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-Digger's Daily-

The time has come for a new NFL champion to be crowned on the grandest of stages - Super Bowl XLVI. Today's stakes are high. It's a rematch of SB XLII when the New York Giants upset an undefeated New England Patriots team. Giants QB Eli Manning is gunning for his second championship. Patriots QB Tom Brady takes dead aim at becoming only the NFL's third 4 time Super Bowl winning signal caller joining Pittsburgh's Terry Bradshaw and San Francisco's Joe Montana.

You've heard all the hype, predictions, sports shows and past game highlights. Now it's time for All World All Sports to chime in on game day.

Super Bowl XLVI preview - New York Giants vs New England Patriots

New England Patriots - AFC Champion - AFC East 13-3.
How they got to SB XLVI: Offense, offense, offense. Pats 513 points scored was tops in AFC action. Brady was one of two QB's surpassing Dan Marino's single season passing yardage record finishing with 5.235 yards. TE Rob Gronkowski caught an NFL record (for Tight Ends) 17 TD passes. Wes Welker led the league with 122 receptions. New England is a passing first offense team. Good thing they can score because so can their opponents. Patriots defense gives up many big plays. To New England's credit, defense played soft protecting insurmountable leads. These guys are much better than statistics suggest. Or, are they? Yes, they are but not nearly strong enough to derail a Giants attack clicking on all cylinder's. This game is also a rematch from earlier in the season (Giants won 24-20). Strength: Passing attack, Coach Belichick. Weakness: Running game, defense gives up big plays.

New York Giants - NFC Champion - NFC East (9-7)
How they got to SB XLVI: Giants began 6-2 and all were singing praises. Dropped to 6-6 and New Yorkers were calling for Coach Coughlin to be fired. Finished 9-7, won NFC East on final Sunday and knocked off NFC's top two teams in playoffs. Giants are hot. Confidence level never higher. Offense is clicking. Defense getting stronger play by play. This isn't your typical Giants team - not even close. Eli Manning leads a passing first attack. Can you believe it? Giants a passing first offense. Why? Because offensive line has been banged up all season and can't create running lanes for Bradshaw and Jacobs. Ball control is always key against Pats. Giants dominated time of possession in past Super Bowl's with a pounding running game. Don't expect to see it today unless line finally comes to life. Eli Manning will be searching for 3 targets - Cruz, Manningham and Nicks.

Keys to the game: We've heard all about Brady vs Manning for two weeks. Now, take a gander at some intangibles -
Crowd: Expect a home field advantage type ruckus coming from a New York Giants friendly crowd. Eli Manning is brother of Indianapolis QB Peyton Manning. Indy faithful will great him with open arms while cheering hard for Giants to dump Patriots. Loud indoor crowd might create signal calling problems near end zones.
Defense: This game is all about whether or not defensive pass rushers can disrupt QB timing. Giants pass rush set the stage for their SB XLII win in 2007. Getting after Brady today is key. Can Pats D line get enough pressure on Eli to force bad throws? Time will tell.
Offense: Playing indoors creates a fast track for speedy wide receivers. Offensive lines the key. Can they protect QB's and open running lanes?
Special teams: Often over looked in this match up. Both kickers can nail long field goals on turf. Kick coverage units for Giants has holes.
Coaches: We'll be watching NFL's two best game planners. New England's Belichick is a game day guru designing plays for maximum efficiency. Giants Coughlin is no slouch either.

Prediction: Everyone is expecting a high scoring game. This game has all makings of whoever has the ball last wins. Both QB's experts at late game winning drives. Despite all of the hype, I'm feeling a blowout in the making. Giants pass rush will create turnovers and scoring opportunities. Giants passing attack will be relentless before power football running attack kicks into high gear. Giants win huge. Final score: Giants 41, Patriots 24.

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-Digger's Daily-

Super Bowl XLVI will crown the first new champion of the decade. We've had 10 Super Bowl contests of the new millennium. A few great games and a couple of blowouts.

