A foul mood has enveloped Chicago for several weeks now. As for a cause, the usual suspects -- weather, traffic, weather, parking, weather, political shenanigans -- are blameless.
The sky is falling in Tennessee, they're on suicide watch in Pittsburgh and dogs and cats are living together in Buffalo.
MINNEAPOLIS -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we try to fathom the latest comeback miracle, and undoubtedly one of the greatest, in Brett Favre's long and eventful 19-year NFL career....
Are you ready for some football? These guys will definitely get you in the mood!
I often spend weeks -- even months -- researching and ruminating over the Team of Destiny. Other than selecting my next spouse, choosing my Team of Destiny is the single most important decision I make in any given year.
I thoroughly enjoy preseason football and I am not afraid to admit it. How can you not be enthralled by the real life drama and personal stories that unfold in August? The breakout rookie. The veteran trying to squeeze out one more year in the game he has played nearly his entire life. Or even the former Super Bowl hero trying to hold on to a roster spot. It's a Hollywood movie every week.
One of the guarantees in life is that if you write something about the pathetic state of the Oakland Raiders, you will hear from numerous angry Raiders fans. And they will tell you all about how they went to the 2003 Super Bowl, and that they won three Super Bowls between 1976 and 1984, and that they were the most successful team of the 1980s or over some 25 year span or something. You will hear bland repetition of their now-ridiculous "Commitment to Excellence" slogan, and reminders of glorious victories and anyway how many Super Bowls has YOUR team won? Happens every time.
SI.com has dispatched writers to report on the 32 NFL training camps across the country. Here's what Ross Tucker had to say about the Steelers' camp in Latrobe, Pa. For an archive of all the camp postcards, click here.
Is the New England dynasty over? It's one of the burning issues in pro football as Tom Brady, Bill Belichick & Co. prepare to enter training camp and prepare to reset the clock after a disastrous 2008 calendar year.
It may have slipped up on us all, but when training camps begin late next month, this decade's final NFL season will be at hand. Could there be a more natural starting point for the debate about which franchise deserves the league's team of the decade designation?
A foul mood has enveloped Chicago for several weeks now. As for a cause, the usual suspects -- weather, traffic, weather, parking, weather, political shenanigans -- are blameless.
The sky is falling in Tennessee, they're on suicide watch in Pittsburgh and dogs and cats are living together in Buffalo.
MINNEAPOLIS -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we try to fathom the latest comeback miracle, and undoubtedly one of the greatest, in Brett Favre's long and eventful 19-year NFL career....
Are you ready for some football? These guys will definitely get you in the mood!
I often spend weeks -- even months -- researching and ruminating over the Team of Destiny. Other than selecting my next spouse, choosing my Team of Destiny is the single most important decision I make in any given year.
I thoroughly enjoy preseason football and I am not afraid to admit it. How can you not be enthralled by the real life drama and personal stories that unfold in August? The breakout rookie. The veteran trying to squeeze out one more year in the game he has played nearly his entire life. Or even the former Super Bowl hero trying to hold on to a roster spot. It's a Hollywood movie every week.
One of the guarantees in life is that if you write something about the pathetic state of the Oakland Raiders, you will hear from numerous angry Raiders fans. And they will tell you all about how they went to the 2003 Super Bowl, and that they won three Super Bowls between 1976 and 1984, and that they were the most successful team of the 1980s or over some 25 year span or something. You will hear bland repetition of their now-ridiculous "Commitment to Excellence" slogan, and reminders of glorious victories and anyway how many Super Bowls has YOUR team won? Happens every time.
SI.com has dispatched writers to report on the 32 NFL training camps across the country. Here's what Ross Tucker had to say about the Steelers' camp in Latrobe, Pa. For an archive of all the camp postcards, click here.
Is the New England dynasty over? It's one of the burning issues in pro football as Tom Brady, Bill Belichick & Co. prepare to enter training camp and prepare to reset the clock after a disastrous 2008 calendar year.
It may have slipped up on us all, but when training camps begin late next month, this decade's final NFL season will be at hand. Could there be a more natural starting point for the debate about which franchise deserves the league's team of the decade designation?
It's a telling sign of the times that one of the most popular commercials in last Sunday's Super Bowl was from an online pawn shop.
