards and 61 career special teams tackles.
“Competing against Sam many times over the years, we know firsthand what he brings to us,” Belichick said.
Patriots bring back Moss for another try at title
By JIMMY GOLEN, AP Sports Writer
Mar 3, 2008
BOSTON (AP)—Randy Moss is staying with the New England Patriots.
The defending AFC champions re-signed the record-breaking receiver on Monday to a three-year deal worth $27 million, his agent said. The signing was confirmed by the team shortly after Moss posted a message to fans on his Web site.
“I want to take time out to thank all of the fans for their support and for wishing me well in my return to New England,” therealrandymoss.com quotes him as saying. “I’m ready to get back. We have some unfinished business to take care of.”
Moss’ agent, Tim DiPiero, said the deal included guarantees of $15 million, including a $12 million signing bonus to the receiver who set an NFL record with 23 touchdown catches and helped the Patriots reach the Super Bowl in his first season with the team.
“Randy was serious about wanting to stay,” DiPiero wrote in an e-mail. “Because of Randy’s record-breaking year, the interest in him was very high. Randy took less than he could have to rejoin his teammates.”
Pairing Moss with NFL MVP Tom Brady, who broke the league record with 50 touchdown passes, the Patriots breezed through the regular season with a perfect 16-0 record. They improved to an unprecedented 18-0 before blowing a chance at the league’s longest unbeaten season with a 17-14 Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants.
“What Randy did for our team last year was outstanding,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said in a statement. “He is one of our most consistent, competitive and team-oriented players and it is undoubtedly a relationship we are excited to continue.”
Moss, 31, has caught 774 passes for 12,193 yards in a 10-year career, and his 124 career receiving touchdowns are fourth in NFL history.
A four-time All-Pro, Moss took a pay cut to get out of Oakland and come to New England last April in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick. In addition to his 23 touchdowns, he caught 98 passes for 1,493 yards and largely avoided the type of turmoil that characterized his previous NFL stops.
During seven years with Minnesota, where he made five Pro Bowls, he was fined $10,000 for pretending to pull down his pants and moon the Green Bay crowd during a Vikings playoff win, and drew criticism for leaving the field with 2 seconds left in a loss to Washington.
He also bumped a traffic control officer with his car in 2002, verbally abused corporate sponsors on a team bus in 2001 and squirted an official with a water bottle in 1999.
In Oakland, he openly campaigned to be traded to a winning team. With the Patriots, he avoided controversy until the playoffs, when a woman sought a restraining order against him, claiming that he committed “battery causing serious injury.”
Moss denied the allegation and said the woman was trying to get money from him.
Also Monday, the Patriots signed free agent receiver Sam Aiken.
The 27-year-old has played five seasons with the Buffalo Bills with 19 career receptions for 250 yards and 61 career special teams tackles.
“Competing against Sam many times over the years, we know firsthand what he brings to us,” Belichick said.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Giants Complete Makeover and Rewrite History
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/sports/football/04araton.html
February 4, 2008
Sports of The Times
Giants Complete Makeover and Rewrite History
By HARVEY ARATON
Glendale, Ariz.
The statements came early, beginning with a game-opening drive for a field goal that was one second short of an eye-opening 10 minutes, a Super Bowl record for ball hogging. How do you stop the great Tom Brady? Keep him off the field. And when he comes on? Hit him, harass him, as we’ve seldom seen in the Brady-Bill Belichick era.
Kawika Mitchell for 7 yards on second down in the second quarter, Justin Tuck for another 7 on the very next play, two more in-your-face declarations to Brady that this wasn’t the Giants’ defense he had toyed with, racked up 38 points against, in the final game of the regular season.
Thus was the transformation of the Giants as a rushless, winless early-season disaster in the making on the way to completion Sunday evening. They survived their first-half offensive blunders, passed the Patriots and defeated them, 17-14, when Eli Manning hit Plaxico Burress, the man who had predicted victory, for a 13-yard touchdown with 35 seconds left in Super Bowl XLII.
The unlikeliest of Giants championship runs went from Tampa to Dallas, Green Bay to Glendale, hurdling the best of the National Football Conference and finally a team that was supposed to be one for the ages. Given the circumstances, there has never been such a postseason, from unheralded wild card to the winner’s circle.
Although eight other wild-card teams had taken the long road to the Super Bowl since 1970, four others eventually winning, none of the Giants’ predecessors faced the challenge of an 18-0 opponent when they got there.
These arguments can be made only subjectively, of course. But that is what the Giants earned at University of Phoenix Stadium, a place in the conversation about all-time playoff achievement, by refusing to be the Patriots 19th victim, after being the 16th.
Greatness, the pursuit of it as well as the evaluation of it, inspires passion, and ultimately creates the most compelling theater. Along the road to the Super Bowl, the Patriots attracted intense attention for every step and near misstep, from right out of the gate — and into Spygate — in Week 1 against the Jets in New Jersey.
The Patriots were the N.F.L.’s lightning rod, throughout the regular season, to their 38-35 Super Bowl warm-up victory over the Giants, gallantly competitive that Sunday night when they didn’t have to be, building postseason character in an event that was called “one of the proudest moments I had in the 2007 season” by N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Yes, Belichick’s efforts to maximize his DVD collection by surreptitiously taping at least one opponent, probably more, and the league’s subsequent decision to destroy the seized tapes put Goodell in the cross hairs of Arlen Specter, the Eagles-and-attention-loving senator from Pennsylvania. That said, it must also be nice to know that someone in Washington cares enough about the Super Bowl to contribute in so timely a fashion to the spectacle of it all.
The men who preside over our professional games never get too publicly gleeful when a franchise turns dynastic, given the number of owners in markets big and small wanting a turn. But do not believe for a second that they fail to recognize the business value of extended championship excellence, of brand familiarity in the postseason, no matter how much they push legislation for competitive equality.
Who would really have preferred the old numbing parity to the Patriots? Super Bowl Sunday is a guaranteed ratings bonanza, a de facto national holiday, but when was there a game more widely anticipated than this one? How much more stunning and, yes, historic was the Giants’ unforeseen rise, all the way to the top, factoring in their symmetrical relationship with an undefeated superteam?
Baseball needs its Yankees (or maybe now we should say Red Sox) to raise its postseason profile. The N.H.L. has long suffered from lack of franchise identification on the national — actually, international — level. Think David Stern and his N.B.A. minions aren’t galvanized by the sudden prospect of the recently fortified Lakers and Celtics stalking each other again, coast to coast, for a good spell of years?
“We get criticized that we have parity,” Goodell said Friday, “and then we get criticized that we have a small number of teams that are dominant and I don’t think either one is actually accurate. The margin between a victory and a loss is very small. I think you saw that, even in the Patriots’ 18-0 streak.”
