The New York Giants have made a huge financial commitment to quarterback Eli Manning by offering him a six year, $97.5 million contract extension. Manning will earn just over $15 million a year, and $35 million of the contract is guaranteed. Should Manning play through the end of his contract hell be a Giant until 2015, meaning there’s a decent chance hell play his entire career with the team.

Manning will earn roughly $200,000 per season more than Oakland Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha who agreed to a 3 year, $45 million contract earlier this summer. Though the full term of his deal makes him the leagues highest paid player hell earn less this year than the Carolina Panthers Julius Peppers and the Cincinnati Bengals QB Carson Palmer, each of whom will pull down slightly more than $16 million.

While Manning has been tight lipped in the media about the deal, Giants GM Jerry Reese spoke in glowing terms of his teams $97.5 million investment:

“He is a franchise quarterback. He has done everything we asked him to do. He has come in, taken a lot of flak from you guys in the media and he just keeps going. He does what we ask him on the field and he does what we ask him to do off the field. He is a good football player.”  Read more...

Despite the early struggles of starting QB Kerry Collins, who threw two interceptions, the Tennessee Titans managed to prevail over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday by a 27-20 score. The victory ran Tennessee’s record to 2-0 in the NFL preseason, while the Bucs dropped their first exhibition contest. The Titans rallied behind the play of backup QB Vince Young, who threw for 131 yards and the game winning touchdown.

Titans coach Jeff Fisher wasn’t happy with his teams performance despite winning the game:

“We just really didn’t get in synch like we would’ve like to.”

Conversely, Tampa Bays new head coach Rahim Morris was fairly upbeat after his NFL coaching debut despite the loss:

“Not a bad start though, not a bad start.

Tennessee QB Collins post game comments didnt shed much light on the offenses struggles:

“We had too many turnovers, and that can’t happen. We know we have a lot to improve on.”

Young, meanwhile, related how he had taken the advice of the Titans offensive coordinator and used his legs to keep a play alive:  Read more...

The NFL couldn’t have scripted a better ending to the first nationally televised Monday Night Football contest of the preseason. New York Giants rookie Tommie Hill returned a fumble 18 yards for a touchdown with 0:00 on the clock to break a deadlocked game and give his team a 24-17 victory over the Carolina Panthers in NFL preseason action at The Meadowlands.

Carolina’s fourth string QB Hunter Cantwell was in a position where he just had to take a knee and run out the clock on first and 10 from his eighteen yard line. Instead, he tried to throw a pass only to have his arm hit forcing a fumble which Hill returned for the score.

Tommie Hill was in shock as he spoke about his game winning touchdown return:

“I’ve never seen a game end like that, not that way. I’m just a rookie trying to make the team. Anything like that that helps the team win in turn helps me. It was just a fortunate situation and I made the most of it.”

Hill, an undrafted rookie out of Colorado State had already become a favorite of Giants fans due to his tenacious, high impact playmaking. His touchdown”the first hes scored since high school”will only help his efforts to make the NFL roster.  Read more...

In a NFL preseason game characterized by rainy weather, sloppy field conditions and a quick exit for both teams starters, the Miami Dolphins outlasted their in-state rivals the Jacksonville Jaguars by a 12-9 score. Only one touchdown was scored in the game, which was a battle of field goal kickers until the third quarter.

Miami’s Ernest Wilford recently converted to tight end from wide receiver, and gave the football an emphatic spike after his game winning touchdown reception. Afterwards, he spoke to reporters about the game winning score:

“There’s a sense of urgency for me. I want to play well this year. It’s a good start. That was a lot of frustration right there. I didn’t play that much last year, so I had to let it out.”

Dolphins QB Henne, who is being groomed as the heir apparent to starter Chad Pennington, was pleased with his first effort of the NFL preseason:

“Overall I thought I played pretty well. I got some points on the board and had us moving.”

Jacksonville QB David Garrard gave a noncommittal assessment of his teams opening game performance:  Read more...

Sports gambling is a popular pursuit because everyone understands the basics of how teams win and lose and why. Horses, meanwhile, are an entirely different animal”no pun intended. It is a complex discipline unto itself, and a sound background in handicapping sports doesn’t insure success, or even mediocrity in handicapping the ponies. In fact, the history of sports betting is replete with successful gamblers that had a weakness for horse betting, with an emphasis on the word weakness. Most notable, perhaps, is the former resident handicapper at CBS, Jimmy The Greek Snyder. The story goes that The Greek was a first rate sports handicapper, but he couldn’t pick the winner of a one horse race when playing the ponies. The bad news for The Greek is that he enjoyed playing the ponies nonetheless, and often frittered away the money he won at the other end of the sportsbook.

