Top 10 Controversial NFL Players

Adam Jones - Free Agent

Pacman Jones is to the NFL is what Rachel Alexandra is to the Preakness odds: the most talked-about contributor. After a long list of off-field issues that include felony vandalism and several arrests for disorderly conduct, he was involved in nightclub shootings in both Atlanta and Las Vegas. He's already spent one year out of football due to suspension and he'll probably spend more time vacationing, as no one really wants a piece of this troublemaker.

Plaxico Burress - Free Agent

If Jones is Rachel Alexandra, then Plaxico Burress is the Eight Belles of Preakness betting. Like Eight Belles, Burress also had a "leg injury" when he shot himself with a loaded, unlicensed gun. Good news is that while he survived it - he didn't exactly help his public relations cause. Burress was cut from his team and nobody wants to touch him with a 10-foot pole. He's on the waiver-wire and should be facing a long league-imposed suspension.

Sebastian Janikowski - Oakland Raiders

Let's kick it back old school, as it's hard to forgive and forget about Oakland Raiders first-round pick Sebastian Janikowski. Before Janikowksi reached the NFL, he already had a good resume of bar fights and police officer briberies. But the best part came when he was busted with the drug GHB, which is used for date rape. Throw in a DUI and this guy could easily be leading this race.

Michael Pittman - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Running back Michael Pittman's wheels may not be what they used to be, and his family is happy for that. Once, after Pittman and his wife had one of those family altercations, she took their two-year-old kid, got in the car and drove off for safety purposes. That was until Pittman caught up to them in his Hummer SUV and rammed them off the road into a ditch in an attempt to kill both. Not to worry - he didn't face jail time or anything silly like that. His career continued right on.

Bernard Scott - Cincinnati Bengals

From the old school to the new school, we'd be remiss if we didn't include a Cincinnati Bengal on this list. 2009 sixth-round pick, Bernard Scott, should fit right in with the Bengals considering his rap sheet. The sportsbook odds makers are not expecting him to make the team, but considering he's already been arrested on five separate occasions and he even once hit a coach in college. How nice. They just wouldn't be the Bengals if they didn't reach for players like this.

Drilling Down to Excellence with Quarterback Training

In all levels of the sport, the quarterback is the most important player on the team. His ability to lead the team, play under pressure and perform capably in all situations will decide the fate of a team, raising mediocre squads to great ones or in some situations, bringing down very good teams to average ones. Teaching your quarterbacks the fundamentals will help your entire team improve.

Basic quarterback drills are always important, but there especially important at a young age. This is when habits are formed and basic skills are remembered for the long haul as hardened techniques.

Before your quarterback can effectively throw the ball he has to be able to hold onto the ball. Therefore one of the most basic drills you can start with involves your quarterback holding the ball with one hand and moving it around, over and through his body. Have him change body postures and do it on the move. It will help your quarterback gain a sense of what is and isn't possible and how he has to react in game situations.

A variation on this drill is to have the quarterback do this, while calling out a cadence count and while someone is walking behind them trying to randomly tip the ball out of their hands. This is all about ball control and keeping awareness of your body in space.

Moving up to the next drill you will have to teach your quarterback the proper way to hand the ball off. Line up as the running back behind your quarterback and have him simulate taking a snap, turning around and handing the ball to you. Be sure to show him how to hold the ball during the hand off process and where it needs to be placed, in your stomach where your hands and arms are ready to grasp it.

After practicing the hand off, the quarterback practices a reverse and sweep toss to the running back. This pair of drills is good for multiple quarterbacks; as each one completes it, they fall out and watch the next player do it. As with everything building muscle memory, it's the number of repetitions that matter - everyone should be doing this drill at least ten times.

Another great drill for your quarterbacks will help improve their core body strength and flexibility, while teaching throwing mechanics and form. You can have two of your quarterbacks work on this together, or you can have a quarterback work with a coach. Facing each other at a distance of about ten yards, each player is on one knee with a ball at their opposite foot. The player has to pick up the ball and complete a full throwing motion to accurately complete a pass to the other player.

