TE Jake Ballard Claimed By Patriots

Well, here is a little bit of news that will get virtually no attention except for a sentence or two, filed under 'miscellaneous player transactions' in your local newspaper buried next to the horse racing section.

The New England Patriots claimed New York Giants tight end Jake Ballard off waivers.  Ballard who missed a portion of the season with a knee injury also suffered a potential career ending injury to his knee during the Super Bowl. The injury required surgery to repair damaged ligaments and cartilage and Ballard and will miss the entire 2012 season. For that reason, the Giants waived the 24-year old with the intention of re-claiming him once he passed waivers and then assign him to the PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) list with the intent of him returning to play in 2013. Given the seriousness

Manning To Sign With The Broncos

As everyone is reporting, Peyton Manning is negotiating a deal to sign with the Denver Broncos. This makes sense (although I thought he would end up in Arizona). They have a very good defense and enough of an offense to make this a good fit for him. And of course there is the intangible of John Elway and the impact, if any, he had on Manning's decision.

Back on March 7, I blogged that as popular as Tim Tebow is, it would be a no brainer for the Broncos to sign Manning if they can, because most people know that Tebow is more of a cultural phenomenon than an NFL quarterback. I also said that I believe most Bronco fans would forget Tebow in heartbeat if they knew Manning was coming to town.

So what's next? I guess we'll wait for the official announcement of the signing and the contract terms. While that may be the end of this chapter in the Manning saga, it won't be the end of this story. In fact, the Tebow bandwagon has started to roll and everyone will soon be wondering where does he and his circus go now? And so on and on and on and on.......

Peyton Manning Released By Colts

The wheels are turning. As expected Peyton Manning was released today by the Indianapolis Colts. Really, this should come as a surprise to no one. I know that for months there was so much speculation as to how this was going to play out. As recently as last week, there were some very well respected people in the media who (just to be different?) were speculating that Manning and owner Jim Irsay would find a way to somehow work out their differences, clearing a path for Manning to remain with the Colts. This was just sentimental wishful thinking, a Hail Mary, if you will.  But most Hail Mary's usually go unanswered and this one was no different.

T.O. Runnin' on Empty

What would you do if you threw a party and no one showed up? Well that's what apparently happened at a local high school just outside of Los Angeles this morning. Terrel Owens, The Sultan of Smug and the King of Me and I showed up at Calabas High School for a workout with the express intent of showing NFL scouts what his 37-year old body had left six months after ACL surgery to repair his ruptured knee.  The only problem was that no one cared enough to show up. From what I understand, his agent Drew Rosenhaus put the whole thing together but aside from a handful of curious media (and some Arena football players who participated with Owens in some passing drills), there were no NFL representatives at the gathering. Hmm. Does anyone see the irony?

That Didn't Take Long - Mendenhall Fired

On Wednesday I wrote that while there is nothing wrong with Rashard Mendenhall voicing his opinion, you would have thought he would have chosen his words carefully. I had mentioned that as a public figure with close ties to the community through his affiliation with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he will be held accountable for any reactions his comments might cause. I concluded my blog by saying that if you play with matches you will get burned. Yesterday, Rashard Mendenhall got burned -- as in fired.

Rashard Mendenhall Apoligizes For Tweets

So another athlete puts himself at the center of a national controversy. Then he apologizes about it. Wow, what a surprise. In case you missed it, this past Monday, Rashard Mendenhall tweeted what appeared to be some righteous indignation about thousands of people celebrating the news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by U.S Special Forces in Pakistan. "What kind of person celebrates death?" he tweeted. "It's amazing how people can HATE a man they never heard speak. We've only heard one side...." He went on to add that "We'll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style."

Monday Morning Quarterback

The NFL Draft.

The objective of which through public spectacle or display, NFL organizations seek opportunities to improve the quality of  their team through the selection of highly talented college football players that will ultimately help them win the Super Bowl.  Its all business. Right? Well not exactly. It's as much about marketing and entertainment as it is anything else. What was once a non-televised weekday afternoon event is now a prime time televised extravaganza and this year was no different. While the uncertainty of the NFL lockout looms overhead, it did not stop fans from gravitating toward Radio City like moths to a light bulb, while the rest of us around the country tuned in to ESPN to get a peek at which of this year's crop of collegiate football players were heading to the NFL. 

Sunday Brunch.....Are You Ready For Some Football?

Well, training camps will be opening across the country this week and so, the season is just about upon us. And for thousands of fans, that means its fantasy football time.

Fans all over the country are in various stages of draft preparation (yous truly, included) and so I thought I would refer a few websites in this post to serve as a sort of starter kit /resource center. Of course there's no way to list all the good sites because I'm sure there are a gazillion of them (since apparently, everyone is an expert with an opinion).

Farve vs Pack: It's Getting Ugly

As many of you know, Brett Farve now wants to "un-retire" and play football again. So much so, that he even asked the Packers for his release so he can sign on elsewhere. Now to me, this is starting to deteriorate into one of those things where everyone is nice to each other for as long as they can be and then their true colors show through.

In this instance, the Packers have been very gracious. When Farve couldn't make up his mind last year about whether he wanted to retire or continue to play, they waited very patiently for him to decide without saying a word (at least publicly), eventhough I'm sure they would have loved for him to have made his decision sooner than he did (dragging it out through the off-season). Certainly there must have been some consternation about his fence sitting when you consider that, with all due respect to Farve, there is a business side to football (or is it a football side to business?) and that business side involves making decisions about player personnel, i.e., the drafting of players, cap issues, etc. Farves' delay in making his decision last year almost certainly put their draft strategy in jeopardy if it didn't actually determine who they drafted.

Another Athlete Arrested on Felony Charge

See what I mean? Earlier this week, Tony Gonzalez made news by saving a man's life in a California restaurant. I had inferred that this was an aberration because it was a nice "feel good" story, which we almost never hear about. Usually today's off-field stories about our athletes are about their criminality and/or arrogance and sense of entitlement. So just to underscore my point, just 3 days after my previous post, we have this story about Matt Jones. Just another day in the world of sports.

A Nice Story For A Change: Chiefs Tony G. Saves A Life

We have become so desensitized about almost everything these days that almost nothing shocks us anymore. We live in a society where everything/everyone is fair game to our pop culture standards, which depending on your point of view is either passe or, plummeting faster than the China Syndrome. In general, athletes today are perceived on a scale somewhere between overly paid entertainers with an irrational sense of entitlement or malcontent thugs that belong in prison. Neither of this is true (save of a few) of course, but the public persona of sports athletes has been severely tarnished based on what's been reported over the years. So with that in mind, it was nice to hear that Kansas City Chiefs TE Tony Gonzalez was credited with saving a man's life this past Thursday night in California. Nice going Tony.

It's July: All-Star Game and football training camp

For most "four-sport" fans, July's primary sporting events are baseball's All-Star game, which this year will be held at Yankee Stadium and the start of football training camp. Here is the 2008 training camp schedule for all 32 teams.

What to do with Shockey

So yesterday, I got the email. 'Draft Date is tentatively set for August 28th, more details to follow'. If you love football, then that's all you need to know to understand what I'm referring to. It's fantasy football time! With training camp only a few weeks away, football season is just about on the horizon (Week 1 starts with Giants vs Redskins, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008, 7:00pm on NBC). So with that in mind the question is what do the Giants do with Jeremy Shockey?