The information below is the bare bones basics of what you need to know to enjoy a day at the horse track. If you’re interested in becoming a serious horse handicapper, you’re best advice to start with one of the countless books or DVDs that deal specifically with the discipline.  Read more...

Finding a sports gift isn’t as difficult as you think and hockey presents are also simple come by though they’re not the pedestrian typical presents that one is employed to buying however here are some tips about what one can buy for a dedicated hockey player.

Hockey players perpetually want team jackets plus shorts especially if they’re regular players like people who play ice hockey their shirts get ripped and soiled easily. You can go a step any and personalize the team jacket by adding the name and number.

Team caps that come in all totally different styles and sizes can be worn by each men and women and these are great to grant as hockey presents and are inexpensive. If this is for a guy you could conjointly get him a group of drinking glasses or a occasional jug and have his team name and logo inscribed on the item.

One will conjointly get them a hockey stick and have their name and range engraved on the stick which would build it rather special. Bean luggage go down well for guys and you’ll have the team brand and his name and range printed on or you could acquire a photograph of him and flip it into a caricature and then have it printed on.  Read more...

For the third straight year, football fans enjoyed a competitive Super Bowl game that has often left fans disappointed after sitting through many blowouts in recent years.

The Indianapolis Colts were the team that was picked to win the game, but the New Orleans Saints really gave folks a surprise when they beat them. Drew Brees , along with the rest of the offense, played an outstanding game, but that’s not to say that their defense didn’t play just as well, doing a great job taking on Peyton Manning, the Colt’s quarterback.

So, let’s discuss down some of the highlights of Super Bowl XLIV. Perhaps you didn’t get to see the game; if that is the case, then these are the things that you would want to know about.

He started off a little shaky, but once that passed, Drew Brees had an almost perfect game. He began it by only getting three completions from the first seven attempts, but then he went on to complete 29 out of the next 32 attempts. He finished the game with an impressive total of 32 completions out of 39 attempts with 288 yards, no turnovers and 2 touchdown passes.  Read more...

Sports are always a topic of debate, and baseball is no exception. If you are a fan, you will undoubtedly have been asked at sometime if you think that the best hitter you’ve ever seen is Albert Pujols.

So that we all know who I’m talking about, I’m not going to go to players from days gone by, only from the 1980 onwards.

Players from the past such as Mays and Williams were great in their day, but the game has changed so much since then comparisons can’t really be made. Conditions and even equipment are completely different in the modern game.

Would Albert Pujols have been so formidable in a different era? How would Ted Williams have played in today’s game? These questions are unanswerable, so let’s just look at what Pujols has going for him in the modern game.

As he is still only 29, he can stay at the level he is at, or even improve further, in the years to come. The key to his success is how consistent he is, week in, week out. Here are just a few stats that other players would die for. The .334 career average of Albert Pujols is outstanding.  Read more...

The 2010 tennis season looks like being a great one, if the recent Australian Open was anything to go by. Although classed as once of the more senior players on the tour, Roger Federer fired out a warning to all those waiting to take his crown by easily taking the title with style and grace.

There again, it’s still very early in the season, and way too early to write anyone off yet. Look at the surprises last year threw up, a prime example being Juan Martin Del Potro winning the US Open title by beating Federer in the final.

Melanie Oudin, the 18 year old American, had a terrific 2009 and could really break through this year. Reaching the semi final in the US Open was the highlight of last year, who’s to say she won’t do even better this year?

The peak of her 2009 season was beating some big names to battle her way through to the semi finals of the US Open. With years yet to mature and grow as a player, she could well be lifting many major trophies in the years to come.  Read more...

The plot in the world of basketball this season has been so twisted, so convoluted in terms of performances of some players as well as some of the news about particular players, it has made it an exciting game to follow.

I’m going to talk about the highlights of the 09-10 season. I will talk about both the good and the bad that we have seen so far.

There is just no predicting what’s coming up in seasons to come. Just last season two particular teams ranked at the bottom of the league but have proven themselves successful players over the past season.

The first of the two teams to mention is the Oklahoma City Thunder. No one imagined that they might become this successful in such a short space of time. The team can thank Kevin Durant for helping them to rise out so quickly from being one of the worst teams to being a successful team this season.

The second team that seemed to arise from nowhere is The Memphis Grizzlies. These guys are simply shocking, as unlike the Oklahoma City Thunder, people had no idea that this team would ever make it into the season.  Read more...