Tim Tebow may be traded to New York Jets or Jacksonville Jaguars as early as Wednesday

If Tim Tebow is indeed on the trading block, the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars reportedly are set to move quickly to make a deal for him.

Orlando television station WKMG, citing a source close to Tebow, reported late Tuesday night that the Denver Broncos are expected to trade the quarterback to one of those teams as early as midday Wednesday.

 Denver would receive a third-round draft pick in exchange, according to the report.

WKMG reported that new Jaguars owner Shahid Khan conducted trade negotiations with the Broncos and Tebow's representatives Tuesday night and that talks are expected to resume Wednesday.

The Florida Times-Union reported that the Jaguars have held internal discussions about acquiring Tebow but had not entered formal talks with the Broncos as of Tuesday afternoon.

The Jets' possible interest in Tebow was made known earlier in the evening. A team source told the New York Daily News that the Jets “are players in the Tim Tebow race”.

The New York Post reported that the Jets see Tebow as someone who can help repair divisions among players.

Earlier reports said the Jets, Jaguars, Green Bay Packers, Miami Dolphins and one unidentified team had expressed interest in trading for Tebow.

Tebow’s future has been in question since Monday, when Peyton Manning and the Broncos began work on a five-year deal—the former Colts quarterback officially signed Tuesday. ESPN reported that with Manning in the fold, the Broncos would trade the polarizing Tebow.

The Daily News' report again draws into question just how comfortable the Jets feel at quarterback.

The team expressed interest in visiting with Manning when he was making the rounds as a free agent. After pulling out of the Manning race, the Jets quickly gave incumbent QB Mark Sanchez a five-year, $58.5 million extension—a deal in which the guaranteed money is significantly front-loaded.

Moreover, New York has already signed Drew Stanton to presumably be Sanchez’s backup, and Greg McElroy is the third quarterback.

General manager Mike Tannenbaum said he “feels good about” the Jets’ quarterbacks in an earlier conference call with reporters.
“You never know if other opportunities present themselves,” Tannenbaum added, according to the Daily News.

 “We’ll always look at it. The standard line there. We feel good about Greg and Drew and Mark. … And we’ll see where we go from there.”

The Daily News pontificates that new offensive coordinator Tony Sparano, who successfully ran the Wildcat offense in Miami, could use a player like Tebow to draw up unique packages.

But while the Jets have reportedly had serious internal discussions about Tebow, at least one player thinks the Jets are best off staying put.

Rift with Carmelo Anthony causes Mike D'Antoni to fold; Patrick Ewing waits in wings

Last February, when the Knicks traded for Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony, there was at least one voice within the organization that wasn’t quite in favor of the move—coach Mike D’Antoni.

The reason was obvious: Anthony is simply not the kind of player who works well in D’Antoni’s floor-spreading, pick-and-roll offense.

One fellow former coach told Sporting News that, around the time the deal was made, D’Antoni told him, “With this trade, I don’t know how much longer I will be able to stay here (in New York).”

That was never more obvious than over the last couple of weeks, as the Knicks endured a six-game losing streak during which Anthony appeared frustrated. Reports in the New York media Wednesday morning had

Anthony privately wishing he would be traded, expressing his displeasure with the franchise and claiming he had been told that D’Antoni would not be back as coach this year. It has become increasingly clear that D’Antoni and Anthony would not be able to coexist.

On Wednesday, a day before the NBA’s trade deadline, D’Antoni bowed out, with the sides mutually agreeing to part ways, ending his four-plus-year run as the team’s coach. The move was first reported by Yahoo! Sports.

D’Antoni compiled a 121-167 record in New York, presiding over a two-year rebuilding phase before the team was able to create enough cap space to sign power forward Amare Stoudemire.

That was followed by the controversial deal for Anthony. In the last two seasons, the Knicks are 34-31 without Anthony and 26-37 with him.

