Los Angeles Kings donate $1 million dollars

Teams in the NHL have a lot of making up to do to their fans. Some are rolling back ticket prices while some are offering free concessions for a limited time. That's a good start to attempt to get the fans back in the fold.

The Los Angeles Kings have taken it up a notch by donating $1 million dollars back to the Los Angeles community. Even though fans won't benefit from that donation directly, it impacts thousands of others in the area. Depending on how it's used of course.

There should be more promotions during the season, but Kings fans will get the best deal of them all.  

Atlanta Rapper Big Boi, says Falcons players need to avoid strip clubs to beat Seahawks

The Atlanta Falcons have experienced a few playoff failures in recent memory, most notably the demolition by the Green Bay Packers in 2010 and the lousy showing against the New York Giants last year. Once again the Falcons have home field advantage but face a more than capable Seattle Seahawks team that has been red hot lately.

One key is for quarterback Matt Ryan to play lights out. But Atlanta rapper Big Boi, from Outkast fame has another idea on how the Falcons can be successful in their Sunday showdown with the Seahawks. Stay out of the strip clubs.

Big Boi aka Antwan Patton appeared on ESPN's First Take to give his opinion on how the Falcons can emerge victorious.

"As long as everybody stays out of Magic City and Diamonds of Atlanta, we are going to be good," Big Boi said, via the Atlanta Journal Constitution. "Wait until Monday to go. Everybody stay home and make it a Blockbuster night."

He even went as far to suggest that the clubs promote "Seahawks night" Saturday. Big Boi must have had Eugene Robinson's shenanigans before Super Bowl 33 on his mind when he made that suggestion.

Cowboys have Monte Kiffin in their sights

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones vowed that changes are coming. Former defensive coordinator Rob Ryan was shown the door after the Cowboys missed the playoffs this season. Everyone knows that Jones isn't going anywhere and for some strange reason head coach Jason Garrett remains safe in his job. So someone had to go.

The Cowboys are looking to fill their defensive coordinator void and have former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin topping their list. Kiffin,72, won a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, recently resigned from the same job at USC, where his son Lane was the head coach. If Kiffin is named defensive coordinator look for the Cowboys to move from a 3-4 alignment to a 4-3, which would be a key to the Cowboys changing to a Tampa 2 defense.

There was talk of Kiffin possibly joining Andy Reid on the Kansas City Chiefs staff, but the story is that Kiffin wasn't interested in the job.

Jones, Kiffin, or Garrett couldn't be reached for comment, so as of now this is more rumor than fact.

Notre Dame's Kelly on Eagles' radar

Notre Dame head coach, Brian Kelly stated that he had no desire to leave Notre Dame. However, he did leave a crack in the door.

“For me to say I’ll never coach in the NFL -- I have no idea,” Kelly said on Friday. “I’m not trying to be evasive. It’s the truth of the matter. It’s all about timing.”

Now it appears the Philadelphia Eagles may walk through that crack in the door with an offer for Kelly. According to reports, the Eagles have interviewed Kelly and will meet with him when he returns from a trip out of the country.

With the personnel the Eagles have, hiring Kelly could work out for them, but he's also a career college coach that has no credibility with players in the NFL so it could turn out badly. I'm not saying it won't work but the Eagles may want to go with someone other than a college coach with no NFL experience. After the way the defense has played the past few years they might want to get a coach with a defensive background. 

Rolando McClain says corrupt cops are out to get him

A day after being pulled over for a window tint violation and subsequently arrested for providing the police with a false name, Oakland Raiders linebacker Rolando McClain answered that "corrupt cops are out to get him". After shedding some light on this story, it's downright comical.

He didn't exactly say that but answered a question if he thought the cops were out to get him.

“I’m falsely accused of everything,” McClain said. “It’s corrupt. It’s terrible.”  When he was asked by a reporter if he thought the cops were out to get him, McClain responded, “Yes. You said it. I answered it.”

Where this story gets funny is the point when McClain was pulled over and the exchanges that took place.

McClain told the officer he had a letter from his doctor about the window tint, which he later produced. The printed letter stated he had “photosensitivity and needed maximum ultraviolet radiation protection to include window tinting,” Crouch said.

Annerton asked him twice to roll the window up partially so he could check the tint, and McClain refused both times, Crouch said.

“He tells the officer he’s got a letter from his doctor and that’s all he needs,” Crouch said.

Annerton called for a supervisor to meet him, and Sgt. Stan Elliott responded.
McClain eventually did roll up his window enough for Annerton to use a tint meter, which measures how much light can go through the window, and determine the tint was too dark, Crouch said.

“Sgt. Elliott told McClain that type of doctor’s recommendation should have been written on a medical prescription, to which McClain responded that Sgt. Elliott was not the officer that stopped him, so McClain didn’t have anything to say to him,” Crouch said.

Elliott told McClain he would be issued a ticket and could present any doctor’s orders on his court date.

“McClain took (the ticket) and appeared to sign it, but when officer Annerton got the ticket book back, he saw that McClain had written ‘F y’all’ instead of signing his name,” Crouch said. 

McClain was asked to sign his real name and claimed 'F y'all' was it. That when the cops decided to book him.

I don't know what world McClain lives in, but he's lucky they didn't decide to administer some good ol' southern justice. That truly could've taken a turn for the worse, but luckily for us we get to see how stupid of an individual McClain is while getting a nice laugh out of it.

J.J. Watt shows Craig Biggio support for the Hall of Fame

Today the baseball Hall of Fame held their voting and no candidates were elected to Cooperstown. That didn't stop Houston Texans defensive end, J.J. Watt for showing his support for Hall of Fame candidate, Craig Biggio.

Watt showed up to a press conference sporting an old school Houston Astros Biggio jersey.

                        

 

Lidstrom tells Red Wings he's retired

The NHL lockout has came to an end and all there's left to do is to finalize all the details in the agreement. Expect a flurry of player movement before the start of the shortened. Also players will have to get themselves  into shape pretty quick.

The Detroit Red Wings aren't going to be the force they were for the better part of the last decade. Age, injuries and retirement have made the Red Wings more reliant on younger, unproven players. That explains why head coach Mike Babcock spoke to recently retired defenseman, Nicklas Lidstrom, to gauge his interest in returning for a shortened 48 game run this season.  


"First off, this is all a little blown out of proportion," Babcock said. "But we got to talking and I was asking Nick how his family was, how he was enjoying himself, and he said he was having a great time.

"He said he has been going to some (Swedish) Elite games recently, and it had gotten his blood racing again. But not to the point where he would be interested in putting his equipment on again.

"I just stopped it right there," Babcock said, laughing.

Lidstrom spent his entire 20 year career in Detroit.

With Lidstrom gone and Brad Stuart no longer in the mix and missing out on some of the top free agents the Red Wings could be in for a long season. Even if it is only for 48 games.