My Sports News Digest

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Despite the many signs that the economy is struggling, some NFL teams have found ways to sell naming rights to the venues in which they play.

It helps if the place is scheduled to host a Super Bowl.

Several weeks ago, the site of the 2014 NFL title game ceased being known as the New Meadowlands Stadium and became MetLife Stadium.  Now, the building in which the 2013 Super Bowl will be played is poised to be known as the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Saints and the State of Louisiana will announce on Tuesday a 10-year deal that will, as a practical matter, generate enough revenue to end Louisiana’s financial obligations to the team.

The deal comes six years after a hurricane ravaged New Orleans, turning the Superdome into a place of refuge that quickly was overwhelmed by the many people seeking shelter there.

In that same time, the Saints have become an elite NFL team, with 73,000 seats sold out for the season and a waiting list in excess of 50,000.  And the Mercedes-Benz Superdome has been fully renovated, tying the Saints to New Orleans, presumably for decades to come.

Getty Images

Despite the many signs that the economy is struggling, some NFL teams have found ways to sell naming rights to the venues in which they play.

It helps if the place is scheduled to host a Super Bowl.

Several weeks ago, the site of the 2014 NFL title game ceased being known as the New Meadowlands Stadium and became MetLife Stadium.  Now, the building in which the 2013 Super Bowl will be played is poised to be known as the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Saints and the State of Louisiana will announce on Tuesday a 10-year deal that will, as a practical matter, generate enough revenue to end Louisiana’s financial obligations to the team.

The deal comes six years after a hurricane ravaged New Orleans, turning the Superdome into a place of refuge that quickly was overwhelmed by the many people seeking shelter there.

In that same time, the Saints have become an elite NFL team, with 73,000 seats sold out for the season and a waiting list in excess of 50,000.  And the Mercedes-Benz Superdome has been fully renovated, tying the Saints to New Orleans, presumably for decades to come.

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We’re not sure this means anything yet, but Dolphins coach Tony Sparano’s media availability for Monday has been canceled according to Greg Cote of the Miami Herald.

The moment that Miami went to 0-4 on Sunday, the Dolphins started their bye week and the Sparano hot seat watch went into overdrive.

Owner Stephen Ross is in a tough spot. He’s the one that gave Sparano an extension in the offseason. Ross is the one that made a big show of organizational unity and stability after going after Jim Harbaugh.

Just four games later, firing Sparano would be another admission of incompetence by Ross. The only logical in-house replacement is defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, whose disappointing defense has fallen from sixth to 30th in the league.

We’ll be tracking this story throughout the day.

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The bright spot for the New England Patriots in 2011 has been the passing game, fueled by quarterback Tom Brady.  But Brady wasn’t quite up to Brady standards before the season.

As Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald explains it, a visit from quarterback guru Tom Martinez helped get Brady back on track.

They watched film together, and Martinez quickly diagnosed several problems with Brady’s mechanics.  Brady accepted the input, and he was fixed in time for the regular-season opener.

“He asked me to come out, right before the season started.  Labor Day weekend,” Martinez told Rapaport.  “He said he was off.  His throwing was off.  So I went out there Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.  We went through the film.  Then all of a sudden, everything else fell into place.  Within about an hour, he was back to the old Tom Brady.  Then he had that 517-yard game. . . .  I guess what we did worked.”

Martinez has been battling serious health issues, arising primarily diabetes and its complications.  He has been helping Brady for years.

After last weekend’s four-interception performance, Brady possibly could use another tune up before facing the Raiders in Oakland.

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Former Giants teammates Plaxico Burress and Tiki Barber both tried to get back into the NFL after long absences this season. Burress was welcomed back with open arms and signed with the Jets. Barber was largely ignored and has been described as devastated and flabbergasted that no one will sign him.

It turns out that Burress is flabbergasted that no one will sign Barber, too.

“It’s crazy,” Burress told the New York Post of Barber’s failure to find a team. “He’s better than half the backs in the league.”

It’s true that when Barber and Burress last played together — in 2006 — Barber was better than half the backs in the league. You could make a case that Barber, who topped 2,000 yards from scrimmage in each of his last three seasons, was better than all the other backs in the league. But it’s 2011 now, and the idea that Barber, at age 36, is still better than half the backs in the league is farfetched.

