Does Brian Waters give Patriots NFL's best O-line?

WR Chad Ochocinco and DL Albert Haynesworth have been the Patriots' most high-profile summer acquisitions, but new G Brian Waters may prove the best.

After surprisingly parting with the Chiefs in July, Waters signed in New England over the weekend. He could take over at right guard, a position that's become an injury black hole for the team.

"Brian has a good level of experience. I think his playing style is one that we feel like -- the way that he plays the position is kind of the way we feel like we would want it played," said coach Bill Belichick on Monday.

"We've gone up against him a number of times. I have a lot of respect for Brian: his play, his professionalism, what he brings to the team."

He brings 11 years of NFL experience. Waters, LT Matt Light and LG Logan Mankins were all Pro Bowlers in 2010 who have been first-team all-pros during their careers.

"I've been a fan of Brian's for quite a while now," said Mankins. "He's a good player and a good guy so we're happy to have him."

C Dan Koppen is a former Pro Bowler, RT Sebastian Vollmer is a rising star and first-round LT Nate Solder is waiting in the wings.

It adds up to what could be the best line in the league in 2011, which would be just fine with MVP QB Tom Brady, who's been under siege in New England's last three playoff games, all losses.

"It was just about finding a situation that was best for me," said Waters, a five-time Pro Bowler. "It's a great organization, so why not? The record speaks for itself. It's a football team that's a contender year in and year out."

Wide receiver still hopes for NFL

Andy Fantuz isn't giving up his NFL dream after being cut by the Chicago Bears on Friday.

The wide receiver from Chatham hopes to hear from other teams before he has to return to the CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders.

“I'm on waivers for 24 hours and then after that I have a 10-day window to sign with another club before I have to report back to the CFL to Saskatchewan,” he said Friday night in a video on his website (andyfantuz.com). “That's my understanding of it anyways. I'll go from there.”

Fantuz, 27, signed a two-year, reserve-future contract with the Bears in February after starring for five seasons with the Roughriders.

He worked out for six NFL teams after the 2010 CFL season.

“I'm excited to see if any other team wants to take a chance and bring me in and see what I've got,” he said in his video. “But, either way, I'm ready to get rolling and get playing.”

He was chosen the CFL's most outstanding Canadian in 2010 after making a career-high 87 receptions for a league-best 1,380 yards and six touchdowns.

He was in the option year of his CFL contract, so he was allowed to sign with an NFL team until Feb. 15. If he didn't sign, then he would have gone back to the Roughriders.

The six-foot-four, 220-pound Fantuz said after signing that the Bears wanted him to fill their need for a big receiver.

However, the McGregor graduate was used sparingly in the pre-season. He made two catches for 19 yards in four exhibition games.

Fantuz was among 14 players waived by the Bears on Friday. Another 13 must be released by 5 p.m. Saturday to reach the NFL's 53-man roster limit.

“Can't say it was a huge surprise,” Fantuz said in his video. “It's been a frustrating pre-season.

“Haven't really got too much playing time in the games and limited reps in practice. It seemed like they (were) pretty committed with the guys they had and the guys they wanted to keep.

“That didn't include me, so unfortunately, whether it was bad timing or just a bad situation, whatever it is, it's nothing I could control. It's just unfortunate.”

Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant has mixed emotions about the possible return of the 2005 Hec Crighton Trophy winner.

“As a friend I'm disappointed,” Durant said to the Regina Leader-Post. “I know how much he really wanted that opportunity, so as a friend I feel really bad. For this team, we really need him. He's a big part of what we do. We'll see what happens.”

The Roughriders have a 1-7 record, worst in the CFL.

They went to three Grey Cups in four years (2007, '09 and '10) with Fantuz. He was the game's outstanding Canadian in 2007 when they won the trophy.

Fantuz has 276 catches for 4,136 yards and 23 touchdowns in 73 regular-season games.

