NFL - Are you Ready For Some Football?! Super Bowl Hunting

[Grandpa Troll]

Cause he's got the right attitude. And the vocal on "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" & "Paint It Black", etc. is just so iconic.

and he sang about what most white boys know for a fact

Brown Sugar how come you taste so good SLUR!!!!

[duke o' york]

Sloww cheers for the Cowboys, duke. We Americans don't randomly change affiliations just because our team fails to make the playoffs. (Except Imran, but he hardly counts )

Dangnammit, even a yookayer like me knew that - I'm not exactly new to this sport you know, but I wanted to know which team he was going for in the Superb Owl, which is the team I'd follow. The Cowboys are rubbish (get well soon Sloww ), but who's he going to support out of the Steelers and the Cardinals? I need to pick my team accordingly, after the Eagles dumped us out of this early on, but the contest can be as boring as the halftime show unless you have a team to root for.

[duke o' york]

For example, I'd support anyone who played the Mackems (look it up) in the FA Cup final, and as a Vikings fan, I'd support anyone who played the Bears. So who do you reckon Sloww might hate less out of the Steelers and Cardinals, because they'll be my team?

[snoopy369]

I doubt he cares much Why would you automatically root against a team because it's in the same division? And, more importantly, why would you be a Viking's fan?

[Imran Siddiqui]

He'd hate the Cardinals less. The Steelers and 'Boys were SB rivals in the '70s after all, and then revived in 1996.

[snoopy369]

If you want to pick a team based on Sloww, I'd guess the Cardinals, I guess. Underdogs and all.

[duke o' york]

I doubt he cares much Why would you automatically root against a team because it's in the same division? And, more importantly, why would you be a Viking's fan?

Well, as might have become obvious in this thread, or in any of my posts before this, I don't live in Minnesota, or the US at all, and I only chose the Vikings because they play in purple, which is my favourite colour. You may laugh at this foolish reason, but I've been to watch Fiorentina and (les Girondins de) Bordeaux at home in football (soccer) for exactly the same reason.

Coincidentally, my team (The Toon) currently have a purple away shirt, that I am wearing as I type this nonsense in your general direction. No doubt they'll change it at the end of the season, but you can't change where you come from, and no NFL teams wear black and white stripes. I've never visited the US (), so have no connection save the colour, and having listened to US forces radio since I was a kid, I've picked my team and that's that. Nothing can change it now, no matter how awful we get, and that goes for all sports.

(Incidentally, do any NBA teams play in purple? )

[Imran Siddiqui]

The Lakers.

Btw, do you also root for the Ravens for that reason too?

[notyoueither]

Go Steelers!

[duke o' york]

The Lakers.

Btw, do you also root for the Ravens for that reason too?

Do I heck! First come, first served. I hate the Ravens for stealing our colours.

[Grandpa Troll]

Smith, Woodson lead group of six into Pro Football Hall of Fame

Bruce Smith, the No. 1 overall pick in 1985, ended his career with 200 sacks.
John Biever/SI



TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Career sacks leader Bruce Smith, versatile defensive back Rod Woodson and four others made the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, while former commissioner Paul Tagliabue was denied entry for the third straight year.

Joining Smith, who led Buffalo to four straight Super Bowl appearances, and Woodson are longtime Bills owner Ralph Wilson; the late Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas; former Minnesota guard Randall McDaniel; and the late Bob Hayes, a standout wide receiver for Dallas and the 1964 Olympic 100 mes will be Aug. 8 in Canton, Ohio.

Tagliabue, who retired in 2006 after 17 years in the job, has met strong resistance in his three years of eligibility despite the profitability and labor peace the league enjoyed during his tenure.

No such problem for Smith and Woodson in their first year on the ballot.

A defensive end, Smith retired five years ago with 200 sacks and made two all-decade teams. Drafted No. 1 overall in 1985, Smith had the most seasons with double-digit sacks (13) and the most postseason sacks (141/2). He earned defensive player of the year honors in 1990 and 1996 with Buffalo and concluded his 19-season career with three seasons as a Redskin.

