Author: kevinrmcguire

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College Football

Penn State Class of 2009 (Offense)

Signing day has come and gone and it is time to look at the future of Penn State’s offense. Nittany Lion fans should be happy with where the team is heading as the Class of 2009 is one of the finest Penn State has had in a while, and the offense may have the corp of a future offensive attack that will be a threat in the Big Ten.

QUARTERBACK

Kevin Newsome is already enrolled at Penn State so his story was already written before signing day. Newsome was recruited by offensive line coach Bill Kenney, swaying him away from Michigan and Virginia Tech. With the departure of Pat Devlin the addition of Newsome eased the concerns of many Penn State fans. At 6 foot 3 inches and 217 pounds Newsome is in the same mold as Daryll Clark and Michael Robinson. We all have seen the success those players have had running the offense and Penn State fans are anxious to see how Newsome does in the same offensive scheme.

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College Football

Penn State Class of 2009 (Defense/Special Teams)

Penn State is introducing a talented recruiting class this year even without Jelani Jenkins, one of the top linebacker prospects available who chose Florida over Penn State. Penn State may not have the top caliber players for the defensive positions they need to fill but with some time to mold this could be a vastly improved unit.

While the focus of Penn State’s recruiting class was largely on offense in the class of 2009 there was still an emphasis on the secondary. Of the eleven defensive recruits Penn State is bringing in seven of them are in the defensive backfield.

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Arizona Cardinals NFL Philadelphia Eagles

NFL Flashback: 1948 NFL Championship, Eagles vs Cardinals

On Dec. 19, 1948 the city of Philadelphia was to play home to the first televised NFL Championship game, pitting the West Division champion, and defending NFL champion, Chicago Cardinals and the home town Philadelphia Eagles.

The Eagles were also defending East Division champions and were looking for revenge after the previous season’s loss to the Cardinals, 28-21, in the championship bout. Mother Nature had other things in mind.

Snow piled on the city, raising questions as to whether or not the game would even be played or if it would be postponed. To today’s Philadelphia fan, this story may seem all too familiar. The championship game, held in Shibe Park, was delayed for thirty minutes while the grounds crew cleaned up the field.

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Arizona Cardinals NFL Philadelphia Eagles

NFL Flashback: 1947 NFL Championship, Eagles vs CardinalsT

Today we take a look at the 1947 NFL Championship game between the Eagles and the Chicago Cardinals.

If you are an Eagles fan you no doubt know that the last time the Eagles won an NFL championship was 1960, before the Super Bowl was even a thought.

What about the Cardinals? The last time the franchise won an NFL title came thirteen years before the Eagles’ last championship, in 1947!

It was a rough road for the Cardinals, who at the time played in Chicago. Playing in the shadow of the Chicago Bears, who had won five NFL titles in eight tries between 1933 and 1946, was a hard task.

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College College Football

Forget Ohio State! What About Oklahoma?

Last night Urban Meyer’s Florida Gators won the second BCS championship for the school in three years, bringing home a third straight BCS title to the SEC. The Gators defeated the Oklahoma Sooners 24-14 with the leadership of Tim Tebow, who should run for President some day if you listened to all of the praise the Fox broadcast team delivered last night when it was not butchering the rest of the game.

Congratulations to Florida. Even though Utah is the only undefeated team in college football’s top level, the Gators are your national champions. Much was made about how the once relevant Associated Press poll could make a statement at the conclusion of BCS championship game by voting for another team at #1. Perhaps USC or Texas could gain enough votes for a split national title was the talk of the town. Utah made its statement but failed to gain enough support from the media to earn a so-called split national championship. Utah, you are MY national champion.

Now the time has come for me to put myself in the awkward position of defending Ohio State. What? Allow me to explain…

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Philadelphia Eagles

Eagles Fan Looks Back at Texas Stadium Memories

As an Eagles fan it is somewhat bittersweet to see the Cowboys play their final home game in Texas Stadium on Saturday. There were some good Eagles memories in the stadium, and there were bad ones as well (more bad ones than good I’d say). While I feel that there is no place I would rather see the Cowboys play than their dump with a hole on top, it will be nice, as a fan of the game, to see a storied franchise move in to a new home.

So as the end of Texas Stadium comes tonight (barring some upsets in the playoffs in the Cowboys’ favor), let us take a trip down memory lane and look at the top five Eagles moments in Texas Stadium, in no particular order.

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Philadelphia Phillies

NLCS Phlashback – Part II

This is part two in a four part series chronicling the history of the Philadelphia Phillies and their National League Championship Series appearances, leading up to the start of the 2008 NLCS match-up with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Today we review the 1978 NLCS between the same two clubs.

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Philadelphia Phillies

NLCS Phlashback – Part I

This is part one in a four part series chronicling the history of the Philadelphia Phillies and their National League Championship Series appearances, leading up to the start of the 2008 NLCS match-up with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Today we review the 1977 NLCS between the same two clubs. Part two will educate you on the rematch in 1978. Part three will review the 1983 NLCS between the Phillies and Dodgers and part four will look back on perhaps the greatest playoff series of all time, the 1980 NLCS between the Phillies and the Houston Astros. The goal is to have each part up over the next four days. Game one of the 2008 NLCS is Thursday night in Philadelphia.

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Philadelphia Phillies

NLDS: Phillies vs. Brewers

Tomorrow the National League East Division champion Philadelphia Phillies will open up the National League Division Series against the wild card winners Milwaukee Brewers. A lot of people have not been mentioning it but I believe there is a ton of pressure on the Phillies this year.

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NFL General

NFC East Prediction

For a stretch of years I have been picking the Eagles to win the NFC East. Is it blind loyalty or is it the fact that the Eagles have been playing the role of the top dog in the division for almost as long as Andy Reid has been in town? Call me a homer but the fact is the Eagles have been the best team year in and year out every year in the NFC East, even the disastrous post Super Bowl year they probably had the best talent top to bottom but injuries (and personal conflicts) derailed that season form the start. This year will be no different.

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