Category: Sports

Networks go deep for Bonds’ historic homer
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) – When San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron’s career home-run record, ESPN and Fox Sports aim to bring the occasion to viewers live nationwide.
ESPN and Fox Sports said Thursday that they are negotiating with Major League Baseball for the rights to bring Bonds’ at-bats — and perhaps a game — to a nationwide audience.
For Fox Sports, that could mean carrying an extra game beyond its Saturday afternoon exclusive package, as it did in September 1998, when it broadcast Mark McGwire’s 62nd home run of the season to pass Roger Maris’ long-standing record. For ESPN, it would mean carrying live Bonds’ at-bats each game as he nears the record.
“Do we have an interest? Absolutely,” Fox Sports president Ed Goren said Thursday.
Fox Sports has exclusive rights to the Giants’ July 14 game against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers. “It would be an appropriate game to set a record,” Goren said.
Bonds hit his 751st career home run Tuesday (July 3) against the Cincinnati Reds, putting him four shy of Aaron’s record.
ESPN already has the rights to break in to programming and cover historic events like this one if they happen during its regularly scheduled baseball programming — the Sunday, Monday and Wednesday game windows or ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight,” which airs several times during the day. The only caveat would be that it couldn’t break in and televise something that is exclusively on Fox or the other national TV partner, Turner. TBS will carry three Giants games with the Atlanta Braves July 24-26, but the network said it isn’t in negotiations to carry any more.
But ESPN is, senior vp programming strategy Len DeLuca said.
“We are working with MLB, working out the details to be able to cover (Bonds’ at-bats) from a certain point,” DeLuca said. ESPN carried McGwire’s 61st home run of the 1998 season on a Labor Day telecast that ranks as ESPN’s highest-rated non-NFL telecast.

Clemens signs deal to return to Yankees
NEW YORK – The seventh-inning stretch was ending when the low, familiar voice of public-address announcer Bob Sheppard told fans at Yankee Stadium to direct their attention to the owner’s box behind home plate. Standing there, microphone in hand, was Roger Clemens to personally announce his return to New York.
“Well, they came and got me out of Texas and I can tell you it’s a privilege to be back,” he said. “I’ll be talking to y’all soon.”
With his brief address, shown on the right-center field videoboard to 52,553 fans and many more watching on television, the Rocket rejoined the Yankees in most dramatic fashion.
He agreed to a $28 million, one-year contract that will start when he is added to the major league roster for his first start, most likely in three to four weeks. Clemens will earn about $18.5 million under the deal, which will cost the Yankees approximately $7.4 million in additional luxury tax, meaning they are investing about $26 million in a seven-time Cy Young Award winner who will turn 45 in August.
“Roger Clemens is a winner and a champion, and he is someone who can be counted on to help make this season one that all Yankees fans can be proud of,” owner George Steinbrenner said in a statement. “The sole mission of this organization is to win a world championship.”
Clemens helped the Yankees win World Series titles in 1999 and 2000, then left after the 2003 season intending to retire. But when Andy Pettitte signed with the Houston Astros, Clemens also joined their hometown team.
The Rocket retired again after the 2004 and 2005 seasons, only to re-sign the Astros both times. Pettitte changed the dynamic when he rejoined New York this season.
Clemens had limited his field to the Yankees, Astros and Boston Red Sox, his original team. But when Clemens’ agent, Randy Hendricks, spoke to the Astros and Red Sox in recent days, they said they’d prefer he join up with them in late June or early July. The Yankees, according to Hendricks, said: “We’d like you yesterday.”
“Make no mistake about it, I’ve come back to do what they only know how to do here with the Yankees, and that’s win a championship,” Clemens said. “Anything else is a failure, and I know that.”
Yankees manager Joe Torre had known for a couple of days that a deal was in the works. Talks intensified Thursday, with general manager Brian Cashman negotiating by Blackberry with Hendricks, who was at Fenway Park. Hendricks called Clemens on Friday, when the pitcher was in Austin, Texas, and a deal was approved by New York during a Friday late-afternoon conference call with Steinbrenner, Cashman, team president Randy Levine and Steinbrenner’s two sons.