Wow. What a Super Bowl to take in. What an amazing game, and yes, I still say it's the best ever ... but let's examine the quality of the officiating, the quality of the game and then Ben Roethlisberger's performance for the ages:
Despite record prices, a grinding recession and the absence of two big advertisers this year, NBC says it's having no problem filling spots for Super Bowl XLIII.
TAMPA -- Fresh off a win that featured, at the very least, the most compelling fourth quarter in Super Bowl history, and earned them an NFL-record sixth Vince Lombardi Trophy, the Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves in pretty solid position to keep the good times rolling.
Nothing beats covering the Super Bowl. For me, that didn't mean watching from a seat in Tampa's Raymond James Stadium. I took it all in from my personal ottoman empire -- 10.5 hours spent on a comfortable couch with an oversized hassock at the ready. NBC game producer Fred Gaudelli said his worst nightmare in planning the telecast of Super Bowl XLIII would be to have a blowout -- of course, that didn't happen. The see-saw fourth quarter was the cap on a wonderful day of viewing, one that should give NBC both ratings and critical success.
Grading out the Steelers during their 27-23 Super Bowl win over the Cardinals (Recap | Box Score) ...
TAMPA -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we struggle to digest the roller coaster and historic ride that Super Bowl XLIII was in Raymond James Stadium on Sunday night...
TAMPA -- They've been here before, and taken more than their share of confetti showers, but maybe never one they earned as much as this one. They've been tested and had to work hard to get the job done in the past, but maybe never harder than they did Sunday night against the upstart Arizona Cardinals.
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Super Bowl party scene in Tampa lived up to expectations this year, which isn't really that impressive considering most expected it to be a down year, devoid of the over-the-top parties that had come to define the week in years past with Playboy, Sports Illustrated, Victoria's Secret and CAA all canceling their annual super shindigs in a down economy. With so many household names bowing out of the party scene this year it opened the door for a few new names and a surprising winner for this year's best Super Bowl party.
Ready for your Super Bowl party? Sure, you have drinks, hot wings, maybe even a favorite jersey. But do you have an M-16, a Kevlar helmet and body armor?
(Click here for five reasons why Cardinals will win.)
Whether Kurt Warner's Cardinals or Ben Roethlisberger's Steelers win the Super Bowl on Sunday is up for grabs. One thing is certain, however: The winners will get some serious bling. Per tradition, members of NFL and other professional and college championship teams get a big, diamond-encrusted ring commemorating their victory a few months after the big game. But in this dismal economy, will they keep it or sell it?
Admit it: You're more familiar with the Al Michaels-John Madden team that will be broadcasting Super Bowl XLIII than you are with the Pittsburgh and Arizona teams that will be on the field at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium Sunday (NBC, 6 p.m. ET).
TAMPA -- By Wednesday of Super Bowl week, once all the talk and the storylines start to drown out everything else, that's when it becomes really easy to lose track of what this whole week is about. It's about finishing. Closing the deal. Making your case for history.
So much has changed in my lifetime -- except perhaps one important thing: the very calendar we live our lives by.
TAMPA -- You are Matt Leinart, and just as everyone expected almost from day one, you're in the Super Bowl in just your third season with the Arizona Cardinals, the team that selected you in the top 10 of the 2006 NFL Draft.
From Bart Starr's '67 Packers to Eli Manning's '07 Giants, SI has been covering the Super Bowl since its inception. Here are the game stories for sports' biggest event:
PITTSBURGH -- Musings, observations and the occasional championship Sunday insight as we wrap our mind around the Super Bowl XLIII pairing for the first time amid the confetti shower that has descended upon Heinz Field....
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- In the clubhouse at Tropicana Field hangs a jersey that looks completely out of place. Tropicana Field is a baseball stadium, home to the Tampa Bay Rays, and the jersey is authentic Arizona Cardinals. Manager Joe Maddon keeps it framed on a wall in his office, in part because he roots for the Cardinals, and in part because he identifies with them.
If it seems odd that two nine-win teams will battle for the NFC title Sunday, there's a good reason.
