Sports Briefing | Football: Goodell: Some NFL Teams Could Be London Regulars

Commissioner Roger Goodell said Saturday the league is looking into whether such a scenario would "advance our cause here by growing the fan base quicker." He is talking to several teams about becoming regulars in the British capital, a development he thinks would be "very powerful and lead us to what we ultimately would like to do — have a franchise here in London."

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are making their second trip in three years to Wembley to play the Chicago Bears on Sunday. It is the fifth regular-season game held in London since 2007.

The league decided this month to keep playing in London through at least 2016, with an aim to play at least two games a year.

Goodell said multiple games in Britain could happen as early as next year, and he hopes more teams will agree to make regular trips.

"We want as many teams to come over. We want to see the more popular teams come over," Goodell said at a question-and-answer session with international fans. "Should we focus on just a couple of teams as consistently coming back here to build a fan base around those teams? The Bucs are coming back now for a second time in a five-year period of time. And the idea is, will that allow them to build a fan base quicker?"

Goodell praised the Glazer family, which owns both the Bucs and Premier League team Manchester United, for taking a leading role in promoting the game overseas. He said the Bucs are one of several teams the league has been in discussions with over more London visits.

"Obviously, the Glazer family has an interest over here with Man U," Goodell said. "And I think they want to see the Bucs become a global franchise. And I think that's a great thing for Tampa. I think it's a great thing for the NFL."

The league's ambitions haven't been dampened by a decrease in ticket sales this year. Sunday's game is the first of the five regular-season games at Wembley that is not expected to be a sellout. Organizers say an estimated 75,000 tickets have been sold, with the stadium's capacity about 82,000.

Goodell echoed organizers' claims that the lower sales were caused by the lockout, which meant tickets didn't go on sale until September — several months later than usual.

"We started late," Goodell said. "But we're thrilled with our ticket sales. We obviously love to sell as many as we have, and we're still selling."

He said the NFL has no plans to play in other European countries in the near future, looking to establish as big a presence as possible in Britain first.

"We want to bring our game to continental Europe. The issue is, we want to make a success out of it in the U.K.," he said. "We think this (London) has got all of the basics that we need to be successful. It's got an advanced fan base, a strong media market, a great stadium. We have a long history here. So all those things contribute, let's make it work. And if we can be successful here, then we can take that model, potentially, to continental Europe."

Goodell was joined by Jerome Bettis, the former Pittsburgh Steelers running back who is one of several NFL stars who have flown to London to promote the game. "The Bus" was given a warm reception by a knowledgeable group of about 100 fans, but said he's had to tweak his nickname this week to fit in.

"I'm a double-decker now," he said.

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The Fifth Down: Week 7 in Fantasy Football: Favorable and Unfavorable Matchups

The Sablich Brothers give their take on the 10 toughest start/sit choices of the week, according to FantasyPros.com, and allow readers to make their own picks.

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Seemingly Ordinary Football Game, Then a Player Dies

They were trying to discern which collision of the hundreds in a football game at Homer High School on Friday night might have caused Ridge Barden, a 16-year-old defensive tackle, to fall to the turf in the third quarter and die within a few hours. The coroner attributed Barden’s death to a subdural hematoma, or a brain bleed.

“There’s nothing here; there’s still nothing there; there’s nothing there; there’s nothing there — and now he’s laying on his stomach,” Jeff Charles, the head coach, said while watching the sequence frame by frame.

As those who play and coach football learn new ways to improve safety — through training, medical response and equipment — sometimes they are left to contemplate this: brains remain vulnerable, and even the most ordinary collisions on the field can kill.

Teenagers are especially susceptible to having multiple hits to the head result in brain bleeds and massive swelling, largely because the brain tissue has not yet fully developed. According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research, Barden was the 13th high school player to die from a brain injury sustained on a football field since 2005 and the third this year. Including college and youth football players, there have been 18 fatalities since 2005.

