New Meadowlands Stadium Wins 2014 Super Bowl Honors

"All World All Sports"
-Digger's Daily-
NFL Commissioner Goodell officially announced the New Meadowlands Stadium has been selected as host venue for Super Bowl XLVIII. The 2014 will be the league's first Super Bowl in an outdoor stadium in a cold weather city. There were four rounds of secret balloting before the hosting city was selected. New Jersey beat out Tampa Bay and Miami.
Let the debate rage. Critics and supporters have begun feasting on today's news. There's good and shady swirling around the 2014 game. Time to take a look at all sides. First up, there's a standing NFL 50 degree rule stating no Super Bowl will be awarded to a city averaging colder than 50 degree winter temperatures (unless indoors). So why the exception? It's been reported often, except in the official SB award press releases, Commissioner Goodell has lobbied for the NY/NJ venue. No direct finger pointing has come from Tampa owners but it's very clear Goodell's influence played a role in the final decision. Perhaps even a little arm twisting. Why? For generations both Giants and Jets season tickets had been sold out. There were thousands of names on season ticket waiting lists. Often times, season ticket holders assigned (gifted) their seats in last will and testaments. A not so funny thing happened when Giants and Jets team owners announced building the New Meadowlands Stadium. PSL's were put into place. PSL stands for "personal seat license" which is a one time purchase which gives the fan a right to buy season tickets (plus, season ticket costs). For Giants fans PSL's range from $1,000 to $20,000. Jets fans have to fork over $4,000 to $30,000. Both teams are experiencing extreme difficulty selling season tickets (especially in today's economy). Rumor has it Goodell's intervention is an attempt to help the Giants and Jets sell remaining PSL's & season tickets. How much of a consideration this had on awarding SB XLVII the public will probably never know.

"Under normal circumstances, we probably would have walked away with the trophy," said Sandy MacKinnon of the Tampa Bay Super Bowl bid committee. "But the NFL was interested in making history with New York City and a new stadium. I think the odds were stacked against the traditional sunshine climate."

On the upside. Is it really a big deal if two teams compete for the NFL Championship in less than optimal weather conditions? No. Afterall, this is the NFL. The battle of the gridiron. Sports biggest stage. It's disconcerting hearing NFL guru's complaining of potentially cold or wet game conditions. This is the NFL. Previous Super Bowls have been predicated around warm or perfect weather conditions. Many seem to forget, before Super Bowls, Championship games were played in many less than perfect settings. That's football. Brutal cold Championships hosted in Green Bay, Chicago, Baltimore & New York. It's only fitting football's grand game is played on the world's biggest stage. Projected revenues for the New York, New Jersey area expected to exceed $550 million for the local economy represent a shot in the arm for a city in steep economic turmoil. It's high time the Super Bowl could be played in less than perfect weather conditions. Bringing the game to a new venue is a great move. SB XLVIII in 2014 will be played in the backyard of the world's media capital.

News Makers, Rumors, Champs & More Chumps

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-Digger's Daily-

It's been a week of big sports news items. NCAA basketball champions crowned. Baseball season began. Golfers swinging away at the Masters. And one horrific tragedy taking the life of a 22 year old rookie future star.

Good
University of North Carolina were crowned NCAA Men's Basketball National Champions after knocking off an overwhelmed Michigan State team 89-72. UNC dominated from opening tipoff setting an NCAA Finals record 21 point halftime lead.

University of Connecticut women's team dominated college basketball like no other. Undefeated 39-0. Rarely challenged (won every game by more than 10 points). Blowout Championship victory 76-54 was 6th in school history. One of college basketball's greatest teams ever.

Baseball's regular season has begun. Florida Marlins are the only early season undefeated team (3-0). Yankees pundits were calling for heads after NY lost their opener in Baltimore. Kansas City, my personal surprise team for '09, has come out of the gate strong.

The Masters Championship began. As always, much of the fanfare and press followed Tiger Woods every move. Tiger is nowhere to be found on the leaderboard as Chad Campbell and Kenny Perry lead the field. Who will win the Green Jacket this year?

Rumors
No Pedro Martinez sightings yet. His tremendous baseball career might be done for good. During the WBC, Pedro was lobbying for a return to MLB by showing off his lively arm. No callers yet.

An early return for injured Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez? Hip surgery sidelined ARod. He was supposed to be out until mid to late May. He's gunning for late April and has begun light baseball related activities.

NFL defensive end Jason Taylor wants to play in Miami again. Rumors suggested interest by New York Jets. "But the Jets are the Jets," Taylor said with a beaming smile. "I've had a lot of history saying bad things about Jets fans. The fireman hat guy [Fireman Ed] and all of the people in New York that are Jets fans are not the ones that are working on Wall Street. I've said all of those things. So I've got to leave it at that."

