Crouch was the 2001 Heisman Trophy winner as a senior at the University of Nebraska, and ended his Cornhusker career with 3,434 rushing yards (and 59 touchdowns) and 4,481 passing yards (and 29 touchdowns). As a senior, he passed for 1,510 yards and seven touchdowns and ran for 1,115 yards and 18 scores.

A third-round pick as a wide receiver by the St. Louis Rams in the 2002 National Football League Draft, Crouch has seen professional regular-season action in NFL Europe with the Hamburg Sea Devils as a safety in 2005 and with the Toronto Argonauts as a quarterback in 2006.

Crouch answered seven questions, and those questions were about everything from the United Football League to where he keeps his Heisman Trophy.

The first question came, fittingly, from Omaha, and centered around if Crouch plans to play any other position for the Nighthawks than quarterback.

“The competition is going to be great at QB,” Crouch replied, adding that returnee D.J. Shockley has experience and rookie Jeremiah Masoli is young, talented and has a lot of potential. “They’ll hopefully make me a better QB. I have to have a vision of being the guy at QB. I don’t go in with a thought of being second or third team.”

Nighthawks can get excited by Crouch, answering a question about how things are going with the team, saying, “I think this will be a system where they like to do some different things. You’re not going to see an offense that you haven’t seen before. I like them thinking outside of the box.”

Crouch said his Heisman is kept “in a secure place” in his house. And asked of his thoughts about his alma mater joining the Big 10, Crouch said, “Nebraska will do very well in the Big 10. It was a great move. I think the biggest reason they moved was just the stability of the conference. It seemed like the best place to be.”

As for the future of the UFL, Crouch said, “I think if they keep finding talented players and coaches, I do think they’ll succeed. … There are quite a few teams that will make this league successful. They seem to be on the right track.”

For the entire chat, go to espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat/_/id/39063/ufl-eric-crouch

Photo Courtesy of UFL-football.com

Source: http://www.ufl-football.com/news/nighthawks-qb-crouch-chats-fans-espncom

“I’m trying to give [the people of Haiti] them a little hope and trying to help as much as I can and do something positive for them,” the Indianapolis Colts wide receiver said at Media Day of the January 12 earthquake in his homeland. “So far, I’m very pleased with what we done with a lot of help and support and I know we couldn’t do it by ourselves.”

His NFL brethren have come through by doing their part, with Garcon as the lead man. “A lot of the guys have been trying to help,” he commented. “They have been coming to me asking me how they can help out and what is there to do to help. A lot of guys have been trying to lend their support. I’ve heard from a lot of guys on our team and a lot of guys on the Jets. A lot of guys have reached out to me.”

In only his second NFL season, the Mount Union product became one of Peyton Manning’s favorite targets. Garcon started 13 of the 14 games he played in and totaled 47 receptions (16.3 average) for 765 yards and four touchdowns. “We have a great relationship,” Garcon said of his quarterback. “We are getting more familiar with each other. It is a growing relationship and a growing process.”

Garcon played a big part in the 30-17 win over the Jets in the AFC Championship Game with 11 catches for 151 yards and a touchdown and celebrated on the field afterwards holding a Haitian flag. He has brought it down to Miami and hopes to make a habit of waving it in victory following Super Bowl XLIV versus the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. “Hopefully we will win and I will have it out there with me,” said Garcon.

He will have a lot more than just the Haitian flag with him.

Photo By Bill Menzel

Taylor Walker, a native of Long Island and also the daughter of former Jets wide receiver Wesley Walker, is one of those people. Currently a captain for the New Jersey Nets Dancers, she is one of 10 NBA dancers chosen to appear in the photo shoot. Although many think the magazine photos are not always done in good taste, the pictures of Ms. Walker are very classy.

Walker currently resides in Dix Hills, NY and is presently attending Hoftsra University to obtain her Masters Degree in Physical Education. Congratulations to Walker for a job well done and continued success on the New Jersey Nets dance team.

