Archive for December, 2012

Roger Goodell says the NFL Competition Committee will consider a proposal to eliminate kickoffs.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is floating an idea to end kickoffs as a part of his effort to make football less dangerous.

Goodell mentioned the idea during an interview with Time magazine.

Under the plan, which Goodell said will be considered by the NFL Competition Committee, kickoffs would be eliminated. Instead, the team that would normally be kicking off would get the ball at its own 30-yard line. But instead of starting at first and 10, the down and distance would be fourth and 15. At that point, the team could elect to either go for the first down or punt the ball away. If the team chose to go for it and failed, the other team would get the ball at that spot.

The idea was first proposed by Tampa Bay coach Greg Schiano, who was the coach at Rutgers in 2010 when defensive tackle Eric LeGrand was paralyzed during a kickoff return.

Goodell talked about the proposal before …

Continue reading Goodell floats idea to end kickoffs »

Was there anything more hideous worn on the field, sideline or court than the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 1934 throwback uniforms?

Well it was hard, but we found a few other regrettable sports looks for 2012.

Let’s hope 2013 is less, um, colorful.

More year in review: The year in sports | Notable deaths in sports

Need gift ideas? For dudes | For gals | For techies | For sports junkies

Continue reading Sports fashion faux pas »

Chipper Jones was a baseball sensation in his 19-season career, piling up 2,726 hits, 468 homers and a .303 career batting average.

But the former Braves third baseman became an internet sensation Thursday when word, and a photo, spread around the World Wide Web that Jones is dating a Playboy model.

Chipper with Taylor Higgins. Photo from deadspin.com

Jones, who tweeted on November 16 that his divorce from his second wife was final, has been spotted with Taylor Higgins, Bustedcoverage.com and several other websites reported. The sites also posted a photo of the couple posing for a photo at an unknown location.

Higgins is known professionally as Lexi Ray or Lexi Ray Taylor. Bustedcoverage.com says Higgins was once a Playboy coed of the week, and that she “specialized in naked shower videos and your run-of-the-mill naked photo shoots.”

A 2010 bio on Higgins said she was studying nursing at the University of Kentucky and quoted Higgins as saying, “I’m surprisingly good at …

Continue reading Chipper Jones spotted with Playboy model »

Twenty years ago, Atlanta’s Patmon Malcom kicked the game-winning field goal – twice, no less – to help Army defeat Navy, 25-24, and complete a 17-point comeback.

His first attempt from 44 yards was flagged for delay of game, so he had to kick it again from 49 yards.

It was the last field goal of Malcom’s career.

He graduated and spent eight years in the Army flying Blackhawk helicopters.

He returned to Atlanta, earned an MBA from Emory and went to work for J.P. Morgan in New York doing investment banking. For the past eight years he has worked in the Atlanta firm of Earnest Partners, where he is now a partner focusing on investment management.

Malcom won’t be at Saturday’s Army-Navy game, but he will be watching it with friends and family from his home in Milton.

Q: Would it be inaccurate to think that you, a Cadet, were scared before the kick?

A: I don’t know if you would call it scared. In the moment, you don’t realize how big it is. It was my job. That’s …

Continue reading Atlanta kicker recalls field goal that helped Army beat Navy »

Georgia’s Jarvis Jones didn’t win the Lombardi Award Wednesday night in Houston, finishing behind Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o for the honor going to the nation’s best lineman or linebacker.

Now the two linebackers will head to Orlando Thursday to see who wins the Bednarik Award for defensive player of the year.

Georgia’s Jan. 1 game against Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl could be Jarvis Jones’s final college game.

Te’o has more tackles (103) than Jones (77) this season and more interceptions (7) than Jones (1). But Jones has more tackles for losses (22.5 to 5.5), more sacks (12.5 to 1.5) and more forced fumbles (7 to 0). Both recovered two fumbles.

Jones, Te’o, Alabama offensive lineman Barrett Jones and South Carolina defensive lineman Jadeveon Clowney were the four finalists for the Lombardi Award, and Jones, Te’o, and Clowney are the final three up for the Bednarik.

Te’o has already won the Nagurski Trophy as the nation’s top defensive player and the Butkus Award for …

Continue reading UGA’s Jones just misses Lombardi Award »

Does anybody want to coach Tennessee?

