April 1st, 2008. Any die-hard hockey fan would know that date as the last time Peter Forsberg scored an NHL goal. It was his only goal in a nine game season that saw Forsberg tally 14 points for the Colorado Avalanche. The often injured superstar has not played an NHL game since, but his hockey career goes on.

Forsberg is currently enjoying a good season with Modo Hockey in Sweden where he has 19 points in 18 games. It was also recently announced that Forsberg will be added to Swedens olympic team that will be on display in Vancouver this February. Forsberg has collected two gold medals with the team and is considered the team’s unsung leader. I post a question to all of you though; Are the Olympic games one last go around for Swedens biggest NHL hero, or is it an NHL showcase for teams to see if he still has anything left in the tank, and is worth signing to a contract for a potential playoff team?

He is after all 36 years old and is one of the most storied injury plagued players of this era. In fact in seven different seasons, Forsberg has failed to play 90 percent of his teams games due to injury. He had been dubbed “the playoff addition”, because it is believed that teams sit him to save his health for a Stanley Cup run, which Forsberg has won twice in case you didn’t know. His career stats and playoff stats tells you why some teams may have interest in adding him. In 706 regular season games he has totaled 249 goals and 636 assist for 887 points and a career plus minus of +242. In the playoffs he has played 151 games, scoring 64 goals and 107 assists and a +54.

So I wonder, does he even have any interest in the NHL anymore? Do any NHL teams have an interest in him? If so, where could he possibly go? Well he has been with Colorado, Philadelphia, and Nashville in his career and none of those clubs seem to have a want or need for his service. Other highly ranked teams like Chicago, San Jose, New Jersey, and Pittsburgh are based more on youth and speed, than the gritty game Forsberg brings, and none of them appear to be in a desperate need for additions. Many other NHL clubs are either too cap strapped or rebuilding, and I’m sure to bring him back to the league, he would want to play for a contender.

So it would appear that the games in Vancouver may very well be a swan song for a great NHL star, and the whole world would get to see him one last time on a grand stage, much like Team Canada did with both Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky. Sweden’s biggest hockey hero may find one last piece of glory before his body forces him to hang it up. This one hockey fan is excited to see him mix it up, and see if he still has any of that great skill left. I’m sure he can still pass the puck with the pin-point accuracy that was described as “Gretzky-Esque” during his career. I do however doubt that he will be slamming his big body around as much, and can be sure Modo Hockey wants to see him limit that style of play.

Sometimes legends of the game don’t really know when it is time to walk away, and it leads to some very poor looking performances and bad stats. It ends with sad stories and photos plastered all over the internet of the sad faces of a once-was who is now a has-been. As the NBA suffers through the Allen Iverson break down and the Tracy McGrady on again off again saga, it’s nice to see one guy admit when it is passing him by and slowly fade off, instead of being carried off. Either way Forsberg is a winner, and he has the credentials to prove it. He’s won an MVP award, a scroing title, championships on all levels, rookie of the year award honors as well. He has nothing left to prove to anyone, but it will be fun to see him on the ice one more time.

Grab discounted NHL jerseys and swag on Amazon.com by clicking here.

Check out NHL Greatest Moments on DVD by clicking here.

Order the NHL 10 video game by clicking here.

Guest hosts. Sanitized programming. Lackluster stoylines. Horrible commentary. And that was just one episode of WWE Raw! Here, now, are 365 days of tomfoolery for your edification.

January 6 – “Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia” is released on DVD, featuring Mr. Kennedy as a Navy SEAL. The basic plot is that Kennedy gets discharged for dropping a more important SEAL on his head, and then spends his summer making youtube videos in order to stay relevant.

January 9 – WWE begins a week of house cleaning, parting ways with many performers and agents, including D-Lo Brown, Val Venis, Hardcore Holly, Ron Simmons, among others. The year 1999 was found crying in its room, listening to The Spill Canvas and clutching a razor.

January 12 – Matt Hardy loses the ECW Championship to Jake Busey’s retarded brother. Oh, nevermind, that’s Jack Swagger. My mistake.

January 13 – Victoria retires from WWE, after a recent MRI discovered she had heart and a backbone. She then jumped to TNA, indicating that a CAT Scan was not performed.

January 19 – Randy Orton punts Vince McMahon in the temple, presumably giving him a concussion. Irony Police monitor the situation intently.

January 25 – Randy Orton wins the 22nd annual Royal Rumble match, based upon article C, chapter 12, section 8 of the WWE Booking Rule Book that states, in part: “…all overpushed ex-developmental talents must, at one point or another, win the Royal Rumble match as justification for their excessive push, in addition to having something that looks good on their resume when they’re inducted into the Hall of Fame”. Also, Edge wins his fourth WWE Championship over Jeff Hardy, after Jeff’s brother Matt turned on him after spending weeks anonymously attempting to kill him. I personally set “June 15″ as the date for their reunion.

January 28 – A spokesman for Oscar-nominated actor Mickey Rourke announces that Rourke would not be competing at Wrestlemania 25, citing WWE’s quota of using more than 6 people aged 40 or over in wrestling roles had been reached.

February 10 – Christian returns to WWE, and is basically unchanged from his previous stint, but with one notable exception: a horrifically yellowed skin tone due to “booking jaundice”. Side effects include frequent heel/face turns and an unwillingness to call Vince Russo a moron to his face.

February 10 – WWE releases “The History of Saturday Night’s Main Event” on DVD, featuring a vast selection of tremendous matches, fun angles, and cherished memories that made 1985-1992 a fun time to be a wrestling fan. Stephanie McMahon has strict orders for WWE writers to never, ever watch it.

February 15 – Edge and Triple H respectively win Elimination Chamber matches at No Way Out to capture the promotion’s two major World Titles. Fans tuning into this show looking for something fresh are still waiting. Also, Randy Orton, with the help of the 82nd Airbourne and Che Guevara’s Revolucion, is able to defeat Shane McMahon.

February 23 – Manu is released from his contract, allegedly due to a lack of heart and failure to get himself noticed. Had he destroyed a hotel room and harassed the divas, however, he would have not only gotten noticed, but found himself a main eventer as well.

March 4 – Hey, unemployment check, guess what? He’s the BOOGEYMAN! And he’s coming…TO GETCHA!