The goal is that neither player should have to get up and move to catch any of the passes or make any of the throws. You'll be emphasizing accuracy and teaching solid techniques, while building core strength and range of motion. Each player should complete two or three dozen passes, then switch knees and do it again. After a few practice sessions, have the players be down on both knees when performing this drill.

Youth Football Coaching Mistakes

What are the biggest mistakes you can make when coaching youth football? Coaching youth football can be a very rewarding activity, but unless you and your players are on the same page, you will find that you are shortly going to be running into a number of problems. When it comes to teaching sportsmanship and athletic ability, you'll find that you are in a place to make a huge impact your players' lives, but are you doing well with it? Check out some of the common coaching mistakes that you are likely to run into.

Remember that you are a football coach and not a conditioning coach. Of course you have to condition your kids, and this is especially important in the first weeks of practice before the season starts. However, if you only focus on conditioning your kids will lose interest, become tired out and they won't get better at playing the sport. Limit your conditioning drills to 25-30% of your total practice time or less. Fill the rest of your time with actual football drills, scrimmages and other important areas you need to cover.

A second trap that coaches fall into is applying the same routines and holding the same expectations for kids of all ages. Kids are still developing physically, mentally and emotionally and will be capable of different things at different ages. Therefore you can't run a practice for preteens the same as you would a practice for seniors in high school. You have to remember how old the kids are that you're working with and you have to adjust your strategies and your mindset appropriately.

Pack your practices tight. Too many coaches for youth football simply go on the field and run their players through a haphazard type of training. Good planning will help you make the most out of your time and that of the kids. Remember that you should have a plan for the practice before you walk on the field and the minute the kids are in uniform, they can expect to get started and keep going until practice is out. The more you plan, and the more you can direct them towards what they need to do, the more focused they are going to be and the better practice is going to go.

When it comes to coaching youth football, don't forget that you're allowed to look things up, research the topic, read books and guides and so on. There is a ton of information out there concerning youth football coaching, so if you need any help, you should absolutely seek out those sources to help you.

Football Wall Art, Text Mosaics, Merchandise and Memorabilia

Our art work makes it is possible to celebrate your clubs allegiance in your home with full approval from your better half, so raise the game and start your art collection now or buy one now as an amazing gift!

Football Wall Art is the place to be when you're looking for something just that bitdifferent. There has never been a better way to incorporate your football club intoyour home's decor in a tasteful and personal way; most importantly 'her indoors' will most definitely have to agree. We provide the ultimate in football art, as no other site does football art like us!!

You can now get a unique poster or canvas of your favourite football team, football art which would not look out of place in any home, involve close friends and family in your unique piece of art by opting for one of our mosaic or 'art by you' options. Allowing us to place you in the picture at a historical club event. You can even create your OWN unique piece of text art with your own words to make up your football teams crest.

Our wall art is created exclusively by a selection of handpicked artists from around the globe. The artists all have two things in common - their love of football and their exclusivity to FBWA.

Each piece of art work is inspired by the clubs themselves, a specific match or event in the clubs history. Our promise to you is that any piece of artwork created for us will only ever be reproduced under FBWA''s stringent reproduction process and we guarantee we never produce more than 300 of any one commissioned artwork.

Is football manager a realistic representation of real life ?

Is Football Manager 2008 a realistic representation of real life football? The answer is yes and no. The game possesses both realistic and unrealistic elements. It would be impossible to achieve the much desired 100% realism of real life football, for a number of reasons. But what are the realistic and unrealistic elements of this much loved game which boasts its status as the most realistic football simulation management game to date.

It’s accepted that the transfer aspect of the game could indeed become extremely life-like. We’re all too familiar with stories of players going for ridiculous amounts of money. Unrealistic, huh? Well is it really? Football in real life is growing in regards to money and profit. Manchester United was reported to receive a total of $95 million pounds for winning the Premiership and the Champions league. This shows the extent of money that is given to football clubs. Football is increasingly becoming a business. So in real life, we’re to expect some seemingly unrealistic transfer prices, just as we do in Football Manager. I believe that Sports Interactive know about some of the seemingly unrealistic transfers, but aren’t doing much about it because we constantly see players selling for much more than most will value them in real life. For example, Michael Carrick was sold to Manchester United for 18 million pounds and many criticised United by saying he was vastly overpriced.

