I still think it might be a draw

What a final day we have in prospect. Day four probably ended in the sort of position most people expected at the start of the day, but nobody could have predicted that England would collapse so spectacularly. Such was their first innings lead that a score of 62-5 was not a time for huge jitters, but it was certainly a time for some concern.

Cue a remarkable partnership between Matt Prior and Stuart Broad. What a cricketer Prior has become. It is still a mystery why he cannot crack the one-day stuff, but he has made himself into maybe the finest batsman/wicketkeeper in Test cricket at the moment. Indeed I heard Ian Botham on TV commentary saying that he was the best today. I don’t always agree with Botham, but this might just be one of those rare occasions.

It does tickle me that there are still those around the county cricket who blather on about the many other wicketkeepers that should be taking Prior’s place. His keeping is fine. I never thought it was as poor as many made out in his early days. He had some difficult conditions in which to keep- the rasping heat of Sri Lanka and a horribly low pitch in Trinidad are a couple of examples. And we can often be a little snobbish about wicketkeeping in England, with all that old-fashioned, romantic nonsense about specialists who cannot bat. Prior is a gem.

And so is Broad. A tip of the cap to the England management for their selection of him in this match. So many people called for Tim Bresnan, and it was probably a close call, but they stuck with Broad and he has rewarded them royally. He has looked like the champion cricketer we know he can be. And it was little surprise that he took the only wicket this evening. He is on a roll, as they say.

How many more can England take tomorrow, though? There are so many factors to take into account. Will Gautam Gambhir bat? Will the pitch deteriorate? Will the ball swing? And, of course, Sachin Tendulkar can only bat after five wickets have been taken.

I’m inclined to predict a draw, not because I think England are incapable of winning, but rather because I do not trust the pitch to offer enough assistance. We’ve seen it happen too many times before in the recent past. But we also saw a wonderful finish- and a win for England- in the 2009 Ashes match.

What will it be? Your thoughts please..

Joe Calzaghe enjoys banter with Bernard Hopkins but pours cold water on re-match in Cardiff

Joe Calzaghe has poured cold water on any prospect of a making a comeback in a re-match with American Bernard Hopkins at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

Calzaghe told The Telegraph here in Las Vegas that it was out of the question. Calzaghe defeated Hopkins, now the oldest world champion in history at 46, on a split decision in Las Vegas in 2008. Hopkins had caused controversy in the build-up to the fight saying that he would ‘never lose to a white boy’.

The two men sat a few feet apart at ringside as Amir Khan’s flashing fists earned him great plaudits with victory over Zab Judah in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Between them sat Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions.

“Bernard and Joe were sitting right next to each other. I had an empty seat on one side of me, and Bernard on the other side,” explained Schaefer. “I called Joe down to come and sit there. They were talking venues, but I don’t know if the fight would happen, or whether it is just a pipe dream. We were having fun back and forth, talking about the Millennium Stadium. Bernard said he had beaten Jean Pascal in his home town in Canada, and he would come to Cardiff to do the same against Joe in a re-match. ‘I’ll come over there and beat you,’ Bernard said.” “I sensed that there was some interest from both sides, maybe a case of unfinished business,” added Schaefer.

Not so, according to Calzaghe, who pointed out that it was the first time the pair had met since they fought in 2008. It was at The Tropicana’s new glitzy boutique nightclub Nikki Beach that The Telegraph caught up with Calzaghe. Amir Khan’s post-fight after-party was going strong there, and Calzaghe, among a number of well-known celebrity guests, explained that it had merely been banter with Hopkins.

“If I took the fight, it would be going back on everything I have stood by. I’d only be coming back for the money, and I’ve always said I’d never do that,” explained Calzaghe, who will maintain his unbeaten 46-fight record. “I’ve been away from it for two years now, and my career in over. But when I joked that it would have to be a 60-40 split in my favour, the talking from Bernard stopped.”

This was a famous performance from England

A famous, famous victory for England. You can point to the early withdrawal from India’s attack of Zaheer Khan, the absence from injury of Virender Sehwag as well as inconveniences to Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir, but the visitors are still ranked the best team in the world. And they won a hugely important toss when bowling conditions were at their most favourable on what turned out to be a flat pitch at Lord’s.

Yes, it was not the sort of featherbed for which I have often criticised the Lord’s groundstaff, but it was still mighty hard work for England to finish the job off today. But that is the thing about this England team: hard graft does not scare them. They are the fittest side in world cricket. They stick to simple plans, because they know they will eventually bring rewards. International cricket is about creating pressure and England’s attack does that wonderfully well. I thought they bowled quite superbly today, all four of them. Some of the Indian dismissals looked like poor shots but often you should not judge a dismissal simply on that one ball. The others around it usually set up the error. That was the case regularly today.

You will know that I predicted a draw, but England’s bowlers were simply too good. It would have been a travesty had they not achieved victory. And how fitting it was that Stuart Broad took the final wicket. What a selection that was. He rose to the occasion magnificently as did the others today in front of a packed house. It did not quite happen for James Anderson in the first innings, but it sure did today. His was as defining a performance of those in the match of Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior and Broad, heroes all. We should not forget Jonathan Trott’s batting on the first day either. It was always quite stirring stuff; proper Test cricket at its absorbing best.

But it could have been a day that was marred by the absence of the full Decision Review System. India don’t like it, and although that alone should be insufficient to stop its use, they are powerful enough within world cricket circles to persuade others to vote with them. So we have this ridiculous situation whereby lbws cannot be referred. And there were two plumb decisions today – against Tendulkar and Suresh Raina- that were not given. There had been some excellent decisions earlier, but those two were shockers and were exactly the types of decision for which the system was introduced. Just imagine the fuss had the game been drawn and either of those two players had still been there at the end! It cannot be allowed to continue. There is simply too much at stake these days for such howlers to remain unrectified. Television viewers could see the mistakes, and so the players and umpires should be able to too.

What now then? I said on Sunday that it would be a 2-1 series victory for England. But that was with a draw here. It will be fascinating to see how India respond. You never know, it might be the result that Duncan Fletcher needs. Maybe he can exert more influence. I’d never easily write off a side with him as coach, that is for certain. But it looks like 3-1 to me right now, especially if Zaheer is missing for more than one Test. I certainly can’t see a draw in the remaining Tests.

What do you think?

How British athletics has risen to the challenge of hosting London 2012 Olympics

Setting the standard: Mo Farah and UK Athletics have risen to the challenge of hosting the Olympics (Photo: AP)

By Jason Henderson, Athletics Weekly Editor

Six years ago, when London won the bid to stage the 2012 Games, British track and field athletes nervously gathered themselves to rise to the challenge.

Competing on home soil in the biggest Olympic sport would bring huge pressure. The team in 2005 was hardly brimming with potential podium contenders either.

Yet now, with one year to go, things could hardly be more promising.

Seven national records have fallen already this summer, with possibly more to come as the season nears its peak at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu.

Encouragingly, three of these performances have been set by 19-year-olds, while one of the record- breakers, Mo Farah, has earned the prestigious title of best distance runner in the world.

Not since the Eighties, when the sport enjoyed unprecedented popularity and success when athletes such as Daley Thompson, Seb Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram dominated the world scene, has there been such a golden era.

In short, British athletics is great again and the host nation’s medal hopes in the showcase Olympic sport look better every week.

The UK records this summer have been set by Sophie Hitchon in the hammer, Holly Bleasdale in the pole vault, Tiffany Porter at 100m hurdles, Lawrence Okoye in the discus, Chris Tomlinson in the long jump and Farah over 5,000m and 10,000m.

Others look imminent, too, such as Dai Greene in the men’s 400m hurdles and Jessica Ennis in the heptathlon.

Success has not been limited to senior level either. Led by sprint prodigy Jody Williams, Britain won 15 medals at the European Junior Championships in Tallinn from July 21-24.

Earlier in July, at the European Under-23 Championships in Ostrava the GB team enjoyed its biggest-ever medal haul.

The IAAF World Youth Championships in Lille also saw superb performances by young Britons, with two gold medals from sprinter Desiree Henry and hammer thrower Louisa James. For them, London 2012 will come too soon, but Rio 2016 and beyond beckon.

All this compares with more modest achievements in recent years.

Victories by Kelly Holmes and the GB men’s 4×100m team at the 2004 Olympics, for example, covered up a generally poor team display by the GB athletics squad.

Beijing in 2008 was arguably worse, with Christine Ohuruogu in the 400m being Britain’s only athletics gold medallist.

“Three gold medals in Athens masked a very poor team performance,” says Ed Warner, chairman of UKA.

“Kelly’s two golds and the men’s 4×100m was fantastic but then you have Kelly Sotherton’s bronze and that was it, with lots of failures to reach finals.