March 5 – WWE releases their very impressive “Encyclopedia” coffee-table book, which features every superstar in company history, including, yes, Chris Benoit. It doesn’t, however, include Sean O’Haire or Nathan Jones. Lesson learned: “murderers” are cooler than “people who lose MMA fights in 30 seconds/lactate due to steroid use”.

March 9 – Kizarny fizinds hizimsizelf reislizeased.

March 9 – Triple H breaks into Randy Orton’s house and assaults him on live TV. Police are unable to arrest “The Game”, however, since anyone with enough brain cells to dial 911 was watching The Closer at the time.

March 12 – Andrew “Test” Martin is found dead. Coincidentally, 20 minutes after the news is released, Vince McMahon has one of his pages go out to “buy a rug that’s at least seven feet long” and “a good sized broom”.

March 23 – Randy Orton one-ups Triple H by kissing the unconscious Stephanie McMahon on the lips. It is after this incident that WWE begins its “no-blood” policy, for fear that Orton may bleed on an opponent and pass on the hepatitis virus.

March 24 – Gail Kim returns to WWE after a three and a half year hiatus which consisted of “not being lost in the shuffle”. Kim immediately picks up where she left off in 2004: being overshadowed by uninteresting blondes.

March 27 – “12 Rounds”, starring John Cena, begins its theatrical release. The critics go on to savage Cena, except unlike in the wrestling world, Cena doesn’t shrug off the abuse to mount an elementary comeback.

March 31 – Tazz leaves WWE after the expiration of his contract, so that he could fulfill his lifelong dream: to jump to a permanently-second rate promotion, make a lackluster entrance during a match, and stand there.

April 4 – WWE holds their annual Hall of Fame ceremony, which sees Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ricky Steamboat, Howard Finkle, Koko B Ware, The Funks, The Von Erichs, and Bill Watts inducted. The event, however, is marred when Watts insists on having Ware be inducted last to give him the big send-off, thinking that it would draw a larger black audience.

April 5 – The twenty-FOURTH anniversary of Wrestlemania, also known as Wrestlemania 25, takes place in Houston, TX. Highlights include Kid Rock, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker stealing the show, Kid Rock, John Cena winning yet another World Title, Kid Rock, Rowdy Roddy Piper allegedly hitting a dropkick, Kid Rock, and Triple H successfully defending the WWE Championship over Randy Orton in a match that proved more painfully dull than a butter-knife shanking.

April 6 – JBL makes his retirement official. For his parting gifts, WWE gives him a bar of Ivory soap with his engraved initials, a year’s supply of duct tape, and a free crack at Primo Colon in the shower without fear of prosecution.

April 26 – Ricky Steamboat reaches a career pinnacle that so few are able to realize: helping jerk the curtain at WWE Backlash (tagline: tying the loose ends we didn’t feel like tying at Wrestlemania) against Chris Jericho. The match, however, is a rousing success. Well, except for the part where he spent six hours trying to remember how to apply a figure four. Also, Randy Orton and Edge win World Titles as part of the “Same Heels, Same Belts” initiative.

April 26 – Christian wins the ECW Championship from Jack Swagger, becoming the first disenfranchised former TNA talent since CM Punk to be allowed to pretend to be a real World Champion.

May 12 – The Hart Dynasty of David Hart Smith, Tyson Kidd, and Natalya come together. The event is missed by cousin Teddy Hart, who had to pawn his TV set to replenish his supply of smack.

May 17 – WWE produces their annual “Judgment Day” pay per view, which featured all the loose ends from Backlash that the writers forgot to tie up/chose to milk some more. Also, Shelton Benjamin got to actually work a pay per view. One of these developments is surprising.

May 25 – After a scheduling conflict with Denver’s Pepsi Center, due to the NBA Playoffs, Vince McMahon dedicates an entire Raw to browbeating the Denver Nuggets and their owner. Plans for an Xtreme Basketball Association, however, remain on hold.

May 29 – Mr. Kennedy is fired for pissing off Randy Orton. Just like those ex-divas like that one girl, and uh, what’s-her-chest. Kennedy’s youtube rebuttals would be broadcast within weeks, but not before tearing his labrum while readjusting the webcam.

June 7 – Extreme Rules, which is neither extreme nor ruled, took place in New Orleans, where the biggest development saw CM Punk win the World Heavyweight Title from an enfeebled Jeff Hardy. Of course, it should be noted that Jeff had just finished a grueling ladder match with Edge, and was thus “more enfeebled than usual”. Tommy Dreamer wins the ECW Championship. Also that day, Vince Russo wrote a horrible wrestling show and Stevie Richards was a midcarder with no momentum. 2000 or 2009? In addition, Batista defeats Randy Orton for the WWE Title in a steel cage match, before being suspended for ster–err, hurting his arm.

June 8 – Umaga is released one day after losing to CM Punk at Extreme Rules, apparently after he refused to go to rehab. Vince McMahon had offered me some free merchandise if I included those last eight words.

June 9 – WWE releases “Macho Madness: The Best of Macho Man Randy Savage” on DVD. Because really, the best way to get revenge on someone who allegedly had sex with your daughter is to make money off of his likeness.

June 15 – Randy Orton wins the vacant WWE Title over three other men, which is seven less people than actually watched the match on Raw. Donald Trump “buys” Monday Night Raw. The 18-34 male demographic is so excited by this incredible development that they…umm…well, yeah. At least it can’t get any worse than this.

June 19 – Candice Michelle is released after, following her 15th surgery in the last five months, she is unable to do the Go Daddy twirl anymore.

June 22 – During a special commercial free Raw, Donald Trump sells Raw back to Vince McMahon, but not before decreeing that each episode of the show would now have a “guest host”. Several voodoo enthusiasts who happen to be smarks are now pining for a few strands of Trump’s hair.

June 28 – The Miz, after spending weeks and weeks building himself up from “goofy midcard player” to “serious heel who can talk the talk” by trash talking John Cena relentlessly….loses to Cena by submission in under six minutes at The Bash. Because, well, Cena needed the win more, I guess.

June 30 – Since the smarks have dismissed ECW as “being nothing like the original” and “a glorified jobber show”, the world learned to discredit anything that happens on the telecast. That said, some dude named “Sheamus” debuted and crushed a schmoe. I’m sure this will prove irrelevant, since the smarks are never wrong.

