Falcons Finally Have a Chance to Get Off to a Good Start in the Opening Month Posted on Minggu, 20 Februari 2011 | 0 komentar

There are seven clubs that are candidates for rebound status in 2006 the seven flopped relatively miserably in 2005, averaging only 6.6 victories and three of the clubs finishing in last place in their divisions. They are: Atlanta, Green Bay, Minnesota, the New York Jets, Philadelphia, St. Louis and San Diego. All made the postseason in 2004, and the Eagles played in Super Bowl XXXIX.

The Atlanta Falcons have never won consecutive campaigns in the 40-year history of the franchise. The Falcons are under intense pressure from ownership to win big in 2006 and probably we will find the truth about them two polarized very polarized performances. The consequence of owner Arthur Blank's off-season spending and the all defensive renovations promulgated by general manager Rich McKay and Mora could be, even in what figures to be a fiercely contended NFC South, a rebound return to postseason play.

Team officials have made no pretense about their snooty expectations for 2006. Although, the Falcons seem to be flying undetected, management expects the team to ascend, and much of the off-season actions that the team has taken about their roster and trainings, particularly on the defensive side, were designed to produce immediate results.

Despite the fact, the Falcons face eight 2005 playoff teams, including the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, their schedule ranks as just the 15th most difficult in the league. The NFC South has become a challenging division. So the Falcons will get an early measure of their worthiness. They face all three divisional foes, including a season opener at Carolina, in their first three outings.

Italian Pride Hit with the Sentences for the Calcio Posted on Sabtu, 25 Desember 2010 | 0 komentar

After they won the World Cup, Italy finds itself in one of the biggest match fixing scandals in the decade. Four of the biggest clubs on the Continent have been recently found guilty of paying to have the marches fixed and the severe punishments include demotion and points deductions.

Juventus, the champions, where relegated from Serie A to Serie B and they were given a 30 point deduction for next season. Fiorentina was also relegated to Serie B and hit with -12 points for next season; Lazio, relegated to Serie B and docked seven points. Milan docked 44 points in last season's standings, dropping them to eighth place and outside the qualifying places for European competition, the Milan was not relegated and they will start next season with -15 points.

The scale of the punishment is difficult to comprehend for many. Only Roma among the champions of the past 15 seasons remain untouched. Those four have won all but two of the past 20 titles. But the response to the sentences has been mixed within Italy. It definitely strikes around 20 million fans of the soccer in that country, since their best players are now forced to play abroad.

Some say that the sentences are not fair since the sport of soccer as a whole is not corrupt, and some thought that this kind of justice is what it takes to clean the calcio from corruption. And some say that the next step should be to rewrite the rules of Italian soccer in order to prevent this from happening again.

Barry Bonds, only One More Record to Break to Become Number 1 Posted on Kamis, 27 Mei 2010 | 0 komentar

With a 445-foot landing over the center field wall of the Giants' waterfront AT&T Park, two run shot Barry Bonds beat his magical 715th home run, overtaking baseball legend Babe Ruth for second place on the all-time home-run list. In the fourth-inning Bonds swung a ball that Colorado Rockies' starting pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim threw and it came a week after he matched Ruth's 714 career home runs during an inter-league game against the Oakland Athletics to end a nearly two-week fall.

He broke the “Bambino’s” record struggling through injuries on his knee over the past year, steroids scandals and the weight of 41 years. Bonds, who has already accomplished the Most Valuable Player award in seven occasions, now has only Hank Aaron's record of 755 home runs to beat in order to become the Major League’s Home Run King. A standing ovation to Bonds was held on the stands, a faithful hero who has looked past the outfielder's central role in baseball.

Giants fans had packed AT&T Park, longing to see Bonds make baseball history this week for games with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Colorado Rockies. After facing public examination, and lot of obstacles from his opponents, as Bonds rounded the bases, the scents of delight and liberation came out of the stands.