All said and done, 18-1, now. In the final analysis, dominant teams will elicit love from the homefront, antipathy from elsewhere, but they will be universally talked about, fussed over, scrutinized, criticized, grudgingly respected and, most of all, used as the primary measuring stick when eventually vanquished.
The Giants beat the Patriots on Sunday night, beat Brady and his record-setting offense in physical, sometimes brutal, old-time Giants fashion. Dragged them down and back from the precipice of immortality. It was more than a seventh league championship and third in the Super Bowl era. If you like, call it the most stunning postseason of all seasons.
February 4, 2008
Sports of The Times
Giants Complete Makeover and Rewrite History
By HARVEY ARATON
Glendale, Ariz.
The statements came early, beginning with a game-opening drive for a field goal that was one second short of an eye-opening 10 minutes, a Super Bowl record for ball hogging. How do you stop the great Tom Brady? Keep him off the field. And when he comes on? Hit him, harass him, as we’ve seldom seen in the Brady-Bill Belichick era.
Kawika Mitchell for 7 yards on second down in the second quarter, Justin Tuck for another 7 on the very next play, two more in-your-face declarations to Brady that this wasn’t the Giants’ defense he had toyed with, racked up 38 points against, in the final game of the regular season.
Thus was the transformation of the Giants as a rushless, winless early-season disaster in the making on the way to completion Sunday evening. They survived their first-half offensive blunders, passed the Patriots and defeated them, 17-14, when Eli Manning hit Plaxico Burress, the man who had predicted victory, for a 13-yard touchdown with 35 seconds left in Super Bowl XLII.
The unlikeliest of Giants championship runs went from Tampa to Dallas, Green Bay to Glendale, hurdling the best of the National Football Conference and finally a team that was supposed to be one for the ages. Given the circumstances, there has never been such a postseason, from unheralded wild card to the winner’s circle.
Although eight other wild-card teams had taken the long road to the Super Bowl since 1970, four others eventually winning, none of the Giants’ predecessors faced the challenge of an 18-0 opponent when they got there.
These arguments can be made only subjectively, of course. But that is what the Giants earned at University of Phoenix Stadium, a place in the conversation about all-time playoff achievement, by refusing to be the Patriots 19th victim, after being the 16th.
Greatness, the pursuit of it as well as the evaluation of it, inspires passion, and ultimately creates the most compelling theater. Along the road to the Super Bowl, the Patriots attracted intense attention for every step and near misstep, from right out of the gate — and into Spygate — in Week 1 against the Jets in New Jersey.
The Patriots were the N.F.L.’s lightning rod, throughout the regular season, to their 38-35 Super Bowl warm-up victory over the Giants, gallantly competitive that Sunday night when they didn’t have to be, building postseason character in an event that was called “one of the proudest moments I had in the 2007 season” by N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Yes, Belichick’s efforts to maximize his DVD collection by surreptitiously taping at least one opponent, probably more, and the league’s subsequent decision to destroy the seized tapes put Goodell in the cross hairs of Arlen Specter, the Eagles-and-attention-loving senator from Pennsylvania. That said, it must also be nice to know that someone in Washington cares enough about the Super Bowl to contribute in so timely a fashion to the spectacle of it all.
The men who preside over our professional games never get too publicly gleeful when a franchise turns dynastic, given the number of owners in markets big and small wanting a turn. But do not believe for a second that they fail to recognize the business value of extended championship excellence, of brand familiarity in the postseason, no matter how much they push legislation for competitive equality.
Who would really have preferred the old numbing parity to the Patriots? Super Bowl Sunday is a guaranteed ratings bonanza, a de facto national holiday, but when was there a game more widely anticipated than this one? How much more stunning and, yes, historic was the Giants’ unforeseen rise, all the way to the top, factoring in their symmetrical relationship with an undefeated superteam?
Baseball needs its Yankees (or maybe now we should say Red Sox) to raise its postseason profile. The N.H.L. has long suffered from lack of franchise identification on the national — actually, international — level. Think David Stern and his N.B.A. minions aren’t galvanized by the sudden prospect of the recently fortified Lakers and Celtics stalking each other again, coast to coast, for a good spell of years?
“We get criticized that we have parity,” Goodell said Friday, “and then we get criticized that we have a small number of teams that are dominant and I don’t think either one is actually accurate. The margin between a victory and a loss is very small. I think you saw that, even in the Patriots’ 18-0 streak.”
All said and done, 18-1, now. In the final analysis, dominant teams will elicit love from the homefront, antipathy from elsewhere, but they will be universally talked about, fussed over, scrutinized, criticized, grudgingly respected and, most of all, used as the primary measuring stick when eventually vanquished.
The Giants beat the Patriots on Sunday night, beat Brady and his record-setting offense in physical, sometimes brutal, old-time Giants fashion. Dragged them down and back from the precipice of immortality. It was more than a seventh league championship and third in the Super Bowl era. If you like, call it the most stunning postseason of all seasons.
Patriots' Season Perfect For Rest Of Nation
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/patriots_season_perfect_for_rest
Patriots' Season Perfect For Rest Of Nation
February 7, 2008 Onion Sports
FOXBOROUGH, MA — As the once-invincible, still-insufferable Patriots attempt to come to grips with their 17-14 Super Bowl loss to the Giants, the death of their dream to go undefeated, and the possible end of their dynasty, almost every other person in America is reveling in what they consider the perfect ending to New England's season.
"I just couldn't imagine a better ending to the Patriots odyssey," said Simon Williams, a Kansas City-area football fan who usually watches the college game but found himself caught up in the Patriots' sheer loathsomeness during the season. "The utter lack of humility they displayed alongside an equal lack of any joy in the game, that toad of a coach, and that cologne-ad quarterback… If they have to act that badly while playing that well, you really want to see them fail in the biggest way possible. Thank God almighty, that's what we got."
There is general agreement that the Super Bowl, despite the low score, was one of the finest in recent memory, due in part to the fearsome performance by the Giants and a cool, courageous display of quarterbacking by Eli Manning.
However, when asked about their favorite parts of the game, most fans chose the Patriots' cocky decision to begin the game with a trick play, which the Giants stopped handily; Bill Belichick's smug third-quarter attempt at a fourth-and-13 conversion, which blew up in his face, instead of trying a field goal; and New England's offensive line, which featured three Pro Bowlers, allowing high-cheekboned, doe-eyed, supermodel-impregnating passer Tom Brady to be hit over 20 times during the course of the game.
"Did you see [Giants defensive tackle Lance] Alford smack Brady right in the face on that last drive?" said Bellvue, WA newsstand operator Christian Dansby. "Brady was almost offended. I think he forgot for a few months there that he was a football player. It was just perfect."
