Joffrey Lupul - The Maple Leaf Curse

On Sunday January 20th, 2013 the Toronto Maple Leafs, and newly hired GM Dave Nonis wrapped up a deal with Leafs  star Joffrey Lupul. Lupul, in his second season with the club got the wonderful new year gift of a massive contract extension. He signed a 5 year extension  worth $26 million. Lupul has been in the NHL for a total of 8 seasons and has been riddled with injury his entire career. Of course, this leads to the Leafs signing him to a massive contract and completely ignoring the numbers. In a day and age where the salary cap rule general mangers' decisions, this one made no sense. Lupul was in no hurry to resign and the club could have waited, but of course being the Toronto Maple Leafs, they had to make the wrong decision.  Out of Lupuls 8 season in the league he had played 70 of the 82 games in only half of those wonderful years, while he was injury plagued the other 4. Lupul was acquired by Toronto last year and had a wonderful season. That was of course until he separated his shoulder towards the end of the season. He ended the season played 66 games and tallying 25 goals and 42 assists for 67 points. Going even further back on December 17th, 2009 Lupul had to undergo back surgery that could have ended his career. After his back surgery he was told he may never play again, however Lupul being the tough Canadian kid he is, hailing from Alberta he battled back. Still not knowing how long his back can hold up the Leafs still resign him to a 5 year deal, typical. Then of course 3 days after signing his massive extension deal Lupul takes a puck to the forearm and is out for a minimum of 6 weeks.  In a shortened 42 game season Lupul is scheduled to miss at least 1/3rd. Could it be the curse of the Maple Leafs or is it just management constantly making awful decisions. Being the  only team post lock out with out a playoff berth you would think something would change. Maybe that's just optimism, but none the less -  GO LEAFS GO

                                                Lupul with his newely aquired assistant captian

Ray Lewis' Last Chance

 Commitment and dedication; two words synonymous with the professional and passionate Ray Lewis.  Drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in 1996 Lewis has spent the last 17 years of his life with one team he calls his family. From the owner to all the coaches who have had the privilege of watching Lewis grow have all said the same thing. He is a dedicated leader and the smartest defensive football player they have ever seen. He has gained the respect of all the staff and players of the Baltimore Ravens and it is truly Lewis’ team. How did he gain such respect? His career statistics speak for themselves.  Lewis has been to the pro bowl 13 of his 17 amazing years in the NFL, and winning defensive player of the year twice. Lewis has also had the honor of winning a Super Bowl in 2000 but that still isn’t enough. With almost 1,000 career tackles and 41.5 career sacks to go along with his 31 career interceptions, statistics fit for a legend. However again, this wasn’t enough. Touted as one of the most emotional players in the NFL, Lewis spent most of this season sidelined with a torn tricep, an injury that would sideline any other player for the remainder of the season and playoffs. Lewis, is unlike any other player, showing how big his heart is and his commitment to the team he returned unsuspected for Baltimore’s playoff run. Not only did Lewis return but he announced that this would be his last run for a Super Bowl…..EVERRR. To a man who has dedicated so much of his time and energy to the Ravens, this lifted his team in an indescribable way. Playing with the motivation of getting Lewis one more championship ring the Ravens have beat out all the odds in making it to the 47^th annual Super Bowl. One can only hope that Lewis gets what he deserves, that one last Super Bowl victory before ridding into the sunset.

 

Ray Lewis' Last Dance At Home

What A Weekend

What a weekend!!! With 4 bone chilling NFL playoff games loaded with excitement, it kept me glued to the television. Each game was filled with jaw dropping excitement, all achieved in it's own unique way. One can only sit with anticipation for the upcoming games on Sunday. Sunday will hold the conference championship games with 4 teams fighting for 2 spots in February 3rd's 47th Super Bowl held in New Orleans. The NFC championship game will be between The San Francisco 49ers and The Atlanta Falcons. While the AFC championship game is The Baltimore Ravens against the New England Patriots. For the second straight year the Harbaugh brothers have a chance to meet as head coaches in the Superbowl. This Sunday is looking to be as exciting as last weekends games, and I personally cannot wait.

