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Antonio Cromartie has caused a stir leading up to the big showdown between the New York Jets and the New England Patriots.

He called Tom Brady a rather nasty part of the anatomy and then even said f*** him in another quote. All of this stems from the beating the Patriots gave the Jets in the last meeting between the two teams and the trash talk and body language Brady had.

"We see that a lot. He does it a lot," Cromartie said to the media. "That's the kind of guy he is. We really don't give a damn, to tell you the truth. He's doing the pointing at our defensive line and stuff like that. That's the kind of a guy he is. He's a competitor, he loves what he's doing. He's going to compete. When you're competing, you are not worrying about anything else, about what anybody else is doing. You're just worried about what you have to do."

I think Cromartie wrote a check that he can't cash and the Jets can't cash. Brady will make a point of throwing all over him the way Peyton Manning did last week and he's going get the business again this time around.

Maybe Cromartie should actually prove something before he goes and runs his mouth.

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Lionel Messi was named the player of the year for the second year in a row yesterday but did he really deserve the award?

Sure, he's a great player, no one is denying that, just take a look back at how he ripped Arsenal apart in the Champions League last year if you want a small taste of what he can do when he's on the pitch. However, there were a lot of deserving candidates for the Ballon d'Or this year and in the end, I think Xavi should have won the award.

While Messi is a popular pick, it was Xavi who had the better year. Not only that, when you consider his body of work, he might be a better player all-time than Messi is. Then again, with the two being teammates for Barcelona, you can see why Messi might have overshadowed the rest.

It's hard to argue against a lot of the candidates up for the award and while you could be splitting hairs, I would have gone with Xavi.

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New York Jets will get a chance for revenge this weekend when they take on the New England Patriots, who embarrassed the Jets in their last meeting.

As the Jets get ready for the showdown, Rex Ryan has tried to deflect the pressure from his players and on to himself.

"This is about Bill Belichick versus Rex Ryan," Ryan said to the media. "There's no question, it's personal. It's about him against myself. That's what it's going to come down to."

In a rare moment of humor, Belichick responded to Ryan in a conference call with the media.

"I might have a little quickness on him, he's probably got a little more strength and power on me," Belichick said to the media. "I don't think you'll see either of us out there making any blocks, or tackles, or runs, throws or catches. At least you won't see me doing that. It's probably a good thing for our team."

I honestly think that Ryan's strategy isn't going to work, he may try and deflect pressure, but those players remember what happened to them and talking isn't going to help when the teams take the field on Sunday. I think the Patriots beat the Jets and move on to another AFC Championship game.

For more on the NFL, be sure to check out NFL Playoffs: 15 Biggest X-Factors in the Divisional Round.

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Brady Hoke is a name that you should get used to hearing now that Les Miles has dropped out of the Michigan coaching search.

Hoke is a guy that rebuilt Ball State and San Diego State after working at Michigan as a defensive line coach under Lloyd Carr. He's a great recruiter and played a big role in that during his time with the Wolverines and if he can bring in enough talent to win at Ball State and San Diego State, imagine what he can do at Michigan.

While Les Miles would have been a guy that would have gotten a lot of press for the school and the program, he's a coach that flies by the seat of his pants and does a lot of things during games that are downright stupid. He's a good coach, but LSU fans have been pretty frustrated with him at times and I'm not sure things like that would fly at Michigan.

I think Hoke is the guy for the job and in time we'll see him take the job with the Wolverines.

"Golden voice" Ted Williams has become an overnight celebrity, but right now everything is looking like it might crash down around him after he was picked up by Los Angeles police after having an altercation with his daughter at the Renaissance Hotel.

While we don't know what caused the disturbance between him and his daughter, Williams has battled problems with drugs and alcohol. And people that rise to celebrity so quickly never seem to end with happy stories.