Smith previously said making the hall would be a bigger honor if two other Bills, Wilson and wide receiver Andre Reed, also got in the same year. He got half of his wish. The 90-year-old Wilson is the only owner the Bills have had since they were a charter member of the AFL in 1960.

"This is a special class. I am overjoyed," Smith said.

"Just thinking about my father and all the sacrifices he and my mother made when I was a child growing up to be a man," he added tearfully. "How he wanted me to have a life better than he had. I just wish he was here. He would be extremely proud of this day."

Woodson the 1993 defensive player of the year, also made the 1990s all-decade team. He led the NFL in interceptions in 1999 and 2002 with Baltimore, and in kickoff returns (27.3-yard average) in 1989 with Pittsburgh. He played cornerback and safety for the Steelers, 49ers, Ravens and Raiders in a 17-season career, winning the NFL championship with Baltimore in the 2001 game and making Super Bowls with Pittsburgh and Oakland.

Woodson is the career leader in interception returns for touchdowns with 12.

Thomas, who died nine years ago after an auto accident while still an active player, also was on the 1990s all-decade team and was the 1989 defensive rookie of the year. He is 11th in career sacks with 1261/2.

A rushing outside linebacker who also had responsibilities in pass coverage for Kansas City, Thomas set an NFL mark with seven sacks in one game against Seattle on Nov. 11, 1990, a year in which he paced the NFL with 20 sacks.

"Derrick Thomas was the cornerstone of the modern era of the Kansas City Chiefs and one of the most feared performers of his era," Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said. "Every head coach and offensive coordinator who faced the Chiefs during the 1990s knew when they came to Arrowhead Stadium they had to account for Derrick Thomas."

Wilson and the Titans' Bud Adams are the only original AFL members who still own their franchises. Their teams will meet in the Hall of Fame game the day after the inductions.

Wilson has steadfastly kept his team in a small market while other owners sought bigger markets and larger stadiums. He drew the biggest ovation at the announcement and mentioned that he'd seen every hall enshrinee perform at some point.

"What a shock," he said. "I have made so many friends in football over the last half century. I don't know what to say."

He quickly thought of something: "It's such an honor."

McDaniel was that rare guard who was as effective in pass protection as run blocking and could handle even the best defensive linemen singlehandedly. He missed only two games in his 14-season career and was yet another member of the 1990s All-Decade team.

Hayes, who died in 2002, was the most dangerous deep threat in pro football from 1965-75. Nicknamed "Bullet Bob," he twice he led the NFL in touchdown catches and in average yards per reception. He also was a brilliant kick returner.

The long wait for Hayes to get into the hall -- he was a senior committee choice -- had much to do with legal problems he had off the field.

His sister, Lucille Hester, read from a thank-you letter Hayes left in case he made the Hall of Fame. Then she added: "It didn't matter how long it took. ... The day is here, and it is historic."

Tagliabue's day still has not arrived; he didn't even make the cutdown from 17 finalists to 10. Among the criticisms of the former comissioner: his inability to put a team back in Los Angeles after the Rams and Raiders left in 1995.

The other senior committee finalist, defensive end Claude Humphrey of the Falcons and Eagles, wasn't elected

[Grandpa Troll]

Niners hire Raye as offensive coordinator

The first time Jimmy Raye was on the San Francisco 49ers' coaching staff, he didn't even really have a job title. He's coming back 32 years later to take on a title that nobody has kept very long in recent years.

Raye agreed to terms with the 49ers on Friday to become the club's seventh offensive coordinator in seven seasons.

The 62-year-old coaching veteran is a somewhat unlikely choice for the 49ers, who needed a full month to fill the vacancy created when coach Mike Singletary fired Mike Martz on Dec. 30 in his first major act after getting the permanent job running the club.

Singletary, who went 5-4 as an interim coach to finish the 49ers' sixth consecutive losing season, wanted a veteran coordinator who would build his game plans around a sustained running attack. He apparently found what he wanted in Raye, the eighth man to interview for the job last week.