Flyers extend young star Van Riemsdyk: Fan reaction

The Philadelphia Flyers spent a lot of time overhauling their roster in the offseason. The Flyers parted ways with several key players while signing several from other teams. After a calm period for the team, the Flyers made headlines once again. The team reached a deal with James Van Riemsdyk(notes) that will pay him $25.5 million over the next six seasons. As a fan of the Flyers, I'm excited about this new deal. JVR is a vital piece of the puzzle for the Flyers. Locking him up was one important step toward the team continuing to drive for the Stanley Cup.

JVR came alive in the 2011 playoffs. Some Flyers fans might wonder if giving him a long term deal based off of a few games is a smart move. But those fans should take a look at the way JVR has grown over the past season. He is a budding star and should rank among the best players in the NHL fairly soon. By signing him now, the Flyers probably saved a fortune. They are getting a player that is already at the level of Mike Richards(notes) and Jeff Carter(notes) for a much smaller price. I am pleased that the Flyers committed to the young star.

The signing of JVR does raise some questions. At 22, he is clearly an important part of the future. But so is Claude Giroux(notes). With his new contact, JVR will make more in terms of annual salary than Giroux for the upcoming season. I'm not sure if that is really fair. But on the other hand, this is how sports work. Giroux will soon have his day at the contract negotiation table. At that point, he will be rewarded like the All-Star that he is.

When the Flyers made all of their changes, many looked at this as a rebuilding year. After all, they jettisoned two of their best offensive players in recent memory. But this is anything but a rebuilding year. The Flyers are ready to win now and ready to win for a long time. The commitment to JVR is evidence of that. If anyone is a critic of the deal now, they are going to be eating their words in a year or two. This was another smart move by a franchise that is closing in on a championship.

Can Peyton Hillis Survive the Madden Curse?

Electronic Arts has a long history of selecting some of the highest-performing and best- known players to feature on the cover of its iconic football video game, Madden NFL. It also has an eerie history of featuring players on its cover that then go on to have seasons ranging from the sub-par to the career-ending. The “Madden Curse” is so well-known that players like LaDanian Tomlinson have even turned down the opportunity to be on the cover, fearing its repercussions. Can Madden NFL 12’s cover boy, Peyton Hillis, escape unscathed?
Hillis, a 25-year-old running back for the Cleveland Browns, isn’t what you would call a “superstar.” He rushed for 1,177 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2010, good enough for 11th and 6th places, respectively, among NFL running backs. He’s good, certainly, but there’s a long line of guys who ought to be on that cover before Hillis.
Hillis made the cover in a very Stephen Colbert-ian way: he won a not-exactly-representative fan vote. He was part of a bracket-style vote that had him beat Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers, Ravens RB Ray Rice, and a series of higher-profile players, including Eagles QB Mike Vick in the finals. Support for Hillis came from all over the Web, especially from sites like ClevelandBrowns.com and a series of Hillis-for-the-cover websites that cropped up during the vote. He became an Internet favorite, and the vote tipped his way.
Hillis’ lack of superstar status might make him less prone to the Madden Curse: there’s not as far to fall, and he’s not in the mold of the traditional cover-gracing NFL athlete.
But history is history, and if history has anything to say about it the Madden Curse is very real. We’ve looked at the numbers, and we’ve found that video games really can predict the future. Or at least that Madden covers can predict NFL players’ demises. If the 14 guys in the slideshow are any indication, it’s time to dump Peyton Hillis from your fantasy team.

NBA star Kevin Love learns quickly how tough beach volleyball can be

Put Kevin Love on the sand and beach volleyball gets instant attention.

That's what Jose Cuervo wanted. That's what Jose Cuervo got.

Hans Stolfus understands. He's a former regular on the AVP Tour who won a silver medal in the 2007 Pan Am Games.

Sean Scott and John Hyden also understand. They're a very, very good beach volleyball team. Just days ago they won in Hermosa Beach. This week they're the No. 1 seed in the Manhattan Beach Open, which is part of the three-stop Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series.

"There's no resentment," Hyden said about all the cameras pointed at Love, a mere novice on the beach. "He brings attention to the sport that the sport needs."

"AVP let the sport down (when it shut down mid-tour last summer)," Stolfus said. "This is good for beach volleyball."

How much attention became clear to Stolfus, who played with Love, when he began to hear from old buddies back in Iowa.

