In a league as highly competitive as the UFL has been to date, there are bound to be some newly-minted rivalries that have been a part of that. Looking ahead, however, here are the rivalries fans will want to keep an eye on during the 2011 UFL season:

1. Marty Schottenheimer vs. Jerry Glanville. Football fans who remember the late-1980s matchups between the Cleveland Browns and the Houston Oilers will look forward to this year’s games between the Virginia Destroyers and the Hartford Colonials. Schottenheimer and Glanville know each other well, so the only secrets for the first game of the 2011 season will be each team’s personnel.

This renewal of the Schottenheimer-Glanville rivalry is 20 years in the making, and it will be well worth the wait.

2. Las Vegas Locomotives vs. Virginia Destroyers. How can you have a rivalry between a two-time defending league champion and a team which hasn’t yet played its first game? Well, it’s an extension of the Locos-Florida Tuskers rivalry which played out six times in the UFL’s first two seasons. As of Thursday night, the Destroyers had 17 ex-Tuskers on their active roster, meaning the passion for the games between Las Vegas and Virginia should be there.

Remember, of the six games the Locos and Tuskers played, five were decided by a touchdown or less – including the 2009 and 2010 UFL Championship Games.

3. Omaha vs. Sacramento. Not the teams. The fan bases. The Nighthawks sold out all four games at venerable Rosenblatt Stadium last year, setting new UFL single-game attendance records along the way. The Mountain Lions had crowds of at least 19,000 in three of four games at Hornet Stadium last year, and finished second in the league in average home attendance.

The UFL’s second game of 2011 will be in Sacramento between the Mountain Lions and Nighthawks, and Mountain Lions fans no doubt will look to get a head start on the race for attendance supremacy on August 14.

4. The new breed of UFL quarterbacks. Quarterbacks tend to want to out-perform other quarterbacks, and there could be some new rivalries formed among the league’s new pivots, like Hartford’s Colt Brennan and Jarrod Johnson, Omaha’s Eric Crouch and Virginia’s Pat White.

All four of those quarterbacks have proven themselves with high-quality play at the collegiate level. Now, they will look to take that high level of play into their first UFL seasons. The one or two who can do that might just face off in the league’s third Championship Game.

5. Las Vegas Locomotives vs. Sacramento Mountain Lions. Sure, the all-time series between these two organizations is 3-1 in favor of the Locos, but there are plenty of reasons to like this rivalry. For one, for the most part, it has been rather competitive. Their first two meetings in 2009 were tight affairs going into the fourth quarter, and the second meeting in 2010 was a seesaw game in which Sacramento scored the first 21 points, then Las Vegas scored the next 17, and the game was decided on a Fabrizio Scaccia field goal inside of two minutes.

Add to that the mix of Head Coaches Jim Fassel (Las Vegas) and Dennis Green (Sacramento), as well as the possible returns of Mountain Lions quarterback Daunte Culpepper and running backs Cory Ross (Sacramento) and DeDe Dorsey (Las Vegas), and you have the ingredients for two more classic games this fall.

Source: http://www.ufl-football.com/news/36-days-kickoff-ufl-top-five-rivalries

In the divisional round against the Baltimore Ravens, Roethlisberger played less than stellar in the first half and had to lead his charges back in the second. The Steelers pulled out the game and two big dropped passes by Ravens wideouts largely played into the 31-25 outcome. Roethlisberger’s line ended up 19 for 32 for 226 yards and two touchdowns.

A week and a day later, the Steelers hosted the AFC Championship Game against the New York Jets and stormed out to a 24-0 second quarter lead. Rex Ryan’s crew seemed lost and a young Mark Sanchez looked overmatched. A late field goal put Gang Green on the board before the break and they looked like a different team in the second half. Two touchdown passes by Sanchez and a safety by Mike DeVito (who sacked Roethisberger in the end zone) put the Steelers on the brink of an epic collapse.

The Jets defense perplexed Big Ben and shut the Steelers out in the second half, but the deficit was too much to overcome. Even with an ineffective Roethlisberger the last two quarters, Pittsburgh held on by a 24-19 score and earned the Lamar Hunt Trophy, setting up a classic match-up in Super Bowl XLV with the Green Bay Packers.

