Written by EricB | 26 August 2010

The NFL regular season is right around the corner, but instead of waiting to see what will happen, let’s look into my crystal ball and predict the future:

AFC Playoffs:

Division Winners: New York Jets, Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts, San Diego Chargers

Wild Card Teams: New England Patriots, Houston Texans

AFC Championship: Baltimore Ravens vs. Indianapolis Colts

AFC Champion: Baltimore Ravens

The Houston Texans will make it to the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. The potent passing attack of Matt Schaub, Andre Johnson and Owen Daniels will give opposing defenses fits. However, their lack of a running game will shut them down in outdoor playoff games.

As long as the New England Patriots have quarterback Tom Brady, you can never count them out. Even in a division with the Jets and Miami Dolphins, the Patriots experience will win out. Also, wide receiver Randy Moss is in the last year of his contract so he needs to prove he can still play. Their inexperienced defense will be their downfall come playoff time.

The San Diego Chargers are almost a lock to win the AFC West. They should cruise to 11 wins this year. The future of wide receiver Vincent Jackson will have a significant impact on the team. The loss of Luis Castillo at nose tackle will give opponents the ability to run against them.

Much the same as Tom Brady always gives New England a chance, so does quarterback Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts have won 12 games or...

Written by Eric | 20 August 2010

 

Every year, there are certain players who go from no-names to superstars. Last season, players like Miles Austin, Sidney Rice and Ray Rice burst onto the scene with Pro Bowl seasons. Here are five offensive players likely to step into the spotlight this year.

Matt Moore – QB – Carolina Panthers

You have to feel a little bad for Matt Moore. After sitting on the bench for most of his career behind Jake Delhomme, Moore finally got a chance to play in 2009 when Delhomme was unproductive. All Moore did was throw for over 1,000 yards with 8 touchdowns and only two interceptions to lead the Panthers to a winning record in games he started.

Just when you thought Moore had won the job, the Panthers selected two quarterbacks in the 2010 draft, including highly touted recruit Jimmy Clausen. The job is still Moore’s though and he should be able to hold on to it for the near future. He has one of the best running back duos in the league to support him in DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. Wide receiver Steve Smith is getting up there in age, but is still good enough to be a number one threat on the outside. Dwayne Jarrett has slimmed down and will play on the other side. Tight end Dante Rosario is an underrated player and should be a good safety valve for Moore. Moore should solidify himself as an NFL starting quarterback in 2010, whether it will be for Carolina or someone else.

Jamaal Charles – RB – Kansas City Chiefs

The one person on this list that a lot...

Written by EricB | 12 August 2010

Arizona Cardinals

It’s hard for a team to lose four of its best players and not take a step back. The Arizona Cardinals will try to overcome the losses of its offensive and defensive leaders and continue with a win now attitude. Head coach Ken Whisenhunt thinks his team is still ready to contend, but is he right?

The retirement of quarterback Kurt Warner can’t be emphasized enough. The ageless Warner made everyone better around him by using his quick release and shifty feet. He threw for 3,753 yards and 26 touchdowns. The time has finally come for former number 10 overall pick Matt Leinart. The 27 year old has been riding the bench since his entry into the league, but he will now have his shot. His lack of arm strength will hurt the Cardinals offense in their ability to run a lot of spread formations and make plays down the field. Leinart’s success or failure will be the story of the season for Arizona.

Second leading receiver and often disgruntled wide receiver Anquan Boldin was shipped to Baltimore. Star receiver Larry Fitzgerald, arguably the best in the game, returns after another 1,000 yard season with almost 100 catches. Younger receivers Steve Breaston and Early Doucet will try to fill in for Boldin. Second year pro Beanie Wells has established himself as the starting running back after rushing for almost 800 yards with a 4.5 yards per carry average. Tim Hightower proved he is one of the best 3rd down backs in the league by catching 63 passes, rushing...

Written by Sayeed Mahadi | 10 August 2010

Boss Klaus Allofs has confirmed midfielder Mesut Ozil may be leaving the Werder Bremen this summer but insisted there had been no official offers for the Ozil yet.



Manchester United’s Ferguson on Sunday responded to questions about Ozil after the 3-1 defeat of Chelsea in the Community Shield by repeating that he was glad with his present squad and "did not need to add to it". However, the Manchester United manager, who was at Craven Cottage on Saturday to see Ozil's team play Fulham in a pre-season friendly, was mainly confusing when he was asked frankly, on four occasions, whether it was right the deposed Premier League champions were after the man who helped to defeat England from the World Cup 2010.
Reports in Spain have recommended Barcelona are close to an contract to sign the Werder Bremen’s Ozil, who has one year left on his agreement and impressed during Germany's World Cup battle. However the club's media director Tino Polster said "there are no talks and there is no offer from Barcelona."Manchester United are also interested in Ozil , with their boss Sir Alex Ferguson having watched Werder Bremen's friendly with Fulham on Saturday, and Chelsea also being linked with a move for the midfielder.
Mesut Özil (born 15 October 1988 in Gelsenkirchen) is a German professional footballer who plays for Werder Bremen and internationally for the German national team. Özil, who has played for national team since 2006, gained international attention during the 2010 FIFA...

