Mark Lamping, President and CEO of the New Meadowlands stadium, takes the Associated Press on a tour of the future home of the New York Jets and New York Giants. The new stadium will be unveiled this weekend with three college lacrosse games.
Former NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson signed a two-year deal with the Jets. Tomlinson was cut by the Chargers last month. Cleveland dealt quarterback Brady Quinn to Denver.
Demolition of Giants Stadium got under way Thursday in East Rutherford , New Jersey. The Giants and Jets will open a new stadium in 2010.
Rookies Mark Sanchez and Shonn Greene led the Jets to a stunning 17-14 upset of San Diego in the divisional playoffs Sunday, each providing a touchdown in the fourth quarter. New York faces the Colts in the AFC championship game next Sunday.
AP Pro Football Writer Barry Wilner previews both NFL playoff games Sunday, including the Vikings hosting Dallas in the Metrodome. The Jets travel to San Diego to face the Chargers.
Rookies Shonn Greene and Mark Sanchez lead the Jets offense in Sartuday's win over the Bengals in the AFC wildcard playoffs. Darrelle Revis shuts down Chad Ochocinco for the second straight week.
Dallas beat Philadelphia Sunday, 24-0. The two teams meet again in the playoffs. Baltimore won the AFC wild-card berth and will face the Patriots in the playoffs. Jets top Bengals for the other AFC wild-card spot.
These Indianapolis Colts fans are unhappy with the team's decision to pull the starters in the third quarter of Sunday's 29-15 loss to the New York Jets. The defeat ruined the Colts' hopes for a perfect season.
Indianapolis lost its' first game of the season Sunday, 29-15, to the Jets. The Patriots and Bengals each won to clinch their divisions. Green Bay is in the playoffs after pounding Seattle. Steelers, Eagles and Cowboys also won.
The Saints rallied to beat Miami, 46-34. New Orleans topped 40 points for the fourth time this season. Cowboys defeat Falcons, 37-21, behind three Tony Romo touchdown passes, while the Jets routed the Raiders, 38-0.
Ronnie Brown took the snap in the wildcat formation and scored on a 2-yard run with six seconds left, as Miami came from behind three times in the fourth quarter to beat the New York Jets, 31-27, Monday night.
The Jets bolstered their receiving corps Wednesday by acquiring a disgruntled Braylon Edwards from the Browns in exchange for two players and some draft picks.
By TOM WITHERS
AP Sports Writer
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Eric Mangini is the new head coach of the Cleveland Browns, a week after being fired by the New York Jets. A person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press that Mangini will be introduced Thursday at a news conference at the team's headquarters in Berea. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because Mangini's contract has not been finalized.
Mangini reached an agreement on a four-year deal with the club on Wednesday, the person said.
Mangini is represented by agent Ron Shapiro, who is Mangini's father-in-law.
The 37-year-old Mangini began his NFL career as a ballboy with the Browns in 1994 under then-coach Bill Belichick.
AP source: Browns to hire Eric Mangini as coach....
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
The Giants and the Jets said Friday that they had ended talks with Allianz, a German-based insurance company with connections to the Third Reich, about selling the naming rights to the $1.6 billion stadium they are building in the Meadowlands.
The decision came after two days of largely negative reaction to the possibility of a deal with Allianz, which insured facilities at Auschwitz and other concentration camps, and which deprived many Jewish customers of the proceeds from their insurance policies.
The New York Times first reported about the talks between Allianz and the teams on Sept. 1 and provided details of the company’s history Wednesday. Mark Lamping, the president of the teams’ joint venture, New Meadowlands Stadium, informed Allianz on Friday morning that the discussions were over.
Allianz Drops Bid for Naming Rights....
Giants and Jets fans join uproar over stadium naming rights bid by firm with Holocaust ties
0 comments Posted by Dstall at 6:42 AM
BY OREN YANIV
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Football fans and Jewish groups are outraged over the prospect of a new Giants and Jets stadium being named for German insurer Allianz because of its Nazi ties in World War II.
The company insured the Auschwitz death camp and had a chief executive serving in Hitler's cabinet. The company is on the short list of those vying to slap their name on the Meadowlands stadium in New Jersey via a lucrative sponsorship deal.
The possibility of what some saw as a former Third Reich enabler getting its name on their ballpark has some Big Blue and Gang Green fans vowing boycott.
"I think it's terrible, but that's the mighty dollar," Giants fan Keith Hayes, 33, said of the name.
"It would be an insult," said Abe Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. "It's putting their name in lights for generations to come."
Debate over Allianz is also heating up the Net and is the talk of sports radio.
A season-ticket holder who posted under the name xxvnyg80 in a Giants Internet forum said he wrote team owner John Mara, begging him to sack the idea.
Allianz would reportedly pay $20 million to $30 million per year for the naming rights of the $1.3 billion stadium, which is to open in 2010.
During the Holocaust, the same company refused to pay off life insurance stipends to Jews and sent their policies' proceeds to the Nazis instead, Holocaust historians have written.
Allianz, which employs 11,000 people in the U.S. and sponsors golf and racing events, has acknowledged its shameful past and has shelled out millions in restitution.
Giants and Jets fans join uproar over stadium naming rights bid by firm with Holocaust ties....
By MARK CRAIG , Star Tribune
GREEN BAY, WIS. - Three days after the gleeful touchdown at Austin Straubel International Airport, Brett Favre was back on a plane to Hattiesburg, Miss., on Wednesday morning, leaving Green Bay for the last time as a Packer -- and just hours from a late-night trade that sent him to the New York Jets for his 18th NFL season.
The Packers, meanwhile, returned to practice knowing that Favre's days in Geen Bay were over as trade talks with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jets continued into the night. General Manager Ted Thompson was scheduled to address the media at 11:30 a.m., but that was eventually cancelled as the team wrapped up its second practice at about 9 p.m.
Favre told ESPN before leaving Green Bay that he was eager to get into training camp somewhere.
Packers trade Favre to Jets....
