Players-Sb

The NFL Dallas Cowboys have been at the forefront of the League for more than forty years. They have consistently been a force on the field and are considered to be the most valuable sports franchise in North America. The Cowboys joined the league as an expansion team in 1960 and called the Cotton Bowl home for the following decade. Since 1971 the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have called Texas Stadium, a purpose built stadium, in Irving, Texas, home. All that will change in 2009 when Cowboys football moves to a new stadium in the city of Arlington, Texas. The city of Arlington founded in 1875, was named after General Robert E. Lee's Arlington House, Arlington County, Virginia. In 1876 the railroad arrived and in 1884 the city was incorporated. Thriving as a result of cotton gins and farming, by 1910 Arlington was a city that boasted water, electricity natural gas, a telephone system and a public school system. Prior to World War II the population of Arlington was over four thousand. Post World War II the city underwent a major boom starting in 1954 with the arrival of a General Motors assembly plant. From 1950 through to 1990 the automotive and aerospace development lead to a major population growth in Arlington

Arlington, Texas, located in Tarrant County within the metropolitan area of Dallas-Fort Worth has a population today of over 350,000 and is the seventh largest city in Dallas.

Besides the automotive and aerospace industry, Arlington became home to the Six Flags Over Texas Theme Park in 1961, the oldest park of the Six Flags amusement parks and theme parks chain. Arlington is also home to three post-secondary institutions: the University of Texas at Arlington (the third largest institution of the University of Texas System), the Southeast Campus of Tarrant County College and Arlington Baptist College. Arlington is a sports oriented city. In 1972 the Washington Senators baseball team relocated to Arlington where they play as the Texas Rangers. And, of course, 2009 will mark the Dallas Cowboys move to Arlington and the opening of the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium. As well, like the rest of Texas, Friday night high school football in Arlington is an obsession with five high schools in the city keeping the fans entertained on Friday nights. The future home of the Cowboys in Arlington was cemented in November 2004 when city residents voted to approve a tax increase to fund the $325 million public funding portion of the stadium project. In 2005, the final site for the stadium in Arlington was chosen and in 2006 excavation at the site began. The original cost of the stadium was estimated at $650 million. Today the estimated cost is in excess of $1 billion potentially making it one of the most expensive sports venues ever to be built. The city of Arlington has been prosperous over the year's thanks in large part to its automotive and aerospace industry. The city will no doubt continue to prosper and will no doubt be forever changed in 2009 with the arrival of, arguably its most famous occupants to date, the Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, and all the team's future football card players. Arlington, Texas can now claim a piece of Dallas Cowboys history.

Travis Snider was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays with the fourteenth overall selection in the 2006 amateur draft. Snider played his High School baseball at Jackson High, in the state of Washington. The selection of Snider broke a long running trend set by General Mangers JP Ricciardi, who in pure money ball fashion prefers to draft college players in the early rounds of a draft. In fact, outside of the selection of Snider, JP's highest pick used on a high school player was 206th overall, in 2002. One of the historical knocks against drafting a high school player with a high selection is that you will have to wait a few years for them to grow into their bodies. This should not be an issue for Snider, who stands at a height of 6 feet and a weight of 220 pounds. He even played running back and linebacker in high school. Baseball America ranked Snider as the fourth best high school player heading into the 2006 draft and he has done nothing to dispel his ranking. Below are his stats from short season Appalachian League rookie ball.

He has some great stats from an 18 year old! Plenty of power, average, walks and he even threw in six steals.

When we look at his splits we have to be impressed with his .957 OPS vs. left handed pitchers. Now, if we had to pick on one thing it would be his walk to strikeout ratio against lhp, at a rate of 20:4. This would indicate that he isn't picking up the ball as well out of a lefty's hand as opposed to a righty's but again this is a small sample and quite a small sticking point for a player that slugged .609 against left handed pitching. However, it will be an interesting area to keep an eye on in the near future. From what we have gathered at mop up duty, Snider will not be participating in any winter leagues. With a promotion to low A all but assured for next season the future looks bright for Travis Snider and he will certainly be one prospect to keep an eye on.

I was reading our local sports paper and saw that the game is over for "Pacman" Jones. I guess after so many of its players being arrested last year, the commissioner brought down the big hammer. Up to now, many of us probably never cared about that "bad" part of the athlete. We just compared them to the toy soldiers that we kept in the closet and took out when we were ready for them to entertain us.

