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Splitsville for Reggie and Kim

Vanessa Baker — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:54:15 +0000

After several years together, NFL running back Reggie Bush and reality star Kim Kardashian have decided to go their separate ways, reports Perez Hilton. Bush, 34, and Kardashian, 28, were reportedly at a juncture in their relationship and not spending enough time together.

“Reggie is not big into the Hollywood scene,” said a source. “He starts training camp this week and he asked Kim to move out to New Orleans and be with him. Unfortunately, she is set to begin filming the next season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and couldn’t make that commitment. They are both very sad about the split and are not ruling out a reconciliation but this is what’s best for them both right now.”

Michael Vick’s Return to the NFL

Vanessa Baker — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:01:50 +0000

NFL Quarterback Michael Vick has been conditionally reinstated into the NFL following a 20 month stint in prison for a highly publicized dogfight scandal, reports Perez Hilton.

Vick, who is currently a free agent, may attend preseason practices, workouts and meetings. If he is signed by a team, he will be permitted to play in the final two preseason games.

He may participate in all team activities except for games once the regular football season begins, and may be back on the field for games as early as October.

NFL Drafts K’naan Tune For Commercial

Eva Lam — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Kanye West may be soundtracking the NBA’s playoffs campaign, but the NFL has Canadian hip-hopper K’naan in its corner.

“Dreamer,” a track from K’naan’s recently-released ”Troubadour,” is being used in a 2009 NFL draft commercial, which also features an appearance by the performer himself.

Also featured in the ad – a number of the NFL’s top prospects for the draft that goes down April 25 and 26, including University of Georgia’s Matt Stafford and Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree.

Click here to check out the commercial.

K’naan is currently on tour in the U.S. and plays the Coachella festival today (Sunday) in Indio, Calif. Following that gig, he joins up with Snoop Dogg for a run of dates beginning May 4 in Little Rock, AK and wrapping up May 17 in Hilton Head, SC.

Game Review: NFL Tour

Josh Salem — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 15:30:17 +0000

Do you like football? Enjoy tossing the old pigskin around? Can’t wait for the next installment of Madden and need something to pass the time? Check out EA Big’s NFL Tour, an arcade style, simple variation of your virtual NFL favourite. When I got this title to review, I was a little excited to see what an arcade football game was like, thinking along the lines of Open Ice or NBA Jam, I went into this title with hopes of big slams, fire, and gravity defying touchdowns. Unfortunately, while Tour is simplified for the casual gamer, it’s still lacking in enough departments to warrant a pass when looking for your next sports title.

To appeal to casual gamers, NFL Tour tried to simplify the controls of conventional complex NFL games into an arcade feel. Gone are such things as kickoffs, and field goals, and in its place are single button passing, reversals, and wall hurdles. Some aspects of Tour play like their Madden counterpart and you can change the option to use classic passing instead of their new one button variation, but the real difference in this title is that of balance. When on the offensive you have a number of tricks up your sleeve, by timing your moves just right you can counter a tackle, give yourself a little turbo boost, or run along the arena wall for a short period of time to avoid an angry defenseman. Unfortunately, while the offense have all these maneuvers at their disposal, all the defense has is a little turbo boost and a counter that rarely works, making most games just a lot of touchdowns and not enough interceptions or QB sacks.

NFL tour is a football game made by EA, as such we would expect this title to look graphically like that of Madden. For the most part the models look alright, they seem to have all the right pieces in the right places, but when comparing them to what the players look like in real life, it makes this title feel more like a comparison between real life athletes and their bobble-head counterparts. The fireworks and crowds are decent as well, while there’s nothing really to get excited about with this it’s still better then cardboard cutouts and skimpy special effects. Where you play the game is one of the biggest complaints I have with this title, out of the few choices of arenas you have to play in, while all are very colourful, they look more or less the same – Oval stadium with yellow canopies in different spots, different designs on the field, and blue walls. While some cities make it feel more urban by being right beside a steady paced highway of identical cars, those fireworks could distract the digital drivers and cause a car accident! When playing in Tour mode, you are introduced by a digital video of Trey Wingo, sports commentator for ESPN. While it was a surprise to see Trey trapped in a DVD, I couldn’t concentrate long enough to pay attention to him while my mind wandered and I began to wonder why EA Big would promote their HD experience, than have such a blurry digital video of Mr. Wingo explaining how to play the Tour.

I’m not done with Trey Wingo, not by a long shot. I can understand having a little humor in a game, especially a spin-off sports title. I can also appreciate how developers feel the pain players experience when a sports commentator repeats himself over and over again in a game. What I cannot accept is how Tour tries to dance around this by having Trey (as the commentator) make comments about repeating comments. I don’t mean this happens every once in a while, it feels like this game has about fifty comments to cycle through, and about 30 of them feel like jokes about commentator repeats. While playing in Tour mode I counted the number of comments he made about the game, comments he made about repeating comments, and the number of repeats of both, my findings? It turns out Mr. Wingo does in fact repeat his comments about repeating himself more then he repeats real football comments! The first couple of times you experience what I can only call the Wingo Factor, you may smile, you might even chuckle, but about half way through the Tour you could find yourself considering the mute button for the rest of your game instead of the dull repetitive jokes that lose all meaning after a couple of Hail Mary plays.

