Maybe the dream of every kicker in the NFL... that is what Robbie Gould is currently experiencing; just 3 seasons after being recruited from Penn State he’s getting more money than any other player with his same role on the field.

The Bears knew that with his numbers, and being just 25 years old, they had to keep it, and so yesterday he signed with the Chicago Bears a  5-year $15.5 million dollar contract.

Gould got a better contract than Josh Brown’s with the Cardinals whom got a renewal for $14.2 millions and far better than Adam Vinatieri’s with the Rams for $12 millions.

With the Bears Gould has converted a total of 84 of 99 field-goal, and just last season he finished with 36 field-goal attempts and had a presence in Hawaii’s 2008 Pro Bowl  as he scored a total of 143 points.

Back in the 2005 season when he started his pro career after being traded from the Patriots to Chicago, he hitted a winning 49-yard kick to past the Seahawks and sending the Bears to the Superbowl.

All the goods to a player that still has alot to show, or at least that is what the numbers on his contract are saying.

The Penguins... without a question they are the best team playing this NHL Eastern Conference finals, they are 10-1 in the playoffs and are now leading their series against the Flyers by 2-0.

Their last victory came yesterday night when they defeated Philadelphia 4-2 playing at Pittsburgh, and Maxime Talbot, who missed the previous 3 playoff matches due to injuries, was the man who game the winning goal to the Penguins.

Now the Penguins are flying to Philly for game 3, and they must deliver the best of themselves if they want to take a 3-0 lead and secure their way to the NHL finals for the Stanley Cup.

While on the Western Conference, the Red Wings are leading the series against the Stars by 2-0, and they might be the team that the Penguins have to face at the finals, and so Detroit being probably the best team in the league by far, Philly will have a hard task topping them.

Hey bloggers and readers, Joe here, this time to bring some information about a contest that I found on a forum where I am constantly posting (look for “the icepick”), the Bookperhead Forums, which are all about sports, and the contest is about the NBA playoffs and finals.

 Well, I love photoshop and I’m already working on my piece of art! What is the contest about? Quite simple, you just pick one of the pictures that they have setup to re-arrange using photoshop (or the software of your preference), then is all up to you about working the picture the best you can. I  think is good to bring this type of contests to web communities since brings people closer, and stimulates creativity, and I’m seeing some good photoshoped pics on the forum already!

 Of course there is got to be some sort of motivation apart from energizing your left side of the brain, and that is $200 in cash and $100 in sports memorabilia for the winner, not bad at all!

 So try it and see if you can go for that cash! The competition is on the run, and everybody has a chance (but I am hoping to win! LoL)

It’s not even June and Roger Federer has lost six matches already, much different than last year’s when he managed to lose only nine; His last defeat this year came in the Rome Masters to the 27th ranked Radek Stepanek in the quarter finals, which is letting him out of the tournament, and Federer has never managed to win this competition.

The Rome Masters is a sort of tune up for the coming French Open that starts on May 25th, and Federer is looking to do good on the Roland Garros as this is another tournament that he has never won.

But the Swiss Federer is not the only Tennis all-star that has gotten out of the Rome Masters, as the three time defending champion Rafael Nadal was upset by Juan Carlos Ferrero.

There are reasons for these two to be doing so badly this year, as Federer started 2007 with mononucleosis and Nadal has being struggling with a foot blister.

Akward year in Tennis for the big names, and so this comes as a chance for those that are waiting them to slip and take advantage for coming up in a great way, but only time will tell...

If you ask hockey fans and critics, it is more likely that they will tell you that the Red Wings are the best team in NHL history, and I’m sure not many would disagree.

And they just confirmed that by arriving to the finals for the Stanley Cup after 6 straight victories, now they will face the Stars, in a series that has the odds  in the Red Wings favor.  Detroit has advanced to the Stanley cup finals four times since 1995 and have won three of those, their only loss came in the hands of the New Jersey Devils back in 2000, and their last championship came in 2002, so this year they are trying to forget their upset to the Ducks in 6 straight defeats last season.

Dallas has had it rough in their road to the final, and so to make it through hell in order to pave their way for a chance of taking the cup home, is worth of mentioning.

Now, the Red Wings have dissapointed its fans more than once, as they are the best team in the leage quite often, but on many ocassions they do not find the right path at the end, and so their great performances during regular seasons are shadowed by their lack of consistency at the final moments, this is something the Stars have in their minds, and they are just hoping that this final for the 2008 Stanley Cup is gonna be one of those awkward years for Detroit. Well.. we’ll know for sure tonight when they play the first game.