Clemens got up in Houston at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday and flew up to New York. He arrived at LaGuardia Airport at about 1 p.m., changed at a Manhattan hotel and arrived at the ballpark in the sixth inning. He wore a Yankees cap and one of his Yankees World Series rings during a postgame news conference, but wasn’t sure which one.
“It’s nice to have a choice,” he said.
After Clemens addressed the crowd, fans started chanting his name in waves, as more and more realized he had returned.
“It feels like coming back home,” Clemens said. “You feel like you’re welcomed and you know what it’s all about.”
He begins with a minor league contract, and will start his workouts in Lexington, Ky., where his son Koby is playing in the Houston Astros’ farm system. He hopes to start pitching in minor league games in about two weeks.
Clemens didn’t even have a chance to tell Pettitte or other friends about the deal in advance.
“I’m not looking forward to the phone call or seeing Andy here shortly. He’s going to be mad at me,” Clemens said.
Clemens is eighth on the career wins list with 348 and second in strikeouts with 4,604. He was 7-6 with a 2.30 ERA last season for Houston.
“The only time I’ll be disappointed is if my body breaks down, and I’m going to put the work and the time in to hopefully not allow that to happen,” he said. “I expect to perform like I was 25, that’s my expectations. Anything short of that would be a disappointment.”
The Yankees, 14-15 and 5 1/2 games behind AL East-leading Boston, have seen so many pitchers get hurt that they are set to become on Monday the first team in major league history to use 10 starters in its first 30 games. The Yankees tried to persuade Clemens to join them when he visited their spring training camp on March 7.
“Make no mistake about it, the Yankees were in both of my ears the whole time,” Clemens said. “And that was well before they even had the problems that they’ve had on the mound.”
Clemens will have the same travel privileges he had with Houston last year, when he sometimes skipped road trips if he wasn’t scheduled to pitch, spending time at home with his family and working with Astros minor leaguers. Torre discussed the arrangement with his veteran players before the Yankees agreed.
“If he’d like, I’d carry his bags out to the car,” Jason Giambi joked.
Red Sox players were saddened to lose out on Clemens, but being in first place cushioned the blow.
“It would have been nice to have him, but we didn’t need him,” Curt Schilling said. “I feel like we were a legitimate World Series contender without him.”
Houston catcher Brad Ausmus was disappointed.
“I would much rather have Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens on this team with us,” he said. “They’re big-game winning pitchers. I loved playing with them.”
Clemens, despite annual retirement announcements, shows few signs of slowing down. He joked when a question was asked about the length of the contract.
“That’s what I’d like to know,” he said. “I think I can go right into senior softball.”

Red Sock-gate
BOSTON (AP) – Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling offered US$1 million to anyone who could prove it was not blood that blotted his famous sock in the 2004 playoffs, and criticized members of the media in a blog on his personal Web site Friday.
The controversy over what stained Schilling’s sock was reignited this week when Baltimore Orioles broadcaster Gary Thorne said Red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli had told him it was paint, not blood, and that it was done for a publicity stunt.
Mirabelli called that a lie, and Thorne said Thursday he had misreported what Mirabelli said.
Still, Schilling blasted Thorne and the media in general Friday in his first public statement since Thorne’s on-air comments.
Schilling was injured in Game 1 of the 2004 AL championship series against New York. Team doctors stitched a tendon in his right ankle to keep it from flopping around, and he returned to lead the Red Sox to a remarkable win in Game 6 to tie the series at 3-3. The Red Sox went on to win that series, and won the World Series for their first title since 1918.
“If you have … the guts, grab an orthopedic surgeon, have them suture your ankle skin down to the tissue covering the bone in your ankle joint, then walk around for four hours,” Schilling wrote on his website www.38pitches.com. “After that go find a mound, throw a hundred or so pitches, run over, cover first a few times. When you’re done check that ankle and see if it bleeds.”
Thorne did not immediately return a message Friday left with his employer, the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.
Schilling offered $1 million to anyone who could prove the blood on his sock was not authentic. But it’s unclear where the sock is. Schilling has said he put it in the laundry; on Friday he wrote that he suspects a Yankees clubhouse employee still has it. The pitcher donated another bloodstained sock worn in Game 2 of the World Series to the Hall of Fame.
