Gisele Rips Patriots Receivers

First off, I was wrong. I had Gisele Bundchen pegged as this super model arm candy trophy wife that didn’t know the rules of the game. To tell you the truth, I didn’t think she’d even be at the Super Bowl let alone liping off Tom Brady’s teammates post game.

“You (have) to catch the ball when you’re supposed to catch the ball. 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.”

Check out this link for of a video of the blonde-bombshell telling reporters just how she really felt about Sunday’s outcome.

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Madonna Upstaged by MIA’s Finger

For the most part, Madonna delivered an entertaining Super Bowl half time performance that started strong and looked to easily beat out last year’s performer the Black Eyed Peas. Reaching into a bag of resources to not completely bore us, Madonna was smart to bring out guests Cee Lo, Nicki Minaj and dance rockers LMFAO to perform with her. Yet, the show will unfortunately be remembered by guest star MIA’s performance where she flipped the bird to the camera. The gesture, accompanied by a barely disguised expletive, came during a performance of Madonna’s new single, “Give Me All Your Luvin.”‘ At the end of her lines, M.I.A. appeared to sing “I don’t give a (expletive),” although it was hard to hear clearly.

Personally I don’t care whether it happened or not, but it will be the talk of the week by the media as they recap the game.

If you remember the NFL was suppose to have installed a delay feature for the Super Bowl to cut away for instances like this one. The NFL blamed a failure in NBC’s delay system for allowing the gesture to be seen. Spokesman Brian McCarthy said M.I.A. did not do anything similar during rehearsals and the league had no reason to believe she would pull something like that during the actual show.

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10 Ridiculous Super Bowl Prop Bets

The Super Bowl is big for so many reasons. The players and fans of both teams have their hearts set on being Super Bowl Champions, but there are so many other elements to Super Bowl Sunday. Companies and brands dump millions into advertising to capture the worlds attention in hope of selling their crap to the public, this years going rate is $3.5 million for a 30 second spot. There are also the big movie trailers that try to hype up this years hottest must-see blockbusters. The art form of a “Must-See” movie trailer can’t be denied these days, yet spending millions of dollars to miss your mark is huge, even crippling. Lets also not forget about the bars, pubs and restaurants that fan’s will be attending all over the world, each hosted location will have a chance to pull in their biggest single day earnings of the year. Yet the real hidden gem of this yearly mega-event doesn’t come with a side of fries.

I’ll admit it, I drop more cash on food, beverages and “friendly wagers” on Super Bowl Sunday than any other NFL day of the year. But for big name online sportsbooks or Las Vegas Casinos, money trades hands like you could only imagine. I tried my best to research what was invested at last year’s game, I tried to find something on who lost or even profited the most from last years Super Bowl, but whatever number I found would surely be only the tip of the iceberg. With bets as crazy as calling “Head’s” or “Tails” for the games kickoff, you know if you looked hard enough, the insane prop bets would surely be worth a laugh.

***The Following Super Bowl Prop Bets are real ridiculous wagers you can make for the Super Bowl XLVI with an online sportsbook. I am not plugging any single sportsbook, I researched many providers to bring you these top 10 hilarious bets for a laugh.***

1. What Color will the Gatorade (or liquid) be that is dumped on the Head Coach of the Winning Super Bowl Team?  (If nothing is dumped wagers will be No Action. )

Odds:

• Clear/Water 7 to 4
• Orange 9 to 4
• Yellow 5 to 2
• Red 6 to 1
• Green 7 to 1
• Blue 10 to 1

My Thoughts: Cool bet, but knowing my luck it’s the color that makes no sense what so ever, like yellow or green. Someone somewhere has the inside track on this, I could see this being a loaded suckers bet. Maybe it’s me, maybe I have seen far too many CSI episodes or watched the movie Casino too many times, but couldn’t you just picture the underground betting community fixing this bet. They just need to find the guy that’s making to juice.

My Pick: I’m going to take Blue, both teams have blue in their color jersey scheme and the Colts (home turf) are blue….but wait…maybe that’s what they want  me to pick.

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Volkswagen Super Bowl Ad Teaser: The Bark Side

Do you remember any of last years Super Bowl commercials? Probably not. But if you think hard enough one memorial commercial on Super Sunday may pop into your head. It was the one of a little kid dressed up like Darth Vader. He tried to move things around the house with the force, only to have his dad play a trick on him with an auto-start to the car from inside the house.

