Cowboys and Romo Collapse

Cowboys' quarterback Tony Romo caused a stir in the locker room on Sunday when he collapsed in the shower and had to be helped to his feet by teammates.

Romo suffered a rib injury late in the team's season-ending blow out loss to the Eagles.

When Romo fell, teammates rushed to his aid, and one player called for paramedics. He reportedly had trouble breathing because of the rib injury.

Romo spoke at his postgame news conference but had trouble moving. He also had to be helped off a short stage where he addressed the media.

Marinelli, Crennel, Mangini FIRED

he day after the NFL regular season, the winless Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns and New York Jets are looking for new coaches.

Rod Marinelli was fired by the Lions on Monday after an 0-16 season and Romeo Crennel was let go as expected by the Browns. In a mild surprise, Eric Mangini was fired by the New York Jets, who lost four of their last five games and failed to make the playoffs with Brett Favre at quarterback.

Three coaches were fired during the regular season — Mike Nolan in San Francisco, Scott Linehan in St. Louis and Lane Kiffin in Oakland.

Mike Singletary replaced Nolan and will be retained after the 49ers went 5-4 in their final nine games. Interims Jim Haslett in St. Louis and Tom Cable in Oakland are on shakier ground.

Marinelli was 10-38 in his three-year stay, winning only one his last 24 games after the team started 6-2 in 2007. Marinelli was hired by Matt Millen, who was fired as team president three months ago.

Crennel, whose Browns finished 4-12 after going 10-6 last season, was dismissed after a 31-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Also, general manager Phil Savage was fired Sunday.

Crennel was 24-40 in four seasons and had been at risk last season before the team turned around. The Browns were hurt by injuries, including two that ended the season of quarterbacks Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn.

It also didn't help that they lost twice to the rival Steelers — Crennel was 0-8 against them and the only Browns coach never to beat Pittsburgh.

Mangini, dubbed "Mangenious" after taking the Jets to the playoffs as a 35-year-old rookie coach in 2006, was fired after his team lost four of its last five following an 8-3 start. The losses came after consecutive road wins over New England and Tennessee.

The Jets spent millions in the offseason and traded for the 39-year-old Favre after the quarterback unretired from the Green Bay Packers. But Favre threw just two touchdown passes and nine interceptions in those final five games and complained of back, neck and should pain.

"I don't think it was one thing," owner Woody Johnson said in announcing his coach's firing. "We had to go in a different direction. There's nothing specific. It's just a call we made. Hopefully, it's correct."

New York Jets Fire Eric Mangini

From Super Bowl to couch potatoes in less than 5 weeks.

The New York Jets were on a opium like high after beating the Patriots and Titans in back-to-back weeks, and had everyone calling for a New York vs. New York Superbowl. Only one New York team remains.

Bad play calling festered and spread like a disease over the last month of the season where not going for field goals or passing on third and short when you have a pro bowl running back who is in the midst of his best season. Many things went wrong this season for the Jets, who earlier this year made key acquisitions that had many NFL fans optimistic about gang green.

In the end the season came down to a must win game against the Miami Dolphins and some help from the Jacksonville Jaguars. Neither piece of help came through, the Jets lost their game and the Jags were steamrolled by Baltimore.

The hammer came down today as Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum said that they will be letting Eric Mangini go. A 9-7 season full of hope down the drain will do that for you.

Owner of the Jets Woody Johnson called Mangini and gave him the news. Johnson followed the call with a press conference in which he said that firing the head coach is the "...most difficult thing you can do, Eric has done amazing things, no one worked harder, he was a good teacher, but it was time to make a change. This decision was not made in the last seconds or couple games; this was a decision that was running through the season. We want to build on the successful foundation that he left, but as of right now we believe that we can find a better fit for this team"

Life long Jets fan Asad Aziz claimed to get over the fact that this season would end in disappointment weeks ago. "[The loss] had to do with poor coaching, poor execution, and bad play from Favre." Regarding Mangini, Aziz said "Mangini had to go, he constantly played way too conservatively in most situations, and situations where he should play conservatively he'd be aggressive. He was terrible at in-game adjustments. And people who say it should be Tannenbaum who should go are wrong because the personnel he brought in was good enough to get Mangini to 8-3 with a loss to the Raiders." Disappointed with the players and the outcome of the end of the season, Aziz followed his thoughts about Mangini by saying "The team sent seven players to the Pro Bowl, just look at the roster, there’s no way you should not be able to win 11-12 games with the squad he had."