"I played in AVP for five years," he said. "I never got one message. My old friends thought it was just a fun thing."

It did not calculate in the cornfields that Stolfus was a professional athlete.

"Now I'm getting messages from all the guys I knew in high school that say, `You're playing with Kevin Love!"' he said.

The Manhattan Beach Open got off to a, well,

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interesting start Thursday morning with Love-Stolfus playing Scott-Hyden. The score was 21-16, 21-15. Yes, Scott and Hyden won. Of course Scott and Hyden won.
Love exhaled when it was over, looked at a friend and said, "I'm just so happy."

He did not finish the sentence. It does not take a lot of imagination to add, "that I was not humiliated."

A shot of humility never hurts.

Love is a world-class athlete, the NBA double-double machine for the Minnesota Timberwolves. That's double-digit points and double-digit rebounds in a game. He's an NBA All-Star and a member of the U.S. FIBA 2010 world championship team.

Those who are into instant analysis no matter how little they know will quickly tell the world Love is much better than Shaquille O'Neal and probably ranks with Wilt Chamberlain, the most famous NBA star who had a run in the sand.

No contest between Love and Shaq. After only four weeks of training Love is far better.

Think about it. Four weeks. That's not a lot of time to pick up the nuances of where to go, when to go, how to pass, blocking, spiking and timing, among other things.

"When they serve the ball, it curves down," Love said. "It can be a knuckleball. It's difficult to handle."

Love, a month short of his 23rd birthday, also passes Chamberlain, who was somewhere between 35 and 40 when he first played on the beach. Wilt, a wise man, generally limited his play in tournaments to the six-man game.

But Love is not close to premier level in the two-man game. He can check with his father, Stan, a former Laker who grew up in Inglewood and was a basketball star at Morningside High. And, yes, he played volleyball at the beach.

Pop will tell him about Keith Erickson and Greg Lee.

Erickson is by far the best basketball-volleyball player of all time. He starred on John Wooden's first two NCAA championship teams at UCLA and was on a Lakers NBA championship team. He was a U.S. indoor volleyball Olympian with a minimum of indoor experience.

"Keith would win the paddleboard race from Catalina and then beat everyone on the beach in volleyball or football, whatever we were playing," said Mike O'Hara, winner of the first five Manhattan Beach Opens with Mike Bright.

Lee was a starter on two UCLA NCAA basketball championship teams who played a handful of games in the ABA and NBA. He's a two-time Manhattan Open champion with Jim Menges.

Not to be forgotten is Mike Dodd, a five-time Manhattan Beach winner, all with Tim Hovland. Dodd won silver in beach volleyball at the Olympics. A basketball star at Mira Costa High and San Diego State, he was a late cut by the Clippers. He ranks No. 2 on the basketball-beach volleyball list.

Truth be told, it might have been a humiliation Thursday had Scott and Hyden not been on cruise control. They've got a long, hard weekend ahead of them. There was absolutely no reason to work up a sweat.

Plus, the officiating was relaxed to make life a little easier on Love.

He'd probably scratch his head if told that and say something about how easy could it have been when in about 50 minutes he was sweating as if he had just finished playing for two or three hours in a hot gym with his summer workout partners Russell Westbrook (Leuzinger High, UCLA) and Derrick Rose.

The degree of difficulty of the assignment he accepted - he was the last seed in the tournament - was summed up by Stolfus, who had not played in two years (neck injury) until a recent tournament in Oregon.

"This is like two beach volleyball guys going to Rucker Park in Harlem and playing Kobe and LeBron in a 2-on-2 basketball game," he said.

Love may be in the best shape of his life during the early stages of the NBA lockout. Along with taking a class at UCLA with Trevor Ariza (Westchester High), Baron Davis and Westbrook, he's playing basketball six days a week, working with a trainer four days a week and doing yoga two to three times a week. His weight is down from the mid-260s to 240.

"I've slimmed down," he said proudly.

He moved better than expected. His hand-eye coordination is good. That's not unexpected. Thank you basketball, as well as tennis. He is athletic. Very athletic for a big man listed at 6-foot-10 but closer to 6-8 .

