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FOOTBALL

In the NFL, some great news for Peyton Manning.  After suffering a neck injury, resulting in a serious surgery.  That ruled him out for this season, and many wondered if he would ever play again.  Thursday, it appears that team doctors (as well as external doctors) have approved Peyton Manning to continue his NFL career.  Now, if Peyton actually is fully healthy, he’s still a Top 4 quarterback in the NFL.  Nobody sees the field like Peyton Manning.  After all, he pretty much operates as the offensive coordinator on the Colts — reading plays at the line, and has full authority to audible without checking with the staff.  He’ll definitely be playing next year, but the question is where.

There is some other news that could answer that question.  Andrew Luck, the likely overall #1 pick in the NFL Draft, went on record yesterday saying that he wanted to play right away in the NFL.  If the Colts do pick him, it’s most likely that they will want to appease him, which means that Manning shouldn’t be around.  And benching Manning in favor of Luck just doesn’t feel right.  Imagine if Luck comes out and throws 2 picks in the first half, do they bring in Manning?  And if Manning, throws 3 touchdowns in the second half, do they start Andrew Luck in Week 2.  That QB battle would certainly raise a lot of issues.  Anyway, Luck’s statement suggests that Manning is most likely headed out of town.

In some Super Bowl news, Patriots genius coach Bill Belichick did something unprecedented in practice the other day — something that had the media raving.  What did he do?  In order to simulate the flow of the game as best he could, Belichick simulated… the halftime show.  Yep, after the guys were all charged, Belichick had them head into the locker room and sit there for the full 30 minutes.  Obviously, there was no halftime, but he wants his team as prepared as possible for the game-time situations on Sunday.  The players loved it, saying they needed to know how it felt to stop and start again.  When you’re raging in the first half out there, it’s easy to lose your momentum during a 30 minute break.  Belichick wants his team just as ready and hot in the second half as they are in the first.  Never before in the history of practice has a coach simulated a halftime break.  But this may be the reason that Belichick gets his 4th Super Bowl ring with the Patriots.

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In the NBA, the Chicago Bulls edged out the New York Knicks, at Madison Square Garden, Thursday night. Carmelo Anthony had the chance to even up the score at 105 to end the game, but was unable to hit a deep and covered 3 to send the game to overtime. He ended up with 26 points and six rebounds on the night. After not playing well in his last game, reigning MVP Derrick Rose came up big in the bright lights of New York with 32 points, four rebounds and 13 assists. And the biggest part of Rose’s game was when he came up with 15 points in the fourth quarter. The Knicks came up a little short even with Amare Stoudemire’s season high 34 points and 11 rebounds.

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In the NBA, the Philadelphia 76ers are for real. They hosted the Chicago Bulls at home on Wednesday night and blew them away 98 – 82. Andre Iguodala had 19 points, nine rebounds, and four assists on the night to lead Philadelphia to the win. For the Bulls, Derrick Rose was the only starter in double figures on the night with 18 points. The 76ers moved to 12 – 2 at home and 16 – 6 overall, while the Bulls move to 18 – 6 overall.

Along with Derrick Rose not being able to help pull out a win for his team, Dirk Nowitzki went 2 -15 shooting for the Dallas Mavericks. He ended up with eight points on the night against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder took the game 95 – 86. Kevin Durant had a double-double on the night with 23 points and 13 rebounds and Russell Westbrook contributed 33 points to the win.

In College Basketball, the number two-ranked Syracuse Orange have reinstated their big man Fab Melo. Melo, who stands at seven feet tall, missed the past three games for academic issues. The sophomore is averaging just over 7 points and 5 rebounds per game. Syracuse is 22-1 overall and 9 – 1 in the Big East. The Orange’s sole loss came in Melo’s first game he missed at Notre Dame.

BASKETBALL

In the NBA, the Knicks have been struggling of late losing their last three and nine of their last 10. On Tuesday night, the Knicks looked to turn around their losing ways against the Detroit Pistons. The Knicks at home, bounced back to win big, 113 – 86. The difference between last night and the previous week of games — Carmelo Anthony. Anthony returned to the court and scored 25 points to jump-start New York’s offense. As a team, the Knicks shot 60 percent for the year, their highest percentage of the year. The Knicks next game is against the Bulls at home Thursday night.

 NASCAR

After sources leaked the story earlier in the week, it is official that Stewart Haas Racing has finalized an alliance with Tommy Baldwin Racing. What does that mean? It means Danica Patrick will start in the Daytona 500. And she will get to keep her Number 10 car. She will be able to run in the Sprint Cup opener, and the goal is to keep her car in the top 35 of racers. The reason for that is because Patrick would then be able to get a guaranteed a starting spot in the first races of 2013.

