Gridiron

Richie Incognito(Left) Jonathan Martin(Right)

  The news of Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin shocked the sports world earlier this week, Richie Incognito a starting lineman for the Miami Dolphin bullying his rookie team mate Jonathan Martin which forced him to leave the team.

In the starting of November rookie lineman Jonathan Martin left his team the Miami Dolphins to receive help for emotional issues. A week later rumours emerged that the reason of Martins leave was because of the players on the team bullying him. Richie Incognito a 8 year veteran lineman was to blame for Martins suddenly leaving the team. Martins agent released several voice-mails and text messages to the media which included racial slurs, threats to martin and his family from his former team mate Incognito. When evidence was shown to the NFL, Miami’s head coach was forced to suspend Incognito until further notice. I will not put up the transcript for the messages a simple Google search can help you find those.

   Incognito has been “hazing” martin since he joined the team calling him nick names by twitter and he even made Martin pay $15,000 for a trip to Las Vegas which Martin did not even participate in. Now as this story has made its way to every news station and internet sport site few other rookies have come forward sharing their stories about how they are treated down in the Miami locker room. Earlier this year all of the Miami Dolphin players went out for dinner and made the rookies pick the up the tab of $30,000 and were told its a initiation to the team. Seeing the kind of respect these veteran players show their rookies is no wonder why the Miami Dolphins haven’t won a superbowl or even made it to the playoffs in recent years. Here is a link with further info on this http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/04/3729152/incognito-dolphins-push-back-against.html

Few players from other teams have commented on this situation, some believe Martin broke the code of silence and rookie hazing is something everyone has to go through. Most of the Miami locker room is taking Incognitos side and claiming Martin has blown this out of proportion that he should have just handled this privately. But other NFL players don’t see this as a surprise, former team mate Cam Cleeland of the St. Louis Rams talked about how Incognito was someone who had trouble getting along with other team members when playing for the Rams back in 2006 . Often involved in fights in practice, did not want to listen to others and came of as a very disrespectful person. The NFL is still investigating this matter until they make further decisions and Incognitos career could be in jeopardy.

Do you think Martin could have dealt with this situation differently or do you agree with him to bring this issue to the public eye?

This year marks Madden NFL 25-year anniversary and EA decided to celebrate it by putting a different name (Madden 25 instead of Madden 14). EA’s Madden NFL Football series is to sports games as Call of Duty is to first person shooters. The easy to play controls make the game playable and fun for everyone and it helps if you have some what of a understanding of NFL rules. If your new to NFL this game is very good in helping you learn the teams,rules,positions and who the star players are.

Madden 25 really concentrated on the running game and are giving players more control over the running back then from previous years.Even though you score more points passing  then running and getting the chance to throw the last second game winning hail mary throw. I enjoy using the running game because of new moves such as fast cut juke moves executed by the analog stick or by pressing the buttons. When you successfully pull of a juke combo on your friends defender and make him look bad you enjoy the  game more. Also they have made improvements to the stiff arm option, as before it never really seemed to make a difference but now if you are a physically big running back or wide receiver you can break out of tackles or gain a few yards before falling.

EA is finally focusing on making madden look more like real life football, through the new Infinity Engine 2 which is an upgrade to the real-time physics of the game. Players look much more realistic and the broadcasters have more to say while your playing the game and no longer do we see the glitchy tackles and cartoonish look of players tripping over each other. Also more cleaner looking player collisions and unique tackles that are more realistic as the new engine takes into count different positions players are hit from.

All of the game modes from previous games return to Madden NFL 25, one new mode they have added is the “Owner Mode”. This game mode puts you in-charge of running a team from team staff, finances and even deciding pricing on stadium food and merchandize sold. Owner mode can get somewhat boring fast because of the “tycoon” type game play; however a few fun options can keep you interested such as the ability to move teams to new city’s. Here is a quick trailer

My final thoughts, EA has made a few changes to this years madden but nothing that is ground breaking maybe because of how high of a bar they have set from the beginning anything that doesn’t change the game entirely seems insufficient to us. Madden is not made for just the football fans as they work very hard on making the game so that anyone can pick up the controller and be able to play any team like a NFL pro. If your looking for a fun game you can pick up and start playing and don’t have to invest much time in Madden 25 would be a wise choice to add to your collection.

Why is it 78% of NFL players go bankrupt after retirement? Is it the poor financial advice, or the flashy lifestyle maybe thinking they will be playing for a longer time then they actually will. To answer this question we have to take a look at some of these players lives that were once on top with millions in their bank accounts and now are in debt to either the IRS or the banks.

