Gillette today announced the launch of its expanded Gillette Young Guns program by unveiling the 2011 roster of six rising stars in their respective sports: Matt Ryan and Ray Rice from football, Evan Longoria and Carlos Gonzalez from baseball and Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch from auto racing.

Gillette Young Guns is a sports marketing platform connecting Gillette’s full line of grooming products with avid sports fans in North America. The program highlights up-and-coming stars and gives fans an in-depth look into the keys to their success both on and off the field. The Gillette Young Guns will appear in print and broadcast advertising, consumer promotions, point-of-sale materials, online and public relations activities. Read the rest of this entry »

The NFL has named it’s AFC and NFC offensive and defensive players of the week for week 15 of the 2010 football season. Aaron Rodgers, quarterback of the Green Bay Packers and Antoine Winfield, cornerback for the Minnesota Vikings have earned the NFC honors. In the AFC, it was Kansas City Chiefs’ wide receiver Dwayne Bowe, and Baltimore Raves’ safety Ed Reed.

Aaron Rodgers’ performance comes one week after getting his clock cleaned and sitting a game due to not passing a concussion test. It is his second player of the week award in 2010 and second in the past month. We had a few entrants pick him in our “Jagermeister Player of the Week” contest, but no one matched him up with Ed Reed or Antoine Winfield. We had quite a few entries of Aaron Rodgers with fellow teammate Clay Matthews… maybe next week as the Packers are still fighting for that playoff spot. Read the rest of this entry »

The NFL issued the following statement yesterday regarding the Brett Favre-Jen Sterger matter: The NFL office conducted an investigation to determine whether Brett Favre’s interaction with New York Jets game-day employee Jenn Sterger in 2008 violated the NFL Personal Conduct Policy. Read the rest of this entry »

UFC President Dana White started today’s live press conference for the lightweight title fight between champion Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard at UFC 125 with a surprise announcement regarding one of the sport’s most respected icons. In front of assembled media and fans at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, White broke the news that former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and UFC Hall of Fame member Chuck Liddell, a true pioneer and legend in the sport, is retiring from competing in the UFC.

White’s announcement however, was not about the end of a career, but rather just a change in Liddell’s future, because White also announced that Liddell is UFC’s new Executive Vice President of Business Development. Read the rest of this entry »

Two Michigan State University graduates and local entrepreneurs are showing their Spartan pride in big way—try 15′ by 35′ feet.

Rick Berman, (MSU, ’74) president of Park Furniture and John Barlow (MSU, ’71) of Barlow Communications, underwrote the cost of the green billboard, which occupies the east side of I-94 and Cadieux in Detroit. The sign, designed to urge MSU on to victory when it faces Alabama on January 1, 2011 in the Capitol One Bowl in Orlando, Fla., went up on December 23 and will remain in place through January 5, 2011. Read the rest of this entry »

The NFL issued the following statement today regarding the Brett Favre – Jenn Sterger matter:

The NFL office conducted an investigation to determine whether Brett Favre’s interaction with New York Jets game-day employee Jenn Sterger in 2008 violated the NFL Personal Conduct Policy.

In reviewing the matter, the sole focus was on whether there was a violation of league policies regarding conduct in the workplace. NFL policies do not extend to private conduct or make judgments about the appropriateness of personal relationships, except where that conduct or those relationships raise issues under the law or league policies. Read the rest of this entry »

The Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles will finish Week 16 tonight at Lincoln Financial Field (NBC, 8:00 PM ET) in the first NFL game played on a Tuesday since 1946.

And then comes the final push as the regular season ends on Sunday, January 2. All 16 games in Week 17 are division contests.

With one week to go, there are still 16 teams in contention for a trip to Super Bowl XLV in North Texas. Read the rest of this entry »

The AFC East champion New England Patriots will lead the American Football Conference All-Star squad with a conference-best six All-Stars, at the 2011 Pro Bowl, the NFL announced today. Trailing the Patriots with the most conference All Stars are the Baltimore Ravens with five and the Indianapolis Colts with four.

The 2011 Pro Bowl will be played on Sunday, January 30, 2011 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii one week before Super Bowl XLV in North Texas. Broadcast live on FOX at 7:00 PM ET, the Pro Bowl will be held prior to the Super Bowl for the second consecutive year and serve as the signature kickoff event of Super Bowl week. Read the rest of this entry »

The Atlanta Falcons, who have the NFC’s best record at 12-3, placed an NFL-best seven players on the National Football Conference All-Star team that will face the American Football Conference All-Stars in the 2011 Pro Bowl – the kickoff to Super Bowl week – the NFL announced today.