Similar to the Baltimore game, the Pack started fast and had a 21-3 second quarter advantage, which included a 37-yard interception return off a wounded duck floater by Roethlisberger. Of course the Steelers rebounded and made this a very interesting game that came down to Green Bay needing a late stop to hold on for the 31-25 victory.

“They did a great job of taking away deep things and taking away the outside,” Roethlisberger said of the final offensive series. “You’re kind of stuck with very limited options there with that much time and no timeouts left. We just had to try to do what we could do.”

Roelisberger (25 for 40, 263 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions) was unable to do what Aaron Rodgers did. The Packers quarterback won the MVP Award with a memorable performance that included over 300 yards, three touchdowns and no picks.

Perhaps Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin summed it up best when asked to elaborate on his quarterback’s performance. “It was a losing one, just like mine.”

Photo by William J. Hauser

In fact, it was reported that the Steelers were ready to release Holmes if they couldn’t work out a trade with anyone. The 2006 first-round pick out of Ohio State fell out of favor with a domestic violence incident his rookie season and his 2008 arrest for marijuana possession. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin benched the 26-year-old wideout but he allowed him back on the field, which eventually paid off for both parties during the postseason.

In March, Holmes was once again in the news for the wrong reason when a woman accused him of throwing a glass at her at an Orlando nightclub, in which she sustained a physical injury. A lawsuit is pending.

Holmes was facing a suspension from the league for violating the substance abuse policy and the Steelers hierarchy had enough. Enter the Jets. “We discussed it as a staff and did some research,” said Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum. “Then obviously we were able to come up with something that hopefully works well for us and Pittsburgh.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Holmes for the first four games of the upcoming season, something that the Jets were aware of before making the deal. “We understand that there are risks – significant risks – but at the end of the day we felt the price was reasonable and the risk was reasonable,” added Tannebaum. ”Obviously there’s been some bumps in the road in his past and hopefully he’s learned from that.”

Holmes did not try to avoid the obvious when he first met the New York media via a conference call. “Right now, I’m accountable for what happened and look forward to start a new career here with the Jets,” he said. “I have to be on time to all the meetings, front and center, establishing a great relationship with the players on and off the field so those guys can understand who I am and where I came from.”

What Holmes is right now is as talented as he is troubled. In 2009, he started all 16 games for Pittsburgh and had 79 receptions for 1,248 yards (both carer highs) and five touchdowns. Once his suspension is finished, he will be joining an offense that made it all the way to the AFC Championship Game. Quarterback Mark Sanchez should be better in his second season, the same as running back Shonn Greene. LaDanian Tomlinson was signed to take the place of Thomas Jones to solidify a backfield that led the NFL in rushing last year. The receiving corps includes Braylon Edwards (another player who has made a habit of off-the-field issues), Jericho Cotchery and tight end Dustin Keller.

“I want to be able to help [Sanchez] grow and be able to trust me and know that he has a guy on the field that is capable of making any play that he is willing to throw,” Holmes said.

Entering the final year of his contract, it would behoove Holmes to play well and be on his best behavior. If he fails another drug test, he will be suspended for the entire season. Tannenbaum did not discount the possibility of his newest player receiving a contract extension. “Our hope and expectation is he’ll be here for a long time to come,” he said. “He’s under contract for this year. We’ll go from there.”

Adding such a potent threat to a team who played at such a high level for parts of last season may pay off in a big way. Draft picks are very important for teams to build themselves up, but a fifth rounder is used more for depth rather than a starter, especially one with the talent of Holmes. If he becomes a distraction, the Jets can always cut him and send him on his way. Although Tannenbaum feels confident that the front office did their homework, Holmes did say some troubling things at the end of the conference call.

“I don’t think I’ve made mistakes on my own,” he commented. “I’m not blaming anyone for what I’ve been through, but at the same time, being in certain situations, you have to be accountable for what goes on around you. Sometimes you just have no control over some things that do happen.”

Well, Holmes had better get some control or Ryan will have him for breakfast.

