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 Former Colts Now Broncos QB Peyton Manning - Source Wikimedia Author Ian Ransley Last Winter’s “Tebow-ing” in the Mile High City has quickly morphed into this Spring’s “Manning-ing!”
Yesterday, highly coveted quarterback Peyton Manning, arguably the most sought after free agent in NFL history, announced through his agent Tom Condon that he will sign with the Denver Broncos. The four time NFL MVP’s decision to join the Broncos will bolster a potentially powerful Denver offense which displayed intermittent moments of moderate success last season under exciting, but erratic QB Tim Tebow.
In spite of the widespread “Tebow-mania” celebrated in Denver during the Broncos unlikely run into last season’s playoffs, team executive and Hall of Famer John Elway never seemed sold on the former Heisman Trophy winning Tebow as his quarterback of the future. Elway’s “Tebow-ing” doubt has forced him to believe in “Manning-ing” certainty.
By signing Manning, Elway demonstrates that the team’s future is NOW by placing the ball in the hands of the soon to be 36 year-old former Indianapolis Colt who is expected to sign a five year deal today worth a purported $95 million.
Elway’s calculated coup in wooing the prized quarterback, who missed all of last season due to a neck injury, should yield its desired result. With Manning as their quarterback, the Colts averaged a 12 – 4 record from 2001 – 2010 and advanced to two Super Bowls, winning one. In addition, Manning’s incomparable leadership should immediately position Denver as a top 2013 Super Bowl contender.
However, where the Manning signing leaves Tebow will remain to be seen. Denver could further empower Manning by utilizing Tebow’s punishing running ability as a diverse H-back weapon in the eagerly anticipated high-octane Manning offense. Or, Tebow could arm Elway with an attractive trade chip to deal the devout Christian to an offensively-minded creative coach like Bill Belichick who usually finds a way to expertly employ other teams’ cast-offs or expendable players.
Regardless of what happens with Tebow, the Broncos have immediately become a better team. While Tebow’s unprecedented Jeremy Lin type success from last season will only serve as a reminder of how fleeting fame can be, the Manning acquisition certainly doesn’t doesn’t mean that we’ve heard or seen the last of Tebow.
However, as Manning masterfully manages the Broncos hurry-up offense in the Mile High City, expect defensive players from the opposing team to drop to their knees from exhaustion, not exactly ”Tebow-ing” but rather praying that Tim Tebow, and not Peyton Manning, was still playing quarterback for the Denver Broncos.
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MIKE – aka Mike Raffone – thee ultimate talking head on sports!
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 Ohio State Buckeye's Coach Thad Motta - Source Wikimedia Jmcmann It’s suddenly chic to talk about Ohio sports!
No, I’m not referring to Ohio State’s anticipated resurrection to BCS prominence under new coach Urban Meyer.
Nor am I alluding to any news pertaining to the state’s professional football, basketball, soccer or baseball sports teams.
However, I am enthusiastically reporting on the buzz that the NCAA college basketball tournament has brought to the Buckeye state.
Sports talk on every media outlet across the country now centers on the state of Ohio, surprisingly supplying one-fourth of the participants in March Madness’ 2012 Sweet Sixteen. So, from Cincinnati to Sandusky, Athens to Akron, Dayton to Toledo, and Cleveland to Columbus, the Buckeye State is beaming with pride.
By this weekend, expect American sports fans to become better acquainted with Ohio geography and fast familiar with four of the country’s best basketball teams.
The Big Ten’s Buckeyes from Columbus, the Big East’s Bearcats from Cincinnati, the A10′s Musketeers also from the Queen City and the MAC’s upstart Bobcats from Athens, all competing in the field of 16 later this week, will force casual sports fans to quickly forget about last year’s “Decision” by LeBron James in Cleveland, this year’s Bearcats – Musketeers’ brawl in Cincinnati and decades of unfulfilled finishes with the NFL’s Browns and Bengals…because NCAA college basketball has the state brimming with excitement.
Why again will all eyes be on Ohio this week? Ohio boasts four teams while rival states like Kentucky count two, neighboring states like Indiana tally two, Michigan posts one and Pennsylvania none. Even the country’s most populated states like New York, Florida and Texas can only muster a single entrant and California can’t compute a one.