The 2011 Pro Bowl will be played on Sunday, January 30, 2011 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii one week before Super Bowl XLV in North Texas. Broadcast live on FOX at 7:00 PM ET, the Pro Bowl will be held prior to the Super Bowl for the second consecutive year and serve as the signature kickoff event of Super Bowl week. Read the rest of this entry »

Ovie Mughelli, Fullback for the Atlanta Falcons, has been selected for the 2011 Pro Bowl in the NFC Division. This is Mughelli’s first Pro Bowl nomination in his eight-year career in the National Football League. Mughelli also has made history for the Atlanta Falcons, as the first ever Fullback to be selected into the Pro Bowl. A Wake Forest graduate where Mughelli got his first taste of the Fullback position, the NFC Pro Bowl selection is a major milestone after much success as a starting, lead blocker for the Falcons offense. Read the rest of this entry »

NFL Week 17 Flex Scheduling: Rams-Seahawks To Be NBC Sunday Night Game On Jan. 2; Jaguars-Texans & Titans-Colts Move To 4:15 PM ET On CBS; Bears-Packers; Cowboys-Eagles & Giants-Redskins To 4:15 PM ET On FOX

The Week 17 St. Louis at Seattle game on Sunday, January 2 will be played at 8:20 PM ET on NBC, the Jacksonville at Houston and Tennessee at Indianapolis games will move to 4:15 PM ET on CBS and the Chicago at Green Bay, Dallas at Philadelphia and New York Giants at Washington games will move to 4:15 PM ET on FOX, the NFL announced today.

The following is the final Week 17 NFL schedule: Read the rest of this entry »

•With the results of Sunday’s games, the NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS clinched the AFC East and homefield advantage throughout the AFC playoffs, the PHILADELPHIA EAGLES claimed the NFC East, the KANSAS CITY CHIEFS won the AFC West, and the BALTIMORE RAVENS and NEW YORK JETS secured a playoff spot.

•New England quarterback TOM BRADY passed for three touchdowns and did not throw an interception in 27 attempts in the Patriots’ 34-3 win at Buffalo. Brady has now thrown 319 consecutive passes without an interception and passed BERNIE KOSAR (308­) and Pro Football Hall of Famer BART STARR (294) for the most pass attempts in a row without an interception in NFL history. In addition, Brady extended his NFL-record streak to eight consecutive games with at least two touchdown passes and no interceptions. Read the rest of this entry »

The Ultimate Fighting Championship® announced today that three UFC 125 preliminary fights will air live on ION Television on Saturday, Jan. 1 starting at 8:55pm ET/5:55pm PT.

The announcement marks the first time UFC prelims will air live and free on network television. The action kicks off this Saturday with three explosive fights featuring Phil Baroni vs. Brad Tavares in a middleweight contest, Josh Grispi vs. Dustin Poirier in featherweight action and Marcus Davis vs. Jeremy Stephens in a highly-anticipated lightweight clash. Read the rest of this entry »

Cletus, our football guru has made his NFL week 16 expert picks and predictions and they have been posted for your review. Yes, this is the first of the final two editions of our Beat the House contest for the 2010 season. Remember, by clicking “agree” or “disagree” for each pick you have a chance to win some prizes should the House picks turn out to be garbage. You can also win a Jagermeister 6-Bottle Shot cooler should you pick the week 16 players of the week correctly. Enter Now!

Amazingly, 20 teams still have the possibility of earning playoff spot. According to our House predictions, only 2 playoff spots in each conference will be vacant if everything goes according to plan. Currently, only the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers have secured playoff spots in the AFC and the Chicago Bears became the first team to win their division in the NFL. The Atlanta Falcons have also clinched a playoff berth. If the games go as predicted here, after the weekend, the Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles will have secured their division titles while the Ravens, Jets and New Orleans Saints will all clinch berths. Read the rest of this entry »

UNPREDICTABLE NFL: Only two weeks remain in the 2010 regular season and 20 teams are still in contention for a trip to Super Bowl XLV in North Texas. Chicago has locked up the NFC North, and Atlanta, New England and Pittsburgh have clinched playoff berths.

Currently, seven of the eight divisions feature a team in or tied for the top spot that did not win its division in 2009. If this holds, it would mark the most new division winners in a season since realignment in 2002. Read the rest of this entry »

New England Patriots QB TOM BRADY received 1,877,079 votes to lead all NFL All-Stars in fan balloting for the 2011 Pro Bowl, the NFL announced today. Fan voting ended on Monday, December 20. There was a record 98.59 million votes cast on NFL.com, on wireless phones and on Facebook. Fans cast 89.52 million votes on NFL.com, 8.50 million votes on their wireless phones and 570,000 votes on Facebook.

The AFC and NFC All-Star squads are based on the consensus votes of fans, players and coaches. Each group’s vote counts one-third towards determining the 43-man rosters that represent the American Football Conference and National Football Conference in the Pro Bowl. NFL players and coaches will cast their votes on December 22-23. The teams will be announced at 7:00 pm (ET) Tuesday, December 28 on a special NFL Total Access 2011 Pro Bowl Selection Show on NFL Network. Read the rest of this entry »