Champs
NCAA Champs UNC (men's), UCONN (women's).
NBA Conference Champs: East - Cleveland, West - Lakers.
NHL Conference Champs: East - Boston Bruins, West - San Jose Sharks.

Chumps

Andrew Thomas Gallo for killing 22 year old Los Angeles Angels rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart in a hit and run traffic accident. Adenhart, ranked as one of baseball's top 50 prospects, had earlier started and pitched 6 shutout innings for LA in front of family and friends. Gallo had a suspended license because of a previous drunken driving conviction. The cowardly killer ran a red light broadsiding the car killing Adenhart and two friends.

Terrell Owens - after refusing to participate in voluntary workouts with his new Buffalo Bills teammates, TO has finally decided to shape up and show up. It's always something with this guy. His smack talk against Dallas led former QB turned commentator Troy Aikman to suggest TO's release was a solid move by the Cowboys. Funny how none of TO's former teams seem to miss him one bit.

France vs Lance Armstrong - Here we go again. 7 time Tour de France Champion Armstrong is in hot water again with the French. This time for (according to ESPN): "...violating its rules Thursday for not fully cooperating with a drug tester and says it could punish the seven-time Tour de France champion." At question is a 20-minute delay when Armstrong says the tester agreed to let him shower while the American rider's assistants checked the tester's credentials. It's always something with French officials and Lance. From conspiracy theories to French authorities mishandling urine specimens to flat out allegations of lying and cheating. To this date, no admissable evidence has ever been presented prompting Armstrong to snipe: "Was winning the Tour seven times that offensive?!?" This saga is long from over. His latest recent run might get him officially suspended from Tour de France competitions.

New York sportswriters and sports radio hosts make the list for panicking after the Yankees opening day defeat. They made it sound as though the season was lost on its' first day less. Less than 24 hours later NY press berated new stars CC Sabathia & Mark Teixeira as wasted free agent signings. It's amazing how quickly the Yankees were trashed after completing a terrific spring training season (24-10). Someone remind writers it's a 162 game season.

Tragedy
Los Angeles Angels starting rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart, 22, was living his dream. He's ranked as one of baseball's top 50 prospects. He pitched very effectively during spring training winning a job in the Angels injury riddled starting rotation. Wednesday night was his first start of the season and he pitched very well (6 innings 0 runs allowed). Family and friends were in attendance rooting him on. Tragedy struck only a few hours after the game. Adenhart was killed by a hit and run driver in Fullerton, California.

(www.allworldallsports.com)

Big NFL Names Finding New Teams

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by Digger

NFL teams made headlines this weekend. Big trades and big stars are heading to new teams. Not much of an economic slowdown just yet for owners as clubs have been busy addressing needs.

(NFL.com Free Agent Tracker)

One of the most sought after Free Agents, DT Albert Haynesworth, was signed by Washington for nearly $100M! NY Giants fans must be a bit disappointed as many hoped the games premier DT would land in the Meadowlands. After missing on the Haynesworth sweepstakes, NY got busy signing former Dallas DE Chris Canty, former Seattle DT Rocky Bernard & ex-Atlanta LB Mike Boley. Hopefully, NY will now focus on WR's to make the Giants one of the NFL's most potent teams.

Kansas City made the trade of the year. New Coach & new GM are quickly rebuilding this once proud franchise. KC managed to finagle two New England Patriot stars. QB Matt Cassel & LB Mike Vrabel for a 2nd round draft pick. Cassel's arrival is an instant upgrade for the Chiefs offense. It'll be interesting to see which way the front office goes next. KC needs depth at most positions and is in line to sign a few more key players before draft day.

Another busy team has been the Denver Broncos. BIG moves via free agency addressing team needs. RB's Correll Buckhalter (Philly) & JJ Arrington (Arizona) immediately solidifies Denver's backfield. Safety Brian Dawkins (Philly) & Indy DT Darrell Reid add some punch to their D.
The Houston Texans are really coming around. Their young team is quickly making great strides. They somewhat quietly signed defensive bookends Antonio Smith and Stanley McClover. Houston has emerged as a team on the rise.

Many big names are negotiating with current and potential new teams. Kurt Warner sits atop of the QB Free Agent class. Arizona should act quickly if they want to win another division title. There's plenty of depth left at most other positions. It'll be up to teams to decifer which players best fit plans and cap space.

My personal want list of where players should go is simple:
Jets - LB Ray Lewis, QB Kurt Warner.
Giants - WR's Laveranues Coles (NYJ), T.J. Houshmandzadeh (Cin), Lance Moore (NO). Perhaps an OL via draft or FA.

Players will be changing teams rather quickly in coming days. Salary cap restictions loom large in decision making processes for GM's league wide. A handful of teams sporting new coaches are certain to change drafting philosophies. This will be a great NFL off season as teams prepare for 2009.