So, whether you like to float your boat on Lake Erie in the state’s north or simply glide down the Ohio River in the south, the tide of fan sentiment has universally turned to the Buckeye state. Where it’s now chic to talk about Ohio sports!
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MIKE – aka Mike Raffone – thee ultimate talking head on sports!
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 Former NY Knicks Coach Mike D'Antoni - Source Wikimedia Author Matt Hickey It takes only one bad apple, or in this case one former Orangeman, to spoil the whole bunch.
The old adage, but with a clever twist, couldn’t be more pertinent to today’s NBA news.
That’s the speculation spewing out of the Big Apple today following Mike D’Antoni’s surprise resignation as coach of the New York Knicks.
D’Antoni’s sudden exodus was immediately attributed to his tenuous relationship with Knicks’ star forward Carmelo Anthony. Their widely reported basketball differences and philosophical styles of play have been peeled apart slice by slice since Anthony’s $65 million free agent signing and celebrated arrival in New York City last February.
However, yesterday it appeared that D’Antoni had experienced enough. The former Phoenix Suns coach couldn’t possibly envision anything good being saved or, for that matter, squeezed out coaching the contentious former Syracuse star.
Although Knicks management seemed shocked and saddened by the news, D’Antoni’s departure didn’t completely surprise fans following the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets – Carmelo’s former team.
Following Anthony’s block bluster trade last year, the Nuggets flourished and finished the 2010 – 2011 season with a 50 – 32 record. On the other hand, the Knicks have languished, especially with its current six game slide.
Currently, New York has fallen to an 18 – 24 record in spite of a starting line-up featuring Anthony, superstar power forward A’mare Stoudemire and defensive stalwart and 2011 NBA champion Tyson Chandler.
Statistical analysis following the Anthony trade has supported that the Nuggets improved their shooting percentage, offensive efficiency, scoring margin of victory, rebounding margin and defensive efficiency, while increasing ticket sales.
However, in New York, Anthony’s arrival has proved less promising. The Knicks have gone 26 – 37 with Carmelo in the line-up, while improving to 34 – 31 without him.
In addition, the roof that was rocking in Madison Square Garden with the improbable emergence of new NBA star Jeremy Lin, who helped transform the franchise while Anthony sat out games with a groin injury, began crumbling with Carmelo’s insertion back into the Knicks’ starting five.
As Anthony’s return corresponded with the Knicks spiraling, player grumblings turned into rumors which escalated into accusations that D’Antoni had lost the locker room.
Some Knicks believed their coach couldn’t corral Carmelo’s style of play or quietly crush the former Orangeman’s ego for the sake and success of the team – which ironically prospered with the perennial all star on the bench.
With new coach Mike Woodson now at the helm of the reeling Knicks’ ship, may Carmelo quickly rebound from his widely perceived selfishness as a pro basketball player and “me first” personality.
And may this former Syracuse Orangeman transform into the shining star that fans of the Big Apple’s Knicks have expected him to become.
Straight talk. No static.
MIKE – aka Mike Raffone – thee ultimate talking head on sports!
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 Today March Madness' nail biting officially begins. Today, America’s annual Nail Biting Binge officially begins.
Once again, those thin transparent plates covering the upper surfaces at the top of the end of your fingers are in big trouble; if you’re a serious college basketball fan – that is.
Regardless of your age, race, religion or socio-economic status, and whether you’re a fan of the Musketeers, Cavaliers or Mountaineers, the Wildcats, Cougars or Tigers, the Gaels, Owls or Cardinals, or even the Badgers, Bears or Boilermakers, starting this week your fingernails will never be same until well after Monday night, April 2nd, 2012.
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Maddened by another early March malaise, munchers, crunchers and nibblers alike will be unwittingly fidgeting and feasting on fingernails while watching their favorite schools participate in College Basketball’s Big Dance of 2012.
From Vegas to Vermont, Florida to Philadelphia, Washington, DC to Washington state and Mississippi to Montana, no normal basketball fans’ fingernails will escape unscathed! An onslaught of onychophagia (the medical world’s term for nail biting) will flourish – unchecked and unabated across all 50 states. The greatest cumulative nail loss this year will herald from the Tar Heel State as five teams from North Carolina have their tickets punched to compete for the coveted prom queen prize of playing in the Final Four in New Orleans during the first weekend in April.