It’s another strange twist in what has been the strangest of seasons for the Knicks. Struggling from the beginning of the year after cutting Chauncey Billups and signing Tyson Chandler, the Knicks caught fire thanks to the unlikely emergence of point guard Jeremy Lin, who led the Knicks on a seven-game winning streak that revitalized the season and turned Lin into an international star.

But that was with Lin primarily running D’Antoni’s offense against weaker teams, with Anthony sitting out with a groin injury. When Anthony returned and the competition got stiffer, the Knicks started losing.

Now, with the Bucks acquiring guard Monta Ellis and moving past the Knicks in the playoff race, it will be up to assistant coach Mike Woodson to clean up this team. Unfortunately for Woodson, there will be precious little time to do so. If Woodson is to please Anthony, he will need to overhaul the playbook and to de-emphasize the pick-and-roll. That won’t be too difficult, because it will require only that he run more isolation plays for Anthony.
he

But, beyond Woodson, the question the Knicks now face is this: Who’s next? The organization is still reeling, and the team will take some time before starting a search.

Speculation immediately leapt to former Knick Phil Jackson, who has long wanted to follow in the footsteps of his old coach, Red Holzman. Jackson is one of the few coaches who could come in with enough credentials to command immediate respect from Anthony.

But if Jackson were to be lured out of retirement, he would not do so in the middle of a season.

A source tells Sporting News that one potential candidate who would be very interested in the Knicks job is Orlando Magic assistant Patrick Ewing, one of the greatest Knicks players of all time.

 Ewing has sought out head coaching jobs in the past, and interviewed for the Pistons job last year.

He does not have strong ties to Dolan, but there is no doubt he would have strong fan approval.

 Should the Knicks continue grooming Allan Houston to be the team’s general manager, Ewing—Houston’s former teammate—might make a good deal of sense.

Kentucky coach John Calipari, meanwhile, preemptively shot down Knicks rumors by posting on his Twitter account, “As I’ve said before, I have the greatest job in basketball at any level.

 Why would I be interested in another job? I love being the coach of the commonwealth’s team.

To the (Big Blue Nation and) all the recruits that are coming or want to come, I will be at Kentucky.

” It’s also unlikely that the Knicks would pursue a college coach—though it has been noted that Calipari is represented by CAA, the same agency that reps Anthony. Calipari has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the Wizards job, too.
There’s always—ahem—Isiah Thomas, a favorite of owner James Dolan, even after he left the team in financial disarray and as the subject of an embarrassing sexual harassment lawsuit. Thomas remains deeply unpopular among Knicks fans, making his return a longshot.
SI.com reported that former Utah coach Jerry Sloan would be interested in the Knicks job, though the Knicks probably would be looking for a younger coach who could better relate to tteam’s players.

Syracuse's Fab Melo ruled ineligible for NCAA Tournament

The stunning news dropped a little before 2:30 eastern on Tuesday, when Syracuse announced with a 47-word press release that center Fab Melo was facing an eligibility issue and would not participate in the NCAA Tournament.

Those sounds you probably heard across the country moments later were brackets being erased, scribbled out or just crumpled up and tossed in the trash can as the No. 1 seed in the East Region lost one of its most indispensable players.

 

Syracuse’s vaunted zone worked so well this year because the 7-footer made a massive improvement in the offseason—he went from being lost as a raw freshman to the Big East’s defensive player of the year as a sophomore. Melo averaged 7.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, but his true value came with his shot-blocking ability—he averaged 2.9 blocks per game and altered countless others attempts and game plans.

His value was very evident in the first game he missed this season, when Syracuse had its 20-game winning streak snapped at Notre Dame.

One of the very few problems for Syracuse this season—teams that enter the NCAAs with a 31-2 record seldom have glaring flaws—has been the Orange’s propensity for allowing way too many offensive rebounds, and ensuing second-chance opportunities.

 Opponents grab an average of 38.9 percent of all available offensive rebounds against Syracuse, which is 341st in the country.

