Category: Sports

Peyton Manning, quarterback for Denver Broncos, to retire

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — After capping his fourth season as a Bronco with a victory in Super Bowl 50, Peyton Manning has informed the team of his decision to retire following his 18-year NFL career.

In the four years since arriving in Denver as a free agent in 2012, Manning ushered the franchise into one of the most successful periods in Broncos history. He helped the Broncos achieve AFC West division titles, two Super Bowl appearances and one World Championship. Along the way, Manning set numerous NFL career and single-season records, including league marks for passing yards and passing touchdowns.

“When you look at everything Peyton has accomplished as a player and person, it’s easy to see how fortunate we’ve been to have him on our team,” said John Elway, Broncos Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager. “Peyton was everything that we thought he was and even more—not only for the football team but in the community. I’m very thankful Peyton chose to play for the Denver Broncos, and I congratulate him on his Hall of Fame career.”

Manning’s path to Denver was forged in uncertainty and incredible determination following neck surgeries that forced him to miss the 2011 season. Leaving a Colts franchise where he had spent his first 14 NFL seasons, he soon found a home in Denver. His decision to play in the Mile High City set in motion a run of greatness in which the Broncos posted a league-high 55 total wins and a .764 winning percentage.

Manning set nearly every Broncos single-season passing record in his first year with the Broncos in 2012 to earn NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors and finish as runner-up for league MVP.

He raised the bar even higher in 2013, putting together the most prolific season ever by a quarterback and earning his record-fifth MVP award. Directing the highest-scoring offense in NFL history, Manning set league single-season marks for passing yards (5,477) and passing touchdowns (55) while leading the Broncos to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1998 season.

The Broncos made their third consecutive playoff appearance under Manning in 2014. That season he became the league’s all-time leader in touchdown passes, passing Pro Football Hall of Famer Brett Favre with his 509th touchdown against the 49ers.

In his final season, Manning battled injury, leaving the starting lineup midway through the year to rehab a torn plantar fascia. He made a remarkable return in Week 17, providing a spark to Denver’s struggling offense in the second half against the Chargers to help Denver clinch homefield advantage through the postseason.

Three playoff wins later, Manning and the Broncos were Super Bowl 50 champions. Could it have ended any other way?

“It was a blessing to coach Peyton Manning. Nobody worked harder at the game and nobody prepared harder than Peyton. His preparation was the best I’ve ever seen with how he went about his business. There was nothing like his work habits. Each and every week, he did everything he could to get ready to play not only against the defense but even against the coordinator,” said Head Coach Gary Kubiak. “Being with him this season, going through what we went through and accomplishing what we accomplished—that was special. He and I battled together and along the way we talked about dreaming that it could end the way it ended. And I’ll be damned, it did.”

Manning leaves the league as arguably the best quarterback to ever play the game with a bevy of records and accomplishments, including:

– NFL all-time record holder in career touchdown passes (539)
– NFL all-time record holder in passing yards (71,940)
– NFL career leader in combined regular-season and playoff wins by a starting quarterback (200)
– Only quarterback in NFL history to lead two teams to a Super Bowl victory (Super Bowl XLI, 50)
– Most NFL MVP awards (five)
– Led teams to an NFL-record 15 playoff appearances
– Most Pro Bowl appearances (14)
– NFL single-season records in passing touchdowns (55) and passing yards (5,477)

Before arriving in Denver, Manning led Indianapolis to the playoffs in 11 of the 13 seasons that he was healthy. Those years included two Super Bowl appearances with one win in Super Bowl XLI against the Chicago Bears.

His football career was matched by his humanitarian efforts off the field, with his PeyBack Foundation benefitting organizations that help disadvantaged youth in each of the states that he’s called home throughout his life: Louisiana, Tennessee, Indiana and Colorado. For his endeavors in the community, Manning has won the Byron “Whizzer” White Humanitarian Award (2004), the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award (2005) and the Bart Starr Award (2015)—one of just three players ever to receive all three of the NFL’s prestigious community honors.

