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The NBA has required this test for its players since 2006. From ESPN-
Between the time of Bears defensive end Gaines Adams’ death last Sunday to his funeral Friday, the NFL’s Cardiovascular Committee began discussing the possibility of subjecting all players to a heart scan called an echocardiogram, starting with potential draft picks invited to the NFL scouting combine next month.
NFLPA medical director Thomas Mayer told ESPN that the medical examiner who performed an autopsy on Adams stated the enlarged heart that led to his death could have been detected by an echocardiogram.
But, as Mayer pointed out, the process is complicated.
Is the fear of legal liability going to influence a doctor? Are cardiologists going to agree on whether a player has an enlarged heart or an athlete’s heart? Does that mean he’s systematically finished as a football player?
More likely, a questionable echocardiogram could lead to more sensitive tests, such as a cardio catheter procedure.
As a person who had major cardiac surgery less than 18 months ago, I see mandatory electrocardiograms as a good idea. Putting the policy into place will be complicated, but it shouldn’t be used as a reason not to do this. My heart condition, a bicuspid heart valve and ascending aortic aneurysm was very serious, and till as little as two weeks prior to my operation, nobody knew I had those conditions. Some heart problems in addition to a enlarged hearts, show few or little warning signs.
I would also add that a large amount if not majority of NFL players, are grossly overweight. Heart testing is for their own good.
He replaces the recently fired Paul Pasqualoni. From ESPN-
Fewer than 24 hours after splitting from the Denver Broncos, Mike Nolan was hired by the Miami Dolphins to be their new defensive coordinator.
Nolan replaces Paul Pasqualoni, who was fired after the Dolphins’ 7-9 season. They allowed 390 points, the third-highest total in the AFC.
The Broncos started the season 6-0 and were the talk of the league. Nolan received much of the credit as he turned around a defense that ranked near the bottom of the league in every major category in 2008.
Nolan’s scheme shaved 7.8 points a game off a defense that surrendered 28 points a game the previous season.
Then the team went into a free fall, losing eight of its next 10 games to miss the postseason for a fourth straight year.
Nolan was the 49ers’ head coach in 2005-08.
Nolan, whose father was also an NFL head coach, was defensive coiordinator for the NY Jets, Washington Redskins, Baltimore Colts, and New York Giants before his gig in San Francisco.
Nolan inherits a defense that has some talent, but its either- young and error prone, erratic, or getting up in years. The Dolphins are in need of help at Defensive Tackle, Linebacker, and Safety. How well Miami does in the 2010 will be the deciding factor as to whether the Dolphins defense improves or declines next season. I think it slides or maintains the status quo myself.
This is his 4th retirement. From AP-
Junior Seau is retiring again.
The 12-time Pro Bowl linebacker, who returned to the New England Patriots this season, said in remarks to be broadcast on Showtime on Wednesday night that he has played his last game.
Seau first retired in August 2006 after 13 seasons with San Diego and three with Miami. But he signed with the Patriots four days later and played 27 games for them over two seasons. He retired again after the 2007 season, then came out of retirement for the final four games in 2008 before retiring after that season.
Seau played in 8 games for the Patriots this year, but all were in a backup capacity. When Seau hasn’t played in a game or worked out with a NFL for two years, then I’ll believe he is retired for real.
Many of the team’s fans blame him for the Fins 3-game losing season at the end of the season. From AP-
After a slide that drifted the Miami Dolphins’ defense into a state of mediocrity during a season that included too many missed tackles and too many blown assignments, the first person being held accountable is the man who runs the unit.
On Monday, defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni was fired.
“I want to thank Paul for his services to the team, and I want to wish him the best,” coach Tony Sparano said in a statement.
Pasqualoni’s departure isn’t a major shock, although it appeared Sparano originally was pinning the defensive transgressions on the players’ lack of execution more than the coaching that was taking place during the season.
I’m actually surprised Sparano did fire Pasqualoni. The defense did play poorly at season’s end but there was a reason. For one thing, the linebacking corps is either old(Jason Taylor and Joey Porter) or erratic(Channing Crowder), the defensive backfield is either sub par(safeties Gibrill Wilson and Yeremial Bell) or talented but inexperienced(Sean Smith and Vontae Davis). Miami went 11-5 in 2008, but as I have repeated many times, that was misleading. The Dolphins schedule was weak and their margins of victory against those teams was rarely more than 7 points. This year they played real teams and went 7-9 like I expected them to do.
