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the benefit of being a fre

Vikings' Toby Gerhart might be difficult to keep around

Jerome Felton expects to be blocking next season for Adrian Peterson. As for Toby Gerhart, probably not.

Gerhart has been playing behind star running back Peterson in Minnesota for four years. But Felton won't be surprised to see Gerhart carrying the ball somewhere else next season.

"There's a good chance he will be (one) pretty soon,'' Felton, the Vikings' fullback, said about Gerhart being a starting back with another team. "He's obviously had a lot of success when he's got an opportunity here, so I assume that will continue on forward. I know he's going to be a free agent after this year, and I'm sure there's going to be a lot of teams trying to get him.''

So Gerhart, 26, could be heading into his final five games with the Vikings. While he doesn't want to get ahead of himself, he does admit "it'd be nice'' to be a feature back.

"I hope so,'' Gerhart said about making a continued impression on free agent suitors the remainder of the season. "That's what you hope for, and trying to play hard and put things on tape and assess your resume and see what happens.''

Over the past two games, Gerhart has carried 15 times for 158 yards for a staggering average of 10.5 per carry. That came after he had carried just four times in the season's first nine games.

Gerhart's seven carries for 67 yards in Minnesota's 41 20 loss at Seattle on Nov. 17 mostly came after the game had been decided. But that wasn't the case with the 91 yards on eight carries Gerhart gained in a 26 26 tie last Sunday at Green Bay.

In the overtime, Gerhart carried four times for 33 yards. It's no wonder Gerhart has plenty of confidence that he can be a showcase guy.

"I think I can definitely Nike NFL Jerseys be a feature back, a 1,000 yard rusher, if I had the carries and the opportunities,'' said Gerhart, who has rushed 19 times for 186 yards on the season for an average of 9.8 per carry. "But, right now, I'm where I'm at and I got a role I got to embrace.''

Where he's at is behind Peterson, who had 521 of Minnesota's 578 carries by a running back in the team's 25 regular season games prior to the one at Seattle. But Peterson has been battling a groin strain the past two games, and Vikings coach Leslie Frazier turned to Gerhart to take some of the load off.

Gerhart did more than just that, outgaining Peterson against the Seahawks and providing the Vikings with an impressive one Authentic Russell Wilson Jersey two combo at Green Bay. Now, Frazier is looking for Gerhart to remain a factor in Sunday's game against Chicago at the Metrodome.

"I don't know if the numbers will be much more than what they were last week,'' said Frazier, who was able to give Peterson 32 carries for 146 yards against the Packers in a game Minnesota ran 79 plays. "But getting him on the field for sure with Adrian being where he is health wise. We do need to insert him more often than we do even in the first half, not just wait until wait until the second half when Adrian gets tired or gets fatigued.''

Gerhart certainly has proven his worth before. At Stanford, Gerhart rushed for 1,871 yards as a senior in 2009 and finished second wholesale jerseys in voting for the Heisman Trophy behind Alabama running back Mark Ingram.

Late in his second year with the Vikings in 2011, Gerhart filled in admirably when Peterson was out due to injuries. He had three games of 90 or more yards rushing.

After gaining 531 yards on 109 carries for a 4.9 average in 2011, Gerhart did not have the benefit of being a free agent. So he returned to Minnesota and got just 50 carries last season while Peterson was toting it 348 times for 2,097 yards, the second most in NFL history.

Now, Frazier seems resigned to the fact it will be tough for the Vikings to keep Gerhart around. He was asked how good Gerhart would be if he were with another team and not having to play behind Peterson.

"I think he'd be a featured back,'' Gerhart said. "Whenever he's gotten an opportunity, even the year when Adrian got injured, he stepped in and played very, very well. And you see now, when Adrian's not on the field and he gets his chance, he does extremely well. He's a good back and one of the best teammates you could ever ask for. He's not one of those guys who complains about being a backup to Adrian.''

Yes, Gerhart has kept a good attitude serving as Peterson's understudy four years. But one gets the feeling those days soon will be over.

help them clinch the rea

loudest stadium

Elaine Thompson / AP

Seattle Seahawks fans cheer during a preseason game on Aug. 17, 2013 in Seattle. Fans will compete Sunday to become the "world's loudest stadium."

