Detroit Lions

February 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment

The Detroit Lions are one of the oldest pro football teams in the National Football League. They were originally based in Ohio in Portsmouth and were called the Portsmouth Spartans. They were started as an independent pro football team in 1929 and were one of many of the same type of team in the Scioto River and Ohio valleys. Formally in the 1930 season, the Spartans joined the NFL while all the other teams around them folded because of the Great Depression. Even though they were successfully somewhat with a financial nature because of the NFL, they could not survive in the NFL’s smallest city of Portsmouth and had to move to Detroit where they were purchased for the season of 1934.

The Lions have most assuredly been one of the NFL teams with the longest winning drought. Even though they have won four NFL championships, the last one was 51 years ago in 1957. The only other team to have a longer losing record is the Arizona Cardinals. They last won an NFL championship in 1947 when they were the Chicago Cardinals.

The Detroit Lions have not qualified for a Super Bowl as of yet. And they have qualified for the playoffs for a total of only nine times since they won the 1957 championship. Out of those total nine times they have won only one playoff game in that whole span of games. Even though they are not a winning team now, they have not always been that way.

The Lions started out at the Portsmouth Spartans and were an immediate hit with their home crowd by twice defeating one of the big teams of the day, the Ironton Tanks. With a successful first season, they then were granted membership into the NFL for the 1930 season.  They had some really great games in the early days, one game which was the “iron man” game against the Packers in 1932.  The Spartans won 19-0 and had used on 11 players the whole game. If a coach did that now, who knows what would happen.

Also in 1932, the Chicago Bears played an unscheduled NFL championship game against the Spartans on an indoor 80-yard field which the Bears won 9-0. This game has been called the first arena football game by many. The upcoming interest in this type of play led to the Eastern and Western conferences being established and the start of a regular championship game being played every year.

In the 1930s the Great Depression was a threat to the Spartans just as it was to every other pro football team of that era and a decision to move the team to Detroit was the answer to their economic survival. Detroit radio executive George Richards led the way to buy and move the Spartans to Detroit in 1934. He then decided to rename the team the Lions as a tribute to the Detroit Tigers. He had big hopes for the team and was known to say that the Lion was the monarch of the jungle and he intended for the Detroit Lions to be the king of the NFL.

Due to the influence of George Richards, the Lions played on Thanksgiving Day in their number one season in Detroit and that has been the tradition ever since. The Detroit Lions always play one of the Thanksgiving Day games. Their rival team may change from year to year but the one constant that Americans can count on is that Detroit will be playing on Turkey Day.

Alabama Tailgating

February 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Much has been written about the joyousness of tailgating across our country at collegiate and professional sporting events across the country.  Very Much of the coverage direction on the most popular tailgating positioning and the traditions associated with them.  The party ambience is oft a discussed topic as well as the fun and tasty food and drinkable.  While all of these components are keys to tailgating, they pale in comparison to how fans creatively display their school flavour.  Whatever color is mainly featured by a college or professional squad, you can be assured that color will blanket the landscape on game day. 

Tailgating at the University of Alabama is crimson-clad festival featuring many fans sporting their favorite Crimson Tide merchandise and Alabama apparel.  With Bama’s strong winning custom, spirits are ordinarily high among the Crimson Tide congregation as fans reminisce about the university’s historied yesteryear while eagerly anticipating the future.

            Nuzzle throughout many University of Alabama landmarks, the Bama congregation display their pride with the use of a apace maturation salmagundi of Crimson Tide Tents , Bama tailgating chairs, University of Alabama flags, tables and many additional items to furnish the creature comforts of place.

            While fans have been expose school smell for generations, these products have developed from the days of person adding their own Crimson Tide flair to bazillions of merchandise offered by a long stream of manufacturers.  University of Alabama merchandise travel through a stringent licensing process before it’s ever made available to the general public.  And before these wares are sanctioned for production, gross revenue and distribution, each wares is tasked with matching to a tee, the perfect tense school color and logo specifications.