The ad was so popular that Volkswagen has created another ad for this years Super Bowl. Here is a teaser to it:

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The Tim Tebow Saga: The Final Word

Much like any other professional athlete that can’t get enough of him or herself, Tim Tebow doesn’t shy away from attention. Much like many of his prima-donna predecessors, he thrusts himself right smack dab in the middle of the spotlight as often as he can. But in Mr. Tebow’s defense, can we really blame him for it? I mean after all, the guy is young, rich, in awesome shape and plays professional football for a living. That resume alone seems to warrant a sense of cockiness and supreme swagger status. Though humility should never be abandoned, some swagger is a must for an NFL quarterback (see “Broadway” Joe Namath), so I guess Timmy gets a pass on that one.

And then there’s the undeniable fact that the guy has consistently found ways to help his team win games. Although he often accomplishes this with dismal statistical outputs, he’s spearheaded his team to enough victories this season that one can no longer deny his ability to “get the job done”, regardless of how pretty it may or may not be. Winning is winning and Tim Tebow seems to have figured out a way to do just that.

But with all that being said, we’re still talking about the same old things that have been discussed a thousand times over throughout previous weeks. In fact, you’re probably saying to yourself right now, “okay, let’s get on with it.” Point taken kind sir (or ma’am), you want to get down to business. Okay, let’s get down to it.

If a person of extreme religious faith (that you don’t know) shows up at your front door and wants to talk about religion, do you greet them with open arms and proceed to have a lengthy discussion with them, or do you respectfully decline and send them on their merry way? Or what about politics; do you stop and talk to protesters on the street that you may or may not agree with? Studies show most of us choose to decline on these random conversations. Not to say that we don’t enjoy a good talk from time to time, but quite simply, it makes most people uncomfortable to openly discuss these controversial topics, especially with complete strangers. So then the question poses itself: when Tim Tebow wants to talk about his faith, does it make you (even for a second) wish that he wouldn’t? It’s not like we have a choice either way. He’s going to say whatever he wants whether we like it or not, but if we did have the choice, would we keep our doors open for him, or would we send him on his proverbial “merry way?”

It is what it is. The guy is religious, and that’s fine. This isn’t about keeping someone from believing what they want to believe, or saying what they want to say, this is about tact. This is about the media and how they are exploiting Tim Tebow. This is about a mere ‘interesting story’ being blown way out of proportion and becoming “thee” story in the league this year. Now I encourage you to (if you can) think about this as an outsider, completely unbiased either way. Let’s imagine that Tim Tebow wasn’t a religious person and never brought it up in press conferences or post-game interviews, and “Tebowing” never existed, what would we have on our hands? We would have a very average quarterback that has accomplished some unexpected things to help his team win some games this year. He’s a surprise success and that’s where it ends. So the obvious question then poses itself: what’s so incredible about that? Why all the hype surrounding this guy?

Plenty of surprise-success stories have been witnessed and reported on in the history of professional sports, yet you would be hard pressed to find a more intriguing and widely-talked about media feeding frenzy other than the Tim Tebow story. Why is that? What has he done that is so different than any other unexpected overachiever in the history of the league? Tom Brady was drafted in the sixth round of the 2000 draft as the 199th pick, and look at what he’s done. Brady is a lock for the NFL Hall of Fame, he’s a perennial Pro-Bowler and two time Super Bowl MVP, yet his story didn’t receive as much attention as the infamous Tim Tebow saga. Why not?

Don’t get me wrong, any man that suits up to play this game against some of the most gifted athletes in the world, earns a ton of respect right off the top. Then if you throw in the fact that he’s a proven winner, the respect-o-meter climbs even higher. If my favorite team started a quarterback that completed less than 50% of his passes and boasted a modest 75.1 quarterback rating, yet continued to help my team win games, I would most likely have nothing but praise for him. I wouldn’t care in the slightest what his stats were, a win is a win. But that’s not the point. The point is, all anyone can ever talk about anymore is Tim Tebow, and I for one would like an explanation as to why exactly that is. If we can agree on the fact that it’s not his in-game stats, or the unexpected nature of his success that’s garnished him with so much attention, then I challenge you to find the reason and report back with some enlightenment for those of us still wondering “why.”

