Category: American Football


Cecil Martin meets the Essex Spartans

Filed under: American Football by Emma Webb — Leave a comment
April 17, 2013

Former National Football League (NFL) star and Sky Sports analyst Cecil Martin stopped off in Billericay, Essex, last week as part of a national tour to further American football at grassroots level.

Martin has been meeting American football youth teams, coaching training sessions and speaking to fans all in the name of promoting sport and a positive attitude among young people.

Popular | Youngsters from the Essex Spartans pose with former NFL player Cecil Martin. (Image | Emma Webb)

Most valuable player | Youngsters from the Essex Spartans pose with former NFL fullback Cecil Martin. (Image | Emma Webb)

In the dimming dusk at Hannakin’s Farm, Martin was infinitely charismatic and friendly. He personally introduced himself, shaking hands with every parent and helper on the sidelines before taking group photographs for his Twitter page.

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Exclusive interview: Cecil Martin

Filed under: American Football, Exclusive Interviews by Emma Webb — Leave a comment
April 17, 2013

Former National Football League (NFL) star Cecil Martin made his way from college football to the NFL draft in 1999, when he joined the Philadelphia Eagles.

Advice | We caught up with former NFL star Cecil Martin as he visited the Essex Spartans American football team last week. (Image | Emma Webb)

Advice | We caught up with former NFL star Cecil Martin as he visited the Essex Spartans American football team last week. (Image | Emma Webb)

A spell on the practice team of the Oakland Raiders followed, before Martin made his first appearance for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and last in the NFL, in 2003.

Martin currently works across the United States as an advisor to high school student athletes, speaking about the college recruitment process on behalf of the National Collegiate Scouting Association.

Emma Webb caught up with the Sky Sports NFL analyst* as he paid a visit to the Essex Spartans American football team in Billericay last week:

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Exclusive interview: TAP talks to Marc Saunders

Filed under: American Football by Emma Webb — Leave a comment
March 10, 2013
They may not be the most glamorous football team in Essex (albeit not by much), but Essex Spartans of the BANAFL are making big steps in building a franchise (Image | Romford Recorder)

They may not be the most glamorous football team in Essex (albeit not by much), but Essex Spartans of the BANAFL are making big steps in building a franchise (Image | Romford Recorder)

In the latest of TAP’s exclusive interviews, we’ve spread our wings again in our constant ambition to bring you news from as many different walking sports as we can. This time around, Emma Webb speaks to Marc Saunders, an American Football evangelist and the head coach of the Essex Spartans, about recruiting players and building a team philosophy.

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We must stop the hero worship

Filed under: American Football, Cycling, Football, London 2012 Olympics, London 2012 Paralympics, Olympics by Shane Thomas — Leave a comment
January 28, 2013

People love stories, particularly tales of greatness, and a major reason as to why the London 2012 Olympic Games held such thrall in Britain was the daily accounts of athletes finding the best of themselves.

Enn-chanting | Jessica Ennis storms to first place in the 200m, part of her hepthathlon glory at London 2012. (Image | Evening Standard)

Enn-chanting | Jessica Ennis storms to first place in the 200m, part of her heptathlon triumph at the London 2012 Olympic Games. (Image | Evening Standard)

We had yarns of the woman who grabbed her last chance of glory, Katherine Grainger; the chosen one adored by her public, Jessica Ennis; or the wounded king that ruthlessly crushed those who would usurp him, Usain Bolt. They were the legends of our time, not just athletes.

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Fallen sporting heroes #2: O.J. Simpson

Filed under: American Football, NFL by Joshua Mott — Leave a comment
November 24, 2012

The second instalment of The Armchair Pundits’ “fallen sporting heroes” series looks at O.J. Simpson and his spectacular fall from grace from a long career in football.

There are few names as famous as his in modern sporting history, and here Josh Mott gives the low-down on the notorious former sportsman.

Trouble | 95 million Americans tuned in to watch O.J. Simpson flee chasing police cars on Interstate 405. (Image | Biker Gallery)

When Orenthal James Simpson and his friend Al Cowling drove down Interstate 405 in a white Ford Bronco truck, 95 million Americans tuned into cable news channels to watch the chase from the police helicopter.

As one of the most charismatic sportsmen of the time, Simpson was heading not just towards the most famous murder trial in American history, but also a life that would be punctuated by peculiarity right up to the present day.

