Sports Spectrum | The Daily, by Dave Branon and Rob Bentz

NFL

NFC PLAYOFFS

NEW YORK GIANTS 21, DALLAS COWBOYS 17
It’s always tough to beat a team three times in the same season—and the Dallas Cowboys couldn’t break through either.

The New York Giants got a huge second-half performance from their defense, an efficient game from quarterback Eli Manning, and big day from veteran wide receiver Amani Toomer to stun the Dallas Cowboys in Big D!

The Giants defense turned on the pressure in the second half, limiting Dallas signal caller Tony Romo to just 18-of-36 passing for just 201 yards . Manning continued his solid play (12-of-18, 163 yards , 2 TDs—both to Toomer) of late to lead his team within one win of the Super Bowl!

Dallas becomes the first top seed to lose in this round of the playoffs since the NFL put the 12-team format into play in 1990.

SS Pick: Dallas 24, New York Giants 20

GREEN BAY PACKERS 42, SEATTLE SEAHAKWS 20
It didn’t look good early for Ryan Grant and the Green Bay Packers—but the Packers never planned to play a short game.

Grant, the Packers’ fine running back, fumbled twice early to help Seattle to a 14-0 advantage in the first quarter. From that point forward it was all Packers!

Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre threw three touchdown passes, and Grant rushed for 201 yards and three TDs to lead Green Bay to the highest point total in Packers playoff history!

SS Pick: Green Bay 27, Seattle 17

AFC PLAYOFFS

SAN DIEGO CHARGERS 28, INDIANAPOLIS COLTS 24
The NFL will have a new Super Bowl Champion to close out the 2008 season. The defending champion Indianapolis Colts could not hold off the San Diego Chargers on their home turf to continue their quest for a repeat.

With both starting running back LaDainian Tomlinson and starting quarterback Philip Rivers on the sideline due to knee injuries, the Chargers rallied behind subs Michael Turner and Billy Volek to surprise the Colts.

In the game’s closing moments, the Chargers defense held Peyton Manning and the Colts out of the end zone on two series to seal the victory.

SS Pick: Indianapolis 30, San Diego 20

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 31, JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS 20
The New England Patriots perfect season marches on!

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was nearly perfect on Saturday, completing 26-of-28 passes for 262 yards and three touchdowns passes to lead New England to their 17^th win of the season. Brady’s 92.9 completion percentage set a new NFL standard.

The Jaguars scored first on Matt Jones eight-yard touchdown reception, and then fell victim Brady and the rest of the undefeated Patriots for the rest of the day.

Jacksonville finished their impressive season 12-6.

SS Pick: New England 38, Jacksonville 24

SS PICKS
This Week: 2-2
Playoffs: 5-3

NHL

SENATORS LOSE SPEZZA; THEN FALL TO ISLANDERS

One day after losing star Dany Heatley to injury, the Ottawa Senators watched another one of their young stars go down in Sunday’s 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders.

Center Jason Spezza was leveled by Freddy Meyer on a clean hit in the first period. Spezza’s status is uncertain. Heatley, who injured his shoulder against Detroit, will miss up to six weeks!

Marc-Andre Bergeron scored a pair of power-play goals, and goalie Rick DiPietro turned away 31 shots to lead the Isles to the big road victory. New York returns to home with a 2-1-2 record on their five-game road trip.

NHL SCORES
Minnesota 4, Phoenix 1
Philadelphia 6, Washington 4
Edmonton 2, Calgary 1
Anaheim 4, San Jose 3 – OT
Chicago 3, Nashville 2 – OT SHOOTOUT
Vancouver 4, St . Louis 3 – OT SHOOTOUT
Colorado 4, Florida 3 – OT SHOOTOUT

NBA

NO MISPRINT: KNICKS 89, PISTONS 65

Isiah Thomas refuses to quit on his job as head honcho of the New York Knicks, despite all of the calls for him to give up on his team. Sunday’s 89-65 shellacking of the Detroit Pistons surely gave the former Piston guard reason to enjoy at least one moment of joy in an otherwise disastrous season—and give New Yorkers just a glimmer of hope.

Playing without Stephon Marbury, the Knicks battled the Pistons even in the first quarter 18-18 before Detroit simply forgot how to score. They tallied just 24 points in the middle two quarters. By the time they got untracked, it was the fourth quarter, and New York led 71-42.

Detroit shot a miserable 30 percent, including just 2 of 15 from behind the three-point line. Tayshaun Prince was especially off, missing all 10 of his attempts from the field. Richard Hamilton wasn’t much better at 1 for 7. Only two Pistons cracked double digits; Antonio McDyess had 15 and Chauncey Billups had 13.

Meanwhile, Zach Randolph turned around from his sulking performance earlier in the weekend when he refused to sit by Thomas on the Knicks’ sideline after being pulled out of a game. He led New York with 25 points and eight rebounds. Jamal Crawford was next with 15.

Detroit drops to 28-10 while New York is now 10-26.

OTHER NBA SCORES
Toronto 116, Portland 109 (2OT)
LA Lakers 100, Memphis 99
Golden State 106, Indiana 101
New Orleans 87, Houston 122
Atlanta 105, Chicago 84

NBA NOTES

• Hottest team in the NBA? The LA Lakers have won nine of their last 10 games. They are just a half game behind the Phoenix Suns in the Pacific and the same amount behind the Suns and Dallas for the top spot in the West. Who would have thought that the preseason scramble for a possible Kobe Bryant trade would energize the Lakers and perhaps drive the Chicago Bulls to distraction?

