Hello sports friends,

Well yesterday was March 1 and in the NFL that means the start of free agency when teams can gain and lose players or decide to resign them based on their salary cap situation which is a fact of life in todays NFL where there is more parity but also more roster turnover where teams don't stay together for a long period of time in general like they used to. However most teams try to keep their best players if they can within the salary cap.

Anyways yesterday the Steelers my favorite team released linebacker Joey Porter because of salary cap reasons they say he was supposed to get a bonus in the final year of his contract and they didn't want to renegotiate or sign an extension. Now I am really disappointed in this because Joey Porter has been one of the Steelers best players both on and off the field the last decade. He has been the emotional leader with big hits on the field and emotion good and bad off the field He stood up to Seahawks player Jeremy Stevens taunts against the Steelers before the Super Bowl, he led pre and post game team dances in the locker room and he was a great hard hitter who also incidentally unfortunately got shot as an innocent bystander in Colorado a few years ago and came back. which shows a lot of heart.  Now he also has a big mouth which got him in trouble like the pregame fight with the rival Cleveland  Browns during a pregame a few years ago which got him kicked out o####ame, but his emotion was always for the team and former coach Bill Cowher and that will definitely be missed. He was this Steeler teams Jack Lambert and Ham from the 70s and Greg Lloyd from the 90s. A great player with heart whoI think should have been one of the special Steelers to retire a Steeler and I am very disappointed. Hopefully the Steelers and their new coach Mike Tomlin know what they're doing and they usually do as an organization. Great players come and go I understand that but this is one I really wish hadn't gone and they might pay for the loss of Joey Porter because of the kind of player he is on and off the field.

Also shortly I want to mention a few other things quickly. It was nice to see Lovie Smith get his well deserved extension and raise in Chicago as their head coach. Despite the Super Bowl loss the Bears could be headed for great things if they can figure out if Rex Grossman is their long term quarterback or not. Meanwhile north of Chicago in small town Green Bay they are thinking of bringing fomer Vikings and Raiders wide receiver Randy Moss to the Packers which would be like bringing the next notch of Terrell Owens to Green Bay. A great talent especially from his years with the Vikings but a lot of attitude and he once mooned the Packer fans in a playoff game. But Brett Favre says he would like to play with a player like Moss and I'm wondering what my friends in Packer country think. I know you're out there reading. Anyways take care friiends, best wishes and have great and productive days always.

Hi Sports Friends,

I don't know where I'm going with that title except that Peyton Manning seems like a superhero along with Coach Tony Dungy in leading the Colts to their first Super Bowl since 1970 when the team played in Baltimore.. And did you see Don Shula smiling as he went to present the Colts with the Super Bowl trophy. Now I know he's mostly remembered as the Dolphins coach who went 17-0 in 1972 and led his team to two Super Bowl victories in Miami. But he also had four Super Bowl losses one of which was in Miami in Super Bowl 3  to the Jets and Joe Namath when he was the head coach of the Colts. Who knows maybe he was being professional but maybe a small part of him was smiling because he could finally  present the Colts with the trophy that he didn't get in that Super Bowl when the Colts lost as heavy favorites to the New York Jets.

Anyways about this Super Bowl game I rooted for the Bears and thought they had a chance when Devin Hester returned the opening kickoff 92 yards and Mussin Muhammed scored a touchdown to give the Bears a 14-6 lead. But from there the rain poured, Rex Grossman couldn't carry the Bears and Peyton Manning/Indiana Jones I think thats a cool parallel and the Colts defense carried them the rest of the way.

Now I picked the Bears in this game and believed they could win, but I knew they almost had to play perfectly or close to it or Peyton Manning and the Colts defense would pick them apart as they did 29-17. So congratulations to the Colts and to Tony Dungy for all the historical reasons. Mostly though he's a great coach and it was nice to see him and the Colts succeed after Tony Dungy's son James death to suicide a year ago and the Colts and Peyton Manning who have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Who knows maybe a few old Colts fans in Baltimore smiled too but probably not too many after the way the left Baltimore in 1984. Anyways it was a nice victory for the Colts franchise and now only 7 months until opening weekend in the NFL in September. And we'll see Brett Favre again in Green Bay for a 17th year. Who will be playing in Glendale Arizona in Super Bowl 42? We'll find out that answer next year. Congratulations Colts fans and talk to you soon. Best wishes and have a great and productive day friends.