"God, seeing Randy Moss do his weird chicken-wing crowd taunt when they scored to go ahead in the fourth was awful," said Jeff Lafferty, who watched the Super Bowl with rabid New England fans despite having known them for years. "What's worse is that the Pats fans ate it up. Of course, when Burress made that catch to win… Perfection. That's the only word for the Pats now. Perfection."
However, most fans gave responses that had little to do with the game itself and more with the almost flawless joy of seeing the Patriots lose, as a team that has been insufferable and unappealing in victory instantly became inconsolable and self-pitying in defeat.
Frequently mentioned examples of instances which, upon reflection, sweetened the Patriots' utter failure included the team's propensity to complain about unfair officiating after their victories; their habit of gleefully running up the score, which also resulted in Brady and Moss earning NFL single-season scoring records in blowouts; and of course, the players' and coaches' hateful attitude.
"Come on, that cheating scandal to open the season and all they say is 'Everybody does it?' They could have at least acted a little bit sorry," said Milwaukee architect and sports fan David Engel. "They acted like a bunch of third-graders, just the way Belichick did when he ran off the field with time left on the clock. At least he shook the other coach's hand this time. That's a first for the big baby."
"The worst part for me is that none of them seem to enjoy playing football," said Lexington, KY-area mechanic Jack Colgrave. "Even when they were winning, all they did was taunt—Randy Moss taunting crowds, Wes Welker telling people they sucked, Brady sneering at the very idea they might get beat someday. What a bunch of absolutely perfect assholes."
"Did their team plane land safely back in Foxborough?" Colgrave asked. "It didn't happen to lose altitude over Boston, burst into a cartwheel of flames, throwing players like Roman candles across New England, and then slam into few dozen loudmouth Patriots' fans houses? It didn't? Well, I guess no football season is perfect."
Patriots' Season Perfect For Rest Of Nation
February 7, 2008 Onion Sports
FOXBOROUGH, MA — As the once-invincible, still-insufferable Patriots attempt to come to grips with their 17-14 Super Bowl loss to the Giants, the death of their dream to go undefeated, and the possible end of their dynasty, almost every other person in America is reveling in what they consider the perfect ending to New England's season.
"I just couldn't imagine a better ending to the Patriots odyssey," said Simon Williams, a Kansas City-area football fan who usually watches the college game but found himself caught up in the Patriots' sheer loathsomeness during the season. "The utter lack of humility they displayed alongside an equal lack of any joy in the game, that toad of a coach, and that cologne-ad quarterback… If they have to act that badly while playing that well, you really want to see them fail in the biggest way possible. Thank God almighty, that's what we got."
There is general agreement that the Super Bowl, despite the low score, was one of the finest in recent memory, due in part to the fearsome performance by the Giants and a cool, courageous display of quarterbacking by Eli Manning.
However, when asked about their favorite parts of the game, most fans chose the Patriots' cocky decision to begin the game with a trick play, which the Giants stopped handily; Bill Belichick's smug third-quarter attempt at a fourth-and-13 conversion, which blew up in his face, instead of trying a field goal; and New England's offensive line, which featured three Pro Bowlers, allowing high-cheekboned, doe-eyed, supermodel-impregnating passer Tom Brady to be hit over 20 times during the course of the game.
"Did you see [Giants defensive tackle Lance] Alford smack Brady right in the face on that last drive?" said Bellvue, WA newsstand operator Christian Dansby. "Brady was almost offended. I think he forgot for a few months there that he was a football player. It was just perfect."
"God, seeing Randy Moss do his weird chicken-wing crowd taunt when they scored to go ahead in the fourth was awful," said Jeff Lafferty, who watched the Super Bowl with rabid New England fans despite having known them for years. "What's worse is that the Pats fans ate it up. Of course, when Burress made that catch to win… Perfection. That's the only word for the Pats now. Perfection."
However, most fans gave responses that had little to do with the game itself and more with the almost flawless joy of seeing the Patriots lose, as a team that has been insufferable and unappealing in victory instantly became inconsolable and self-pitying in defeat.
Frequently mentioned examples of instances which, upon reflection, sweetened the Patriots' utter failure included the team's propensity to complain about unfair officiating after their victories; their habit of gleefully running up the score, which also resulted in Brady and Moss earning NFL single-season scoring records in blowouts; and of course, the players' and coaches' hateful attitude.
"Come on, that cheating scandal to open the season and all they say is 'Everybody does it?' They could have at least acted a little bit sorry," said Milwaukee architect and sports fan David Engel. "They acted like a bunch of third-graders, just the way Belichick did when he ran off the field with time left on the clock. At least he shook the other coach's hand this time. That's a first for the big baby."
"The worst part for me is that none of them seem to enjoy playing football," said Lexington, KY-area mechanic Jack Colgrave. "Even when they were winning, all they did was taunt—Randy Moss taunting crowds, Wes Welker telling people they sucked, Brady sneering at the very idea they might get beat someday. What a bunch of absolutely perfect assholes."
"Did their team plane land safely back in Foxborough?" Colgrave asked. "It didn't happen to lose altitude over Boston, burst into a cartwheel of flames, throwing players like Roman candles across New England, and then slam into few dozen loudmouth Patriots' fans houses? It didn't? Well, I guess no football season is perfect."
Sunday, February 3, 2008
MATT DRUDGE IS GAY FOR TOM BRADY!!!
XXXXX KONFORMIST REPORT XXXXX SUN FEB 03 20088 XXXXX
EXCLUSIVE FROM THE KONFORMIST!!!
MUST CREDIT ROBERT STERLING & THE KONFORMIST!!!
MATT DRUDGE IS GAY FOR TOM BRADY!!!
If there were any questions before this season started if Tom Brady was truly a great quarterback or merely a good one on a great team, he pretty much silenced them. Finally given weapons at receiver (most notably Randy Moss, the best receiver in football over the past decade) that Peyton Manning long has had as his personal luxury, he had what would have to be the best season in NFL history by any quarterback, throwing for a record 50 touchdowns vs. only eight interceptions, leading the Patriots to an unprecedented 16-0 regular season. (The undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins only played a 14-game regular season.) He followed that up by completing 26 of 28 passes (a NFL record 92.9% completion percentage for a game) with 3 TDs in the AFC semifinals. And though he threw 3 interceptions in the AFC Championship game, he is the heavy favorite to win his 4th Super Bowl today against the New York Giants, which would tie him with Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana (AKA "The Greatest Quarterback of All-Time") for most Super Bowl wins ever by a QB. And its only his eighth season.
