Asante Samuels just wants to play football for the Philadelphia Eagles. He has great hands and decisive instincts, and he could go a long way playing for the Eagles. The Eagles decided to grab him up and and sign him in 2008. He was signed to a six year contract. He has an All Pro and a Pro Bowl under his belt. So he definitely knows what he is doing on the field. They made him a deal of $57 million with $20 million guaranteed. The Eagles apparently needed a shutdown corner block man, and Samuels was just their man. He hailed from the New England Patriots and won a Super Bowl ring when the Patriots beat the Eagles in 2005 at the Super Bowl.

Lito Sheppard, a Pro Bowl choice twice, is very disheartened with Samuels contract. Sheppard had been offered a five year contract in 2004 and now he is looking for a place where he can be traded. Sheppard’s job of corner back will be taken over by Samuels. The coaches said if you can get a hold of the best one in the NFL, you should grab him immediately before some other team does. Then you won’t have a great team to play with, you will only have amateurs.

The defensive tackle of the Louisiana State University Glenn Dorsey is suffering from a hairline fracture of the right tibia .but Dorsey is not at all worried about the injury and thinks that it is not a matter of concern. According to him, bumps and bruises are common and any person can get hurt any time. Glenn Dorsey is considered as one of the most valuable draft players in 2008.Dorsey had a hairline fracture when he bumped into a weight in the weight training room during the summer of 2006.Dorsey announced that the area adjacent to the hairline fracture has already developed calcification and is not a cause for worry.

Though Glenn Dorsey is not bothered about the injury, a NFL doctor had felt that it is a problem of serious concern. The scouting combine in Indianapolis has reports about the injury and the lingering fracture is really bad for the player. Dorsey was made to undergo some tests by the NFL doctors for a whole day. Doctors took the MRI scans and CAT scans and the reports are not flashed out. Dorsey said “they had stingers from high school they wanted to catch, you have got to stay patient and it will pay off some day”. However, Dorsey fans are concerned about his health.

Tom Coughlin, the coach of the winning team of Super Bowl XLII had a meeting with the media people at the NFL combine. He was a satisfied man and disclosed that he had everything mapped out before the match and was confident of its outcome. One year back Coughlin attended a press meeting and people were skeptical about the success of the team and coach at that time. Coughlin had all the reason to be proud, after the Giants defeated the New England team in the Super Bowl for 17-14. He has created a team which is capable of producing continuous success and there is no doubt that he will get an extension of his contract with Giants.

Coughlin is not a person who wants to ponder over the happenings in the past even if it is something good. He reached Indianapolis and has already started searching eligible draft players to prepare for the next season. Coughlin said he is always busy with various things associated with the match like exit meetings, player rankings, evaluations of players and free agents etc. The Giants have altered the Schedule for the off season as they had a late start for the preparation. Coughlin is positive that with the young line up of his team he can approach the next season with confidence.

The New York Jets head coach Eric Mangani has announced the appointment of Kevin O’Dea as their special teams’ coordinator. Kevin worked as a special teams assistant coach for the Chicago Bears for the last two seasons. During his tenure at Chicago, he was instrumental in guiding the Bears kicker Robbie Gould to lead the NFL table with 63 field goals and also guided him in being the ninth kicker of the NFL history in back to back seasons with 30 field goals. He also led the Chicago Bears special team to the leading position in the overall rankings for the past two seasons.

O’Dea has been the special teams coach for the Cardinals (Arizona) in the year 2004 – 05. He helped Neil Rackers to get selected to the Pro Bowl in the 2005 season for the record of scoring the most field goals in a season. The Cardinals claimed three records in the 2005 season: most field goals by an individual, most field goals by a single team and most field goals over the 40 yard mark. O’Dea is a well known wide receiver and defensive back in his playing days at Lock Haven. The other teams that he has coached include Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Diego Chargers and Detroit Lions.

Football can be more than just a get together for a game in

Some people come over and get these kids and give their family hope that they will be able to play football. They take the kids across

The Tennessee Titans played host to a donation drive organized by them in collaboration with Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management as well as other local social organizations in and around Tennessee for the benefit if the victims who were affected by the deadly storms that stormed into several Tennessee countries in the first week of February. People who wanted to help the victims with donations like clothes, food, dry goods and other essential items came in large numbers to the LP field during the weekend. Titan players like Casey Cramer, defensive tackle Tony Brown and Finnegan had contributed by taking pictures and gifted each donor with an autographed poster of the Titans.