Photo by Joe Pietaro (Super Bowl XLIII)

The Rex Ryan era in New York has not even begun and he already has to deal with a little controversy. Calvin Pace, one of his starting linebackers, has been suspended for the first four games of the regular season for using a banned substance, which has yet to be identified.

“Calvin Pace of the New York Jets has been suspended without pay for the team’s first four regular-season games of 2009 for violating the NFL policy on performance enhancing substances,” said an NFL spokesperson. “Pace’s suspension begins on Saturday, September 5. He is eligible to return to the Jets’ active roster on Monday, October 5 following the team’s October 4 game against the New Orleans Saints. Pace is eligible to participate in all preseason practices and games.”

Pace, who joined the Jets last year after signing as a free agent from Arizona, said in a statement, “This is a situation that resulted from an over-the-counter dietary supplement that contained a substance that I did not know violated the League’s policy. I am responsible for what I put into my body and I should have paid closer attention to the League’s guidelines. I regret that this has happened and apologize to my teammates, the entire Jets organization as well as the fans. Hopefully, this does not distract from our ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl.”

The Jets stated that they respected the league’s decision and look forward to Pace’s return once the suspension is served.

This may open the door for Vernon Gholston to get some quality playing time. After being selected sixth overall in the 2008 NFL Draft, he was a complete bust and fell into former head coach Eric Mangini’s doghouse. The second-year outside rushing linebacker, who already was getting a fresh start with Ryan, may benefit the most out of this.

The NFL has a long list of banned substances, which is in their “Policy on Anabolic Steroids and Related Substances.” If you have an hour or two to kill, here it is:

As far as first impressions go, Rex Ryan did quite well for himself on Wednesday. His first statement actually received applause, something that is not the norm at a press conference introducing a head coach in the NFL.

The former Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator commented that he was looking for the new president a day after Barrack Obama’s inauguration because of all the cameras in the room. With a smile, he said, “I think we’ll get to meet him in the next couple of years anyway.” Ryan knows first hand that the Super Bowl champions visit the White House, as he did back in 2000 when Baltimore won Super Bowl XXXV.

Things always look and sound wonderful on a brand new coach’s first day on the job. Even when Rich Kotite was named back in 1995, no one could foresee that he would win only four games in his two years at the helm. So take this with a grain of salt. But Ryan did say a few things that haven’t been heard in these parts since Bill Parcells went away.

“You’re going to see an attack team here,” he said and referenced that they will be aggressive on both sides of the ball and on special teams and that it will be noticeable on their first day on the practice field. “We will have an all weather offense, and that starts with the running game,” he continued.

He also gave a message to the league: “The Jets are coming and we’re going to give you everything we’ve got, and that’s going to be, I think, more than you can handle.”

Just who is going to lead the Jets as the field general remains to be seen. The first question posed to Ryan was about Brett Favre, who will turn 40 in September when the new coach’s rookie season kicks off. The former Green Bay Packer had a rough last five games this past season and may require surgery to repair a torn biceps muscle, that is, if he decides to play another season or finally retire for good.

“I would think anybody would want him as their quarterback,” said Ryan, and reminisced about a game that Favre had against his Ravens back in 2001. Considering that was eight years ago, it really didn’t pertain to the future Hall of Famer’s current abilities, which have been greatly questioned. The Jets hierarchy of owner Woody Johnson and general manager Mike Tannenbaum has made it no secret that they want Favre back. It goes without saying that Ryan had little choice but to side with them if he wanted this job, if he honestly believes Favre is finished or not.

Sounding as if it were wishful thing, Ryan said, “He (Favre) may make that decision for us. We’ll look at it when the time comes.” The best-case scenario would be that Favre retires and lets the Jets know that right away. He has stated that he would let them know in February so they can prepare for the upcoming free agency period and NFL Draft.

The feeling is that taking over a team that had nine wins gives you a good opportunity for fast improvement. “There really doesn’t have to be a drastic change,” Ryan said, but followed that up by saying that there will be drastic changes in the style of play, particularly on defense.

Ryan also spoke of a philosophy that the team will have, which is a take on the K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple, stupid) saying. “Ours is a K.I.L.L. philosophy; we’re going to ‘Keep it likable and learnable.’”