So what’s next in this great Nail Biting Binge? Here are a few of my prognostications. For one, meticulously manicured nails will be marred, munched unmercifully. Gnarly nails will be noticeably nibbled and nervously gnawed to nothing.
As the NCAA field of 64 Men’s College Basketball Teams shrinks, sure to follow fast is the senseless slaughter of the nonliving epidermis surrounding the edges of the fingernails – making an un-pretty sight – un-prettier still!
In spite of this seemingly sanguine saga, prior tournament history shows that some nails will last longer with their cuticles carefully kept…at least for the first round or two…unless some sneaky Cinderella surreptitiously clips the claws of those fans, players, coaches and alumni from the NCAA’s more storied college basketball programs.
Expect Orange hued nails to be safe in Syracuse. Devilishly blue claws to escape any semblance of danger in Durham. And fly-over state fingernails to find them selves whole and healthy in Lawrence and Lexington as they sail straight into the field reserved for college basketball’s Sweet Sixteen.
Fortunately or sadly, depending on your perspective, Engineer fans from Lehigh and Hilltopper supporters from Western Kentucky should find solace in the security that they’ll probably not experience any reason whatsoever to nibble on their pinky nail or gnaw on their thumbnail as their teams’ chances for victory will vanish shortly after the opening tip against their heavily favored top seeded opponents.
However, as the brackets reduce and the nation’s annual Nail Biting Binge counts down to Monday night April 2nd, we’ll witness fans of these same number one seeds sporting gloves protecting Band Aid wrapped and Vaseline-laden fingers while watching their teams fight for a spot in the Final Four.
The great virtue of these notable Nail Biting Binges is that NO respectable college basketball fan really desires relief from this obsessive, compulsive behavioral habit. Serious followers will willingly grind down a nail or two or maybe even all ten. When some games go down to the wire, they may even begin working on their toenails.
But do they care?
By this same time next March, the nation’s cuticles will be cured and fingernails will be flourishing ….. only to be chipped, chomped, nipped and gnawed all over again for College Basketball’s Big Dance of 2013.
In the meantime I say, let the Nail Biting begin!
Straight talk. No static.
MIKE – aka Mike Raffone – thee ultimate talking head on sports!
http://www.facebook.com/theemikefans
 Magic's dwight Howard - Source Wikimedia Author Keith Allison After requesting to be traded to either the Dallas Mavericks, the New Jersey Nets or the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this season, it appears as if Dwight Howard will remain with the Orlando Magic following the Thursday, March 15th 3PM EST NBA trade deadline.
Yesterday, the all-star center stated that he wants to stay with the team for the rest of the season. Howard’s surprising remarks came after a thrilling 104 – 98 overtime victory over the Magic’s NBA Southeast rival the Miami Heat. Howard recorded 24 points and 25 rebounds, his eighth 20 – 20 performance of the season.
Speculation surrounding Howard’s pending free agency started several years ago at the same time the Magic announced plans to construct the dazzling new Amway Center, a world class sports and entertainment venue, in downtown Orlando.
Magic management hoped that Howard would both mature physically and emotionally as well as officially make Orlando his permanent NBA home by signing with the team before he could formally opt out of his current contract in July 2012.
However, Howard’s on-again, off-again trade requests have grown tiresome and annoying to Central Florida fans who had immediately embraced him as a fresh-faced teen-ager the Orlando franchise drafted as the league’s number one pick in 2004.
Now, it looks like Howard has the Magic wedged between a rock and a roller coaster at Orlando’s Universal Studios.
Trading Howard at this time will not yield the value it warrants, so Orlando brass is hoping the team can sign him to a contract extension before mid-summer, while wooing the right complimentary players to surround this self-proclaimed basketball superman.
Orlando Magic fans will soon discover that Howard’s idea of a future NBA home apparently doesn’t include the Amway Center or their smaller market city synonymous with Disney World. Plus, many NBA insiders believe that though now 26 years-old, the fickle Howard is best suited for the tepid Mickey Mouse oriented environment of the Magic Kingdom then the searing spotlight of the Big Apple, Big D or Hollywood.