Sure, we complain about levies that will raise our homeowner's insurance and we sure don't want to pay taxes for education. But we will pay thousands of dollars to see our favorite rock stars, athletes and movie stars. We don't care if they do drugs, get arrested for driving while intoxicated or that some of them are miserable human beings. We just want our entertainment!

You say your favorite athlete can throw a 200 mph fastball? He can throw a football 399 yards? He has a bionic arm and can hit 300 homeruns a season? Well, I won't tell you about the day he got intoxicated and ran over some innocent woman. Who cares if she died and left behind a husband and a son? Just throw 2 touchdowns on Sunday so I can beat the spread and collect my money.

I think you get the point, we forget that they are human and eat, drink and feel pain like the rest of us. I have been a sports fan my entire life. I love to see camaraderie and teamwork in action. When we saw the Buffalo Bills come back and win after being down 35-3 many years ago, we saw the impossible. We saw a team pull together and win. It's amazing what we can do when we work together. The philosophy of sports can be applied to everything we do in life.

I just want you to remember to not put these gifted athletes on a pedestal. If they commit crimes, they should be punished accordingly as we would. They are not better people, just better athletes. It will be exciting to see the NFL demand high quality character in their future players. Athletes also need to remember that pro sports is a privilege and not a right.

Baseball is a fabulous game with an even longer history. So in this article I am going to take a trawl through time and pick out ten of the very best cool baseball facts and baseball trivia to keep you amused.

1. It is a little known fact that the last two players to achieve the distinction of hitting five base run hits on the opening day of the season were Billy Herman and Nellie Fox. Billy Herman was an NL player who achieved the feat in 1936 when he was playing for the Chicago Cubs. Whilst Nellie Fox achieved it in 1959 as a player for the Chicago White Sox in 1936. Incidentally, the Chicago White Sox also won the world series in that year. So it was a great year for Nellie, who also had the distinction of getting the MVP award.

2. The Owner of the Chicago Cubs, Bill Veeck, used to have midgets as food vendors at the clubs home ground, because he said that it meant that the paying public didn't have to have their view of the game spoiled!

3. In 2001 Barry Bonds hit his 500th home run, and in the process became only the 17th player from the major leagues to achieve the feat. Terry Adams was the unfortunate pitcher who allowed him to hit the 500th home run.

4. These days its seems like everyone wears pinstripes on their uniforms! But did you know that the very first two teams to wear pinstripes were the Phillies and the Giants in 1911.

5. Get High Man! It was in 1976. The month was March and the ground keeper of the Angels was inspecting his home turf... Lo and behold, growing their unhindered was a marijuana plant at Anaheim Stadium. It turns out that there had been a concert by 'The Who' just recently, and that a visitor to that event was suspected to have planted it.

6. To consider just how long Baseball has been a part of the national consciousness. Consider the fact that uniforms were first worn in baseball in 1849. The baseball team to first wear them was called the Knickerbockers, and it consisted of trousers that were blue, straw hat and a white shirt (just perfect for sliding for home!)

7. The baseball tradition of spring training came about because in 1885 the Chicago White Stockings went to Hot Springs in Arkansas to prepare for the new season.

8. All change! Two players who know all about 'team swapping' are Tim Cullen and Ron Hansen. In February 1968 they were each traded. Cullen going to the White Sox from the Senators, and Hansen going the opposite route. Only to be traded back in August of the same year to the teams from where they had originally came!

9. There was a baseball film made in 1930 called 'Hot Curves - They Learned About Women'.

10. In 1889 there was another baseball first. William Hoy from Washington threw out three runners at the plate, in a single game. And hence got himself into the record books (and this article!)

When sports bettors look at the odds in the morning before making their sports picks, many of them are missing the whole story. Let's say they are capping bases and see that the Yanks are -190 favorites over the Devil Rays. "Too much juice," they whisper, and move on to the next game.

But is it? How do they know? Simply because it's a big number?

Money lines speak and they always say something very specific, but many gamblers simply hear: "Odds are pretty good the Yanks are gonna beat the D-Rays today, but they're too expensive to bet on at -190." Just how good are those odds and why on earth would they think the -190 is the price of the bet?

Odds are simply the chance of something happening, nothing more, and chances are expressed in percentages. What this money line is really saying is "The Yanks have a 65.5% chance of beating the Devil Rays today." It's not saying anything at all about the price or 'juice'.
To calculate the odds in the money line, you need two formulas, one for the favorite and one for the dog.