With heightened attention focused on brain injuries in football in recent years, Barden’s death delivered an unwelcome reminder that even the best-known practices sometimes fall short. As it happened, the Senate Commerce Committee, the latest group in Washington to explore the topic, held a hearing Wednesday to discuss concussions in sports and the controversial marketing of “anticoncussion” equipment.

Barden had no history of head trauma and showed no concussion symptoms, his coaches and father said. The Cortland County coroner’s office said the autopsy showed no evidence of a pre-existing problem.

Barden’s helmet, a Riddell Revolution, was purchased by the school two years ago directly from Riddell. It was reconditioned after last season and recertified for use in 2011 by Stadium System, a company based in Canaan, Conn., that reconditions helmets for hundreds of schools around the country.

Two certified athletic trainers and three student trainers from the nearby State University of New York at Cortland were on hand and treated Barden on the field, and emergency medical technicians arrived with an ambulance within minutes.

“You can have the perfect plan in place but if all of these things happen, it can still result in a catastrophic injury and death,” said Kevin Guskiewicz, the chairman of the department of exercise and sports science at the University of North Carolina and a leading researcher on sports concussions.

Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, director of the Michigan NeuroSport concussion program at the University of Michigan, was among the witnesses who testified at the Senate hearing Wednesday. “Those kind of injuries are very rare, they’re catastrophic, they will happen and there’s no real way of preventing them through equipment,” he said about Barden’s death in an interview after the hearing. “That’s going to happen any time there are impacts to the head of significant force.”

After reviewing the video, the coaching staff deduced that the critical blow was sustained on Barden’s second-to-last play, a routine collision with an opposing lineman at the line of scrimmage. But Barden appeared to be fine as he prepared for the next play.

At first, after collapsing, he was groggy but responsive and coherent, Mr. Charles said. Barden told his coach that he had sustained a helmet-to-helmet hit and that his head hurt. Barden rolled over on his back then sat up on his own, but his condition quickly deteriorated. He began moaning and closing his eyes. When asked to stand up, he tried but immediately collapsed.

The emergency technicians planned to take Barden to University Hospital in Syracuse, about 45 minutes away, but they rerouted when Barden went into cardiac arrest. While the crew performed CPR, the ambulance drove three minutes to Cortland Medical Center instead.

When Barden’s father and grandmother arrived from Phoenix, the doctor told them he was dying; only CPR was keeping him alive. At 10:18 p.m., less than two hours after the seemingly ordinary play at the 6-yard line, Barden was pronounced dead.

Dr. Guskiewicz said the only way Barden might have been saved from a subdural hematoma would have been if he had undergone immediate surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain. But a CT scan would have been needed to diagnose the problem, and, according to accounts, Barden’s condition deteriorated too quickly for him to have a CT scan.

Dr. Robert Cantu, a neurosurgeon at Boston University and a leading expert in sports-related head injuries, said that in cases similar to Barden’s, in which the person was conscious right after the hit before quickly deteriorating, he had discovered that the subdural hematoma was not the cause of death but rather massive brain swelling. And in many cases the condition began with a previous hit and a second impact was the lethal blow.

Dr. Cantu said he could not speak to the particulars of Barden’s case without examining the brain.

“All I can simply say is that when I see this precipitous deterioration, my ears immediately go up and I wonder about second-impact syndrome in association with subdural hematoma,” Dr. Cantu said, adding that an original blow can be sustained off the field. “But it’s the second impact that’s the lethal part.”

Students, coaches and administrators remembered Barden this week as a straight-A student who would walk a long way from his home to school for voluntary workouts in the summer. Friday night’s game was his first start with the varsity team.

The community was left wondering what could have been done differently. The coach, Mr. Charles, contemplated whether he could return to coaching football. His team’s last game of the season has been canceled.

“I will never bad-mouth the sport of football,” Mr. Charles said. “I played it and I loved it and I’ve coached for years, but it does make me take a second look at it.

“I’ve had a few people asking if I’d coach again, and you know what, I don’t know. Right now I think the irrational thing would be to say: ‘No, I don’t feel like coaching again. It scares me.’ But to be honest, I don’t know how it’s going to affect my coaching. It scares me right now that I don’t know if I will be a good coach.”

