It’s that time of year again…

College Bowl season? Well, yes… but that’s not what we’re talking about.
NFL Playoff time? Ummm, affirmative - but still not what we’re getting at.

It’s the best time to find deals, both online and off, on all the things you didn’t get for Christmas. Traditionally retailers love to give bargains following the holidays and this year is no exception. There is absolutely no reason to pay full price either, especially when you can conveniently get coupons to use for money off your purchases online at GoGoShopper.com!

Pretty much anything you’re looking for, GoGoShopper can find you a discount on. It may be a dollar off, it may be 20% off, it may even be free shipping, the bargains are out there and GoGoShopper has them. A great site, I just ordered a sweatshirt using one of the Nike coupons available there. Many big name retailers have coupons listed there, from JCPenney coupons to TheCompanyStore coupons, you can find it all at GoGoShopper.com!

Check ‘em out today!

Rival Leagues of the NFL

The National Football League is far and away the king when it comes to professional football. The popularity of the NFL has grown immensely in recent years, but it has been the main force in pro football since the 1920s. Every so often, a rival league will form to challenge the NFL’s dominance.

The Canadian Football League and the Arena Football League have both operated for years, but cannot really claim to be rivals of the NFL as they do not compete for the same players and, especially true for the Arena League, there are significant rule differences making the games much different. Both the CFL and the Arena League have developed fans of their own. Likewise, NFL Europa cannot be considered a rival league as it is owned and operated by the NFL itself.

The most recent rival pro football league was Vince McMahon’s XFL of 2001. Lasting only one season, the XFL attempted to loosen up the rules and institute a more modern professional football game. Everything from replacing the opening coin flip with a scramble for a loose ball to less emphasis on the kicking game by eliminating extra points, the XFL did try to mix things up a bit. For a number of reasons, the XFL failed and would not be heard from again.

Prior to the XFL, the United States Football League was the last major alternative professional football league to play in the United States. The USFL played spring football games in 1983, 1984, and 1985. Though the league had major financial and operational issues, it also was able to compete in some areas right along with the NFL. The USFL was able to draft and lure away many hot college prospects from the NFL; Herschel Walker, Steve Young, Reggie White, Doug Flutie, and Jim Kelly all started their professional careers in the USFL. The USFL also was able to lure away some quality NFL players to play in their league; Brian Sipe, Archie Griffin, Doug Williams, and Joe Cribbs. On top of that, the USFL was also the breeding ground for many coaches that would go on to experience success in the NFL like Marv Levy and Jim Mora. Though no teams were absorbed into the NFL when the USFL went under, the upstart league still has had an affect on the NFL. Many rules and in-game features later adopted by the NFL were pioneered by the USFL; instant replay reviews, overhead cameras, players having microphones on them, sideline interviews, and more.

The last upstart professional football league before the USFL would’ve been the World Football League. The WFL was started in 1974 and lasted just one complete season and one partial season, disbanding in 1975. The WFL made a big splash by signing top talent away from NFL teams, the biggest steals being Memphis’ signing of the Dolphins stars Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Paul Warfield prior to the 1975 season. The WFL had little lasting effect on the NFL, other than along with the USFL showing that football could succeed in Tennessee and Jacksonville, both cities that the NFL ended up moving to or expanding to years later. The World League also placed their field goal posts at the back of the endzone, up until that time the NFL had them placed near the front of the endzone, in the same year as the World League debuted (1974) the NFL moved their goal posts to the rear of the endzone.

1960 saw the establishment of the most successful alternative football league to the NFL with the beginning of the American Football League. The AFL was founded by future Hall-of-Fame owner Lamar Hunt with other investors who had wanted to buy NFL expansion teams but were denied. The AFL began with eight teams and eventually grew to include ten clubs, all of which were absorbed into the NFL in 1970 as part of the AFL-NFL merger. The AFL competed toe-to-toe with the NFL for both fans and players. Some of the great AFL players include Joe Namath, Len Dawson, Lance Alworth, Fred Biletnikoff, and more. The AFL aggressively marketed itself to television with the addition of players names on the backs of jerseys and team access granted to reporters and networks. The AFL also promoted a more wide open style of football, while the NFL at the time was focused primarily on a controlled ground game the AFL was throwing bombs down the field to their wide receivers. The AFL proved themselves so adept at both playing the game on the field and marketing the game to the fans that the NFL was left with no other option than to merge with the AFL and integrate the AFL’s history, stats, and records with its own.

In 1946, the All-American Football Conference was started as an alternative to the NFL. The AAFC lasted only four years, but when it folded three of its teams were granted approval to join the NFL; the San Francisco 49ers, the Baltimore Colts, and the Cleveland Browns. Incidentally, the Cleveland Browns won the championship each year in the entire four year existence of the AAFC.