Okay, so I give Mr. Brady the deserved respect he's earned this season and his career, whether he wins today or not. One thing that has long puzzled me, though, is why Terrific Tom has long been so heavily featured on The Drudge Report. Granted, Brady is an incredible QB, and this has been an amazing season for both him and the Patriots. Still, even before this year, Brady has been heavily featured on the Drudge Report. This is odd because, well, Mr. Drudge has never seemed to be a sports-loving kind of guy. Indeed, aside from right-wing politics and White House blowjobs, the subjects that Drudge long has fixated on are Barbara Streisand, Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell, not to mention dishing out other Hollywood celebrity gossip.
Some would argue its politics: many of Drudge breathless posts about Brady have mentioned the possibility that he is privately a Republican. The problem with this explanation is, even if it is true, that would hardly make him unique. NFL quarterbacks are, for the most part, rich white jocks, a group of people that certainly lean to the right. Meanwhile, look at some of the names of great quarterbacks over the Drudge era: John Elway, Brett Favre, Kurt Warner (who certainly is an open right-wing poster boy) and Peyton Manning. None have received anywhere the amount of coverage on Drudge that Brady has, even before this season.
On closer examination, the Drudge posts on Brady being a closet Republican seem to be some sort of wish fulfillment. They resemble in style what a post by me would look like if I reported rumors that Jessica Alba has a weakness for underpaid conspiracy theorists in their late thirties. (Though Cash "The Luckiest Man on the Planet" Warren doesn't quite fit the bill.)
Which leads to another explanation: a decade ago, The Konformist became the first place to report the rampant West Hollywood rumors that Matt Drudge was gay. (The article was cleverly titled "Matt Drudge Is a Homo!!!" Boy, am I clever or what?) The rumors, though still not admitted as true by Drudge to pacify his reactionary audience, have since been confirmed by multiple sources, most notably David Brock in his book Blinded by the Right. That said, isn't the best explanation for the Drudge obsession with Brady nothing more than a homosexual celebrity crush?
Can Matt Drudge be blamed for being unable to resist the charms that have swept Gisele Bundchen off her feet? No, of course not. So our advice to Drudge: come out of the closet and interview Tommy in a wedding gown. After all, he's still looking for a permanent Mrs. Brady...
EXCLUSIVE FROM THE KONFORMIST!!!
MUST CREDIT ROBERT STERLING & THE KONFORMIST!!!
MATT DRUDGE IS GAY FOR TOM BRADY!!!
If there were any questions before this season started if Tom Brady was truly a great quarterback or merely a good one on a great team, he pretty much silenced them. Finally given weapons at receiver (most notably Randy Moss, the best receiver in football over the past decade) that Peyton Manning long has had as his personal luxury, he had what would have to be the best season in NFL history by any quarterback, throwing for a record 50 touchdowns vs. only eight interceptions, leading the Patriots to an unprecedented 16-0 regular season. (The undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins only played a 14-game regular season.) He followed that up by completing 26 of 28 passes (a NFL record 92.9% completion percentage for a game) with 3 TDs in the AFC semifinals. And though he threw 3 interceptions in the AFC Championship game, he is the heavy favorite to win his 4th Super Bowl today against the New York Giants, which would tie him with Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana (AKA "The Greatest Quarterback of All-Time") for most Super Bowl wins ever by a QB. And its only his eighth season.
Okay, so I give Mr. Brady the deserved respect he's earned this season and his career, whether he wins today or not. One thing that has long puzzled me, though, is why Terrific Tom has long been so heavily featured on The Drudge Report. Granted, Brady is an incredible QB, and this has been an amazing season for both him and the Patriots. Still, even before this year, Brady has been heavily featured on the Drudge Report. This is odd because, well, Mr. Drudge has never seemed to be a sports-loving kind of guy. Indeed, aside from right-wing politics and White House blowjobs, the subjects that Drudge long has fixated on are Barbara Streisand, Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell, not to mention dishing out other Hollywood celebrity gossip.
Some would argue its politics: many of Drudge breathless posts about Brady have mentioned the possibility that he is privately a Republican. The problem with this explanation is, even if it is true, that would hardly make him unique. NFL quarterbacks are, for the most part, rich white jocks, a group of people that certainly lean to the right. Meanwhile, look at some of the names of great quarterbacks over the Drudge era: John Elway, Brett Favre, Kurt Warner (who certainly is an open right-wing poster boy) and Peyton Manning. None have received anywhere the amount of coverage on Drudge that Brady has, even before this season.
On closer examination, the Drudge posts on Brady being a closet Republican seem to be some sort of wish fulfillment. They resemble in style what a post by me would look like if I reported rumors that Jessica Alba has a weakness for underpaid conspiracy theorists in their late thirties. (Though Cash "The Luckiest Man on the Planet" Warren doesn't quite fit the bill.)
Which leads to another explanation: a decade ago, The Konformist became the first place to report the rampant West Hollywood rumors that Matt Drudge was gay. (The article was cleverly titled "Matt Drudge Is a Homo!!!" Boy, am I clever or what?) The rumors, though still not admitted as true by Drudge to pacify his reactionary audience, have since been confirmed by multiple sources, most notably David Brock in his book Blinded by the Right. That said, isn't the best explanation for the Drudge obsession with Brady nothing more than a homosexual celebrity crush?
Can Matt Drudge be blamed for being unable to resist the charms that have swept Gisele Bundchen off her feet? No, of course not. So our advice to Drudge: come out of the closet and interview Tommy in a wedding gown. After all, he's still looking for a permanent Mrs. Brady...
Thursday, January 3, 2008
New England 38, NY Giants 35
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/recap?gid=20071229019
New England 38, NY Giants 35
By BARRY WILNER, AP Football Writer
December 30, 2007
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- Tom Brady was as giddy as the quarterback of an unbeaten and perhaps unbeatable team should be. Had Bill Belichick spotted him slapping the backs of his New England teammates, the dour coach might have scoffed.
After all, a perfect 16-0 regular season won't mean much if the Patriots don't win their next three games and another Super Bowl.
"We've been dealing with being undefeated all season," Brady said Saturday night after the thrilling 38-35 victory over the New York Giants in a game worthy of the NFL's championship showcase. "It was kind of a strange game. It really doesn't mean much to either team, but it means a lot."
New England became the first NFL team since the 1972 Dolphins to win every game on the schedule, and that one was only 14-0. This victory required a Brady-engineered comeback from a 12-point deficit and smashed the Patriots' league mark for consecutive victories.
"Going undefeated during the regular season is a remarkable achievement," 1972 Dolphins coach Don Shula said. "I know firsthand how difficult it is to win every game, and just as we did in 1972, the Patriots have done a great job concentrating on each week's opponent and not letting any other distractions interrupt that focus. If they go on to complete an undefeated season, I will be the first to congratulate Coach Belichick and the Patriot organization."