The game play of Football Manager 2008 is as controversial one. In this year’s addition, extra time was a big issue and for some it still is. People often complained of the overtime given in extra time. What I mean by that is, extra time is 5 minutes but will go for 8 or 9 minutes. This is a problem that can be easily addressed however. The AI may seem unrealistic and extremely annoying, but it is realistic. The AI shows elements of luck. There’s a lot of luck whether it goes our way or not. This is just like in real life football.

The general management of the game has also been criticised with some features regarded as pointless, such as manager wage. The reason people criticise managers wages is because “we can’t do anything with it”. Well, of course not. But neither can the players, it’s there to make the game more realistic as it all affects the financial aspect of the game. Injuries has also been criticised with some claiming there are too many injuries. This may be the case, but it is not un-representative of real life football.

Players’ stats are often criticised and appear to be extremely unrealistic. Unfortunately this is often the case. But it’s extremely hard to judge a players ability and put it into statistic form, because a footballers talent is a hypothetical construct, meaning it can’t be measured directly. So this is up for interpretation and SI can get it wrong. SI also isn’t able to scout every footballer in the world so presumably make educated guesses.

In essence, Football Manager is not 100% realistic because it can’t be. It’s not as realistic as the game can achieve in realism, either, but it’s a progression. Overall I find Football Manager 2008 to be a relatively realistic representation of real life football. It does have its flaws and things can be tweaked to improve the general game play and the realism. Hopefully Football Manager 2009 will be a step further to achieve the maximum amount of realism a game simulation can achieve.

What do sigames have to do

What do SI Games have to do to improve the game overall?

Even though the latest of the Football Manager series, Football Manager 2008 has been a major hit across the country and even across the globe, it still has things it can improve. After playing the Championship Manager 2008 demo (released by rivals, Eidos) i have been able to compare different parts of each game. There are parts of Championship Manager that would improve Football Manager, even if the regular FM player wouldn't admit it. For example CM have introduced a "run and feed" system into their tactics, FM would benefit from this, it would allow more indepth tactics for managers, which could be make or break for their managerial career.

There have been many suggestions into what SIGAMES should introduce into Football Manager 2009, for example people have been saying they would like a 'Be Chairman' option, more indepth than the current, 'Make me Chairman' option. The only problem with this is that the fans may get upset with possible delays as we are talking adding a whole new technical viewpoint to Football Manager. First the SI Team would have to make the system and test it out which could take longer than expected before it can be released. Football Manager took a massive step from Championship Manager 3 into Championship Manager 4, it added the expansion of a 2D pitch, but now it may have come to the point where it has been outgrown and they may have to update to 3D. However anyone can see their are still bugs involved in the 2D pitch, for example the bug known as 'Corner Tactic' where a centre-back can get 20 goals a season, is something needed to be fixed. If FM09 does get released with a 2D pitch, will they lose fans? Potentially it may be a problem for SIGAMES, with Eidos having released their 3D pitch already.

What can SIGAMES add that can potentially not have any problems in it's making? I think it has hit the point where they need to make that next step for their next release, with Football Manager Live coming out, and most likely to be another hit, it may give SIGAMES the upperhand over Eidos. The creator team of Football Manager need to be working on another big unique selling point, meaning the adding of a whole new feature. Giving the game a whole new aspect on management within the football management world. They've already made a step with Football Manager Live, making the game real-time management, the bidding for players and so on. With the new ability to make leagues for your team and your friends, rather than having to play teams made from the computer. To find out more about Football Manager Live, visit footballmanagerlive.net

Does the transfer market need an update? some people may say so and others may not, however i believe it needs to be made more in-depth. Such as you can ask a player from your side to try and convince another player to join your team. Something as small as that could make the transfer market more realistic. There is also the possibly of speaking to the agents of the players, as well as having more an insight on speaking to clubs. For example a good addition may be that your offering £20m for a player, when the selling club asked for £21m, you may say "this is all we have, we can't offer more" or something along those lines. Im sure everyone has had that moment of "crap, i just don't have enough funds." Whether it means they accept less, or agree that you will pay more when you get the money made availible to you.