July 3 – Edge tears his Achillies tendon. I had bet on “August 15″ and was sad to have parted ways with $20 like that.

July 7 – Hornswoggle and Chavo Guerrero begin their heated rivalry, which includes Hornswoggle humilating him at every turn. It’s believed that the previous day, Guerrero had endorsed Chris Dodd for Senate in 2010.

July 13 – Seth Green serves as Raw’s guest host from the Amway Arena in Orlando. Oddly enough, if not for the inexplicable outpouring of love from pale nerds, Green would likely have to sell Amway for a living.

July 14 – Allied Powers, a DVD commemorating the best tag teams in wrestling history, is released. The DVD is hosted by John Morrison and The Miz, who at the time were not only WWE’s best tag team, but WWE’s only tag team as well.

July 26 – Jeff Hardy defeats CM Punk to regain the World Heavyweight Title, proving that if you’re an unreliable drug addict who’s about ten minutes away from having police ransack your home in search of your impressive cache of elicit drugs and PEDs, then the warm and friendly WWE will still push you to the moon, so long as borderline autistic children buy your cheaply made arm bands.

July 26 – Tommy Dreamer loses the ECW Championship in Philadelphia to Christian. Then again, doesn’t Tommy always lose in Philly?

July 27 – With the probe from US Congress on steroids in wrestling winding down, the coast is clear for Chris Masters to return to WWE. Also, Shaquille O’Neal hosts Raw, still no doubt depressed and apathetic toward life after Kobe won a ring without him.

July 30 – Brian Kendrick parts ways with “The”

August 3 – Jeremy Piven hosts Raw, cannot wait for “Summer Fest”. It would go down as the greatest verbal botch in the history of professional wrestling, surpassing the time Jim Ross called a match between Kevin Nash and Triple H “great”.

August 4 – Matt and Jeff Hardy reunite, proving that time (and drug induced haziness) can lead to one forgiving his brother for burning down his house, killing his dog, and attempting murder on him. Awww.

August 10 – Triple H’s search for Shawn Michaels leads to a corporate cafeteria, where Shawn is now working as a chef. Feel free to insert your own “Braden Walker” joke here.

August 23 – Summerslam proves to be a solid show with plenty of exciting in ring action, except for the part where William Regal, after never having competed at Summerslam during his decade-long tenure in the promotion, jobs out in 8 seconds to Christian.

August 25 – Drew McIntyre, after an 18 month hiatus, returns to television and immediately performs at a higher level than he was once accustomed to. FDA immediately begins investigation into new-fangled “time delay steroids”.

August 25 – The Rise and Fall of WCW is released on DVD. It’s notable for WCW jobber/agent Mike Graham claiming to have invented everything in the history of time, including the Mustache Ride.

August 29 – Jeff Hardy’s contract expires, giving him more time to snort, er inject, I mean smoke, umm….paint murals.

September 2 – Rey Mysterio begins a 30 day suspension after testing positive for an illegal drug. Rey says he had a prescription for the drug, but didn’t feel like digging through the mountain of discarded needles and steroid vials on his living room floor to look for it.

September 7 – The WWE roster is shellshocked, when 85 year old Bob Barker proves to be far better and way more natural on the microphone than any of them could hope to be, when he hosts Monday Night Raw.

September 11 – Jeff Hardy is arrested in North Carolina after a raid of his home uncovers a staggering amount of recreational, as well as performing enhancing, drugs. In other news, flipping duh.

September 13 – WWE introduces a new concept event, Breaking Point. In a night of submission based matches, Shawn Michaels taps out in Montreal to Legacy, Undertaker submits in a re-enactment of the Montreal finish, and John Cena refuses to submit to bad 1980’s action-movie torture techniques. The event wins several awards, the most prestigious of which was “Best Event Named for a Long Forgotten Post-Grunge Band of This Decade”.

September 14 – Trish Status hosts Monday Night Raw, sees the state of things around her backstage, remembers why she left the smoldering pile of suck in the first place, and couldn’t get out of the building fast enough.

September 15 – Smackdown releases their tenth anniversary collection on DVD, featuring the 100 best moments in the show’s decade-long run. Well, 100 best moments that don’t include certain unnameable people, that is.

September 16 – Linda McMahon announces her bid for the US Senate in 2010, hoping to run against incumbent Christopher Dodd. Dodd’s campaign staff begins to pore through the last eight years of Monday Night Raw, most notably any footage of her husband as a heel, to begin formulating their attack ads. Wrestling fans who hate the McMahons form a line to help.

September 21 – Lillian Garcia celebrates her final night in WWE. To commemorate her career, a three minute highlight video is aired, with the voiceover person mispronouncing about thirty words.

September 29 – Escobar debuts. I don’t know who he is either.

October 4 – Hell in a Cell features three (you guessed it) Hell in a Cell matches, none of which feature blood. They are, naturally, all rematches of Breaking Point’s submission matches, except the titles change hands this time with Undertaker and Randy Orton winning the belts. The logo for the event was of a horse being bludgeoned to death by the McMahon family.

October 8 – Word breaks that CM Punk’s opening match World Title loss to Undertaker at Hell in a Cell was due to him falling out of favor with management over comments he made about refusing to dress nicely outside the ring, citing that John Cena is immune to having to. Ardent Punk fans are not worried, however, since the next mass-failing of the wellness policy will see Punk as champion again, most assuredly.

October 14 – Hall of Famer Captain Lou Albano passes away. No snarkiness necessary, because Lou seemed like a decent guy who entertained millions. RIP, Captain.

October 16 – Shane McMahon announces his intent to leave WWE, effective New Year’s Day 2010. Part one of the plan to destroy UFC from the inside is now underway.

October 20 – Attempts to sign Ring of Honor cornerstone Nigel McGuinness fall through, and McGuinness instead signs with TNA, where he immediately becomes main event player Desmond Wolfe. WWE is internally disappointed, because Paul Burchill could have really used a new partner in jobbing endeavors to Yoshi Tatsu and Shelton Benjamin.

October 20 – WWE releases a three disc set about the career of Batista. Like the real Batista, the DVD packaging shatters into a million pieces if brushed against a piece of felt.