Update: The K.J. Wright Womens Jersey Seattle Seahawks set the Guinness World Record for crowd noise during Sunday's game against rival San Francisco 49ers. The Seahawks fans reached a decibel level of 131.9 during the nationally televised game, roaring by the previous record of 131.7 decibels, set by fans at a 2011 soccer match in Istanbul, Turkey. On Sunday, they'll get their chance to prove it: A Guinness World Records representative will be at CenturyLink to measure the decibel level of Seahawks fans as their team plays rivals San Francisco 49ers. It's the end result of a showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs, who have also long claimed bragging rights for their Arrowhead Stadium as the world's loudest sports facility.

While the goal of a roaring crowd may be about whipping fans into a greater frenzy and "intimidating" the opposing teams and players, as a KC Chiefs Facebook fan page claims, it's not only a bad idea for fans' hearing it doesn't really help the home team, experts say.

Seattle is going to have to beat the current world record of 131.76 decibels, set by fans at a 2011 soccer match in Istanbul, Turkey. But if Seahawks fans are named World's Loudest on Sunday what, even, is the point? Decades of research have looked at the effect of a noisy crowd on athletic performance and there's never been any conclusive, scientific evidence that a boisterous crowd does indeed help the home team win, social and sport psychologists say.

"So the Seattle Seahawks are trying for this crowd record is that going to help their players win or play better? I would put a big question mark on that," says Robert Weinberg, who specializes in sport psychology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. "Maybe it will; maybe it won't. That's what the research would say."

A lot of fans think that just because there is a home court advantage, "or you have loud, vociferous fans, it's going to help your team perform better," Weinberg says. "That's not necessarily it can be but it's not necessarily the case."

Besides that what about your poor ears?

What it is most certainly doing is damaging the hearing of every person in attendance. People don't recognize how much damage they can do to their hearing, says Alison Grimes, an assistant clinical professor of head/neck surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and director of audiology at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

"People will say, 'Oh, it was just for 10 minutes,'" Grimes says. "And what I tell my patients is that noise is cumulative over the lifetime. Each time you use a chain saw or ride a motorcycle or go to a stadium to make the sound meter reach the top, it accumulates."

Before the Sunday game, every Seattle fan should, at the very least, buy the over the counter ear plugs, says Dr. Anil Lalwani, professor and vice chair for research, director of the division of otology, neurotology and skull base surgery at NewYork Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. "Those will lower the sound level by about 15 to 20 decibels. Wearing those with headphones can bring it down by a total of 40 decibels."

The thing to keep in mind is that there is a reciprocal relationship between the intensity of the sound and the duration you can be exposed to it, Grimes said.

"If you're literally talking about 130 decibels nobody should ever be exposed to that," Grimes said. "There isn't a safe amount of time for 130 decibels. It's physically painful as well as acoustically damaging."

Remember, "hair cells in your ear don't grow back. There is no Rogaine for your inner ear," warns Grimes. "While hearing aids work really well, there is no substitute for natural hearing."

That's why parents should be especially careful about bringing their children to the Sunday game or any other loud stadium without ear protection. Already, tens of millions of kids ages 12 to 19 are showing signs of hearing loss nearly one in 5 largely because of portable music devices. Hours in a very loud environment a sports event or rock concert can create a cumulative effect on fragile ears, experts say.

Not everyone's ears will be hurt the same amount. Some may leave the game unscathed, while others may experience significant hearing loss, Lalwani said.

If the noise is sustained at 130 decibels or louder, Womens K.J. Wright Jersey "there are going to be some unhappy people leaving that stadium," Lalwani said. "They may have ringing in their ears, a loss of clarity for a day or so some may have permanent [damage]."

So while the Seahawks and Chiefs fans battle it out for the loudest stadium title during the 2013 season, they should keep in mind that winning that title might not help them clinch the real championship prize.