“Then in Beijing we didn’t deliver as we would have liked, so that’s your nadir, probably, across those two Olympics. And I think there’s been a pretty sharp upswing since then.”

Sharp upswing is probably an understatement and credit should go to the coaches andofficials who were put in place during a bold reshuffle that occurred when the sport realised the system in place six years ago was not working as well as it could.

UKA chief executive Dave Moorcroft was replaced with two men – Warner and Niels de Vos – the latter becoming the governing body’s CEO.

Key figures in Moorcroft’s team, such as Zara Hyde Peters, Callum Orr and the deputy chief executive Adam Walker also left UKA, while major structural and personnel changes at England Athletics also took place.

Later, UKA performance director Dave Collins was replaced after the Beijing Games by head coach Charles van Commenee.

Along with the Dutchman, a number of international coaches were headhunted to work in Britain’s high performance centres, including Peter Eriksson – the leader of a disability athletics team that has also improved hugely and looks set to enjoy a terrific Paralympics.

Of course, there are still a few holes and for every world beater like triple jumper Phillips Idowu there is a weak event such as the men’s hammer or women’s triple jump.

Then again, during the Eighties – or any period for that matter – the GB team has always had some weak events.

Right now, though, British athletes can hardly put a foot wrong. The London Olympics are one year away and the timing could not be better.

Back in July 2005, when London was picked by the IOC to host the 2012 Olympics, Moorcroft issued a rallying cry to Athletics Weekly, saying: “We need athletes, coaches and volunteers to wake up every day telling themselves that the London Olympics in 2012 is their goal.”

The sport was clearly listening.

• Athletics Weekly’s ‘One Year To Go’ special edition is out now. Visit http://www.athleticsweekly.com/ for more information

London 2012 Olympics: 20 Team GB gold medal predictions

Simon Hart has predicted heptathlon gold for Jessica Ennis (Photo: GETTY IMAGES))

A year before she achieved her golden double at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Rebecca Adlington was struggling home in 10th place in her signature 800 metres freestyle event at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne.

Three months before the Beijing Games, the relatively unknown Usain Bolt was breaking the 10-second barrier for the first time in only his third ever 100 metres race.

A month later, and with the Games almost upon her, heptathlon medal hopeful Jessica Ennis was being diagnosed with multiple stress fractures in her foot that signalled the end of her Olympic dream.

The lesson is clear. The build-up to the London Olympics may have entered its final year but there are numerous twists and turns ahead before the Olympic cauldron is lit on July 27, 2012.

New superstars are yet to emerge while others with medal ambitions recede into the background.

Twelve months ago, in an article in the Sunday Telegraph’s Sports Life magazine, I was tasked with identifying Britain’s 20 best gold medal hopes for London 2012 based on their performances at past Games and at other global-level championships.

A year on, many are still going strong but I would have to admit that six or seven of them have moved from ‘probables’ to ‘possibles’.

Cyclists Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton no longer have their old aura of invincibility, swimmer Gemma Spofforth appears to have lost her motivation and canoeist Tim Brabants has lost his form.

Gymnast Daniel Keatings is still battling to get back to his best after a serious knee ligament injury, rower Zac Purchase has been held back by illness while Tom Daley has met more than his match in Chinese diver Qiu Bo, whose brilliance in last week’s World Diving Championships in Shanghai makes him the odds-on favourite to deprive

the teenager of gold in London.

Or, at least, that is how it looks with one year to go. And that is precisely my point.

One year out, the permanent venues may have been more or less completed, the majority of tickets sold and sponsorship targets reached, give or take a few million pounds, but out on the sporting field of play things remain very much in flux.

Of the 550 athletes expected to wear a Team GB vest next year, only one athlete, open-water swimmer Keri-Anne Payne, has guaranteed her place in the team and the next 12 months promise to be a fascinating journey as thousands of hopefuls battle it out for the remaining 549 spots in a selection process that will be mirrored the

world over.

For those who have not been lucky enough to obtain a ticket to London 2012, there is still the consolation of attending one of the selection events that will make or break an athlete’s dreams.

The drama of next year’s British swimming or athletics trials will be hard to beat.

My gold medal predictions for 2012? Well, having argued how imprecise the art of predicting Olympics can be, it would be a cop-out not to have another stab at my golden top 20.

So here it is, to be taken with a generous pinch of salt:

1. Rebecca Adlington (swimming, 800m freestyle)

2. Ben Ainslie (sailing, Finn class)

3. Laura Bechtolsheimer (equestrian, dressage)

4. Alistair Brownlee (triathlon)

5. Mark Cavendish (cycling, road race)

6. Rachel Cawthorn (canoe sprint, K1 500m)

7. Aaron Cook (taekwondo, -80kg)

8. Jessica Ennis (athletics, heptathlon)

9. Mo Farah (athletics, 5,000 & 10,000m)

10. GB eventing team (equestrian)

11. GB men’s coxless four (rowing)

12. GB men’s pursuit team (track cycling)

13. GB women’s pursuit team (track cycling)

14: Paul Goodison (sailing, Laser class)

15. Katherine Grainger & Anna Watkins (rowing, women’s double scull)

16. Fran Halsall (swimming, 100m freestyle)

17; Phillips Idowu (athletics, triple jump)

18. Ed McKeever (canoe sprint, K1 200m)

19. Keri-Anne Payne (swimming, 10km open-water)

20. Iain Percey & Andrew Simpson (sailing, Star class)

Coughlin to Have Meeting With Old Nemesis, Burress

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The news at Giants camp Wednesday was a lot like the weather in London: if you did not like it, you could wait an hour for it to change. And when Plaxico Burress is involved, the winds are always shifting.

Amid the news that the Giants had signed center David Baas to fill a big void on their offensive line and had given a one-year contract extension to Coach Tom Coughlin, the possibility of Burress’s return loomed ever larger over the Giants’ practice center.

“Plaxico ain’t coming today, guys,” defensive end Justin Tuck told reporters Wednesday morning after rolling down the window of his black Mercedes at the security gate.

By the end of the day, ESPN was reporting that Burress and Coughlin, his former coach and occasional nemesis, were planning to dine together on Friday, the first day that teams can announce free-agent signings. Then Burress will travel to Pittsburgh for a meeting with Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin and the team that drafted him with a first-round pick in 2000.

Quarterback Eli Manning said at an afternoon news conference that he had spoken to Burress.

“I don’t have an opinion,” he said, calling it a decision for coaches and the front office. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with that.”

Burress caught the winning pass in Super Bowl XLII in 2008 and caught 244 passes in four seasons with the Giants. But he told ESPN in an interview in June that his time in New York was not always happy, and that his relationship with Coughlin was checkered.

He told The Star-Ledger on Tuesday, “If you can’t sit down and go talk to a man that you are busting your tail for, not even to have the respect for anything that you have to say, the only thing I knew then was to rebel.”

Burress acknowledged that any future conversation with Coughlin would be awkward. “It’s going to be crazy,” he said. “I really don’t know what I am going to say.”

Burress, who turns 34 in two weeks, has not played since shooting himself in the leg at a New York nightclub in November 2008, which resulted in a 22-month prison term. Burress was a controversial figure even before the incident. He held out of Giants minicamp in May 2008 and when he played for the Steelers he drew $45,000 in fines and a suspension for unsportsmanlike conduct after a 2004 game.

Tuck, a close friend of Burress’s, sounded more excited about the potential signing than Manning.

“We’re working on it,” said Tuck, who added he believed that Burress and Coughlin could work out their differences. “It’s gonna be a give and take between both of them,” Tuck said. “Hopefully, a little time apart has rekindled the love that they share for each other.”

If Burress does sign with the Giants, he will provide needed depth at wide receiver. The projected starters, Steve Smith and Hakeem Nicks, missed a total of 10 games with injuries last season, and Smith is a free agent trying to return from knee surgery in the off-season.

As for the deals that were made, the most important acquisition by the Giants on Wednesday was Baas, a former second-round pick by the 49ers from Michigan. Baas started at center and both guard positions in six seasons in San Francisco. Baas started 16 games at center last year and did not allow a sack, according to Football Outsiders.

He is expected to fill the void left by center Shaun O’Hara, who was released Tuesday along with guard Rich Seubert, and the top offensive line backup Shawn Andrews. Baas, right guard Chris Snee and right tackle Kareem McKenzie are expected to start, while David Diehl, Kevin Boothe and William Beatty will compete for two starting spots on the left side.

Manning said working with Baas would require an adjustment after having O’Hara at center most of his career.

Manning and Brandon Jacobs, who each arrived before 9:30 a.m., were among the notable players who made their first appearances Wednesday. Defensive end Osi Umenyiora, who has voiced his unhappiness over his contract, was a no-show. Players are not obligated to arrive until Friday, the first day of training camp.

As for Coughlin, his one-year extension commits the Giants to him through the 2012 season.