“If the blood on the sock is fake, I’ll donate a million dollars to that person’s charity, if not they donate that amount to (Schilling’s charities for ALS research),” he wrote. “Any takers?”
Schilling also ripped several members of the national sports media for exaggerating stories based on their own insecurities and for “rolling their eyes” when he talks about his faith in God. His recommendation: “Put them all on an island somewhere.
“If you haven’t figured it out by now, working in the media is a pretty nice gig,” the pitcher wrote. “Barring outright plagiarism or committing a crime, you don’t have to be accountable if you don’t want to.”

No Leafs, no fun
The best part of the hockey season begins tonight — yet all LEafs fans are on the outside looking in.
It is a most unfortunate place to be.
It didn’t hit me, really, until last spring, after a year without hockey, how much I loved the Stanley Cup playoffs and how much the absence of the Maple Leafs affected my regular playoff emotions.
It must be different in a place such as Columbus, where there have been no playoffs, and hockey isn’t all over your television, and you don’t have a fantasy playoff draft, and you have to never think about what game is being shown on any given night.
But Toronto is Hockey Country — and it is a market that lives, dies and emotes on a far too personal basis about everything that is Maple Leafs. And by not being good enough to make the playoffs, it isn’t only that Leafs fans aren’t always certain where to turn, it’s that they have been essentially robbed of the opportunity to be part of hockey at its very best.
The Stanley Cup playoffs are not like any other championship run in sports and I haven’t always understood why. In baseball, you expect the World Series to be better than the divisional championships and better than the League Championships Series.
In the CFL and the NFL, the Grey Cup and the Super Bowl are the games that are expected to outshine any other.
But from this view, there is an inverse effect to the Stanley Cup playoffs. The first round tends to be the best round of the playoffs. The players are still fresh. The possibilities are endless.
By the time the third and fourth rounds come around, it is often like the television show Survivor. The last men standing win.
Which is how the Maple Leafs have robbed all of you.
They stole your opening round. They stole your unbridled optimism. They stole the great hockey belief — and Mats Sundin was talking about this the other day — that any team can win just by making it to the playoffs.
That may not be necessarily true, but fans and players love that talk and who are we to stomp all over anyone’s dreams?
Just no dreams, this year. The Maple Leafs made certain of that. In their flimsy apology, printed in ad form in yesterday’s Toronto Sun, they glossed over how low the goals of this hockey team really are.
“We share your disappointment,” the ad read. “However, we accomplished much along the way that puts us in a great position moving forward to pick up those few points in the standings needed to reach that next level.”
Some teams begin seasons in search of championships. The Leafs begin them in search of eighth place. And when they don’t get there, the most intense NHL market in the business finds itself having to scatter and try to find enough to care about in other cities and other places.
It can’t be good for hockey when the Leafs miss the playoffs. It can’t be good for hockey when Edmonton is out and Montreal is out. These cities are the lifeblood of the game.
So, now we watch, not certain where to turn. Can we get passionate about watching San Jose play Nashville without an emotional attachment in a first-round series that should be good enough for a Cup final.
PASSIONATE
Can we get passionate about watching the hated Ottawa Senators — listen, we all have to hate somebody — against the charming Pittsburgh Penguins (who, by the way, were 32 points behind the Leafs last season)? If you can’t find it in your hearts to cheer for Sidney Crosby and Gary Roberts, you may have no heart.
I’m vaguely interested in Vancouver-Dallas because this is Roberto Luongo’s playoff debut. Same goes for Calgary-Detroit, mostly to see if the annual Red Wings collapse is upon us.
Can’t get excited about Devils versus anyone. Don’t care about the Thrashers and Rangers. Will watch Buffalo beat the Islanders just to see what Wade Dubielewicz really is.
But it’s not the same when there are no flags on cars, no horns honking, no non-stop analysis taking place on every radio station, in every coffee shop, on any of the hundred or so panels on sports television.
A playoffs without Toronto won’t seem very much like playoffs at all.