In the end, while a loud environment can increase physical arousal psychologically speaking, that means a player might be more alert and very reactive to external stimulation increased physical arousal has also been shown to negatively effect fine motor skills like the skills a quarterback might depend on, Weinberg says. (That's one of the reasons behind the hush at golf tournaments as the players try to sink a six foot putt.)

And what about the impact of all that noise on people's emotional and physical well being? Loud noises can make people irritable, says Lalwani. So, if the Seahawks lose the game against San Francisco and fail to clinch the Guinness record, there may be some very cranky Seattle http://www.nflseahawksofficialstore.com/50+Kj+Wright+Jersey+Cheap.html fans Sunday night.

play host to vast aircraft

Is Albacore Tuna truly sustainable

Most albacore measure two or three feet in length, and weigh around 30 pounds. But at the peak of their 10 year existence, they can tip the scales at twice that. Anglers call them "longfin", thanks to the distinctive, highly evolved pectorals that propel them at speeds of up to 30 miles an hour. Chefs seek out the delicious, pale, meaty flesh that inspires their other common nickname: "chicken of the sea".

There is, however, a third name that you can call this fish, perhaps the most important of all: "sustainable". Albacore is currently the only type of tuna that can be eaten responsibly; the sole species that happens to boast a healthy breeding population, that is commercially harvested in a manner which doesn't always involve the pointless destruction of hundreds of thousands of dolphins, sharks, rays and sea birds.

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you'll have read about the ecological crimes currently being committed in the name of seafood. You'll have seen the frightening statistics. In a generation, mankind has wiped out 90 per cent of the earth's fish stocks. The remaining 10 per cent is being removed from oceans at a rate of 95 million tonnes each year. In another generation, there will, at this rate, be almost nothing left.

Tuna, as a global staple, is on the front line of the now high profile battle between conservationists and the fishing industry. Everyone, we've been told, http://www.nflseahawksofficialstore.com/4+Steven+Hauschka+Jersey+Cheap.html should steer clear of it. If you're a celebrity munching the highly endangered bluefin in Nobu, you might as well be tucking into giant panda. If you're a Home Counties housewife emptying canned tuna into a salade Nioise, you're sending skipjack the way of the dodo.

Now, though, a guilt free alternative has finally hit British supermarkets: tinned albacore, caught in the Pacific by members of an organisation called the American Albacore Fishing Association (AAFA). It is the first tuna ever to get Marine Stewardship Council [MSC] certification as sustainable, a status signified by a blue, fish shaped slogan on its label.

American albacore recently began being sold as own label canned tuna by Sainsbury's, Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose, for around 1.99 a tin. Should it catch on, it might, in its own way, become as common as the energy saving lightbulb. British consumers eat 56,000 tonnes of tinned tuna a year; this, at last, gives us a chance to do so with a clear conscience.

The product is endorsed in the loftiest foodie circles. Tom Aikens, the Michelin starred chef whose eponymous Chelsea restaurant has blazed a trail for sustainability in the world of gourmet cuisine, says its launch symbolises a revolution in public attitudes to the seafood they put in their shopping bags and on their plates. "There's been incredible change in the past few years. People are demanding sustainable fish, but it can still be very hard to get," he says. "Even I sometimes struggle, and I make it my business. Products such as this give consumers a choice. They need to have these kinds of alternatives. Otherwise fish will simply become extinct."

As to the contents of the can, he adds: "Obviously I can't charge 30 for a main course and serve tinned tuna, so I'm not going to tell you that I'd use this stuff in my restaurants. But for the sort of things it'll be used in, such as sandwiches and jacket potatoes, tinned albacore more than does the job. And it's very nutritious."

So what exactly is this remarkably ethical, glamorously endorsed, healthy food product? Where does the American albacore come from? How is it caught? By what process does it end up in a can on your supermarket shelf? And should we really trust the little blue label that calls it "sustainable"? You'll have to go all the way to San Diego to find out.

Each summer, vast shoals of albacore swim north, from the waters of South America and the South Pacific, to cooler seas off California, Oregon and Washington State. Each shoal holds tens of thousands of tuna, and measures several miles across. Among the people trying to track them down is a cigar chomping, 48 year old fisherman called Jack Webster.