Not what you would expect after hearing the word ‘kill,’ but words are words and actions are actions. And no one ever held the Lombardi Trophy with words.

After splitting the four games in the wild card round of the NFL Playoffs, I’m looking to rebound and get all four of these right. You can’t kill me on Indy, but you can on the Fish. So to make it up yo you, here it is:

Baltimore at Tennessee
Arizona at Carolina
Philadelphia at NY Giants
San Diego at Pittsburgh

I wanted to go with all four home teams, but pulled the trigger for the upset with the streaking Bolts. Pittsburgh’s offense shouldn’t scare anyone and they are beatable at home, as the Giants proved during the regular season.

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In the other AFC match-up, I still am not impressed with the Titans and have trouble with this pick, but I still say the rookie quarterback vs. the savvy veteran will make a difference. The Ravens have played so well and the Titans may be coming in a bit flat, so I smell a possible upset here, just not strong enough to go with the underdog without a point spread as part of the equation.

Big Blue would rather have seen anyone else besides the Eagles here, but will prevail in the end. The team has stated that the week of rest has come in handy after a grueling regular season schedule. Even in defeat, Philly fans have to feel good about their team this year, and they will go down swinging.

The Panthers will blow out the Cards and send them home happy with their one playoff win, setting up a great NFC Championship Game in the Garden State.

Nothing is forever, not even grisly, 39-year-old quarterbacks that still have enough youthful exuberance to challenge a second grader. When Brett Favre ‘un-retired’ over the summer and forced his way out of Green Bay, even he had to realize that he had one, maybe two years left in his right arm.

When the Jets made the trade for Favre in August, it came with no promises. That was the gamble that general manager had to make. To have the opportunity to bring in one of the best quarterbacks of all time – even a slower version – was too hard to pass up. The team had spent a ton of money in the offseason to upgrade the offensive line and entire defense, so to put all his eggs in one basket was not the most drastic of decisions.

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With the Jets currently in a three-way tie for first place in the AFC East at 9-5, it would appear that everything is in place to continue the dream. Perhaps that is why Favre decided to remind everyone that he is not going to be sporting the green and white forever.

“It very well could be my last. It could be my last three games or four games,” said Favre, obviously considering possible playoff games with only two left on the regular season schedule.

For a man that could not see himself standing before reporters talking about football at this stage a year ago, he isn’t discounting anything. “If you would have asked me last year before the (NFC) Championship game, I would have said you need to quit drinking,” Favre joked. “I know what’s possibly ahead for us, but I have no idea what’s possibly ahead for me.”

What lies directly ahead for the Jets are the 3-11 Seattle Seahawks, who play host to Gang Green on Sunday. For a team that controls their own destiny, it would behoove the Jets to snap their west coast hex (0-3 so far this season) and put themselves in a position to clinch a playoff berth at home the following weekend versus the surprising Dolphins, who are a part of that trifecta leading the division along with the Patriots.

Whatever the next two weeks hold for the Jets, Favre knows that it isn’t all on his shoulders. “One guy, I know this for a fact, doesn’t make or break a team,” he said. “I made a commitment that they were not hinging their season on me. They had already made a lot of acquisitions. I knew full well that once I signed here that that didn’t put us in the Super Bowl.”

Maybe not, but for an organization and their fans that have been through the likes of the Mud Bowl, a Mark Gastineau late hit, Browning Nagle and so much ‘less’ over the past 40 years, hearing a statement like that – regardless of how much it really makes sense – is a tough pill to swallow.

But it will pale in comparison to a scenario where former Jet Chad Pennington comes into the Meadowlands in Week 17 and lead Miami to the postseason while knocking out the Jets, who hold a press conference shortly thereafter announcing that Favre is really hanging ‘em up this time.

Let me clarify something first. There is no ‘right’ time to use marihuana. Adults can do what they please and all, but illegal drugs (especially ones that do not enhance your performance) such as that have no place in an athlete’s life. Certainly not one of the captains on a team that is fighting for a playoff spot, one that is having himself a creer year, no less.

