AngieBlue wrote on Jan 27^th, 2013 at 9:48pm:

sweetcharmedlife wrote on Jan 28^th, 2013 at 9:40am:


RIGHT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!

NINERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day one victory celebrations are going smashingly!
Let's get it on...

sweetcharmedlife wrote on Jan 27^th, 2013 at 7:52pm:

Top story breaking news on Atlanta fox 5. LA wants the Falcons, and Blank will consider if no new stadium deal...

I'm way too butthurt to watch any football, thanks.

Day two victory celebrations are going swimmingly!
Let's bang a gong...

NFL steps up lobbying and political giving

By Bruce Alpert, NOLA.com | Times-Picayune
on January 29, 2013 at 4:25 PM


WASHINGTON - Is it a coincidence that with "bounty gate" and more scrutiny of gridiron injuries the National Football League is stepping up its lobbying and political giving? A Washington watchdog group, which Tuesday released a pre-Super Bowl report on the most popular sports league, sees a connection.


ELIOT KAMENITZ / THE TIMES PICAYUNE
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is overseeing an increase in political donations and lobbying.

"With increasing scrutiny and coverage of the lasting, debilitating effects football careers can have on players' health, the NFL has gone into damage control mode - pumping up its lobbying, spending and donations to influential members of Congress," said Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Executive Director Melanie Sloan.

According to CREW, the NFL spent $1.14 million on federal lobbying - a more than five-fold increase from a decade ago.

The NFL's Gridiron-PAC, which the league formed in 2008, contributed $838,000 to federal candidates and party committees in 2012, an increase of 26 percent from the 2010 election cycle. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell also gave $16,600 to congressional candidates from both parties since 2009.

Even the National Football League Players Association got into the act, CREW said. It spent $120,000 on lobbying in 2012 - three times as much as 10 years ago. But it made no campaign contributions.

CREW said the top recipients of NFL PAC contributions mostly centered on key members of committees with jurisdiction over NFL issues. It said that Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mi., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, received $30,000 from the Gridiron-PAC for his 2010 and 2012 re-election campaigns.

In July, 2012, Upton and three other committee members wrote to the NFL and NFLPA asking that a comprehensive testing program for human growth hormones be implemented before the start of the 2012 season.

This week, the Republican chair and top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee sent out a letter, accusing the players union of blocking a serious testing regime.

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/01/nfl_steps_up_lobbying_and_poli.ht...

AngieBlue wrote on Jan 29^th, 2013 at 7:03pm:

Woo hoo!

sweetcharmedlife wrote on Jan 30^th, 2013 at 11:05am:


SCL....will ya??

In fairness, if the Rave's do lose, it's hard to muster any hate for the 9ers. Nonetheless, for 3.5 hours Sunday night, I will be dangerously close to "hating" your boys - 

what the hell is deer antler spray?

gimmekeef wrote on Jan 31^st, 2013 at 11:46am:

Ray Lewis has got some explaining to do, no?

chevysales?
JB?

Report: Dan Marino had affair, child

FOX Sports


Updated Jan 31, 2013 11:40 AM ET
     
Former Miami Dolphins quarterback and current CBS NFL analyst Dan Marino fathered a child with a CBS Sports employee and paid her millions to keep it secret, according to the New York Post.




Marino has served as a pregame analyst for CBS since 2003 and reportedly admitted to having an affair with Donna Savattere, a production assistant at the time. Savattere, who was 35 at the time, gave birth to daughter, Chloe, in June 2005, according to The Post.

"This is a personal and private matter. I take full responsibility both personally and financially for my actions now as I did then," Marino told The Post in a statement. “We mutually agreed to keep our arrangement private to protect all parties involved."

While the exact amount is unclear, sources told The Post that Marino paid Savattere millions to care for Chloe.

Marino also gave a statement on his marriage to The Post.

"My wife and I have been married for almost 30 years and have six children together," he wrote Wednesday. "And we continue to be a strong and loving family."

sweetcharmedlife wrote on Jan 31^st, 2013 at 2:23pm:

post of the season.
feel free to close this thread.

Fireworks going off over the Mississippi River outside my flat right now.

I thought the big game was this weekend.