Webster owns the Millie G, one of 75 vessels that make up the AAFA fleet. Every June, he and four crew members fill ' the 60ft boat with food and fuel, kiss goodbye to their wives and families, and set sail from their home port in San Diego, the prosperous US city perched next to the Mexican border. God willing, they return in November.

A few miles from shore, they'll sling a small net into the ocean, pulling up a few hundredweight of anchovy. These small silvery fish, which are later to become bait, are kept alive in a water filled tank below deck as Millie G chugs west. American territory extends just 200 miles; after that, the fishing vessel is in international waters. Sometimes, they travel for weeks, crossing the International Date Line.

To you or me, one patch of the Pacific would look Womens Steven Hauschka Jersey the same as another: blue, clear, endless. But to Webster, it is a sort of jigsaw puzzle. A small ripple on the horizon or the silver flash of a jumping fish half a mile away might indicate the presence of a shoal of albacore. Seabirds particularly terns or seahawks are another sign. It takes patience to track down the shoals of migrating fish. And luck. "Ninety per cent of fishing is looking. At best, 10 per cent is catching," he says. "The fish are only on surface a short time. They're elusive, they come and go, and there's a tremendous amount of water for us to cover. But sometimes you get 'fish sense' a feeling there's something around. It can be as subtle as seeing a few birds. And then. bang! Suddenly the ocean is full of silver."

Webster catches his tuna the old fashioned way: using poles and lines, baited with small metal and rubber lures. When he hits albacore, one of his crew begins "chumming", or throwing live anchovies into the sea around the boat. The other three stand in a small knee high basket, suspended perilously from the stern, and attempt to extract them from the ocean.

This part is art as much as science. The lure (called a "squid") is dropped a couple of feet beneath the water's surface, and tweaked sharply upwards. Every now and then, a fish will strike. Using the pole for leverage, a fisherman will flick the albacore on deck, shake it off the hook, and return the lure immediately to the water. The process continues as long as the shoal is there, and fish are biting.

"This is something we have a lot of passion for," says Webster. "It's just incredibly exciting. I used to sport fish, but this type of commercial fishing is one level higher in terms of the excitement and rush, and the high you get. It's sport fishing on steroids. That's how I see it. You get this chase and this hunt. You've got to use your gut feelings, and work out the fish and what they're up to. It gets into your blood."

The Millie G has six storage tanks, which can freeze and hold 35 US tonnes, or 70,000 pounds, of tuna. When they're full, a process that normally takes several weeks, Webster will return to the nearest port, and drop off his cargo. He stays at sea as long as albacore remain in US or international seas, or the arrival of hurricane season permits. At the end of the season, profits are split between the crew.

It's a skilful, beguiling and labour intensive process, a world removed from the means by which the vast majority of the world's tuna is removed from the ocean. This, of course, is the key to its sustainability. Webster's crew use poles and lines to selectively remove a small number of fish (the "biting" ones) from a large shoal; by contrast, most fisheries have developed more productive, and damaging, techniques.

When you see the words "line caught" on a tuna steak, don't be fooled into thinking it was ethically captured. The chances are that it was instead hooked by "longlines" enormous lengths of nylon baited with thousands of lures, which stretch back many, many miles. Sometimes an individual longline can extend the distance from London to Brighton.

This causes significant "bycatch", the industry term for the process by which sea creatures are accidentally caught, killed, and discarded as rubbish. As much as 20 per cent of the weight of tuna caught by longlines is chucked away as "bycatch". Often, casualties include turtles, dolphins, sharks, rays and endangered albatross, which mistake the glistening lures for an easy meal. Broken longlines can drift across the ocean, snagging and killing marine life, for years.

Most other tuna sold in the UK is caught via "purse seine" netting: encircling a shoal with a large net and effectively scooping it from the sea. For years, this method also killed vast numbers of dolphins. Now, most cans are labelled "dolphin friendly", meaning the net is raised in a manner that allows the cute mammals to escape.