So, yeah, it’s an issue. Melo was, no doubt, part of the problem; for a 7-footer, he was just a decent defensive rebounder. In fact, the youngster that will likely get a large chunk of his minutes, freshman Rakeem Christmas, does a better job on the defensive boards., percentage-wise—17.9 to Melo’s 13.5. Of course, more minutes means more exposure for Christmas, and there’s a reason he’s played only an average of 10.3 minutes per game.

That weakness on the boards could be a huge problem very quickly, especially if the Orange faces No. 8 seed Kansas State in the round of 32.

 The Wildcats grab 40.6 percent of all available offensive rebounds, which ranks seventh in the country.

 Their athletic, big front line is a huge reason they were able to knock off Missouri twice in the regular season.

Also, the odds of Syracuse winning it all decreased.
"With the news that Fab Melo will not be playing for Syracuse in the tournament we had to make some small adjustments to our odds," Bovada.lv Sportsbook manager Kevin Bradley said. "Syracuse went from 10-1 to win the NCAA championship to 14-1."

You’ll rarely see a No. 1 seed be at such a significant statistical disadvantage in one particular area so early in the NCAA Tournament.

The statement:

“Syracuse University sophomore men's basketball center Fab Melo did not travel with the team to Pittsburgh, and will not take part in the NCAA Tournament due to an eligibility issue. Given University policy and federal student privacy laws, no further details can be provided at this time.”

Report: Redskins acquire No. 2 pick from Rams

and two future first-round picks for the St. Louis Rams' No. 2 overall selection in the upcoming NFL Draft, according to FoxSports.com's Jay Glazer.

The deal would give the Rams: Washington's No. 6 overall pick and the No. 39 overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. The Rams also own the No. 33 overall pick.

Washington is expected to take Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III with the second pick.
The two future first-round picks that the Redskins will send to the Rams are for 2013 and 2014, according to multiple reports.

The deal cannot be signed off on and processed until after Tuesday, March 13, when the new league year begins. However, it is expected that the deal will be turned in, processed, and made official on that day.

If the deal goes through, it will take the Redskins out of the hunt for 11-time Pro Bowl QB Peyton

Manning, who became a free agent when the Colts released him earlier this week.

The Jets also took themselves out of the Manning sweepstakes when they signed incumbent Mark Sanchez to a contract extension on Friday night, according to Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com.

Cimini reports the Sanchez extension will pay him $40.5 million over three years. The new deal is worth $58.25 million over five years, according to Cimini.

Denver, Miami, Arizona and Kansas City have expressed interest in acquiring Manning, who will turn 36 before the start of next season. Manning visited with the Denver Broncos on Friday.

Manning hopes to make a decision before Tuesday, when the free agent market opens.

Colts reportedly decide to part ways with Peyton Manning

It's all over but the shouting in Indianapolis—and there will be plenty, if reports are correct that the Colts will announce their decision to let franchise quarterback Peyton Manning walk away as an unrestricted free agent.

It would not be an unexpected decision, but it would end the 14-year term of Manning with the team he led to a Super Bowl title and a second appearance in the NFL title game.

 The root causes will be Manning's neck surgeries, the third of which forced him to miss the 2011 season; and a $28 million bonus owed him later this week.


A press conference is scheduled for noon ET Wednesday, presumably to announce the breakup. News of the split was first reported by ESPN's Chris Mortensen. It is believed both Manning and Colts owner Jim Irsay will attend.

"We're gonna do this the right way. We'll talk to you guys tomorrow," Manning said after he and Colts owner Jim Irsay arrived in Indianapolis late Tuesday.

 The two flew in from Florida on Irsay's private jet.
Manning's older brother, Cooper, told USA Today earlier Tuesday that Peyton had informed him he was moving on.

"Peyton and I talked today and had a good chat," Cooper Manning was quoted as saying. Cooper spoke with the newspaper by telephone from his New Orleans home. "He's going through kind of an emotional time right now. Until it was over, he was a Colt through and through."

Sporting News Colts correspondent Mike Chappell, reporting for the The Indianapolis Star, wrote that Manning would be released barring an "11th-hour change of heart" by Irsay.