Barden’s father, Jody, said he had no objection to the sport in the wake of his son’s death.

“I just don’t want a negative spin on this,” Mr. Barden said Sunday. “There is no blame in this. I don’t want to scare kids from playing the game. Ridge loved playing the game, and I know he wouldn’t want it to get a bad name.”

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ON FOOTBALL: Focus on the Game, Not Handshake

That is the lasting image of Sunday's game, in which Harbaugh's 49ers went into Ford Field and edged Schwartz's previously undefeated Lions. Coaches' postgame meetings on the field rarely grab the spotlight — and certainly shouldn't. Not even this one.

It has because, as the traditional handshake goes, this was contentious and physical, though that hardly seemed Harbaugh's intent. And because those meetings always are shown by the TV cameras, when one of them isn't tame and imminently forgettable, it causes a frenzy.

In recent years, there were the Bill Belichick-Eric Mangini "Do I really have to do this?" deals, which, to his credit, Mangini turned into a running gag.

Or Todd Haley's snub of then-Broncos coach Josh McDaniels after Haley's Chiefs lost 49-29 in Denver last year. Haley apologized the next day and when they next faced off, KC winning 10-6, McDaniels got a postgame hug and a pat on the head from Haley.

Just as notable was Belichick's behavior following the 17-14 loss to the Giants in the 2008 Super Bowl. With the clock stopped and 1 second remaining, Belichick headed onto the field to meet New York coach Tom Coughlin even before Eli Manning could take a knee to officially end the game. Belichick looked like a bad sport, particularly because he once worked on the same staff with Coughlin, considered one of the classiest coaches in the league.

Schwartz was upset by Harbaugh's lack of protocol. The Lions coach also might have been peeved that earlier in the game, Harbaugh, a first-year NFL coach, didn't know a particular play couldn't be challenged; some thought Schwartz yelled out to the 49ers' sideline about learning the rules.

Harbaugh was involved in similar incidents at the college level, most notably in an exchange with Pete Carroll when Harbaugh was coaching Stanford and went for a 2-point conversion late in a rout of Carroll and Southern California.

Regardless, there is a procedure to follow, win or lose — although neither coach is being fined.

"Fortunately, there was no fighting and thus no basis for a fine," a league spokesman said. "However, both coaches told (NFL executive VP) Ray Anderson today that their post-game conduct was wrong and will not happen again. We believe their response is the correct one and that their postgame conduct going forward will be more appropriate."

Tony Dungy would like to see that happen.

"You go shake the other coach's hand, you congratulate them, show the sportsmanship. It is something expected," former Colts coach Tony Dungy told The Associated Press. "I remember in 1981, Chuck Noll and Sam Wyche didn't shake hands after a game and you would have thought the world came to an end. It has just become the thing you do. Walk across field no matter how the game ended up, whether you are personal friends or not, and you shake hands."

Dungy mentioned Sunday night on NBC's "Football Night in America" that he couldn't understand why Schwartz would chase Harbaugh toward the tunnel.

"What happened was very surprising to me and not the example you want to set," Dungy said. "I was in a security line today at the airport and a fan said he was glad we talked about it on the show, so he could teach his boys what is sportsmanship and the proper way to do things.

"It surely did take away from (the win). You do keep your poise and you do congratulate the other team."

Mangini and many other coaches on the pro and college levels believe the handshake is necessary — in great part for the reasons Dungy cites. The ceremony never is comfortable for the loser, but it's a whole lot less comfortable for, say, the team just beaten in the Stanley Cup playoffs that then lines up, player by player and coach by coach, for a long line of handshakes with the victorious opponent.

"I think there's a lot of truth to that, the elements of sportsmanship are why maintaining the handshake is important," said Mangini, now an analyst for ESPN. "We ask our kids to congratulate the other team and I think that is a good policy. It's easy to be disappointed with a loss and the ability to show sportsmanship is difficult; it's really easy to be gracious when you win, the talent is to be gracious when you incredibly disappointed."