 FOOTBALL

In the NFL, the rumors around Peyton Manning have been spiraling out of control. After a tweet last week from actor Rob Lowe, Colts owner Jim Irsay’s good friend, that Manning was retiring, no one knew what was true or not. Early yesterday reports began to surface that Manning was recovering well from his neck surgery, but his nerves in his arm were not healing well and couldn’t get velocity on his passes. But last night, Manning spoke out about his surgery, saying he won’t retire. He said he feels really good. The Colts are expected to take Andrew Luck with the 1^st overall pick.

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In the NBA, Derrick Rose helped the Chicago Bulls rebound from a bad loss to the Miami Heat with a 98 – 88 win over the Washington Wizards. Rose scored a season high 35 points. He had 13 points in the first quarter, and shot 14 of 15 from the foul line. Rose added eight assists to his box score.

And while the Bulls rebounded, the Minnesota Timberwolves helped their coach Rick Adelman win in his return to Houston. The Timberwolves outscored the Rockets 120 -108 with the help of Michael Beasley’s 34 points and Kevin Love’s 29. Ricky Rubio added 18 points, 11 assists and 8 rebounds.

FOOTBALL

In the NFL, the New England Patriots number one receiving threat and record-setting tight end, Rob Gronkowski, sat out practice on Monday. This was Gronkowski’s third practice in a row he has missed. He remains sidelined with a high ankle sprain on his left leg that he suffered in the AFC Championship Game. Gronkowski is expected to play in the Super Bowl on Sunday, but more than 80 percent of their plays have two tight ends on the field. The catch — the Patriots have no listed back up. Gronkowski totaled 90 catches on the year for more than 1,300 yards and a tight end record 17 touchdowns.

FOOTBALL

In the NFL, the league’s best and brightest stars took the field in Honolulu. The game under the sun had most players playing at half speed. Nobody was hitting each other; nobody was trying all that hard, except for the one man who set a Pro Bowl-record four touchdown passes — Brandon Marshall. Marshall was crowned the MVP in the AFC’s 59 – 41 win over the NFC. With the win, each AFC player earned $50,000 and the NFC players received $25,000 for participating.

BASKETBALL

In the NBA, the Chicago Bulls went down to South Beach to play the Miami Heat and just couldn’t quite get their job done. The Bulls made the game extremely close, coming to within two points of the Heat with under 30-seconds to play. Derrick Rose, the reigning MVP, who had hit a perfect 12 – 12 from the line for the night, missed both free throws that would have tied the game. Rose’s miss were his first two misses in the 4^th quarter of any game this season after previously hitting 29 free throws. But, the game wasn’t over as quickly as that. LeBron James was fouled and sent to the line. He also missed his two shots at the charity stripe. James missed six straight points at the end of the fourth quarter, which kept hope alive for the Bulls. But, Chicago just couldn’t get over the hump in the game. Rose had 34 points, six rebounds and six assists in the game, while James topped him with 35 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.

 TENNIS

The Australian Open finals were what some analysts call the best Open era finals ever. Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal volleyed back and forth for almost 6 hours. This final was the longest Grand Slam singles final in the history of the sport. Last year, Djokovic beat Nadal all six times they played on the tour. The match went five sets, where most sets went at least one hour. This is Djokovic’s 5^th grand slam win and 3^rd consecutive finals win.

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In the NBA, the Orlando Magic seemed to be coasting throughout the first half of Thursday nights game against the Boston Celtics. The Magic appeared to have a team wide brain freeze. At one point they had a 27-point lead on the Celtics, but ended up losing by the score of 91 – 83. The Celtics outscored the Magic in the fourth quarter 27 to 8. E’Twaun Moore served as the spark plug for Boston and had 16 points off the bench.  Three starters were out for Boston, which left Paul Pierce to take over the game. Pierce had 24 points, 6 rebounds and 10 assists.

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In the NFL, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been looking this past week to hire a new coach after they fired Raheem Morris after three seasons. Morris went 17-31 over that time period, and the Bucs were not happy with last year’s 4 – 12 record. Thursday afternoon, the team hired former Rutgers coach, Greg Schiano. The former Rutgers coach signed a five-year deal. As the Scarlet Knights head coach, he led Rutgers to a 49 – 28 record since the 2006 season.

GOLF

In the world of golf, Tiger Woods looks to resurrect himself after a couple brutal years on the PGA tour. Woods trails the leader by only two strokes at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship where he had yet to hit a bogey. Woods trails Thorbjorn Olesen going into the final two rounds of the tournament. Woods has a 36-hole total of 5-under 139. Woods says he feels better than he has in along time, and the golf world surely needs him to come back strong.

