It was considered a quarterback-weak 2008 draft, which shows in oddsmakers' listings of the top 10 players favored to win the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award this season. Only one signal-caller, Atlanta's Matt Ryan, made the top 10. The rest are running backs, which makes sense as 17 of the past 22 ORYs were ball carriers, including 2007 winner Adrian Peterson of the Vikings. Here's a breakdown of the top 10 favorites according to oddsmakers:

1. Darren McFadden, running back, Raiders: McFadden is already signed by Oakland, which is news in itself. There's no question the former Hog is the most offensively explosive rookie of the bunch, but will he get enough touches? Al Davis gave Justin Fargas a fat extension, so he will handle the majority of the carries, with McFadden being a change of pace back and catching balls on third down. Of course, Adrian Peterson wasn't expected to earn a full-time load last year, either.

2. Matt Forte, running back, Bears: A second-round pick as the second favorite for rookie of the year? Well, it helps when the Bears waived Cedric Benson after the party boy was arrested yet again. Chicago officials did add Kevin Jones, who is coming off a serious injury to compete with Forte, who reportedly has been excellent in offseason workouts. Forte also is already signed and good to go. He's the early favorite if workload is any indication, as Jones may not be ready for the season.

3. Jonathan Stewart, running back, Panthers: Carolina wants to pound the ball this year and already has former first-round pick DeAngelo Williams, but Stewart reportedly will get the bulk of the carries. The downside: He has to overcome that toe surgery that dropped his stock somewhat, but he is expected to be ready for camp.

4. Kevin Smith, running back, Lions: Detroit traded up to the top of the third round to get college football's leading rusher from last season out of Central Florida. You have to like his chances to start for two reasons: 1) Detroit's new run-based one-cut offense is the same Smith ran at UCF; and 2) Right now, Tatum Bell and Brian Calhoun are his only obstacles to being first team. Detroit could bring back Kevin Jones, but look for Smith to be the starter on Week 1. If Forte's not the favorite for rookie of the year, his NFC Central-rival Smith is.

5. Rashard Mendenhall, running back, Steelers: This seems rather high for Mendenhall given that the Steelers do have All-Pro Willie Parker, who is recovered from a broken leg suffered late last season. The good news is that Mendenhall clearly is the No. 2 after Pittsburgh cut Najeh Davenport, so he could score plenty of goal-line TDs, something that's not Parker's strength.

6. Matt Ryan, quarterback, Falcons: Hard to imagine that Ryan, who is already signed, won't start from Day 1. I mean, come on, will he not beat out Chris Redman and Joey Harrington? So he will get the opportunities, but the Falcons still have a porous line and questionable receivers. Rookie quarterbacks rarely put up good numbers, so don't put your money on Ryan.

7. Felix Jones, running back, Cowboys: Jerry Jones loved this guy, who was McFadden's backfield mate at Arkansas, which is the Cowboys owner's alma mater. Dallas just gave Marion Barber a ton of money, so he's the workhorse, but Dallas is working on package to get Felix Jones and Barber on the field at the same time. Felix Jones even could play out wide at times with Dallas thin at receiver, so he will get his touches.

8. Ray Rice, running back, Ravens: Rice has Willis McGahee in front of him and Kyle Boller at quarterback. That's bad news for his rookie hopes. Rice no doubt will spell McGahee at times and is an excellent receiver, but there's no way defenses don't load up the line against whoever is running the ball and make Boller beat them.

9. Chris Johnson, running back, Titans: Johnson was a surprise first-round pick by Tennessee, and he was the fastest player at the NFL Combine – running a 4.24 40-yard dash. He reportedly has been impressive so far and even may have passed Chris Henry as the Titans' No. 2 back. But LenDale White is a 1,000-yard back in front of him, so it's more likely Johnson makes his mark catching passes.

10. Steve Slaton, running back, Texans: This guy will be Houston's No. 1 back by the end of the year, but as of now he has Ahman Green and Chris Brown to pass. OK, those two will get hurt eventually, as they always do, but will it be early enough in the season for Slaton to make his mark? In addition, Slaton still has to prove he won't fumble too often, which was a problem at West Virginia and in camp. NFL coaches don't like fumblers!