"It certainly took longer than we would have liked it to, but sometimes good things come to those who wait," Singletary said. "The thing I didn't want to do was go ahead and make a knee-jerk decision and select someone before I thought we had our guy."

Singletary also hired former Baltimore Ravens assistant Mike Johnson as the 49ers' new quarterbacks coach.

During more than three decades of NFL coaching experience, Raye has been a coordinator with the Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay, New England, Kansas City, Washington and Oakland, where he also was the Raiders' assistant head coach in 2004-05 under Norv Turner. He spent the last three seasons as the New York Jets' running backs coach under Eric Mangini.

Raye fits Singletary's desire for a coordinator who emphasizes the running game. He was the Rams' coordinator in 1984 when Eric Dickerson rushed for a league-record 2,105 yards.

Despite their mutual decades of NFL experience, Singletary and Raye hadn't even met until the Jets' trip to San Francisco last month to face the 49ers. Raye admired San Francisco quarterback Shaun Hill's dissection of New York's defense that day, but never imagined he might be joining Singletary until they initially spoke on the phone several weeks ago.

"We had a shared vision of how you play the game and what we would like to see when the game is played," Raye said. "His passion for football is kind of contagious. That started the mutual understanding between the two of us."

Raye wasn't Singletary's first choice, however. Former St. Louis coach Scott Linehan turned down the position earlier this month, saying he wasn't ready to commit to his next coaching stop -- only to take the same job with the winless Detroit Lions a few days later.

San Francisco's offense finished last overall in the NFL in 2005 and 2007 under coach Mike Nolan, but Martz raised it to a level of respectability in 2008. The 49ers scored 339 points after managing just 219 in 2007, also racking up nearly 74 more offensive yards per game.

But the franchise that redefined offensive football in the 1980s under Bill Walsh has employed a new coordinator in every season since 2003, one year after the 49ers' last trip to the playoffs.

Raye will be at work in the Bay Area on Wednesday, breaking down game film of last season and formulating a plan. Most of his staff already is in place, including new running backs coach Tom Rathman and offensive line coach Chris Foerster.

Although Raye doesn't yet know much about the 49ers' personnel beyond running back Frank Gore, he'll be instrumental in choosing the quarterback. Hill isn't guaranteed to be the starter despite his solid play in the second half of the season, while former No. 1 overall draft pick Alex Smith won't return unless he reaches an agreement to drastically reduce his salary.

Raye might not know all the players, but he knows what Singletary wants him to do.

"The teams that I've been the leader of as a coordinator have been tough, physical football teams that run the ball and have a physicality about them," Raye said. "The overriding factor is that we want to be tough-minded physically and emotionally."

[snoopy369]

Well, as might have become obvious in this thread, or in any of my posts before this, I don't live in Minnesota, or the US at all, and I only chose the Vikings because they play in purple, which is my favourite colour. You may laugh at this foolish reason, but I've been to watch Fiorentina and (les Girondins de) Bordeaux at home in football (soccer) for exactly the same reason.

Coincidentally, my team (The Toon) currently have a purple away shirt, that I am wearing as I type this nonsense in your general direction. No doubt they'll change it at the end of the season, but you can't change where you come from, and no NFL teams wear black and white stripes. I've never visited the US (), so have no connection save the colour, and having listened to US forces radio since I was a kid, I've picked my team and that's that. Nothing can change it now, no matter how awful we get, and that goes for all sports.

(Incidentally, do any NBA teams play in purple? )

Well, you could always root for the referees At least that way you know you'll be rooting against Ben, which is usually a sign you're on the right side

[snoopy369]

Congrats to the Hall inducting Derrick Thomas... he deserved it, even if you disregard the tragic death. No better guy off the field, and few better on.

[Grandpa Troll]

Congrats to the Hall inducting Derrick Thomas... he deserved it, even if you disregard the tragic death. No better guy off the field, and few better on.

QFT

IIRC, he dies just after leaving KC or opted out of his contract, but what i remember was the owner(s) of the Chiefs, in respect for the job he had done, covered his widow.

Gramps