Before World War II, there were a number of startup leagues competing with the NFL, many lasted only one season and then fell by the side. But, after World War II no other professional football league was successful enough on its own to still be a competitive league today on its own. Only the AFL with ten teams and the old AAFC with three teams were ever successful enough to have some of their teams end up joining the National Football League. History shows that this won’t stop people from trying in the future to start new football leagues, where the next one comes from and how it will be different is anybody’s guess.

During the 2007 season, Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Tony Romo would break the team’s single season touchdown record for quarterbacks.

Dallas has a pair of quarterbacks in their past that were quite effective, put up many winning seasons, won multiple Super Bowl championships, and made it into the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame; Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman. Funny, the record Romo broke for most touchdown passes in a season by a Dallas Cowboys quarterback had been owned by former quarterback Danny White.

Patient Ownership: A Thing Of The Past

In today’s hire-and-fire world of pro football it is rare to see a head coach suffer through too many sub .500 seasons without being shown the door. Sometimes it makes you wonder what that coach could’ve developed into or accomplished with that team if the ownership had exhibited a little more patience.

Two examples:

Bill Belichick is regarded as a genius for his accomplishments with the New England Patriots. Knowledgeable football people credit him as the best coach in the league. Few mention that there was a time that Belichick was head coach of the Cleveland Browns and he wasn’t quite as successful. What would’ve happened if the Browns ownership of the times had shown more patience, would they have three Super Bowl rings?

Tom Landry coached the Dallas Cowboys for 29 years starting in 1960, the team’s first year in the league. The Cowboys record their first year was 0-11-1, and over the course of the next five seasons they never won more than 5 games. Despite this inauspicious start, Cowboys ownership gave Landry a ten year extension and he went on to make (with the help of General Manager Tex Schramm) the Cowboys into “America’s Team”, win two Super Bowls and appear in half the Super Bowls of the 1970’s. From 1965 to 1985, Landry’s Cowboys ran off 20 consecutive winning seasons.

One team showed patience and was nicely rewarded, the other lacked faith in their head coach and fired the man some call the smartest coach in the game. No telling what may have happened if the opposite decisions had been made, but it sure is fun to wonder.

If you are interested in some political entertainment, check out formykountry. A great read with some great humorous looks at politics in general, and conservative issues specifically.

Check out the post related to the political lessons we can gain from playing X-Box!

In times like we are in today, it is nice to see serioius issues like world events and political thoughts attacked and conveyed with humorous overtones. The only thing worse than someone spouting off their own political beliefs, is someone who spouts off their own political beliefs while not being able to do with a sense of humor. ForMyKountry.com is truly a nice relaxing place to be both entertained and informed. It’s a lively community too, with a number of the posts attracting a large number of comments and replies.

The battle between a grown man and a neighborhood youth over the popular X-Box game Halo 3 is a great way to illustrate one side of a political philosophy. Using it to relay that philosophy as it pertains to the world of video gamers is actually very funny. You got to love the interaction with the wife of the author as well, any husband out there can immediately feel the glances and “looks” she is said to give him during the battle with the twelve year old.

Check out ForMyKountry.com today!

Let’s Look At Jeff Garcia – No Respect

Now and then there are players, though they may not be the greatest players in the league, they are consistent and put up good numbers while experiencing at least a decent amount of success. Some of these players, though moderately successful, end up seeming to not get the respect they deserve. One of these players is Jeff Garcia.

Jeff Garcia played collegiate football at San Jose State University, not exactly Quarterback U., though it has produced a number of NFL players. After his senior season, Garcia found himself undrafted and unsigned by the NFL and went to the Canadian Football League seeking employment.

In the CFL, Garcia was signed by the Calgary Stampeders and won a job as the third string quarterback backing up Doug Flutie and second string quarterback Steve Taylor. In 1995, Doug Flutie went down to an injury and Jeff Garcia was named the starting quarterback. In Garcia’s second game filling in for Flutie he threw for 546 yards and six touchdowns against Edmonton, setting a Calgary Stampeder record for passing yards in a game. Flutie left Calgary to sign with the Toronto Argonauts for the 1996 season and Garcia was named the team’s starter. The Stampeders’ record during Garcia’s three seasons as the starting quarterback was 35 wins with 19 losses. Garcia would lead the Stampeders to the postseason in all three of his years as the starting quarterback, winning the Grey Cup (championship of the Canadian Football League) in 1998, and earning the Grey Cup MVP in the process.

Garcia was signed by the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers for the 1998 season to backup Steve Young. After Young received a concussion during the early part of the 1999 season, Garcia stepped in to finish out the year as the 49ers starting quarterback. In Garcia’s first full year as the 49ers starting quarterback (2000) he made the Pro Bowl and set the team record for most passing yards in a season (4,278 yards), though the 49ers would finish with a record of 6-10. Garcia would quarterback the team to the playoffs in the 2001 and 2002 seasons and once again make it to the Pro Bowl in both seasons. In a playoff game against the New York Giants following the 2002 season, Garcia led the 49ers to the largest comeback in NFL playoff history when they scored 25 unanswered points in the final 18 minutes of the game to win the game by a score of 39-38. The 2003 season saw Garcia hampered by back injuries and due to salary cap considerations he was not resigned following the season.