“As I was when I was hired in 2004, I am grateful for the opportunity,” Coughlin said in a statement released by the Giants. Coughlin, who turns 65 in August, led the team to a Super Bowl victory over the Patriots in 2008.

Among other comings and goings, the Giants released defensive tackle Rocky Bernard and announced the hiring of Larry Izzo as assistant special-teams coach.

Bernard’s release comes on the heels of fellow defensive tackle Barry Cofield’s reaching a six-year agreement with the Redskins. With Cofield and Bernard gone, two recent second-round picks, the rookie Marvin Austin and the second-year player Linval Joseph, are expected to play major roles. Joseph played sparingly in 2010.

Izzo made three Pro Bowl teams as a special-teams standout for the Dolphins and the Patriots, and earned three Super Bowl rings with the Patriots. The Izzo announcement was the least surprising move of the day: it was posted several weeks ago on Wikipedia.

Callahan and Rangers Agree to Terms on New Deal

3:46 p.m. | Updated Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced Wednesday that the club has agreed to terms with forward Ryan Callahan on a new contract.

Ryan Callahan’s agent, Steve Bartlett, said Wednesday afternoon that he was “cautiously optimistic” that he and the Rangers can agree to a new contract for the Rangers’ alternate captain before a salary arbitration hearing scheduled for Toronto on Thursday.

“We’re making some progress,” Bartlett said from his office in suburban Rochester. “Hopefully we can get this done by the end of the day and won’t have to go to Toronto.”

On Tuesday evening, Bartlett said he was waiting to hear from the Rangers.

“They have our proposal,” he said then. “But it looks like it’s headed to arbitration.”

A Rangers spokesman, John Rosasco, said the team had no comment but that “talks are continuing.”

Callahan, a 26-year-old United States Olympian from Rochester who scored 48 points in 60 games last season, is slated to start his sixth season with the Rangers and has often said how much he loves playing for the club. General Manager Glen Sather and Coach John Tortorella have often praised Callahan.
 
Callahan is already an alternate captain and is seen as the Rangers captain in waiting, perhaps as soon as next season, after last month’s buyout of the previous captain, Chris Drury.
 
Callahan is looking to roughly double his 2010-11 salary of $2.4 million. He would be the fourth of the Rangers’ restricted free agents to re-sign with the club this off season. The others were Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Brian Boyle and Steve Eminger.

Vancouver Is Doing It the Hard Way

The Vancouver Canucks are averaging 1.33 goals a game in the Stanley Cup finals, a meager total that has not prevented them from winning three of the first six contests. In Cup history, only 14 teams in the finals have had a worse scoring rate than Vancouver’s and only one of those clubs — the 1945 Maple Leafs — ended up as the champion.

Thomas Most Valuable Already?

It seems to be the perfect combination for the Boston Bruins: larger-than-life Zdeno Chara patrolling up front, smashing people into the boards, while goalie Tim Thomas holds down the fort.

The Bruins are riding them through the Stanley Cup playoffs, with everything coming down to tonight’s winner-take-all Game 7 in Vancouver. The Bruins have made a habit of playing Game 7s in the playoffs this year, with their series against the Canadiens and Lightning going the distance.

If Chara and Thomas are again dominant, the Bruins could be on their way to winning their first Stanley Cup in 39 years. If either one — or both — has an off-night, look out.

The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont writes the six games of skirmish have revealed little about which team is best. But the struggle has shown how valuable Chara and Thomas are.

“…What we can say with certainty is that the Bruins’ best players — goalie Tim Thomas and 6-foot-9-inch captain/defenseman/shutdown cyborg Zdeno Chara — have been the Bruins’ best players,” Dupont wrote. “If tonight it comes down to best players doing best things, then the Bruins will be champs for the first time since 1972, because Tank and Big Z have put a chokehold on the game’s top offensive collaborators….”

Chara’s game is as big as his 6-foot-9 frame: thundering checks, swarming defense, and a Death Star-like ominous presence in the ice. Thomas has been a model of calm and consistency, refusing to get into a war of words with opposing goalie Roberto Luongo or be suckered out of the net going for too big of a play.

Playing goalie, especially in a pressure-packed Game 7, can be the loneliest spot on the ice. All eyes will be on Thomas, and Luongo too, to see if they will be a hero or a goat.

“The first thing I do is not think about the millions and millions of people that are watching,’’ Thomas told the Boston Globe about Game 7’s pressures. “It shouldn’t matter whether you have a packed building or are playing in an empty rink. You try to get the same focus that you had as a kid when you were out playing on the pond, and you’re just enjoying the game.’’

The argument is floating around that Thomas should win the Conn Smythe Trophy, given to the most valuable player of the playoffs, even if the Bruins lose. Two Four goalies have won the Conn Smythe in losing efforts: Roger Crozier of the Detroit Red Wings (1966), Glenn Hall of the Blues (1968), Ron Hextall of the Flyers (1987) and Jean-Sebastien Giguere of the Anaheim Ducks (2003).

Toronto Star columnist Cathal Kelly, in a sarcasm-laden column decrying that neither team deserves the Stanley Cup, only respects Thomas.

“There’s only one man here who will leave the Stanley Cup finals with his dignity intact,” Kelly wrote. “If the Cup were mine to give, I’d give it to Bruins goalie Tim Thomas. Just Tim Thomas.

“Everyone else back away from the table. Henrik Sedin, Zdeno Chara, feel free to paw the conference trophies all you want now. Take them home, put wheels on them and ride them through Europe all summer long. The rest of you can carry Gary Bettman around for a while. Don’t drop him. He hasn’t signed the Winnipeg papers yet.

“Tim, please accept the Cup and our congratulations as long as you promise not to let any of the rest of these mooks touch it. Like naughty children, their brand of noodle-brained hockey should not be rewarded with treats.”

Thomas, if the Bruins win, will become only the fourth goalie to go from being an N.C.A.A. star to Stanley Cup champion. Ed Belfour (North Dakota), Mike Richter (Wisconsin) and Ken Dryden (Cornell), according to NHL.com, all were collegiate starters who won N.H.L. titles.

Thomas, a native of Flint, Mich., played at the University of Vermont, helping his team reach the 1996 Frozen Four.

“I had never even been to Vermont — or even east of Buffalo,” Thomas told NHL.com about choosing to play at Vermont. “I just wanted to go and become the first person in my family to graduate. To be completely honest, I’m sure I was hoping to someday play in the N.H.L., but my ultimate goal was to get the scholarship and play college hockey.”

Callahan and Rangers Working Toward a New Deal

Ryan Callahan’s agent, Steve Bartlett, said Wednesday afternoon that he was “cautiously optimistic” that he and the Rangers can agree to a new contract for the Rangers’ alternate captain before a salary arbitration hearing scheduled for Toronto on Thursday.

“We’re making some progress,” Bartlett said from his office in suburban Rochester. “Hopefully we can get this done by the end of the day and won’t have to go to Toronto.”

On Tuesday evening, Bartlett said he was waiting to hear from the Rangers.

“They have our proposal,” he said then. “But it looks like it’s headed to arbitration.”

A Rangers spokesman, John Rosasco, said the team had no comment but that “talks are continuing.”

Callahan, a 26-year-old United States Olympian from Rochester who scored 48 points in 60 games last season, is slated to start his sixth season with the Rangers and has often said how much he loves playing for the club. General Manager Glen Sather and Coach John Tortorella have often praised Callahan.
 
Callahan is already an alternate captain and is seen as the Rangers captain in waiting, perhaps as soon as next season, after last month’s buyout of the previous captain, Chris Drury.
 
Callahan is looking to roughly double his 2010-11 salary of $2.4 million. He would be the fourth of the Rangers’ restricted free agents to re-sign with the club this off season. The others were Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Brian Boyle and Steve Eminger.

N.F.L. Free-for-All Central

Big signing news of the day, so far
The Titans added a bit of stability with the signing of former Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck on Monday, although that is sort of like saying you’ve added some fresh water to the Atlantic Ocean. But after sending Vince Young into exile and having Kerry Collins retire instead of dive into this reclamation project, the Titans desperately needed not to throw their first-round draft pick Jake Locker straight into the lion pit. They put out a call for a veteran stop-gap and Hasselbeck, 35, answered, to the tune of $21 million over three years, the Tennessean reported.

The Jets getting Santonio Holmes back into the fold for $50 million over five years has more sizzle to it, as does running back DeAngelo Williams re-upping with the Panthers. Carolina also re-signed defensive end Charles Johnson.

Big trade news of the day, so far
The much-anticipated trade of Donovan McNabb from the Redskins to the Vikings is still in the anticipated category, as of early Wednesday afternoon. Seemingly everyone in the football media world, and a few of their great aunts, has a source confirming this will happen while both sides agree on what draft picks the Redskins get and perhaps bickering over the size of McNabb’s ear muff allowance.