Bama logo product is expose in many other word form as citizenry tailgate on game day.  As fans serve up refreshments, a smorgasbord of nutrient and boozing are served in Bama friendly wares such as Bama Chip-N-Dip bowls, Crimson Tide travelling mugs, Alabama Barbeque grills and Crimson Tide tailgate tables.

Crimson Tide fan smell is also expose in many automotive forms as well.  Ornament your machine for the tailgating game day experience is a must.  School protagonist often adorn their machine, trucks and SUV’s with University of Alabama car tags, Bama car flags and Crimson Tide license plate frames.  And fans most affiliated to their favorite squad are also likely to affix University of Alabama machine magnets and Crimson Tide hitch covers.

Another schools smell element of the tailgating game day experience is how fans display their team pridefulness with the many assorted word form of University of Alabama apparel .  Whether he’s an executive, college student or common manual laborer, almost men sport their favorite Crimson Tide Cap, and either an Alabama polo shirt or Bama t-shirt.  Not to be outgo, the Alabama ladies show their school pride by fashioning Alabama purses, Crimson Tide purses, University of Alabama jewelry, Bama ladies polo shirts, University of Alabama t-shirts and many additional Alabama fashions.  The ladies are also the ones who recall to convey the Bama fleece blankets, Crimson Tide umbrellas and University of Alabama raincoats for those inclement weather days.

If you think the men and ladies are creative in expose their school spirit, just wait till you see the nipper they b##ST_ring with them to the games.  As if they were born in a crimson outfit, kids are featured in Alabama frill jumpers, Crimson Tide cheerleading outfits , Bama junior football uniform kits, University of Alabama jerseys and more.

Not to be outgo, industry are constantly development new wares for fans to spend their money on.  Just when you think you’ve seen everything, new styles of Crimson Tide Sunglasses, Alabama shirts and other Bama items are making their first appearances.  There’s always leaving to be a brand new item that features a Bama logo.  The laws of merchandising demand it.

The desire for fans to be associated with their school’s achiever extends far beyond the tailgating domain.  Postgame activeness often find fans seeking participant after the games desire to get a signed Alabama helmet or possibly even an inscribe Crimson Tide jersey.

Merchandising can often gain momentum after the game as well.  If Alabama crank up a key win over a big opponent, expect to find Crimson Tide mark shirts and University of Alabama artwork featuring Bama prints and Alabama bill.  This is particularly true if the Bama victory is over the direful Auburn Tigers.

Some fans of a particular hobby or other culture form may find it difficult to find ways to display their commitment or affections for that cause.  However as we’ve pointed out with our detailed Bama merchandise overview, the flow of Crimson Tide merchandise is not in short provision.  Although more or less may think that the overly abundant sum of  Crimson Tide logo product has arrive at epidemic proportions, more is sure to come as Bama pyrexia proceed to spread.

 

 

 

 

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been around since 1933. They are the most championed franchise and the oldest franchise in the AFC. A professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, they are a member of the North division of the American Football Conference. They have been in 6 Super Bowls and are one of only three teams to have won the Super Bowl five times. They have also been in 13 conference Championship Games and have been host to more conference championship games than any other team in the NFL. The Steelers are the first team to win four Super Bowl titles in only six seasons. This happened in the years 1974 to 1979. No other teams have yet to best this feat. In 2005, they pulled off the almost impossible. They were the sixth-seeded team and they advanced to a conference championship game that they went on to win. They then proceeded to win a Super Bowl victory on the 6th of February, 2006.

There have been seventeen Steelers coaches and players inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. They are the fifth-oldest franchise of the NFL. They started out as the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1933 by owner Art Rooney. They have been a member of the Rooney family since their inception and this has been attributed to the Rooney’s family members as being exceptional with the handling and understanding of what it takes to be pro football team owners. The ownership reins have been handed from son to son for generations and hopefully that will continue to happen. The team also enjoys an almost overly-rabid national wide fan base that no other team (other than maybe the Dallas Cowboys) can lay claim to.