Howard’s physical development on the court has been overwhelmingly positive. This reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year now boasts the NBA’s most chiseled physique, while emerging as the league’s most dominant defensive force.
However, his lack of demonstrable leadership and poise on the court, his penchant for petty bickering with team officials off the court and his glaring liability from the free throw line during key games have all led the complaining Howard down his current ”long and whining road” of basketball relationships; namely with:
* Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy – who has openly feuded with the NBA All Pro and has voiced his frustration concerning Howard’s immaturity and lack of leadership.
* Magic General Manager Otis Smith – with whom Howard has childishly engaged in off-court tit for tat games.
* NBA referees – who whistled the easily irritated number 12 for a league leading 18 technical fouls during the 2010 / 2011 season.
* And, now with loyal Orlando Magic fans – who have continually heard D12 publicly confess that he’s done all he possibly can in Orlando. Well, uh, maybe, except make free throws. Howard’s woeful career free throw shooting costs his team points and will always make him a part of opposing team’s “Hack-a-Shaq” strategy during crunch time of key playoff games.
Yes, Dwight Howard may be one of the NBA’s top talents and most engaging players. However, he needs to mature fast, measure his words, listen to his coach, make nice with his GM and NBA officials and, most importantly, make free throws.
Otherwise, NBA fans will continue to speculate about his pending free agency, and his road to an NBA title will be far longer and more circuitous, whether it’ll be in Orlando, Dallas, Los Angeles or Brooklyn.
Straight talk. No static.
MIKE – aka Mike Raffone – thee ultimate talking head on sports!
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 Miami Heat's LeBron James - Source Keith Allison in WikiMedia
Ferrari or Lamborghini?
Andrew Luck or RGIII?
Nike LeBron 9 or AdiZero Rose 2.5?
Different, yet so similar. Equally attractive nonetheless.
Sometimes choices can be painfully difficult, even when you can’t go wrong with either selection.
Hypothetically, let’s reset the shot clock. You now have 24 seconds to make the shot, or in this case, a critical decision.
You’re now the Owner and General Manager of an NBA Franchise with an unprecedented opportunity to select the overall number one pick in the next NBA Draft.
Knowing what you know today, and the selections were none other than LeBron James and Derrick Rose, on whose shoulders would you rest the fortunes of your franchise for the next several years?
Whom would you select?
Click here and read more……
http://bit.ly/A2AGnZ
One of tonight’s Cinderellas has heard all the names.
Unlikely under-dog, sleeper, dark horse, improbable entry, long shot, very long shot!
However, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers laugh away the names and dismiss all the cheap shops. Because, beginning at 6:35pm EST tonight on TruTV the least likely of NCAA Cinderellas will start dancing against Mississippi Valley State in the First Four play-in game. The winner squares off in the Field of 64 against the tournament’s overall number one seed the University of Kentucky Wildcats.
The Hilltoppers personify the reversal of fortune fate for which the Cinderella story was first crafted. However, of all 500+ iterations of the Cinderella Euro-fable, none comes close to mirroring the unexpected success of this 15 – 18 NCAA tournament bound team. WKU’s frenetic finish to an otherwise awful season qualifies them as this year’s crazy, incredulous entrant into the spectacular sports event cleverly coined March Madness.
Although Western Kentucky has enjoyed a rich basketball tradition highlighted by 22 NCAA invitations, seven Round of 16 successes and a 1971 Final our appearance, its 2011 – 2012 season had been fraught with difficulties.
A mid-season coaching change, dismal home game attendance and a bizarre 72 – 70 overtime loss in early January to a Lousiana-Lafayette team that employed six players on its inexplicable game winning possession appeared to doom the Hilltopper hopes for an even moderately successful 2011 – 2012 campaign.
However, revived under new head coach Ray Harper, the once 5 -13 Hilltoppers slowly showed improvement and then miraculously last week won four games in four days all by less than five points over favored opponents FIU, Arkansas-Little Rock, Denver and North Texas to advance to tonight’s game as champion of the Sun belt Conference.
Western Kentucky’s maddening march into this year’s NCAA tournament exemplifies the exciting chaotic, wonderfully unpredictable nature of this annual event.