"It’s one of those situations where Peyton wants to stay there and (Irsay) wants him to stay, but because of the circumstances, it’s hard to find a solution where he (Manning) stays," according to a source Chappell said has direct knowledge of the situation.

Thursday is the last day the Colts can decide on Manning's bonus, but the decision can be made before that day. That appears to be the case.
 
Since being the first overall pick in 1998 draft, Manning has been among the NFL's elite quarterbacks. He is a four-time league MVP, breaking Colts career records while leading them to 11 playoff appearances. He also was a Super Bowl MVP.

Until the 2011 season, he had never missed a start. That ended 19 months ago, when Manning had a third neck surgery, in which two vertebrae were fused. His slow recovery and the Colts' abysmal season kept him out of action.

Manning finally began to turn the corner in the offseason, after doctors cleared him to resume workouts. He has spent time at Duke University, working with Blue Devils coach David Cutcliffe, who was his handler at Tennessee. Reports from those workouts have been positive.

Donald Sterling allegedly consulted prostitute on Clippers basketball issues

Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling solicited advice on the team’s basketball operations from a woman he described as a prostitute, according to court documents cited by Sports By Brooks.

As part of its 2009 discrimination case against Sterling, the U.S. Department of Justice filed documents from an unrelated case that contained testimony from Alexandra Castro, an acquaintance of Sterling’s.
 The unrelated case in 2003 involved Sterling suing Castro to get a house he gave to her back. Sterling sued after Castro ended their relationship, but Castro won the case and keptCastro’s statement read, in part,

“During our relationship, Mr. Sterling consulted me on issues he was considering almost every day including, among others, whether he should hire Alvin Gentry to coach the Los Angeles Clippers (although I had no experience in such matters), how he should respond to requests by players for the Los Angeles Clippers for increases in their compensation (Mr. Sterling and I often had dinner at the Arena Club with agents for a number of players) ... ”
the house.

Concussion In Contact Sports (VIDEO)

It's been a week, but the excitement of Super Bowl Sunday is still in the air, especially in New York. And somewhat overshadowed by that epic Giants win was the appearance of ex-Saints player, Steve Gleason. You see, Steve Gleason is not just an NFL veteran. At the age of 34, he is also living with a debilitating disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. 

And he's not alone. A recent story in Scientific American profiles Kevin Turner, called "the collision expert," who played for the Patriots and the Eagles. In 1995, Kevin was the NFL's second-highest paid fullback. Today, he cannot button his shirt.

Nobody really knows what causes ALS, and there is no cure. Scientists have tried and continuously failed to find conclusive evidence linking ALS to concussive injuries sustained during contact sports like football. 

And now, controversial new research coming out of Boston University suggests that these players may not have ALS after all, but another motor neuron disorder with similar symptoms and a similarly bleak prognosis. Except this one has a clear cause: repeated blows to the head.

 Many researchers aren't convinced, but one thing they agree on is that the types of head injuries sustained during football games can cause depression, changes in mood and behavior, memory loss, and even early dementia.

 They call this syndrome chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). It's characterized at autopsy by the buildup of two proteins, tau and TDP-43, which leak out when brain cells are injured and can buildup where they aren't supposed to be.

I know I keep throwing around the word concussion, which to most of us is a pretty vague term describing some type of bruise or injury to the brain. Well, that's almost correct. In medical parlance, a concussion is a traumatic brain injury that causes transient alterations in the function of the brain.

 It can be mild or severe, and it can cause bleeding or swelling. Symptoms usually go away within weeks following a concussion, with proper care. For those who stay in the game after a concussion, they are at a high risk for second-impact syndrome, which can result in lasting brain damage or death.

When it comes down to it, it's the damage to individual brain cells, called neurons, that cause the real problem. 

When a brain cell is injured, its membrane (the sack surrounding it) can be breached, causing all sorts of complications. And that's not all—these head-in-motion injuries can also cause a phenomenon called diffuse axonal injury, or axon shearing. 