Mangini sees another element to what happened at Ford Field. Coaches constantly preach to players about showing self-control and not to display their frustration, especially when it can lead to game-changing penalties. When something happens like the confrontation between Harbaugh and Schwartz, it makes it harder for coaches to insist on such discipline when they violate their own instructions.

Texas Longhorns coach Mack Brown isn't so sure the handshake is a tradition worth keeping.

"I don't think it should be a requirement for two (coaches) that don't have respect for each other or like each other," Brown said. "Players usually handle it much better than the coaches."

Indeed, players from both teams often form prayer circles following a game, and their greetings to each other seem more genuine.

Some 49ers not only had no problem with the postgame hubbub, they were inspired by it.

"It was something you don't see every game," 49ers left tackle Joe Staley said. "As for how that kind of went down, as a player I was pumped up about it. His whole demeanor kind of rubs off (on) the players. We get to see firsthand how competitive he is and how much emotion he shows."

So did the rest of the nation at the end of a signature win. It was not pretty on either side.

___

AP Sports Writers Janie McCauley in San Francisco, Teresa M. Walker in Nashville and Dave Skretta in Kansas City contributed to this story.

___

Barry Wilner can be reached at http://twitter.com/wilner88

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On Football: Giants Have Another Adventure in Sudden Reversals

First down on the 27, already in field-goal range, the Buffalo Bills seemed to have the Giants right where they wanted them, where they were the previous week, about to cough up a close game at home.

That’s when Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Harvard-educated quarterback, flunked the fundamental question on the deep sideline route. He underthrew his receiver, Stevie Johnson, leaving Corey Webster in prime position to turn around the game’s momentum, the disquieting mood at MetLife Stadium and maybe the Giants’ season — or at least the first half of it.

“I wanted to get inside of him,” Webster said of Johnson, whom he was chasing on the left sideline, just inside the 5, with four minutes and change left in a 24-24 game. “Hopefully you get your head turned around and go for the ball.”

Turn around and turnarounds. It was appropriate word play for a day on which the Giants’ defense began by surrendering 14 points on two plays that covered a combined 140 yards. When they remembered that defense does require tackling, the Giants reversed field and fortune in a 27-24 victory that sent them into their bye week at 4-2, thinking they had survived a brutal run of preseason injuries in pretty good shape.

“To have the bye and to be an optimist, if I might, maybe we will get some guys healthy,” said Coach Tom Coughlin, whose team was without defensive end Justin Tuck again and running back Brandon Jacobs, among others.

Coughlin hedged on the hopefulness because this is the N.F.L., where enduring parity has been achieved almost to the point of parody, where most games are as predictable as a gust and where Coach barely knows who will suit up week to week.

A week ago, against Seattle, Coughlin must have felt mighty optimistic when the Giants were driving for a potential game-winning touchdown, only to have Eli Manning’s short pass to Victor Cruz turn into a pinball and run back the other way more yards than Coughlin could bear.

Be it coincidence or karma, Webster’s fourth-quarter interception that started the Giants on a 76-yard drive resulting in a deciding 23-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes was made in the general vicinity of the previous week’s Manning-Cruz crusher.

On Sunday, Manning was mostly patient and pick-free while throwing for 292 yards. Fitzpatrick, one-time master of the Wonderlic, was perhaps left wanting to beat his own brains in for Webster’s interceptions. Especially the second one, unforgivable as it was given the circumstances. “I’ll take that matchup every time, and if I throw a good ball on that, Stevie scores and everybody is happy,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s easy to second-guess it now, but I thought it was a great call and I thought it was the right play.”

A debatable claim, to say the least. But that the Bills were even bidding for their fifth victory in six games was testimony to a crazy-quilt season that has already given us a stunning assortment of the ascendant (Lions, 49ers, Bills) and descendent (Eagles, Jets, Colts).

In a league whose current champion is the municipally owned property of Green Bay, in which Los Angeles doesn’t even rate a team, a season’s overriding success is seldom linked to size of market or sexiness of franchise. It’s the beastly nature of the game, the uncertainty of Sunday, which has turned the N.F.L. into the envy of all competing sports leagues, especially the one currently in collective bargaining limbo.