Shaun Ellis is far from some teenager looking for a buzz on a Friday night. This is an NFL veteran who has been an integral part of the team and is needed at 100 percent. Getting pulled over at 8:30 in the morning with a stash of weed in your car is not what Jets head coach Eric Mangini expects from one of his leaders, but even he – one who runs a tight ship – decided to let this go without throwing down the hammer.

On the heels of the Plaxico Burress nonsense, could Mangini have felt that keeping this under the radar was the best alternative? The third-year coach admitted that he found out through a “third party” (something else that everyone should have a problem with) the night before the loss to Denver last Sunday, but decided to let Ellis play, which he will also do until further notice. He can still receive a suspension from the NFL for violating the substance policy, which he definitely should in this case.

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From what Mangini has stated, the team has taken “internal disciplinary action” against Ellis, which one could surmise would be a fine. On how a potential suspension from the league may impact the team’s goals, Mangini was non-commital. “It’s not a function that’s anything under our control,” he said. “I respect the league and their stance on these issues.”

Losing Ellis for four games while the Jets make a run at the AFC East divisional title is going to have an impact. There is no way around that. He leads the team with 7 sacks through their first 11 games and has been such an important piece in the 3-4 defense that the team employs.

What he did and apparantly has been doing exposes him for the irresponsible person that he is. All the apologies and speeches to the coaching staff and team cannot take that away. Ellis is being counted on to come through every Sunday in a big way. Puffing on a joint or a bowl is not going to make that any easier.

It’s going to be a hard sell for big and burly professional football players to convince anyone that they only took a product that is marketed as a weight loss drug for middle-aged women. The model on the company’s home page (www.starcaps.com) brings back memories of Mae West, for Christ’s sake! (No offense, Nikki Haskell)

StarCaps even had to put a disclaimer on their website and “temporarily suspend shipping” due to the lawsuit. Now, I totally understand that these players are just covering their asses by blaming the product, but the fact remains that a diuretic such as this is also used as a masking agent for steroids, more specifically, the banned substance bumetanide.

What may be an important piece of evidence is that Dr. John Lombardo (the Steroid Policy’s Independent Administrator) was aware of StarCaps containing bumetanide back in 2006, but failed to inform NFL players because he did not want to line up their excuse for them if they were caught using a masking agent.

Three players on the New Orleans Saints (Duece McAllister, Will Smith and Charles Grant), two Minnesota Vikings (Kevin Williams, Pat Williams) and one Atlanta Falcon (Grady Jackson) all failed drug screening tests for bumetanide. All but Jackson, who has already served his suspension, can miss four games each if found guilty. They have filed appeals with the league and are awaiting hearings.

For all the things wrong with Major League Baseball’s Interleague play, weekends like this past one can make them all go away and give the fans what they want. The purists of the game will say that it’s all for money, and while that may be a part of the reason, pleasing the fans was the main objective. These are the games that they want to see, and the last scheduled date for Interleague match-ups was filled with rivalry contests for the ages.

Out at Shea Stadium, the Mets took the battle of New York, four games to two, with a solid 3-1 win over the crosstown Yankees behind lefty Oliver Perez. Out on the left coast, the Angels were able to make a 1-0 lead stand after being shut out in the previous two games. Not to be undone, the Chicago Civil War came to a close with the South Siders sweeping after being swept.

It is hard to knock the two leagues meeting for regular season contests when you have this much excitement. How do you explain the White Sox winning three at home from the Cubs after losing the previous weekend set at Wrigley? Or the Mets drubbing the Yankees in the Bronx, 15-6, on Friday afternoon then laying an egg in a 9-0 nightcap in Queens?

Still not enough to convince you? Then the middle game at Chavez Ravine may help, when the Dodgers beat the Angels without the benefit of a base hit. This was only the fifth time since the modern era of baseball (1900 on) that a team has been able to win while being no-hit. In this instance, the two Angel pitchers that combined on the effort did not receive credit for the elusive no-hitter because the road team only pitched eight innings. Bizarre to say the least, but the fans definitely got their money’s worth.

Other rivalries that we enjoyed in the last weekend in June were San Francisco-Oakland, Cincinnati-Cleveland, Washington-Baltimore and St. Louis-Kansas City.