• Coldest team in the NBA? Gotta be the inappropriately named Heat from Miami . They have dropped all 10 of their last 10 games. Minnesota (1-9) and the LA Clippers (1-9) aren’t far behind.

• Joakim Noah is an exciting player with fun-to-watch exuberance, but he seems to be developing a reputation for immaturity as well. He missed the Chicago Bulls’ loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday because his teammates voted him off the island. He apparently had done some things that his coach called “not what the Chicago Bulls do,” and when Jim Boylan allowed the team to vote on what to do about the rookie, they voted unanimously to make him sit out Sunday’s game.

FACT OF THE DAY

NEW ENGLAND’S RUN

Since Tom Brady took over at quarterback for the New England Patriots at the beginning of the 2001 season, here is how the Pats have fared:

Won-lost record, regular season: 86-26

Playoff record: 13-2

Super Bowl record: 3-0

The Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2002 (XXXVI), 2004 (XXXVIII), and 2005 (XXXIX).

`MINI MEMOS`

`Putting the SS spin on today’s sports news`

INSPIRING
Some day when things aren’t going your way, and you wonder why you should keep plugging away despite the overwhelming odds in your face, here’s what you can do. Think of the San Diego Chargers. This team had so many factors going against it on Sunday, it’s no wonder they didn’t just hop on the bus and hightail it out of Indianapolis . First, they were playing in one of an arena that is death to visiting teams. For football, the RCA Dome is small, which means that noise emanating from the nearly 57,000 rabid Colts fans surrounding the field is enough to make a Marine nervous. Then you start the game and your No. 1 player—the best rusher in the world—gets hurt and can’t play anymore. You suck it up and do your best, and just when you think you have pulled your team into the lead, some referee pulls momentum right out from under you. One of your players intercepts Peyton Manning (Repeat: Intercepts Peyton Manning!) and makes a spectacular runback, finally eluding Manning himself before stumbling into the endzone with a first-half ending touchdown. And then you notice the flag. Somewhere in the middle of this incredible play, a man in stripes thinks he sees holding, and he pours yellow all over your comeback. Wipes away the seven points. And then later, every time a ref challenge comes up, you lose it. Still later, your quarterback gets hurt and can’t play anymore. You should have folded up in fear, but you didn’t. You came back and you beat the Indianpolis Colts, Tony Dungy and all. Feeling like a loser? Think about the San Diego Chargers and keep plugging away. You just might surprise some people.

ROLEN ON
It appears that they family feud between Scott Rolen and Tony La Russa may be nearing a solution. St. Louis is obviously not big enough for the both of them, so one has to go, and it’s not La Russa. The Cardinals, it appears, are about to send Rolen off to Toronto in exchange for Troy Glaus. Both Glaus and Rolen have been slowed by injuries in recent years, and their production at the plate has been down. Each, though, if healthy, could become an offensive force for his new team.

MUST READ
Sometimes we can explain thing sufficiently, so we give it a try here in The Daily. But sometimes, all we can do is refer you to another source and let you read the details of a story. The story The Daily is recommending to you today is found at Sportsline.com, the Web outlet of CBS Sports. There you can read Scott Miller’s touching article about a fantastic program the Arizona Diamondbacks have started as a way to connect with some of their fans. Go to www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/10571485. You’ll have some of your faith restored in oft-embattled Major League Baseball.

WHO IS HE?

Testing your knowledge of past stars -- taken from the pages of Sports Spectrum magazine.

FRIDAY’S MYSTERY PERSON

• He developed his own memory methods while at Ohio State to help him get through college.

• While at OSU, he also was the collegiate Player of the Year twice.

• He was a gold medalist in the Olympic Games

• His OSU Buckeyes won the national championship one season

• Was named the NBA Rookie of the Year

• Won the NBA championship with the New York Knicks.

• His outside shot was so good, many called it the ________ Layup (with his name in the blank)

• He wrote a book about how to memorize Scripture. It was called Remember the Word.

WHO IS HE? JERRY LUCAS

MONDAY’S MYSTERY PERSON

• He played eight seasons with the Seattle Mariners.

• He had 4,240 at bats, 1,189 hits, and a .280 career batting average in the majors.

• He set a record for most putouts by a first baseman in one nine-inning game on May 28, 1988. He had 22 putouts.

• He hit home runs in his first two major league games in 1984

• He was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1984

WHO IS HE?

`SPORTS SPECTRUM INSIDER:`

Getting to the heart of what matters in life

TODAY'S FEATURE: KYLE BRADY

KYLE BRADY, TIGHT END, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

BIO NOTE: In the Kings’ media guide, Salmons lists the Bible as his favorite book.

RECENT NEWS: On Sunday, Brady caught as many passes as Randy Moss for the Patriots. Brady snagged one Tom Brady pass for 12 yards in the Pats’ win.

FAITH QUOTE: “I am looking to serve God today and do my best each day by using His power to make the most of every opportunity I get. Success to the world right now is my going out and catching footballs. But success to God is my going out and doing the absolute best I can do every day, having a good relationship with Him, and being obedient.”

—Sports Spectrum magazine

`SS DAILY INTERVIEW:`

To hear today's interview, go to the Sports Spectrum radio home page. It can be found at www.sport.org.

THE MONDAY GUEST

DAN SHOEMAKER, vice president, event management, ESPN

So, what does the Worldwide Leader think about bowl games and their proliferation? Find out by tuning in to this interview as Shoemaker explains why he thinks there is room for even more bowl games in your future.