October 20 – Jim Ross suffers a third attack of Bell’s Palsy; still more pleasant to look at than Michael Cole.

October 25 – Team Smackdown beats Team Raw in a 7 on 7 match at Bragging Rights. The following day, WWE announced a special contest: $1,000,000 to anyone who can name all fourteen participants in that match in under 30 seconds. Even the writers were unable to succeed. Also, John Cena defeats Randy Orton for the WWE Title in an iron man match, which was more grueling on the fans.

November 2 – Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne host Raw. The embarassing moment of the night comes from the realization from all that Ozzy is more fun to listen to than Michael Cole.

November 16 – On my 26th birthday, Rowdy Roddy Piper hosts Raw, yells incoherently. If anything, it was a sobering reminder for me to stay off drugs and to not befriend Ric Flair.

November 17 – WWE releases a three disc set of rare matches featuring TNA superstar Hulk Hogan.

November 22 – The 23rd annual Survivor Series is a solid affair, marked with classic elimination matches and two good World Title matches. The evening’s highlight, of course, is Rey Mysterio’s tri-weekly “Leech Eddie Guerrero’s famous spots to show that I’m a loving guy” routine getting horrifically booed by the jaded fanbase. But then again, do we blame a guy who’s honoring the man who helped conceive his expressionless son?

November 23 – Jesse Ventura (hosting Raw) and Vince McMahon provide commentary for Raw’s main event, giving me a nostalgic twinkle in my eye. Sadly, Ventura doesn’t refer to Carlito as “chico”.

November 24 – Festus transforms into Luke Gallows, going from “full retard” to “devoted follower of CM Punk” aka “smark” aka “not quite full retard, but damn close”.

December 1 – The History of the World Heavyweight Title is released on DVD, which has broken up lineage in two eras: “everything before 1960″ and “certain parts of 2004″.

December 4 – Umaga dies at the age of 36 following a series of heart attacks. If you strictly get your news from WWE programming, then this is the first you’ve heard of it.

December 7 – Sheamus viciously assaults Raw host Mark Cuban. It’s not the first time an executive owner of a sports/entertainment franchise is attacked on Raw, but it is, in fact, the first time that one with credibility in the media is.

December 13 – Sheamus defeats John Cena in a table match to win the WWE Championship at TLC. The fanbase is divided. Half are upset that Cena jobbed to an unproven talent. The other half is upset because Sheamus winning the title doesn’t fit into their “armchair booking” plans.

December 14 – Dennis Miller slurs his way through a Raw hosting gig, which features the 2009 WWE Slammy Awards. The fans were the recipients of the award for “Best Bleeting Sheep”.

December 15 – To help pay for Jeff Hardy’s legal fund, a 3 disc DVD set of his WWE tenure is released.

December 16 – Bret Hart announced to be re-signing with WWE. I’d make a joke, but my brain exploded.

December 28 – After hyping a WWE Title match between the two all through a two hour Raw, John Cena def. Sheamus by DQ in a matter of minutes. There’s a metaphor in there about “all hype, no payoff”, but since it’s the end of the year, and I’m exhausted, I’ll let the proceedings speak for themselves.

Happy new year, everyone. We’re going to need it.

When he isn’t watching WWE, TNA, or his beloved Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies, Justin Henry can be found writing. It is his passion as well as his goal in life to become a well-regarded (as well as well-paid) columnist or author. He tweets at twitter.com/notoriousjrh and facebooks himself at http://www.facebook.com/notoriousjrh.

Order the new DVD WWE: Jeff Hardy – My Life, My Rules by clicking here.

Order the WWE: History of the World Heavyweight Championship DVD set by clicking here

From the ring to your wall – WWE REAL.BIG Wall Graphics on sale now at Fat Head!

Over the course of a decade, there have been many memorable and great NFL games. Super Bowls, playoff upsets, and even some historic regular season meetings that were about more than a win or a loss. In looking back at the decade I can only think of one NFL game that meant more to the decade than any other. It wasn’t a Super Bowl, nor was it even a conference playoff game. When you think of all of the NFL games played in the last ten years, I can’t think of a game with more ramifications and controversy over the decade than the infamous “Tuck Rule Game.”

It was a cold, snowy night in Massachusetts on January 19, 2002. An AFC divisional playoff game between the underdog New England Patriots and the Super Bowl favorite Oakland Raiders would change the course of history. The blizzard conditions of Foxboro Stadium already made turned this game into a classic before the dreaded “tuck play.” Trailing by three with less than two minutes to play, an unknown quarterback named Tom Brady would forever become engrained in NFL history.

Coming into the game, the Raiders were heavy favorites. Under Jon Gruden, the Raiders offense led by Rich Gannon was arguably the best in the NFL. The Patriots were a fun team to watch, yet nobody took them seriously. Tom Brady was a sixth-round draft pick who took the starting job due to an injury to quarterback Drew Bledsoe. Bill Belichick was the failed coach with the Cleveland Browns, while Gruden was the whiz-kid offensive mastermind credited with turning the dark days of Oakland around. The stage was set for a Raiders win as NFL fans were counting the days down to a Super Bowl matchup between the reigning Super Bowl champs the St. Louis Rams and the Oakland Raiders in an offensive showcase. This all looked like a formality until Walt Coleman reversed a call that would have likely sealed the Super Bowl showcase.

Tom Brady was driving the Patriots down the field with under two minutes to go and down by three points. The Patriots had cut into the Raiders 7-0 halftime lead and were a slightly out of field goal range for the win. Tuck rule or not, this was already a game that would be remembered for the millions like me who watched it live. The hopes of Patriots fans came crashing down when Brady fumbled the ball after being hit by Charles Woodson. The fumble was recovered by Greg Biekert and the Raiders had the ball and an inevitable win. However, an overlooked new rule instituted in 1999 was cited by referee Walt Coleman that changed the course of history for the decade.

In 1999 NFL Rule 3, Section 21, Article 2, Note 2 was written into NFL law. The rule states – When [an offensive] player is holding the ball to pass it forward, any intentional forward movement of his arm starts a forward pass, even if the player loses possession of the ball as he is attempting to tuck it back toward his body. Also, if the player has tucked the ball into his body and then loses possession, it is a fumble. – Wiki.