Still, Burress holds out hope for his old teammate.

“I’m very surprised he’s not on somebody’s roster,” Burress said. “But it’s just Week 4. Maybe somebody will call him.”

That’s doubtful. The Dolphins called him in for a workout, and after getting a look at Barber declined to bring him into training camp. And no other team has even gone so far as to kick the tires on Tiki. If any NFL team believed Burress might be right that Barber is better than half the backs in the league right now, Barber would be in the league right now.

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When the Patriots travel to Oakland this weekend, there will be a subplot far more recent than the Tuck Rule.

Pats receiver Chad Ochocinco will be reunited with Raiders coach Hue Jackson, who was at one point Chad’s position coach.  Their history in Cincinnati includes Chad famously calling Jackson’s name after being lit up by former Browns safety Brian Russell and notoriously taking a swing at Jackson during halftime of a January 2006 playoff loss to the Steelers.

“Chad Johnson’s my son,” Jackson said Wednesday during a conference call with New England media, via Tom Curran of CSNNE.com.  “I know you guys probably have a hard time with him.  He’s kind of colorful.  But he is a tremendous young man.  I really adore him but I won’t on Sunday.”

Jackson’s ties to the receiver formerly named Johnson run deep.  “I helped raise that young man in Cincinnati,” Jackson said, offering more candor than coaches concerned with possible tampering typically would.  “He played for me, he did wonders for me and he is a tremendous competitor and a doggone good football player.”

The contrast between Jackson’s approach to Chad and his current team’s apparent attempt to stifle his individuality became clear.  “I let him have his own personality because that’s Chad,” Jackson said.  “You have to allow him to be him to get the most out of him. That’s what we were able to do and we forged a bond that’s been the same since my time in Cincinnati.”

Though it’s possible that the stage in New England is too big for Ochocinco, it could be that Chad’s continuous effort to repress his nature in order to fit in with the Patriots has become a distraction.  Instead of worrying about learning the offense and running the right routes and catching the ball naturally and instinctively, Chad could be carrying around unnecessary mental baggage as he tries to squeeze the square peg of his personality into the round hole of The Patriot Way.  So while coach Bill Belichick may have successfully changed Chad in order to minimize the distractions he possibly would create for the team, the internal conflict that comes from Chad trying to be someone other than who he is could be the real cause for Chad not being on the field the player that he needs to be.

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When the Vikings host the Packers on October 23, one of the best defensive players in franchise history will enter the team’s Ring of Honor.

Defensive end Chris Doleman, one of the dominant sackmasters of the late 1980s, becomes the 19th person to receive that distinction.  Doleman had 21 sacks in 1989.  For his career, Doleman racked up 150.5 sacks, fourth most in NFL history.

He was a bright spot on a string of Vikings teams that were regarded as underachieving and one-dimensional, with a stout defense but a limited offense.

Passed over multiple times for inclusion in the Hall of Fame, Doleman’s recognition is overdue.  And if the Vikings are ahead by 20 or more points at intermission of the Packers game, maybe he can suit up one last time in the hopes of helping the team finally hold a lead.

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They haven’t received a lot of media attention, but few teams have been more disappointing than the Rams thus far.

Yes, we know the schedule hasn’t been easy.  But they lost by 18 at home to the Eagles (Philly’s only win), 30 at home to the Ravens, and played sloppy football in a road loss to the Giants.

This was supposed to be a year to take a step forward, but St. Louis looks like one of the worst teams in the league. Some of their young players, notably tackle Jason Smith, appear to be regressing.

The No. 2 overall pick of the 2009 draft was benched during another poor performance Sunday.

“It wasn’t my best game. And the coaches pulled me out,” Smith said via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I had some penalties in crucial situations. . . . And I need to play better so I can help the team.”

The Rams drafted Smith to play left tackle and he’s on the right side now. It’s debatable whether he’s even a league-average starter there.

The good news for St. Louis is that they still play in the NFC West.  The bad news: No division games until Week Nine.