Lately, I have been reading a lot about how the Rooney family needs to restructure its ownership of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Dan Rooney, in my opinion, runs a clean shop and the organization is stable and considered to be a well-operated NFL team. From what I know, the Rooney family owns the Steelers and they also own a number of racing investments. A couple of years ago, video slots were added to one or more race tracks that the Rooney family owns. In order to comply with NFL rules, the Rooney family had to get rid of the slots or restructure/divest their ownership interests in the Steelers. Reports are now surfacing, after being in the works for almost 2 years, that Dan has offered $35 million to each brother and the other family (McGinley) that owns a 20% stake in the team. In order to finance these potential transactions, Dan Rooney will likely need to bring in a new partner to help defray some of these costs without taking on too much debt (I'll leave my views to this current credit crisis for another blog). I find this story fascinating on many levels. First, the league has been able to keep this under wraps for almost 2 years. In an era where there is a premium for information and the rapid dissemination of information through the internet - that is pretty amazing accomplishment. Second, although I do not know anything about owning racing investments, why would anyone want to sell their interest in such a great franchise as the Pittsburgh Steelers? Why would the other Rooney's want to divest of their interests for some slot machines? The racing business must be quite lucrative for these guys to be willing to divest of their ownership of the Steelers. Regardless, if it were me, I would kiss slots goodbye and hold on to my interest in the Steelers – one of the greatest football franchises in the NFL.

I am back – sorry for the hiatus with my blogs but we are in the process of redesigning our site and things have been hectic.  Sportsfananza, however, is close to releasing our newly redesigned site and, if I may, it looks awesome (hopefully you all will agree with my assessment).  In any event, I wanted to take this time to present someone that I believe has incredible talent and has been posting some fantastic videos on Sportsfananza.  His username is Steve Dangle and if you have not seen his videos – you must.  Steve recently wrote an article that I think is definitely newsworthy for all you hockey fans and I am including it below for you sports fans read.  Enjoy – you should be hearing more about Steve.

If this article doesn’t shut people up about Mats Sundin I don’t know what will

By:  SteveDangle

All this discussion about Mats Sundin is annoying and bores me to tears. The recent Ron Wilson stories have replaced Sundin in the “stories I can’t stand” department, but just you waint. As July 1st draws near, it’ll come back. What makes it worse is many Leafs fans just don’t get it. They think they do, but they don’t. So let’s take what we know about the Mats Sundin “situation” and move on from there:

1. Mats Sundin’s contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and any association he has with the team in any way shape or form, is null and void as soon as 12:00am strikes on July 1st 2008. What happens from that date onward, and really since the 07-08 season ended, the ball is completely in Sundin’s court.
2. Sundin is thirty-seven and, barring a miracle, will continue to age until, like the rest of us, he dies. Next year he’ll be thirty-eight. I’ll bet you $5 he turns thirty-nine the next year. Double or nothing he’ll be forty after that.
3. Sundin has not won a Stanley Cup. Ever.
4. The Leafs have only recently added a coach and do not have a GM that is interested in sticking around for any longer than he has to, meaning the Leafs don’t believe they currently have the best candidate for the job. All they have is an interim GM, far past retirement age might I add, that has litte interest in remaining the GM into next year.
5. Richard Peddie and the rest of the higher MLSE brass don’t seem to have a clue what they’re doing when it comes to hockey. Real estate? Yes, they can do that. Assemble a Cup-worthy hockey team? Not a snowball’s chance in hell.

So there; these are all the things we really need to know. Everything else is filler.

Leafs fans seem to be upset that Mats seems wishy-washy on weather or not he’ll be back next season…in a Leafs uniform. Gasp! That’s right, guys; Mats Sundin hasn’t ruled out playing for another NHL club. The horror! What nerve! How dare he? Actually there’s an answer to that, folks: the Leafs stink. Before you rip on me, consider that I am a huge Leafs fan.