Coleman concluded that since Brady’s arm was moving forward as he fumbled the ball, that in essence Brady was tucking the ball during the play. The Patriots got the ball back. Brady performed his first of many postseason clutch plays, getting the Pats to the 29-yard line of Oakland on a 13-yard pass to forgotten New England hero David Patten. Adam Vinatieri subsequently came onto the field and kicked one of the most memorable 45-yard field goals in NFL history to tie the game. The kick was so memorable due to the windy and snowy conditions at the time of the kick.

The score tied the game and the Pats would win on their first drive in overtime. A Vinatieri 23-yard field goal ended the game and changed the course of NFL history for the decade. The Patriots would go on to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers for the AFC title the following week in Pittsburgh, and later beat the St. Louis Rams in one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history.

What made this game so important to NFL history? For one, the Patriots would have likely lost the game without the reversed fumble. The dynasty of the Bill Belichick and Tom Brady New England Patriots would have one less Super Bowl. Who knows if the Patriots would have ever been back to the Super Bowl? It is entirely conceivable that Tom Brady never starts another game for the Patriots. It is also entirely conceivable that Bill Belichick never wins a Super Bowl in New England, is replaced, the team is diced, and New England falls back into years of mediocrity. The futures of the most accomplished quarterback, coach, and franchise of the decade may have never been realized if not for the “tuck rule.”

The game also had tremendous impact on the entire NFL. For one, the Oakland Raiders we see today may have never existed. Who knows how things played out if the Raiders went to the Super Bowl? The chances are pretty good that Jon Gruden may have never left the team and thus the futures of Oakland, Tampa Bay, and hundreds of players were impacted. There would be no Manning-Brady rivalry or talk as the decade closes. Peyton Manning would be the hands-down greatest NFL quarterback of the decade. Maybe Pittsburgh wins in 2000 and the destiny of the Steelers change? Maybe great players like Randy Moss never get to play in the Super Bowl? Maybe the Miami Dolphins remain the only team to go undefeated throughout the regular season? Maybe the Indianapolis Colts do it sooner? Maybe Rich Gannon retires as an NFL Hall of Fame quarterback? Maybe the Philadelphia Eagles win in 2004 against someone else? Maybe Kurt Warner wins two Super Bowls in a row and it is the St. Louis Rams that are franchise of the decade and not the Patriots? Maybe just maybe, NFL history changes for everyone.

The bottom line here is that there is no other game in the last ten years that has impacted NFL history more than the AFC 2002 divisional title game between the New England Patriots and the Oakland Raiders. The irony of this is that it wasn’t even a Super Bowl that impacted the NFL as much as a second-round playoff game. Let’s not forget the year and the meaning that a team entitled “Patriots” meant to America in going and winning the Super Bowl. For all of these reasons and more, the “tuck game” more than any other is the most memorable NFL game of the decade.

Get your NFL jerseys discounted now on Amazon.com by clicking here

Check out the NFL Film Classics – Legends of Autumn, Vols. 1-3 DVD by clicking here.

Join ESPN Insider today for the best sports analysis online, plus ESPN The Magazine!

Your favorite NFL teams and players gone big – Fathead.com

Order the Madden NFL 10: Official Strategy Game Guide by clicking here.

It was certainly an interesting year for the World Wrestling Entertainment. The WWE was full of interesting stories, great matches, and some of most controversial angles in years. Rather than look back myself at the WWE in 2009, I am joined by a collection of pro wrestling writers from CamelClutchBlog.com. We all don’t see it the same, although there seems to be one unanimous agreement from all of us. Sit back and relive the WWE 2009 through the words of the writers at CamelClutchBlog.com.

WWE Superstar of the Year

Eric Gargiulo – Randy Orton. By no means is Randy Orton my favorite wrestler, nor do I particular enjoy watching him wrestle. However, you cannot deny the year that Randy Orton had in the WWE. Orton was the top dog on RAW for most of the year. He wrestled in the main-event at the 25th WrestleMania. He had three world championship title reigns, beating John Cena twice and winning the title in the six-man tag team match at WWE Backlash. I am actually starting to enjoy him more now that he is scaled back a bit on RAW and isn’t all over the show. He may not have had any Match of the Year candidates, but he certainly never stunk up the joint. I am not a big fan, but I have to give props to Randy Orton for the WWE 2009 Wrestler of the Year.

Todd Frizzell – The Undertaker. Without a shadow of a doubt, The Undertaker is one of the most popular WWE Superstars of this decade, and in my frank opinion, the WWE Superstar Of The Year 2009! Despite getting older and closer to retirement, Undertaker had several classic matches this year, most notably his match against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 25. The victor of that historical bout over 10 years in the making, was Undertaker, keeping his WrestleMania undefeated streak thriving, at least for one more year. After feuding with C.M. Punk for quite some time, Taker finally beat punk to capture his World Heavyweight Championship, at WWE’s Hell In A Cell PPV, in an official Hell In A Cell match. As I said, Undertaker still holds onto his belt, most recently defeating Batista to retain it, at WWE’s latest PPV, TLC. With all of this considered, I do not even think twice, about awarding The Undertaker as the WWE Superstar Of The Year!

Chris Behringer – CM Punk. A lot of people love him. A lot of people hate him. 2009 is the year CM Punk needed. A heel turn into his straight edge holier than thou persona & a feud with Jeff Hardy has given Punk a chance to shine as one of WWE’s top heels. It’s going to be very hard for CM Punk to have a 2010 as good as his 2009 was unless he can capture his first WWE Title. Since coming to WWE, he has added the ECW, Intercontinental, World Tag Team, & World Heavyweight championships to his resume. Capturing WWE’s top title may make Punk the best star to grace a WWE ring in the past few years. Congrats. to Punk on a big year.

Brock Koller – Chris Jericho. John Cena may have won the Slammy for Superstar of the Year, but Chris Jericho rightfully deserves the moniker of Wrestler of the Year. There are two areas in professional wrestling that a performer needs to excel in to become wrestler of the year – in ring skills and mic skills. As with most years, Jericho was one of the top athletes in WWE. He had many blockbuster matches with Rey Mysterio in 2009 and made the tag team division as interesting as it possibly could be. As for his mic skills? They were stellar. In fact, if I were still in high school, I would have watched Jericho promos to study for the SATs vocabulary section! How many times have you heard gelatinous parasitic tapeworms in an interview? Don’t lie. What are you a sycophant and a hypocrite? Chris Jericho for 2009 was, indeed, the best at what he does.