Heinz Field is where the team plays their home games and the place is over-packed on game days. They say that someone has to become deceased in order for season tickets to become available. Also rumor has it that season tickets have been passed down from generation to generation and even fought over in court as to who will actually be inheriting the much sought after football season pass.

Their home stadium was built in 2001 and replaced the famous Three Rivers Stadium which was home to the Steelers for 31 years. Before the Three Rivers Stadium, the Steelers played their home field advantage games in Pitt stadium and Forbes Field.

The first game for the Steelers took place in 1933 when they were called the Pittsburgh Pirates. They lost to the New York Giants 23-2 and through the 1930’s the Pirates never finished higher than a second place in the division they were in. They signed the biggest NFL contract in history to date in 1938 when they signed future U.S. Supreme Court justice Byron White.

During the Second World War, the Steelers were a lot like the other NFL teams and suffered a shortage of players. They had to twice merge with other teams to make up a complete roster in order to play a game.
In 1947 the Steelers made history for the first time by tying for first with the Philadelphia Eagles in their division with an 8-4 record. The tie forced a playoff game at Forbes field and the Steelers lost 21-0.  The Steelers would not see another play-off game for 25 years.

Their bad-luck losing streak broke in 1969 when they hired Chuck Noll. He had some pick draft selections over the next few years that drastically changed the Steelers role of luck. The most notable of these players were Hall of famers “Mean” Joe Greene, Terry Bradshaw, Mel Blount, Jack Ham in 1971, and Franco Harris in 1972. But the big draft year was in 1974 when he got the selection of 4 future hall of famers with Mike Webster, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, and Jack Lambert. 

Yes, the Steelers are quite the team and will likely be that way for the foreseeable future.

Cullen Jenkins will likely miss the rest of the season because he was injured at Tampa Bay. It would have probably have helped the Packers beat Tampa Bay if he had played the whole game. Brian Levy, Jenkins’ agent, told many news agencies that Jenkins’ torn a pectoral muscle. That muscle will require surgery. Since he is getting the surgery, the he won’t be able to play this season. Jenkins was injured as he grabbed Brian Griese, Buccaneers quarterback, when he attempted to sack him during the fourth quarter. He got away from Jenkins and completed the pass. Tampa Bay Buccaneers merchandise is expected to sell regardless of the fact that one of their players was hurt. Jenkins, the Green Bay Packers defensive end, couldn’t lift his right arm above his shoulder. “He’s going to need surgery, so he’s going to have to go on injured reserve,” Levy told the Green Bay Press-Gazette. “The timing couldn’t be worse. It’s a big blow, but he’ll come back from this stronger.” The Packers franchise didn’t comment about Jenkins. No one knows when an announcement will be made. Ted Thompson, the Packers general manager, was unavailable because he was out scouting. Jenkins was the leader of the Green Bay Packers’ defensive line. This season, he had 2½ sacks, 10 quarterback pressures, a forced fumble and 18 tackles.

Recently LeBron James paired up with Nickelodeon. He did it to get people to realize how endangered our environment is in.

LeBron also was trying to get kids to understand the reasons why they should exercise. LeBron, the biggest reason why Cleveland Cavaliers merchandise is selling so good, should know all about that because he is in great shape.
“We’re trying to get kids out of the house,” LeBron said in mid-July, “Get outside, ride bikes, play hoops. And in this, we’re trying to save water and do other things that can help the environment. It doesn’t take much to recycle a can or turn the faucet off.”
Even though LeBron is grown, he still knows what it is like to be a kid. He loves Sponge Bob. He has two sons that are really young. He understands how important it is for kids to get up and exercise.
Lately LeBron has voiced his opinion about politics. He told the world that he wanted Barack Obama to be president
 ”It was an unbelievable experience,” said James, “It was mind-boggling.”
LeBron said that he didn’t have plans to campaign for Barack. He wants to keep sports and politics separate. He does plan on keeping up with the latest political news.