The Vols’ search for a head coach will continue as Louisville’s Charlie Strong has reportedly become the latest coach to turn down an offer to succeed Derek Dooley.

Sports Illustrated, citing an anonymous source, is reporting that Louisville and Strong are working on a contract extension that could be announced as early as Thursday.

“It was Charlie’s desire to end this constant speculation and re-commit long-term to Louisville,” the source was quoted as saying.

Strong, the former Florida defensive coordinator, took over the Cardinals program in 2010 and led them to a 10-2 record and a berth in the Sugar Bowl against Florida this year.

On Wednesday it was reported that Tennessee offered the job to Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, but Gundy also turned the job down. Earlier speculation had centered on former NFL coach Jon Gruden, but Gruden also said he had no interest in the job.

Tennessee is the last of four SEC schools to fill its …

Continue reading Report: Strong turns down Tennessee job »

From the Associated Press

Auburn has turned to Gus Malzahn to restore a program that made an unprecedented fall two years after winning the national title with Cam Newton operating the then-assistant coach’s high-powered offense to perfection.

Malzahn was the Tigers’ offensive coordinator during their 2010 national championship run before heading to Arkansas State for his first college head coaching position. He received a five-year contract worth $2.3 million annually to try to get the team back on solid footing.

“I recruited a lot of them and have very good relationships,” Malzahn said. “I just told them our expectations are to win championships. Whatever happened last year happened last year. It’s a new day. We’re going to put a good brand of football on the field and we’re going to have fun doing it.”

He led the Red Wolves to a 9-3 record, a Sun Belt Conference title and a berth in the GoDaddy.com Bowl, then parlayed that into a job in the powerhouse Southeastern …

Continue reading Auburn hires Malzahn as head coach »

Sports radio talk show host Chuck Oliver said Monday he was guilty of “horrible timing” in asking UGA Coach Mark Richt a question about losing big games after Saturday night’s SEC Championship Game.

Oliver, part of the “Chuck and Chernoff Show” on 680 the Fan, said he used “awful, terrible, wretched, horrid judgment” in posing such a question after Georgia’s emotional 32-28 loss to Alabama, a game many are calling the greatest SEC championship game ever.

In the exchange at a post-game press conference, Oliver asked Richt: “There are some people, whether its fans, media or whomever else, that may want to make further conclusions about you or your quarterback specifically in big games. Would you have any response to those people?”

Richt: “I don’t know what you’re saying. Why don’t you just say it straight up what you’re trying to say.”

Oliver: “There will be people who say that you and Aaron Murray specifically come up short on the biggest stage against the biggest opponents. Do …

Continue reading Radio host apologizes for question to Richt »

Longtime assistant Fred Williams has been named coach and general manager of the Dream.

Williams has served as interim coach since Marynell Meadors was fired in late August. He signed a one-year contract with the Dream holding the option of a one-year extension. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity,” he said. “I’ve been here from the start of the organization and have helped build the organization to where it is today.”

Williams, who has been on staff since the team was started play in 2008, led them to an 8-5 record, which included a 2-1 series loss to Indiana in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Dream, which lost in the WNBA finals each of the previous two years, finished 19-15.

Williams has been a head coach on the college level (USC) and pro level (WNBA’s Utah Starzz, NWBL’s San Diego).

He said he doesn’t plan on changing the team’s philosophy. He wants them to continue to push the pace.

He also plans on …

Continue reading Williams named coach and GM of Dream »

NBC’s Bob Costas used his halftime commentary on “Sunday Night Football” to call for stricter gun control in the wake of the murder-suicide involving Kansas City Chiefs player Jovan Belcher.

In a 90-second statement, Costas quoted Fox Sports writer Jason Whitlock:

In the aftermath of the nearly unfathomable events in KC, that most mindless of sports cliches was heard yet again: Something like this really puts it all in perspective … You want some actual perspective on this? Well a bit of it comes from the Kansas City-based writer Jason Whitlock, with whom I do not always agree, but who today said it so well that we may as well just quote or paraphrase from the end of his article. “Our current gun culture,” Whitlock wrote, “ensures that more and more domestic disputes will end in the ultimate tragedy, and that more convenience store confrontations over loud music coming from a car will leave more teenage boys bloodied and dead. Handguns do not enhance our safety. They …

Continue reading Costas calls for gun control on ‘Sunday Night Football’ »