Oilers honour the ‘Moose’
EDMONTON (CP) – Once everything else was behind him – the street naming, civic celebration, a gala evening with old friends – Mark Messier skated onto the ice at Rexall Place in full equipment and hoisted the Stanley Cup for an Oilers crowd that seemed to cherish him more than ever.
A man and the city’s adoring fans. That’s what this week was really about in Edmonton. When Messier took a final lap of the ice after his No. 11 jersey had been raised to the ceiling on Tuesday, the old building almost shook on its foundation while the sold-out crowd saluted him in a manner that bordered on strident.
It was a stirring moment on an emotional day for Oilers fans, who earlier had been given the shocking news that assistant captain Ryan Smyth had been traded to the New York Islanders.
A few fans shouted encouragement for Smyth during the Messier ceremony, but the night still belonged to the Moose.
He was already in tears when he finished his skate with the Stanley Cup and placed it on a table at centre ice. His three-year-old son Douglas, wearing a vintage Messier jersey, promptly jumped into his arms as the crowd again cheered.
“I want to thank each and every one of you for all of your support,” Messier told the 16,839 in attendance. “(The Oilers are) an institution in the world of sports.”
That institution started with the dynasty teams of the 1980’s.
Messier, who grew up nearby in St. Albert, was the emotional leader of those talented teams that featured the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Grant Fuhr and Al Hamilton – the men who have all previously had their jerseys retired in Edmonton.
Only one player will ever have worn No. 11 in the history of the Oilers. His name is Messier.
“One of the reasons that made it so special to play here is that I was born and raised here,” he said to the crowd. “To be honoured in this way, standing down here, is a humbling experience.”
Former teammates, friends and family joined him on the ice for the roughly 40-minute ceremony. It started with a video tribute that highlighted the many highs of Messier’s fine career.
Six Stanley Cups, two Hart Trophies, one Conn Smythe Trophy and a point total of 1,887 that leaves him second all-time in league history. The most important thing for Messier is the mark he left on the city of Edmonton and the people he played with.
“I’d like to thank all the Oiler fans for properly honouring the greatest leader sport has ever produced,” said current Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish, a former teammate of Messier’s. “Mark, that skate brought back great memories.
“Welcome back to centre ice with the Edmonton Oilers.”
While these ceremonies have become a regular occurrence around the league, they never seem to tire for the fans who attend them. It’s part hero worship and part longing for a bygone era.
Messier is 46 now, yet it seems so easy for many to remember the glorious moments he produced for the Oilers more than two decades ago.
Even though the timing of the ceremony created a strange atmosphere because it coincided with the Smyth deal and the NHL’s trade deadline, Messier thanked the team for it.
The Oilers had selected Feb. 27 so coach Gretzky and his Phoenix Coyotes could be there – just as they were when Coffey’s No. 7 was honoured last season.
“Tonight would not have been the same without Wayne being here,” said Messier. “Wayne was our leader. He was our inspiration. He was the guy we leaned on and he never let us down and never put himself above anybody.”
Still, the Oilers regretted that the events had to coincide.
“When this day first came up months ago, I thought, ‘Whatever we do on deadline day is not going to impact the evening,”‘ said GM Kevin Lowe. “I never in my wildest dreams ever imagined this sort of thing happening so I don’t want to appear insensitive to the impact of the deal on the whole event.”
Even Smyth himself wanted the day to be about Messier.
He refused to speak to reporters after news of the trade broke because he didn’t want to take any of the spotlight.
“I want this to be a great night for Mark Messier,” he said Tuesday morning before being traded. “For what he’s done for this city. For what he’s done for the run of five Stanley Cups.”
Fortunately for all involved, Messier still had his moment. And it brought back a lot of memories seeing him holding the Stanley Cup.

Source: Jays give Gibbons extension
DUNEDIN, Fla. — The Blue Jays have reached a preliminary agreement on a one-year contract extension with manager John Gibbons, according to a source with knowledge of the negotiations. An official announcement could come as early as Monday.
“We’ve talked, but nothing’s done,” Gibbons said early Monday morning.