The Timberwolves gave a good offer to Ryan Gomes, Chris Richard, and Craig Smith. Sebastian Telfair and Kirk Snyder will become free agents after the deadline. The Timberwolves can still sign any of them to a deal after the deadline. If another team makes an offer to either player, then they don’t have to stay in Minnesota if they don’t want to.

Now that the Wolves have made qualifying offers to Gomes, Richard and Smith, Minnesota can match any offer received by Gomes, Richard, and Smith because they offered them money and a reason to stay.

The NBA collective bargaining agreement states that any offer made must be given on or before the deadline. If the team doesn’t give an offer before that date, then the team doesn’t have the same power regarding restricted free agents.

The Timberwolves have a week to match other team’s offers. Teams can negotiate with free agents after the deadline but no contracts can be signed until a week later.

The Timberwolves merchandise has been among the lowest selling in the past years so they need to find a way to shake things up so they can become a serious contender for a championship. Since this deadline has not passed yet, then it’s hard to say if they want to win it all or not.

 

Houston Texans

February 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Does anyone remember when the Houston Texans used to be called something else? Probably not, as most will tell you that the Houston Texans are nothing like the former football team that used to be the darling sports team of Houston. Yes, I will mention them here just for ol’ time sake. They were the Houston Oilers and not only were they a good team, they had a pretty good dance line too – called the Derrick Dolls (isn’t that name fitting?)
 Anyway, getting back to here and now, the fact that Houston has another great football team is absolutely wonderful in my opinion.
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the US and has had a professional football team since 1959 (just one year before Dallas got their Cowboys). In 1997 the owner of the Houston Oilers got the go-ahead to move his team to Tennessee and all of a sudden, the rabid football fans in one of the largest cities in Texas found themselves with no home pro football team to root for. As a matter of fact, Bud Adams had to pay a lot of money for the privilege of moving out of state. But that did not deter him in the least and Houstonians had to face the fact that they might be in for a long dry spell without a pro football game at home to attend.
  
As fate would have it however, Houston fans were is for a big surprise. Bob McNair was in the mood to bring a pro hockey team to town n 1997 and that didn’t work out. So being the brilliant man that he is credited for, he set his sights on bringing another pro football team to town. By using strong local community support from the citizens of Houston, coupled with the partial promise of a new domed stadium to house the team’s games, Houston was in the running for a new football team to replace the sorely missed Houston Oilers.

However, In 1998 Cleveland received their expansion franchise and then the next franchise would be awarded to Los Angeles (or so it seemed). LA couldn’t get their act together so the NFL owners turned to Houston and decided to give that city a serious look.  So the league’s expansion committee told McNair and the other Houston official to attend the October 6, 1999 NFL Owner’s meeting in Atlanta. And on the morning of that same day, the NFL owners voted 29-0 to award the 32nd franchise and also the 2004 Super Bowl to Houston. WOW, is all anyone can really say to that. Houston really wanted a team back at home.

After that, things started to move fast for the future team. They didn’t have a name yet but that did not really matter to the fanatical fans of Houston. All they cared about was that they had been starved for a home team now for a number of years and were ready to have one once again. By 2000, things were really on a roll with the new Reliant stadium groundbreaking occurring. The state-of-the-art facility would have 69,500 seats and would become the NFL’s first stadium with a retractable roof. Quite a feat in anyone’s stretch of the imagination.

Also in 2000, the worst kept secret in Houston history became reality and the team was named the Houston Texans. The next year saw Dom Capers announced as the club’s first head coach and his first task was to fill out the rest of his staff. Play began in the 2002 season.  The Texans first game saw them up against the Dallas Cowboys at their own Reliant Stadium. History was made as the Houston Texans were just the second expansion team to ever win their first game. They beat their intrastate rivals 19-10 and even though they lost their next five games, the Texans had won the hearts and minds of their home town.