Terrell Owens made an estimated $80 million dollars during his career as a star wide receiver.

He blames his bankruptcy on a couple of things, new to the NFL he hired bad management which cost him $2 million in bad business investments. Owens was advised by his accountants to invest in real estate. Which he believed to be the beginning of his financial fall trusting the wrong people with his money. Owens purchased enormous high end condos and houses he always thought he could later rent or sell if he needed the money. A real estate market crash forced him to sell his condos and houses at a huge loss. Child support is still damaging his bank account, as of now Owens has 4 different kids with 4 different women, to whom he has to pay child support which is around $45,000 every month and has to pay for their house mortgages which is another $80,000. The IRS has placed a lien on him for owing taxes for his income from previous years. Terrell now 39 and with no contract nearing retirement is hoping any team can pick him up so he can make the bills on time.

Michael Vick made an estimated $130 million dollars in his early career as a star quarterback.

Vick’s bankruptcy started early in 2006 when he was sentenced to a 2 year jail term for his involvement in dog fighting. While in jail Vick managed to spend $18 million, only some of the money was spent on legal fees. Vick was also supporting his friends, an entourage of 30 people who he considered his closest family and friends. Venturing into business schemes with his friends lost him millions. In 2008 Vick reportedly spent $31 million in a single month on four different houses, cars, clothes, jewelry and other expenses in supporting his ex girlfriend and their son. Fraudulent financial advisers also had their hands in Vick’s bank accounts as he himself has stated he was to young and foolish to realize what they were doing until it was too late. Lucky for Vick he is still a talented player and has recently inked a new deal for $100 million with the eagles.

By looking at some of these players stories you can already see the common mistakes, trusting the wrong people, financially supporting close friends/family and living above their means. Many other players who have made the same mistakes had another thing in common, raised in poverty stricken homes by single parent. Receiving their first paychecks these players feel guilt and a sense of duty to give back to those who were around them during harder times, which is never a one time thing. Looking at these players lives really shows you they are not that much different from us, if you were given millions of dollars and fame right after high school or college could you resist making the same mistakes?

   The 3-0 New England Patriots will be heading to Atlanta to play the 1-2 Atlanta Falcons for Sunday night football. Last time these teams played each other; Tom Brady lead the Patriots to 28-10 win over Matt Ryan’s falcons.

Atlanta is a tough team to beat when at home, their record at the Georgia Dome since 2008 is 34-7. Atlanta posses one of the leagues top 10 offense which is led by quarterback Matt Ryan, but their offense will be slowed down because of an injured Steven Jackson. Jackson the falcons star running back will be replaced by Jacquizz Rodgers. For the Falcons defense the same cannot be said, Atlanta has lost 5 consecutive games since last season in which they led in points heading into halftime. As seen last week with a disappointing loss to the Miami dolphins, where Atlanta led in points until the defense allowed a late 4th quarter touchdown which led the dolphins to a comeback victory.

Patriots starting 3-0 should be a heavy favorite, but if you take a closer look you will see those wins have come against lesser teams. Matt Ryan will be the first elite quarterback this new patriot’s team will face this season, but the patriots have won the last 3 times the teams played each other. With Brady’s new rookie wide receiver receiving heavy criticism for not being able to keep up with the high paced new england offense and the loss of star wide receiver Wes Welker in the off season has slowed down the once feared New England offense. Also having one of the top tight ends in the NFL Rob Gronkowski injured does not help bradys offense. Defensively the team has been forcing opponents to make numerous mistakes this season, causing at least one turn over in the last 30 games straight.  Another thing about the patriots defense, they have not allowed a single point in the 4th quarter so far this season.

   Atlanta is one of the hardest team to beat when their at home, with last weeks loss the falcons will be looking to redeem themselves in front of their fans. New englands rookie wide receivers are showing improvement as evidence from last weeks match up vs Tampa bay, we saw the rookie receivers beginning to time themselves with brady and making less mistakes running the routes. Also with a possibility of the return of Rob Gronkowski which would give a huge boost to the new england offense, and could mean the difference between loosing and winning. For now i will be picking the Atlanta Falcons beating the New England Patriots. Even with there running back injured Atlanta will be forced to throw the ball more, which is a good thing when you have a quarterback like Matt Ryan. This Sunday night match up should be a high scoring game as both teams are ran by quarterbacks who can destroy a team with their aerial assault.  Who do you think will win and why?