Well, it didn’t came as unexpected, Kobe Bryant finally got his first MVP award, and so he was thanking team mates for helping him help himself. Kobe has being a different player this season all the way, he’s being a leader, and probably for the first time, he’s being part of the group, not just a show-off.

Chris Paul from the Hornets was his inmediate contender for the award, but even Kevin Garnett was in the same position as Paul’s, they both had being the biggest contributors to their teams, and Kobe... I think after many outstanding seasons with the Lakers, voters knew he deserved it more than anybody else going into his 12th season in the NBA, all playing for Los Angeles.

Even Lebron James, who finished 4th in the voting, praised Bryant: "I've said since two, three years ago that Kobe Bryant is the best player in the league,he's been the best player the last five, six years. I'm glad he won it. His team had a great year.'' He said.

So here’s how fans and the media voted:

1st: Kobe Bryant

2nd: Chris Paul

3rd: Kevin Garnett

4th: Lebron James

The Celtics have just one thing in mind: finding a way to stop Lebron James and win this second round of the 2008 NBA Playoffs as fast as possible.

 This is actually the fourth time these teams face each other on the post season, with the Celtics winning 2 series and the Cavs one, and so this game might as a way for the Cleveland to level the numbers, but the Celtics are coming inspired after their 99-65 win over the Hawks.

Lebron James has averaged 32 points on each game during the post season, and so Paul Pierce is the one that would have to deal with him on the court and try to low those numbers in the Celtics favor.

I am not sure who’s who on this series, as with the Cavs you never know what they will  come up with and the Celts have the court advantage since they are playing the first two games of the series at the Garden, and so they are feeling the pressure of winning those matches in a row so they can travel to Cleveland more calmed and ready to receive the booings of Cavs fans.

For Mike D’Antoni, the best solution would be to get fired from the Suns, since he’s just fed up with the conditions proposed by President Steve Kerr and owner Robert Sarver, and so he’s trying to find a new place to keep on coaching.

But if he quits, he won’t be getting any money, instead, if he gets fired, the Suns would have to pay him the $8,5 million for his two remaining years in the contract.

If D’Antoni leaves the Suns, his inmediate option are the Bulls, with only Avery Johnson, who was recently fired from the Mavs as his nearest competition for the coach position at Chicago.

Now, Raptors president, Bryan Colangelo imported D’Antoni from Italy back in 2003 to coach in Phoenix, and if the Raptors are willing to go into the run for hiring his services, they might as well have an edge for bringing him to Toronto, though Colangelo has recently stated that he’s not looking to fire Sam Mitchell.

Suns management and Mike D’Antoni had a meeting on Friday, which lasted around 2 hours, and so at the end Steve Kerr called it “productive.” The parts spoke over the phone again over the weekend and it seems like Kerr and Sarver will allow D’Antoni to be interviewed by other NBA teams, including the Knicks, who might use a guy with his experience in their rebuilding process.

If you thought that the current U.S. housing crisis is affecting only to the least famous and least priviledge, then think twice...

Jose Canseco, once known as one of the most famous and celebrated US baseball players, had to let his house go into foreclosure since he owned the bank around $2.5 million, the same amount that the mansion at Encino, California cost him back in 2005.

Canseco is not going into bankrupt, but according to his statements, it didn’t made sense to keep on paying for a property that he didn’t even own completely.

Jose Canseco had a brilliant career that started to decline when his use of steroids came to light in 2001, now the 43 year old and former outfielder who played his last season for the Chicago White Sox is taking advantage of his turbulent past to write a book called “Vindicated” who is currently a best seller, and so he’s trying t do exactly what the title of book says.

In despite of his housing issues, is good to know that Canseco is clean and thinking straight, all the goods to him.

Pistons-Sixers are playing game 6 tonight at Philly, with Detroit leading the series 3-2, and this is the last chance for the Sixers to stay alive in a first round that we thought it was going to be all about the Pistons.

But not only the Pistons have dealt with the fact that the lesser favorites are coming up big this 2008 NBA playoffs, The Celtics are facing an inspired Hawks team and the Cavs are dealing a Wizards team that is going through a great moment.

The Sixers are surely looking for some revenge after being eliminated by the Pistons for two straight years in the first round of playoffs, now they are showing what they are made of and what they are about, and mostly, about what they can do.

On the other hand, the Pistons are looking to play their 6th consecutive Eastern Conference finals, but Philadelphia are not facilitating anything, and so everything can happen tonight at the Wachovia Center.