Validation of the Patriots' inexorable march through the season can only come by adding a Super Bowl championship. Do that, and there'll be no challenge to their spot at the top.
"Hats off to us," said record-setting receiver Randy Moss, who caught Brady's 65-yard bomb for the go-ahead score that set two major records. "I know a lot of people didn't think we were going to do it. A lot of people didn't want us to do it.
"In this game of football, it's hard to go 16-and-0. As a football player and a fan of the game, my hat's off to this organization."
In gaining their 19th straight win over two seasons, the Patriots went on top on Brady's 50th touchdown pass of the year and Moss' 23rd TD reception. It came with 11:06 remaining.
Brady beat Peyton Manning's mark of 49 touchdown passes and Moss broke Jerry Rice's record of 22 TD receptions. And the Patriots finished with an incredible 589 points for the season, another single-season record.
Once the victory was clinched, Belichick was barely more animated than usual. He shared hugs with players and assistant coaches on the sideline, but there was no thought of carrying him off on the Patriots' shoulders or dumping Gatorade all over him.
That will have to wait for three more wins -- if they come.
"It's a great feeling," Belichick admitted. "Now is the time to take a day or two and appreciate what this team has done, but at the same time we have our biggest game of the year coming up. Pretty soon we need to turn the page and move on."
Who knows, the Patriots might even find the Giants on one of the next pages, especially if Eli Manning again resembles his vaunted older brother.
"We didn't win the game, but if you saw everybody in the locker room, everybody was excited," Manning said. "I never saw a locker room so upbeat after a loss because we played so well, did some good things and hung in there in a game where we didn't have to play. We wanted to. We wanted to come out and play well, and we did that."
The Giants (10-6), already guaranteed a playoff game against Tampa Bay next weekend and with little to play for except spoiling New England's perfect ride, led 28-16 in the third quarter. It was the Patriots' largest deficit all year as the Giants showed no fear and plenty of versatility, scoring the most points New England allowed in a game during this remarkable run.
Manning threw for four touchdowns and Domenik Hixon, in his first game as New York's primary kick returner, went 74 yards for a score 11 seconds after Brady and Moss tied their respective records.
Not to worry. These Patriots are unflappable, and they matched their comebacks in wins over Dallas, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Baltimore earlier in the season. A 73-yard drive ended with Laurence Maroney's 6-yard run to make it 28-23 with 4:00 to go in the third period.
Then came the most familiar of scenes: Brady dropping back, winding up and hitting a wide-open Moss in stride for a touchdown. The final go-ahead TD in their perfect year.
"What I'm most proud of is playing a playoff team on the road that was playing extremely hard," Brady said. "We found a way to come back and win. We did the same thing at Dallas. We did the same thing at Indy. We've been in some tough games.
"Everyone is going to enjoy this one. It happens once every 35 years."
Although many are eager to hail these Patriots as the NFL's all-time best, such acclaim won't come unless they win two playoff games and their fourth Super Bowl this decade. And for those who might deny such greatness considering the "Spygate" scandal, well, 19-0 would speak pretty loudly.
Certainly louder than any postgame celebrations at Giants Stadium, the same building where they were caught videotaping New York Jets assistant coaches in Week 1, a rules violation that cost Belichick and the franchise $750,000 in fines and a 2008 first-round draft choice. That made Belichick even more close-mouthed and dour than usual, and his team followed his lead -- right to 16-0.
The Giants opened the game as if they were, well, the Patriots, driving 74 yards, sparked by a 52-yard completion on which Plaxico Burress outleapt Ellis Hobbs for Manning's jump-ball throw. Brandon Jacobs broke Tedy Bruschi's tackle to score on a 7-yard reception for a 7-0 lead.
Naturally, the Patriots, the highest-scoring team in NFL history, struck back. After Stephen Gostkowski's 37-yard field goal, New England went on top -- and surpassed Minnesota's league mark of 556 points -- on the record-tying 4-yard TD pass from Brady to Moss, who soared above rookie Aaron Ross for the score.
The 10-7 lead lasted all of 11 seconds. The usually staid Patriots gathered around Moss as he did a dance in the end zone, prompting a 15-yard excessive celebration penalty. Belichick argued the call with referee Mike Carey, perhaps sensing how costly it might be.
It was as Hixon sped 74 yards untouched to lift the Giants back in front.
"There is nothing but positives," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "I told the players in playing this game everything would be positives, there would be no negatives and that is how I feel.
"I don't know any better way to be prepared for the playoffs than to go against a team that was 15-0."
Gostkowski kicked two more field goals as the Patriots grabbed a 16-14 lead with 1:59 left in the half.
That's when Manning, coming off several rough games, was at his best, leading a quick 85-yard drive that included a rare scramble for 11 yards just before he found Kevin Boss in the middle of the end zone with 13 seconds remaining. The 21-16 deficit was only the second time New England has trailed at halftime this season; the other was to the older Manning and the Colts.
But with such a potent offense, the Patriots never are out of any game. Once they got the lead, they closed it out with another touchdown drive, Maroney scoring from the 5. Manning hit Burress again from 3 yards with 1:04 to go, but New England recovered the onside kick.
"We're down 10 or 11 (actually 12) in the third quarter, the crowd was into it, and we found a way to win," Brady said. "That's the way it's going to be down the stretch ... just hope we can continue to play this kind of football."
Notes: Brady finished 32-for-42 for 356 yards, while Manning was 22-for-32 for 251 yards and the only interception. ... The other teams to go unbeaten in a season were the 1934 and 1942 Chicago Bears; both lost in the NFL title game. ... New England also set a league mark with 75 touchdowns. ... The Giants lost center Shaun O'Hara, backup safety Craig Dahl and linebacker Kawika Mitchell, all with knee injuries, and cornerback Sam Madison with an abdominal strain.
New England 38, NY Giants 35
By BARRY WILNER, AP Football Writer
December 30, 2007
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- Tom Brady was as giddy as the quarterback of an unbeaten and perhaps unbeatable team should be. Had Bill Belichick spotted him slapping the backs of his New England teammates, the dour coach might have scoffed.
After all, a perfect 16-0 regular season won't mean much if the Patriots don't win their next three games and another Super Bowl.
"We've been dealing with being undefeated all season," Brady said Saturday night after the thrilling 38-35 victory over the New York Giants in a game worthy of the NFL's championship showcase. "It was kind of a strange game. It really doesn't mean much to either team, but it means a lot."
New England became the first NFL team since the 1972 Dolphins to win every game on the schedule, and that one was only 14-0. This victory required a Brady-engineered comeback from a 12-point deficit and smashed the Patriots' league mark for consecutive victories.