Not as athletic as the 6-5 Erickson, who had the skill set to play shortstop in baseball at El Segundo High, forcing his teammate Bobby Floyd, who would be a middle infielder in the major leagues, to play third base.

Love gets it.

"It wasn't easy," he said. "Those guys are tremendous."

He laughed.

"I've got my 10,000 hours playing basketball and they've got their 10,000 hours playing volleyball," he said.

He laughed some more.

"This gave me an excuse to go to the beach," he said.

It was a tough assignment. But someone had to do it.

Can't blame Titans' Johnson for trying to get paid

Chris Johnson has said this is where he wants to be. And on Wednesday he was indeed with Titans officials in Nashville.

But he's no closer to wearing the uniform now than he was before arriving in the city Tuesday night.
At this point, the Titans and Johnson have fundamental disagreements, significant ones at that, on just about every aspect of a potential new contract. The worst sign, at this point, might be that the feeling coming out of the meeting seemed to be one of resignation, not resentment. The two sides want their partnership to continue. They just can't make it work.

The Titans are on the record as saying they'd be willing to make Johnson the NFL's highest paid back. Trouble is, the numbers for Steven Jackson and DeAngelo Williams, the two players atop the market at the position, sit between $8 million and $9 million per year. And Larry Fitzgerald, who's about as valuable a skill-position player who doesn't take snaps can be, just checked in with a new deal at $15 million per.

Johnson has taken to being classified as a "playmaker" rather than a running back, and Fitzgerald's payday gave him every reason to stick to his feeling on that one.

But an even stronger motivator could be the position he plays.

Ten of the top 20 rushers on the all-time list came post-Emmitt Smith. Of that group, only Curtis Martin had more than eight 1,000-yard seasons, with 10. Fred Taylor, Edgerrin James, Marshall Faulk, Corey Dillon and Ricky Watters all had seven, while Warrick Dunn and Shaun Alexander had just five.

So here's the point. Say Johnson does play out his five-year rookie contract. Say he posts two more huge seasons. At that point, he'll have exceeded quadruple digits five times. That's great, unless you're the team where he's seeking a long-term commitment. That club would have to be responsible and look at the above history in considering extending him. Then, the franchise tag could come into play in decision making.

You get the idea. Johnson's value will likely never be greater than it is right now, unless you count last season, when he was coming off a 2,000-yard campaign.

"CJ's the best back in the game," Titans fullback Ahmard Hall said. "He makes everybody's job that much easier. You go out there, you just have to get in front of your guy, get a good connection with your guy, and he's gone. Everybody's seen it around the nation."

Chances the Titans can bank on him being that guy for another three or four years? Pretty good. Chances they'll be able to count on him doing it for another three or four years in 2013, after his current deal expires, when he's going on 28 and has another 600-700 carries on his legs? Not nearly as good.

That's the key. To fork over $30-35 million guaranteed, it's important for a team that a player remain productive through three or four seasons, at the very least, and it's still very reasonable for the Titans to believe they'll get that much out of Johnson now, much moreso than it will be in 2013. So, as such, Johnson has to go get that now, which is what he's in the process of trying to do.
Every player's reason to hold out is different, of course. But it's difficult to blame a tailback for wanting to get paid. For most, the big set-yourself-up-for-life contract is the second one -- when the player is still young enough for the team to invest long-term, but old enough to have a track record.

Johnson has a track record of having asserted himself as a unique talent, with the ability to cover 40 yards in 4.24 seconds and transfer that speed and make it functional at a very high level on the field.

But also, given his position, it's easy to surmise that he's got a short shelf life.

That explains his commitment to get this thing done now, rather than later, and also his toying with the idea of holding out in 2010, before Tennessee agreed to throw incentives into the existing deal.

It's hard to blame Johnson. And, as such, it's just as hard to see an end in sight to this whole affair.