2007 SB XLIII Giants 17 - Patriots 14 Story line: Patriots entered riding an undefeated season (16-0 = 2 playoff victories) trying to match the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only undefeated NFL teams. They entered SB XLII having scored 589 regular season points behind 50 TD passes by QB Tom Brady. New York's defense rose to the occasion by pressuring Brady all game long disrupting the rhythm of Patriots high scoring attack. Then, Giants QB Eli Manning engineered a late game winning scoring drive by dodging NE defenders and completing unbelievable passes. Giants 17-14 win constitutes one of the greatest Super Bowl upsets in league history.

2003 SB XXXVIII Patriots 32 - Panthers 29 New England and Carolina went toe to toe right up until the gun sounded on Adam Vinatieri's 41 yard Super Bowl winning field goal. All of the games points were scored in 2 quarters (2nd & 4th). The teams traded scores at will during a 4th quarter frenzy letting everyone know the team with the ball last would win... and the Patriots did just that.

2008 SB XLIII Steelers 27 - Cardinals 23 Steelers snatched victory in final seconds on one of the greatest catches in Super Bowl history by Santonio Holmes

2004 SB XXXIX Patriots 24 - Eagles 21 Tight game most of the way. Eagles poor clock management & a tiring McNabb couldn't pull off any late game miracles.

2010 SB XLV Packers 31 - Steelers 25 Pittsburgh's comeback falls short. Packers exposed NFL's top defense to score their first championship in 14 years.

2001 SB XXXVI Patriots 20 - Rams 17 After opening the season 0-2, Tom Brady became their starting QB. Brady's career has been well documented after leading New England to their first ever Super Bowl championship. Adam Vinatieri's 48 yard field goal was the game winner.

2002 SB XXXVII Buccaneers 48 - Raiders 21 Somewhat of a fun game to watch unless you're a Raiders fan. This was a no contest all the way. Tampa Bay dominated every aspect of SB XXXVII. Bucs seemed to know every audible called by Raiders. Of course they did - Tampa's head coach was Raiders former head coach. Guess someone should have changed the playbook. Raiders haven't been the same since.

2006 SB XLI Colts 29 - Bears 17 Peyton Manning led the Colts to their first Super Bowl victory as residents of Indianapolis. Mistake filled anti-climatic game.

2005 SB XL Steelers 21 - Seahawks 10 Game filled with big plays, bad plays and teams struggling to score. Defenses played bend don't break. Not one of the more memorable games of the decade.

2000 SB XXXV Ravens 34 - Giants 7 The New York Giants have played some of the most exciting Super Bowl's in league history. This was not one of them. Ravens first championship featured NFL's smartest, quickest and heaviest hitting defense which beat up on Giants players from the opening kickoff to the final gun. Ravens entered the game as NFL's top defense giving up only 165 points during regular season and 13 combined in first two playoff games. Giants only score was on special teams - Ron Dixon 97 yard kickoff return.

A new decade of Super Bowl games begins Sunday...

(Super Bowl history/recaps)

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New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan promised a Super Bowl championship would return to the Big Apple. Little did he know a late season Jets loss opened the door for another New York team to make a run at Super Bowl history. The Jets were trounced 29-14 by Eli Manning & company ending any shot at Ryan's team advancing to post-season play while simultaneously sparking the Giants hot streak which has taken them into next weekend's game against New England.

By season's end, the Giants were celebrating winning the NFC East and the Jets immediately starting finger pointing at each other after a dismal 2011 performance. The focus of their post-season tirades have been on many levels all centering around a lack of camaraderie with players. Locker room disruptions, lack of leadership, failure of coaching staff to address inner circle problems and too many captains are just a few examples of what's spilled into local papers in recent weeks. Guess what? Maybe there's a bit of camaraderie surfacing? Most players finally agree on something - the 2011 New York Jets problems were based on being their own worst enemy.

Great teams overcome difficulties from injuries to infighting. It begins with leadership. The buck stops here line falls at the feet of Coach Ryan. Heading into 2011 the Jets assembled a team of bad attitude players. Santonio Holmes, Plaxico Burress and a few defenders were thrust into a situation of big heads, big ego's and terrible work ethic. Game day sideline shouting matches between players vs coaches and players vs players eventually took its' toll with on field performances. New York was 8-5 before being embarrassed in their final three contests.