See, the soma (or cell body) is connected to a long fibrous part of the cell, called an axon, which acts as a neuronal "wire," delivering information from one part of the brain to another. 

Axons follow along defined tracts and make up the white matter of the brain, which sits beneath the cortical grey matter. Well, when your head is moving, especially at an angle, and it is suddenly impacted, those axons can stretch and break, causing diffuse injury to the very areas of the brain necessary for communicating with one another.

 And even if the injury doesn't breach the cell membrane and cause nectrotic damage, apoptosis (so-called cell suicide) may still occur, if the cell deems the injury too severe to warrant repair.

 When the cell bodies rupture, their contents can leak out, creating a toxic environment for neighboring cells. This can occur during a specific type of injury that's common in sports and automobile accidents, known as a coup contrecoup injury. 

We don't think about it, but the brain isn't really tacked down to anything inside the skull. It's simple physics really. An object in motion tends to stay in motion unless it is acted upon by an external force. Imagine that your helmeted head is traveling toward the helmeted head of another player. 

Boom. They collide. Although your skull may stop traveling through space, your brain will lag behind. Think of an egg yolk inside its shell. First your brain will smash up against the front of your skull. 

And next, if it's traveling fast enough, the abrupt collision will cause it to bounce backward, colliding against the back of the skull as well. Now instead of one severe injury from a single impact, there are two.

But is it really just concussions that we should be worried about? Any only with football players? Since the 1920s, boxers have described getting "punch drunk" in the ring: feeling unsteady, slow, and mentally dazed. 

And hockey players, rugby players, pretty much any players of contact sports can recount similar experiences. We now know that these are signs of a concussion, but not everyone experiences that dazed and confused feeling And many young athletes who do push through and play on anyway, hoping that it will prove to their coaches and teammates that they're strong, tenacious, and wont let the rest of the guys down.

How will the science behind sports injuries change the way we play the game? What do you think? You can reach out to me on Twitter, Facebook, or leave your comments right here on The Huffington Post. Come on, talk nerdy to me!

New York Giants win Super Bowl XLVI over New England Patriots

INDIANAPOLIS—For the eighth time in their illustrious franchise history that now includes four Super Bowl victories, the New York Giants are NFL champions. Just like they did four years ago, they got the better of Tom Brady and the New England Patriots with a 21-17 victory in Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday night.

And just like Super Bowl XLII, it took a late fourth-quarter rally led by quarterback Eli Manning, the game’s MVP, and another great catch by a backup wide receiver. Four years ago, it was David Tyree sticking the ball to his helmet on the winning touchdown drive. This time, with the Giants down 17-15 at the 3:46 mark and the ball at their 12-yard line, Manning connected with Mario Manningham, who tiptoed down the sideline for a dazzling 38-yard catch.

Operating from midfield, the Giants scored eight plays later on a 6-yard touchdown run by running back Ahmad Bradshaw. After the Giants missed the two-point conversion attempt, Brady and the Patriots had 57 seconds to answer. But even though they converted a fourth-and-16 on the drive, it ended with a failed Hail Mary attempt by Brady as time expired.

The entire script of the rematch was very familiar. The Giants looked like the dominant team early, but then the Patriots looked to be in control after their second of consecutive touchdown drives gave them a 17-9 lead with 11:20 left in the third quarter. New York, however, stayed resilient with two field goals before going ahead for good in the final minute.
 
“We knew it was going to be this type of game,” said Giants left tackle David Diehl, Manning’s blindside protector. “The last time we played them (the Giants won 24-20 in Week 9), there were five lead changes in the fourth quarter, so we knew we’d just have to keep fighting, keep scratching, and when the big opportunity came, we capitalized on it.”

The Patriots had overcome an inauspicious offensive start to take a 10-9 halftime lead and Brady helped them keep it late into the fourth quarter.

After they sacked Eli Manning twice to force a punt on the Giants’ first drive of the game, Brady was called for intentional grounding in the end zone on his first play, dropping back from New England’s 6-yard line.