So, call them unlikely under-dog, dark horse or whatever you want; however, it’s doubtful this Cinderella will listen or care as the Hilltoppers take to the hardwood this evening to begin their improbable 2012 dance.
Straight talk. No static.
MIKE – aka Mike Raffone – thee ultimate talking head on sports!
Become a Fan at http://www.facebook.com/theemikefans
Yesterday afternoon’s exciting launch of college basketball’s 2012 March Madness quickly turned into a sobering reality check last night.
ESPN Films premiered Nelson George’s documentary “The Announcement” about Earvin Magic Johnson’s stunning November 7, 1991 disclosure of contracting the HIV virus.
“The Announcement” deftly transports viewers from the shocking 1991 revelation of one of sports’ most revered stars, through Johnson’s fearful first steps following his public admission, to the Hall of Famer’s eventual emergence as a voice and face for combating the crippling disease.
Through his narrating voice, the film effortlessly shares Magic’s emotional journey and juxtaposes it with the public’s uneducated, confused and, at times, unbridled ignorance concerning the HIV virus and the deadly disease of AIDS. Johnson’s poignant remark during the 90 minute documentary that “you never think it could happen to you” serves as a cold, hard slap of admonition for anyone who believes that lifestyle choices do not have consequences.
Magic honestly shares that his unparalleled on-court success made him think he was immune from off-court repercussions, until a simple annual physical with the Los Angeles Lakers revealed the shocking news about his condition.
Personifying his very own words, “it;” i.e. HIV, unfortunately happened to him,inflicting a dreaded, seemingly untreatable scourge at the time upon the three time NBA MVP, five time NBA champion, twelve time NBA all star, NCAA champion, Olympic Gold Medalist, the perceived Prince of Los Angeles and a cross cultural basketball superstar beloved by all.
In spite of his basketball success, personal charisma, infectious smile and imposing 6’9″ frame, what has made Magic stand head and shoulders above most modern day heroes is that he immediately accepted responsibility for his own promiscuity and masterfully handled with grace, courage and aplomb the bleak consequences he suddenly faced twenty years ago.
Frightened and fearful, Magic forged ahead and unwittingly brought education to the national media about a disease most Americans embarrassingly whispered about or altogether ignored, fooling themselves like Magic that it could never happen to them either.
ESPN’s “The Announcement” is must see tv during this exciting time of March Madness for those interested in a provocative portrayal of an extraordinary individual who just happened to be one of the greatest basketball players to have ever played the game.
Straight talk. No static.
MIKE – aka Mike Raffone – thee ultimate talking head on sports!
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 The NCAA invited 68 teams to the Big Dance. (Humor) With swift and unapologetic fury, the sickness attacks me every March.
Rendering me nearly powerless, the early Spring malaise, far worse than any cold, virus or flu, devours my energy, cripples my logical thinking and negates any thought of normality in my life for nearly thirty days.
Today, this same invisible power has wielded its ugly head and smitten me once again.
In the past, family, friends and colleagues pleaded with me to seek a cure for the insanity this unseen force wreaks in my life each Spring. Reluctantly, I heeded their beckoning calls and sought professional care from the finest in their fields. Although eager to help, experts offered little hope for recovery,while others lamented that I simply refused to be cured.
For example, neurologists from Johns Hopkins Medical Center diagnosed severe, but not terminal, brain abnormalities. Psychiatrists and sociologists from University of California at Berkeley detected extreme shifts in emotion, coupled with rabid anti-social behavior. Even celebrated theologians from the Vatican speculated about some overpowering spirit requiring an exorcism.
However, two budding Bracketologists from Bloomington, IN, diagnosed my condition immediately. The pimply faced, 15-year-olds instantly recognized my symptoms and pinpointed my acute abnormality. Their revelation mystified medical experts and stupefied behavioral scientists and theologians alike, but their simple findings brought me relief, and peace quickly descended upon me, soothing my being to its core.
Instantly I understood what slayed me every Spring, and I willingly embraced the sickness! But, instead of recommending therapy or offering up endless prayers, these kids from Indiana told me to enjoy the disease and be grateful I was fortunate to endure the illness!
More than that, these high schoolers recommended that I by no means attempt to hasten my recovery. They confidently assured me the March malady would miraculously disappear by midnight EST the first Monday in April…….as it faithfully does every year.