WWE Guest Host of the Year

Eric Gargiulo – Jesse Ventura. This was a tougher one to call than any of the previous awards here at the Camel Clutch Blog. As much as I loved Shaquille O’Neal, Jesse edged him out as my favorite Guest Host this year. For one thing, Jesse was just awesome on his promos in the ring. He really got it and still gets it even years after his pro wrestling career has ended. He seemed like he wanted to be there and put 100% into the gig. If you think about it, it was Jesse that really got Sheamus over as a big time star. Without Jesse’s promo and introduction it is arguable that Sheamus would not have gotten over as well as he did in the pre-match with Cena. Jesse’s contribution is often overlooked. The icing on the cake was the reunion of Jesse and McMahon on commentary. They sounded great and it brought me back to my childhood. For that reason alone Jesse “the Body” Ventura is the WWE Guest Host of the Year.

Todd Frizzell – Dennis Miller! Just Kidding! Did You Actually Think I was Being Serious? Let me put it this way…I’m being about as serious as Dennis Miller’s jokes on RAW! Does that answer any and all potential questions? Anyway, The REAL Winner Is…

Bob Barker! As I’m sure we can all agree upon, the majority of WWE RAW Guest Hosts have been pretty bad, with the exception of Bob Barker and a few others. Barker was the guest host on the September 7th addition of RAW, and he really did deliver. He was funny, entertaining knew what he was doing, and at least acted like he was genuinely having a swell time. Basically, he did everything that Dennis Miller didn’t, and if you didn’t see Dennis Miller on RAW, trust me, that’s a good thing! Barker’s presence was particularly enjoyable, when he brought out “The Price Is RAW”, punked out Chris Jericho, and literally punched out Chavo Guerrero! All in all, he was a very entertaining addition of the show, and therefore deserves, more than any other guest host bar none, the WWE RAW Guest Host Of The Year Award! Congratulations Mr. Barker!

Chris Behringer – Bob Barker. The Price is Raw was easily the most entertaining episode of Raw WWE has had since this whole inception of a weekly guest host started. Barker easily made up for hosts who have gotten over like a fart in church (ZZ Top, Cedric the Entertainer, & Al Sharpton all come to mind) through his humor & quick wit and really seemed to connect with everyone who was watching. Let’s face it; who didn’t love “The Price is Right” when Barker was hosting?

Brock Koller – Bob Barker. Had to be Bob Barker. Nobody knew how to hold their own like Mr. Barker. He was relaxed, professional, witty, smart, and not cringe-inducing like so many others. Was there need for him or any of the others? Absolutely not. But if I had to choose the best, I would put all my money on Bob because the price is right.

WWE Match Of The Year

Eric Gargiulo – Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker from WrestleMania 25. Shawn Michaels and Undertaker had what will go down as a 31 minute WrestleMania classic. These two hadn’t missed a beat since their exciting series of matches over ten years ago. The match was just simply great and had 70,000 plus going nuts from entrance to finish. The old dogs showed the current class of wrestlers what stealing the show at WrestleMania is all about. I can’t think of another match that even touched this one as a Match of the Year. Although, I’d like to thrown an honorable mention for Degeneration-X vs. Undertaker and John Cena vs. JeriShow. I thought this was a very underrated match that could have given WrestleMania 25 a run for the money if it went a little longer.

Todd Frizzell – Shawn Michaels VS. The Undertaker From WrestleMania 25! This is by far the easiest catagory of them all, for The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels from Wrestlemania 25, is not only the best match of the year, but the best WWE match I have seen in years! To me, this could very possibly be the WWE match of the entire decade! Hell, the match of the century! This match was incredible, from an athletic standpoint, to a psychological standpoint. This match featured some of the most intense 30 plus minutes, in the entire storied history of the WWE! There were more false finished than I count, more holy you know what moments than Dennis Miller has bad joked, and the atmosphere was nothing short of electric! Early in the contest, The Undertaker went for his patented super dive over the top to the outside, by caught his legs on the top rope, plummeting head first to the floor. I seriously remember thinking that his neck was broken, but thankfully he turned out to be fine, and unbelievably, finished the match, and had a classic one at that! I commend the Undertaker for his passion and desired he portrays! Again, to reiterate, this was, in my opinion, a five star match, and defiantly the WWE Match Of The Year!

Chris Behringer – The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels, WrestleMania 25. Words simply cannot do the match justice. For 45 minutes, 2 WWE legends had those attending the event & watching at home eating out of the palms of their hands. The match had a great pace, utilized ring psychology, false finishes, & most importantly, told a good story. If you’re going to watch any match from WWE this year, this is it.

Brock Koller – Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels WrestleMania 25. No question about. It’s a match I have been craving for since January 1998 and when it finally occurred, it far exceeded my expectations. Match of the Year was Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 25. The buildup to the match could have been better executed, forgoing the JBL and Vladimir Kozlov plot points, but the ends certainly justified the means. The two sure to be Hall-of-Famers and WWE veterans put on a show that should be displayed in a frame in a museum (a frame that reads Blu-rays). If you are ever put on trial to defend wrestling as entertaining – this should be the only evidence you’ll need. This was not only the match of the year, it was Match of the Decade.

WWE Angle/Storyline Of The Year

Eric Gargiulo – Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker. I was torn between this and Trump and originally I gave it to Trump. Then I started writing and while you have HBK-Undertaker going into 2010, the Trump angle only lasted a week. In fairness to the Trump angle, it got the WWE more mainstream publicity than anything since the last Trump angle. However, the angle between Shawh Michaels and the Undertaker was something we could all sink our teeth into. As much credit as they get for the match, I think the angle/story really turned this one into an all-time classic. The fact that the angle is continuing today and looks to be building towards a WrestleMania rematch seals the deal for me.