The Dolphins are in better shape today than they were when Sparano, Pasqualoni, and the rest of the staff came in after the firing of Cam Cameron. Again, the team went 1-15 in 2007 with a old defense. The defense still isn’t great, but it was improving. It’s my opinion that Sparano made a emotional and dumb decision based on just three games. Pasqualoni was made the scapegoat for the 2009 collapse, and he didn’t deserve it.
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OTB Sports linked with Miami Dolphins name Mike Nolan Defensive Coordinator...
The 2009 NFL season finale was a painful one for Miami. From ESPN-
Miami Dolphins rookie quarterback Pat White was carted off the field with a head injury Sunday following a chilling helmet-to-helmet collision with Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor.
The 190-pound White moved his arms and legs and was talking before leaving the field to go to a hospital for examination.
“The information that we have is that he’s doing OK,” Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said after the game.
The collision, which left White motionless, wasn’t caused intentionally by Taylor. It was just a case of White’s head being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The game resumed after a delay of 8 minutes.
White took over to begin the third quarter after blurred vision sidelined Henne, the Dolphins’ starting quarterback. Henne said he suffered a bruise under his left eye when sacked late in the first half, and his vision became worse at halftime.
“I was hoping it would clear up,” he said. “I just didn’t have perception. I just couldn’t really visualize my throw.”
There is no mention in this article of Steeler QB Ben Rothlisberger hurting his throwing arm in the 4th quarter. He was clearly favoring the arm during a late Pittsburgh drive. Even with a painful arm, Rothlisberger drove Pittsburgh to a late field goal that more importantly ate up a great deal of clock time.
Note- Miami has had three of their four quarterbacks become injured this season. Chad Pennington suffered a season ending shoulder injury in week three against San Diego.
See after the injury to White, Pittsburgh scored a touchdown to make the score 27-10. Tyler Thigpen, formerly of the Kansas City Chiefs, made his first Dolphins appearance. He promptly drove Miami to two touchdowns and the score was suddenly 27-24.
The game really looked to turn Miami”s way when Pittsburgh fumbled away the football on the next possession. With New England leading at that moment, Miami still had a chance at the playoffs. That was till Thigpen tried to force a throw to Ted Ginn when the receiver was double covered. The Steelers intercepted and Miami never challenged again.
Miami ended 2009 with a record of 7-9, which was my initial prediction for the season when I wrote this post last January. Miami wasn’t a real 11-5 team but they can be called a real 7-9 team. The Dolphins still have many needs, linebacker, safety, Defensive Tackle, Wide Receiver. They could make the playoffs in 2010, but Tony Sprano and VP of Football Operations Bill Parcells need to make some off season moves and have a good draft next April to accomplish that.
Closing note- I don’t think Pat White is going to work out for Miami. He failed to complete a single pass this season and today he resembled a deer caught in the headlights. The Steelers blitzed him accordingly before and up through the scramble that caused his head injury.
Back when Miami selected White, I was critical of Miami using a draft pick on the former West Virginia quarterback. He is fast and athletic, but small and not a down the field passer. IMHO White will go down as a draft mistake for Miami. OTB readers can remind me sometime in the future if I am wrong.
My annual sports predictions for the upcoming year. Due to some unknown reason, I skipped doing this a year ago. What matters is I came back, right?