If your argument is his optimism, positivity and desire to win, be prepared to defend the counter-argument that players like Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Matt Hasselbeck and Phillip Rivers already embody these same traits. Any football fan knows, this league is known for its notoriously classy players that never cease to amaze us with their selfless attitudes and uncompromising integrity, as well as the shamelessly un-classy players that can under no circumstances seem to keep their feet out their mouths. And in considering and acknowledging the role of the media, of course they’re going to capitalize on a juicy story, whether it be rooted in class or in shame. In all actuality, the shameful ones seem to be the juicier of the two, so it makes perfect sense that any news is good news for them. But when a player is constantly making headlines for doing things that countless players have done before him (and done better mind you) one can only wonder what the heck is going on.

This leads me to my next point of contention. Aaron Rodgers has his “belt donning” touchdown celebration. Clay Matthews has his “beastly” arm spreading, post-tackle taunt. Deion Sanders had his “Prime Time Shuffle” dance. You name it, these players do it. Now it’s “Tebowing” that’s taken us by storm. It’s the next big thing. Much like these other “moves”, this is Tim’s way of separating himself from everyone else in the league. It establishes a signature identity for him among the 1000+ players in the game, and allows him to conveniently throw in his thanks to the man upstairs at the same time. Seems harmless enough right? A little touchdown, a little prayer…..everyone wins. Well that depends on how you choose to see it.

Praying does a lot of good for a lot of people. There’s no question about that. But is such a sacred ritual, one meant to strengthen the bond between man and God, really supposed to have attained such a tasteless man-made label like “Tebowing?” I mean after all, we’re talking about praying, not a silly touchdown dance. For “Tebowing” to have caught on as a popular “move”, is not only exploiting something that has no business being classified as such, it borderlines on substantially offensive to many people on many different levels.

From now on, when Tebow “Tebows”, I encourage you to call it praying and not buy into this whole “Tebowing” movement. Praying is exactly what he’s doing, and not Tim Tebow or anyone else for that matter has the right to use something so personal for popularity’s sake. Whether or not this was Mr. Tebow’s goal, that’s what it’s turned into nonetheless. Perhaps the media, not Tebow himself is responsible for the “signature move”/prayer connection, but nevertheless, it’s a bad idea to keep it going for any longer than it has to.

You want to be popular Tim? Use your God-given physical abilities to win more games for your football team. You want to go down as a legitimate quarterback in this league? Lead your Broncos back to the playoffs again next year. You want to rub your doubters in the right way? Come out publicly and request that people stop making such a big deal about your praying. And while you’re at it, tell them to stop calling it “Tebowing.” This may or may not be your fault, but regardless, you allow it to happen. Until you make it right, you’re going to continue to have just as many haters as you do avid followers. I don’t make the rules, I just live in a world governed by sports writers that do.

The media is very good at making something out of nothing. It’s just what they do. Without their prowess and tenacity toward creating headlines, Gridiron Experts probably wouldn’t have our website and ESPN may never have existed. I get it, we need the media. But when it comes down to it, we as people are all individually responsible for the things that we do or do not say. We’re all responsible for the things we choose to, or choose not to believe. We all form opinions. Sometimes it’s with the help of friends, sometimes it’s upon reading a convincing article written by an obviously talented writer, or sometimes it’s through our own research of a certain topic. Either way, we are all opinionated people and are all capable of believing anything we want to. We’re all guilty of the occasional “harsh judgment” just as we are of going “too easy” on someone. Whether you believe this to be a harsh judgment of our friend Mr. Tebow, or if you’re on the opposite end of the spectrum, it’s certainly your right as a human being to feel however you wish. But let’s keep one thing in mind, it’s probably not his fault that such a spectacle has been made about him, so let’s try and take it easy when we judge him.

The media’s contributions to this story have definitely influenced the overall composition of the script, that’s a given. Without the media, who knows what the Tebow story would even resemble. Yes, Tebow has written some of it for himself with his improbable victories, his 4th quarter comebacks and his positive attitude. But before we go and hand him the league MVP and man of the year awards, let’s see if he can continue to handle the pressure that being the talk of the league brings with it, as well as perform at a Pro-Bowl level. And let’s see if he can do all this with the understanding that a separation of church and touchdown dances is in order. If he can do all this, maybe then he’ll win over those that haven’t hopped on the Tebow train quite yet. Until then, he’ll remain questionable as a member of the “well liked athlete club” in the eyes of those doubters. Which side of the tracks are you on?