The 2004 and 2005 seasons saw Garcia put up decidedly sub-par seasons with the Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions respectively. Garcia’s one season with the Browns had few highlights and was decidedly inconsistent. Following his year in Cleveland, Garcia’s one season in Detroit was spoiled with further injury complications. The 2006 season saw Garcia play with his fourth team in four years when he signed on to be Donovan McNabb’s backup in Philadelphia. Continuing a consistent theme in Garcia’s career, McNabb would soon go down with an injury and Garcia would step in and excel in his absence leading the Eagles to five wins in six games and making the playoffs. After beating the Giants in the playoffs and then losing to the Saints, the Eagles decided to offer a contract to quarterback A.J. Feeley instead of Garcia and he was left to find a fifth team in five years.

Jeff Garcia latched on with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and was given a shot to win the starting quarterback job, which he did. Through 11 games in the 2007 season Garcia has a QB Rating of 96.0 and has thrown for 11 touchdowns with only 3 interceptions.

Garcia has experienced success in the CFL including winning the MVP of the Championship Game, he’s experienced success in the NFL with numerous Pro Bowl appearances and team records, yet continues to be released from teams that could benefit from his services. Jeff Garcia, a fine quarterback who gets a lack of respect considering his accomplishments.

Need A Hard To Find Tikcet? – Get Montreal Tickets Today!

Few things are as entertaining as seeing big name talent and first class shows live and with good seats. If you’re in the market for a live event, check out the many Montreal tickets opportunities available at 2tickets.ca.

Sports

A nice variety of sporting events are available too, whether you’re interested in Montreal Canadiens tickets, or maybe another live sporting event.

Music

If live music is your thing, Montreal attracts the top name performers you’re looking for. You can perform searches for available Montreal concerts put on by headline performers like:

Avril Levigne
Bruce Springsteen
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Foo Fighters
John Mellencamp
Linkin Park
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The Spice Girls
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Events

Montreal also plays host to first class event type shows as well, for example tickets can be found for the following:

The Backyardigans
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Mamma Mia
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2tickets.ca is a well organized and easy to use ticket procurement hub that you can make use of as often as you need. The layout is great, allowing you to find the exact ticket to the exact performer at the exact venue of your choice. 2tickets.ca accepts all major credit cards, which makes it even easier to get the tickets you desire today.

From time to time we all will hold tickets to an event that we are no longer either wanting or able to attend. If the demand for a live event warrants it, 2tickets.ca can also buy your unused tickets from you. This process can provide you some extra money in exchange for your tickets that you were probably not going to use anyway – talk about a win-win situation.

2Tickets also offers a free newsletter you can sign up which enables them to keep their regular customers updated with all pertinent information related to tickets and events in the Montreal area. Check out 2tickets.ca today!

The Accomplishments of Bill Parcells

Bill Parcells has proven himself to be one of the best NFL head coaches of his era. Rising up through the ranks as a much-traveled and longtime college assistant before getting his chance with the New York Giants, Parcells went on to experience success at each of his coaching stops and always leaving teams better off than they were before he came to them.

Career Record: 172-130-1
Career Playoff Record: 11-8
Super Bowl Championships: 2

The only head coach to lead four different NFL teams into the playoffs (Giants, Patriots, Jets, and Cowboys).

The list of eventual NFL head coaches that served as assistant coaches under Bill Parcells includes: Ray Handley, Tom Coughlin, Bill Belichick, Al Groh, Chris Palmer, Sean Payton, Eric Mangini, and Romeo Crennel.

By far Parcells biggest strength was being able to turn struggling franchises around. The Giants had one winning season in the previous ten years when Parcells took over and four years later they were Super Bowl Champions. The Patriots had not made the playoffs for six years before Parcells came and they would go on to make a Super Bowl appearance a few years later. The Jets were perennial losers and in Parcells’ second season they made it all the way to the AFC Championship Game. The Cowboys had three consecutive 5-11 seasons before hiring Parcells and in his first season there they would go 10-6 and make the playoffs.

Bill Parcells, truly one of the greats.

New Orleans Saints fans… want to win some bets with your team’s trivia?

Make this statement to someone: “The Saints have drafted five Heisman Trophy winners in their history.”

No matter how much they research, they will only come up with four names; George Rogers (1982), Danny Wuerffel (1997), Ricky Williams (1998), and Reggie Bush (2005). So, who is the fifth Heisman Trophy winner drafted by the Saints? Green Bay Packers legend and Hall-of-Famer Paul Hornung in the expansion draft when the Saints came into the league.