Gibbons’ new deal would pay him $650,000 in 2008 — a $150,000 raise over his salary for the upcoming ’07 season. Toronto general manager J.P. Ricciardi was not immediately available for comment.
Last week, Gibbons said that he wasn’t too concerned about his contract situation, describing the issue as a “low priority.”
“To be honest with you, I haven’t given it a whole lot of thought,” Gibbons said on Thursday about being in the last year of his current deal. “I’m not paralyzed by that. It’s a game of results. If we play good, good things happen. If we don’t? Bad things happen.”
Gibbons was named Toronto’s interim manager on Aug. 8, 2004, after the Blue Jays let manager Carlos Tosca go. Since then, Gibbons has led the Jays to a 187-187 record — highlighted by an 87-75 mark last season. In 2006, Toronto finished second in the American League East for the first time since winning the World Series in 1993.
Gibbons might have received an extension at the end of last season had it not been for well-publicized confrontations with former Toronto designated hitter Shea Hillenbrand and former Jays pitcher Ted Lilly. Ricciardi has insisted, though, that those unrelated — and overblown — incidents had no bearing on Gibbons’ contract status.

A sentimental journey for Keon
Dave Keon harbours no ill-will toward Maple Leafs forward Matt Stajan, general manager John Ferguson or the faithful Toronto fans.
In fact, if you looked closely, it almost appeared as if his eyes were getting a bit misty as he made his way along the blue carpet to centre ice at the Air Canada Centre last night for the ceremony honouring the 1967 Stanley Cup-winning team.
Led by fan favourite Johnny Bower, Keon’s teammates joined the capacity crowd in clapping for the ’67 Conn Smythe Trophy winner, who received a one-minute ovation in recognition of his long-waited return.
“None of us were going to joke with him about finally being back,” Bower said. “In my case, I didn’t want to bug him because I was scared he would turn around and go home.”
Keon was gracious when asked about the reception, but was non-committal about the odds of him coming back.
“This was one night, one weekend,” he said. “Let’s leave it at that.”
Having said that, he was quite appreciative of the warm greeting he received from the cheering throng.
“It was very nice,” he said. “People have always been nice to me. I get letters all the time from people who wanted me to come back.
“John (Ferguson) did a nice job of bringing the entire team together.”
Surrounded by a swarm of about 40 reporters, Keon added that young Matt Stajan should not be criticized for wearing his familiar No. 14.
“It’s unfair (for him to get heat over it),” Keon said. “He shouldn’t have to worry about that.”
In the end, the ceremony lacked just two things — the Stanley Cup and louder fans.
Since the Cup rests just two blocks away from the Air Canada Centre at the Hockey Hall of Fame, why could it not be on hand? After all, these players were the last Leafs to have their names engraved on it.
As for the crowd, the applause, while polite, lacked the deafening volume often associated in similar functions like those held in Montreal.
“Montreal has me back every year as part of their alumni,” Senator Frank Mahovlich said. “They always honour their great heroes. It’s nice to see Toronto doing this for us now, too.”
The final word went to Ron Ellis, who made a prediction many fans will hold him to.
“People in Toronto are so loyal to the Leafs,” he said. “Well, take it from me, this team will win another Cup. It’ll be tough. But when it happens, look out!”

Jays take first step toward ’07 season
DUNEDIN, Fla. — The next step has arrived. While fans back home in Toronto were digging themselves out of the winter’s worst snowfall, the Blue Jays began reporting to their Spring Training complex in Florida.
With the offseason now officially in the rearview mirror, Toronto is eager to build on the progress it made last season. That quest began on Friday, when the Jays’ pitchers and catchers filed into Dunedin, Fla. — the only spring site the Jays have known in their 31-year history. On Saturday, those players will head to the Bobby Mattick Training Center for the club’s first official workout.
“We like our team,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said on Thursday, when he first arrived at the complex. “We like the way we finished up last year and we think we’re going to get better.”
Once on the mounds, a select group of Toronto pitchers will enter into a competition that will last deep into March to determine the back end of the rotation. Right-handers John Thomson and Tomo Ohka, who both signed with the Jays in January, are the leading candidates for the final two spots, but they’ll have to fend off Shaun Marcum, Josh Towers, Casey Janssen and Dustin McGowan.