“Our team, our organization and our community are all better because of Peyton Manning,” Broncos President & CEO Joe Ellis said. “He raised the performance of those around him and raised the level of excellence here at the Broncos.”

Super Bowl 50: Broncos’ defence triumphs over Panthers

Peyton Manning gave himself a chance to have Super ending to his career, and Von Miller and the Denver defence made the plays to secure the title for the Broncos.

Manning and Panthers quarterback Cam Newton were harassed all game Sunday, and the Broncos made enough big plays for the 24-10 victory, Manning’s 200th and perhaps his last before retirement.

He wasn’t the star — game MVP Miller seemingly was everywhere on every Carolina play — but Manning really hasn’t been the headliner in this injury-shortened season.

Emulating his Broncos boss, John Elway, the 39-year-old Manning can ride off with the Lombardi Trophy after leading Denver to its third NFL title, first since 1999 — when Elway was the quarterback.

“I’ll take some time to reflect,” Manning said when asked if Super Bowl 50 is the end. “I got a couple priorities first. I’m going to go kiss my wife and my kids. … I’m going to drink a lot of Budweiser tonight. Take care of those things first.”

Denver’s suffocating defence kept Newton jittery all day. Despite wearing gold shoes before the golden Super Bowl, Newton couldn’t finish off a dynamic season in which he was the league’s MVP. Miller twice stripped him, once for a touchdown, the second time setting up a clinching TD. Denver’s top-ranked defence, the one that ran roughshod over Tom Brady in the AFC championship, simply wouldn’t let Newton get comfortable.

“It’s every one of these guys who go me to this,” Miller said.

Newton was sacked six times — receiver Ted Ginn Jr., went down once on an aborted trick play — and if Miller wasn’t torturing him, DeMarcus Ware was. Ware had two of the seven sacks, the most ever by one team in the Super Bowl.

Carolina’s potent offence that led the league with 500 points was held to its fewest points of the year, and Denver set an ignominious mark with 194 yards gained, the fewest for a Super Bowl winner.

So what: The Broncos (15-4) are champions and Manning is the first quarterback to win Super Bowls with two franchises, Indianapolis in 2007 was the other.

Manning finished 13 for 23 for 141 yards against a strong Carolina (17-2) defence that just couldn’t match Miller and company.

“This game was much like this season has been, testing our toughness, our resiliency, our unselfishness,” he said. “It’s only fitting that it turned out that way.”

“I feel very, very grateful. … Obviously, it’s very special to cap it off with a Super Bowl championship.”

Denver’s defence stole Carolina’s act. The Panthers led the league with 39 takeaways and were a plus-20 in turnovers. On the Super Bowl stage, though, Assistant Coach of the Year Wade Phillips got his first ring because his unit was impenetrable.

It was a far cry from two years ago, when the Broncos were routed by Seattle 43-8.

Carolina has made a habit of sprinting out of the gate in the playoffs. This time, it was Denver that got the quick start.

Manning opened the game with an 18-yard completion to Owen Daniels, later hit Andre Caldwell for 22, and C.J. Anderson had a 13-yard run. When the Panthers held, Brandon McManus kicked a 34-yard field goal.

The Panthers went nowhere on their first series, then their defence forced a three-and-out. It was the first of seven such aborted drives for both sides in the first half.

Carolina’s Ron Rivera, the Coach of the Year, lost a challenge on a pass to Jerricho Cotchery , and it was a key decision because two plays later, Miller burst through and didn’t even go for the sack. He reached directly for the ball, stripping it from Newton. It rolled to the goal line, where Malik Jackson pounced on it for a 10-0 lead.

Miller dabbed in the end zone in front of legions of orange-clad Broncos fans after Denver’s first defensive touchdown in a Super Bowl.

Miller spied on Newton at times, and Newton noticed. But Newton escaped him for runs of 11 and 12 yards — Miller’s hard tackle out of bounds bothered several Panthers — and a 19-yard pass to Greg Olsen on a misdirection play kept alive Carolina’s first scoring drive.