Todd Frizzell – The John Cena VS. Randy Orton Saga! In one of the longest running feuds in WWE history, literally lasting over two years, the Randy Orton vs. John Cena feud was an emotional thrill ride. In my opinion, this feud has been very underestimated throughout the WWE fan base. Although I’ll readily admit that it probably lasted a bit long, there was a lot of solid stuff that came out of it. A few memorable matches these two men had in 2009, just to name a few, was their I-Quit match at Breaking Point, there Hell In A Cell matchup at Hell In A Cell, as well as their outstanding sixty minute iron man match at Bragging Rights. The thing I personally enjoy about Cena/Orton matches, is not necessarily the actual physical action taking place, but the magnificent ring psychology and drama that both men bring to the table. It is truly an art form, and often unappreciated nowadays. Anyway, as I have stated, this was a lengthy, but at times very productive feud over the WWE Championship, and deserves to be referred to as the WWE Angle Of The Year!

Chris Behringer - ECW. My award for this one actually goes to the ECW brand. As the summer rolled around, many people knew that Tommy Dreamer’s contract was going to expire. WWE decided to put Dreamer in a main event storyline on ECW & have him chase the ECW Title; the added stipulation being if Dreamer didn’t win the belt, he would retire. Dreamer went into Extreme Rules portraying the underdog & captured his second ECW Title by defeating Christian & Jack Swagger in a hardcore Triple Threat hardcore rules match at the Extreme Rules PPV. WWE definitely pulled one over on even the smartest fans. Everyone, myself included, thought that match was going to be Dreamer’s swan song. It’s nice to be proven wrong every now & then.

Brock Koller – Donald Trump buys Raw. I could not think of any angle that led to matches that I would consider angle of the year. Orton-HHH? Cena-Orton? Punk-Hardy? Meh. The most memorable angle to me was Donald Trump buying Raw. The angle only lasted two weeks, but its effects lasted throughout the rest of the year with the guest host project. Numerous news outlets were fooled by this faux exchange of ownership which was only the start of the mainstream publicity WWE would garner from this angle, i.e. every sports guest host shown on SportsCenter. While they could have prolonged this angle further, the shortness of the execution is largely overshadowed by the magnitude of the ripple effects.

WWE Story Of The Year

Eric Gargiulo – Bret Hart returning to the WWE. I am sorry but there is no bigger story in my mind than this one. The incident at Survivor Series 97 has been the catalyst for over a decade worth of business. Without that angle, we may have never had the Mr. McMahon character which led to the Austin-McMahon angle, which turned around business. The fact that Bret Hart has never appeared on WWE RAW since the incident, is absolutely huge in my mind. Personally I always thought it would happen, but I never thought it would take this long. I can’t think of a bigger story for my website alone from the wrestling world than this one. This is huge and the angle beginning next week could be the start of the 2010 WWE Angle of the Year.

Todd Frizzell – The Death Of Former WWE Superstar Eddie “Umaga” Fatu. Although very, very sad, the news of former WWE Superstar, Eddie “Umaga” Fatu’s death, was shocking enough to be considered the WWE Story Of The Year. Umaga passed away on December 4, 2009 at the young age of only 36 years old, as a result of multiple heart attacks, in his Houston, Texas home. After no reaction after efforts by medical personnel at a local intensive care unit, Umaga’s family made the decision to take him off of life support. This story, was and still is, being talked about throughout the entire professional wrestling community. Therefore, this break out story, which shoot the very foundations of the professional wrestling world, will consequently be awarded with the WWE Story Of The Year Award.

Chris Behringer – Bret Hart. This is a tough one. You’d think that the deaths of former stars or Jeff Hardy’s epic fail by being busted in a drug raid would be the winner. But as 2009 comes to a close, one story has gotten a lot of buzz. The story being that Bret Hart, after a 12 year absence from WWE, has signed a short term contract that lasts up through WrestleMania. After Survivor Series 1997, NOBODY thought they would ever see Bret Hart in a WWE ring again. But as we’ve learned time again, never say never in the wrestling business.

Brock Koller - Bret Hart. Wow. This choice would have been drastically different if I didn’t procrastinate until the final days of the year to write this. Without a shadow of a doubt, the story of the year is 12 years in the making and while it is the story of the year, it is certainly in the top 5 stories of the decade list – the return of Bret Hart. While the actual return won’t start until the new year (new decade), the announcement of said return is bigger than anything else that happened this year. My original choice for story of the year would have been Shane McMahon resigning from WWE, which also doesn’t go into effect until next year. The departure of Shane is monumental just for it bringing the future of WWE in question. But if the return of the Excellence of Execution is any indication, the future of WWE is looking a bit brighter. The impact (no pun intended) of Hart remains to be seen and will be heavily critiqued in 2010, but the announcement itself is momentous in its own right. No other return could bring the shockwaves this one did. And it came just at the right time, too, it seems. This story is the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be in the year 2009.

Order the new DVD WWE: Jeff Hardy – My Life, My Rules by clicking here.

Order the WWE: History of the World Heavyweight Championship DVD set by clicking here

From the ring to your wall – WWE REAL.BIG Wall Graphics on sale now at Fat Head!

PART 5: I Need Ruthless Aggression

In 2001, Jakks came upon a technology that would forever change the landscape of wrestling figures - Real Scan.

They were able to computerize a wrestler’s actual body and turn their characteristics, attributes, and proportions into a figure by scanning the real life superstar. Wowzers. Jakks’ first attempt after their discovery came in the form of R3 Tech Series 1.

Knowing that body scanning was used in the processing of the figures made you want to think these figures were better. They were, compared to the TTL line, but they weren’t what was being advertised. The faces still resembled those from the Titan Tron’s with a little improvement here and there, but they were still in the same style, the only difference was that there was no chip on the foot!

The R3 style brought about such series as Draft (when Raw and Smackdown first broke apart from another), NWO, and Wrestlemania X8. A funny thing happened in R3’s run. The WWF became WWE and when its Unchained Fury line first came on store shelves they were in red cards with the WWF logo on them, then WWF switched to WWE, soon the shelves were filled with yellow carded WWE Unchained Fury figures. It’s pretty sad if someone bought both versions of each figure. Not naming names.

Then Vince McMahon came out on WWE TV and demanded of all his superstars that they display Ruthless Aggression. Jakks took that to heart and upped their game. They immensely improved their look and created the Ruthless Aggression style of figure. The figures looked more like the real life person and it was less, if you may, awkward looking than the R3 style. Ruthless Aggression Series 1 included John Cena, Eric Bischoff, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Chavo Guerrero, and Brock Lesnar. New stars for the new era of wrestling figures.