I remember reading New York sports pages warning of locker room misfits and if Ryan would be able to tame fragile ego's. Obviously, he couldn't. Ryan's claims of not knowing problems were brewing carries a stench of non-involvement or turning the other cheek mentality. This is your ship Rex. You decide what is and isn't acceptable. Players don't have to like each other to succeed. Not at all. One thing must prevail - the mission - and how 50 players working as a single unit helps everyone. Jets players with wide ranging playoff experiences of success and near misses should clearly have known better. What they displayed, and continue to gripe about, was an utter disgrace to New York football. Even legendary Joe Namath got in on the action publicly.

Jets fans can only hope this moment transforms into the biggest learning experience in New York football's recent history. There's plenty of blame to be evenly divided between players and front office. Question - will the Jets learn a positive lesson or will they continue griping throughout the spring and into training camp? 2012 off season test number one is getting rid of all disruptive players. Ryan has a chance to get a grip on his team here and now before all is lost before a new season begins.

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NBA
1 - Oklahoma City
2 - Miami
3 - Chicago
4 - Atlanta
5 - Denver
6 - Indiana
7 - Orlando
8 - Philadelphia
9 - San Antonio
10- LA Lakers

NHL
1 - Detroit
1 - NY Rangers
3 - Boston
4 - Vancouver
5 - St Louis
6 - Chicago
7 - Nashville
8 - Philadelphia
9 - San Jose
10- Pittsburgh

NCAA Men's
(as of Jan 23)
1 - Kentucky
2 - Syracuse
3 - Missouri
4 - Ohio State
5 - Kansas
6 - North Carolina
7 - Murray State
8 - Duke
9 - Baylor
10- Georgetown

NCAA Women's
(as of Jan 23)
1 - Baylor
2 - Notre Dame
3 - Connecticut
4 - Stanford
5 - Duke
6 - Kentucky
7 - Maryland
8 - Ohio State
9 - Miami
10- Rutgers

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Did the Detroit Tigers panic after losing DH/C/1B Victor Martinez for the 2012 season? What else could lead to Detroit's front office offering a contract to another DH? Martinez signed a 4 year $50M deal before the 2011 season. 1B Miguel Cabrera has 4 years & $84M remaining n his deal. Detroit's third and newest DH/1B becomes their richest contract - 9 years, $214M. Welcome Prince Fielder!

This deal will be dissected for years to come. Here's my take.
Pro's: Fielder's career stats are superb (.282/.390/.540, 230 HR, 656 RBI in 7 seasons). Hit 50 HR's in 2nd full MLB season. Led NL with 141 RBI in 2009. Finished in top 5 MVP voting 3 times. He's relatively young and will now play for the franchise where his dad once starred (Cecil Fielder 1990-96). Fielder plus Cabrera creates one of AL's most potent 1-2 punches. Health has always been good (never misses extended time due to injury).
Con's: Nine years is an awfully long contract. Roster moves will have to be made down the road. Initial reports suggest Cabrera will play some games at 3B (where he once played earlier in his career). This risks defense on both infield corner positions, risks potential injuries for 3B. How will splitting time with Cabrera at 1B/DH work out? Fielder's production could take a hit playing AL Central baseball in big parks. Fielder moves from hitters friendly Milwaukee, Houston, Cincinnati and Chicago into pitchers friendly division featuring Detroit, Minnesota, Kansas City & Chicago. Homers or doubles off the wall could become long outs. Expect career number totals to drop off a bit. How about weight issues? How much money does Detroit have left over to find top of the order type players sorely needed for this lineup?

All in all it's rarely a bad thing when signing a premier ball player of Fielder's caliber. Time will tell. However, I believe Detroit could have found better ways to solidify their roster instead of investing so heavily in one player. $214M could have secured at least 2, 3 or 4 impact players. Tiger's rationale is to win now at any and all costs. Their owner desperately wants to win a World Series. Perhaps his wish will come true in 2012?