Art Modell, 87, Super Bowl Champion Owner

Link.

I like the Ravens. However he had some pros and cons of the move from Cleveland to Baltimore after the 1995 NFL season. The pros of the relocation was that the franchise finally won a Super Bowl, first for Baltimore in almost 30 years, and one of the most beautiful stadiums in the NFL, beginning the 1998 season (hosted the NCAA D-I men's lacrosse championships, Army/Navy football and has hosted a UEFA Champions League preliminary match last year, I think).

However his relocation to Baltimore had at least one con. The con was that it ended the CFL's US era, in which the Stallions came off of their Grey Cup win in 1995, the first and only US franchise in the CFL to win Coupe Grey. After Modell's announcement, Jim Speros, the Stallions owner relocated to Montreal, thus the return of the name 'Alouettes.'

He will be missed.

American Le Mans Series To Merge with Grand-Am! A Shocker! *Mini-Rant*

Link.

I really hope that this merger will most likely kill Grand Sham more than ALMS. Panoz and Atherton knows better to merge with a shitty series. Will it kill sports car racing, similar to the Champ Car/MindyCar merger killed open wheel racing? Maybe.

It seems if the ALMS/Grand Sham merger goes the way of the IndyCar/Champ Car merger in 2008, American motorsport at the pavement level will be dead. But if it dies, there's still hope for American motorsport by simply supporting your local race track.

And there's always F1, DTM, BTCC and even the Aussie V8 Supercars.

AFL, NRL Finals Series This Weekend!

The busiest sporting month in Australia begins this weekend as the sub-continent's two biggest sporting entities-Australian Football League and National Rugby League will have their finals series.

In the AFL, Hawthorn made a last month surge to the top to gather the number 1 seed. In the qualifying final, the Hawks will have a Collingwood side, in which both had injuries, including that of the Hawks' Buddy Franklin, who was out for at least a month. This match also marks Nathan Buckley's first finals appearance in his first year as the Magpies' head coach taking over for Mick Malthouse after the 2011 season. Malthouse is currently in talks to return to AFL head coaching with Carlton, taking over the position that Brett Ratten left behind.

The other qualifying final will boast an interstate matchup as the resurgent Crows will take on the Swans.

West Coast and North will be in one elimination final. Earlier this year, the Eagles held on to win by two, and was in the top spot for the first half of the year until injuries took their toll. The other WA club-Fremantle-will take on the reigning premiers Geelong in the second elimination final. Ross Lyon's first finals as Freo coach (he's been to the finals before with St. Kilda).

Meanwhile, the NRL finals will take charge as well, with top seeded Canterbury and Manly in one qualifying final, while Melbourne and South Sydney is in the other. North Queensland and Brisbane will play in one elimination final, while Cronulla and Canberra will play in the other. St. George-Illawara, last year's premiers, failed to make the top 8 this season.

Both AFL and NRL finals series matches are on Fox Soccer Plus in the United States, or follow along here and here.

NFL Regular Season Returns This Wednesday!

The NFL is back, and this year's kickoff night has moved from Thursday to Wednesday due to Obama's speech on Thursday in Charlotte. Pretty stupid.

Super Bowl champion Giants will host the Cowboys on a busy NYC night that will also see action across the river at Flushing Meadows with the U.S. Open.

Speaking of the U.S. Open, Sunday's men's final will headline a day on CBS marked by early NFL regional action, including the AFC champion Patriots, and the debut of #1 draft pick Andrew Luck as the Colts are in Chicago. Fox will have the round 1 doubleheader, with the 49ers/Packers as the headlining match.

ESPN will carry a doubleheader on Monday night to mark its 26th year of live NFL football-with the Ravens/Bengals and the late game with the Chargers/Raiders.

CBS will carry the Super Bowl this year, as the big game returns to the Superdome for the first time since the last second thriller at Super Bowl XXXVI.

NFL Sunday Ticket will return on DIRECTV at the lowest price.

So there you have it, and to all those involved in the fantasy games this season, good luck!

Democratic National Convention 2012: Three Nights of Tomfoolery.

This is Panthers Stadium (or Bank of America Stadium or even Ericsson Stadium, what it used to be known) where President Obama will speak on Thursday to headline the three days of tomfoolery known as the Democratic National Convention. This reason was why the NFL season opener between the Giants and Cowboys moved to tomorrow night.

Beginning tonight, the first two nights are in the Bobcats Arena (insert joke here, regarding the Bobcats). It's similar to the tomfoolery in Denver in 2008 where the (Coke's rival) Center and the stadium formerly known as Invesco Stadium at Mile High was where the DNC ended in '08. Same old shit, so please watch it on C-SPAN for better results.

Republican National Convention 2012: The Best Speeches.

In case you've been busy watching either football or the U.S. Open, and didn't catch not one minute of the Republican National Convention in Tampa last week, here were some of the best speeches of the three days:

Former Secretary of State Rice:

The Olympians (includes Mike Eruzione, Dan Jansen, and NBC analyst Rowdy Gaines):

U.S. Congressman Ryan, the Republican Vice Presidential hopeful:

Former Massachusetts Governor Romney, the Republican Presidential nominee:

Ann Romney:

And of course: Clint Eastwood and that chair!

It's halftime in America. The second half begins after the DNC.

'Pyramid' Returns Labor Day!

In a year where old TV favorites return (see Dallas), another old favorite returns Labor Day.

After eight years in hibernation, Pyramid returns, but not with Donny Osmond, because a new host is at the helm. The host for the new Pyramid is famiilar to the game show community-because Mike Richards is currently executive producer of Let's Make a Deal (Wayne Brady), a role that he currently has since the show's return in 2009 on CBS daytime. Pyramid is exclusive to GSN, at 5pm Central (6pm Eastern) Labor Day, so once you're finished watching the U.S. Open on CBS and CBS Sports Network, flip over to GSN!

By the way, Bob Stewart, the show's original executive producer, passed away earlier this year at age 91. Michael Davies of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? fame is executive producer (he was also EP of Chain Reaction with Dylan Lane-which also is (or was?) on GSN) of this version.

Here's a preview of what you'll see beginning Labor Day:

Here's your first subject...GO! I'm hoping 7-11 (all 7 right for $1100) and Mystery 7 (all 7 right wins a prize) will return as well.