So, what would you like to add to the next generation of Football Management? Do you think that FM and CM are becoming alot more competitive with each other? Which of those are currently leading the battle? Can one of them catch up to the other?

Why SI cannot Win with their Match Engine and Tactical Observations

"FM Just cheated again. 94th minute goal!"

Yeh, we've all been there. That 94 minute goal that denies you the title, relegates you, loses the cup, whatever. And, at some point at some time, we have all accused FM of cheating us. I have as well. Recently the more in depth tactical players, their work of which I follow, have found that there is no cheating.

Not to preach to you football fans about the regularities and managerial skills in the modern game, and FM is the modern game, but in real life it's all about decisions. If Man Utd are being out-played after 20 minutes, Sir Alex, maybe unknown to the innocent watchers like us, makes just a slight change to his tactic. "Play it shorter" is all it might consist of. Later on, when his side are now leading 2-1 with 5 minutes to play. he commands his side to just defend. Obviously he does not do this via sliders like we must, but that's what happens. He also must make the decision on how his side start the match.

So, were am I going with all this? Well, first let me trace myself back. On my shelf I have CM04. I played that constantly and loved it. Basically, I downloaded 1 tactic off the net, and won everything. FM05, similar story. But the age of the super tactic has now gone, anyone claiming to have 1 tactic to beat them all is being mythical, it will not happen. SI have upped their engine, slid it up into fifth gear, and realised the importance and regularity of which match turning decisions occur in real life football, and try to copy that in their game.

And they have done a good job. If I am leading by a single goal with 5-10 minutes remaining, the AI will switch into the dreaded 'cheat' (more on this later) formation, the 4-2-4, and push forwards. Keep playing with your normal attacking tactic and you will concede at least 5 times out of 10, if not more.

I'm trying not to divulge from the central issue, which is Why SI can never win, this article was indeed planned to be just this long, but I must continue now that I have gone off on a tangent, at least it is a relative one.

FM-Britain, no offence to any other forum, has long been the tactical mastermind on FM. People such as The Next Diaby, wwfan and more have studied to immense detail the workings of the match engine and how to win matches.

Now reverting back to my decisions, now I am a firm believer that to have success, you must no longer have 1 tactic, but a set of tactics. More than usual, these consist of exactly the same formation but with different instructions to the team and players. In my first tactic set, which the download link is at the end of this, I had the following: All Out, Att, Balanced, Counter, Keepy, SUS. Most are very obvious, keepy being a formation that keeps the ball, SUS is 'Shut Up Shop' and wil hold the lead, I would say at least 8 times out of 10.

So, back to my original aim, if you are still with me, and I will understand if you are not! Let me take a scenario which you should have experienced during FM:

Late Goals

If you concede a late goal, as in 85th minute+, and especially after 90 minutes, your first reaction is upset, but then it turns into 'cheat'. The phrase 'I was all over them and it cheats because it knows if I fail to win Arsenal overtake me at the top!' or similar is seen online much. But, if you had been using a tactic set, you could switch to SUS with 5-10 minutes to go, and this issue would more or less go away. In 12 games with Newcastle with my set, I have yet to concede in the last 10 minutes. This surely goes some way to proving my theory on decisions? This includes matches against the dreaded cheat 4-2-4.

So, Why can't SI win? Because, if you score a late goal, it's always fine. You might have only just got your first shot at that point, but it's always deserved. Imagine how the AI feels! This may seem really sad to you but do you understand my point? It's all in the mentality of the average player, how late goals are always unfair.

Other examples, such as deflected shots, off your defender into your net, is always unfair. But if it happens to you, it's fine.

This may seem like a waste of time to you, but it's something I have always studied the match engine and the mentality of members on FM forums, who are constantly complaining at SI. Why not try and credit SI for this immense work which they have done on what an amazing match engine they have produced, and lets face it, it can only get better.