The drills for pitchers and catchers will be in full swing by the time Toronto’s position players are required to report on Wednesday. Then, on Thursday, the Blue Jays will hold the first full-squad workout for their revamped roster.
At that time, Gibbons will get a look at all the pieces he’s been provided with for the upcoming year. The Jays reeled in free-agent slugger Frank Thomas, added shortstop Royce Clayton, and picked up a few reserves in outfielder Matt Stairs, infielder Jason Smith and catcher Sal Fasano.
Some of Toronto’s biggest offseason moves actually dealt with players already on the roster. In December, the Jays locked up center fielder Vernon Wells with a seven-year, $126 million deal that begins in 2008. Then in January, Toronto handed first baseman Lyle Overbay a four-year, $24 million extension.
Thomas, Wells and Overbay, along with All-Stars Troy Glaus and Alex Rios, help give Toronto one of the best offenses in the American League. It will be up to Gibbons this spring to find out how exactly that impressive lineup will shape up for Opening Day.
“I think [the fans] like what we’ve done,” Gibbons said. “You see each year we get closer and closer to where we want to be, and it’s time to get over that hump. It won’t be easy, but it’s long overdue.”
The Blue Jays will use Spring Training to help answer some of their remaining questions. Once the season begins, Toronto hopes to make a run at the playoffs. Last year, the Jays placed second in the American League East, marking the first time the club finished higher than third in the division since 1993. It was a step in the right direction, but the Blue Jays want to take the next step.

Forsberg Nashville bound
The Nashville Predators have won the Peter Forsberg sweepstakes.
The intense trade winds surrounding the veteran centreman were abutted on Thursday, when Forsberg was dealt prior to the Flyers’ game against the Toronto Maple Leafs for promising youngsters Scottie Upshall, Ryan Parent and a first- and a third-round draft pick.
Forsberg is expected in the Preadators’ lineup tomorrow night in St. Louis against the Blues.
Forsberg will become an unrestricted free agent July 1. The 33-year-old Swedish superstar was playing out the final months of a two-year US$11.5-million contract.
The former MVP, who’s been slowed this season by a chronically troubled right foot, had 11 goals and 29 assists for 40 points in 40 games for the Flyers.
Upshall, 23, a left-winger from Fort McMurray, Alta., had two goals and an assist in 14 games for the Predators. Parent, 19, a six-foot-two defenceman from Prince Albert, Sask., was the Predators’ first round pick from the Ontario Hockey League’s Guelph Storm in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.
Forsberg had a meeting with Flyers chairman Ed Snider on Sunday to discuss his future, but declined to comment the next day about the specifics of the meeting and refused to say whether he asked to be traded.
He had said that he didn’t want to address his future until he solved the issue with his right foot.
The foot injury kept him out 16 games this season, but since returning from an all-star break Forsberg has three goals and nine assists in nine games.
On Monday night, Forsberg scored the go-ahead goal in the third period of the Flyers’ 6-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings.
The NHL trading deadline is Feb. 27.

Colts tame Bears for Super Bowl victory
MIAMI – A wet and wild Super Bowl, the winning conditions for Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. A team built for indoors found its footing on a rain-soaked track and outplayed the Chicago Bears to win the NFL title 29-17 Sunday night.
The Colts were far less sloppy, particularly their star quarterback, who proved he can indeed win the big game ó the biggest game.
That’s what it was for Tony Dungy, too. He became the first black coach to win the championship, beating good friend and protege Lovie Smith in a game that featured two black coaches for the first time in Super Bowl history.
It was a game of firsts: the first rainy Super Bowl and the first time an opening kickoff was run back for a touchdown when sensational Bears rookie Devin Hester sped downfield for 92 yards.
And not since the Buffalo Bills self-destructed with nine turnovers in losing to Dallas 14 years ago had there been so much messiness. The first half was marred by six turnovers, three for each team. Even football’s most clutch kicker, Adam Vinatieri, missed a chip-shot field goal, and an extra point attempt was botched, too.