An anonymous Jets player had strong words about the team, coach and general manager on Monday. "We are busting our butts out there and Favre is turning the ball over. We did not play the way we should, focusing on TJ [Thomas Jones] and running the ball. Bad coaching was prevalent and all they did was cater to Favre instead of letting this team play the way they were designed and that’s to run the ball."

As the Jets look to fill their new void, names like Bill Cowher will surface and resonate through the airwaves. What will the Jets do? What will Brett Favre do?

Only time will tell.

MLB News Heading into the New Year

- Tony Massarotti writes that the Red Sox had a shot at Mark Teixeira. The Scott Boras camp was proposing $176MM guaranteed for eight years with vesting options that could've brought the total to $220MM over ten years. Ultimately the Yankees beat Boston's offer by $10MM, with no options and a full no-trade clause.

- Viva El Birdos looks at what the Teixeira contract means for Albert Pujols. Will Albert seek the largest contract in baseball history? The Cardinals have him through the 2011 season.

- The Mets intend to make offers early this week to at least two and probably three free-agent pitchers -- Derek Lowe, Oliver Perez and Randy Wolf -- in hopes of signing one of them.

The Mets continue to rank the three in that order - Lowe, Perez, Wolf. The Mets haven't shown any indication of wanting to sign more than one. Lowe and Perez should be ready to sign soon now that Scott Boras isn't occupied with Mark Teixeira.

The Mets aren't terribly concerned about having only one left-handed reliever on the roster (Pedro Feliciano). They'll look for bargains rather than pursue a Joe Beimel type. Mets GM Omar Minaya does want to acquire a utility infielder, with Alex Cora atop the list.

- My theory on the late-moving free agent market: teams are just being cautious, aiming for January bargains on players like Adam Dunn, Brian Fuentes, Derek Lowe, Orlando Hudson, and Ben Sheets. Plus, many free agents wanted to wait out the Mark Teixeira negotiations to see who'd have money and needs afterward.

- The Red Sox reached agreements with Brad Penny and Josh Bard.

MLB Week In Review

If you haven't heard this week's top story, chances are you've been living under a rock, but we'll tell you anyway: The Yankees signed Mark Teixeira to an eight-year, $180MM contract. That means they've combined to spend over $420MM this offseason on three players, including C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. Does this make them a clear favorite in the division, though? I personally don't feel like it does. Sabathia will essentially replace retired Mike Mussina's 2009 production (he'll be an upgrade, obviously, but Moose notched 20 wins in his final season), Burnett is a serious health liability, and adding Teixeira is a big improvement, but I don't think he puts this team over the top. The Yankees have gotten better, but if I'm spending $420MM on three players, I'm making sure it makes me the team to beat, and I'm not sure they've done that. Here's some additional reactions, and here's a few more. Additionally, Tex reportedly had a higher offer from the Nationals. The Nats were willing to go higher, but weren't given a chance to do so.

The Yanks also signed Chien-Ming Wang to a one-year, $5MM deal, and inked Kevin Cash to a minor-league deal that could be worth $700K.

The Giants added a third Cy Young winner to their rotation when they signed Randy Johnson to a one-year, $8MM deal that could potentially be worth $13MM with performance and award incentives. Giants fans will likely get the pleasure of seeing the Big Unit notch his 300th win, and there's no doubt he'll serve as a nice mentor for their young staff. Johnson's signing may cause the Giants to be more willing to trade Jonathan Sanchez.

Ryan Doumit signed a three-year extension with the Pirates, with a guaranteed $11.5MM and potentially worth as much as $27MM over five years. Nice signing for Pittsburgh, as Doumit has proven his value with the bat at a weak catcher position, but you have to wonder what the motive is. Rebuilding for the future, or enhancing his value as a trade chip? What do you guys think?

The Reds signed Willy Taveras to a two-year contract, though the terms of the deal are not yet known. You have to figure Taveras will work out better than Corey Patterson did in 2008.