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In the NFL, the coaching carousel is in full swing and two more coaches look to be announced soon. The Indianapolis Colts named Chuck Pagano as their next head coach. Pagano looks to bring the intensity and defensive mindset to the Colts that he had as the defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens. The Colts dealt with a dreadful season without future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning. They will have the first pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, where many analysts speculate they will take the highly touted quarterback from Stanford, Andrew Luck.  If that is the case, then look for the Colts to move Manning, who is coming off a major neck injury. The other coach that looks to be named very soon is Denver Broncos defensive coordinator, Dennis Allen, who will be named the head coach of the Oakland Raiders. After the death of owner Al Davis, the ownership decided to go with a new head coach.

Along with new coaches, Commissioner Roger Goodell has had his contract extended until the 2018 season. Over his tenure he has had to deal with a 4 ½ month long lockout, which ended in a 10-year work agreement. Goodell took over from long time commissioner Paul Tagliabue in 2006.

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In the NBA, the Minnesota Timberwolves have agreed to a deal with NBA All Star Kevin Love for another four years.  The deal is worth around $60 million. The final year of the contract will be an option year for Love. The Timberwolves have given themselves a nice young core with Rubio and last year’s number two overall pick Derrick Williams. Love this year is averaging nearly 25 points and 14 rebounds with a half a block per game.

BASEBALL

In the MLB, big slugging first baseman Prince Fielder has finally been signed. His agent Scott Boras, came through for his client on a nine-year $214 million dollar deal with the Detroit Tigers. Last year, the Tigers ran away with the American League Central by 15 games over the second place team. And with the recent news of Victor Martinez, out for the season, Detroit felt the need to make sure they did not lose a beat with their offensive attack. Fielder had a down year only hitting .299 with 38 home runs and 120 RBI. But, over the past five years, the three-time All Star, has averaged more than 40 home runs and 113 RBI’s.  And as Fielder hopes to make the AL All Star team, former St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is coming back to manage the National League squad in the All Star Game next season. La Russa will be the second retired manager to manage in the All Star Game. Hall of Fame manager John McGraw was the first.

Retired La Russa wasn’t the only retired player making headlines yesterday. Jorge Posada, the 17-year veteran catcher, announced his retirement. Posada is one of only five catchers all-time with 1,500 hits, 350 doubles, 275 home runs, and 1,000 RBIs. His career in the Bronx helped the Yankees rack up four World Series titles in his tenure with the team.

BASKETBALL

In the NBA, the Chicago Bulls may be in a little bit of trouble. Luol Deng is going to be out a “while.” Deng tore a ligament in his left wrist. This is the same injury Deng had on his opposite wrist during his rookie season. Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau described Deng as “week to week.” Deng will not undergo surgery, but has not ruled it out as an option. Deng so far this year is averaging nearly 16 points and 7.5 rebounds for the league leading Bulls.

BASKETBALL

In College Basketball, the new polls came out yesterday and both had the University of Kentucky as the top team in the country. In the AP poll, Kentucky was joined by the Missouri Tigers, Syracuse Orange, Ohio State Buckeyes and Kansas Jayhawks, to round out the top 5, followed by the Kentucky Wildcats. Syracuse fell out of the top spot after losing at unranked Notre Dame this past weekend. Arguably their best player, Fab Melo sat out his second straight game, which the university says is due to academic reasons. If Melo does not return, the Orange will have to figure out a way to replace the big man in the center of their infamous 2-3 zone.

HOCKEY

In the NHL, Washington Capitals forward and NHL superstar, Alex Ovechkin was suspended for three games. The suspension was dealt out to him on Monday after he lunged himself into Pittsburgh Penguin defenseman Zbynek Michalek, even though no in game penalty was assessed. The Capitals lost the game to the Penguins 4 -3 in overtime. Ovechkin stands to lose more than $150,000 after the incident and is not eligible to return until February 4th against the Montreal Candiens. The Capitals next three games are against Boston, Tampa Bay and Florida.

FOOTBALL

In the NFL, even thought the 49ers have been eliminated from the playoffs, they still seem to be the topic of conversation. Young wide receiver, Kyle Williams has been receiving death threats since the end of the game. Williams was responsible for two fumbled punts in the Conference playoff game on Sunday; both of which led to Giants points. The second fumbled punt, was in overtime and set the Giants up for an easy score to end the game. Willliams calls the threats ‘shocking’ and says he hopes none come to fruition.