Click here to see more pictures of Taylor. (Photo courtesy of SI.com)

Frankie “The Sports Guy” Maniscalco has been hosting his show in one capacity or another on WGBB and other outlets since 2007. Frankie prides himself on not only talking with former and current athletes but he also catches the story of people helping in the community. His interviews range from former baseball players like Tommy John to people giving back to help others.  Frankie has aired his show on such platforms asyoucastr and MVN. When Frankie is not doing a show on WGBB,  you can find him on the internet at Blog Talk Radio Sunday nights from 10:00pm to 11:00pm. He also started writing a blog on his website ( frankiethesportsguy.com ) as well as  writing a fantasy article for NY Baseball Digest. Whether on the air or in print, Frankie strives to capture his audience with the best guests and topics relating to sports.

Team owner Jerry Jones has made some attempts this offseason to rectify the mess that his team has become. He tried to bring in Dan Reeves to the front office, but something as feeble as keeping a ‘punch card’-type of accountability for hours worked kept it from happening.

The next big decision is Terrell Owens. Although the wide receiver finished with 10 touchdowns and more than 1,000 yards receiving, he causes as much of a distraction as he does good. Although quarterback Tony Romo has publicly stated that “everybody on the team wants everybody back,” he didn’t exactly give a ringing endorsement of the mercurial wideout, further stating that “there’s always change on the football team.”

Addition by subtraction may be the perfect description of the 2009 Cowboys, who need to bounce back after missing the playoffs in a season where many had predicted them as being a Super Bowl contender.

When Larry Fitzgerald went 64 yards on a pass from Kurt Warner to give the Arizona Cardinals a 23-20 lead with 2:47 left in the game, it appeared that the vagabond franchise would win it’s first championship since the days of the Nuremberg trials. But Ben Roethlisberger directed the Steelers to the game-winning drive by dissecting the Cardinal secondary along with game MVP Santonio Holmes. The wide receiver’s leaping grab over double coverage in the right corner of the end zone was even more impressive when considering that he was able to keep both feet in bounds. Holmes finished with 9 catches for 131 yards and one touchdown.

“It was a play that we drew up that we were hoping to get open in the back of the corner,” said Holmes. “The defensive back bit up on the short route and Ben (Roethlisberger) held onto the ball long enough to get it to me.”

Arizona fought back from a second quarter 10-0 deficit and were poised to go into the locker room at halftime either tied or in the lead. With the score 10-7 and only 18 seconds remaining in the half, Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison picked off a Warner throw intended for Anquan Boldin and rumbled down the field 100 yards for the score. It set a Super Bowl record for the longest interception return.

Many teams would have been deflated by the sudden turn of events, but Arizona held Pittsburgh in check and Warner directed them on an eight-play, 87-yard scoring drive culminating with a one-yard pass to Fitzgerald. A subsequent safety on a Jeff Hartwig holding penalty in the end zone made it a four-point game. The Cardinals received the free kick, setting up Fitzgerald’s long touchdown run and, unfortunately, false hope for many.

“Yeah, I was confident we were going to be able to get a stop and we were going to be champions,” the wideout said. “I never lost faith. Sometimes things just don’t go your way.”

The Steelers became the first franchise to win six Super Bowls, and head coach Mike Tomlin now has a title in only his second year at the helm. “I’m not concerned about my personal milestones,” he said. “I just want to contribute to the legacy that is the Pittsburgh Steelers.”

By accomplishing what he did, Tomlin now becomes an important part of that legacy.

The Cardinals fought back from a 10-0 second quarter deficit only to see a golden opportunity blow up in their faces. Quarterback Kurt Warner tried to hit wide receiver Anquan Boldin on a quick slant pattern and Harrison stepped right in front of him to pick it off. It appeared that Larry Fitzgerald was breaking off into the left corner of the end zone and would have been wide open on the third down play. 

Momentum was obviously on the Steelers side heading into the locker room after Arizona dominated the second quarter. The game is still surprisingly close, even with the possible 14-point swing. Most predictions had the Steelers winning by at least a touchdown.

Placixo Burress has made so many headlines this season that his latest incident involving guns and the police snuck under the radar. The seizure of weapons, ammunition and bloody clothes subsequent to a search warrant being executed at the soon-to-be former New York Giant’s Totowa, New Jersey home barely cracked the news, which is almost as much of a disgrace as the wide receiver himself.

Actions such as these should be publicized and not looked over just because what Burress did previously was more serious. He cannot walk away from being a controversial figure, even after all his riches and success. Why a man who just went through what he did kept any contraband in his home borders between insanity and stupidity. Put your money on the latter.

