Trojan football has been a part of the NCAA since 1888, with the University of Southern California team having consistently been one of the teams to beat. With 11 national titles to the program’s credit, the Trojans have spent much of their history dominating the Pacific 10 Conference in which they compete, while also routinely threatening the national championship picture. Over the last decade, USC has spent much of their time ranked within the very top tier of the vote tabulations that have counted: the Associated Press (AP) and Bowl Championship Series (BCS) polls. Over the course of that decade, the Trojans were led by Coach Pete Carroll, who made a name for both himself and his team with a fast-paced style of offense and hard-nosed defense.

Not love at first sight  Read more...

Tags: Baseball, college, college sports, football, Sports
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Philadelphia Phillies’ slugger Ryan Howard has two years remaining on his current contract with the club, but the team had no interest in potentially losing him as a free agent. For that reason, the Phillies have worked out a hefty contract extension with Howard that will pay him an average $25 million a year for the next five years. The deal is the second richest in Major League baseball behind the New York Yankees’ shortstop Alex Rodriguez who pulls down a cool $27.5 million per season.

Howard spoke of his loyalty to the team as a primary reason that he accepted the deal without hesitation:

“That wasn’t a very hard decision.”

“I tell you what, it’s a great feeling to have that security and know where you’re going to be. I feel what I’ve been doing over the last couple of years, I feel pretty confident that down the road, I’ll be right where I want to be and still doing the same things.”

He then threw in a playful jab at the notoriously pugnacious Philadelphia fans:

“Hopefully there’s no riots taking place back in Philly.”

Even Philadelphia’s GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. was in a joking mood in announcing the deal:  Read more...

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Filed under: Baseball