Since that day, Jakks has hit the mark on everything it delivered. It soon came out with a tag team set known as Adrenaline, using the same RA style. Then in 2004, Jakks hit a homerun with its Classic Superstars series which looked to be made for collectors more so than children. With those three lineups leading the way, Jakks was on a roll.

But all good things must come to an end.

Part 6: Goodbye Jakks, Hello Mattel

With Ruthless Aggression, Classics, and Adrenalines leading the way for much of the 00 decade, Jakks was on a roll.

Then a falling out occurred between Jakks and WWE. I’m sure you can Google it. It involved some swindling and such, but whatever the case, the wrestling figure license was not renewed with Jakks and WWE decided to go with Mattel. Jakks, meanwhile, will start making TNA figures.

So on January 1, 2010, another new day dawns in the wrestling figure world.

Mattel has an assortment of different series for its inauguration including Basic, Elite, Superstars Match Ups, Pay Per View, 2-Pack, Entrance Greats, Flex Force, and Flex Force with Accessories. What was that now? The same series only with accessories? I feel STOMP syndrome is about to hit us.

What Mattel needs to do is they need to focus on only a few series, not 54. They need to focus on a few and make them right. At first look, the styles seemed more like He-Man figures than WWE figures, but the more I look at them, the more they are growing on me, but not all 8 series (last I counted). 8 is a bit much. But they are just coming out, so let’s give them a chance.

After all, it took Jakks 6 years to become the best figure developer in history.

We’ll give Mattel until 2016 to take that title.

I mean, what’s the worst they can do? Make a Rick Rude figure with his hands attached to his pants?

That’s already been done.

Go figure.

- Brock Koller

Find all of your WWE figures and accessories new and old on Amazon.com by clicking here.

Get WWE figures at Wal-Mart

The proposed Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. fight has put boxing back into the 24-hour news cycle. I can’t think of a more anticipated fight since Mike Tyson fought Evander Holyfield. Unlike Tyson-Holyfield, a few drops of blood may be the difference between the Super Fight of the Century becoming a reality or a distant dream.

I was ecstatic when it was reported that Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather agreed to fight in March. It was the fight that I and everyone had hoped to see for the last several years. Now it looks like the fight is on the verge of falling apart. Pacquiao has refused Mayweather’s request to have blood drawn for a drug test 30 days before the fight. Pacquiao’s camp is now threatening to sue Mayweather for the implication that the Pac Man is using some kind of enhancement drug. There is even talk that John McCain may wind up getting involved to negotiate a compromise. This once promising Super Fight has turned into a big joke.

Nobody looks good from either side of this story and both parties have turned the sport of boxing into a complete farce. Mayweather has put a big mark on the sport for making one of the sport’s biggest stars look like he uses steroids. Pacquiao has brought question marks upon himself and a sport that has been marred by skepticism for decades for his outright refusal to take the requested tests. The sport looks like a big laughingstock being on the verge of losing a billion dollar fight over a fighter that in essence refuses a drug test. There are no winners here and you have two fighters that could have revitalized the sport, that have instead put boxing back another ten years.

The whole story has turned into a complete joke. Rather than take the test and show Mayweather that he is the real deal inside of the ring, Pacquiao has threatened to take legal action. I also think that there is serious cause to question Manny Pacquiao and why he is so adamant against taking a drug test. He has offered countless urine samples but refuses to have blood drawn before the fight. However, there is a video posted on You Tube from HBO’s 24/7 show showing Pacquiao having blood taken the week before the Ricky Hatton fight. Not only was Pacquiao smiling, but he went right back to work the next day, and put on the performance of a lifetime against Ricky Hatton. Knowing that this video would likely surface, I have no idea why Pacquiao claims to suddenly be afraid of needles and getting blood drawn so closely to fight night.

Manny Pacquiao getting blood drawn before the Hatton fight

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum has accused the Mayweather camp of using this demand to get out of the fight. Quite honestly, I don’t think there is anything wrong at all about this demand from Mayweather’s camp. Mayweather is undefeated and if he truly feels there is something dishonest about Pacquiao, why not make the demand? Mayweather has no problem submitting to these same tests. The outrage by the Pacquiao camps makes no sense to me whatsoever. I can’t imagine an impartial party knowing nothing about these two, defending the guy who refuses to submit blood for a drug test when he has willingly done so in the past either.

Boxing has a huge opportunity here to do something big. The UFC has been blowing away boxing for the last several years. Boxing could deliver a huge punch to the UFC and MMA with this fight and subsequent rematches. The bar would be set so high by Mayweather vs. Pacquiao numbers, that it could take years for the UFC to even come close to matching or beating those numbers. Anytime Dana White or an MMA writer speaks about the death of boxing, boxing writers and fans could throw these numbers right back in their faces. It would also come at a time where Dana White has been unable to put together his sport’s biggest Super Fight. Boxing has the potential to follow up on this momentum and start a full-fledged war for the combat sports fan base against the UFC. That isn’t likely to happen.

So today a few weeks after teasing the sports public with the biggest boxing fight in decades, fans once again are getting ready to have the rug pulled out right from under them. The latest news is that the two are working on compromise to make this happen. Compromise or not, you still have to wonder why the Pacquiao camp has made such a big deal over the same test that Mayweather would have to take. I have never seen a sport in all of my life that has so many problems putting together fights that should be no-brainers. Could you imagine a New England Patriots vs. New Orleans Saints Super Bowl being in jeopardy because one team refused to submit to random NFL drug testing? I couldn’t, and only in boxing could this happen.

At least this won’t put a black mark on pro boxing. The sport already has so many black marks that there isn’t any room left to scar.

Update: Just to clear up some confusion, Pacquiao does not want to submit to random, Olympic-style drug tests. As stated above, Pacquiao claims to be very concerned about giving blood 30-days or less before the fight. Pacquiao has agreed to urine tests. Pacquiao has also refused to comply with any mediation led by John McCain. I hope this clears up any confusion.

Check out the book The Fearless Harry Greb: Biography of a Tragic Hero of Boxing by clicking here.

See the documentary Tyson on DVD by clicking here.

To purchase the boxing video game Fight Night: Round 4, click here.