"Going undefeated during the regular season is a remarkable achievement," 1972 Dolphins coach Don Shula said. "I know firsthand how difficult it is to win every game, and just as we did in 1972, the Patriots have done a great job concentrating on each week's opponent and not letting any other distractions interrupt that focus. If they go on to complete an undefeated season, I will be the first to congratulate Coach Belichick and the Patriot organization."
Validation of the Patriots' inexorable march through the season can only come by adding a Super Bowl championship. Do that, and there'll be no challenge to their spot at the top.
"Hats off to us," said record-setting receiver Randy Moss, who caught Brady's 65-yard bomb for the go-ahead score that set two major records. "I know a lot of people didn't think we were going to do it. A lot of people didn't want us to do it.
"In this game of football, it's hard to go 16-and-0. As a football player and a fan of the game, my hat's off to this organization."
In gaining their 19th straight win over two seasons, the Patriots went on top on Brady's 50th touchdown pass of the year and Moss' 23rd TD reception. It came with 11:06 remaining.
Brady beat Peyton Manning's mark of 49 touchdown passes and Moss broke Jerry Rice's record of 22 TD receptions. And the Patriots finished with an incredible 589 points for the season, another single-season record.
Once the victory was clinched, Belichick was barely more animated than usual. He shared hugs with players and assistant coaches on the sideline, but there was no thought of carrying him off on the Patriots' shoulders or dumping Gatorade all over him.
That will have to wait for three more wins -- if they come.
"It's a great feeling," Belichick admitted. "Now is the time to take a day or two and appreciate what this team has done, but at the same time we have our biggest game of the year coming up. Pretty soon we need to turn the page and move on."
Who knows, the Patriots might even find the Giants on one of the next pages, especially if Eli Manning again resembles his vaunted older brother.
"We didn't win the game, but if you saw everybody in the locker room, everybody was excited," Manning said. "I never saw a locker room so upbeat after a loss because we played so well, did some good things and hung in there in a game where we didn't have to play. We wanted to. We wanted to come out and play well, and we did that."
The Giants (10-6), already guaranteed a playoff game against Tampa Bay next weekend and with little to play for except spoiling New England's perfect ride, led 28-16 in the third quarter. It was the Patriots' largest deficit all year as the Giants showed no fear and plenty of versatility, scoring the most points New England allowed in a game during this remarkable run.
Manning threw for four touchdowns and Domenik Hixon, in his first game as New York's primary kick returner, went 74 yards for a score 11 seconds after Brady and Moss tied their respective records.
Not to worry. These Patriots are unflappable, and they matched their comebacks in wins over Dallas, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Baltimore earlier in the season. A 73-yard drive ended with Laurence Maroney's 6-yard run to make it 28-23 with 4:00 to go in the third period.
Then came the most familiar of scenes: Brady dropping back, winding up and hitting a wide-open Moss in stride for a touchdown. The final go-ahead TD in their perfect year.
"What I'm most proud of is playing a playoff team on the road that was playing extremely hard," Brady said. "We found a way to come back and win. We did the same thing at Dallas. We did the same thing at Indy. We've been in some tough games.
"Everyone is going to enjoy this one. It happens once every 35 years."
Although many are eager to hail these Patriots as the NFL's all-time best, such acclaim won't come unless they win two playoff games and their fourth Super Bowl this decade. And for those who might deny such greatness considering the "Spygate" scandal, well, 19-0 would speak pretty loudly.
Certainly louder than any postgame celebrations at Giants Stadium, the same building where they were caught videotaping New York Jets assistant coaches in Week 1, a rules violation that cost Belichick and the franchise $750,000 in fines and a 2008 first-round draft choice. That made Belichick even more close-mouthed and dour than usual, and his team followed his lead -- right to 16-0.
The Giants opened the game as if they were, well, the Patriots, driving 74 yards, sparked by a 52-yard completion on which Plaxico Burress outleapt Ellis Hobbs for Manning's jump-ball throw. Brandon Jacobs broke Tedy Bruschi's tackle to score on a 7-yard reception for a 7-0 lead.
Naturally, the Patriots, the highest-scoring team in NFL history, struck back. After Stephen Gostkowski's 37-yard field goal, New England went on top -- and surpassed Minnesota's league mark of 556 points -- on the record-tying 4-yard TD pass from Brady to Moss, who soared above rookie Aaron Ross for the score.
The 10-7 lead lasted all of 11 seconds. The usually staid Patriots gathered around Moss as he did a dance in the end zone, prompting a 15-yard excessive celebration penalty. Belichick argued the call with referee Mike Carey, perhaps sensing how costly it might be.
It was as Hixon sped 74 yards untouched to lift the Giants back in front.
"There is nothing but positives," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "I told the players in playing this game everything would be positives, there would be no negatives and that is how I feel.
"I don't know any better way to be prepared for the playoffs than to go against a team that was 15-0."
Gostkowski kicked two more field goals as the Patriots grabbed a 16-14 lead with 1:59 left in the half.
That's when Manning, coming off several rough games, was at his best, leading a quick 85-yard drive that included a rare scramble for 11 yards just before he found Kevin Boss in the middle of the end zone with 13 seconds remaining. The 21-16 deficit was only the second time New England has trailed at halftime this season; the other was to the older Manning and the Colts.
But with such a potent offense, the Patriots never are out of any game. Once they got the lead, they closed it out with another touchdown drive, Maroney scoring from the 5. Manning hit Burress again from 3 yards with 1:04 to go, but New England recovered the onside kick.
"We're down 10 or 11 (actually 12) in the third quarter, the crowd was into it, and we found a way to win," Brady said. "That's the way it's going to be down the stretch ... just hope we can continue to play this kind of football."
Notes: Brady finished 32-for-42 for 356 yards, while Manning was 22-for-32 for 251 yards and the only interception. ... The other teams to go unbeaten in a season were the 1934 and 1942 Chicago Bears; both lost in the NFL title game. ... New England also set a league mark with 75 touchdowns. ... The Giants lost center Shaun O'Hara, backup safety Craig Dahl and linebacker Kawika Mitchell, all with knee injuries, and cornerback Sam Madison with an abdominal strain.
Friday, December 21, 2007
2007 Sportsman of the Year: Tom Brady
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=Ar72_sggoIu99GO1kMCUH14dsLYF?slug=sportsmanoftheyeartombra&prov=tsn&type=lgns
2007 Sportsman of the Year: Tom Brady
By Mike Nahrstedt - SportingNews
Here's a challenge: Imagine the NFL without Tom Brady.
Seriously. Put aside, for a moment, any anti-Goliath sentiments you might bear. And think.
Think about the Patriots with somebody else under center. No, you can't plug in Peyton Manning or Brett Favre or Tony Romo. For purposes of this exercise, let's go with Matt Cassel. Just like Bill Belichick would.