By themselves, the Giants have become a weekly soap opera. They were declared a disaster in the making after Week 1 at Washington, then a remake of “Little Giants” after they ran off three straight victories despite being patched together with sticks and glue, and a team on the brink of a nervous breakdown after the way they lost to Seattle last week.

“We talked about positive energy, because there was so much negative out there,” Coughlin said.

He was brimming with his own while praising Manning, Ahmad Bradshaw for his 104 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns, and the playmakers on defense who recovered from the unsightliness of Fred Jackson’s 80-yard touchdown run and Naaman Roosevelt’s 60-yard catch and run to the end zone about five minutes apart in the first quarter.

Especially Jason Pierre-Paul, who sacked Fitzpatrick for a 9-yard loss at the Giants’ 37 midway through the second quarter, pushing the Bills out of field-goal range. On the Bills’ next drive, he and Osi Umenyiora stuffed Jackson for no gain on third-and-1 at the Giants’ 31, forcing the Bills to settle for a field goal. In a 3-point victory, the play, though forgotten by the finish, loomed large.

“You never know what’s going to happen in this game,” Pierre-Paul said. “You give up a couple of big plays, but at the end of the day, you move on.”

You take the fourth-quarter gift from Fitzpatrick, drive the ball down the field and cringe when Manning forces a pass to Mario Manningham on third-and-5 from the Buffalo 5.

Cornerback Leodis McKelvin knocked it down, only a step from the unspeakable. “I tried to put it low and maybe squeeze it in,” Manning said. “It’s always a tough situation right there.”

Could have been worse, much worse, a turnaround to turn the stadium upside down. But this week, the football gods smiled on them. Parity rules.

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Big East Planning To Add Six To Make 12-Team Football League

A conference official said that the six new programs in the “12-team model that’s on the table” were Boise State, Air Force, Navy, Houston, Southern Methodist and Central Florida. The addition of Boise State is a key for the league to retain its automatic qualifying bid in the Bowl Championship Series, which appears to be the motive for both Boise State and the Big East to overcome the awkward geography.

“If this can get done, that’s a pretty good outcome for us,” a league official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official stressed that there was no planned order or definitive timetable for universities to be invited into the conference.

He did say that no invitations were expected to be extended Monday, when the Big East will have a conference call in which its members are expected to vote on increasing the league’s exit fee to $10 million from $5 million.

Conference members hope that the solidarity displayed from the increase in the exit fee, which the league official referred to as a “trigger” for expansion, will help make the Big East an attractive landing spot as the realignment of the nation’s leading conferences continues.

The Big East’s football plans picked up steam on the same day that the Mountain West and Conference USA announced they were forming a 22-team super league that will stretch from Hawaii to Huntington, W.Va. That merger is expected to have little or no impact on the Big East’s plans, although Boise State and Air Force are now in the Mountain West.

Under the Big East plans now being considered, Boise State, Air Force and Navy would enter the conference as football-only members. Houston, S.M.U. and Central Florida would be added in all sports. Although the potential addition of those programs would dilute the league’s strength in basketball, it would add the television markets and recruiting bases in Houston, Dallas and Orlando, Fla.

Big East officials met with Central Florida officials in Cincinnati on Friday, helping to solidify the seeming inevitability of the Knights’ entry into the conference. But the biggest change in the Big East’s plans comes in its courtship of Boise State, which league officials had considered the longest of long shots last weekend. A key piece in Boise State’s recruitment is assurances from the Western Athletic Conference that Boise’s nonfootball sports could land there.

The Big East would like Boise State to help in the eyes of the B.C.S., and Boise State is interested in playing in a league with an automatic qualifier in the B.C.S.

“Boise is picking up steam, just through conversations and mutual interest,” a league official said Friday night. “You go on a date with someone; they like you and you like them. People on both sides are warming up to the idea.”