Jonathan Stewart, back from hurting his right foot earlier, dived in from the 1 to make it 10-7.

But sloppiness — and strong defence — marked the rest of the game.

The first half ended 13-7 after McManus made a 33-yarder that followed the longest punt return in Super Bowl history. It was a strange runback, too.

Brad Nortman’s kick from his 12 was barely deflected, and the ball fluttered to Jordan Norwood. One Panther bumped Norwood, but he didn’t call for a fair catch, then took off to his right. Escorted by a bevy of blockers, he appeared headed for a touchdown until DE Mario Addison chased him down at the Carolina 14, a 61-yard jaunt.

Denver also forced the first fumble of the season by All-Pro fullback Mike Tolbert.

But the Broncos also had a giveaway when Manning was picked by DE Kony Ealy on a zone blitz deep in Panthers territory. And the lead was only six at halftime.

The margin stayed there when Graham Gano hit the right upright on a 44-yard field goal attempt to open the second half. Then his counterpart, McManus, made his 10th in as many post-season tries for a 16-7 margin. The kicker was rescuing Denver’s inept short-yardage offence, just as he did in a playoff win over Pittsburgh when he made five field goals.

Gano made up for his miss with a 39-yarder to make it a one-score game with 10:21 remaining. The 50th Super Bowl came down to the last quarter — and as it had all day, Denver’s defence dominated.

Topps is releasing baseball cards of celebrity first pitches

Topps, in its continuing effort to pop culture-ize the baseball-card game, is making cards of 15 “celebrities” who threw out first pitches at MLB parks in 2014. Considering Topps created cards with the cast of “Major League” last year, this isn’t entirely surprising.

The news comes via baseball-card bible Beckett, which tells us the first-pitch cards will be part of Topps’ 2015 Series 1, out Feb. 6. Among the celebrities getting the Topps treatment: rock ‘n’ rollers Eddie Vedder, Tom Morello and Jack White, rapper/horrible first thrower 50 Cent, thrift-store shopper Macklemore, gymnast McKayla Maroney and actor/”The Dude” Jeff Bridges.

Also included in the set are a few non-celebrities who first-pitch stories caught the nation’s attention — such as Agnes McKee, the 105-year-old who threw out a first pitch at a Padres game last summer, and Tom Willis, a motivational speaker who was born without arms.

Here’s the entire checklist:

2015 TOPPS FIRST PITCH CHECKLIST
FP-01 Jeff Bridges, Los Angeles Dodgers
FP-02 Jack White, Detroit Tigers
FP-03 McKayla Maroney, Chicago White Sox
FP-04 Eddie Vedder, Chicago Cubs
FP-05 Biz Markie, Oakland Athletics
FP-06 Agnes McKee, San Diego Padres
FP-07 Austin Mahone, Atlanta Braves
FP-08 Jermaine Jones, Los Angeles Dodgers
FP-09 Tom Willis, Kansas City Royals
FP-10 Graham Elliot, Chicago Cubs
FP-11 Tom Morello, Chicago Cubs
FP-12 Macklemore, Seattle Mariners
FP-13 Suzy, Los Angeles Dodgers
FP-14 50 Cent, New York Mets
FP-15 Meb Keflezighi, Boston Red Sox

Common sense says 50 Cent is the card you gotta have. The question is what you’d trade to get it. One Macklemore and one Austin Mahone, for sure. But probably not a Biz Markie or Jack White.

Jays searching for Paul Beeston’s replacement: reports

The Toronto Blue Jays are looking for a new president and chief executive officer to replace longtime boss Paul Beeston, according to several media reports.

The Jays have identified Baltimore Orioles executive vice-president Dan Duquette and Chicago White Sox executive vice-president Ken Williams as candidates, ESPN’s Buster Olney reports.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports says Duquette is interested in taking the Blue Jays’ position but he’s being blocked by Orioles owner Peter Angelos.

