Day 3: Super Bowl XLI in Miami

Wednesday in Miami. I would give you some witty summary of media day, but it appears every paper in America already did that bit.

Instead, here are some links, and I remind you that I am rating every team in the NFL from Super Bowl 1 to today using what I call the “Sturm Formula”. Teams 9-32 have already been released if you just scroll down. Teams 5-8 will be released this afternoon right here and Teams 1-4 tomorrow. Can you feel the excitement?

Cowboys interview Singletary and his eyes …

San Francisco 49ers assistant head coach/defense Mike Singletary interviewed for the Cowboys head coaching position Tuesday, becoming the eighth candidate to do so. No other interviews are scheduled.

Singletary joins a field of candidates thought to be led by 49ers offensive coordinator Norv Turner, who interviewed on Sunday.

The Cowboys have not announced a timetable for naming the new coach. According to a league source, owner and general manager Jerry Jones is scheduled to leave Thursday for South Florida and the Super Bowl. That could delay the selection of a coach until next week.

The longer this process goes gives Jones more time to consider other candidates, including Chargers defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, who interviewed with the Cowboys last week. On Tuesday, Phillips said he had not heard from the Cowboys since his interview.

Singletary, who was a head coaching candidate in Detroit last season and in Atlanta this year, is the second minority candidate interviewed.

If Singletary was in North Texas on Tuesday to suspend the notion that the Cowboys did not take the league's "Rooney Rule" seriously, it didn't faze Singletary. In his eyes, it comes with the territory. Plus, it was another opportunity to interview for a head coaching job.

"There are a number of other African-Americans out there that could have gotten this call and did not," Singletary said Tuesday afternoon. "If every time somebody called you to sit back and go, well, I wonder if this is a 'Rooney Rule?' For me, every time I have the opportunity to have an interview, I feel very blessed and privileged to have it, and I make the most of the opportunity and I go from there."

The Cowboys did satisfy the league rule when they interviewed assistant coach Todd Bowles last week. But the Cowboys came under some heat the last time they had a coaching vacancy when former Vikings coach Dennis Green was interviewed by phone shortly before Bill Parcells was hired.

One NFL source said Jones was "very impressed" with the former Baylor star and Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker.

Stars – they may not be that great, but they fight hard – get a win in San Jose …

The focus Tuesday began on Mike Modano's return to the Stars' lineup after a 23-game absence.

Then Mike Ribeiro changed the storyline and the game.

Ribeiro provided an unlikely offensive lift, delivering a 3-2 shootout win over the San Jose Sharks at the HP Pavilion. The Stars rallied from a two-goal deficit after the second period.

With the shootout 2-2 after two rounds, San Jose's Patrick Marleau shot wide. Then, Ribeiro won it, beating Vesa Toskala to give the Stars two much-needed points.
"It felt good to help the team," Ribeiro said. "Maybe I could bring that part of my game a little bit more than what I've been doing."

The win moved the Stars (30-19-2) to within five points of the Sharks in the Pacific Division. The teams play again Thursday in San Jose.

Sergei Zubov and Jussi Jokinen had earlier converted their shootout opportunities, but so had San Jose's Ryane Clowe and Joe Pavelski.

Ribeiro said he knew little about Toskala.

"No idea," Ribeiro said. "I'm the third guy and watch what the other guys do. It was the first time this year that I was a little bit nervous to go into the shootout.
The other times, I was just really relaxed and confident to score. I had to put it in for the team to win."

The outcome stunned a sellout crowd of 17,496 that had been ready to celebrate a victory.

Philippe Boucher got the Stars into overtime, scoring with just 2.2 seconds left in regulation. He swatted a loose puck out of the air and past Toskala.

Ribeiro, who had ended a 22-game goal drought earlier in the third period, set up the goal with a centering pass from the corner.

"We couldn't generate shots from the point," Boucher said, "so I got deep and I tapped it in when I saw it flip up."

Offense was an early struggle against the Sharks. The Stars managed only nine shots in the first two periods. Their three-shot second period tied their season low.

Mavs ride Austin Croshere? …

It took over half the season, but Austin Croshere finally had his coming-out party with the Mavericks.

Chained to the bench for the majority of this season, Croshere came off the pine to tally a career-high 34 points in just 24 minutes and spark the Mavericks to a 122-102 triumph over the Seattle SuperSonics. Croshere was mired so deep down the Mavs' bench that the Sonics probably didn't even have him in their scouting report.