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The Quad: Live College Football: Week Seven

Pete Thamel is the national college sports reporter for The Times, where his primary responsibilities are college football and basketball. He is in his sixth season with The Times, witnessing everything from the Bush Push at Notre Dame to Ian Johnson's sideline engagement at the Fiesta Bowl to Mario Chalmers's long 3-pointer to give Kansas the national championship. Before joining The Times, Thamel covered college sports for ESPN.com, ESPN The Magazine, The Syracuse Post-Standard and The Daily Orange. A native of Ware, Mass., Thamel graduated from Syracuse University in 1999.

Connor Ennis has been a staff editor in the sports department of The New York Times since November 2006. Before coming to the Times, he worked for The Associated Press, where he was a supervising editor on the national sports desk in New York. While with the AP, he covered the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, and the 2006 World Cup in Germany. A native of Dallas, Pa., he graduated from Syracuse University in 2000.

Ray Glier is a freelance reporter who, in addition to The New York Times, contributes to USA Today, AOL FanHouse, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Miami Herald and Unboundary, a strategy/communications firm based in Atlanta. Glier is a graduate of West Virginia University.

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Mountain West, Conference USA Plan Football Merger

The two leagues expect to merge their football operations into one mega-conference that will probably have between 20 and 24 teams in it when it finally gets going in 2013.

The name? They'll come up with one.

Will Boise State and Air Force, among others, stay? They hope.

"I'm just trying to create stability — greater stability — so we're not talking about membership issues," Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said Friday night on a conference call. Both commissioners, Thompson and Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky, said the new arrangement will provide the security that top programs need to keep them from jumping ship.

That's clearly the reason for the merger announced Friday, shortly after it came out that Boise State and Air Force — two key Mountain West programs — were being courted by the Big East.

Down to six teams of its own after Syracuse and Pittsburgh announced a pending departure to the ACC, the league generally viewed as the weakest of the automatic qualifiers for the Bowl Championship Series looks set to poach some of the top mid-majors.

A Big East official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the conference had not authorized anyone to speak publicly about its plans, told The Associated Press that the conference plans to invite Boise State, Air Force and Navy as football-only members, and Central Florida to compete in all sports.

"It's a viable option and it creates stability and that's what they're looking for," Thompson said. "I can't answer what Air Force will do or won't do, but we're going to put a very attractive opportunity on the table for the United States Air Force Academy."

Both Thompson and Banowsky said it's too soon to discuss how the sprawling league — which could stretch from West Virginia and Florida to Hawaii and Idaho — would handle scheduling.

They were able to emphasize, however, that they would honor their current TV contracts.

"I think definitely the intention is increased television revenue for all members," Thompson said. "We like the new approach because it's different. It's proactive."

___

AP College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo contributed.

___

Follow Rick Freeman at twitter.com/RWFreeman

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CFR College Football Power Rankings Week Five 2009

"Spend a few minutes reading College Football Resource" - Whit Watson, Sun Sports

"Maybe you should start your own blog" - Bruce Feldman, ESPN

"[An] Excellent resource for all things college football. It’s blog index is the definitive listing of the CFB blogosphere ... [A] must-read for fans." - Sports Illustrated (On Campus)

"The big daddy of them all, the nerve center of this twisted college football blogsphere" - The House Rock Built

"Unsurprisingly, College Football Resource has generated some discussion" -Dawg Sports

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Big East Looks at 12 Teams for Football

The schools' presidents and chancellors gave approval for the league to talk with outside schools. The Big East said in a statement that it's "considering moving to a model that includes 12 football playing schools."

The Big East has been ravaged in the ongoing conference shuffles, losing longtime members. The move on Monday is the Big East's first formal attempt to make up for its losses.

Syracuse and Pittsburgh started the recent exodus by deciding to leave for the Atlantic Coast Conference. The governor of Connecticut has said UConn also is interested in the ACC, and there has been speculation that Rutgers, too, could leave the Big East.

The league thought it had strengthened its football status by adding Texas Christian. But TCU reversed course and accepted an invitation to join the Big 12 on Monday. TCU will have to pay the Big East a $5 million fee to leave without ever playing a league game.