Why on earth would Mats sign back with the Leafs? There’s no GM, no assistant GM, there’s no coach, he has no idea who will or won’t be on the team next year, and, oh yeah, he doesn’t have a contract!

What on earth is the argument for Mats staying in Toronto? The memories? “Hey Mats, remember that year the Leafs made it to the conference final? Man, that was a good playoff run. I mean you got eliminated by the hurricanes and you were injured for most of the games, but…come on.”

All Mats has to show for his career in Toronto is that he is the all-time leading scorer on a team that hasn’t won a Cup since they introduced goalie masks. And that’s not his fault. Consider the “snipers” he’s play with like Ladislav Kohn, Jonas Hoglund, so on and so forth.

I can’t hold it against Mats if he plays somewhere else. Why, if he decides he’s still got some fight in him, would he sign with a bad team going nowhere? Why not sign with a Detroit or what have you. Even Montreal! Yes, folks – even Montreal. “But how could he?” Why not? Because of Leafs fans? There’s nothing in his contract that says he can never play for them. Even if it did, guess what, it expires July 1st.

Why not sign with the Habs? They’re a young, up-and-coming team that just won the Eastern conference this year. With no obligation to any team as of July 1st, what’s stopping him?

The one and only thing I can hold against Mats are the comments he made about not wanting to be a rental player. If you don’t want to be a rental player I can respect that. After all, I think it’s noble to want to win with a team from October to June.  I do however have a problem with Mats of all people saying it; several problems actually. Namely Owen Nolan, Ron Francis, Brian Leetch,  Doug Gilmour (the second time), Yannick Perrault (the third time), Calle Johanssen, and Phil Housley. Yes folks, Phil Housley.

If Mats disagrees so much with the principles of acquiring a playoff “rental” player, than why did the Leafs keep getting them? Shouldn’t he have said something? I mean ultimately the GM makes these decisions, and one can only speculate whether he did speak up or not, but it cannot be denied that year, after year, after year, the Leafs, playoff-bound or not, made trades at the trade deadline that made them buyers rather than sellers. I am however willing to put the blame of this at least partially on John Ferguson Jr.’s brilliant decisions.

With regards to not wanting to be a rental player, I can only assume one of two things: either Mats truly thinks these things, or he’s full of it. Let’s hope it’s the former.

In the rumor mill, and it’s not the first time in his career, Vicent Lecavalier is rumored to be the Leafs’ top priority for players to go after via the trade route. I have my doubts about this for many reasons. At the same time, if it’s true, the Leafs can’t have two elite centers on their team like Lecavalier and Sundin (and yes, they are both elite). If Lecavalier becomes a Leaf, Mats’ time in Toronto is done.

“But Steve! Why didn’t Mats accept a trade? How could he not try to help the Leafs’ organization?”

This argument, while I could see why one would think it is logical, is not. During the 07-08 season, Sundin wanted to be a Leaf. He could’ve gone to another team and possibly won the Cup. For some people, that’s enticing. In fact, most would agree that any player should jump at a chance to win the Cup. You have to keep in mind though; you’re asking a guy who’s captained a team for years and years to leave the organization because they think they’ll be better off. Professionalism or not, that’s gotta hurt.

Lastly, why on God’s green earth would Sundin want to come back to the media circus that is Toronto, Ontario, Canada? Why go through the pain of another two-and-a-half months of pre-trade deadline rumor carnival? Why bother? You’ve got a new wife-to-be, millions of dollars, you’re a future Hall of Famer (he’s got the stats, folks), and you captained an Olympic Gold Medal winning team (Sweden). What else can the man do? Not everybody wins the cup, guys. We like to think they do, but they don’t.

I guess, in a nutshell, what I want Leafs fans to know: Don’t expect Mats to be a Leaf next year just because you want him to.

