Your guide to the new year's biggest sports stories, from Dale Earnhardt Jr's bold move, to Brett Favre's big decision, to the Celtics' rebirth.
NASCAR: Junior JumpsWhen the 2008 season starts in NASCAR's renamed Sprint Cup Series, most of the talk will be about Dale Earnhardt Jr's great expectations. Even questions of whether Jimmie Johnson can three-peat as champ will pale next to guesses about Johnson's new Hendrick Motorsports stablemate, who shocked the sport with his defection from Dale Earnhardt, Inc, the company his late father built. Junior won his fifth straight Most Popular Driver award last season, but his fans are aching for him to hoist more hardware, and team owner Rick Hendrick is feeling the pressure. "My main concern is that people don't get disappointed too early," he says. "Give us a chance to get it all figured out." Junior comes to Hendrick with crew chief and cousin Tony Eury Jr and a bitter taste after his substandard 2007. (He
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Much like the prom or New Year’s Eve, Super Bowl Sunday is a day that almost can’t help but fall short of the hype. And there was plenty of hype: two weeks' worth of build up, six and a half hours (or VI and I/II hours in Super Bowl math) of pregame programming, expensive commercials, a glitzy halftime show, and a game. Despite consistently unmet expectations, I wouldn’t have my Super Bowl any other way. OK. Enough chitchat. On to the game. Since my limited writing ability won’t allow me to be more creative, I will now discuss the game in chronological order. Pregame: I admit that I did not watch all of the pregame festivities, but I did see the Cirque du Soleil performance. With bright colors that could cause seizures in the blind, strange, mashed up animals that make the platypus seem reasonable and Gloria Estefan, I believe I now know what it’s like to take acid. This couldn’t be too far from what Hunter S. Thompson saw when he blinked. This is what ...
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When 75,000 fans fill Dolphin Stadium for Super Bowl XLI on Sunday, Feb. 4, it will mark the ninth time Miami has hosted the premier pigskin event, tying it with New Orleans for the most ever. Although it hasn't held the game since 1999, the city remains the ultimate Super Bowl destination, says Hall of Famer Dan Marino, an analyst for CBS' The NFL Today. And he would know.
During his 17 seasons as the Dolphins quarterback, Marino became arguably Miami's greatest sports legend. He played in only one Super Bowl, and lost, but he understands the impact his old stomping grounds will have. "This is the biggest sporting event of the year, but it's more than just the game, it's the fun and excitement that surrounds it," he says. In addition to a pregame show featuring
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