Tony brown appreciated the people for instantly donating materials to the needy and was more than happy to be joining these locals in contributing to the storm affected people. The Titans executive Vice President Admin, Don MacLachlan, said that he was proud that his was also part of the recovery team and acknowledged that the Titans were really heartened by the giving spirit of the people in and around the region. Nashville resident Lockhart on seeing the news on television gathered his friends and other locals and brought three trailer loads of donations to the LP field to help the affected people.

German midfielder Dietmar Hamann’s deal with Manchester City was extended for 2008/2009, as Hamann has been significant in the club’s play for a European place.  He was signed on a free transfer after July 2006 when he left Liverpool.  He was also honored for his performance at the 2-1 win at Manchester United, which placed the team three points from the fourth spot in Champions League.

Before signing up with Newcastle in 1998, Hamann had gone to England’s top flight.  He had also enjoyed one season with St. James’ Park before he moved to Anfield.

In 2005, he significantly contributed to driving Liverpool to their Champions League victory when he played as substitute during the second half.  He stayed with Liverpool for seven years, during which he scored 11 goals and made 283 appearances.  Then in July 2006, he signed up with Manchester City after changing his mind about Bolton.

During his first season there, under Stuart Pearce, he had an injury, but then his performance quickly took off in July 2007 when Sven-Goran Eriksson became the City’s manager.

Hamann boasts of 28 outings in the present campaign, which is a great improvement considering the 19 outings he did last season.

Alberto Paloschi, the 18 year old star striker of the AC Milan is all set for the start of the European Champions League. But the coach of the AC Milan Carlo Ancelotti feels that Paloschi is too young to start and is apprehensive of playing him right from the start of a match. The enthusiastic teenager scored his first goal of the championships only after 18 seconds of him replacing striker Serginho and this goal also proved to be a decisive factor in the context of the game. Paloschi will be in the starting line up for the match on Wednesday only if Inzaghi’s injury stops him from playing.  

The AC Milan coach is very apprehensive of playing Paloschi in the starting line up as he feels that he is not in good physical shape like some of the other players like Kata and Pato. The coach feels that there is lot of improvement needed in his character and he insists that Paloschi needs to gather more playing experience as well. The coach is also of the opinion that filling the big boots of the injured Ronaldo will not be that easy for the young striker as he needs to be able and mature enough to handle responsibilities.

An ideal setting on a Sunday night, the 4th Feb, for the Super Bowl XLII saw the titans New England Patriots take on the so called minnows New York Giants at Glendale in Arizona. The amazing defensive tactics of Tom Brady, the most valuable NFL player of this season and the able support provided by the quarterback Eli Manning showcased on of the major upsets seen in the Super Bowl history as the Giants defeated the mighty Patriots by 17 – 14. The Patriots were believed to be an undefeatable side for a long time and this surprising victory for the Giants came after a defeat in the regular season final held on December 29th.

The Giants had nothing to loose in this match and were playing with competitive spirit and a sense of pride as they were not expected to score a win over the Patriots. Bill Belichick, the coach of Patriots who was expecting his team to run over the New York Giants witnessed one of the disastrous collapses of his team. John Mara, the Giants co-owner was a pleased man that night and dedicated the upset victory to the fans that have supported the team all along in moments of triumphs as well as disasters.

It’s not easy to be a football manager. Football managers are defined by their decisions. A decision can either take the team to victory or bring it down to defeat. When the team wins, the manager is said to be the best, but when the team loses, the people start to think that others can do better than he does. The job of football managers is not easy, requires a lot of skill, and involves a lot of pressure.

Of course, when managers make mistakes, they go down to history forever. There are some popular blunders that football managers have made through the years. Who can forget Brian Clough punching his own fans at Nottingham Forest when they invaded a pitch? Or Graeme Souness signing up Ali Dia, cousin of World Footballer of the Year George Weah? Souness made him play as sub, and when it became obvious after 21 minutes that he couldn’t play well, he was also subbed and did not play with the team ever again. And of course Sir Alf Ramsey of England made the fatal mistake of subbing Bobby Charlton when they were already leading 2–0, which gave The Kaiser from West Germany the chance to take the lead and even win the World Cup.

There’s a long list of football managers’ blunders, and that list grows longer each year. But that’s just the way it is, and it all boils down to one thing: decision. It’s decision that makes or breaks a manager.