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NFL Dream Road Trip

I wanted to break away from the gloom and doom of any NFL playoff potentials that saw their Super Bowl chances disappear over the weekend. This time of year is depressing, as weather does have an effect on the day to day routine. Throw in the always crushing feeling of being eliminated from the playoffs, and weeks can feel like months.

But…it’s a new year, which means many great things are on the horizon, if you make them happen. I for one am trying to break a bad habit of being bummed out this season. For a change I have a real positive vibe moving forward in 2012, and even have a cool business idea that I’d like to share with you.

Before I begin, let me tell you that this is more of a “long term goal” of mine than it is a business idea. Maybe even a bucket list task.

Last week a few friends and I were hanging out when someone suggested that we drop everything and drive up to San Francisco to see the game on Saturday. It may have been the beers talking, but we all had that look our faces like “Yes! Let’s do it.” There were no major fans in the crowd of either playoff team, but the idea of a spontaneous road-trip was addictive enough. I have never planned a last minute Las Vegas trip, or gone to the airport to catch a Mexico vacation on standby, so it was very much out of character for me. We all busted out the smart phones as we needed to score tickets and to check the pros and cons of driving vs. just flying.

Unfortunately, after doing the math and looking at some outrageously overpriced tickets, we watched the game at the pub, which was still just as cool.

Still, the conversation about seeing a game outside the San Diego area did seem like an experience that would be fun. We began to talk about wanting to watch a game in each of the most epic stadiums in the NFL. Which lead to an interesting idea:

What if you could see an NFL game in every NFL stadium in one season?

It would be like an NFL experience meets Guinness Book of World Records. Our concept for a business was there, it was more or less a vacation package that would be a 17 week adventure.

With all of the Thursday and Monday night games, we figured such a concept would be very much possible. We started to hash out the ultimate driving directions based on last years NFL schedule and began pitching ideas that could make the trip a huge success.

Pulling off such a trip would cost thousands, but it was still fun to hash out the details with friends over a few beers. Just think about how cool that would be, 32 NFL games in 17 weeks! If you build it, they will come-lol

I plan to follow up with an article at a later date for the ultimate NFL road trip, when the new schedule comes out. Hopefully I can even ballpark an estimate for such a massive road trip…maybe we can make it an over/under contest on how expensive it would be.

More or less I think the reason I felt I needed to post this short story tonight is to remind any bummed out NFL/fantasy fans that life is short, and good friends are hard to find. So if you didn’t get to see your team win it all, there is always next year.

I’m sure my ultimate road trip business will likely turn into a pipe-dream, but there is a cool way to score tickets to the Super Bowl. The Visa’s YOU+TEN Draft app is the perfect follow up to entering the Visa XLVII NFL Super Bowl Sweepstakes and helps users decide what 10 friends to take if they were to win a trip to the Super Bowl. 10 friends! That’s like half my bus trip right there!

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Peyton Hillis Believes: The Madden Curse Strikes again

Oh, so now you’re a believer! The Madden Curse strikes again

“Things didn’t work in my favor this year. There’s a few things that happened this year that made me believe in curses. Ain’t no doubt about it.” said Peyton Hillis.

Cleveland Browns coach Pat Shurmur was asked if Peyton Hillis, who ran for 1,177 yards last year and has only 557 this year, is part of the team’s plans going forward. Shurmur was noncommittal with each answer, saying the decision would be made following an off-season evaluation.

“As we look at our roster and we look at building our team, we’ve got to consider everything,” Shurmur said. “One thing you’ve seen about Peyton is that, in the last month or so, he’s gotten himself healthy and he’s performed well. That’s the Peyton everyone was used to seeing a year ago.”

