My favorite
Watch them all HERE
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Super Bowl
Moeller/Giants LB Greg Jones proposed to his girlfriend on field after game
Star Ledger
“She was bawling,” Jones said this morning as he and his teammates left the Marriott Downtown to board their flight back home. “I was like, ‘I don’t know how long she’s going to keep crying.’”
Super Bowl
The throw and catch
(Marcio Jose Sanchez - AP Images)
Opening observations
*Remember when we used to complain about SB blowouts?
*How about the throw from Eli and catch by Mario? Wow....Eli dropped it into the bucket and Mario was masterful with his feet.
*I agree with Belicheck's decision to concede the TD....I'll take my chances with ball in Brady's hands over shot to block/miss FG. But why not a play or two earlier?
*Giants were 7-7 at one point, finished 9-7, were outscored by six points in regular season, ranked 25th in points allowed per game, 27th in yards allowed and 32nd running the ball.
*Wonder how many bet a safety would be first score of game?
*Patriots had drive to end half and to start second half...and that was it.
*Welker is getting killed for his drop....fair...but what about the throw by Brady?
*I thought Gronkowski was going to catch the Hail Mary defelection
*Eli has 5 post season game winning drives....9 plays, 88 yards Sunday.
*How many brothers in sports each have rings and have more than 3 rings combined?
*Brady completed 16 in a row....he was 11 of 25 outside of that....he underthrew Gronkowski on INT, was off target to Welker and had the safety.
*Still can't believe the interception by Giants LB Chase Blackburn. First thing I said was, "how many times do you see a #93 50 yards down field in coverage?". He found the ball and had good hands.
*Steve Weatherford, 3 punts inside 10 for Giants.
*Jason Pierre Paul/Justin Tuck.....wow
*Amazing Giants recovered their own fumbles twice
*I think Aaron Rodgers has a career in broadcasting when he's done playing.
(credit: Rob Carr/Getty Images)
Gisele consoles Brady, rips receivers
CBS New York
“You (have) to catch the ball when you’re supposed to catch the ball,” she snapped back. “My husband cannot (bleeping) throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time. I can’t believe they dropped the ball so many times.”
Two local products win rings: Greg Jones of Moeller, Jake Ballard of Springboro
PS.......Don't forget Giants LB Chase Blackburn is from Marysville, OH and played football at Akron.
(David J. Phillip - AP Images)
Commercials: Watch and rate 'em
My observations
*If I'd spent $3.5M for most of those commercials I'd be firing people.
*I became bored with the commercials to the point I was walking out of the room to do stuff.
*I did like the Doritos Baby, Chevy survival with Twinkies, Dog chasing VW, Dog Sketchers, Clint Eastwood, Budweiser through the years, NFL evolution.
Halftime
*I get a kick out of people that turn into music critics at halftime of the Super Bowl and get bent out of shape over the performances.
*If you didn't like Madonna I'm not sure what you were watching or what you wanted.
*I thought Madonna was spectacular.
*I thought the staging, choreography and presentation was spectacular.
*I'd rank it in a Top 3 of U2 and Prince.
*During "Like a Prayer" I wondered if Tim Tebow was going to walk out.
*MIA....really? What, are you 12 years old? I didn't even notice it at the time it happened.
NBC apologizes for lewd gesture by singer MIA
FoxNews
"We apologize for the inappropriate gesture that aired during halftime," NBC spokesman Christopher McCloskey said. "It was a spontaneous gesture that our delay system caught late."
Here is what MIA did and said.
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NFL
Goodell would consider canceling the Pro Bowl
Must see: Feature of the weekend
I watched 6+ hours of Super Bowl pregame stuff yesterday. The best segment of the day was done by Peter King. This is his feature on former New Orleans Saint Steve Gleason. He was diagnosed with ALS just over two years ago.
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College basketball
Latest RPI
JerryPalm, CollegeRPI.com
1 Syraucse
4 Ohio State
5 Kentucky
18 Indiana
29 Louisville
53 Xavier
64 Purdue
72 Dayton
78 Ohio
95 Cincinnati
Shane Larkin making a big impact at Miami
Sun Sentinel
Wednesday against Maryland, with his mother and father, Hall of Fame shortstop Barry Larkin watching from the stands at BankUnited Center, the freshman scored six points in the second overtime. The final two came at the foul line, where he's 35-for-37 this season, with 19 seconds left and Miami leading by two.
"Shane stepped up big for us," center Reggie Johnson said after the 90-86 win, adding, "He grew up tonight."
It's been an admittedly up-and-down season for Larkin, who scored two points against Ole Miss and 16 the next game against Purdue, a career-high 18 against UNC Greensboro and zero the next game against Virginia. He has modest statistics: 7.3 points, 2.5 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. He's tied for first in the ACC in the last category. Defensively, intensity has been inconsistent.