All in all, this has being one of the most interesting playoff opennings is many years in the NBA, and at this point, nothing seems to be clear in what who’s who, and about who’s going to go further.

Well, Chris Paul has certainly being outstanding the whole season, and now he’s proving that he deserves the nomination for MVP, as he just helped the Hornets to advance to the second round of the playoffs by eliminating the Mavs, a team that is in decay and that hasn’t found his true form after hiring Jason Kidd, who was suppousedly the last piece of the puzzle for a Dallas team that didn’t delivered as expected.

The series finished 4-1 and the Hornets should be proud of what they have accomplished, as after all, they are an underdog team, but this time around things are much different since they are trying to bring hope to a city that really needs it.

The Hornets are advancing to a second round of playoffs for the first time in 6 years, when they were still playing in Charlotte.

Now they have a tough rival in front of them: The Spurs, the defending champions who let the Suns on the road and whom are looking to keep the trophy at home.

Chris Paul ended with 24 points, 15 assists and 11 rebounds, while David West finished with 25 and Jannero Pargo with 17 for the Hornets, while Nowitzki, who was dominated by West most of the game, finished with 22 points.

The Rockets were at one point, one of the most promising teams coming to the 2008 NBA playoffs, but they didn’t count with a Jazz team fired up and leaded by Carlos Boozer, the true leader of Utah.

Now the Rockets are facing elimination since the series is 3-1, with 2 straight victories from the Jazz at houston and a split of 2 games playing at Utah, the series is going now for game 5 to Houston, and the Rockets are hoping to made themselves respect at home and at least extend the series to a possible 3-2, which is not that great, but at least will give the team a boost for match 6 at Utah (if that ever happen).

Well, Yao Ming should be watching his team mates at his house with dissapointment, and knowing that if he was there, the story could be different the Rockets, a team that had 22 straight victories in the regular season, one of the best runs for any team in the NBA in all history.

Tracy McGrady can deliver more, that is a fact, but he’s not playing alone, and Houston needs to wake up or they can say goodbye to the post season faster than anyone would have imagine.

To be honest, I expected the Nuggets to give a better fight against the Lakers, of course Los Angeles are the favorites, but you can always count with Denver’s duo of Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson to get them out of trouble, well, this time is different, it’s the playoffs and no team wants to give out anything.

And so the series is 3-0 in Lakers favor against a Nuggets team that has won 50 games this season, their best in their franchise history.

But there is something to noticed, this last game playing at Denver, the Nuggets had Iverson playing just over one minute in the fourth and Kenyon Martin just over 4, and what about Marcus Kamby... well, he didn’t even saw any action.

They still have a chance though, this last game at home can give them their first victory in the series, and probably a win is all they need to lift their spiritis for better things to come, but let’s be honest, it’s hard for any team to come back after 3 defeats in a row against the same team and during playoffs, we’ll have to see it to believe it.

Sixers general manager Billy King knows Larry Brown, and Brown knows coaching, in fact that’s what he’s all about.

He has being doing something else for a while, as after 6 years of coaching in Philly, he got the executive vice president position with the Sixers, but he just seems fed up with that charge, and he’s looking to go back to the coach chair asap.

Rumors blew over the internet about Brown going to Stanford, but as soon as they came, they got shut down, and Brown hasn’t comment about his current offers.

So it is almost a fact that the guy who took the Sixers to the NBA finals in the 2000-01 season, the one who won an NCAA championship with Kansas more than 2 decades ago in 98, the one who took UCLA to the title game and whom won a title with the Pistons back in the 2003-04 season, is going to be leading a basketball team soon enough.

"I think Larry will be a coach, and should be a coach, he's one of the best in the business.” King said.

Not even the arrival of rookie Acie Law could prevent the Hawks from falling for the second consecutive time against the Celtics.

Law played 21 minutes and contributed with 12 points, and Mike Bibby is really not doing well lately, which is an indication that Law will probably start on game 3 at Atlanta. Final score on game 2 was 96-77 with Kevin Garnett helping with 19, the most for the Celtics since no player in Boston added more than 20.

The Celtics are truly dependant on their power trio and yesterday when Paul Pierce got momentarily injured, faces of concern were surrounded the Garden, but Boston’s captain recovered on time and finished with 14.

But on this series we can practically confirm that everything is said and done, as the Hawks haven’t being a worthy rival for the Celtics, not in the regular season, and definitely not now.