Green Bay Packers

February 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment

The Green Bay Packers probably have one of the most, if not the most, colorful and most interesting backgrounds in the history of professional football. They are located in Green Bay, Wisconsin and are in the NFC of the NFL. They are the third oldest franchise team in the NFL.  They started out as a small town team of the kind that was commonly found in the 1920s and 1930s. They were founded by two former high-school football rivals Earl “Curly” Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun. They came up with name for the Green Bay Packers because the team’s first uniforms were paid for by Lambeau’s employer the Indian Packing company. Today the team is the oldest team in the NFL to still have its original name.

August 1920 was the year for the Packers to become a franchise is the then new pro football league. Even though there were money problems and the franchise was lost that year, Lambeau did not give up and he found new backers for the team. These new backers were called the “Hungry Five” and they became the Green Bay Football Corporation.

The Packers illustrious history includes twelve league championships. This is a record for being the most championships than any other team in the NFL. To their name they have nine NFL championships prior to the Super Bowl becoming into existence and three Super Bowl victories. Their Bowl wins were in 1967, 1968 and 1987.  There is an intense rivalry with the Chicago Bears with whom they have played in over 170 games. They also have a rivalry with the Minnesota Vikings and the Dallas Cowboys.  The Cowboys have historically been the Packers playoff rivals, especially after the Packers beat Dallas in the famous Ice Bowl in 1967.

Green Bay is the only non-profit, community-owned Major league professional team of any sort in the USA. They can sport of a history of a 13 year non-losing streak that began in 1992. They have had 2 Super Bowl appearances during that streak with one win at Super Bowl XXXI. The Packers losing streak came to an end in 2005 and in 2006 they had a marginal season with an 8-8 record. In 2007 they ended up with a 13-3 season with Coach Mike McCarthy at their head.

In the 1960s the Packers won five league championships under Coach Vince Lombardi. This occurred over a seven-year span that led to winning the first two Super Bowls. Bart Starr is one of their most notable players, along with Jim Taylor, Paul Hornung, Carroll Dale, and Jerry Kramer.  The 1967 season was the last one for Vince Lombardi as the Packers’ head coach.  The end of that season saw one of the most famous, if not the most famous, of all NFL Championship games. It is still known as the Ice Bowl now, 41 years later. And people still talk about it. With only sixteen seconds left in the game, Bart Starr ended the game with the Dallas Cowboys with a quarterback sneak touchdown that brought the Packers their third straight NFL Championship. This is a feat that has been matched to this day by no other NFL team.  They beat the Cowboys 21-17 and made their place in history.  The death of Lombardi in 1970 led to the naming of the Super Bowl trophy as the Vince Lombardi Trophy in recognition of the great accomplishments of Vince and his beloved team, The Packers.

One of the best moves that the Packers have ever done is to get quarterback Brett Favre from the Atlanta Falcons for the first round draft pick in 1992. The Packers then had a quarterback that never missed a game start until he left the team for the New York Jets in 2007. Will the Packers miss their beloved Favre? Only time will tell. But my bet is that the Jets will now have a comeback with Favre at their head the likes of which professional football has never seen. It will be fun to watch.

Gilbert Arenas just opted out of his contract. Now he will remain a Wizard. When free agency is over at the end of the month, he will have a chance to show that he wasn’t just talking talk.
Ernie Grunfeld wants to offer Arenas a good deal—one that he can’t refuse. He wants to offer him a deal for up to six years and be worth just over a hundred million dollars. Arenas said he was looking for more money.
It is still unclear as to whether Grunfeld will give him the maximum which is over $124 million.
He could jump on the deal that the Wizards have for him. He could wait until after the deadline to sign a deal.
He has to get a deal done tomorrow or else it won’t happen because he will be out of the country for a couple of weeks.
The team appears to have the cash to dish out to him, despite the fact that his knee has been giving him problems in the past. Either way it goes, Washington Wizards merchandise will be selling in the nation’s capital and elsewhere mainly because of him.

 

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