Duquette, who has been the team’s GM for the last three seasons, is under contract with the Orioles through the 2018 season. Baltimore won the American League East Division this past season before being swept by the Kansas City Royals in the AL Championship Series. Duquette has also been the general manager for the Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos.

In addition, the Jays have discussed Williams as a possible replacement, according to ESPN, while the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports Minnesota Twins general manager Terry Ryan is being considered by Toronto.

The 69-year-old Beeston, who was part of the Blue Jays’ organization during the franchise’s inception in 1977, became president and CEO in 1989. He left to the team for the commissioner’s office in 1997 but returned to the Jays in 2009.

According to ESPN, the Jays’ ownership “was not pleased with some of Beeston’s action’s during the search for a replacement for commissioner Bud Selig.”

ESPN also reports that Beeston is pondering retirement.

Katy Perry to headline next Super Bowl halftime show

NFL announced late Sunday — after rumours swirled for weeks — that pop star Katy Perry will headline the Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 1 at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona.

Perry, 30, scored nine No. 1 hits on the on the Billboard Hot 100 chart since releasing her debut in 2008. Her sophomore effort, 2010’s multiplatinum Teenage Dream, matched the record Michael Jackson set with Bad for most songs from a single album to hit No. 1, with five.

Perry released Prism, another platinum effort, last year. It includes the No. 1 smashes Roar and Dark Horse.

The Grammy-nominated star’s upcoming performance is the fourth consecutive halftime show to display the NFL’s push to include younger acts on its large stage: Bruno Mars performed at this year’s Super Bowl, Beyonce was the top act in 2013; and there was Madonna, with Nicki Minaj and M.I.A., and the Black Eyed Peas in 2012 and 2011, respectively.

Other halftime performers in the last decade have included the Rolling Stones, Prince, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and the Who.

The girl-power singer will also be performing at the culmination of a season where critics have assailed the NFL for its response to domestic violence cases involving women; its initial handling of former Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice’s assault on his then-fiance with just a two-game suspension caused a national outrage, and led the league to toughen its penalties for such crimes. It later suspended Rice indefinitely.

Perry is currently on her Prismatic World Tour. Her other hits include I Kissed a Girl, California Gurls, Firework and Wide Awake.

Lorde’s hit Royals banned by San Francisco radio stations during World Series

Lorde, the 17-year-old New Zealand singer, has become an unlikely pawn in the World Series rivalry between the Kansas City Royals and the San Francisco Giants.

Two radio stations in San Francisco have banned Lorde’s 2013 hit Royals from their airwaves until the Major League Baseball series is over — or until “the San Francisco Giants win the World Series” says the website for the city’s KOIT, 96.5 FM.

“Our listeners told us to do it, so we did it,” the station’s program director, Brian Figula, declared in a statement.

KOIT’s sister station, Kansas City’s KZPT has responded to the ban with a vow to “pump Royals into the highest rotation.”

That means playing it on the hour, every hour, between 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Tuesday — the opening night of the World Series.

“We won’t let their anti-Royals spirit ruin this moment,” said Tony Lorino, the station’s program director in a statement. “A few angry San Franciscans who don’t have a song called Giants won’t rain on our parade.”

Lorde’s Royals catapulted the young artist into international pop stardom in 2013, and earned her a Grammy.

While the song’s lyrics lambasting fame and wealth don’t sound very sporty, Lorde herself has admitted that the tune is indeed inspired by the Kansas City Royals — or, at the very least, the cover of the July 1976 issue of National Geographic magazine.

“I had this image from the National Geographic of this dude just signing baseballs,” Lorde said in a 2013 interview with VH1.

That dude was star third baseman George Brett.

“His shirt said, ‘Royals'”, she said. “It was just that word. It’s really cool.”

Lorde, whose real name is Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor, hasn’t commented on the radio station rivalry.

The San Francisco Giants take on the Kansas City Royals when the series starts Tuesday night in Kansas City, Mo.

