AGRI Biz

Riding an 11-game winning streak as the 2010 playoffs approach, the San Diego Chargers have steadily risen up the NFL team rankings and, in some quarters, are considered the top-ranked team in the league. Both NFL.com and Sports Illustrated writer Peter King, for instance, have ranked the Chargers No. 1 in the league, and many other sports commentators feel the Chargers might be the team to beat in this yearÆs ...

Rumor has it around the cyber-sphere that the Miami Dolphins season-ending match-up against the Pittsburgh Steelers tomorrow, might be the last time Joey Porter suits up for the South Florida team. More than a few precious pixels around the web have peddled the speculationùif true, it will bring to a close a three year term for Porter in Miami, that has been characterized by vicissitude and unpredictability. The high point; a ...

When the Miami Dolphins season officially ends on Sunday, there will likely be little rancor among the teamÆs most fervent followers.áDisappointment, perhaps, but not a lot of finger pointing. In part, that goodwill was earned by head coach Tony Sparano and staff last season when they improbably resurrected a 1-15 team and steered through tumultuous waters en route to a division title. Part of that cachet also comes from the sobering reality ...

When the NFL regular season ends next week, the Minnesota Vikings will officially be the NFC North division champs. They will ceremoniously hoist a cloth banner somewhere in the rafters of the Metrodome. But if true champions are measured by their capacity to win critical games late in the season, then the real NFC North champs are the Green Bay Packers. And the Packers have earned it. Trailing the Vikings by four ...

á á I want to start by turning back the clock for a moment, and I cannot promise this will be a good thing. In fact, it might get ugly.á As Lemony Snicket says, the Littlest Elf is out there somewhere if itÆs happiness you are looking for. á áSpecifically, I want to go back to week two of this 2009 NFL, and more specifically, to the last moment of play in the game. á The ...

When the Miami Dolphins take the field this Christmas weekend against the underachieving Houston Texans, they would do well to seek the ghosts of contests past as the parsimonious stingy Scrooges in Houston have managed to squeak past Miami in each of the last three seasons. The most recent ghost of contest pasts leads us down the haunting chamber of last year's game where the Texans Matt Schaub slithered into the ...

William Shakespeare's Childress and Favre . Act One, Scene One In a simple room furnished with only a long oaken table sits Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress, with team owner Ziggy Wilf in the background sitting barely illuminated.á Both of whom appear calm and serene. The scene takes place at the teamÆs Winter Park facility. Enter Brett Favre. áFavre, agitated, nods but does not speak. Though December, an air conditioner hums ...

This all started on the morning of Dec. 7, 1995. Not the commemoration of the Pearl Harbor attack, but the stunning news that the Montreal Canadiens hockey team had traded Patrick Roy, one of the three best goalies in the history of the game, to the Colorado Avalanche for three players. In exchange, Montreal received ColoradoÆs goalie, whose name happened to be Jocelyn Thibault. I leaped out of bed in panic. It ...

Raise your hand if the Miami Dolphins 27-24 overtime loss to the Tennessee Titans yesterday made you think of an obscure 1970 movie called "Two Mules For Sister Sara," starring Clint Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine. á Okay. I didnÆt think so. á Oddly enough, it did remind me of that. Not so much the movie, but the title. And truthfully, not so much the title, but the idea of two mules. á Not one mule, but ...

It started with the ballerina slippers. First, Brett Favre was slip sliding away. Then it was Adrian Peterson doing his best Chevy Chase stumble and fall impersonation. And a camera shot on the sidelines showed Favre changing his ballet shoes for ones with a better grip. But the better grip ones didnÆt help. If anything, it got worse. And the Minnesota Vikings danced off the field on the arse-end of a 26-7 drubbing ...