FAVORITE
FL/(FL + 100)

FL is the favorite line. Disregard the minus sign. So for the Yanks at -190 it goes like this:
190/(190 +100) = 190/290 = .655 or 65.5%

The Devil Rays are +170 dogs.

UNDERDOG
100/(DL + 100)

DL is the dog line. So:

100/(170 + 100) = 100/270 = .370 or 37%

Something doesn't seem right. If the books are saying the Yanks have a 65.5% chance of winning and the Devil Rays a 37% chance of winning, that's a 102.5% chance of one of these teams winning.

That's impossible. Nothing can be more than 100%. When a sweaty athlete in a post-game interview says he gave "110%", he's off by exactly 10%. The 2.5% is the price, the juice, the vig, the house edge, whatever you want to call it.

It's what we must overcome to make a profit in this business.

If we determine, as sports handicappers, that the odds on the Yanks are fair, then we must pass on this bet as there is no profit in it for us. If we make this bet a 1000 times, we would win 655 times and lose 345 times (1000 * 65.5% = 655). At -190 we would break even, nothing more. We would win 655 units and lose 655.5 units (the .5 can be explained by rounding). Betting on the D-Rays is an even worse idea. If the odds on the Yanks are fair, then the D-Rays are overvalued by the 2.5% (100% - 65.5% = 34.5%). They actually have only a 34.5% chance of winning the game, not 37% as claimed by the +170 money line. We would lose 68.5 units betting them over the course of a 1000 bets.

As sports handicappers, we must look for BETTER THAN FAIR odds. They're hard to find, but they're out there. Precision Plays wouldn't play the Yanks at -190 unless we determined they had at least a 70% chance of winning the game.

Very few situations, especially in baseball, have those good of odds.

Is your youngster eager to learn playing baseball and excelling at it, then you need the proper equipment. Theres nothing more frustrative to a child than to make learning to field with a glove that is inflexable and too small and difficult to break in.

Akadema has especially designed two series of gloves for those young players that take their baseball seriously. The Prodigy Series and the Rookie Series gloves. Both of these series gloves are made from soft leather, so the glove is easy to break in. Another feature of supple leather is the ball will stay in the glove, unlike gloves made from plastic fabric that allow the ball to slip out all too easily.

Two innovations in glove design are incorporated into several of these mitts. The Reptilian three finger design by Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith. And the Praying Mantis design catchers mitt by Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter.

The Reptilian design allows the pinky, ring and middle fingers to be in the same large finger stall. This arrangement allows balls to be scooped easily and facilitates closing the glove.

The Praying Mantis design is a combination of a first basemans mitt and traditional catchers mitt. With more surface area to catch the ball plus extra padding where you need it, young catchers will find this glove very easy to use.

The Prodigy design series has become known as the bench mark in quality and design for serious youth ball players ages 9 to 13. These Gloves are manufactured with a combination of Akademas US Steerhide and exclusive AkademaLyte leather making the Prodigy design series gloves light, durable and easy to break in. These mitts are hand crafted for high quality the serious players demand. They also incorporate the Akadema Grasp Clasp wrist system , allowing the player to adjust the wrist strap to just the right size.

The Prodigy design series gloves are:

AZR95 an 11 inch glove with a T-web and open back. Good for all positions except first and catcher.

AOZ91 a 11.25 inch Ozzie Smith signature glove, reptilian design, B-hive web, open back and a deep pocket. Good for all positions except catcher.

ATM92 a 11.5 inch glove with a B-hive web, open back and deep pocket. Good for all positions accept catcher.

AHC94 a 11.5 inch first basemans glove with a single post double-T web, open back and deep pocket. Good for first base only.

AGC98 A 32 inch circumference catchers mitt with Stress Wedge, Triple Hammock, double sided slim padding and deep pocket. Good only for catchers.

The Akadema Rookie Series gloves were created for younger players 6 to 10 years old who are serious about baseball and want to play like a major leaguer. These gloves have full grain soft leather soft a soft feel and easy break in.

The Rookie Series gloves are:

ADN96 an 11 inch glove with a reptilian pattern, B-hive web, open back with the grasp clasp wrist system, Good for all positions accept catcher.

ADS90 a 31 circumference catchers mitt the Praying Mantis pattern. Good for catchers.