I worry that despite all of his talk about getting his life on track and making up for his past mistakes, overnight celebrity is a hard thing to process. Williams is doing countless media interviews and meeting with the Los Angeles Lakers, and I worry that Williams will slip back into his old patterns of behavior.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but I have a bad, bad feeling about all of this.

Ted Williams was a former homeless man that shot to stardom after a video of him and his voice was posted online and he became an overnight sensation.

He has battled drugs and alcohol in his life and now he has been picked up by the police after a disturbance in a Hollywood hotel with his daughter.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department told the media that the police responded to a call at the Renaissance Hotel around 9 p.m. and that two people were taken to the Hollywood police station.

There were no charges filed, no one was booked and the investigation is still ongoing as the police try to figure out what happened. I know it was a great story and everyone wanted him to turn things around, but I fear that this has all the markings of ending poorly, and this incident isn't helping.

Hopefully it's just a misunderstanding and not a sign of things to come.

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The Seattle Seahawks are yet again massive underdogs as they head to Chicago to take on the Bears for the second time this year.

The Seahawks beat the Bears in Chicago earlier this year and are coming off of a huge upset of the New Orleans Saints, but are still double-digit underdogs to the Bears. Chicago knows what it is in store for and that might be why the line is so high on this game.

"It got our attention the first time we played them this year," Devin Hester said to the media. "We know that they're a great team. That game doesn't surprise me at all. We saw what happened when we faced them. So we know we can't have the same mistakes that we had earlier."

I think the line should be a little bit lower in this game and I think that Seattle will give the Bears a good run, but in the end, the Bears will take this game and head to the NFC Championship Game.

For more on the NFL, be sure to check out NFL Playoffs: 15 Biggest X-Factors in the Divisional Round.

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Eva Longoria is the star of Desperate Housewives, but she might want to enjoy that while it lasts as ABC announced that the TV series might not be renewed for next season.

The drama has been on for seven seasons and there is a deal in place that would take the series up to the 2013 season. However, ABC executive Paul Lee told the Television Critics Association that the future of the series is up in the air.

Lee praised the quality of Desperate Housewives but said that ratings are an issue for the show as he starts to think about its future for next season. If the show is canceled, it would be another huge blow to Longoria, who got divorced from Tony Parker and is now being sued over a deal with her restaurant, which just so happened to file for bankruptcy.

It should be interesting to see what happens to the show that used to be so wildly popular.

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The Seattle Seahawks shocked the world when they beat the New Orleans Saints last Saturday, and now Seattle will get a second chance to do that when they take on the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field this weekend.

The first time around, the Seahawks went into Chicago and beat the Bears, but Seattle is still a massive underdog. However, both teams are expecting each other to be at another level than the last meeting

"We're a better team no doubt, but they are, too," Chicago coach Lovie Smith said to the media. "Both teams should be this time of year. Having the bye week to rest up and we're healthy, too; we should get our best effort."

With this being the second matchup between the two teams, they expect that it should be a close matchup with the level of familiarity, regardless of Seattle's underdog status.

"When you play someone again for the second time, and you know someone fairly well, you want to of course add a few things, which both of us will do," Smith said to the media. "They beat us the first time at home. That doesn't happen very often like that. Hopefully, we'll play better this time."

For more on the NFL, be sure to check out NFL Playoffs: 15 Biggest X-Factors in the Divisional Round.

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Seattle Seahawks have one of the most intimidating home-field advantages in all of football and the New Orleans Saints found that out the hard way.

There are some diehard fans in Seattle and that was evident when Marshawn Lynch broke off his all-time great run. The stadium erupted and it was so loud and the crowd was so fired up, that it actually shook the ground and caused an earthquake.

"It was pretty striking how everyone was shaking," John Vidale, the director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, said.

Vidale said a monitoring station located about 100 yards from Quest Field registered the tremor during the run and was most violent when Lynch broke away from the line and finished off his touchdown and celebrated his feat. Once the play was done, the tremor stopped being so intense, but it took a minute to go away.