1 Cleveland beats the LA Lakers for the NBA Championship
2 Indianapolis defeats Arizona in the Super Bowl 
3 San Jose defeats Washington for the Stanley Cup
4 St. Louis beats the Los Angeles Angels in the World Series
5 Tiger Woods returns to golf, wins at least one tournament but no major championships. That is a risky prediction in light of the fact that Tiger has won majors on 3 of this year’s host courses.(Augusta National, Pebble Beach, St. Andrews)
6 Phil Mickelson wins the US Open
7 Michelle Wie wins at least two tournaments, one of which is a major championship
8 Ji Yai Shin is LPGA player of the year
9 A non-Korean golfer will be LPGA rookie of the year
10 Yu-Na Kim wins figure skating gold at the 2010 Olympics
11 The Miami Dolphins don’t make this year’s playoffs but have a winning 2010 season
12 The Miami Heat make the playoffs but lose in the 1st round
13 The Florida Marlins have a winning record but don’t make the playoffs
14 Urban Meyer doesn’t return as coach of the Florida Gators
15 Joe Paterno announces his retirement after the 2010 Penn State season is complete
16 The Florida Panthers don’t make the playoffs
17 The Florida Panthers trade Goalie Tomas Vokoun
18 Manny Pacquiao loses to Floyd Mayweather
19 Kansas defeats Purdue for the NCAA Basketball Championship
20 Texas defeats Alabama in the BCS Championship game
21 Army has a winning football season and gets a bowl invitation
22 Washington Redskins fire Coach Jim Zorn
23 Serena Williams wins at Wimbledon
24 Versus and Directv finally settle their dispute
25 A North American horse racing track closes its doors.
26 Sebastian Vettel wins the Formula World Drivers Championship
27 New York Rangers fire Coach John Tortorella
28 The New Jersey Nets don’t finish with the worst record in NBA history
29 Connecticut defeats Tennessee for the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship
30 At least half these predictions are wrong
We’ll come back on December 31st 2010 and see how I did.
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OTB Sports linked with January 10th NFL Wildcard playoff game predictions...
Someone got their abacos out and did all the playoff calculations. Here they are-
Baltimore, the Jets, Denver, Pittsburgh and Houston can also make the playoffs if they tie this week with various other things happening. Jacksonville and Miami cannot make the playoffs with a tie.
BALTIMORE RAVENS 
Baltimore clinches a playoff spot:
1) BAL win
NEW YORK JETS
NY Jets clinch a playoff spot:
1) NYJ win
DENVER BRONCOS
Denver clinches a playoff spot:
1) DEN win + NYJ loss or tie + BAL loss or tie
2) DEN win + NYJ loss or tie + PIT loss or tie
3) DEN win + NYJ loss or tie + HOU win
4) DEN win + BAL loss or tie + PIT loss or tie
5) DEN win + BAL loss or tie + HOU win
6) PIT loss + BAL loss + HOU loss + JAC loss
7) PIT loss + BAL loss + HOU loss + NYJ loss
8.) PIT loss + BAL loss + JAC loss + NYJ loss
9) PIT loss + HOU loss + JAC loss + NYJ loss
10) MIA loss or tie + NYJ loss + BAL loss + HOU loss + JAC loss or tie
PITTSBURGH STEELERS
Pittsburgh clinches a playoff spot:
1) PIT win + HOU loss or tie + NYJ loss or tie
2) PIT win + HOU loss or tie + BAL loss or tie
3) PIT win + NYJ loss or tie + BAL loss or tie + DEN loss or tie
HOUSTON TEXANS
Houston clinches a playoff spot:
1) HOU win + NYJ loss or tie + BAL loss or tie
2) HOU win + NYJ loss or tie + DEN loss or tie
3) HOU win + BAL loss or tie + DEN loss or tie
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
Jacksonville clinches a playoff spot:
1) JAC win + PIT loss + BAL loss + DEN loss + HOU loss
2) JAC win + PIT loss + BAL loss + DEN loss + NYJ loss
3) JAC win + PIT loss + BAL loss + HOU loss + NYJ loss
4) JAC win + PIT loss + DEN loss + HOU loss + NYJ loss
5) JAC win + NYJ loss + DEN loss + HOU loss + BAL loss
MIAMI DOLPHINS
Miami clinches a playoff spot:
1) MIA win + NYJ loss + BAL loss + HOU loss + JAC loss or tie
Unlike the AFC, the NFC playoff picture is pretty clear. All that needs to be determined is seeding and who will win the Eastern Division.
NFC
CLINCHED:
New Orleans — South division and a first-round bye.
Minnesota — North division.
Arizona — West division.
Philadelphia — playoff spot.
Green Bay — playoff spot.
Dallas — playoff spot.
ELIMINATED:
Detroit, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Washington, Chicago, Seattle, Carolina, Atlanta, San Francisco, NY Giants.
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
New Orleans clinches home-field advantage:
(IF MINNESOTA BEATS CHICAGO MONDAY NIGHT)
1) NO win or tie
2) MIN loss or tie
(IF CHICAGO BEATS MINNESOTA)
New Orleans clinches home-field advantage.