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Reds
(Jennifer Hildebrand-US Presswire)
Latos ready to go the distance
FoxSports
"The team has a lot of talent at every position," Latos said. "I think, with adding Madson to the back end of the bullpen and adding Luddy, two good guys, if just adds to the ballclub. Hopefully, we can make a postseason run."
Power rankings: No. 12 Reds
Chicago Tribune
Cozart isn't likely to be an All-Star, at least not unless he develops into a 20-homer guy. But Jocketty believes the 26-year-old is reliable enough to be a first-division shortstop. He has good hands and a quick first step, helping him cover ground in the field, and lines the ball around the park with the ability to hit home runs down the left-field line.
Jocketty: Nothing new on Oswalt
Votto's future: Early speculation
ESPN
So here six teams that could be the top pursuers for Votto in 2013, those teams that have a confluence of a possible opening at first base, some money coming off the books and the ability to afford a player who will likely draw a contract similar to Prince Fielder's. (I don't think necessarily as much as Fielder's $214 million deal. For one thing, Votto will be two years older than Fielder when he hits free agency; and we don't know how much the Tigers may have overbid to sign him.)
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Stuff
How about my alma mater? The Carmel High School girls swim team goes for a 26th straight state title on Saturday.
Best Super Bowl commercials all-time
LA Times
When it comes to major cross-cultural televised events in the U.S., there’s the Super Bowl and then there are the Super Bowl commercials. One gets watched and discussed the next day; the other is talked about for years. Remember the Budweiser Frogs? Now, remember who won the game in 1995, the year they were introduced? Over the 46 years of the game, the cost of a 30-second spot has gone from $42,000 to $3.5 million. To many, the commercials have become an event unto themselves, with big budgets, major stars and dazzling visual effects. Here are some of the most memorable from Super Bowl history.
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MLB/NFL
How parity in MLB matches up with NFL
SI
One of the great myths about the NFL is that the salary cap affords the league much better competitive balance than is possible in the cap-less Major League Baseball. This would not be a good week to be promoting that myth, seeing that the New York Giants and New England Patriots have become what Meryl Streep and George Clooney are to the Oscars. Ho-hum. The Giants and Patriots have filled one-third of the available spots over the past 12 Super Bowls.
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Xavier
(Mark Weber/AP)
For Mack and XU, aftermath of fight still lingers
John Feinstein, Washington Post
Almost in the blink of an eye, Xavier went from a team ranked eighth in the country, one of those college basketball stories that people point to as proof that you can do things right and still succeed on the national stage, to a team and a school ripped and reviled almost everywhere it went.
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Tate: Negative Nellies don't bother Thomas
IllinoisHQ.com
He has seen the face of negativism. Thus, the grumbling and mean-spirited nature of Illini Nation in 2011-12 — maybe the worst it has ever been — is not new to him. Any degree of pre-planning on his part would have made it obvious that, soon after his arrival, he might be required to make strategic decisions to retain or dismiss coaches in three major UI sports: football and both basketball programs. Like the rest of us, he knew. It didn't sneak up on him.
"The good," says Thomas, "is that Illinois has a fan base that is not apathetic. When people care about your program they're going to express their opinions. When we get to the point where people aren't vocal, you're probably in a worse place. I'll take a passionate fan base that wants to express an opinion over one that's disinterested. It's a greater problem trying to get people interested.
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Listener photos
From Brad: Our 7th grade son (Samuel) completed a school project on the, "History of Baseball".
The Ballpark was made of cardboard along with pictures pasted on the cardboard. My wife did buy the "turf" and little plastic baseball , players, but everything else was "cut & paste" at home.
WLW listener from Dayton area & Big Reds fan too !
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Cool story
From Joe:
Last weekend I proposed to my girlfriend. She works for the Reds and so I thought it would be awesome to do it there. A couple weeks in advance, I spoke with one of her managers about an idea I had and she informed me that it could happen. So, the day it happened I got off work early and headed to the stadium. When I arrived I was escorted to the Reds dugout. Before I got there, I placed a note on one of the seats and then I hid in the dugout with two dozen roses. One of her managers told her that she needed to count some seats in the diamond club. When she got down to the seats she saw the note and before she could even realize what it said our song started playing over the loud speakers and the picture of the two of us showed up on the scoreboard. I walked out and met her by the seats and asked her to marry me. A few seconds later we heard all of this screaming and yelling from the club section. Everyone she works with was up there watching the whole thing. It was awesome and definitely a day that we will never forget. I later contacted everyone at the Reds and told them how much I appreciated everything and that I am an even bigger Reds fan!!!!
From Michael
Not sure if you heard about or saw what the Indy Super Bowl organizers did with the Indy “Super Cars” last week, but I thought it was a nice touch.
They took 30 of the cars (all but the Super Bowl, Giants, and Patriots) and dispersed them across the state at various locations (from Bloomington to Muncie) for fans to get the opportunity to see them. Attached is a picture of my son and I at the Fishers Train Station with the Bengals car. They had volunteers with each car willing to snap photos for you. Another solid effort by the city.
