Dein erstes Forum » he Hall of Fame coach of the Steelers. "Ive been

NEW YORK, N.Y. - As if they were enjoying a morning coffee together, Pete Carroll and John Fox fulfilled their final media obligations leading to the Super Bowl. Relaxed, self-assured and even charming, the coaches of the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos answered questions for 30 minutes on Friday, joking with each other and the audience. No grumpy one-sentence responses. No agitated reactions to edgy queries. At one point, Fox wondered if he could say a specific crude word to the audience on hand. Watching on television, he then went ahead and used the word. Carroll immediately quipped: "You cant say that, John," eliciting laughs from reporters — and from Fox. Neither man seemed overwhelmed or even antsy about the biggest game of his life coming up on Sunday, even as they sat with the Vince Lombardi Trophy that is given to the NFL champion. "I think its a pinnacle for probably everybody that does what we do," said the 58-year-old Fox, who was with the Giants when they lost the 2001 Super Bowl to Baltimore, and led the Panthers there when they fell to New England in 2004. "Its something you work really hard (for). "As Pete mentioned earlier, you take individuals and try to paint a picture of where you want to get to. I think this is the pinnacle of it. Unlike different levels of football, theres only one happy camper at that end. Thats going to be the team hoisting that trophy." Carroll has hoisted championship hardware, but in college with Southern Cal. This is his first trip to the big game — he had never even attended a Super Bowl before this one. "The trophy really does symbolize the ultimate challenge and competitiveness in our sport and in our world of coaching or playing," said the 62-yard-old Carroll. "To dream about being in this position as a kid and then working all through the years of coaching, battling and watching other guys do it and for the first time for us; its a tremendous honour. "Its a tremendous opportunity and it creates an extraordinary challenge to see if you can be the one. It symbolizes a tremendous amount to all of us. We all live with that, our players and our coaches. Its great to be here, and (Im) thrilled to be doing it, too. It makes for so much fun. The whole buildup, the whole following, knowing its a global event on game day just adds to the fun of this thing. The challenge continues to be out there for us to reach for, so its very exciting." Both coaches have defensive backgrounds, and they made note of that. Yes, the NFL has become a light-up-the-scoreboard league — and no team ever did it better than Foxs Broncos, who scored 606 points this season. But Fox and Carroll made their reputations as defensive co-ordinators before becoming head coaches. Carroll spent one season in charge of the Jets and three with the Patriots before heading to USC. Fox led Carolina for nine seasons. "Youve got a couple old DB coaches here, and its interesting thats how it turned out," Carroll said. "It is an offensive era that were in, and with all the passing game its gone crazy. Maybe its fitting that weve been fighting our whole life trying to slow this thing down, and we get a chance to do it here on the biggest stage. "Really we have very similar paths and the fact that were defensive guys, maybe that gives the defensive guys hope that maybe we can hire one of those guys in the league soon." That already is happening, perhaps with the theory that strong defensive minds can slow down the points parade. Of the seven head coaching hires this year, four were filled by offence-oriented coaches (Bill OBrien, Jim Caldwell, Ken Whisenhunt, Jay Gruden) and three by defensive guys (Lovie Smith, Mike Zimmer, Mike Pettine). "I came up with a guy, Chuck Noll, who is a defensive guy, who I learned a lot from," Fox said of the Hall of Fame coach of the Steelers. "Ive been blessed to be around a lot of great people from ownerships on down to general managers, front office people, as well as coaches. You always take pride. This is a prideful thing to be in this position and play in a game like this with such great history. "Dont forget about those defensive guys moving forward." Ray Allen Jersey . You can watch all the action on TSN2 beginning at 7pm et/4pm pt. Pineda won his second straight start last Wednesday against Chicago, as he held the Cubs to just four hits over six scoreless innings to run his record to 2-0, while lowering his ERA to 1. Eric Bledsoe Bucks Jersey . Neither made it that far in 2013. Not even close. Federer lost his second match at the All England Club. Nadal exited in the first round, a year after bowing out in the second. http://www.nbabucksproshop.com/Authentic...n-Bucks-Jersey/. A day after FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke said three stadiums would not be ready in time for the Dec. 31 deadline, Brazilian officials said they actually plan to deliver all six remaining venues after that date. They claim only three are delayed, with the other three being handed over after the expected date only because of problems accommodating the schedule of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who wants to be present for the ceremonies. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Jersey . Bayern winger Franck Ribery marked his league return after recovering from a cracked rib by scoring two goals and setting up two more as the league leaders inflicted the heaviest home defeat on Bremen in the Bundesliga. George Hill Bucks Jersey . Bjoerndalen, who had failed to win any major race for two years before Sochi, writes in a Facebook entry that he is "full of energy and inspiration" after winning the 10-kilometre sprint and mixed relay at last months Olympics.Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Playing the second of three straight games on the road, the 17th-ranked Virginia Commonwealth Rams clash with the Duquesne Dukes at CONSOL Energy Center in Atlantic 10 Conference action on Saturday afternoon. Along with Dayton, the Rams have yet to be defeated by an A-10 opponent through four games and have matched the Flyers in overall wins in the league with 14. Since losing to in-state rival Virginia, one of only two teams still undefeated at the Division I level, the other being top-ranked Kentucky, the Rams have rattled off nine consecutive victories. The majority of the wins during the current streak for VCU have come by double figures, but that isnt how the meeting with Rhode Island could be described four days ago when VCU captured a 65-60 win against the other Rams in the A-10. The Dukes, who typically play home games at the Palumbo Center, have a total of just six wins in 15 opportunities this season and the first two triumphs came against Bluefield State and Abilene Christian, another being logged versus UMass-Lowell. Clearly this is a Duquesne program that has taken a few steps backwards as it tries to bounce back from a 78-69 loss at Saint Louis three days ago. VCU won the previous two meetings between the programs, the latest being an 80-65 victory at home last season. The teams played in this facility around this time in 2013, with the Rams picking up a comfortable 90-63 win. The trip to Rhode Island was anything but routine for VCU as the visitors fell behind by nine points in the first half and had to scramble after the break to pull out the narrow win. Virginia Commonwealth shot a woeful 9-of-21 at the free--throw line, 8-of-24 behind the 3-point line and lost the battle on the boards, 44-32, yet still found a way to come out on top.dddddddddddd Treveon Graham carried the load with a game-high 26 points, converting 4-of-8 shots out on the perimeter and 10-of-17 from the floor overall, in addition to adding eight rebounds, while Mo Alie-Cox responded with 10 points and Melvin Johnson nine, the latter hitting just 3-of-12 from the floor. Graham is scoring 16.5 ppg to lead the Rams, hitting an impressive 45.1 percent of his 3-point tries while also clearing out some space in the paint in order to capture a team-best 6.8 rpg as well. Johnson, who has a team-high 42 triples, adds another 14.2 ppg to the attack and even though the scoring drops off considerably after that, VCU is still coming up with an impressive 76.8 ppg. Duquesne led by as many as seven points in the first half against Saint Louis in the latest outing, but based on the fact that the Dukes made good on a horrendous 13-of-34 at the free-throw line, the visitors didnt deserve to even be in the same neighborhood with the Billikens. Micah Mason was the only player to score in double figures for Duquesne with 12 points, while Dominique McKoy came within a point of a double-double as he tallied a game-high 12 rebounds. The leading scorer for the Dukes in two straight outings and five of the last seven, Mason is one of two putting up double digits on a consistent basis for the program with 10.7 ppg, thanks to his 41.8 percent shooting behind the 3- point line. Just ahead of him on the list is Derrick Colter with 12.4 ppg as he too exceeds expectations beyond the arc with 53.5 percent accuracy. ' ' '