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Police walked out of Burress’s mansion with a 9mm handgun, .30-06 rifle with ammunition, a clip for a .45, along with bloody pants and sneakers believed to be worn the night of the shooting.

Authorities were still trying to determine if the weapons were registered or not.

These latest findings can’t help Burress and his legal issues. How someone could continue to act as if he lived in Dodge City during Matt Dillon’s run as Marshall when he has the world by the balls continues to perplex everyone.

The biggest question will be if Burress ever gets back on an NFL field. He definitely does not deserve to, and this latest disregard for the law is merely another example of why.

If you were Ben Braffman, hearing the Mayor of New York City take a stand against your client definitely had a silver lining. When Mike Bloomberg angrily spoke out against Placixo Burress and his reckless, gun-toting behavior, he may have mistakenly gave the wide receiver’s lawyer a lead. One that a sharp counsel will use to his advantage.

Bloomberg called for Burress to be prosecuted “to the fullest extent of the law” and that he made a “mockery” and a “sham” of the laws.

It isn’t every case that gets the mayor’s attention such as this and by him saying what he did – although it was totally justified – it will not be long before Braffman starts crying that Burress will be unable to receive a fair trial. He’s already planted the seed by saying, “I think the mayor can at times influence pending legal proceedings.”

To give a quality lawyer anything in a high profile case will be stretched, twisted around and used to the full extent. And this is the same attorney who represented and was able to gain an acquittal to Sean Combs (I refuse to call a grown man P. Diddy or Puffy). So expect to hear all sorts of nonsense if this case ever gets to trial. A ‘dog and pony’ show awaits.

Some people never learn. Even when their team is going through a miserable season in which they were lucky to have the one win they can show for themselves, selfishness rises to the top. In the case of the Cincinatti Bengals, what could go wrong has gone wrong. Head coach Marvin Lewis somehow manages to keep his job as the inmates have run the asylum during his watch. The leader of the pack has been Chad Johnson…oh, excuse me…Ocho Cinco. It pains me to have to do that. On second though, screw him. I’ll call him Johnson if he likes it or not!

While his antics may have been amusing in the past when the team was playing decent football, that act has gone cold mighty fast. Whatever the reason(s) why the attention-seeking Johnson was deactivated approximately 10 hours before a Thursday night kickoff, the fact of the matter is that he is a lightning rod for controversy. Is he talented? There is no questionof that, so to leave him out of a game where he could have made a difference is even more glaring.

What appears to have occurred is Johnson having a disagreement with one of the assistant coaches during a team meeting and him possibly walking out of the room. What makes this even more annoying is teammate John Thorton stating that Johnson “has done worse” in the past and didn’t get suspended, and that Lewis was making a “statement” by doing so. The problem that I – and everyone else should – have with this is that if Lewis had done his job before and layed down the law, Johnson would have never dreamed of committing such insubordinate acts, if he even was still on the team.

Maybe this is just another prime example of why Lewis took so long to get a head coaching job in the NFL. He was being lauded as such a great defensive mind when he was on the staff of the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens, and rightfully so. But to be the ‘bad guy’ and have to throw down the hammer is a totally different situation that being an assistant coach.

It only gets worse. Just when you thought that Donovan McNabb was the only NFL player dumb enough to not know that a regular season game can end in a tie, a few of his teammates have come to their quarterback’s rescue. Running back Corell Buckhalter, wide receiver DeSean Jackson and linebacker Omar Gaither all admitted on Monday that they, too, were in the dark during the overtime period of yesterday’s 13-13 tie against the Cincinnati Bengals.

That makes three Eagles who believed that the teams would keep playing until someone scored, instead of the game ending in a draw after the extra session. The blame has to go square on the shoulders of Andy Reid, and the head coach told reporters, “I’ll take the responsibility for that.” But it isn’t as simple as that. Reid – who has been under fire due to the team’s lackluster 5-4-1 record – needs to explain how anyone wearing an NFL uniform could be as uninformed as that. The coaching staff either failed to do their job or the players are just plain stupid.

Conveniently, McNabb was not available on Monday for reporters to take him to task, which would have definitely been the case. Not only did he make a complete fool of himself by not knowing the OT tie rule, but played miserably by going 28-for-58 with three interceptions and a fumble. Those numbers are bad enough if the Eagles were playing a good team, but to do that against the one-win ‘Bungles’ only exasperates the situation.