The resulting safety gave the Giants a 2-0 lead, and following the Patriots’ free kick, Manning led the Giants on a nine-play, 78-yard touchdown drive to give New York an early 9-0 edge.

Manning was 9-for-9 passing for 77 yards and a TD to open the first half, but by the end of 30 minutes, it was Brady with better overall numbers (15-for-18, 147 yards, one TD).

But in the end, in a slow-starting passing duel similar to what happened in Super Bowl XLII, Manning once again closed better than Brady. The door for the comeback was opened when Brady, looking for tight end Rob Gronkowski for a big play against single coverage from the Patriots’ 43, was intercepted by Chase Blackburn at the 14:17 mark of the fourth quarter.
 
— Super Bowl giant bummer for Brady
— Big Blue defenders hang with Pats' big threats
— Fantasy Source: Eli's future in 2012 draft
— New York celebrates | Giants turn Patriots' gamble into TD | Tuck's big sack
— Missed opportunities cost Patriots | Pats can't win title for Kraft

Brady was otherwise unblemished, with a 27-for-41, two-touchdown performance, but the Giants’ pass rush kept him from delivering the backbreaking play. Although Brady did manage to complete a Super Bowl-record 16 consecutive passes at one point, Manning was the better quarterback in the final stretch.

“Offensively, I thought we played very well,” Manning said. “We played smart. There at the end, when we had an opportunity in the fourth quarter, we’d been in those situations and we knew that we had no more time left.

 

 

Diehl with it: Giants lineman David Diehl delivers a statement with the Lombardi Trophy. (AP Photo)

“We had to go down and score, and guys stepped up and made great plays.”

Manning (30-for-40, 296 yards, one TD) was sacked three times and faced unexpectedly good pressure from the Patriots’ front four. But he survived to make key downfield strikes to both Hakeem Nicks (10 catches, 109 yards) and Manningham (five catches, 73 yards) while Victor Cruz (four catches for 25 yards) was bottled up. He also saw tight ends Travis Beckum and Jake Ballard go out with injuries.

It was a gritty outing for Manning, who trumped his brother Peyton (in the home stadium of Peyton’s Colts) with a second ring. With Eli edging Brady, it also meant another head-to-head Super Bowl victory for his coach, Tom Coughlin, over the Patriots’ Bill Belichick.
“He just hung in there,” said the Mannings’ father, Archie, of Eli’s performance. “He was patient, and he had to be patient.
 
— Videos: Tuck sacks Brady | Hernandez TD | Woodhead TD | Cruz TD | Final play | Super ads
— 2012 NFL Draft: Selection order (for now) in first round

“There wasn’t anything easy out there. He played like a quarterback needs to play.”

Eli Manning boldly said before the 2011 season, coming off leading the NFL in interceptions in 2010, that he was an elite quarterback who belonged in the company of signal-callers such as Brady. With another gutsy performance and deliverance in the clutch, he proved that on Sunday.

Manning isn’t the only remaining Giant who repeated a big performance from Super Bowl XLII. Defensive end Justin Tuck matched his two-sack output from four years ago, including his dropping of Brady to help dash the Patriots’ last-gasp hopes.

Tuck and New York’s front four weren’t its only defensive strength, as the back seven responded with solid coverage to limit the damage of Brady’s best receivers. Aaron Hernandez was most effective (eight catches, 67 yards, one TD), while fellow second-year tight end, Gronkowski, who was battling a high ankle sprain, had only two receptions for 26 yards.

Brady was forced to spread the ball around underneath, and the Giants’ secondary did well to control elusive wide receiver Wes Welker out of the slot, limiting him to seven catches for 60 yards. The Giants’ rising star at defensive end, Jason Pierre-Paul, also contributed to thwart Brady by batting down two of his passes.
 