As further proof of their diagnosis, these same pubescent basketball junkies claimed my condition was no different than that of millions of other basketball fans. These boys shared similar stories of scores of Bracketologists beset by a strikingly similar Springtime condition.
As empirical proof, they cited recent cases of psychos in Syracuse, wackos in Waco and lunatics in Lexington, Lawrence and East Lansing. This year, new hotspots for the disease were also coming from Cambridge and Colorado.
March Madness has once again gripped me, pulsating uncontrollably through my veins. Symptoms like sleep deprivation, bouts of euphoria, irrational guttural screams, and obsessive-compulsive behavior are certain to overtake me. I’ll soon be uttering an endless array of scores, stats, pre-game analysis, and RPI ratings. I’ll even debate conference strength of schedules and be predicting and prognosticating regional brackets.
Like a zombie I’ll hypnotically trudge through mid-March and into early April, never parting with the remote. I’ll divide my time between the big LCD screen on my TV, the smaller LCD on my WiFi notebook computer and the even tinier LCD screen on my Blackberry.
Forget about regular, normal relationships, too. Like some co-dependent alien, I’ll only able to communicate coherently with others sharing the same physical condition. Sweating profusely and biting my nails incessantly, I’ll be texting and mumbling phrases like Sweet 16; Another Cinderella Advances; BuzzerBeater; Raining 3’s, Diaper Dandy; Box Out; Shoot Out the Lights; and – my personal favorite – Double Overtime Barn Burner!
Wow! What a sickness! I say, bring it on me every March! Give me a double dose, and don’t ever try to cure me. Please don’t stop the Madness, don’t ever stop the Madness!
Thank you, young men from Bloomington, Indiana for diagnosing my condition.
I just love this disease…and I don’t ever want to be cured of it!
Straight talk. No static!
MIKE – aka Mike Raffone – thee ultimate talking head on sports!
http://www.facebook.com/theemikefans
Finally, I’ve stopped laughing!
For three days, I’ve enjoyed a seismic sized belly laugh compliments of Wednesday’s NFL press conference in which the Indianapolis Colts released Peyton Manning.
Not since former President Bill Clinton uttered his infamous words, “I did not have sex with that woman,” have I laughed so heartily at the absurdity of a bold face untruth about an emotional moment witnessed on national television.
Did Colts owner Jim Irsay expect sports fans to believe that his releasing star quarterback Peyton Manning was “never about the money?”
Yes, I am aware that the four time NFL MVP played 14 seasons in Indianapolis and led the Colts to 141 career wins and a Super Bowl victory in Miami a few years ago. And, I heard Irsay said, “Peyton will always be a part of the horse shoe.”
But, did Irsay accidentally hit himself in the head with a giant sized Colts horse shoe? Does he hold true his own horse hockey?
“It was never about the money,” a teary-eyed Irsay said, sounding more like a disingenuous flim flam man than respected NFL team owner.
Are you kidding me? Those who accept Irsay’s blubbering probably also think that Kim Kardashian has finally found her soul mate in the Saudi Billionaire she’s now dating and that her new love affair has absolutely nothing to do with fortune, fame and future reality television fodder. Lol
Allow me to provide one reason, better yet, 28 million compelling reasons why Irsay’s statement was so preposterous.
The Indianapolis Colts released Manning primarily for financial reasons. Having already paid Peyton a whopping $18 million for the entire 2011 season he missed due to neck issues, the now struggling Indy franchise was obligated to pay the 35 year-old quarterback an exorbitant $28 million roster bonus on March 8th.
Paying the outlandish bonus would severely limit, probably cripple, the floundering Colts franchise from rebuilding by signing new draft picks and wooing high priced free agents to Indianapolis. Forking over that much jack for an aging QB with an uncertain healthy future would just be foolish.
Surely, we wish Manning the very best as he endeavors to resurrect his career in another NFL city. Unfortunately, the economics of the game forced the Colts’ hand to part with Peyton prior to his big pay day.
However, Irsay’s absurd assertion that releasing Peyton was “never about the money” had to cause Bill Clinton to cackle too!
Straight talk. No static.
MIKE – aka Mike Raffone – thee ultimate talking head on sports!
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