The other night I was trying to relax and watch some TV and I happened to come across the Kimbo Slice (his real name is Kevin Ferguson) and James (The Colossus) Thomson at the EliteXC's event. Wow – what a fight and you probably guessed, after watching it, I was in no mood to sleep. I have previously heard about Kimbo Slice and his story as a legendary street fighter and as a homeless person. Kimbo was a street fighter than turned to becoming a mixed martial arts fighter. Kimbo is a beast and I would definitely not want to get in the ring with him. His fight was with the Colossus was impressive but I will say that the Colossus is one tough guy with the beating that he took and that he gave Kimbo. By the way, what is up with the Collussus' ear? I am looking forward to seeking more Kimbo Slice fights. Take a look at this site for more information about Kimbo http://kimboslice.proelite.com/. Also, this is a great article with great commentary about whether the Kimbo vs. Colussus fight was rigged - http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=dw-kimbo060108&prov=yhoo&type=lgns .

Is Spygate dead or is there more to come on this topic?  Roger Goodell has said that, at this time, he has no plans to appoint an independent investigator to look into the videotaping scandal involving the New England Patriots.  Hmm…..why not?  The NFL has found solid evidence that a team and its coach were breaking NFL rules by videotaping other teams signals and the league is not undertaking a full investigation?  I think Goodell is going to be a great NFL commissioner and I am not here to second guess him or the NFL, however, I do think the fans are owed more of an explanation.  I also do not think that Congress should be the catalyst as to why a full investigation into Spygate should be undertaken.  My concern is the football fan.  Fans want to know whether, and to what extent, the Patriots success was directly related to their cheating efforts.  We will never really know the real answer to these questions, but one thing is clear, the Patriots cheated and gained some advantage with their efforts to steal opposing team signals.  I recently came across an excellent website for coverage of Spygate – check out this link http://www.secsportsfan.com/belichick-spygate-scandal.html.

Tailgating at Sporting Events

Wikipedia defines Tailgate (or Tailgating) as the practice of engaging in a social drinking and/or eating event that is based out of the back of one's truck, wagon or SUV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tailgate).  Thanks Wikipedia for that great definition – but I thought I would provide a more descriptive definition….drum roll….TAILGATING is ONE BIG FAT PARTY!!!!  Tailgating is best at professional or college football games, but really, can be done anytime. Serious tailgaters work to establish the most elaborate setting for their party.  Since I have done my share of tailgating, I thought it would only be appropriate to share my views on how to tailgate properly.
For a real good tailgating party, you need the following items:

1.  Barbeque Grill (charcoal, lighter fluid and grilling utensils)
2.  Radio for pregame interviews
3.  HD TV to watch the pregame
4.  Folding Chairs and Folding Tables (depending on how many people are tailgating)
5.  Ice
6.  Plenty of Cold Beer
7.  Soda
8.  Water (hydration is key)
9.  Plenty of Great food (you can decide if you want to do it Bobby Flay style or merely dogs and burgers – but this is very important - make sure there is plenty of food and don't forget the bread).  Also, don't forget the snacks, all great tailgates have snacks before the burgers and sausages are cooked on the grill.
10. Plate and napkins (optional)
11. Find and put on every bit of clothing you own with your team's insignia on it
12. Decorate your car, SUV, truck with team magnets, flags or other decoration
13. Trash Bags (if you are going to party, you better learn to clean up after yourself)
14. Paper Towels and wet wipes
15. Generator (this really may be overdoing it, but you never know)

After writing that, is it fall yet so I can get my grill out for the football tailgate season? Can't wait.

Summer is approaching and, as a sports fan, the summer is usually a quieter period – with the exception of baseball of course.  This year is a little different, we have the summer Olympics, which, aside from the awesome competition with thousands of athletes from 200+ nations competing, it's the world's biggest party.  With the Olympics approaching and only being an event that occurs every four years, this is an opportunity to go see the Olympics – which many people probably have never done.  I thought that I would put together my top ten list that sport fans must experience before they die.  This is not intended to be a comprehensive list – let's be real, there are way too many football games or sporting events to list there – but it includes a list of sport events that I believe fans should experience.  Also, these are not organized in any special order.
 