Written by Sunny | 06 August 2010

The day four of the final Test match at Colombo between India and Sri Lanka was full of ups and downs as the teams struggled for dominance since the starting of the day.



Sri Lanka started playing ahead of their overnight total of 45 runs at the loss of two wickets. Indian bowlers made a dramatic comeback in the morning session of the game. The Sri Lankan middle order perished under the attack of Pragyan Ojha. Ojha grabbed wickets of Suraj Randiv, Mahela Jayawardene and captain Kumar Sangakkara within the few minutes of the start of the game and jolted the Sri lankan batting line up.



Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni then introduced the new comer Amit Mishra and he did his job for the captain by picking up the wickets of Angelo Mathews and Prasanna Jayawardene. The Sri Lankans looked in visible danger as their score became 87 runs at the loss of seven wickets.



But the heroic innings from Tilhilan Samaraweera and tailender  Ajantha Mendis caught Indians completely off guard. The duo had a whopping 118-run partnership for the ninth wicket and made sure that they sail their team to a safe total.

 

Samaraweera who had made 137 runs in the first innings, played a responsible innings of 83 runs this time. Mendis gave his full support to Samarweera as they kept on picking quick singles in their entire innings and Indians were left with nothing much to.



The torment finally ended for Indians when Mishra dismissed Mendis at a score of 78 runs. But it came too late...

Written by Sunny | 06 August 2010

Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lankan captain, recently lashed out at the ICC’s ranking system calling it as something that was not understood by anyone. He also called for a fair evaluation with all the top teams playing each other every two years. His team has been the most affected by the ICC’s future tours program with the least number of Tests in foreign soil.

This happened after it became clear that India will retain the top spot irrespective of the result of the ongoing Test series in Sri Lanka. Many have questioned India’s rank and have openly debated as to whether they deserve to be the top side in the world. Mahela Jayawardene, said that India were not as aggressive as a top side is ought to be.

The top side has to be one which sets the standards for the others to follow. They should also be the most feared side and the rest of the teams should want to beat them and prove to the world that they can match the champions. This was the case when the West Indies were the dominant side in the 70’s and 80’s and when Australia were on top in the late 90’s and the noughties.

But this is not the case now and most of the sides clearly think that India are on top only because of a ranking system that is pretty complex. The reason behind this thought is that India have never won a series in Australia and South Africa and have not done so in Sri Lanka in the last 17 years. There are four other sides that are in contention for the top spot, Australia, South...

Written by Sunny | 05 August 2010

The Hot Spot technology will not be available at next year’s cricket World Cup. The technology, which is favored by many players, uses infrared cameras to determine whether contact has been made with the ball and if there was contact, which part of the batsman made the contact. However, the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS is expected to be present.

BBG Sports, the Australian company that supplies the technology has announced that the technology will not be present at the World Cup due to non availability of Hot Spot cameras. The company has only four cameras at present. The technology is similar to that of tank and jet fighter tracking that is used in military and the company needs to get permission after undergoing security checks, if it has procure a camera.

There are only seven months left for the World Cup and that will not be enough for the company to procure enough cameras to make the technology available for the first round matches. The set up costs also are pretty high with a two-camera set up costing $6000 a day and a four-camera set up costing $10000 a day. However, the four cameras would be enough for matches beginning with the quarter finals.

The non availability of the Hot Spot is not likely to stop the use of the UDRS. The UDRS is likely to use the Hawk-eye, super slow-motion replays and audio from the stump mikes.

Written by Sunny | 04 August 2010

On the second day of the final Test match between India and Sri Lanka at P Sara Oval, the hosts began playing ahead of their yesterday’s total of 293 runs.

In the morning session, Sri Lankan middle order batsmen, Thilan Samaraweera and Angelo Mathews kept on adding more runs to their team’s account while Indian bowlers desperately tried to get wickets.

The parternership broke when Mathews was caught lbw by Pragyan Ojha. But Samaraweera was firm on one end while wickets kept falling on the other. He played a heroic innings of unbeaten 137 runs and cruised his team to a decent first innings total of 425 runs. This was Samaraweera’s 12th Test century. He played with cofidence and dominated Indian bowlers at every opportunity.

Although Indian bowling was much more disciplined in this match, they failed to perform as a unit. Ishant Sharma gave some good spells but lacked the support from the spinners. Pragyan Ojha got four wickts while Ishant Sharma grabbed three. Abhimanyu Mithun and Amit Sharma failed to create any magic with their bowling.

In response to the Sri Lankan innings, Indian opener Virendra Sehwag and M. Vijay started the innings steadily. However, M. Vijay was dismissed at an early score of 14 runs by Lasith Malinga. But Sehwag continued playing his trademark shots and was quick to add runs to the Indian scoreboard.

The next batsman, Rahul Dravid was caught lbw by Mathews at a score of 23 runs. Then Sachin Tendulkar joined Sehwag on the crease and the...