Joe Nelson agreed to terms with the Rays on a one-year, $1.3MM deal for 2009. Great low-risk addition for the Rays, if you ask me. Twenty teams had expressed interest in Nelson, who posted a strong 2008 campaign with the Marlins.

Red Sox fans hoping that Kevin Youkilis would be next in line for an extension after Dustin Pedroia are going to be disappointed: Adam Kilgore at the Boston Glove says it's not happening.

One last bit of Rafael Furcal drama: Furcal stresses that there was never a deal in place with the Braves, not with him or with his agents.

My Take On The Yankees Spending

The Yankees simply did what they needed to do in order to better their franchise and their future.

Last week when the Yankees introduced C.C Sabathia and A.J Burnett they made it clear to everyone that their priority was pitching. They sured up their rotation and put together a 1-2-3 of C.C, Burnett and Wang that is arguably the best front of the rotation in the league.

Sabathia has been a target for the Yankees for over two years. When they decided to pass up on the opportunity to trade for Johan Santana they clearly were readying for C.C. So three trips cross country by Brian Cashman and 161 million dollars later and the Yankees had their guy.

The huge human being that is Carsten Charles Sabathia will be wearing #52 for the Bombers and more than likely will start on opening day at the new Yankee Stadium. Many have brought up the weight issue and wonder if that will hurt C.C in the long run. But like he said himself "I'm a big guy, I've always been big" so nothing will change his size and the way he has performed I dont think anything needs to change. He is a work horse and a dominating pitcher that will grind out games and rack up innings to help the ball club.

Then we look at A.J Burnett, the former Marlin and Blue Jay is now a Yankee as well and coming off his best year, fans are looking to see the dynamite Burnett display his talents in pinstripes now. Burnett had 18 wins last year and baffled the Yankees in every attempt. His stuff is electric, he can dial it up to 98 mph and has sick breaking "stuff", the only downside is he has a knack for the DL. Everyone projects him to be back there this year although he was finally healthy last year. Names like Jarrett Wright and Carl Pavano are being linked to his name, but for 82.5 million dollars he better produce like a champ. Burnett has always said he likes playing on the big stage and play under the bright lights, well he now gets his chance under the big apples bright spotlight every five days.

The big fish on the offensive side of the ball the Yankees reeled in was Mark Teixeira. The gold glove first basemen fills a much needed hole for the Yankees in more ways than one. The bat he holds is lethal and having batted .300 with 30 home runs and knocking in 100 RBI's for seven years in a row now, he is a much needed addition. He will likely hit in the three hole protecting Alex Rodriguez, thus improving both their numbers and posing a huge threat to every pitcher. Teixeira also is a fantastic fielder and will not leave the Yankees scrambling for players like Cody Ransom to fill the void. Eight years and 180 million dollars locked him up for the Yankees who now have the top four paid players in the league.

1. Alex Rodriguez - 275 Million
2. Derek Jeter - 189 Million
3. Mark Teixeira - 180 Million
4. C.C Sabathia - 161 Million

But what does this mean for the Yankees in total? They add 2 power pitchers and one big bat. This means, more revenue and if all goes to plan, more wins. They are the favorite in Vegas for the World Series and now are back to the big scary spending crazy Yankees. What was done was nessesary for the Yankees, everything was done out of need and to better of the team. The addition of Teixeira will give the Yankees the power they lacked last year in the middle and hopefully set up more runs along the order. If healthy Sabathia and Burnett should add about 35 wins a piece and add stability. Of course there are still questions regarding center field but as of right now Nick Swisher or Melky Cabrera will play there. They are still trying to work a deal to send Melky and Kei Igawa in exchange for Mike Cameron.

Who knows what else is in store but one this we do know is the presents this holiday season were big, plentiful and expensive. Lets hope the Yankees get what they paid for.

Yankees Cash In Again, Sign Teixeira

The Yankees have added to holiday list and paid a pretty penny for it.

$180 Million over eight years will be given to Mark Teixeira to play first base for the Yankees.

The addition of Teixeira comes a week after CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett were added to the mix as well.

Who said America is in a recession?