"Obviously, Crow was the MVP of the game," guard Jerry Stackhouse said. "He was everything he needed to be for us to get over the hump tonight.

"Everybody's been pulling for him. He's been the best teammate he can be, and he deserves a night like tonight."

Croshere came in averaging just 2.9 points per game. But his points-to-minute ratio Tuesday was the second-best in Mavs history behind the 36 points Mark Aguirre scored in 23 minutes against Denver on Jan. 29, 1987.

On a night Josh Howard missed while attending the birth of his first child -- and on a night when Dirk Nowitzki was just 3-of-12 from the field with 15 points -- Croshere lifted the spirits of everyone inside American Airlines Center.

The Sonics were hanging around, trailing only 85-80 entering the final period. But Croshere exploded for 18 points in the fourth quarter as the Mavs ran and hid from the Sonics while running their NBA-best record to 37-9.

"With Josh not here tonight I thought there was a chance I might get in," said Croshere, whose previous high of 32 points occurred against the Mavs on Feb. 5, 2002, when he played for Indiana. "So it's a matter of staying ready for any opportunity.

In Soccer news, Reyna is back with Bruce Arena in NY, Davids will not come to Dallas …

Claudio Reyna said it was time to come home.

“My wife is expecting in a month, and for both sporting and family reasons, this was the right time,” Reyna said Monday in a telephone interview from his home on Long Island. “Manchester City didn’t want me to leave, but it came to the point where it wasn’t easy for us not having a family network. They understood, but they didn’t want me to go.”

So Europe’s loss is the New York Red Bulls’ gain. After more than a decade overseas, playing for Wolfsburg and Bayer Leverkusen in Germany, Glasgow Rangers in Scotland, and Sunderland and Manchester City in England, Reyna, 33, will be surveying the midfield at Giants Stadium as one of the club’s two designated players. (A second slot was acquired by trading Amado Guevara to Chivas USA.)

Late last year, Major League Soccer altered its salary structure to allow each of its 13 teams to sign a player for more than the league maximum of about $300,000. The league will pay the first $400,000 of the player’s salary; the club is responsible for the balance.

“I think that the designated players should be Americans,” Reyna said. “The Beckham situation is unique, something that is great for the league because of the attention it brings. On the other hand, I would like to see guys like McBride, Keller and Lewis, who have been in Europe for a long time, because I believe they want the league to flourish.” He was referring to Brian McBRIDE, Kasey KellER and Eddie Lewis.

“I think it’s important to have some older heads around,” Reyna said. “That’s how the kids learn to become good pros. At Leverkusen, I had Bernd Schuster and Rudi Völler in the locker room every day. And they wanted to win all the time, even on the training ground. It helped me to have a long career.”
----

Contrary to reports, the Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids will not be joining F.C. Dallas. Davids, 33, left Tottenham Hotspur in England and signed an 18-month contract with Ajax Amsterdam yesterday. Davids played for Ajax between 1991 and 1996.

Jay Mariotti (who is a buffoon) rips Tank Johnson (who is a buffoon) …

So now, absurdly, it's about racism. Given a chance to paint a remorseful self-portrait on a global stage, Tank Johnson again shamed himself, the Bears, the NFL and anyone who felt like giving him a second chance -- no, fourth chance -- in life. I thought he might apologize for the .44-caliber Magnum Smith & Wesson revolver, .50-caliber Desert Eagle handgun, .45-caliber handgun, .308-caliber Winchester rifle, two assault-style rifles and more than 500 rounds of ammunition found in his home within sight of his two daughters.

Instead, Tank dropped the R-bomb, bringing a sickening thud to what otherwise was a festive Super Bowl media day for the Bears. A man arrested three times in 18 months believes he isn't the problem as much as critics he views as racist. Consider it ample proof that the Bears should have left him at home, even if it cost them a vital defensive presence against the Indianapolis Colts. It's better to allow rushing yardage than hear a man on a court-approved work leave spew misplaced anger.