Back to the Patriots, a 14-0 team in the real world.
Think that happens with Cassel? Nothing against the guy, by all accounts a fine young man who has made some nice throws among his 39 career attempts. But Brady had 39 touchdown passes after 11 games.
OK, to be fair, Cassel hasn't seen much of the field in his three seasons. Put him behind New England's line and surround him with the likes of Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Donte' Stallworth and Benjamin Watson and he'd have some nice numbers, too.
But, remember, we're imagining an NFL without Tom Brady, which means we're left with "nice numbers," not out-of-this-freakin'-world numbers.
And so there's no way we'd be looking at a quarterback with 45 touchdown passes -- the third-best season total ever -- with two games to go. We wouldn't be anticipating the imminent fall of Manning's league record of 49, a total that was hard enough to comprehend only three years ago.
We wouldn't be watching the meter spin to the tune of 4,235 passing yards, a 69.2 percent completion figure, a mere six interceptions and a passer rating of 119.7 that would, if the season ended today, be second-best all-time.
New England's opponents wouldn't mind an NFL without Brady, that's for sure. Remove him from the equation and you're probably not gasping at the whuppins inflicted on the likes of Miami, Buffalo and Washington. The utter domination was a sight to behold -- or, depending on your point of view, a massacre from which to avert one's eyes. But you couldn't help but admire Brady -- his poise in the pocket, field vision, perfect form, quick release, rocket arm, pinpoint accuracy. And, above all, his complete command of the offense.
Quite simply, Brady was toying with opponents.
Now let's be honest: New England would have won those games with Cassel. But what about the occasional game that wasn't a blowout? Do the Patriots overcome a 20-10 fourth quarter deficit to defeat the Colts without two Brady bombs that lead to 14 points? Do they beat the Eagles on another fourth quarter drive, this time with Brady accounting for 66 of 69 yards through the air?
And what about the game against the Ravens, a team that hounded Brady all night? Say what you will about Baltimore's ill-timed timeout and a fortuitous false start when the Ravens had the Patriots stuffed twice on fourth down, but it was Brady who converted on fourth-and-6 with a rare but effective scramble. And the TD pass to Jabar Gaffney with 44 seconds left was a beaut.
"He was calm, he was cool," says Bills defensive coordinator Perry Fewell, who faces Brady twice a year and watches him constantly. "He was just, 'Hey, I'm going to go out and do this. It's Brady time.' "
Fewell tells a story of a play in Buffalo's 56-10 loss to New England last month. In preparing for the game, he noticed that no opponent had ever put nine defenders in coverage against Brady. Fewell figured he'd disguise the coverage and give it a try, once, in the hope that covering all the zones would force Brady to run or at least rattle him enough to make a mistake.
"When he saw the nine defenders drop, he was cool as a cucumber," Fewell says. "He didn't panic. He just said, 'Oh, I have time.' He looked around, he moved in the pocket a little bit, and he just waited for somebody to clear. And he hit Randy Moss for like a 40-yard touchdown pass. ... That was classic Brady."
Says CBS analyst Solomon Wilcots, "He ... wins ... games. It's as plain and simple as that. He wins football games."
OK, maybe the Patriots aren't your favorite team. Maybe you don't like all those rings. Maybe those lopsided scores grate on your nerves. Maybe Spygate soured you.
Whatever. Don't hold that against Brady. All he does is execute the offense he's told to execute. And he does so as flawlessly and spectacularly as any quarterback ever has over the course of a season. Without great fanfare. Without saying a lot. Without any apparent desire for attention or acclaim.
"He is a nicer and better human being than people see or imagine," says Patriots owner Robert Kraft. "He's a great leader, and everybody respects him. I would say every woman in New England between the ages of 2 and 80 is nice to me so they can meet him."
"He doesn't like being in the limelight," says Browns linebacker Willie McGinest, who played with Brady on all three Patriots Super Bowl championship teams. "He's a great guy. He's humble. He works hard. He's quick to say his success comes from 'these guys.' Even though a lot of it has to do with him, he's not selfish. At all."
Think of an NFL without Tom Brady.
Think of the water cooler discussions you wouldn't be having because Brady wouldn't be doing something every week that absolutely blew you away.
Think of Randy Moss in continued decline, his amazing skills going to waste yet again.
Think of the '72 Dolphins, long ago having uncorked the champagne. Think of the final two weeks of the regular season and the impending playoffs with no talk of perfection, no speculation about this Patriots team being perhaps the greatest the NFL has ever seen.
Think of how ordinary the 2007 season would seem by comparison.
We'd rather not.
Mike Nahrstedt is a managing editor for Sporting News. E-mail him at mnahrstedt@sportingnews.com.
Previous Sportsman winners:
2006 LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers
2005 Matt Leinart, USC football
2004 Tom Brady, New England Patriots
2003 Dick Vermeil, Kansas City Chiefs, and Jack McKeon, Florida Marlins
2002 Tyrone Willingham, Notre Dame football
2001 Curt Schilling, Arizona Diamondbacks
2000 Marshall Faulk and Kurt Warner, St. Louis Rams
1999 New York Yankees
1998 Mark McGwire, St. Louis Cardinals, and Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cubs
1997 Mark McGwire, St. Louis Cardinals
1996 Joe Torre, New York Yankees
1995 Cal Ripken, Baltimore Orioles
1994 Emmitt Smith, Dallas Cowboys
1993 Cito Gaston and Pat Gillick, Toronto Blue Jays
1992 Mike Krzyzewski, Duke basketball
1991 Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
1990 Nolan Ryan, Texas Rangers
1989 Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers
1988 Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olympics
1987 None
1986 Larry Bird, Boston Celtics
1985 Pete Rose, Cincinnati Reds
1984 Peter Ueberroth, Olympics organizer
1983 Bowie Kuhn, MLB commissioner
1982 Whitey Herzog, St. Louis Cardinals
1981 Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers
1980 George Brett, Kansas City Royals
1979 Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh Pirates
1978 Ron Guidry, New York Yankees
1977 Steve Cauthen, horse racing
1976 Larry O'Brien, NBA commissioner
1975 Archie Griffin, Ohio State football
1974 Lou Brock, St. Louis Cardinals
1973 O.J. Simpson, Buffalo Bills
1972 Charlie Finley, Oakland A's
1971 Lee Trevino, golf
1970 John Wooden, UCLA basketball
1969 Tom Seaver, New York Mets
1968 Denny McLain, Detroit Tigers
2007 Sportsman of the Year: Tom Brady
By Mike Nahrstedt - SportingNews
Here's a challenge: Imagine the NFL without Tom Brady.