Also percolating is a rumored deal between the Eagles and Cardinals that would send quarterback Kevin Kolb to the desert in return for cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a draft pick. The Broncos are also dangling quarterback Kyle Orton and the Dolphins are among those swinging their shopping cart in his direction.

Big other news in the N.F.L. today, so far
It may be a first when a player begs his university to declare him ineligible for the coming season, but that’s just what Terrelle Pryor did at Ohio State. On Wednesday, the Buckeyes granted the wish of their former quarterback/current existential bane. Pryor, who had already announced he was ditching the team, wants the N.F.L. to stage a supplemental draft for him and without the ineligibility, he wasn’t eligible for one.

Daniel Sedin Predicts Canucks Victory. Well, Maybe Not

The Canucks’ Daniel Sedin pulled off one of the funnier backtrackings in recent Stanley Cup annals. In Tuesday’s Vancouver Sun he was quoted as saying, “We’re going to win Game 7” against the Boston Bruins. But on Wednesday morning he softened that sentiment to a grand extent.

“You know, that was probably me being excited and the words came wrong out of my mouth,” Sedin said. “What I said was if we put our best game on the ice, I like our chances. That’s the way it’s been all year. When we play our best, we’re a tough team to beat. We show that at home. We like our chances.”

Bruins Win the Stanley Cup

The Cup is coming back to Boston.

With opportune scoring and record-setting goaltending, the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup with a 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7.

Patrice Bergeron scored two goals and Brad Marchand added two more for Boston, which was outshot, 37-21. But Tim Thomas, who stopped more shots this postseason than any goalie in history, turned away every one he saw.

To no one’s surprise, Thomas was awarded the Conn Smythe trophy as the most valuable player. He is the second American to win the award, after Brian Leetch in 1994.

It is Boston’s first Stanley Cup since 1972, when the Bruins legends Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito roamed the old Boston Garden. Now Bergeron, Marchand, Zdeno Chara and Thomas will take their place among those legends.

Auto-refresh is: ONTurn ONTurn OFF

Refresh nowUpdating…Feed

Bruins Take Cup, Vancouver Cleans Up

It was a night of exalted highs and tragic lows in Vancouver, British Columbia, as Wednesday night’s deciding Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals went Boston’s way. The Bruins jumped on the Canucks, and brought the excited crowd in the Rogers Centre to stunned silence.

The Bruins won, 4-0, and took the Stanley Cup back to Boston for the first time since 1972. Goalie Tim Thomas won the Conn Smythe trophy for being voted the best player of the playoffs, and was feted by the Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan for his steely calm.

The ESPNBoston.com columnist Jackie MacMullan feels the Bruins used their cohesiveness and teamwork to wear down the Canucks.

“When their season reached its most critical juncture, when those hockey dreams nurtured on the frozen ponds of Flint, Mich., and Trencin, Czechoslovakia, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, and L’Ancienne-Lorette, Quebec, were hanging in the balance, the Boston Bruins flew more than 2,500 miles to an arena jammed with rabid fans hollering for their demise and did what champions do: They delivered. Together,” MacMullan wrote.

The Boston Herald also praised the Bruins for their triumph, with Dan Duggan focusing on the injured wing Nathan Horton’s emotional contributions to the effort.

While the Bruins celebrated the win in Vancouver and their fans safely and sanely partied back in Boston, Canucks fans took to the downtown streets of Vancouver with more menacing intent. More than 150 people were injured as storefronts were destroyed and looted, cars overturned and burned, and fights raged.

The main headline on The Vancouver Sun’s Web site decries, “Canuck hockey dream now Vancouver’s nightmare”.

The news of violence raced around the world, with the British Broadcasting Corp. putting the Vancouver story on its homepage.

An estimated crowd of 70,000 had gathered outside Rogers Arena in the hours leading up to Game 7, wanting to be a part of what they assumed would be a Canucks victory party. The crowd turned angry as the reality of the loss set in.

The crowd inside the arena wasn’t happy either, as somebody launched a cup of cola in the direction of N.H.L. Commissioner Gary Bettman, according to The Vancouver Sun. The flying soda just missed Bettman, coming within four feet, but the hearty boos and catcalls for Bettman hit their intended target.

The Canadian Broadcast Corp.’s postgame coverage switched from chronicling the Bruins to live scenes of cars burning and people breaking into a drugstore and department store. The Province newspaper’s Web site did a live-time chronicling of the unrest, complete with eyewitness accounts and photos.

The scenes of unrest were an unfortunate repeat of 1994, when Canucks fans rioted after a Game 7 loss to the Rangers and caused more than $1 million Canadian in damage to Vancouver.

The Vancouver Sun columnist Sam Cole chided Canucks fans and Vancouverites for their violent reactions and loss of control.

“Flummoxed, frustrated, driven mad by an inability to shoot, run, kick, bulldoze or otherwise squeeze a puck past Boston’s Tim Thomas for most of seven straight games, the Canucks let a dream season go to waste Wednesday night, losing Game 7 and the Stanley Cup on home ice to an infinitely better-organized, stronger Bruins team,” Cole wrote. “And then the whole damned city lost its class.

“Again. Just like 1994. No lesson learned. The Olympics was the exception. Civil disobedience is the rule. It started outside the arena, where the usual thugs and goofballs took their frustrations out on cars and cops and property, though they’d probably have just found a different reason to do it if the Canucks had won…”

While the Canucks players were contemplating a championship opportunity lost, reporters were asking them about the looting and burning happening outside the arena.

“It’s terrible,” Canucks forward Henrik Sedin told The Vancouver Sun, while shaking his head in disbelief. “This city and province has a lot to be proud of, the team we have and the guys we have in here. It’s too bad.”

Burress Talks of Return to Giants, Coughlin Gets Contract Extension

12:54 p.m. | Updated Three starters from the 2007 Super Bowl team have now left the Giants, but one may soon be returning. And the Giants also made clear the coach isn’t going anywhere, extending Tom Coughlin’s contract through 2012.

Defensive tackle Barry Cofield agreed to terms on a six-year contract with the Redskins on Tuesday. Cofield was the fourth significant departure of the day: the starting offensive linemen Rich Seubert and Shaun O’Hara, as well as top backup Shawn Andrews, were informed of their release earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, Plaxico Burress said he would speak with the Giants about a possible return to the team, according to The Star-Ledger.

“It’s going to be crazy,” Burress said, noting that he has been critical of Giants Coach Tom Coughlin in recent radio interviews. “I really don’t know what I am going to say. I’m just going to go in there tomorrow and speak from the heart.”

Burress suggested on Tuesday that he would meet with Coughlin at Giants headquarters, but under the rules outlined for this off-season, free agents are not yet allowed to visit team facilities. The Giants may meet Burress on an off-site location.

Burress caught the game-winning pass in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLII and caught 244 passes in four seasons with the Giants. Burress, who turns 34 in two weeks, has not stepped onto the field since accidentally shooting himself in the leg in a New York night club in November 2008, which resulted in a 22-month prison term.

Burress was a controversial figure even before the nightclub incident: he held out of minicamp in May of 2008, and earned $45,000 in fines and a suspension by the Steelers for unsportsmanlike conduct after a 2004 game.

Burress has said his relationship with Coughlin was not a good one and Coughlin’s support from Giants management has been strong. They announced a one-year extension of his contract, which means it will run through 2012.

“As I was when I was hired in 2004, I am grateful for the opportunity,” Coughlin said in a statement released by the Giants. “To be the head coach of the New York Giants is the fulfillment of a dream for somebody who grew up where I grew up and when I grew up.”

If Burress does sign with the Giants, it will affect the team’s free agent strategy. Receiver Steve Smith, coming off a major knee injury, may be allowed to test the open market. Even with numerous departures, the Giants are very close to the $120 million salary cap and can not afford to spend much on the open market.

Cofield started 75 games in five seasons for the Giants, recording 10.5 sacks. Marvin Austin, this year’s second-round pick, is expected to compete with Linval Joseph, last year’s second round pick, for Cofield’s starting job.
Shawn Andrews started four games at left tackle last season and also saw action as the sixth lineman when the team used a jumbo formation.

The oft-injured Andrews was due to make $7.5 million this year, so his departure was expected. Coming on the heels of the releases of Seubert and O’Hara, the Giants must now replace long-time starters at center and guard, plus their first lineman off the bench. Seubert, O’Hara, and Andrews combined to start 29 games last season.

To that end, the Giants answered a major question by agreeing to terms with center-guard David Baas on Wednesday morning. Baas, a former second-round pick by the 49ers from University of Michigan, started at center and both guard positions during his six-year career. Baas started 16 games at center last year and did not allow a sack according to Football Outsiders. He is expected to fill the void left by Shaun O’Hara, who was informed of his release on Tuesday.

