Selections were announced for the NFL Pro Bowl game on Tuesday and here’s a quick run-down.

The N.Y. Jets had the most selections with seven and QB Brett Favre who leads the league in interceptions is on that list.

There are 17 first time appearances for the AFC and 14 for the NFC.

Titans RB Chris Johnson is the only rookie selected.

Both Mannings will participate. QB Peyton is starting for the AFC while QB Eli is on the NFC squad.

The combined age of the NFC kickers is 86 years (see below).

Teams not represented are Detroit, Jacksonville, Cincinnati and St. Louis.

Players not selected included Cowboys QB Tony Romo and pot-stirrer WR T.O.

A few comeback players are also joining the NFC team.

Topping that list is 44-year-old John Carney who actually put on the pads early in the season to play “fill-in” for a few games while the Giants’ starting placekicker Lawrence Tynes was nursing an injury.

Carney responded by kicking 27 of 29 field goals and his only two misses were blocked. The kicker has remained in the position on a full-time basis and was rewarded by being selected to represent the NFC this year. Carney, the oldest player ever selected for the game, will be joined by teammate 42-year-old punter Jeff Feagles.

Arizona Cardinals QB Kurt Warner who joined the Cardinals to mentor young Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart finds himself in the limelight again after rebooting his career in the desert.

Warner, who has passed for 4,290 this season and led his team to a guaranteed home playoff game, will start for the NFC. He will have familiar targets as teammates, WR Anquan Boldin and WR Larry Fitzgerald both were voted in.

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

A lot is happening in the Cowboy’s camp this week. There is a buzz about Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones returning to the team, QB Tony Romo, who is throwing without a splint on his broken finger, spending the day at the movies with a homeless guy named, ‘Doc’, T.O missing practice with an illness, the list goes on and the media eats it up.Maybe too much.

While we columnists scramble to be the first to report the latest ‘news’ on the ‘Boys, the pertinent items, like performance on the field, find a way to make it to the back burner.

Pertinent items, like the fact these same ‘Boys have lost more games before Thanksgiving Day that they lost all last season and sit three full games behind the New York Giants.

Jerry Jones was quick to cheese in front of the cameras to tell the world his troubled player ‘Pacman’ was being reinstated by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell but here we are days later and there is still no official word from the NFL. Is Jerry jumping the gun here? Maybe he should borrow Romo’s splint and put it on his tongue and let the league do the press releases.

And the NFL’s newest Boy Scout, Romo–is this guy for real or is this all a PR stunt? Helping an old couple change a tire on the side of a dark road then going to a flick with the homeless guy-it’s old-school, Boy Scout walking the old lady across the street stuff, and the timing couldn’t be better for the Cowboys.

With the team anxiously awaiting a confirmation from the league, the timing of this Good Samaritan act is somewhat interesting.

These may all be good-faith gestures but either way, it takes the media pressure off the ‘Boys concerning their lackluster performances. Has anyone asked T.O. and the team about Owens gaining less than 40 yards per game over the past four games?

PR. Gotta love it.

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

It seems like Dallas Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, has created a part-time gig for himself called, “NFL spokesman.” The charismatic, scene-stealing owner of the Dallas Cowboys told the media, his troubled player Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones is returning to the field in a few weeks.

We should expect the NFL to verify this but why have they refrained from doing so and allowed JJ to run loose with it?

The league responded to Jones’ comments with an email from a real NFL spokesman Greg Aiello that read, “When there is a final determination, we will announce it.”

Pacman, who has an album full of mugshots and laundry list of court appearances, has completed the inpatient portion of his NFL-ordered alcohol treatment in the Boston area and had been awaiting word from Roger Goodell and the league about his immediate future.

JJ stated to the press that Pacman was “Being reinstated by Roger Goodell and will begin limited practice before returning to the field when the Cowboys play in a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on December 7.”

JJ said, “He’s a long way, a long way from having clear sailing.” and that he would not have bodyguards for ‘Pacman’ in the future.

Is this insinuating the bodyguards were at fault for the “brawl in the stall?”

Pacman’s attorney, Worrick Robinson added this, “It all starts with him (Pacman) and his decision-making. He’s comfortable making decisions for himself.”

And there lies the problem.

Tom’s National Examiner sports column.

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

Santa Claus comes early every year for the Detroit Lions, on Thanksgiving to be exact. The jolly old soul hands the Lions their annual ‘gift’ in the form of a Thanksgiving game on their home field.

This is a clear case of not needing to be ‘good’ in any way shape or form to receive this handout from the NFL.

Year after year, this franchise struggles, and against the will of many of the other NFL owners, they continue to keep the Thanksgiving Game and the exposure that goes along with it.

Over the years many owners have brought up discussions and votes have occurred to move this game around the league to share the revenue. Somehow William Clay Ford continues to keep the game in his hometown of Detroit.

You have to wonder if the fact Ford Motor Company is one of the NFL’s biggest and most loyal advertisers has anything to do with this joke of an organization keeping this game.

I personally have attended several Thanksgiving games over the years and it’s quite the tradition. I saw O.J. Simpson shatter the single game rushing record when his Buffalo Bills visited the Lions at Pontiac Silverdome back in the 70’s. I spent many Thanksgiving days tailgating, seeing the game then finishing the day off stuffing myself with turkey dinner.

I love tradition and have a strong track record of supporting and keeping it. It makes my gut hurt to say this, but it is time for a change. To make NFL fans across the nation sit through a Lions game on this upcoming holiday and the ones to follow is absurd. It is time for Ford and his 0-9 Lions to hand over the torch.

The Dallas Cowboys were a dismal 1-15 one year but rebuilt and bounced back over the years, becoming a contender and winning a Super Bowl, earning the right to keep their spot.

The Lions on the other hand have shown no improvement over that same span, in fact they have gotten worse as their record over the past decade indicates.

If you’re out there Santa Claus, stop handing this gift to this NFL team and deliver a stocking full of coal and sticks to Ford and his Lions.

Taking the game from the Lions and spreading it throughout the league would bring much joy to fans across the nation.

Making this change is like delivering a Christmas gift to the rest of the NFL football world and relieves them from the agony and torture of sitting through Lion debacles year-after-year.

There is a rebuttal to this case and point found on Deadspin.

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

The St. Louis Rams 34-14 blowout of the heavily-favored Dallas Cowboys will be one of the most talked about games around the NFL water cooler this week.  The ‘Boys ‘D’ got run over all game long and the team got bitch-slapped all the way back to Dallas. 

Back-up QB  Brad Johnson threw three passes to the wrong colored jerseys while the Rams offense controlled the ball with Steven Jackson rushing for 160 yards and 3 TDs.

After a strong start, The ‘Boys (4-3) have lost 3 out of 4 and find themselves two games behind the division-leading N.Y. Giants (5-1).

Newly-acquired WR Roy Williams did not catch a pass and DB Roy Williams is out the rest of the season with a broken arm; things are going downhill fast for the ‘Boys.

Dallas has played awful for the past month, so it’s difficult to pin this slaughter on the injury to Romo . . . the team just didn’t show up.

Wade Phillips summed up why these ‘Boys are the recipient of the Sports Climax’s Bitch-Slap-of-the-Week, “This is the worse game we’ve played since I’ve been here; all around we didn’t play well in many areas at all and there’s no real excuses for it.”

Copyright ©2008 Sports Climax