The different modes in a football game are usually what set it aside from the competition, and as a budget title, NFL Tour surprises a few people by having more then one mode of play, although not that much more. To begin, there’s the standard exhibition game. The Tour mode acts as the main mode of play for single players and is sort of like a tournament where you battle across the country. In tour mode you create your own custom character with your choice of preset face, body type, number, name, state and nick name (my guy is known on the turf as Granola) and you’re off. Tour mode has your personal player and chosen team playing in different similar looking cities against different similar looking teams. With each venue having a different objective you must follow in order to score, win, and move onto the next repetitive looking venue. As well, in this title is the Bash n Dash mode where two to four football players are put in a fenced off ring and whoever holds onto the ball for the longest wins (complete with bonus point hotspots and extra points for reversals and wall hurdles). There is also a mode called Red Zone which is like a good old fashion NHL shootout, one player has the ball, the other is the only thing standing between him and the end zone, each player has five chances, whoever scores the most touchdowns at the end wins. What? You thought there were more modes to play? You’re out of luck with that as NFL Tour only comes armed with 4 different ways to play, luckily as with most other next gen games, you can always play against other people online via Xbox Live. Don’t get me wrong, Bash n Dash and Red Zone are fun to play from time to time, especially with multiple people in Bash n Dash, but otherwise this title is definitely lacking in the lasting appeal department.

Walking into this expecting something more like a take on the Blitz series, I was hoping for balanced gameplay, over the top maneuvers and huge hits. While NFL Tour did offer these to an extent, they were no where near as extravagant as they could have been – almost like a title to fill the gap directly between the wackiness of Blitz and the realism of Madden. As an economic title (going for $30 in most stores), it’s definitely worth a look for those on a budget, but otherwise if you have a different football game on your wish list, you are better off picking that title up for the long haul. Too bad the commentary hurt so much. Too bad the commentary hurt so much.

Graphics: 3.0 / 5.0
Gameplay 2.5 / 5.0
Sound 1.0 / 5.0
Replay value 2.0 / 5.0

Exes Bridget Moynahan And Tom Brady Expecting Baby

andPOP Staff — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 02:17:12 +0000

Former SEX AND THE CITY star BRIDGET MOYNAHAN and US professional football player TOM BRADY are expecting a baby together.

Moynahan, 36, and the New England Patriot’s quarterback ended their relationship at the end of last year.

The star’s representative confirms the pregnancy to American publication Us Weekly saying, “Bridget Moynahan is over three months pregnant. Former boyfriend Tom Brady is the father.

“They recently split after a three year relationship. Privacy and consideration is appreciated at this time. No further comments will be made.”

Since the break-up, Brady, 29, has been romancing Brazilian-born supermodel GISELE BUNDCHEN.

The new couple began dating just before Christmas.

This will be the first child for both the actress and the athlete.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Wants 2 NFL Teams in L.A.

Adam Gonshor — Wed, 03 May 2006 16:14:12 +0000

About 10 years ago, the Raiders left Los Angeles, leaving one of the biggest and richest cities in the U.S. without an NFL team.

But California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wants that to change. But he doesn’t just want the NFL to grant L.A. one team. He wants two.

Paul Tagliabue, the commissioner of the NFL, met with officials from L.A., Anaheim and Pasadena ? they all want a franchise (well, at least one).

Reps from each city presented plans to the NFL commish and 11 owners.

Schwarzenegger, who presented first, said afterwards that he was there to make sure “we’re getting not only one NFL team to the Los Angeles area, Southern California, but to actually get two teams,” he said. “That’s why I came. Why limit it?”

Some NFL owners laughed when the meeting was over, but Tagliabue didn’t immediately dismiss the possibility.

“One team is our immediate goal. Long term, I think two is a realistic goal,” he said.

Schwarzenegger says he would accept an existing relocated team or an expansion team, or both.

The NFL could take months before they made a decision on whether or not to grant a new franchise license.

Mario Williams, Not Reggie Bush, Top Pick in NFL Draft

Adam Gonshor — Mon, 01 May 2006 15:38:37 +0000

In a move experts think they will be regretting forever, The Houston Texans did not choose Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush with the top selection overall in the NFL Draft this weekend. Instead, they went with the consensus second-ranked player, Mario Williams.

The Texans had said all along that they were seriously considering Williams, the North Carolina State lineman, but that was seen as a bargaining tactic. But when a deal couldn’t be reached with Bush before draft time, the Texans went with Williams.

“I really found out last night,” Williams said Saturday to nfl.com, minutes after getting chosen. “During the day yesterday, I got a call from my agent and he was just like, you know, we need to talk. He finally told me, you’re going to be the guy. It came down to the wire but I’m just glad it paid off and I’m so glad to be a Texan.”

Southern California running back Bush went second to the New Orleans Saints.

Williams signed a six-year deal worth $54 million.