The Giants also officially announced the hiring of Larry Izzo as assistant special teams coach. Izzo made three Pro Bowls as a special team player and earned three Super Bowl rings as a member of the New England Patriots.

Cup Upset Was Strange, Not Inexplicable

The Stanley Cup finals that ended Wednesday were among the strangest ever, apart from what happened in the streets of Vancouver afterward.

The Canucks were favored, having won the regular-season title with the league’s most productive offense, its most efficient defense, very good goaltending by Roberto Luongo and excellent special teams. After a big scare in the first round against their bête noire, Chicago, they won 8 of their next 11 games to get to the finals.

Yet Boston wound up outscoring them by 23-8 (and by 21-4 in the last five games). The Bruins’ 15-goal advantage was the biggest for any best-of-seven finals in N.H.L. history. The previous record was the 13 by which the 1970 Bruins beat St. Louis — in a sweep.

The dimensions of the Bruins’ victory over the Canucks were those of a runaway sweep, not a seven-game marathon. Vancouver scored the fewest goals by a team in a seven-game series, and during the 420 minutes 11 seconds of play, the Canucks led for only 32:32, less than 8 percent of the time.

How did that happen?

The scrappy Bruins, backstopped by the game’s top goalie, Tim Thomas, planned to physically confront Vancouver, especially its mobile defensemen and the high-scoring Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik. The Canucks, with players like Alexandre Burrows, who bit the finger of Patrice Bergeron in Game 1, gladly took up the challenge.

One result was the most rancorous Cup finals in a couple of decades. It was less about the best hockey of the year and more about biting, taunting, slashing, cheap shots, late shots, high-sticking, slew-footing, diving, embellishing, brawling, trash-talking and name-calling. Pushing and shoving after the whistle became the norm, and by the end, the teams had combined for 342 penalty minutes, the most in the Cup finals since 1986.

Before Game 7, the TSN analyst Bob McKenzie called the series “Revenge of the Twerps,” noting that the two best skaters for each team through the first six games were superpests, Boston’s Brad Marchand and Vancouver’s Maxim Lapierre.

Although they won the first two games at home, the Canucks’ fortunes went downhill immediately. They lost defenseman Dan Hamhuis in Game 1 after he injured himself by flipping Boston’s Milan Lucic over his back. Coach Alain Vigneault moved Aaron Rome up the depth chart, but he had trouble with the pace against frontline players.

In Game 3 in Boston, Rome’s mistimed check concussed Nathan Horton, earning an ejection and a four-game suspension. For the second time, Vancouver had to play with five defensemen and began to tire, giving Boston too much space, which the Bruins exploited by displaying unexpected skill in an 8-1 victory. Thomas’s play early in the game made the outcome possible, and Marchand’s short-handed tally broke Vancouver’s spirit.

Game 4 was more of the same, with Thomas stopping everything en route to a 4-0 shocker in which Marchand scored and later clotheslined Christian Ehrhoff and lowbridged Daniel Sedin on the same play.

Luongo sparkled in a 1-0 decision as Vancouver took a 3-2 series lead. But returning to Boston, he again turned porous behind additional defensive blunders, and the Bruins won, 5-2. Marchand scored the first goal and later repeatedly punched Daniel Sedin in the head.

In Game 7, the home-ice pattern was broken when Bergeron and Marchand each scored twice in a 4-0 victory, capitalizing on the battered Canucks defense and little response from the Sedins.

The shutout was Thomas’s second of the finals, and he set records for most saves in the playoffs and in the finals. It is worth noting that Daniel Sedin took 27 shots in the series, more than any other player, but Thomas, the most valuable player in the postseason, stopped 26 of them.

After Thomas, the best player and most compelling figure was the 5-foot-9 Marchand. His 11 playoff goals, second most for a rookie, and 19 points were essential, but his physical agitation symbolized the temperament of these strange finals.

Thomas finished the finals with a save percentage of .967. His overall save percentage in the playoffs was .940, best among all goalies. And that came on top of his .938 mark during the regular season, an N.H.L. record.

Such sustained excellence may have been made possible by Thomas’s relatively light regular-season workload, 57 games. No Stanley Cup-winning goalie in the last seven years has played as many as 63 regular-season games.

A City Where Rioting Is Oddly Familiar

Americans reacted with surprise that Vancouver, site of an Olympics featuring huge street parties suffused with good feeling, could descend into the kind of sports rioting seen in recent years in Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Boston and Montreal, and at Ohio State, Michigan State and several other universities.

But Vancouverites are all too aware of their city’s history of rioting, and not only over lost hockey games.

In addition to Wednesday’s chaos and the 1994 Stanley Cup mayhem after the Canucks lost Game 7 to the Rangers, the police and protesters clashed during a 1997 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference and in 1998 over a visit by Jean Chrétien, then prime minister of Canada.

In 2002, fans made a commotion when Axl Rose did not show up for a Guns N’ Roses concert, rioting after a Rolling Stones concert in 1972 and so on going back through the years.

“It’s terrible,” Henrik Sedin, the Canucks’ captain, said after Game 7.

The next morning, hundreds of volunteers cleaned up broken glass downtown, and the Vancouver police were receiving thousands of tips identifying the rioters.

Jagr Eyes N.H.L. Return

Jaromir Jagr’s exit from the N.H.L. was strange and largely unexplained when he left the Rangers in 2008 and signed a contract with Avangard Omsk of the Russian Kontinental Hockey League. But now it seems that was not his final exit after all.

The 39-year-old Jagr, following a strong season for Omsk, confirmed to ESPN.com that he is exploring a return and has spoken with Detroit and Montreal.

“First we’d have to see if it can happen,” Jagr told ESPN.com. “But if it happened, it would be very exciting. It also would be a nice challenge. There would be some people who think I’m not good enough.”

Jagr’s agent, former N.H.L. player Petr Svoboda said he has talked to several teams, including Detroit.

“There’s quite a few teams that have interest,” Svoboda said. “Jaromir feels he’s N.H.L.-ready again. I believe this might happen.”

Detroit General Manager Ken Holland confirmed the Wings’ interest. Detroit has the benefit of salary cap room after the retirement of defenseman Brian Rafalski and might have more if 41-year-old defenseman Niklas Lidstrom also retires. His decision is expected within a week so the Wings can make prepare for the July 1 opening of the free agent signing period.

Jagr is not currently under contract with Omsk and talk about his possible return to North American peaked during the world championships, where Jagr led the Czech Republic to the semifinals. He scored three goals in a game against the United States.

His departure from New York was one of the stranger twists in his career, which included stints with the Penguins and Capitals. Rangers General Manager Glen Sather insisted talks with Jagr never even got as far as money. Jagr seemed to be seeking some other kind of assurances he did not receive.

Jagr has played 17 seasons in the N.H.L., has scored 646 goals, 1,599 points. He is ninth on the league’s all-time points list and is 12th in goals scored.

Lidstrom Chooses One More Year With Wings

The Detroit Red Wings have received the news they were hoping for, that their captain and All-Star defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom will be returning for a 20th season.

Lidstrom, 41, followed the same post-season period of evaluation as has become custom the past few years. He took time to talk with his family, to ponder if it’s time to retire and move back to Sweden, to examine his desire to play and the state of his health.

The answers to all questions keep coming back in the Red Wings’ favor, so Lidstrom is back for another year. Lidstrom and the Wings announced Monday he will be signing a one-year contract, worth $6.2 million. It’s the same amount that he played for last season.

“At this stage in my career, I have to be motivated,” Lidstrom said, during a Monday teleconference with the media. “I have to be having fun. That’s why I am taking it year by year, to be sure I am motivated, and that I am playing at a high level.

“You have to be ready for a long season, and to be ready to play well, too.”

Lidstrom has been the Red Wings’ defensive anchor for two decades, his legacy cemented by four Stanley Cups, six Norris trophies as the N.H.L.’s best defenseman and 11 All-Star Game appearances. He’s a candidate for this year’s Norris trophy, which will be awarded on June 22 in a ceremony in Las Vegas. Zdeno Chara of the Bruins and Shea Weber of the Predators are the other finalists.

Lidstrom, nicknamed “The Perfect Human” by his Red Wings teammates because of his work ethic, gentlemanly demeanor and commitment to keeping his body in prime playing condition, is arguably the team’s core. His level of play has remained high and dependable. This was the first season in which Lidstrom finished with a negative plus-minus, at minus-2.

Lidstrom has been keeping busy while making his decision, doing things such as paddle surfing on the Detroit River with pals Chris Chelios and Kid Rock.

The Red Wings have remained in perennial contention for the Stanley Cup, and Lidstrom said he needed to know that the team would remain committed to winning. So he discussed the team’s future with General Manager Ken Holland before he made his decision.

“I did have those questions for Kenny,” Lidstrom said. I’ve never had any doubt in my mind that Kenny is trying to do everything he can to put a good product on the ice, and Mr. and Mrs. Ilitch, as well.”