"Although never having competed as a member of the Big East Conference, we are disappointed with the news that TCU is joining the Big 12," Big East Commissioner John Marinatto said.

Marinatto noted that the school presidents approved expanding the conference earlier Monday in a teleconference.

"We anticipate taking action in the near future," he said.

Without TCU, the Big East would be down to six football schools: West Virginia, Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, Rutgers and Connecticut. The league also includes DePaul, Marquette, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova, Georgetown, Providence and Notre Dame for sports other than football.

East Carolina has applied for membership to the Big East. Conference USA members Central Florida and Memphis also have been looking to join a conference with an automatic bid in the Bowl Championship Series.

Former Notre Dame head coach Ara Parseghian said over the weekend that Notre Dame could be forced to join a conference for football if the move toward a few super conferences continues.

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First and 10: War is hell; football is a game

Published: October 3rd, 2011 | Tags:

There’s nothing like losing a bunch of football games in a row to make otherwise reasonable people lose all perspective. That appears to be the case for Minnesota Vikings receiver Bernard Berrian, who told off a wounded Iraq war vet who criticized Berrian on Twitter, and Pennsylvania Gov. (and notoriously vocal Eagles fan) Ed Rendell, who said the 1-3 Eagles need someone to inspire them like Todd Beamer inspired Flight 93's passengers on 9/11.

Here’s what else is on tap for Monday:

In Sunday’s most controversial play, Giants receiver Victor Cruz wasn’t touched when he went to the ground and let go of the ball, but the officials ruled him down. Were they right?Posted in: Around The Web   comments    

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First and 10: ‘A Football Life,’ Part 2

Published: September 22nd, 2011 | Tags: First and 10, Bill Belichick, Blaine Gabbert, Cam Newton, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Jacksonville Jaguars, Jerome Simpson, London Fletcher, Maurice Jones-Drew

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick has been called a genius at game-planning, but just watch him struggle to change the clock on his car’s dashboard. Plus Willie McGinest, Mike Mayock and Michael Lombardi share their favorite memories of Belichick when Part 2 of NFL Films’ highly anticipated documentary, “A Football Life” debuts Thursday night at 10 p.m. ET on NFL Network.

Here’s what else is on tap for Thursday:

Tune into NFL Network’s “Total Access” Thursday at 7 p.m. ET to hear from Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew — whose team starts rookie Blaine Gabbert against Cam Newton and the Panthers Sunday — and Washington linebacker London Fletcher, whose Redskins travel to Dallas to take on the Cowboys Monday night.Twenty-six years after they stormed through the NFL on their way to 15-1 record, a dominating Super Bowl XX victory and an atrocious music video, the 1985 Chicago Bears have finally been invited to the White House.Police said a package containing 2 1/2 pounds of marijuana was delivered from Eureka, Calif., to the suburban Kentucky home of Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Jerome Simpson on Tuesday, where authorities say they found six more pounds of marijuana inside.In this week’s Start ‘Em & Sit ‘Em, NFL.com fantasy editor Michael Fabiano explains why Ahmad Bradshaw should put up big totals against the Eagles — and why fantasy owners should beware of some big stars in Big D Monday night.Posted in: Around The Web   comments    

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Official UA GRIPSKIN 495 Composite Football Inflatables by Under Armour

UA GRIPSKIN Technology delivers 107% more grip than traditional laces thanks to its proprietary GRABTACK Lace. Premium composite leather cover for enhanced performance and durability. 2-Layer foam-backed construction delivers the ultimate hand feel with superior grip. Available in Official size.

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Weddingstar Playful Football Wedding Couple Figurine

If you and your beloved are Football fans, you ll love this cake topper. Beautifully styled with exquisite detailing, this playful couple is destined to score a "touch down" on your big day. Hand painted porcelain. Cake Topper measures 5.5 inches high with a base of 2.75 inches. Topper weights 5.6 ounces.