AMR99 a 11.25 inch Manny Ramirez signature glove. Good for all positions accept catcher.

Various football exercises are a great way to get your players ready for a training session or a match. The following warm-up drills can make some effective exercise for your players.

Passing through a circle is an effective warm up drill and gives your players good warm up before you start a training session or before they are getting ready for a match.

In this exercise, have five of your players stand in a circle with twenty-yard diameter. Now, have another five of your players stand behind each of these players. Now the front-standing players have to pass the ball to each other in a random way while standing at the same place. No doubt, this is an effective technique, but since this exercise requires lots of movement, your communication skill will be at test here.

You need to use your communication skill and vision in order to instruct the players for this exercise. You will have to use your imagination in order to make this exercise more innovative by adding variations to the same. For example, you may want to put a defender in the middle of the circle.

The following exercise can be highly effective for your players to help them acquire explosive acceleration and fast sprinting speed. You must have your players do these soccer exercises as fast as possible.

• Two-footed squat thrusts can be a good exercise for the youth soccer players. In this exercise, you should have your players aim for a twelve-inch jump.

• Have your players walk lunge forward and then rapidly repeat the process by changing the lead leg.

• Alternate leg squat thrusts is another great exercise for the young soccer players. In this exercise, the coach should have the players count reps on their one leg only.

• Normal press-ups are also quite effective, but you must make sure that your players are aim to keep a straight line through their back.

• You can also have your players try the wide-arm press-ups. In this exercise, have your players take elbows out to their sides.

• Close-hand press-ups are also worth giving a try. Make sure that while doping this exercise, your players are aim to keep their thumbs touching each other.

Apart from the above football exercises, you should also include abdominal exercises. They are very important in keeping your players fit and strong.

Carson Palmer was born on December 27, 1979 in Fresno, California. Although Palmer does not have the athleticism of some of the other great NFL quarterbacks, he has everything that he needs to succeed. This includes having a strong arm, great pocket presence, and being one of the smartest quarterbacks in the league.

Palmer played high school football at Santa Margarita Catholic High School. As a senior, colleges from all over the country took notice of him as he passed for 31 touchdowns and only four interceptions. When his high school career was over, Palmer held 27 school records.

After high school Palmer decided to play at the University of Southern California. During his freshman season in 1998, Palmer was named the starting quarterback in the ninth game of the season; a position that he would hold for the rest of his career.

Palmer had three up and down seasons for the Trojans, but things changed dramatically during his senior year. Under offensive coordinator Norm Chow, Palmer ended the season with 3,942 yards on 309 completions. This went along with 33 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions. To cap off his great senior season Palmer was awarded with the Heisman Trophy.

In the 2003 NFL Draft Palmer was selected with the first overall pick by the Cincinnati Bengals. After not touching the field during his rookie season, he was then thrust into the heat of the battle. In his first full season in 2004 Palmer passed for 2,897 yards. He followed this up with 3,836 yards in 2005, and a trip to the playoffs. Unfortunately, Palmer tore both the ACL and MCL in his left knee in a first round game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The 2006 season was Palmers' first since the injury, and it did not appear to hold him back at all. He finished with 4,035 yards and 28 touchdowns. There is plenty more of this to come.

Maurice Jones-Drew was born on March 23, 1985 in Antioch, California. Despite being small in stature, Jones-Drew has done a lot in the game of football. Due to his small size he became use to the underdog role early on, and has used this to his advantage for many years.

Jones-Drew was raised by his grandparents, and became very close to them at an early age. Unfortunately, his grandfather died of a heart attack while watching one of his college games. To honor him, he added the "Jones" to his last name.

As a star at De La Salle High School, Jones-Drew received a lot of attention. During his three year high school career he never lost one game. As a running back, linebacker, and return man, he had a lot to do with the team's success during that three year run. During his senior season Jones-Drew was ranked as the number one running back in the country by some scouting services. This was due in large part to his 1,500 yards and 26 touchdowns as a senior.

Jones-Drew moved onto UCLA after high school, and played three years for the Bruins. He led the team in rushing each season, and also showed the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. During his college career he ran for more than 2,500 yards, and scored 26 touchdowns on the ground. Additionally, he added 819 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. Although he did not compile huge statistic, he did show NFL scouts that he was worthy of a chance in the league

He was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the 60th overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft. Early in his rookie season he was only used as a kick return specialist. But after a slow start he really took the league by storm. Jones-Drew finished the season with 941 yards on 166 carries. To go along with this he scored a total of 15 touchdowns.

