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,

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.