Pearl Jam to Soundtrack the World Series

Pearl Jam’s epic, rain-delayed set at Chicago’s Wrigley Field in July won’t be the only time the band connects with baseball in 2013. A partnership with Fox Sports will include extensive use of 48 Pearl Jam songs across the promotional and music beds for this month’s World Series coverage, set to air Oct. 23-31 on Fox, and feature the group’s music throughout November as Artist of the Month across all Fox Sports properties.

The deal includes all 12 tracks from Lightning Bolt, plus 36 songs from the Pearl Jam catalog, spanning all the band’s albums (with the exception of 2002’s politically charged Riot Act). Catalog highlights include “Animal,” “Better Man,” “Black,” “Blood,” “Corduroy,” “Daughter,” “Even Flow” and “even goes as far as ‘State of Love and Trust,'” says Christian Fresco, product manager for Pearl Jam’s Monkeywrench label. Fox Sports Music VP Janine Kerr, an avid PJ fan, adds: “They said, ‘What songs would you want?’ I said, ‘How many can I have?’ So we gave them a wish list and they said ‘yes’ to all.”

“There was a period of time when we didn’t license much music,” Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis says. “But for the past many years, we consider licensing requests using the same criteria we do for everything else: Do we like it? Would the fans like it? Does it provide a different forum for fans to hear the music? Is it something we can get behind? The band loves baseball, so this one was a no-brainer.”

Fox Sports and MLB have done wide-ranging deals with major rock artists during the past few years, including Jack White during the National League Championship coverage and 30 songs from the Who as the World Series soundtrack, both in 2012. But the Pearl Jam partnership is the largest in terms of number of songs, and perhaps the most personal to boot-not only is frontman Eddie Vedder a lifelong Cubs fan (he brought out legendary Cub Ernie Banks during the Wrigley gig), he’s become close friends with Fox Sports announcer Joe Buck as well. The band played St. Louis during the 2010 leg of its Backspacer tour, where Vedder gave Buck an onstage shout-out and hung out with him for a couple of hours after the show.

“We literally just talked about baseball,” Buck says. “It was the greatest thrill of my life. You’ll hear certain guys say they’re a Yankee fan or an NFL fan, and maybe they know some stuff but they’re not die-hards. This guy’s just a legit, die-hard baseball fan, and I’ve never had a more relaxed, normal conversation in that kind of atmosphere.”

Pearl Jam’s songs will be featured in all types of music beds during the World Series, from opening teases and commercial bumpers to montages, as well as additional promotional inventory across Fox prime-time and cable networks in November.

“Any time you get a chance to set the visuals to this kind of music, you want to jump on the opportunity,” Fox Sports executive producer John Entz says. “We’ll have Joe do the intros, too, so it won’t feel like he’s saying words someone wrote about Pearl Jam. He’ll really mean them.”

Bettman sets Sept. 15 deadline for NHL lockout

Donald Fehr seemed unfazed when asked Thursday for his reaction to the NHL’s imposition of a Sept. 15 deadline to get a new collective bargaining agreement in place or face a lockout.

The head of the National Hockey League Players Association met with the press shortly after a 90 minute sitdown down between the sides, and refused to take the bait on that deadline.

“Under the law, if an agreement expires, that may give someone the legal ability to go on strike or impose a lockout,” said Fehr, a veteran campaigner in these types of negotiations from his years running the baseball players’ union.

“There is no requirement to do so, and if nobody does anything you continue to work under the old conditions until they do things. If there is a lockout, somebody has to choose to do that.”

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman delivered the deadline to the players during the Thursday session and then confirmed it to reporters afterwards.

“I re-confirmed something that the union has been told multiple times over the last nine to 12 months,” Bettman said. “Namely, that time is getting short and the owners are not prepared to operate under this collective bargaining agreement for another season, so we need to get to making a deal and doing it soon.

“And we believe there’s ample time for the parties to get together and make a deal and that’s what we’re going to be working towards.”