MINNESOTA VIKINGS
Minnesota clinches home-field advantage:
(IF MINNESOTA BEATS CHICAGO)
1) MIN win + NO loss
Minnesota clinches a first-round bye:
(IF MINNESOTA BEATS CHICAGO)
1) MIN win or tie
2) PHI loss or tie
(IF CHICAGO BEATS MINNESOTA)
1) MIN win + PHI loss or tie
2) MIN tie + PHI loss
ARIZONA CARDINALS
Arizona clinches a first-round bye:
(IF CHICAGO BEATS MINNESOTA)
1) ARI win + MIN loss + PHI loss
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
Philadelphia clinches East division:
1) PHI win or tie
Philadelphia clinches a first-round bye:
(IF MINNESOTA BEATS CHICAGO)
1) PHI win + MIN loss
(IF CHICAGO BEATS MINNESOTA)
1) PHI win
2) PHI tie + MIN loss or tie
DALLAS COWBOYS
Dallas clinches East division:
1) DAL win
Dallas clinches a first-round bye:
(IF CHICAGO BEATS MINNESOTA)
1) DAL win + MIN loss + ARI loss or tie
In the AFC I predict the Ravens and Broncos to make it.
Yesterday I expressed disbelief that some how the Miami Dolphins could some how still be in the playoff picture after their loss to Houston made them 7-8. Before I write anything more, I’ll break down how the AFC stands at this moment.
Division Champions that receive first round byes- Indianapolis 14-1, San Diego 12-3
Division Champions- New England 10-5, Cincinnati 10-5. As of this moment the Patriots are the #3 seed.
Out of the playoff picture entirely- Kansas City, Cleveland, Oakland, Buffalo, Tennessee
While those five teams can not make the post season, more than one of them can play the part of spoiler this weekend.
Wild card contenders- Denver, New York Jets, Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans, and Pittsburgh Steelers all at 8-7. Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaguars at 7-8.
Next week’s games involving wild card contenders
Bengals at Jets
Chiefs at Broncos
Ravens at Raiders
Texans at Patriots
Steelers at Dolphins
Jaguars at Browns
Remarkably not one AFC playoff contender is playing an out of conference team to finish the 2009 schedule. San Diego who has clinched a playoff spot and Tennessee who is out of the picture are both playing NFC teams next weekend.
Last night before going to bed I scoured ESPN and South Florida media websites looking for an article with an AFC playoff picture explanation. None were available.
This morning the Palm Beach Post, Miami Herald, and ESPN all had articles up on the playoff picute. Not surprisingly the Post and Herald focused on Miami. ESPN just summarized how the standings are at this moment and projected the first round of the playoffs as if play ended today.(The Jets and Broncos would qualify) What a lot of good that is.
Maybe ESPN didn’t have enough bandwith free to post all the possible playoff scenarios. Perhaps they needed a Cray super computer to do the calculations, or even if they had one available the power drain of using it threatened to blackout the entire Northeast.(ESPN is based out of Conecticut.)
Bottom line so far as I am concerned The Miami Dolphins are alive but their chances are slim and the New York Jets are in control of their own destiny.
For Miami to make the post season all of the following needs to take place-
Bengals beat the Jets
Raiders beat Ravens
Patriots beat Texans
Browns beat Jaguars
Dolphins beat Steelers
Neither the Herald or Post made mention of Denver. Therefore I assume whether Denver wins or loses next Sunday, it has no impact on Miami’s playoff chances.
All of which could plausibly happen. The Raiders or Browns winning would be considered upsets. Right now I have as much confidence in those teams winning as I do in Miami beating Pittsburgh.
Like ESPN, I won’t list all the playoff scenarios. I don’t think OTB’s owner James Joyner would appreciate me crashing his website and I’ve been kicked off one blog already this year.
Were Dolphin fans singing ‘Next season, next season, we’ll be back next season. Next season is a year away’ as they exited Dolphins Stadium* today? From AP-
By the second quarter, the Houston Texans were running up the score. By the fourth quarter, they were struggling to run out the clock.
Houston raced to an early 27-point lead Sunday, then held on to beat the Miami Dolphins 27-20.