The Madden Curse Recap

• RB Eddie George appeared on the 2001 cover, the Titans lost in the 2001 playoffs. George also never averaged more than 3.3 yards per carry for the rest of his career.
• After appearing on the Madden 2002 cover, Daunte Culpepper threw 23 interceptions as the Vikings slumped to a 5–11 record. He also broke the record for most fumbles in a single season.
• Marshall Faulk appeared on the 2003 cover, after which he did not register another 1,000 yard rushing season and his yards per carry average dropped from a consistent 5.4 over the previous three years to 4.5 in 2002 and 4.0 in 2003 and 2004. He started 21 out of a possible 32 games from 2002–2003 as knee injuries got the best of him, then ended his career.
• Michael Vick’s curse resulted in a broken fibula in a pre-season game against the Baltimore Ravens, and the Atlanta Falcons went 5-11. Going to jail was all him though.
• Ray Lewis starred on the 2005 cover as the first middle linebacker for the game. His season was cut short in week 15 with a wrist injury. It was also Lewis’ first season without an interception. The Ravens were more of a team meltdown than Lewis himself, but as the first defensive player it was a mixed bag of problems for the team as a whole.
• In 2006, Philadelphia Eagles QB Donovan McNabb tore his ACL while falling down like an old lady in a game versus the Tennessee Titans, ending his season. McNabb also suffered a sports hernia in the first game of the season.
• RB Shaun Alexander (who? oh yeah I remember that guy) …let’s just say his career was as good as gone after starring on the cover.
• In 2007, CNBC reported that a large number of LaDainian Tomlinson’s fans, who believed strongly in the Madden Curse, were opposed to EA Sports’ initial decision to feature him on the 2008 cover. They were so unhappy one fan created SaveLTfromMadden.com to voice their disdain.
• In 2008 Vince Young appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to officially announce that he would appear on the cover of Madden NFL 2008. He tried to destroy and allegations of becoming the Madden Curse’s next victim, and even stated, “I’ve done prayed about it and we’re gonna go home and try to get to the playoffs and try to get to the Super Bowl. We’ll see what happens.” =Fail
• Brett Favre appeared on the cover of Madden NFL 2009 as a Green Bay Packer, under the impression that Favre was retired. However, shortly after the decision, Favre came back out of retirement and was traded to the New York Jets. A lot of interceptions and photos of his junk being sent to sexy news reporters, and his season was clearly cursed.
• In ’09 Larry Fitzgerald, star WR for the Arizona Cardinals, and safety Troy Polamalu of the Steelers, were both featured on the cover of Madden NFL 10. Polamalu sprained his MCL in the first half of the season, while Fitzgerald started all 16 regular season and both playoff games for the Cardinals. He did not attend the Pro Bowl due to a rib injury. Still, Larry Fitzgerald recorded 97 receptions (third-most of his NFL career), 1,092 yards (fourth-most), and a career-high 13 touchdowns. It seems that there was a coin flip for the double headed Madden cover that year, and Polamalu lost.
• The Madden 11 cover Drew Brees played in every game of the 2010, however, he did throw twice as many interceptions (22) that season. Also, Brees QB Rating dropped nearly 20 points, and the Saints lost in the first round of the playoffs to the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks. Ouch!
• Just updated…drum roll please! Madden 12 cover NFL athlete Peyton Hillis has missed five games this year and was a fantasy bust. After a hamstring injury along with a note from his mommy to miss one game with strep throat, Peyton Hillis revamped the Madden Curse in glorious fashion. In addition, there was poor display of behavior in the Browns locker room during the season, particularly with regards to his contentious contract negotiations. It has been rumored that Hillis will leave the Browns at the end of the 2011-2012 season as a free agent.

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NFL Power Rankings Week 17

It was a cheerful holiday weekend for some, while others watched their playoff hopes fade into the oblivion. The end of the 2011 NFL season is near and the postseason picture continues to get clearer as the NFC and AFC squads prepare for battle in January. Another regular season is closing down, but there’s still a lot to look forward to.

Carolina demolished the Buccaneers; the Colts surprised the playoff bound Texans and the Philadelphia Eagles hindered the Dallas Cowboys from helping them wrap up the NFC East. Week 17 is going to be a barn-burner in a sense that it will decide the NFC East Champion as well as determine how the AFC West will be won. Prepare yourselves for division rivalry week in the NFL.

Lets not delay any further and take a look at the Power Rankings heading into Week 17.

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NFL Cheerleaders With Holiday Spirit

We wish everyone a safe a happy holiday with their friends and family!

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If you look closely, you’ll see a few Tampa Bay Buccaneer cheerleaders added to show. What can I tell yeah, they’re smoking hot and are needed to add a little love to the gallery. Hey, it works…they’re wearing Christmas red.

Have fun eating Turkey and drinking EggNog

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