Hello Sports Friends,

I thought I'd try a blog on here today where I talk about the state of my favorite teams. I saw another blogger on here do this. I think he was from the Boston area. Anyways in this past month we've had the State of the Union, the NFL has the State of the NFL with the commisioner at the Super Bowl this week so this is the state of my teams, we'll do it with the pro leagues in this post and see where it goes.

Anyways my number one favorite pro team in sports is the Pittsburgh Steelers who are defending champions for a few more days. They had a rough season being Super Bowl champs, Ben Roethisberger's on and off field injuries, Bill Cowher leaving as coach and now hiring only their third coach in the last 38 years Mike Tomlin. Still as tough a year as it was they rebounded from a 2-6 start to finish 8-8 and I'm proud of them for that.

Number two would be the Boston Red Sox. After winning the World Seies championship in 2004 they have had some injuries and roster changes and of course always have to deal with the Yankees in the AL East. Still they have David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Jason Varitek and Curt Schilling from that team along with a core of good or young players and if they can find a way to get a closer or Jonathon Papelbon, then I think they'll be ok and contend in the AL East again. Matsusaka is also an X factor that we have to find out about.

Number three is the San Antonio Spurs. I'm not the biggest basketball  fan anymore but I like this team and their rivalry with the Dallas Mavericks. With Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli and the rest of the team they have won three NBA championships and still have a good veteran core that can contend although it's a lot tougher in the West with teams like Dallas, Phoenix and the two LA teams the Lakers and Clippers to deal with. Still if they stay healthy and play well in the playoffs they have as good a chance as any so we'll see.

Number four I'll pick the Dallas Stars, my local area team and the team in my second favorite sport after football,  hockey. I got to go to a Stars game a few years ago, I like following them as the local team and they have had a good contending team, changing every year of course but still in the mix every year since winning the Stanley Cup in 1999. Mike Modano is still there and they have a good mix of veterans and youngsters when their healthy. The only problem has been their lack of recent playoff success, but if goalie Marty Turco could turn it around and the team could stay healthy and play well then they could go a long way. We'll see wehat happens down the stretch and in the playoffs.

To round out my top five of teams I'll pick a team I like unconditionally the Milwaukee Brewers. I realize it is tough for them being a small market team in baseball withough any kind of salary cap which the players refuse so I root for them whether they're good or bad because they're my original hometown team from childhood, they play hard and I have memories of the 1982 World Series which they could have won if  relief pitcher Rollie Fingers among othyer things   had not been injured and I just like going out to the ballpark in the summer soI'll include them..

Anyways that's my top five teams in pro sports. Shortly my second five include the Chicago Cubs, Toronto Maple Leafs, Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Vikings who all can never seem to win the big one in a long team. Other teams I like are NFC North rivals the Chicago Bears who I'm rooting for in the Super Bowl, the Green Bay Packers who are my original home state team and who I take a lot of good natured grief from family and friends who want them to be my favorite team, sorry , but I still like and respect their team especially when they win. Other teams I like are the Canadian hockey teams because that is where the core of hockey fans is and finally the Texas Trio of the Rangers, Astros and Mavericks who have a good chance to win an NBA championship this year. We'll see. Well I hope you have enjoyed looking at my sports teams this week. We'll watch the Super Bowl and see what happens and we'll talk soon. I'm also excited to see how Wisconsin men's basketball does as they push for a possible #1 ranking and the NCAA tournament in March.Anyways have a great and productive day friends and we'll talk soon. Best wishes always. Fenfan67

Hello sports friends,

Well it's been an exciting week both on and off the football field, we have some new NFL coaching hires and a legendary coach leaving. We have a great exciting and historic Super Bowl matchup coming up and for those of you who are hockey fans we have the All Star Game on Wednesday night and a lot of exciting college and pro basketball as well.

First we'll start out with the Super Bowl matchup and I like it because both teams the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis formerly Baltimore Colts are historic franchises who haven't been there in awhile, we have a future Hall of Fame quarterback the Colts Peyton Manning who finally made the Super Bowl and got past his nemesis team the great New England Patriots in the AFC and the Bears who are a long standing traditional franchise who got past another great feel good story team the New Orleans Saints in the NFC.