Lidstrom said the retirement of his defensive partner, Brian Rafalski, came as a surprise. It also made Lidstrom’s return even more important to the team.

“Obviously, if we had lost both, it probably would have been devastating,” Holland said on the teleconference. “I just can’t imagine the Red Wings without Nick Lidstrom. “I always say that the day he announces his retirement, I will be in an adjacent room, announcing mine.”

How Free Agency Works in New York

As free agency fever gets set to overcome the N.H.L. on Friday, what better way to prepare than a Down Goes Brown/Bloge Salming video on one of the story lines waiting to play out: the Rangers heaping a bunch of money on free agent center Brad Richards.

Emrick, Voice of the N.H.L, Leaves Devils

The best local sports announcers are often as well known and as beloved as a team’s players. Think of Vin Scully and the Dodgers. Marv Albert and the Knicks. Mel Allen and the Yankees. Chick Hearn and the Lakers. Mike (Doc) Emrick became that distinctive figure for Devils fans for 21 seasons.

But Emrick announced Thursday that he was reducing his workload as he nears 65, which meant cutting his ties to the Devils and the MSG Networks. He will remain the lead N.H.L. voice for NBC and Versus.

“I’m not feeble and I’m not hobbling along,” he said by telephone. “I still have the energy. I still love the sport and love any excuse to be inside watching it. But it’s time to look ahead.”

Emrick has pared his Devils duties by five games in each of the past three seasons. He called 59 games last season and nearly that many for NBC and Versus.

“At one point in March, I did eight games in 10 days, all in different cities, and they were all spread out enough that I had to fly to each one of them,” he said. “By the eighth game, I probably wasn’t doing the job I was doing on the first of the eight.”

He grades himself after every game, on a scale of A to C; he lets others assess his rare lesser work.

“I was grading myself honestly, and they weren’t straight A’s,” Emrick said, explaining that getting facts wrong or misidentifying players are among the errors that reduce his grades.

The dual local and national schedules have been the work of “one and a half men,” he said. “Lord knows we don’t want to go to two and a half men.” Seemingly, Emrick was admitting to a lack of tiger blood.

Announcers are often workhorses. In the season after the 2004-5 lockout, Emrick said he called 152 local, national and Winter Olympic games. That same season, his former partner John Davidson called 153. “I don’t know why we did that, but we were invited to do it and we like working,” Emrick said.

Davidson left announcing after that season to run the St. Louis Blues. If Emrick ever had a desire to run the Devils, Lou Lamoriello, the president and general manager, blocked his path.

During Emrick’s stints (from 1983-86 and 1993-2011) as the Devils’ announcer, the team became one of the best in the N.H.L. and won three Stanley Cup championships. Through those decades, he became hockey’s pre-eminent announcer, mixing his appreciation for English, an ability to maintain his composure during the fastest of game sequences and his ability to pronounce the most difficult-to-pronounce names.

He said what he would miss most about his Devils work was the interaction with fans and the team.

“Fans would come up and say hello to Chico and me and suggest things like the naming of a line,” he said, referring to his color analyst, Chico Resch. “And over the past 18 years, my parents died, and we had some significant losses in our family of canines. So many people sent cards. I saved them all. All these tragedies happened during the hockey seasons. To get to a funeral home and see a spray of flowers from the Devils fan club and another from Lou Lamoriello or the Devils players — that’s what I won’t forget.”

The Buzz Around Jim Brown

The Hall of Famer Jim Brown has never been accused of being afraid to speak his mind, and he held back little when The Times’s William C. Rhoden got him to sit in the barber’s chair as part of a continuing series of interviews. Brown discusses his support of Muhammad Ali during the Vietnam War, the current N.F.L. labor situation, his concerns regarding the rule changes that reduce the physical nature of pro football, and why he left the game (Raquel Welch?) at age 29.

The full interview can be seen when the video appears on Friday at nytimes.com/sports.

Complete 2011 Fantasy Football Rankings

Jason and Justin Sablich are here to help you with your fantasy football draft. The Sablich brothers will provide fantasy football advice throughout the season on this blog and on Twitter (@5thDownFantasy).

Our fantasy football cheat sheets are back again and will be updated throughout the preseason. If you have a specific question about your fantasy draft, don’t be shy. Find us on Twitter (@5thDownFantasy) and ask away.

7/15/11 | Rankings Updated

Key
FM= Extra favorable matchups based on 2010
Players: Yellow = Caution, Green = Updates
Playoff Weeks: Red = Favorable Matchup Blue = Unfavorable

Favorable Matchups and Playoff Weeks: Games against opposing teams who gave up at least 20 standard fantasy points per game to the position in 2010.

Burress Talks of Return to Giants

Three starters from the 2007 Super Bowl team have now left the Giants, but one may soon be returning.

Defensive tackle Barry Cofield agreed to terms on a six-year contract with the Redskins on Tuesday. Cofield was the fourth significant departure of the day: the starting offensive linemen Rich Seubert and Shaun O’Hara, as well as top backup Shawn Andrews, were informed of their release earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, Plaxico Burress said he would speak with the Giants about a possible return to the team, according to The Star-Ledger.

“It’s going to be crazy,” Burress said, noting that he has been critical of Giants Coach Tom Coughlin in recent radio interviews. “I really don’t know what I am going to say. I’m just going to go in there tomorrow and speak from the heart.”

Burress suggested on Tuesday that he would meet with Coughlin at Giants headquarters, but under the rules outlined for this off-season, free agents are not yet allowed to visit team facilities. The Giants may meet Burress on an off-site location.

Burress caught the game-winning pass in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLII and caught 244 passes in four seasons with the Giants. Burress, who turns 34 in two weeks, has not stepped onto the field since accidentally shooting himself in the leg in a New York night club in November 2008, which resulted in a 22-month prison term.

Burress was a controversial figure even before the nightclub incident: he held out of minicamp in May of 2008, and earned $45,000 in fines and a suspension by the Steelers for unsportsmanlike conduct after a 2004 game.

If Burress does sign with the Giants, it will affect the team’s free agent strategy. Receiver Steve Smith, coming off a major knee injury, may be allowed to test the open market. Even with numerous departures, the Giants are very close to the $120 million salary cap and can not afford to spend much on the open market.

Cofield started 75 games in five seasons for the Giants, recording 10.5 sacks. Marvin Austin, this year’s second-round pick, is expected to compete with Linval Joseph, last year’s second round pick, for Cofield’s starting job.
Shawn Andrews started four games at left tackle last season and also saw action as the sixth lineman when the team used a jumbo formation.

The oft-injured Andrews was due to make $7.5-million this year, so his departure was expected. Coming on the heels of the releases of Seubert and O’Hara, the Giants must now replace long-time starters at center and guard, plus their first lineman off the bench. Seubert, O’Hara, and Andrews combined to start 29 games last season.

Video: The Brutal Honesty of James Harrison

James Harrison may be brash, but at least he says what is really on his mind, unlike most star athletes, says William C. Rhoden.

Murky Waters This Year in Free-Agent Pool

At some point, perhaps soon, the N.F.L. and its players will reach a new labor agreement, and the great free-agent gold rush of 2011 will begin. But for now, for as many as 500 free agents, there is no blueprint, no courting or being courted, only anticipation for what comes next and more labor pains induced in the form of unemployment.

Whenever this period of free agency begins, it will be condensed and frenzied. But the fine print, the rules governing the period, are still to be determined. Players drafted in 2006 or later will pay particular attention to whether four years of service (as expected) or six result in unrestricted free-agent status. Additionally, teams could receive some sort of right-of-first-refusal tag, allowing them to match offers for even unrestricted free agents, if only for this season.

For now, the free agents wait. They cannot speak with the teams that employed them last season or with the teams that may in the season ahead. So they wait to see whether the salary cap will shrink, which could lower contract totals, or whether the new agreement will force teams to spend a certain portion of the salary cap, say 95 percent, which could raise contract totals. They wait to see if franchise tags are valid, and if the rules regarding tags will change.

Mostly, they wait for football. Same as everybody else.

The Prize

As the top available free agent and one of the most feared cover cornerbacks in football, Nnamdi Asomugha could command as much as $20 million per season, despite his age (he turned 30 on Saturday) and recent interception total (two in the past three seasons).

Asomugha would seem like a good fit in Houston, which ranked last in defending the pass last season and recently hired Wade Phillips as its defensive coordinator. But Green Bay and Philadelphia are also expected to take a look.

If not, the market is relatively full of capable cornerbacks who are cheaper and often younger than Asomugha. They include Johnathan Joseph, Antonio Cromartie, Ike Taylor and Champ Bailey.