In case you were wondering, here are five statistical nuggets that speak to just how rare this year's NFL final four really is:
Faith Hill will sing "America the Beautiful" during the pregame show at the Super Bowl next month, according to the National Football League.
PITTSBURGH -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we wrap up the mind-boggling games of the NFL's divisional round playoffs, from a frosty Heinz Field, aka The Big Ketchup Bottle ...
The NFL's 12-team playoff field annually presents us all kind of delicious possibilities in terms of a potential Super Bowl matchup, but can you imagine the unrestrained glee of the suits in the league office if they're granted the pairing of their public relations dreams?
In the spring of 2007 I was in the locker room at the Eagles' training facility. The purpose of my visit that day was to interview cornerback Sheldon Brown about his otherworldly hit on Reggie Bush in a divisional playoff game the previous January in the Superdome, as part of a story I was writing on that and other big hits in the NFL. (Brown that day presented me with one of the best sound-bite quotes I've ever heard, explaining that his hit on the unsuspecting Bush was so well-timed that it was like running through a cardboard box, and then he added, "Seriously. Cardboard box.").
It's tempting to just toast David Tyree for his remarkable catch one last time and call it a year. But unlike his ball-pinned-against-his-helmet grab in last February's Super Bowl upset for the ages, that's too easy, at least for my taste.
Starting in July, on the campus of Nicholls State University in southern Louisiana, it was suggested to Eli Manning that he might end up playing against his brother Peyton in the Super Bowl. Eli reacted as though he had just been served a pot of bad crawfish. "I'd love another opportunity to go back to the Super Bowl, and if he was the opponent, so be it, but it's not something I want," Eli said. "We played a few years ago in the opening game and it takes away from the game and the team. It's Manning vs. Manning. That's not the way we want it."
Sports Illustrated will announce its choice for Sportsman of the Year on Dec. 2. Here's one of the nominations for that honor by an SI writer. For more essays, click here.
If at all possible, you don't want to start 0-2 in the NFL. It's not a death sentence, but since the playoffs expanded to 12 teams in 1990, only 19 teams have climbed out of an 0-2 hole to make the playoffs. That's 19 teams in 18 seasons of play, or about one per year.
There is nothing better than the start of "real football," but with the beginning of the NFL season comes the usual predictions of which teams will get to the Super Bowl. And with all due respect to my colleagues here at SI.com, 99.9 percent of the time those predictions are wrong.
ALBANY, N.Y. -- On the first morning of the first day of their first training camp as defending Super Bowl champions in 17 years, the New York Giants seized upon a familiar and yet strangely incongruous role for themselves: That of an disrespected underdog, determined to prove the doubters wrong.
Bill Belichick's legacy cracked apart last year like the lobster claws at a Gillette Stadium tailgate.
Usually I load up my first wailbag with a lot of self-serving stuff about the vacation, keyed on my return home from same. But this time the old letterbox was fairly bulging with so much stuff about my timid little prediction of the Vikings to win Supe XLIII, all sent to me in such a lighthearted spirit of good fellowship, that I simply had to address it now before I forget what these blokes had written.
Last year, I locked in my Super Bowl pick early and felt very good about the choice. For once, I wasn't trying to do a roster breakdown or getting myself all tied up in strengths and weaknesses. I was looking for a team with a chip on its shoulder, one that would be coming into the season with something to prove, a hungry team, nasty, etc.
I normally hate writing about labor and things like looming strikes. You hate reading about that stuff. But I'm going to write about it here today, and I will make this commitment to you: I won't do it again, at least not at the top of the column, until something really significant occurs that you need to know about.
Ten years ago next month, the Indianapolis Colts selected quarterback Peyton Manning first overall in the NFL draft, bypassing Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf and almost single-handedly changing the course of a franchise that had posted just two playoff seasons in the previous decade.
David Tyree's spectacular ball-to-helmet catch set up the New York Giants' victory at the Super Bowl earlier this month. But even more exciting for the wide receiver is the addition of twins to his family. On Feb. 20, the football star's wife, Leilah, gave birth to daughters Sophia and Hannah.
It's become an annual rite of passage for Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks: Hoist the Vince Lombardi trophy, declare your intentions to visit the House That Walt Disney Built, head directly to Madison Avenue.