Deadlines can come and go, but as of now, that would leave 37 days of negotiation to avoid a work stoppage.

The players have suggested repeatedly that the sides could continue bargaining while proceeding under the old agreement, but the NHL would not likely go for that because it would take away a major bargaining chip for the league.

Fehr also confirmed the players would deliver a counter-proposal to the NHL when the sides meet in Toronto on Tuesday.

At the Thursday meeting, the players made a presentation to the owners that basically discredited the league’s proposed revenue sharing system because when combined with the current player compensation rules “it seems to us overall, and club by club, that all of the revenue sharing payments, both the new ones and existing ones, would paid for by player salary reductions.

“I don’t know if there would be revenue sharing after that, it remains to be seen.”

Asked how far apart the two sides are, Fehr said “there is a meaningful gulf there.”

Player representatives will now gather for a series of meetings in advance of the Tuesday sit-down with the owners.

Steve Nash headed to Lakers in sign-and-trade deal with Suns

Steve Nash won’t be coming home to Canada.

The point guard’s agent says the two-time NBA MVP is going to the Los Angeles Lakers in a sign-and-trade deal with the Phoenix Suns.

Nash, who spent the past eight seasons with the Suns, was a free agent but a sign-and-trade agreement was necessary for the Lakers to afford him.

Bill Duffy says his client agreed to a three-year, $27-million US contract. In return, the Suns get four draft picks — first rounders in 2013 and 2015 and second rounders in 2013 and 2014.

Duffy said the deal was finalized about 9 p.m., ET. He said a main reason for the Victoria-raised player choosing the Lakers was to remain close to his children, who live in Phoenix.

Nash’s decision will surely cause disappointment among fans of the Toronto Raptors. Canada’s only NBA team made a pitch to bring the veteran point guard to Toronto.

Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo reportedly made Nash a three-year offer worth $36 million over the weekend.

Nash is also the general manager of Canada Basketball’s senior men’s national team.

The New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks were also reportedly vying for Nash’s services. ESPN reported earlier Wednesday that a sign-and-trade deal between the Knicks and the Suns were in talks.

Any deal can’t be made official until July 11, when NBA teams can begin signing free agents.

2012 NFL schedule: Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady and more great games on the slate

The NFL announced its 2012 schedule Tuesday (April 17). It’s way too extensive to print here, but the NFL has provided this handy week-by-week calendar/graphic that we found quite fun to peruse.

Here are some of the marquee match-ups:

Sunday, Sept. 9: Steelers at Broncos
Peyton Manning had been an Indianapolis Colt it seemed like, well, forever. But now on Sept. 9, he makes his debut as a Denver Bronco after losing the entire 2011 season to injury. The Steelers are known for their high-caliber defense, so it should be one to watch (provided Peyton is healthy and starting under center, of course).

Sunday, Oct. 7: Broncos at Patriots
Tom Brady and Manning have been two the best quarterbacks in the NFL for the past decade. In the 12 times they’ve faced off, Brady has beaten Manning eight of them. And the games are usually close ones. Should be a fun match-up.

Sunday, Oct. 7: Chargers at Saints
QBs Drew Brees and Philip Rivers are former teammates, New Orleans coach Sean Payton is suspended, Chargers coach Norv Turner seems to perennially be on the hot seat – oh, and the last time these QBs faced off, they threw for a combined almost 700 yards. Could be quite the shoot-out.

Sunday, Nov. 25: Packers at Giants
The last time these two teams faced off was in the playoffs in January. And Green Bay, the defending Super Bowl champs at the time, got their butts absolutely handed to them. It will be fun to watch them meet up again.

The Thanksgiving Day slate
Thanksgiving features the Texans at Detroit, which is a much better match-up than it would’ve been even two years ago; Cowboys-Redskins, which is a divisional game; and Patriots at Jets. Let’s just hope that for some reason by then it’s not Tim Tebow starting for New York, since the Patriots were two huge losses for him in 2011.