The Deep End

Besides cornerback, the positions in the free-agent pool that seem the deepest are running back and wide receiver. Potential running back options include: Arian Foster (the N.F.L.’s leading rusher last season), DeAngelo Williams, Cedric Benson, Ahmad Bradshaw, Mike Tolbert, Ronnie Brown, Pierre Thomas and Leon Washington.

Potential receiver options include Sidney Rice, Santonio Holmes, Vincent Jackson, Braylon Edwards, Steve Smith, Malcom Floyd and Randy Moss.

The Danger Zone

One team that will particularly suffer if the rules regarding unrestricted free agents revert to 2009 (four years, as opposed to six) is the Jets, with a glut of free-agent receivers.

Edwards is an unrestricted free agent, and Brad Smith and Holmes would join him because they each have five years of service. Thus the Jets have also been linked to Plaxico Burress, who was recently released from prison.

The Former Giants

Speaking of former Giants stars looking to get back into the league, Burress is joined by running back Tiki Barber, who wants to return to the N.F.L. after his broadcasting career fizzled.

The Tagged

Several cornerstone players were given franchise tags this off-season, with Peyton Manning (Colts), Michael Vick (Eagles) and David Harris (Jets) among them. They could join the free-agent rush, depending on the tag rules in the new collective bargaining agreement.

Not Easy to Find a Fit for McNabb

The looming end of the lockout is expected to be followed by the craziest two weeks of player movement in N.F.L. history. The assumption is that Donovan McNabb will be part of the movement.

Washington’s decision to dump McNabb was all but made last November when the front office gave him a contract that called for a $10 million roster bonus on Sept. 9. The Redskins knew they weren’t going to pay eight figures to a man they’d benched earlier that season. The rest of the league knew this as well, which is why the Redskins will have trouble getting even a lower-round pick for McNabb.

Expect McNabb to be released in a few days. Then, expect him to…what, exactly? Look closely at the N.F.L. landscape and at McNabb’s circumstances and you’ll see an outlook cloudy enough to result in a possible early retirement.

McNabb is 34. By all accounts, he’s not willing to be a backup. In the past 15 months, Andy Reid and Mike Shanahan, two of the most respected offensive coaches of this era, have gotten rid of him. And, fair or unfair, the disastrous year in Washington brought about questions about McNabb’s work ethic and his ability to learn a new system. Before 2010, McNabb  spent 11 years in Philadelphia’s West Coast offense. If McNabb couldn’t learn a new system after an off-season of minicamps and OTA’s in Washington, who will trust he can learn a new system on the fly somewhere else?

The quarterback-needy Vikings seem to be  cooling on McNabb. The Vikings probably started having doubts back in the spring when they hired new offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave and eradicated Brad Childress’s West Coast system. Without a firm grasp of Minnesota’s new offense, McNabb is not valuable as a starter or as a mentor to the rookie quarterback Christian Ponder.

If this reasoning rules out the Vikings, then it also rules out the Titans and the 49ers. The other teams in need of immediate quarterback help appear to be headed in a different direction. The Cardinals are expected to acquire Kevin Kolb. If they can’t get Kolb, they’ll probably go for Marc Bulger, who, as a (very) poor man’s Kurt Warner, at least has the right style of play for Ken Whisenhunt’s offense. The Bengals are prepared to start the rookie Andy Dalton if Carson Palmer walks away. The Raiders, for whatever reason, are sold on Jason Campbell. The Browns run a West Coast system but figure to keep developing Colt McCoy. And the Bills are comfortable with Ryan Fitzpatrick, who, at this point, is probably a better player than McNabb anyway.

This leaves only two conceivable destinations for McNabb: Seattle and Miami. The Seahawks run a West Coast style offense and may need to replace the free agent Matt Hasselbeck. If Pete Carroll decides he can’t rely on Charlie Whitehurst (and that’s not a small if considering Carroll gave up  two quality draft picks and $8 million for the unproven passer, then started him ahead of a less-than-100 percent-Hasselbeck in the must-win Week 17 game against the Rams last season), perhaps he turns to McNabb. There were rumors a year ago about Seattle’s interest in McNabb.

Regarding the Dolphins, logic says they shouldn’t be interested in McNabb given that Chad Henne – who is not worth giving up on just yet – can still grow or, at the very least, be a short-term placeholder. But we found out last season when Henne was benched for Chad Pennington that Coach Tony Sparano can get desperate for an instant spark. That desperation probably hasn’t abated after the team’s off-season pursuit of Jim Harbaugh.

The Dolphins could view a McNabb signing as a two-year stab at catching lightning in a bottle. True, the new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll doesn’t run a West Coast system. But that caveat would be outweighed by the fact that McNabb would give the Dolphins some of the star power that the owner Stephen Ross craves.

What’s clear is McNabb is not the player he was a few years ago, and the circumstances around the league are tilted against him. Keep in mind, we’ve only discussed whether teams will see McNabb as a possible fit. We haven’t discussed whether they’ll see him as a better fit than Vince Young, Kyle Orton, Alex Smith, Seneca Wallace or…dare we say…Brett Favre*.

If I had 10 chips to bet on where McNabb plays in 2011, I’d put 4 on Seattle, 3 on Miami, 1 on “somewhere else” and 2 on “nowhere.”

*If you think the Favre bit is a joke, think again. It’s likely that Favre will actually retire this time. But given that there was no off-season, all quarterbacks on the open market are essentially “Brett Favre” in that they’ll be coming aboard without having had time to practice or learn the offense. In this sense, Favre is a proven commodity who is available. Some team will try to tempt him; it’s only a matter of whether he’ll be able to resist.

Andy Benoit is the founder of NFLTouchdown.com and provides N.F.L. analysis for CBSSports.com. He can be reached atandy.benoit@nfltouchdown.com.

Fantasy Football: Breakouts and Sleepers

Jason and Justin Sablich are here to help you with your fantasy football draft. The Sablich brothers will provide fantasy football advice throughout the season on this blog and on Twitter (@5thDownFantasy).

Complete fantasy football ranking for all positions, including PPR formats, updated throughout the preseason.

Every season there will be players who greatly exceed their draft positions, and there will be just as many who go undrafted that can turn the tide in your favor. Last year, Arian Foster, Brandon Lloyd and LeGarrette Blount were classic examples, and having one or more of them on your team most likely meant you were still a nervous wreck when championship weeks arrived.

Here are some potential breakout and sleeper candidates to keep an eye on for the coming season.

Quarterback



Matthew Stafford, DET – He started only 13 games in his first two seasons, but he appears to be fully recovered from last season’s shoulder injury and has bulked up this off-season. Detroit also added offensive firepower in this year’s draft with receiver Titus Young and running back Mikel Leshoure.



Sam Bradford, STL — Set to build off a record-setting first year (most completions and most consecutive passes without an INT for a rookie), Bradford will now have the former Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels calling his plays, which should inject more life and creativity into the passing game. It would be nice to see the Rams add another veteran receiver via free agency, but Bradford is primed to surpass last season’s totals of 3,512 passing yards and 18 touchdowns.

Tim Tebow, DEN — Tebow replaced the injured Kyle Orton as the starting QB for the final three games of the 2010 season and was surprisingly outstanding from a fantasy perspective, averaging 27.3 points per game. His running ability has him on the radars of many fantasy owners this year and some people, including Mike Klis of The Denver Post, believe Tebow will open the season as the starter. That’s exactly the kind of thing you want to hear if you’re thinking of Tebow as your QB2.

Running Back

Ryan Mathews, SD — There is still plenty of concern about his durability, but there isn’t much doubt that the Chargers want him to be their primary ball carrier. As last year’s 120-yard, 3-TD performance against Denver in Week 17 can attest, Mathews has the makings of a fantasy star.



Shonn Greene, NYJ — It’s no secret that Greene will be taking over as the Jets’ featured back this season with LaDainian Tomlinson ready to embrace a third-down role. Surely last season’s flop will have many owners skeptical about Greene’s ability to handle the lead, and that means you could be getting a potential RB1 at a bargain price in many drafts this summer.

Mikel Leshoure, DET — While a healthy Best is still going to be the Lions’ lead back, Leshoure should still have an active role and is a safe bet to lead the team in rushing scores. The 6-foot 230-pounder crossed the goal line 20 times for Illinois last season, and as Tim Twentyman from The Detroit News writes, the ”Lions don’t draft players without a specific role in mind.”



Delone Carter, IND — Coach Jim Caldwell has confirmed that the Colts are looking for Carter to be a solution to their short-yardage issues, and in a high-powered offense that would mean plenty of touchdown opportunities. Scouts Inc.’s Matt Williamson has high praise for Carter, saying he could end up as the best value pick in the draft. With Donald Brown currently the only Colts running back with a contract, Carter may be given an even larger role sooner than expected.