Unfortunately, purse seining still kills swordfish, turtles and myriad other creatures. A recent Greenpeace report revealed that this is undermining not just the sustainability of tuna, but also the viability of other marine life. "Dolphin friendly" tuna sitting in your kitchen cupboard is extremely unfriendly to other creatures, it concluded.

In stark contrast, AAFA albacore has no bycatch. The only fish killed by Webster and his crew (and the 74 others like them) are the ones that end up being eaten. Pacific stocks of albacore are also in robust shape: at present, just seven per cent of the total is caught each year. As a species, it isn't ' as critically endangered as the prize species of bluefin and bigeye; neither is it hammered like skipjack or yellowtail.

"In terms of the MSC label, we have some scepticism, particularly with regard to fisheries it endorses that are catching things Steven Hauschka Womens Jersey such as Alaskan pollock, Australian rock lobster, hoki and Patagonian toothfish," says Willie Mackenzie, a fisheries campaigner for Greenpeace. "But I'm not going to say everything they do is rubbish. Albacore is a relatively healthy type of tuna. Pole and line is the best and cleanest way to catch it. So in this instance, it's hard to be critical."

Spend time with Webster and his colleagues, though, and it soon becomes clear that the American albacore fishery isn't just a sustainable source of tuna. It is also a resource that helps protect a way of life.

San Diego was built on albacore. A century ago, when Mediterranean immigrants headed to the American west, they were amazed by the riches of its ocean. Fish were caught within a few miles of the coast, in their thousands. By the 1960s, the city was known as the tuna capital of the world. Its port was home to almost 1,000 fishing vessels, big and small.

Today, just a dozen tuna boats are left. Dogged by over regulation, or financially ruined by the volatile price of seafood, most of the commercial fleet disappeared during the 1980s and 1990s. The harbour berths where tuna vessels once sat now play host to vast aircraft carriers, or cruise ships, ferrying overweight tourists to the Baja Mexico.

This represents a particularly pointless development, since Jack Webster's albacore ought to be a valuable, premium product. Pole caught fish are not battered and bruised, as their net caught siblings are. Neither do they die at sea hours before being landed, as with tuna killed by longlines. They are in better, tastier condition than mass produced rivals.

Their flesh is also healthier. By targeting fish feeding on the surface of the water, traditional pole and line boats such as Webster's kill smaller, younger specimens with low mercury levels, and leaner flesh than their mass market rivals. Though he might catch less than a longline fisherman, logic dictates that he ought to be able to sell it for more.

Holiday Tournament semifin

Articles Max Unger Womens Jersey about Comed

ComEd to hike electricity delivery charge

By Julie Wernau December 18, 2013

Starting in January, electricity customers will pay an extra $5.50 per month on average to have Commonwealth Edison deliver electricity. The Illinois Commerce Commission allowed the increase Wednesday following a review of ComEd's expenses and investments, which it determined had increased by $340 million. Many of those increases are related to the utility's efforts to modernize the electrical grid, which included adding "smart" devices that can repair outages, as well as hundreds.

Blessings multiplied: Edward and Ashanti Howard's love story

By Leslie Mann, Special to Tribune Newspapers December 29, 2013

When Edward Howard is asked if he recalls the moment he first set eyes on his future bride, his response is immediate. "Room 1029, 10th floor," said Howard, 37, of their introduction at Harold Washington College in Chicago some 14 years ago. "I saw her in that red dress wow! and I wondered, 'How am I going to maintain my professional demeanor?'" "He was the model college student," recalled his wife, Ashanti Howard, 33. I presume it was a heat related outage. I grew up in St. Louis, where it's much hotter than Chicago, and we never had any power outages. Also, we have friends and relatives in the Phoenix area and they never mention anything about power outages. I think it's time for ComEd to provide some answers, because it appears that their management in more interested in pursuing rate increases than in addressing the service issues. Dan Schuchardt, Glen Ellyn

ComEd training workers in new smart grid

By Julie Wernau, Chicago Tribune reporter November 17, 2013

The first day he was told he'd have to tote a laptop computer while climbing poles and repairing outages, Bill Schauff, 54, recalled thinking: "I'm an old farm boy. What am I supposed to do with this thing?" Lately, utility workers who have spent years teetering on poles in storms or have been lowered underground to splice cable are being herded into classrooms at Commonwealth Edison's new training center in Rockford. They are learning skills essential to operating the emerging.