Dwyane Wade’s big finish in Game 1 could be his needed spark

Moments before tip-off of his second NBA Finals, Dwyane Wade took some time to gaze at the championship banner hanging high over the east side of the AmericanAirlines Arena.
Just seconds later, he jogged to the opposite baseline to give his mother an extended hug, much to the delight of the cheering crowd around them.
As he prepared for his second Finals appearance against the Dallas Mavericks, and possibly on his way to a second championship, all appeared right in Wade’s world.
And then the game started.
And then he again became the “who is that?” player we saw for most of the Eastern Conference finals.
The player who matched a Heat franchise-high with nine turnovers in that dramatic Game 5 win against Chicago reappeared to start this series. A 1-of-5 shooting performance in the first quarter. Three turnovers in the second quarter.
By the end of the first half of a game that was sloppy on both sides, Wade was the sloppiest. Unfamiliar. Rhythmless.
This was the Wade we saw against the Bulls and assumed was injured. He spent four days insisting he wasn’t, but he would’ve had to face another round of those same questions if this is how he continued to perform.
Then came the fourth quarter, and apparently with it a reminder that it was the Finals and he was playing the Mavericks and he has quite a history in this exact scenario. He recovered, confidently taking jump shots and making jump shots.
It is what the Heat is going to need to continue its success in this series after a Game 1 win. More of the self-assured Wade. More of the player who knows he can take Jason Kidd or DeShawn Stevenson or Jason Terry or even Shawn Marion at will.
Because these Finals are, already, begging for vintage Wade.
Back in 2006, he murdered the Mavs with his mid-range game. He carved through the Dallas zone with ease. He got to the foul line so often Mavericks owner Mark Cuban reportedly insisted the NBA was rigged.
Granted, this Heat team doesn’t require Wade to do all of those things. But he is equipped to do them. Without all of those things, this Mavericks defense can force LeBron James into three-pointers. Three-pointers he made Tuesday, yes, but not exactly a reasonable plan of attack.
Without all of those things, the Mavs defense can turn Chris Bosh into an hesitant shooter and clumsy driver. Without all of those things, Mario Chalmers becomes a volume shooter and a critical contributor.
We’ve seen this from Wade before, an extended slump that made everyone assume he was hurting and not telling anyone.
That was back in November, though, when the excuse was simple: He hadn’t played at all in the preseason and was, at the time, largely unfamiliar with what it felt like to play James and Bosh.
But this time, there didn’t seem to be any legitimate reason for it. Yes, it was fair to credit a strong Bulls defense. But it didn’t explain why Wade had abandoned certain parts of his game. It didn’t explain why he missed dunks and layups he would normally make blindfolded.
It was so evident in the first half Tuesday that Wade was passing up good mid-range looks that it even drew an impatient groan from the crowd that adores him.
Even after he hit a couple of shots in the third quarter, he followed that up by passing on a jumper and handing it instead to Bosh for a desperate attempt just before the shot-clock buzzer.
It didn’t seem like the Wade we’ve grown accustomed to, nor did it look like the Wade we expected to see after his subpar series against the Bulls.
The 2006 Finals was playing all day leading up to Tuesday’s rematch. And in that series, Wade wasn’t passing up any opportunities. Nor should he in this series, as the fourth quarter confirmed.
When the Heat’s at its best, Wade is free to think “score first.” He did it against the Sixers. He did it against Boston. He tried against the Bulls, until the missed shots and the turnovers began to pile up in the last two games. And it appeared those miscues might’ve affected his confidence. Because it wasn’t until the second half of Game 1 that he began to assert himself and look like the familiar Wade.
Maybe those 15 second-half points will reignite Wade. Maybe that fourth quarter will reset Wade to championship mode. Maybe that blocked shot followed by a step-back three that gave the Heat an 82-73 lead will erase those memories of the Bulls series. And maybe that lob pass to LeBron for the exclamation dunk will push Wade back into 2006 form.
“Maybe this will be something that can spark him,” Erik Spoelstra said of Wade’s fourth quarter. “All I know is he made a lot of winning plays.
“I’m not going to overanalyze his first half.”
Clearly, he doesn’t absolutely have to be at his best to beat these Mavericks. But it certainly will make it a lot easier. And it certainly would make all things right in Wade’s world once again.