— From SI: Snap judgments | Super Bowl grades

Although Brady found some rhythm midway through the game, his receivers were frustrated by the plays they didn’t make. That included Welker, who couldn’t come up with a deep pass from his quarterback that might have put the game out of reach with four minutes left in the fourth quarter.
“It’s a play I’ve made a thousand times in practice and everything else,” Welker said. “It comes to the biggest moment of my life and don’t come up with it. It’s discouraging.”

While Manningham, who managed to hold on in his big-play moment, did his best impression of Tyree with a jaw-dropping reception, Nicks was an upgrade of the man who caught the game-winning TD from Manning four years ago, Plaxico Burress. Gone from that team is Michael Strahan, but now the Giants have the super-athletic Pierre-Paul helping Tuck with his explosiveness off the edge.

There’s no doubt Manning had a stronger, more talented supporting cast in his second go-around against the Patriots in the Super Bowl. He’s the unquestioned seasoned leader on the field, but surrounded by skilled youth, he has helped the Giants—the first 9-7 team to win the Super Bowl—re-emerge as a threat to add to their Lombardi Trophy case in the near future.

With two rings, Manning matches fellow 2004 first-round pick Ben Roethlisberger and is just one away from Brady, from whom he took away two potential championships.

After taking Manning first overall in 2004 and knowing they had a franchise QB with whom to complete for Super Bowl titles, Coughlin and general manager Jerry Reese have done well creating a team built for this pass-happy era.

Manning, armed with Nicks, Cruz and Manningham, is capable of matching up with any opposing team’s quarterback and array of weapons, such as Brady with Gronkowski, Welker and Hernandez. The formula, however, wouldn’t be complete, without a pass rush that consistently makes Manning’s counterpart uncomfortable.

The Giants may seem like the most improbable of champions, both now and four years ago, but it’s not surprising when you examine the strengths that have put them in position to be what the Patriots were—a dynasty marked by a great quarterback-coaching combination.

“Each one is very unique, and this one is just as exciting, probably more so because of the kind of year we had,” Coughlin said. “What a wonderful experience it was to see the team come together like they did.”

The Giants had the most complete, battle-tested team, start to finish, of anyone in the NFL this season, and that’s why they’re most deserving to be the last team standing.

Points swap makes Danica, NASCAR look bad

 

Danica Patrick was supposed to bring all sorts of attention to stock car racing. This probably isn’t what NASCAR had in mind.

Instead of having to qualify, she just got a free pass into the Daytona 500. The loophole is not new, but Danica zipping through it makes her and NASCAR look bad.

Basically, her Stewart-Haas Racing team bought the starting spot from Tommy Baldwin Racing.

Dave Blaney earned it based on last year’s performance, but he’s not nearly as hot as Danica.
So what was his has become hers. In the NFL, it would be like Jerry Jones buying a few Cardinals wins to assure the Cowboys got a playoff spot.

I hope I’m not giving JJ any ideas. If I am, at least we can be fairly confident the NFL wouldn’t stand for it. In NASCAR, this is business as usual.

Patrick didn’t set up the system. But since she is the beneficiary, the chicanery is suddenly news.

Danica Patrick might have gotten better publicity had she raced her way into the Daytona 500. But her sponsors just couldn't take that chance. (AP Photo)

If you didn’t know better, you might even think NASCAR is greasing the track for her.

Not so, say Danica fans. They are right when they claim she’s being held to a different standard. That happens when you’ve been anointed the greatest thing to hit NASCAR since the invention of the Styrofoam cooler.

This is the start of her big career move from IndyCar. There was no way Daytona, GoDaddy.com, FOX and the National Organization for Women were going to risk Patrick not making NASCAR’s Super Bowl.
I almost feel sorry for her. Or as sorry as I can for somebody who makes an estimated $12 million a year based on decent racing skills, a pretty face and an exceptional ability to pose on car hoods in a bikini and high heels.

But the guy I really feel sorry for is Blaney. The top 35 in last year’s point standings get automatic spots in the first five Sprint Cup races of the following season.

Blaney cajoled the No. 36 car to 33rd place. That was a nice feat for TBR, which doesn’t have near the money or horsepower of NASCAR’s elite teams.