The second half wasn’t quite so ugly, but when much-maligned Bears quarterback Rex Grossman’s wobbler was picked off and returned 56 yards for a touchdown by Kelvin Hayden with 11:44 remaining, it was over.
Chicago (15-4), which led the league in takeaways this season, finished with five turnovers, including two interceptions by Grossman.
The Colts (16-4) will take it. It’s their first title since the 1970 season, when they played in Baltimore.
Manning ended up 25-for-38 for 247 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, and was the game’s most valuable player.
It was confirmation of his brilliance, even if he didn’t need to be dynamic. The son of a quarterback who never got to the playoffs, Manning has been a star throughout his college career at Tennessee and his nine pro seasons with the Colts.
Now he is a champion.
It also was a validation of Dungy’s leadership. He helped build Tampa Bay, one of the NFL’s worst franchises, into a contender before being fired after the 2001 season. The next year, the Bucs won the Super Bowl under Jon Gruden.
The Colts hoisted their coach on their shoulders and he switched his blue Colts cap for a white one that read “NFL champions.” Dungy was carried from the sideline, then was lowered so he could share a long embrace and a handshake with Smith.
Then Dungy waded through the mob to find his quarterback, giving him a big hug.
The Colts reached the pinnacle by winning four postseason games with a defense that made a complete turnaround in the playoffs.
And with a running game that perfectly complemented Manning, thanks to Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes, who combined for 190 yards ó 113 on 21 carries by Rhodes and 77 on 10 carries by Addai, who also had 66 yards receiving.
Chicago was denied its first Super Bowl title since the powerhouse 1985 team. These Bears could have used Da Coach, Sweetness and their buddies.
It rained from start to finish; there was even “Purple Rain” during halftime when Prince sang some of his signature songs. And though Vinatieri twice was a victim of the slop, he kicked three field goals.
Hester’s spectacular return provided a stunning beginning ó and a severe jolt to the Colts. The local product and only rookie All-Pro this season pumped his arms to excite the crowd before the kickoff, then lifted the fans from their seats with an electrifying run on which he never was touched.
He barely touched the ball again as Indy went to squibbing kickoffs.
Leading 16-14 at halftime, the Colts spent half the third quarter with a march to Vinatieri’s 24-yard field goal. Twice on the drive, Manning fell to the ground while throwing. But he completed them.
Grossman had it even worse on Chicago’s initial possession of the second half, twice in a row slipping and getting sacked. Maybe he would have done better on icy turf.
Thomas Jones, forced to carry the Bears’ entire rushing load when Cedric Benson was hurt in the first half, was Chicago’s best player. But with Grossman ineffective, even inept, all the Bears managed in the second half was Robbie Gould’s 44-yard field goal late in the third period.
After Hester’s opening dagger, Manning tried to force a pass to Marvin Harrison in double coverage and was picked off by Chris Harris to spoil Indy’s first possession, but the Colts struck back on their next series, converting three third-downs. The final one was the most important as Manning got everything on a long pass to the uncovered Reggie Wayne even though Tank Johnson had his hands on the quarterback. Wayne trotted into the end zone for a 47-yard score.
Then the rain ruined three straight plays.
Holder Hunter Smith dropped the snap on the extra point and Vinatieri couldn’t get off a kick. Then Vinatieri, well aware of who was lurking deep, squibbed the kickoff to tight end Gabe Reid, who fumbled at his 35, with Tyjuan Hagler recovering for the Colts.
But Manning and Addai botched the handoff on the next snap and Chicago’s Mark Anderson recovered, the third turnover in the first 8 1/2 minutes.
Couldn’t anybody play this game?
Jones certainly could. He used a sharp cutback to break a 52-yard run, the longest of his career, to the Colts’ 5, and Grossman found Muhammad in the front of the end zone for a 14-6 lead.
Jones finished with 100 yards rushing.
A fourth giveaway in the opening quarter, by Benson on his first carry before injuring his knee, didn’t damage Chicago.
Vinatieri, who made two Super Bowl-winning kicks for New England, nailed a 29-yard field goal early in the second period but was wide left from 32 y ards at the end of the half.
Vinatieri still set a record with 49 postseason points.