As you can see, Jones-Drew is well on his way to big time success.

Steve Smith was born on May 12, 1979 in Lynwood, California. Although Smith did not have the easiest life as a young child, he worked as hard as he could to be a success on the football field. And even though he has made it big in the NFL, this has not stopped him from working hard day in and day out. This is one of the main reasons that Smith has become known as one of the top wide receivers in the league.

After high school Smith decided to attend Santa Monica Jr. College. Although he did not attend a four year college right out of high school, again, this did not stop him from working for his goals. After two stellar years at Santa Monica, Smith caught the eye of the coaching staff at the University of Utah. Although he had a great career at Utah, it was not until an impressive performance at the Blue-Gray All Star Game that he started to receive attention from NFL scouts.

In the third round of the 2001 NFL Draft the Carolina Panthers chose Smith. Although he did not get to play a lot of wide receiver during his first season, he did make his mark on special teams. Smith led all rookies with nearly 2,000 net yards on kick and punt returns. Not only was this top for rookies, but it also put him at the top of list among everybody in the league.

In 2002, Smith earned a spot as a starting wide receiver, and since then he has been showing up opposing defenses. Smith has been named to the Pro Bowl three times, and is sure to see many more of these as his career moves forward.

With plenty more years to play, Steve Smith has the chance to be one of the best wide receivers in NFL history.

Over the last few years aluminium has been the preferred material for making both baseball and softball bats from. The reason why this has occurred is simply down to the fact that aluminium is relatively lighter than most other metals so it allows the player to have much more control over it as well as a higher bat speed. In most cases where the softball bat is concerned you will find that it is found in either a single or double layer design. But the double layer design is much preferred by most players today as it is very resilient and also offers the player more power when using it. But now let us take a look more closely at DeMarini baseball bats.

The company was launched in 1990 and has made a huge impact on the baseball and softball market since they began. The first bat that they introduced to the market was the "Doublewall" and which although being their earliest design is still recognized as being one of the best bats that are available. In fact by 1999 the sales of DeMarini baseball bats had reached $20 million for that year. Then in 2000 after only 10 years of being involved in the softball and baseball market the company was acquired by Wilson Sporting Goods in order to help them develop the next generation of high performance bats. Certainly this proves just how popular the DeMarini baseball bats produce are. At this present time the company are producing 7 kinds of slowpitch bats along with 3 types of fastpitch softball bats and 5 different types of baseball bats.

In fact probably the biggest reason you will find as to why DeMarini baseball bats are so popular with both youth leagues, high schools and colleges is their innovative designs and the technology that they use. In most cases the improvements that they have made to their bats includes the barrel size, the bat taper and the actual grip. Plus as their bats are much lighter than most softball and baseball bats that are available they are a lot easier to handle and they give the extra power when actually hitting the ball.

So if you are looking for either a softball or Demarini baseball bats which will ensure that you instead of having just a good game you have a great one then you should seriously consider looking at DeMarini baseball bats as your next purchase.

Emmitt Smith was born on May 15, 1969 in Pensacola, Florida. Although Smith was never the biggest player on the football field he always had the heart of a lion. When it came down to winning time Smith was always there to pick up the slack. This will to win was in addition to a high level of physical and mental strength. With all of that to work with it is easy to see why many people consider Smith to be the greatest running back ever.

After a successful high school career Smith decided to take his game to the University of Florida. From the moment that he set foot on campus it was obvious that he was going to be a start. While at the school he set many records; some of which still stand today. In fact, in the very first game that he ever started Smith broke the school record for rushing yards in a game.

Smith decided to declare himself eligible for the NFL Draft after his junior season. During his time at Florida he rushed for nearly 4,000 yards and 36 touchdowns. His junior year was his best. It was during this year that he was named first team All American, first team All SEC, SEC Player of the Year, and finished seventh for the Heisman Trophy.

In the 1990 NFL Draft, Smith was selection with the 17th pick in the first round by the Dallas Cowboys. In his first year in the league he rushed for 937 yards on 241 carries. Smith continued to put up similar numbers up until the 2003 season when he left the Cowboys and signed with the Arizona Cardinals.

Emmitt Smith finished with the most career rushing yards and touchdowns in NFL history. This is saying a lot considering all of the great running backs who have played in the league.