If you are waiting for the bowl season like other college football fans, check this out.  Doc’s Sports has the entire college bowl game schedule posted with game previews written up by their experienced sports writers.  Doc’s is well know for having provided well over 35 years of quality sports information, including:  odds, winners and losers, scores, schedules, matchup reports, and more!

A great place to get up to date information on the college bowl game you’re waiting for!

They’ve been to a couple NFC Championship games… they’ve even won a Super Bowl Championship… but, the Bucs today finally got something they hadn’t had in their entire history. After 32 years in the league, Tampa Bay has finally returned a kickoff for a touchdown.

It is a special play that doesn’t happen all the time, but it does happen enough that every other team in the league (even the teams that just recently came into the league) has done it. It happened today when second year player Micheal Spurlock (who is younger than the Bucs franchise) returned a kick by Atlanta Falcons kicker Morten Andersen 90 yards for a score.

This was the 1,865th kickoff return in Buccaneer history.

A total of 141 other players have attempted to do what young Micheal Spurlock did today for the Bucs.

The Bucs haven’t had near this issue with punt returns, in their entire history they’ve returned ten punts for touchdowns.

Way to go Bucs!

We can’t answer every question we get, but “John” sent us a good one:

“Question, What did McMahon and Payton write on their white headbands? I know that Rozelle was one and Pluto was on another. Were there any other ones?”

It all started when Bears quarterback Jim McMahon was shown on television while on the sidelines wearing his Adidas headband. Commissioner Pete Rozelle immediately fined McMahon and issued a written statement reminding him that NFL players were not allowed to wear anything on the field or sidelines displaying a non-approved corporate logo. McMahon responded by wearing the famous white headband with the word “Rozelle” lettered on it. Rozelle was immensely entertained by this, but let McMahon know that his fine would stand. McMahon would then go on later in the year to wear a headband stating “JDF Cure” (for Juvenile Diabetes Fund), then one saying “POW-MIA”, and finally one with the word “Pluto” on it (the nickname of a friend’s child who suffered from Juvenile Diabetes. This was McMahon’s way of daring the NFL to fine him for wearing a charitable organization’s slogan, which of course they didn’t do as it would’ve been a publicity nightmare.

Great question, John!

With the recent resignation of Bobby Petrino as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons (and his replacement by longtime assistant Emmitt Thomas), let’s take a look at teams that replace coaches in mid-season.

As opposed to baseball, basketball, and hockey… it is somewhat unusual for an NFL team to change coaches during the season. This is mainly due to their only being 16 regular season games in the NFL where other sports have many more than that. There are 32 teams in the NFL and since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger there has been a change of coaches mid season 59 times - that’s less than two in-season coaching changes for each team if you average it out.

So, which team has changed coaches during the season the most?

The list of teams that has changed coaches mid-season once or twice since 1970 is decent sized, but from there we move into the upper echelon of coaching instability.

NFL Teams That Have Changed Head Coaches In Mid-Season Three Times Since 1970:
Arizona/St. Louis Cardinals
Cincinnati Bengals
Buffalo Bills

NFL Teams That Have Changed Head Coaches In Mid-Season Four Times Since 1970:
Detroit Lions
Tennessee Titans (done while still the Houston Oilers)
New England Patriots
Cleveland Browns

But, the champions of this category are…

NFL Teams That Have Changed Head Coaches In Mid-Season Five Times Since 1970:
Atlanta Falcons (just joined the club)
New Orleans Saints
San Diego Chargers
Indianapolis Colts

There you have it, where does your team rank in coaching stability?

A couple of interesting side notes that make great trivia:

There Are Eight Teams That Hadn’t Changed Coaches Mid-Season At All Since 1970:
Of these eight teams, four have a distinct advantage as they came into the league after 1995:
Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Baltimore Ravens, and the Houston Texans.

But, the four longtime NFL teams that qualify:
Chicago Bears
Dallas Cowboys
Green Bay Packers
Pittsburgh Steelers

And a nice bit of trivia on the bad side of this issue:

There are only two NFL teams since 1970 that have changed head coaches mid-season in two consecutive years:

New York Jets (1975 & 1976)
Buffalo Bills (1985 & 1986)

Rose Bowl Parity

With the advent of the BCS series, the old system of conference champions going to specific bowl games has somewhat fell to the wayside. For 52 years, from 1946 to 1997, the Rose Bowl pitted the champion of the Big Ten versus the champion of the Pac Ten. Early on, the Big Ten seemed to dominate, but in the 1970’s and 80’s it was the Pac Ten’s turn. After the 1997 season was over the Rose Bowl became part of the BCS system and ceased to be a game fought only by those two conferences. So, after 52 years who was the better conference? Amazingly, each conference won 26 times.