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The black and white of the NFL’s refereeing fiasco

Filed under: American Football, NFL by Joshua Mott — 2 Comments
September 27, 2012

The catch that never was | Monday’s incident has brought the referee issue firmly to the fore. (Image | Associated Press)

It is official, the National Football League (NFL) labour hold out with its game day referees has reached breaking point.

Monday Night Football‘s match-up featuring the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks was the last straw in a weekend plagued with disastrous and arguably game-changing decisions made by the NFL’s replacement referees.

After a Hail Mary pass in the dying seconds of the game by Seahawks rookie quarterback, Russell Wilson, two replacement officials looked at each other in overwhelming bewilderment.

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NFL preview: part two

Filed under: American Football, NFC, NFL, Super Bowl by Joshua Mott — 1 Comment
September 9, 2012

Can San Francisco retain their crown as NFC champions? There is plenty of opposition on their heels (Image | Getty)

If you’ve had a check of TAP since yesterday evening you’ll have seen the first part of Josh Mott’s team-by-team breakdown of the 2012-13 NFL season. Josh returns today, completing his travails with a thorough breakdown of the NFL’s NFC (National Football Conference) competitors and outlining just why he believes this will be one of the closest NFL seasons in memory.

Tonight: previewing the NFC

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NFL preview: part one

Filed under: AFC, American Football, NFL by Joshua Mott — 1 Comment
September 8, 2012

Expect the New England Patriots and Houston Texans to be two of the leading teams in the 2012 AFC season (Image | Getty)

It is often referred to as America’s game and the parallels between the nation and its most popular sport are too many to list, but one thing is for sure the NFL is all about ‘big’. It is the most profitable sports league in the world with television deals worth $27 billion, and franchises worth an average of $1.2 billion. Each NFL season is worth about $9 billion dollars to the US economy, this compared to $7.5 billion for the NBA or $3 billion for the NHL. Pro football is big business and this season is promising not to disappoint.

The 2012 schedule kicked off on Wednesday with a 24-17 triumph for the Dallas Cowboys over the Super Bowl champion New York Giants. This season looks to be closer than any in recent memory with almost all of the thirty-two teams significantly bolstering their rosters in the off season. So here is The Armchair Pundits’ preview to the 2012 NFL season; we will take a look division by division and pick the playoff picks from each and then at the end a Super Bowl prediction, that’s right we are picking the overall winner before it has even began.

Tonight: previewing the AFC

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When did sport become so fantastic?

Filed under: American Football, Baseball, Football, NFL, Premier League by Joshua Mott — 5 Comments
September 4, 2012

Fantasy sports originated in the USA around baseball and American football, which are extremely stat-heavy sports and so lend themselves ideally to the fantasy concept (Image | ESPN.com)

In the age of the internet and the 24-hour sports news cycle, when one can turn on the television at any hour of the day and watch live sports taking place anywhere in the world, it is no wonder that we as a culture have become more fanatical about sports. From anywhere we are just a few clicks away from an innumerable and incomprehensible volume of websites debating and analyzing every aspect of a sport; a particular team, player, or play to such a meticulous and fanatical level that it is hardly surprising that fantasy sports have become such big business.

Fantasy sports is arguably one of the geekiest ways of experiencing any one sport, in the sense that in order to be a successful fantasy sports player, one has to possess an extremely developed understanding of any one sport. A great fantasy sports player must also be able to remember huge amounts of data about a great number of individuals (the athletes in their chosen sport). Fantasy sports fundamentally boil down to one thing; statistics.

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Acceptance of peers the key to Chambers’ redemption

Filed under: American Football, Athletics, Rugby, Track by Rob Schatten — Leave a comment
April 27, 2012

Marlon Devonish (left) and Dwain Chambers could be set to re-unite in the British 4x100m relay team this summer if the latter's ban is lifted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) appear determined to keep Dwain Chambers, arguably Great Britain’s most famous sprinter of the last decade (perhaps for the wrong reasons) and currently one of the fastest men available to Charles van Commenee, out of London 2012. So determined, in fact, that the BOA has taken its case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) to overturn a World Anti-Doping Association (Wada) ruling that its unconventional life ban for athletes found guilty of using drugs is too excessive.

The likelihood is, it appears, that the ruling will be upheld and Chambers will available for selection.

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