Ray Lewis And Tony Gonzalez - Two NFL legends reactions after their  wins

For a full recap of this weekends games read below.


Article Written by Brian Urquhart:

We had one NFL legend shedding tears after the first playoff victory of his 16-year hall of fame career, while two other future Hall of Famers met in only the sixth double-overtime playoff game in league history, and perhaps the game's best passer was beat by one of the best quarterback performances in playoff history …A performance made by a player making the eighth start of his career, and if that wasn't enough to make this years second round of the NFL playoffs entertaining, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady won the 17th playoff game of his career, breaking a tie with Joe Montana for the most in league history.

It all started on a very cold Saturday afternoon, where the -10-degree temperature at kickoff made this the coldest playoff game ever played in Denver. The wind chill made it feel like -17, and we had 2 of the greatest players in NFL history at their respective positions going head to head, Ray Lewis, who announced that this, his 17^th season would be his last and Peyton Manning, playing in his first season back from a year off due to multiple neck surgeries and their combined 25 Pro Bowl appearances.  The game lived up to the hype; two kick returns for touchdowns, defensive touchdown, a last second hail marry and finally a double overtime 40 yard field goal by a rookie kicker to win it.  When all was said and done, Ray Lewis got to live to see another week of NFL football while Peyton now has a long off season to think about yet another postseason failure.  But before you could even catch your breath, the next game had already begun.

The night game was a clash between one of the most prolific passers in the game today, Aaron Rodgers up against Colin Kapernick, a quarterback who has yet to start and entire regular season, let alone a playoff game.  This was a back and forth affair, until the young Kapernick ran away with it, literally.  Kapernick ran for over 180 yards, to go along with 4 total touchdowns and broke the post season NFL record for rushing yards by a quarterback in leading his 49ers to a 44-31 win over Rodgers’ Packers.  To say Saturday was an eventful day in the NFL would be an understatement, but Sunday was not to be out done.

  

The afternoon affair between the 1^st place Atlanta Falcons and visiting Seattle Seahawks, ended in tears for Tony Gonzalez, who is planning to retire after this season and will go down as the best tight end in league history.  He helped the Atlanta Falcons to an improbable and difficult 30-28 win over Seattle, after leading virtually the entire game, Atlanta fell behind 28-27 with 31 seconds remaining.  However, that was just enough time for Matt Ryan who needed only 2 throws, the second of which went to Gonzalez, and from there, Falcons kicker Matt Bryant hit the game winning field goal.

To finish off the weekend we head to Fox borough, home of the New England Patriots, where we did not have any shocking twists, last second heroics or tears of joy, but it was historic none the less.  Tom Brady was vying for his 17^th career postseason win, which would have him stand alone on the all time list.  Brady and his patriots did just that, as the game began slowly with both teams feeling each other out but ended in a pretty decisive victory.  Off to the AFC championship go the Patriots for the 7^th time in 12 years and the only remaining player from the first of those 7, Tom Brady.  The team has changed around him, but the result; the same, as he continues to put together a very strong case for the greatest quarterback to ever play.

This past weekend in the NFL will not soon be forgotten and while the second round of the 2006 playoffs featured three games decided by a field goal and the first round of the 2010 playoffs featured three down-to-the-wire games, neither of those years seem to quite measure up to what happened this weekend.  Not only were each of the games thrilling in their own right, but from a historic point of view, we have Ray Lewis fighting to play another week, Tony Gonzalez finally getting a well deserved playoff win, Tom Brady getting his 17^th and putting himself in position to become the greatest of all time and on top of that a first year starter putting on a performance that may rank among the top 10 playoff performances in league history.  But perhaps the most exciting part of last weekend, was that it was only the second round and we get two more rounds of playoff thrills before crowning a new Super Bowl Champion.