Seriously. Put aside, for a moment, any anti-Goliath sentiments you might bear. And think.
Think about the Patriots with somebody else under center. No, you can't plug in Peyton Manning or Brett Favre or Tony Romo. For purposes of this exercise, let's go with Matt Cassel. Just like Bill Belichick would.
Back to the Patriots, a 14-0 team in the real world.
Think that happens with Cassel? Nothing against the guy, by all accounts a fine young man who has made some nice throws among his 39 career attempts. But Brady had 39 touchdown passes after 11 games.
OK, to be fair, Cassel hasn't seen much of the field in his three seasons. Put him behind New England's line and surround him with the likes of Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Donte' Stallworth and Benjamin Watson and he'd have some nice numbers, too.
But, remember, we're imagining an NFL without Tom Brady, which means we're left with "nice numbers," not out-of-this-freakin'-world numbers.
And so there's no way we'd be looking at a quarterback with 45 touchdown passes -- the third-best season total ever -- with two games to go. We wouldn't be anticipating the imminent fall of Manning's league record of 49, a total that was hard enough to comprehend only three years ago.
We wouldn't be watching the meter spin to the tune of 4,235 passing yards, a 69.2 percent completion figure, a mere six interceptions and a passer rating of 119.7 that would, if the season ended today, be second-best all-time.
New England's opponents wouldn't mind an NFL without Brady, that's for sure. Remove him from the equation and you're probably not gasping at the whuppins inflicted on the likes of Miami, Buffalo and Washington. The utter domination was a sight to behold -- or, depending on your point of view, a massacre from which to avert one's eyes. But you couldn't help but admire Brady -- his poise in the pocket, field vision, perfect form, quick release, rocket arm, pinpoint accuracy. And, above all, his complete command of the offense.
Quite simply, Brady was toying with opponents.
Now let's be honest: New England would have won those games with Cassel. But what about the occasional game that wasn't a blowout? Do the Patriots overcome a 20-10 fourth quarter deficit to defeat the Colts without two Brady bombs that lead to 14 points? Do they beat the Eagles on another fourth quarter drive, this time with Brady accounting for 66 of 69 yards through the air?
And what about the game against the Ravens, a team that hounded Brady all night? Say what you will about Baltimore's ill-timed timeout and a fortuitous false start when the Ravens had the Patriots stuffed twice on fourth down, but it was Brady who converted on fourth-and-6 with a rare but effective scramble. And the TD pass to Jabar Gaffney with 44 seconds left was a beaut.
"He was calm, he was cool," says Bills defensive coordinator Perry Fewell, who faces Brady twice a year and watches him constantly. "He was just, 'Hey, I'm going to go out and do this. It's Brady time.' "
Fewell tells a story of a play in Buffalo's 56-10 loss to New England last month. In preparing for the game, he noticed that no opponent had ever put nine defenders in coverage against Brady. Fewell figured he'd disguise the coverage and give it a try, once, in the hope that covering all the zones would force Brady to run or at least rattle him enough to make a mistake.
"When he saw the nine defenders drop, he was cool as a cucumber," Fewell says. "He didn't panic. He just said, 'Oh, I have time.' He looked around, he moved in the pocket a little bit, and he just waited for somebody to clear. And he hit Randy Moss for like a 40-yard touchdown pass. ... That was classic Brady."
Says CBS analyst Solomon Wilcots, "He ... wins ... games. It's as plain and simple as that. He wins football games."
OK, maybe the Patriots aren't your favorite team. Maybe you don't like all those rings. Maybe those lopsided scores grate on your nerves. Maybe Spygate soured you.
Whatever. Don't hold that against Brady. All he does is execute the offense he's told to execute. And he does so as flawlessly and spectacularly as any quarterback ever has over the course of a season. Without great fanfare. Without saying a lot. Without any apparent desire for attention or acclaim.
"He is a nicer and better human being than people see or imagine," says Patriots owner Robert Kraft. "He's a great leader, and everybody respects him. I would say every woman in New England between the ages of 2 and 80 is nice to me so they can meet him."
"He doesn't like being in the limelight," says Browns linebacker Willie McGinest, who played with Brady on all three Patriots Super Bowl championship teams. "He's a great guy. He's humble. He works hard. He's quick to say his success comes from 'these guys.' Even though a lot of it has to do with him, he's not selfish. At all."
Think of an NFL without Tom Brady.
Think of the water cooler discussions you wouldn't be having because Brady wouldn't be doing something every week that absolutely blew you away.
Think of Randy Moss in continued decline, his amazing skills going to waste yet again.
Think of the '72 Dolphins, long ago having uncorked the champagne. Think of the final two weeks of the regular season and the impending playoffs with no talk of perfection, no speculation about this Patriots team being perhaps the greatest the NFL has ever seen.
Think of how ordinary the 2007 season would seem by comparison.
We'd rather not.
Mike Nahrstedt is a managing editor for Sporting News. E-mail him at mnahrstedt@sportingnews.com.
Previous Sportsman winners:
2006 LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers
2005 Matt Leinart, USC football
2004 Tom Brady, New England Patriots
2003 Dick Vermeil, Kansas City Chiefs, and Jack McKeon, Florida Marlins
2002 Tyrone Willingham, Notre Dame football
2001 Curt Schilling, Arizona Diamondbacks
2000 Marshall Faulk and Kurt Warner, St. Louis Rams
1999 New York Yankees
1998 Mark McGwire, St. Louis Cardinals, and Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cubs
1997 Mark McGwire, St. Louis Cardinals
1996 Joe Torre, New York Yankees
1995 Cal Ripken, Baltimore Orioles
1994 Emmitt Smith, Dallas Cowboys
1993 Cito Gaston and Pat Gillick, Toronto Blue Jays
1992 Mike Krzyzewski, Duke basketball
1991 Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
1990 Nolan Ryan, Texas Rangers
1989 Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers
1988 Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olympics
1987 None
1986 Larry Bird, Boston Celtics
1985 Pete Rose, Cincinnati Reds
1984 Peter Ueberroth, Olympics organizer
1983 Bowie Kuhn, MLB commissioner
1982 Whitey Herzog, St. Louis Cardinals
1981 Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers
1980 George Brett, Kansas City Royals
1979 Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh Pirates
1978 Ron Guidry, New York Yankees
1977 Steve Cauthen, horse racing
1976 Larry O'Brien, NBA commissioner
1975 Archie Griffin, Ohio State football
1974 Lou Brock, St. Louis Cardinals
1973 O.J. Simpson, Buffalo Bills
1972 Charlie Finley, Oakland A's
1971 Lee Trevino, golf
1970 John Wooden, UCLA basketball
1969 Tom Seaver, New York Mets
1968 Denny McLain, Detroit Tigers
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