Rashad Jennings, JAX — A near clone to Arian Foster from a physical standpoint, Jennings averaged over 5 yards a carry in his first two seasons. And considering Maurice Jones-Drew’s knee troubles, Jennings could be called upon to shoulder more of the load in 2011. Obviously, Jones-Drew owners need him as a handcuff. But as a late-round pick for the rest of us, he could turn out to be a lot more.

Wide Receiver

Mario Manningham, NYG — We could be seeing Manningham lining up as the starting complement to Hakeem Nicks this season if the Giants decide to part ways with Steve Smith. His numbers have steadily improved over the course of three seasons, and in a starting role he should have no problems eclipsing the 60 catches and 944 yards he totaled in 2010.

Mike Thomas, JAX – The Jaguars’ leading receiver last season is expected to emerge as the No. 1 option with Mike Sims-Walker likely on the move. Thomas was just 180 yards short of 1,000 receiving yards in 2010, and if you’re worried about a rookie quarterback holding him back some, it appears that Blaine Gabbert isn’t going to be starting any time soon.

Jordy Nelson, GB — With Donald Driver on his last legs and the possibility of James Jones leaving Green Bay in free agency, odds are good Nelson will be Aaron Rodgers’s No. 2 option at receiver this year. He really came on late in the playoffs with 21 receptions, 286 yards, and 2 TDs, and who doesn’t remember his 9-catch, 140-yard, 1-TD performance in the Super Bowl?

Jacoby Ford, OAK — Raiders Coach Hue Jackson has stated he will get the speedster more involved this season. Ford wasn’t seeing regular playing time until Week 7 last year, but he still managed to score seven touchdowns while averaging almost 19 yards a catch.

Emmanuel Sanders, PIT — Last season, we watched Mike Wallace trump Hines Ward as the receiver to own in Pittsburgh. Will Sanders be the next guy to bump him down the depth chart? Williamson seems to think so, as he believes Sanders, ”could be primed for a big jump in production during his sophomore season.”



Tight End

Jared Cook, TEN — While there really isn’t a good reason to dig too deep when it comes to selecting a starting tight end, Cook is definitely one of the better TE2 selections this season. He’ll be Tennessee’s starting tight end this year after he performed well during the final five games last season (250 yards, 1 TD).

Jimmy Graham, NO — You’ll find his name on virtually every fantasy ”breakout” list, but we felt obligated to pen him in just in case your fantasy preparations are just getting under way. With Jeremy Shockey out of the picture, expect Graham to improve on last year’s impressive second half, in which he averaged 7.5 fantasy points a game.

Remembering Myra Kraft

The best story about Myra Kraft to emerge among the touching remembrances following her death this week after a long battle with cancer came from her son Jonathan. He recalled how his mom, during a family trip to South Africa in the era of apartheid, demanded that a white police officer who was taking black men into custody arrest her, too. Jonathan remembered his dad, the Patriots owner Robert K. Kraft, telling him not to let his mother get in trouble. So he threw his mom, a petite woman, over his shoulder and hauled her away.

Robert Kraft’s office in Gillette Stadium is decorated with pictures of him with celebrities (there is a dazzling photograph near the door of him dancing with Jacqueline Kennedy), but the ones behind his desk, closest to him, are huge portraits of his family. Robert and Myra met as college students and Myra knew nothing of football until her husband bought the Patriots. Myra was raised in privilege herself, and then used the team’s fame and success to enhance her own vast philanthropic efforts.

She became a fixture around the Patriots, sitting next to her husband and children at games, and the outpouring of grief from former and current Patriots players speaks to how much of a presence she became in their lives. Curtis Martin, the former Patriots and Jets running back, told a story about how when he was sick of eating out, Myra gave him homemade soup. She was at the center of the pregame parties her husband threw, and was waiting outside the locker room for him when the games were over. She was far more than a cheerleader, though, so central to her husband’s decision-making that when she famously objected in 1996 after the Patriots drafted Christian Peter, who had a history of violence against women, he was quickly cut. Last week, Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe called her the conscience and soul of the Patriots.

During the final months of his wife’s life, Robert Kraft shuttled between intensive N.F.L. labor negotiations and home, rarely staying away from Myra for more than a day while maintaining his role as one of the most influential owners in the N.F.L. Assuming a deal is approved by players in coming days, the season will soon start and the Patriots will again be favorites to win many games. But one person close to Robert Kraft wondered how he would be without Myra.

One lingering grace note summed up how deep her loss cuts: even in conversation with reporters, Robert usually referred to Myra as “my sweetheart.”

Video: The Real Winners of the N.F.L. Lockout

As the N.F.L. prepares to get back to work, the only real winners are the lawyers, says William C. Rhoden.

Forrest Blue, and Giving Offensive Linemen Their Due

A few thoughts about Forrest Blue, one of the N.F.L.’s best centers of the early 1970s. Blue was residing at an assisted-living facility in Carmichael, Calif., when he died last week at age 65 or 66 (There is some discrepancy as to whether he was born in 1944 or in 1945.) According to his daughter, Blue began exhibiting symptoms of dementia about 15 years ago. His brain will be sent to Boston University for further study. Andy Barall writes about pro football history for The Fifth Down.

By the 1960s, the 4-3 was well established as pro football’s dominant defense. With the two defensive tackles usually lined up directly over the guards, the offensive coaches generally used their smallest, quickest lineman at center. At the end of the decade, however, the 49ers put their biggest man in the middle. They had Forrest Blue and he was a little different.

After an excellent college career as a multisport star at Auburn, Blue was San Francisco’s first round pick in the 1968 draft (15th over all). In his second year he replaced Bruce Bosley and remained the Niners’ starting center for the next six seasons. Blue played in 96 regular-season and 5 postseason games for San Francisco, including 2 N.F.C. championship games. He was named first-team All-Pro in 1971 and 1972 and was elected to four consecutive Pro-Bowls, from 1971 to 1974. Blue retired in 1978 after spending the final four years of his career as Ken Mendenhall’s backup in Baltimore.

In 1970, Blue, tackles Len Rohde and Cas Banaszek, and guards Randy Beisler and Woody Peoples came together to form one of the N.F.L.’s best offensive lines. That year, the 49ers led the league in scoring with 352 points, and their quarterback, John Brodie, was sacked only 8 times in 14 games. San Francisco finished 10-3-1, winning its first of three straight N.F.C. Western Division titles.

Playing center in the 1960s and early 70s required more agility and body control than size and raw power. Almost all of the centers, including Jim Ringo of the Packers, Jim Otto of the Raiders, Jim Langer of the Dolphins, Mick Tingelhoff of the Vikings, John Morrow of the Browns and Bob DeMarco of the Cardinals, were in the 6-1 to 6-3 range and about 230 to 245 pounds. They were measured by their ability to execute the cutoff block on the middle linebacker or on the defensive tackle when the guard pulled to lead on the power sweep.

When the defense shifted to an over or an under front, a big defensive tackle lined up over the center would sometimes create problems for the offense. In Super Bowl 4, Tingelhoff had all kinds of trouble with the power and quickness of Kansas City’s two defensive tackles, 260-pound Curley Culp, and 275-pound Buck Buchanan. In fairness, those two were a tough assignment for anybody. Buchanan was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990 and Culp was elected to six Pro Bowls in his 14 year career.

Blue, at 6-6 and about 260 pounds, was an unusual combination of size and mobility. He was strong enough to usually handle the nose tackle without help, quick enough in a confined area to get to the middle linebacker, and fast enough to get to the flat and lead the running backs downfield on screen passes. Blue was intelligent, competitive, and, like every successful offensive lineman, he was unselfish.

Like most of the centers of that era, Blue was also the 49ers’ long snapper on punts, field goals and points-after-touchdown. In 1971, late in the fourth quarter against New England, he returned a fumbled punt 25 yards for the touchdown that sealed a 27-10 victory.

Throughout N.F.L. history, offensive linemen, with a few exceptions, have tended to remain anonymous. As Packers guard Jerry Kramer wrote in “Instant Replay,” his diary of the 1967 season, “One of the Cleveland Browns once told me that if he ever had to go on the lam from the law he’d become an offensive linemen.”

Or this from the Hall of Fame Raiders guard, Gene Upshaw:

I’ve compared offensive linemen to the story of Paul Revere. After Paul Revere rode through town, everybody said what a great job
he did. But no one ever talked about the horse. I know how Paul Revere’s horse felt. (Paul Zimmerman, “The New Thinking Man’s Guide
to Pro Football”, Simon and Schuster, 1984)

I recall, in 2003, hearing on one of the local sports-talk radio stations that Joe DeLamielleure, the trap-blocking guard of the Bills and Browns in the 1970s and early ’80s, had been elected to the Hall of Fame. When the update person attempted to say “DeLamielleure,” it was obvious that he had never heard of him. As members of the heartbeat of the team, offensive linemen deserve better than that. That’s why Forrest Blue, and many others like him, shouldn’t be forgotten.