Decision coming for unpredictable Jets owner Johnson

Reuters December 28, 2013

The Sports Xchange NFL Team Report New York Jets INSIDE SLANT New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan's job status has been the source of much conjecture ever since Womens Max Unger Jersey owner Woody Johnson deviated from the norm last Dec. 31, when he fired general manager Mike Tannenbaum on "Black Monday" while retaining Ryan. The 2013 edition of "Black Monday" arrives this Monday. And might Johnson once again generate headlines with an unusual decision? Most owners would believe.

ComEd power outage information

July 13, 2011

How many customers are out? About 285,000, as of late Tuesday. How long until power is restored? For most of those left, Thursday or Friday. But for some, Saturday. How many have been restored so far? More than half a million (868,000 customers lost power in Monday's storm, the most for any incident since ComEd began its current recording method in 1998.) How many crews are working? About 580, and ComEd will add nearly 300 more over the next few days. (Some workers are.

Boys hoops Cliff Alexander's slam comes just http://www.nflseahawksofficialstore.com/60+Max+Unger+Jersey+Cheap.html in time for Curie

By Mike Helfgot, Special to the Tribune December 28, 2013

PONTIAC, Ill. Cliff Alexander dunked just about everything he got his mitts on, right up until the overtime buzzer. Alexander rebounded a missed free throw with five seconds left, sprinted to the other end and threw down Kamar Marshall's miss just in time to give the No. 1 Condors a 74 73 victory against West Aurora on Saturday in a Pontiac Holiday Tournament semifinal. The worker, identified by the DuPage County coroner's office as Daniel Yost, 24, of Bartlett, was fatally injured while he was replacing a utility pole in the western suburb, police said. to 137 S. Lodge Lane, where Yost had been working on an overhead electrical line. He was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in.

When it comes to walking, more is better

Allison Bond and Reuters December 27, 2013

People who walk enough to meet or exceed physical activity recommendations may be less likely to die early than those who only walk a little, new research shows. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends adults be physically active for at least two and a half hours per week. Previous research has shown exercising more than that may bring extra benefits.

Ikechukwu Nelson Nduk

All That is Good About Nigeria

A friend of mine once said "A Black Man will excel at anything he sets his mind to". I say "Now imagine adding Nigerian to that". This is not to say that one race is superior to the other, as we are all equal in the eyes of He who created us. Looking through the book of life, today, yesterday and even many years ago, one thing is constant Nigerians have proven time and time again that IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING. We've broken barriers over and over again, as though they never even existed. There's an astounding quote from a speech by Rtd General EmekaOdimegwuOjukwu that is descriptive of my thoughts. Permit me to share:

"In the three years of war, necessity gave birth to invention. During those three years, we built bombs, we built rockets, we designed and built our own delivery systems. We guided our rockets, we guided them far, and we guided them accurately. For three years, blockaded without hope of imports, we maintained engines, machines, and technical equipment. The state extracted and refined petrol, individuals refined petrol in their back gardens, we built and maintained airports, we maintained them under heavy bombardment. We spoke to the world through a telecommunications system engineered by local ingenuity. The world heard us and spoke back to us. We built armored cars and tanks. We modified aircraft from trainer to fighters, from passenger aircraft to bombers. In three years of freedom, we had broken the technological barrier. In three years, we became the most civilized; the most technologically advanced black people on earth."