Also in a historic and cultural aspect there are two African American coaches Tony Dungy of the Colts and Lovie Smith of the Bears who are in the Super Bowl for the first time, but I just like to think of them as great coaches and football people so we'll leave it that although there is the historical aspect since two African American coaches are coaching in the game for the first time and people will mention and recognize it and while it is a big deal they should also be recognized as great coaches in the big game and that's the way I'll look at it from here. Also incidentally the Steelers hired Mike Tomlin another African American coach and while I know little about him, with the Rooneys history of hiring two great coaches the last 38 years in Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher I am hoping the Steelers will have similar success with their new head coach. Hopefully Mike Tomlin will have similar success in Pittsburgh and with the Rooney rule named after Dan Rooney in Pittsburgh to interview at least one minority candidate, I think  it  is a significant and good hire to hire an African American in Mike Tomlin as well. One other note, I  like talking sports and not necessarily focusing on racial aspects of it, but I thought it was important here so I've hopefully been respectful, we'll leave it at that and go on talking more about sports.  

Another great NFL coach Bill Parcells of the Dallas Cowboys decided to step down and while it was sad to see and I thought he had a few more years of coaching it was time for him to step down at 65 years of age, refocus and see what he wants to do with the rest of his life and career. I dont think the Terrell Owens situation had a lot to do with Parcells leaving. I think Parcells was just mainly burnt out and it was time to do whatever he does next. He didn't have the success he and the fans wanted in Dallas but I think that had to do more with the players and a young team than anything rather than his coaching. Being successful and winning a championship takes a lot of time, hard work and some luck and I don't think but hope that Parcells won't be judged on his time in Dallas because he had a lesser team than he did at some of his other stops. And after winning two Super Bowls in New York where could he really go with his career from there. Unless he won more Super Bowls he wouldn't be judged as good as his time in New York and those championship years  in New York would probably be judged as being better anyways so it was kind of a no win situation for Parcells anyways and he has retired again when he was ready to leave.

As for the Super Bowl I'm looking forward to a good game between the Bears and the Colts. As I said Peyton Manning he is finally in the big game whether he wins or loses although a Super Bowl win will definetly increase his legacy along with the big win over the Patriots. Also I think that Rex Grossman is definetly underrated as a quarterback. While nobody's perfect and he is harshly judged as the Chicago quarterback, he has come on got through his mistakes and gotten his team to the Super Bowl with a 19-6 career record so I think people should be quiet about Rex Grossman at least for the moment and appreciate what he and the Bears have done to get to this point being in the Super Bowl. As for the game I don't think it will be a blowout about 7-10 points either way and I'm picking the Bears by about 3-4 points in a mild upset, but we've all been wrong so I'll be interested to hear what you think. Enjoy the coverage and enjoy the game because NFL football wont be back for 6-7 months as far as games are played, a long offseson indeed for all of us football fanatics.

Finally you know I'm a hockey fan and I'm looking forwaed to the NHL All Star Game being played in Dallas. Now I know All Star games aren't the greatest and not all of you sports fans are into hockey, but I enjoy the fast paced excitement of it and this week in Dallas they had some All Star festivities before the game which I didn't get to attend unfortunately because of work, but they had a celebration for 1999 Dallas Stars Stanley Cup winning team and they had the Stanley Cup there which I've always wanted to see and touch. Oh well I probably couldn't touch it but after seeing the Steelers and Packers Super Bowl trophies at their team facilities it would have been neat to see the Stanley Cup which is arguably the best, oldest since 1893 and most distinguished trophy in sports no matter what people think of hockey.  I mean players, coaches and some lucky fans drink from the Cup when they win. Name a trophy in another sport where you can do that. Oh wel somewhere along the line I'll see the Stanley Cup someday. In the meantime we'll just keep rooting and watching sports as fans and by the way I did get to wear Rocky Bleier of the 1970s Steeler championship teams four Super Bowl rings on my fingers so how lucky was I there! I met him at a speaking convention where he spoke and I still e-mail him occasionaly to this day. I also met Terry Bradshaw in a similar circumstance. Anyways have great and productive days and best wishes as always. Best wishes friends and talk to you later.