Now that's impressive.

For more on the NFL, be sure to check out NFL Playoffs: 15 Biggest X-Factors in the Divisional Round.

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Ducks football took a big step forward this year as Oregon went all the way to the national championship game, and even though they fell just short of the ultimate goal, it doesn't mean the Ducks are going to go by the wayside.

Oregon will have Darron Thomas and LaMichael James back next year, and with that high-powered offense the Ducks will be a threat to get back to the title game next year. Sure, they'll have to deal with teams like Stanford, who will be trying to knock the Ducks off.

I think Oregon should be one of the favorites for the title next year, especially if Cam Newton goes into the draft. The Ducks will have a lot of pieces back and it will be interesting to see how they bounce back from a tough loss.

For more on college football, be sure to check out Oregon Ducks: Why Chip Kelly Will Lead Oregon to a BCS Title in 2012.

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Natalie Gulbis is dating young golfer Dustin Johnson and he has withdrawn from the the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Johnson's agent, David Winkle sent out an e-mail that said the golfer had personal matters to take care of back in his native South Carolina. In Johnson's tournament last weekend, Gulbis was following him around during the third round and later confirmed the pair were dating, although Johnson hasn't said anything on the subject yet.

It's no shock to see the two ended up dating. They have the same sponsorship and they both have Butch Harmon as a swing coach; not only that, they competed in the 3-Tour Challenge last year.

It should be interesting to see how this will all play out since he won't confirm the pair is dating as of now. But hopefully he can take care of his personal issues and get back out on the golf course in time for the major part of the tour.

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Natalie Gulbis is one of the more famous young women's golfers on tour and now she's dating one of the more famous men's golfers in Dustin Johnson. Gulbis revealed the relationship to Golf.com but wouldn't elaborate, saying that she'd "let Dustin handle our PR."

She's famous not only for her talent but for her looks, as she has released a calendar in the past with her posing in swimwear. Not only that, but she has posed for FHM in the past. It certainly has helped her as she has numerous endorsement deals with companies like Adidas, Canon and MasterCard along with other companies.

It's been a while since two famous athletes have played the same sport and have dated, so it will be interesting to see how this whole thing plays out. I'm sure plenty of men out there are jealous of Johnson and wish they could be him right now.

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Oregon cheerleaders took the field last night and once everyone in the stadium saw them, they realized that the football team wasn't the only ones who were wearing some new uniforms.

However, the Ducks cheerleaders actually have the school's colors on the uniforms, unlike the football team, which works in a lot of steel grey, deep greens and some black into the various uniform combinations that Oregon runs out on a week-to-week basis.

The cheerleader outfits were a good look and were certainly eye-catching, as if cheerleaders themselves weren't eye-catching enough. It was cool to see, and Nike really outdid itself between the football team's uniforms, which I liked, and the cheerleading uniforms.

I can't wait to see what Nike does for next year's college football season.

For more on college football, be sure to check out Oregon Ducks: Why Chip Kelly Will Lead Oregon to a BCS Title in 2012.

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Casey Matthews has a lot of reputation preceding him but that hasn't stopped him from playing like a man possessed for the Oregon Ducks.

Matthews is the son of Clay Matthews, who played in the NFL for years, and the brother of Clay Matthews Jr., who is currently tearing it up in the NFL for the Green Bay Packers. That means that Matthews has a lot to live up to, and he believes that being in that environment has helped him at Oregon.

"Watching them go through what they've got through, you learn something," Matthews said to the media. "People say you've got a lot of pressure, but I don't see it as pressure. I see it as opportunity."

Matthews forced a big fumble last night and helped turn the momentum of the game and he's only getting better as a player. I think that he can be an effective player at the next level and it's going to be interesting to watch his growth as the years go by.

For more on college football, be sure to check out Oregon Ducks: Why Chip Kelly Will Lead Oregon to a BCS Title in 2012.