1.  The Olympics (Summer or Winter Olympics).
2.  The Superbowl
3.  Florida Gators vs. Georgia Bulldogs Tailgate (and The Game)
4.  Notre Dame Football Game in South Bend
5.  Wimbledon
6.  Green Bay Packers Football Game in the cold
7.  The World Cup
8.  The Masters
9.  Game 7 of the World Series
10. The NCAA Championship Game

Many of us call ourselves "sports fans" – but I pose the question, what does it really mean to be a "sports fan"?  I think the answer is pretty simple.  A sports fan, simply put, is someone who loves competition. If you are a sports fan of a particular sport, your allegiance should be to the team that plays the sport with intense competition and lays it out on the field/court.  As a fan of a particular sports team, you want to see your team compete ferociously and win at no cost against the opponent.  If you are a fan of a particular player, you want to see that player compete intensely and at his or her highest level.  As sports fans, at times, when watching a game or event, we live vicariously through certain players or teams that we like.  Bottom line, being a sports fan is a awesome thing and connecting with teams and players is what being a sports fan is all about. Do some people go overboard into sports fanatic world..? Well, that is relative, and depending on your definition of a sports fanatic, great minds may differ. Stay tuned, that could be my next blog…What Does it Mean to be a Sports Fanatic?

The Boston Celtics started this season with an amazing 29-3 record - the question was if they would advance in the playoffs.  I read about the Celtics plane ride home and how the team was quiet thinking about Game 6 they just lost. The team came back strong for their Boston fans and they won Game 7. I was impressed with how the Celtics team beat the Hawks.  Let's face it, we wanted the Celtics to win and meet the Lakers in the NBA Championship game - just like the old days with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.  The way the Celtics played Sunday against the Hawks, I honestly think they could steamroll over the rest of their opponents. I think the loss in Game 6 showed them - if they want to be an elite team - they cannot take any nights off, expecially in the playoffs.

I may not be a general manager and I may not own a sports team, but does it really take a lot of "football intelligence" to know that you will never win a Superbowl without a strong offense line and a strong defensive line? I just do not understand why the Redskins, I mean Mr. Dan Snyder and Mr. Vinny Cerrato, believe that they will win a championship with receivers? Will Jason Campbell be able to get them the ball on his back when the current old offensive line will not be able to block the bull rush up the middle or a speedy pass rushing end?  I think not.  I am fine with the Redskins taking one receiver and, perhaps, the tight end of Davis' caliber, with the second pick. But, seriously, draft a lineman with the third second round pick. At first, I got excited thinking that when they drafted down to add additional picks - I had high hopes that we would be able to fortify our offensive and defensive lines. But then.....the three picks were in and I should have known better.  One day.....maybe we will have real "football" minds making these draft selections. Until then....I can only hope.

Let me start by saying that I am not a hardcore New York Giants fan.  I do not hate the team and they do not bother me as much as the Philadelphia Eagles or the Dallas Cowboys, but I am not a true Giants “fan.”  However, as a sports fan – one cannot argue that what the Giants did this past season is absolutely remarkable.  As I was mentioning to one of my close friends that is a Giants fan – looking at their accomplishments purely as a “sports fan” (not even a football fan) – this Superbowl win against the Patriots has to be the pinnacle of any Giants fan and is absolutely amazing.  Does it really get any better than this?  The Giants were expected to go nowhere this year – struggled in the early part of the season with a horrible defense – and ended the season with one of the most impressive defensive game plans in football history. Amazing!  Admit it – how many of us loved watching Tom Brady squirm in the pocket with that swarming defense? (By the way – why are general managers so stupid – don’t they know that it starts with the big guys on both sides of the ball…if I am building a football team – I draft big fast guys on the defensive line and big maulers with quick feet on the offensive line – its not that hard people  - but I digress).  Bottom line – Congrats to the New York Football Giants. Great win. Probably the best win a football fan can have in a lifetime (well – the only thing that I can think of that may come close is if the Giants go 19-0 next year).  Will we see something like this again in our lifetime? Probably not…...but I hope I am wrong.