''A lot of people are demons,'' said Johnson, who was ringed by dozens of reporters and cameras. ''You've got to look at it like that. A lot of people are out to get people just to hurt people. I never thought about racism in my whole life. I've never had a person come to me and say anything racist. Now I look at it like, 'Wow, is it because I'm certain things?' I realize people buy into stereotypes. I'm young, black and have tattoos, so it's easy to stereotype me and put me in a category. I've learned a lot about people. When you learn about people, you learn to stay away from some of them.

''It's easy to clump somebody. When you see me walking down the street, I don't look like you, I don't talk like you, I don't walk like you. It's easy to say, 'He's just like the other people who we see all the time.' I've given you guys opportunities to stereotype me like that. It's unfortunate.''

Specifically, who are these demons?

''They come in so many shapes and sizes,'' he said. ''Sure, they're in the media; they're walking around out on the street. They're everywhere. God has showed me what a lot of the demons look like. God shows me myself every day. He shows me I'm his child. He has a plan for me. He loves me unconditionally. I love him unconditionally.''

Bill Simmons reviews media day with photos …

Bizarre story of the day: Jen says the NHL may hire Eddie Gossage? …I have no idea what this means…

People who know Eddie Gossage say he could sell ice to an Eskimo. What the NHL is interested in investigating is if the TMS president can sell ice hockey to apathetic fans.

Sources confirmed that a headhunter has contacted Gossage on behalf of the NHL to gauge his interest in joining the league in a yet-to-be-determined executive position.

Gossage certainly brings what hockey lacks. He has a reputation for being a
marketing master, and he was a key player in helping raise NASCAR's profile nationally. The NHL sees itself in a similar position to that of auto racing 10 years ago and apparently has identified Gossage as a person capable of solving its attendance and TV-ratings issues.

Would Gossage be interested in saving hockey?

He declined to comment Tuesday except to say, "I haven't spoken to anybody from the NHL." A league spokesman also declined comment.

Stay tuned to see if the Home Depot/Chevy NHL playoffs is a possibility.

Yesterday, TJ Simers pulled Barbaro fans offsides …

By now you've probably heard Barbaro bought the farm Monday, or as Vic the Brick put it on 570, Barbaro lost his "eight-month courageous battle."

I checked out "courageous" on dictionary.com for its meaning: "Possessing or characterized by courage," and then looked up "courage."

"The quality of mind of spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery."

I'm not surprised, of course, that Vic the Brick thinks of Barbaro as "a person," because over the last few months, he's had lots of company.

"Goodbye, brave and beautiful boy," wrote Adela Henninger, 47, of Rathdrum, Idaho, on the Penn Veterinary Medicine message board. "Go back to the wind, and nevermore have to tolerate the weakness and ignorance of mortal man. You're finally running in endless fields…. Run on, Barbaro."

Tell me the difference right now between the furry bump in the road that once was a squirrel, and Barbaro today. Courage? You don't think it takes courage to try and run across eight lanes of the I-5 only to get flattened three lanes shy.

Just what is the difference between a squirrel and a horse — discounting the fact you might've won money on the horse? How about a bunny and a horse?

"My dearest Barbaro," wrote Barbara, 49, of Fairfax, Va. "I will remember your brilliance at the Derby all the days of my life. Happy grazing in horse heaven. Long may you gallop."

I just wonder if squirrel heaven is located anywhere near horse heaven.

"Barbaro: You will live in my heart forever," wrote Abby Petrone, 47, of Chicago. "Your beauty and courage set an example for all of us. Heaven holds a special place for angels like you."

Now there's an idea for you, a remake of "It's a Wonderful Life" with a horse playing the role of Clarence the angel wannabe, and Zuzu Bailey saying, "Teacher says, every time a bell rings, a horse avoids getting sent to the glue factory." There won't be a dry eye in the theater.

OF THE first 50 messages left on the Penn Veterinary Medicine message board when I checked around noon, 48 were from women. What is it about women and dead horses?

You pick almost any day of the week and go to the track, and it's hard to find a woman out there looking to place a bet on a live one. You go to the track these days, and it's usually just old men hoping the jockey will whip their pick home.

From what I can tell, most women just want to stand there and look at horses, or draw them. I'm telling you, there's a better chance of the woman in your life drawing a horse than a sketch of you, which makes me wonder if man made a mistake when he chose to walk upright.

And today, TJ Simers gets emails …

24 review …

Jack Bauer drinking game - language



Oasis Wonderwall – still great after all these years.