Price: $39.98

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Art of Appreciation Gift Baskets Football Fanatic Snacks and Treats Gift Basket

Calling all football fanatics, tailgaters, and armchair warriors!! This GREAT gift for the sports lover in your life features a keepsake wicker football basket with "Tailgate & Celebrate" football shaped pasta, we include 2 jumbo sized football cookies - perfectly hand frosted and tasty, dipping pretzel twists, 2 packages savory slices salami, stone ground mustard, crunchy snack mix, strawberry bonbon candy and 3 fine Ghirardelli chocolate squares. Each gift is carefully hand crafted with attention to detail and includes a personalized gift message from you to convey your best wishes. Manufactured by Art of Appreciation Gift Baskets.


Do we ship chocolates in warm weather? We want your recipient to receive a lovely gift arrangement, not a melted lump of chocolate! Delicate chocolates and truffles susceptible to heat damage will be substituted with a high quality candy item to preserve the quality of your gift while in transit.


When will my gift ship?... When will my gift be delivered? Please review the "Shipping Rates and Policies" link provided below for IMPORTANT INFORMATION regarding the shipping and delivery time for your purchase.

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Backyard Football '08

With Tom Brady and Other NFL Pros As KidsProduct InformationNFL Backyard Football '08 includes all the hard hitting action of a realisticsimulation and wacky arcade game in one!  Authentic NFL Action! Real Pros Plays and Strategies! Now in its 6th seasonBackyard Football is a very popular kids’ football game. Combine realistic 7on 7 action with wild arcade style power moves and check out the new gameplaygraphics and environments. Play all 32 NFL teams 10 wacky Backyard teams orcreate your own. Backyard Football comes loaded with top NFL Superstars askids--Tom Brady Peyton Manning LaDainian Tomlinson Brian Urlacher ReggieBush Michael Strahan Shaun Alexander Frank Gore and more. Play one game or awhole season. Tons of unlockable players fields and goodies.Product Features 15 Top NFL pros 22 Backyard kids Official NFL and Players Inc. Licenses all pro teams uniforms and logos Top NFL pros as kids including Brady Tomlinson Urlacher Bush etc. Season play with complete team stats and standings Realistic gameplay and strategies with whacky animations Customizable teams players and uniforms Multiple levels – Easy for young rookies; mega challenging for seasoned veterans. Unlockables power ups and surprises Multi-player and practice modes 10 Backyard teams with an extensive line up of Backyard Kids Windows Requirements Windows Me 2000 XP Pentium III 733 MHz or higher processor 128 MB RAM or higher 600 MB free Hard Disk space 8X Speed or faster CD-ROM drive 32 MB SVGA Video Card (Windows Me/2000/XP compatible) Windows Me/2000/XP compatible Sound Card compatible with DirectX version 9.0c or higher DirectX version 9.0c (included) or higher 

Price: $19.99

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Nike Men's NIKE ZOOM MERCILESS D FOOTBALL CLEATS

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Price: $100.00

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Nike Men's NIKE ZOOM FLYPOSITE TD FOOTBALL CLEATS

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PITTSBURGH STEELERS - Football Superbowl - Vinyl Car Decal Sticker #1817 | Vinyl Color: Pink

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Football For Dummies®

At last, the Dummies series is tackling football. Former Raider all-pro defensive end and current Fox TV analyst Howie Long calls the signals, and if he doesn't always go deep--he's got a lot of ground to cover--at least he connects. With all its X's and O's, football is a complicated sport, and Long works hard to smooth the way: "Once you break through that initial fear of being overwhelmed by football and what you don't understand," he counsels, "I know everything else about the game, like dominoes, will fall into place." In his role as guide, Long plays those dominoes, from peewees to the pros to the fantasy leagues, explaining positions, analyzing offenses and defenses, and detailing strategies. As with all Dummies guides, the fun part is the "Part of Tens," the series of top-10 lists that dig in for the final chapter. He scores big with his inclusions of John Hannah and Hugh McElhenny among the greatest offensive players ever, but should be penalized for overemphasizing tight ends and forgetting the electricity that wide receivers bring to the game. This, of course, reflects a defensive end's natural bias; since they muck it up more with the hulkier tight ends, they simply let the speedballs fly by. --Jeff Silverman

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