The Texans (8-7) scored on their first five possessions and won despite being outscored 20-0 in the final 31 minutes. Houston kept alive its slim hopes of making the playoffs for the first time, while defending AFC East champion Miami (7-8) was all but eliminated.
What do you mean? Could Miami some how still qualify for the post season. With all those teams with 7 losses in the AFC, I can see how in theory the Dolphins could have a glimmer of hope. Record aside, Miami isn’t a playoff quality football team at present.
The Texans dominated the first 25 minutes of football today. Houston was ahead 27-0 and I saw the game ending something like 41 or 44-10.
Miami clawed their way back into the game. Early in the 4th Quarter, Chad Henne hit Ted Ginn for like a 60 yard touchdown pass to make it a 10-point game. Then a penalty flag for tripping, brought the ball back. After that, I was reconciled to a Miami loss and that was what happened.
Houston continues to have the Dolphins number. Miami has lost all five times the two teams have met. It is too early to tell if the Texans and Dolphins will meet again next year. If they do, I’m inclined to mark it as a Miami defeat right now.
*- I refuse to call the Miami Dolphins home stadium by it’s official and very dumb name. The good news, there will be a name change very soon. Bad News- The company buying name rights to Dolphins Stadium is based out of Canada.
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OTB Sports linked with Get out your slide rules- AFC Wild Card picture time...
The 2009 Dolphin season is over. There are two games to be played. What I’m talking about is any chance the team had of making the playoffs.
Miami has never looked like a legitimate playoff team to me this season. Even after they won an exciting game against the Jets early in the season, my view of the fins was tempered. They make just too many mistakes and their defense is too prone to giving up big plays.
Like today when Miami fell behind 24-6 early in the 3rd period. I didn’t blame Miami’s two turnovers at the time(The Dolphins made a total of 4 for the game. More on that later.) for the deficit. They were certainly bad and couldn’t have come at worse times. Each taking place while Miami had the ball in the Tennessee half of the field.
What was killing the Dolphins inability to stop Tennessee anytime it mattered. As seen in the 364 yards they ran up against Miami. Vince Young was hardly brilliant, but he got the job done.
With 5:33 left in the third quarter, Miami narrowed Tennessee’s lead to 15 after Dan Carpenter sucessfully made a field goal. The score was now 24-9.
Both CBS announcers, Dan Fouts and Dick Enberg, were critical of Dolphin Coach Tony Sparano’s decision to go for the field goal. I differed, partly because I was ignoring the inane announcers(How many ways can the name Sparano be pronounced? I think Fouts and Enberg were going for a record today. Those were minor broadcast blunders compared to Fouts calling a pass incomplete when it was clearly caught and the player tackled and other bungled pronouncements from the booth. I really should have turned off the sound today but that was happening naturally without any help from me. The screen went blank six plus times during the game. First with audio, then without. The telecast would then re-appear after 10-15 seconds)and partly because I knew how to add. The score was now 24-9 and the game was now a two-touchdown affair.
Then in the waning seconds of the 3rd qtr, Chad Henne threw a INT from the Tennessee 14 yard line. For a few moments I gave up hope and started looking for other programming. Doctor Zhivago, playing on Turner Movie Classics, looked more appealing than 15 minutes of tortuous football.
Miami rallied in the 4th quarter. Mostly thanks to Henne, who played those fifteen minutes like a Hall of Famer. Henne threw 11 of 16 passes for 150 yards, two touchdowns, and with a passer rating of 119.3. A Ricky Williams run for the two-point conversion with less than two minutes to go made the score 24-24.
For overtime, the Dolphins won the toss. On a 3rd and 6 from the Miami 27, Henne three INT#3. Which would have given the Titans the ball on the 43 yard line or so. Except a official threw a unnecessary roughness penalty on Miami WR Greg Camarillo. A personal foul for making sure the play was dead? This was a bad call.
Given the ball inside the Miami 30 yard line, I knew Tennessee wasn’t about to blow their second chance to win. Three running plays came and went before Rob Bironas booted a 46-yard field goal to give the Titans a 27-24 win.
In theory Miami remains in the playoff picture. They will need LOTS of help to play this post season.
Next up for Miami- Games against Houston(a team they have lost to in each of 4 prior meetings) and Pittsburgh. Both games are played in Miami. I predict the fins to finish the 2009 season at 8-8.
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