The e-mail bag overfloweth, much of it concerning Spygate. We'll start with that, then a plug for the new NFL Films DVD on the Giants' Super Bowl win -- being released nationwide today -- because there are a few very interesting things in the DVD that taught me a few things I didn't know about the Giants' season and the Super Bowl.
The Miami Dolphins are very quietly setting themselves up to be an offseason power in the NFL. The waiving of quarterback Trent Green, wide receiver Marty Booker and offensive tackle L.J. Shelton this week added $9.9 million in savings to the 2008 salary-cap total, and helped boost the Dolphins' cap number from $29 million to $40 million.
"As Mike Tyson would say, 'Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.' "
When you think about the 1985 Super Bowl-champion Chicago Bears, the image that immediately pops into your mind isn't Walter Payton carrying the football 22 times or Willie Gault's 129 receiving yards. It's not Reggie Phillips' 28-yard interception return for a touchdown and it's not even Jim McMahon thumbing his nose at Commissioner Pete Rozelle.
PHOENIX -- The Giants' Super Bowl win on Sunday night will rightfully take its place among the greatest upsets in NFL history. New York was just the fifth wild-card entry to win a Super Bowl, and the first from the NFC.
The New York Giants shatter New England's perfect season with a big, bad defense and an improbable comeback
PHOENIX -- Trying to predict the Pro Football Hall of Fame class is always difficult, but I don't recall a more difficult year in my decade and a half as one of the selectors. The reason: there are no gimmes in this group and there are varying degrees of support for many of the 17 candidates.
With all due respect to my friend and colleague Paul Zimmerman, the esteemed Dr. Z., the psychic guilt of having not picked Joe Namath and the Jets to beat the Colts in the Super Bowl 39 years ago is no reason to compound one's mistake by predicting a Giants upset of the Patriots in next week's Super Bowl, as he did for both SI.com and Sports Illustrated earlier this week.
One week from Sunday, the titans of American advertising will take to the field and go head-to-head in an epic battle of marketing muscle to determine who will be the king of commercials.
"No one remembers who loses the Super Bowl."
This story was originally published in the February 7, 2001 issue of Sports Illustrated
SI.com presents a listing of each existing franchise's best draft class in the last 30 years. The league has endured a few stages of evolution since '77 -- expansion, free agency, greater TV exposure, the salary cap -- but this exercise should reaffirm the notion that consistent championship contenders are always built through the draft. For the sake of brevity, we've limited the list to the productive players from a team's particular class.
Indianapolis? Chicago? Who cares? For many, the battle between Anheuser-Busch, FedEx and CareerBuilder for funniest commercial is what matters on Super Bowl Sunday.
MIAMI -- Oh to have had Jim Sorgi hooked up to an EKG monitor or blood pressure machine when Peyton Manning first ambled off the field shaking his right thumb, a look of real concern in his eyes as the AFC Championship Game wound down to its most crucial juncture.
Is a Super Bowl commercial worth it?
INDIANAPOLIS -- Musings, observations and hopefully the occasional insight on championship game-Sunday ...
Chicago Bear fans are no doubt thrilled their team is heading to Super Bowl XLI in Miami, but it's stock market bulls who had the biggest win on Sunday.
They talked about it on Monday -- the two old friends and potential opponents -- now that the Super Bowl is tantalizingly within reach. Well, at least Lovie Smith talked. Tony Dungy mostly listened. The Colts' always-composed head coach has been this close twice before and came away disappointed both times, so naturally he's hesitant to even let his mind linger on the possibility.
They talked about it again last week -- the two old friends and potential opponents -- now that the Super Bowl is in sight and tantalizingly within reach. Well, at least Lovie Smith talked. Tony Dungy mostly listened. The Colts' always-composed head coach has been this close twice before, and met with disappointment both times, so there's a natural hesitancy to even let his mind linger on the possibility.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Tens of millions of Americans will watch the Super Bowl this Sunday. For many it's more important to see how the Burger King fares than how Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger does against the Seattle Seahawks.
For many, the suspense leading up to Super Bowl XL in Detroit on Feb. 5 has nothing to do with which teams will make it to the big game but which big corporations will be advertising during it.
Could New England fans be getting tired of winning?
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