If this does not best explain my point. Perhaps we'll break it down using other aspects of life that we can all relate to Music, Fashion, Sports, Movies etc ? How many Nigerians do you know that have excelled and continue to raise the bar in these various industries ? Talk about Music and we're quick to scream the Legendary FelaKuti, Sade Adu, Seal, ChiwetelEjiofor, Hakeem Olajuwon, Jay JayOkocha, KanuNwankwo,Alexander Amosu . The list is quite endless. Talent is TALENT, doesn't matter where you're from. Some folk will even argue that soccer is in our genes. But then take a sport like American Football, ranking around the globe, as one of the top games to play and watch, a sport that has absolutely NO business on our soccer monopoly that is African Soil. Run through the NFL list and voila!!! Nigerians! Nigerians! Nigerians! They're everywhere and guess what ? They're not just getting by as ordinary players. These guys are setting records everyday and we're ignoring their existence. Today, I'd like to take time out to send a major shout out to all Nigerians making a mark in Sports all across the globe Swimming, Ice Hockey (uh huh! We know y'all are there), Boxing, Volleyball, Basketball, Racing, Cricket . We might not hear about you but keep making us proud!

SPORTS FOCUS FOR TODAY NFL (AMERICAN FOOTBALL)

Nigeria the hub of African football, or "soccer" as the Americans call it. It is the national religion. Transcending ethnicity, politics or language group, football united the country. We will always remember winning the Atlanta 96 Olympic Gold medal on American soil, so also we will always celebrate our soccer stars. But we must remember, there was once a time when sports did not equate soccer alone, a time when our sports legends were not necessarily soccer players, but athletes in all sporting fields.

Nigeria had its first appearance in the Helsinki Olympic Games in 1952, and its first victory in 1954, when Emmanuel Ifeanjuna won a gold medal in the high jump at the commonwealth games in Cardiff.

Fast forward to 2011, there are a host of African players in the NFL (American Football League) and in college football.

Where is Nigeria in the American Football League ?

Not only is Nigeria a predominant sports nation in Africa, but a legion of athletes either Nigerian born or of Nigerian descent are setting new standards in American Football. In 2008, the NFL draft recruited about 6 new Nigerian players who were phenomenal in college football. Last years draft saw the influx of quite a number of Nigerian players in the first round, and this year a few more are projected to be signed into the NFL. There are currently about 40+ African players in the National Football League out of which 70 percent are Nigerian. Umenyiora has been selected for the Pro Bowl twice, and holds the Giants franchise record for most sacks in one game, coming against the Philadelphia Eagles in 2007.

NnamdiAsomugha is an American Football cornerback for the National Football League Oakland Raiders. He was drafted in the first round of the 2003 NFL Draft by the Raiders and played college football for the Golden Bears at the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently considered to be one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL.

AmobiOkoye (born June 10, 1987) is an American football defensive tackle for the Houston Texans of the National Football League. Okoye was drafted by the Houston Texans in the first round of the 2007 NFL draft. He is the youngest player to ever be drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft at only 19 years old. He was the highest draft pick to come out of the University of Louisville since the AFL NFL merger.

James UgochuIhedigbo (born December 3, 1983) is an American football safety for the New York Jets of the National Football League. He was signed by the Jets in 2007. He played college football at Massachusetts. He is the son of Nigerian immigrants to the United States.

Oshiomogho Isaac J. Atogwe (born on June 23, 1981) is an American football safety for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college football at Stanford.

AdewaleOgunleye (born August 9, 1977 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American football defensive end. He was signed by the Miami Dolphins in 2000.

Israel Idonije (born November 17, 1980) is a Nigerian Canadian defensive end for the National Football League Chicago Bears. He was signed out of the University of Manitoba. A draft pick of the now defunct Ottawa Renegades of the Canadian Football League, for whom he never played, Idonije spent the start 2003 season on the Cleveland Browns practice squad prior to his release in September. He was subsequently signed to the Bears practice squad for the final six weeks of the season.

Brian Orakpo (born July 31, 1986) is an American football linebacker for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Redskins 13th overall in the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at Texas.

Chinedum Ndukwe(born March 4, 1985, Charlottesville, Virginia) is an American football safety for the Cincinnati Bengals professional football team. He was drafted by the Bengals in the seventh round, 253rd overall, in the 2007 NFL Draft.

Ovie Phillip Mughelli( born June 10, 1980 in Boston, Mass.) is an American football fullback for the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL. He signed a 6 year, $18 million contract with a $5 million signing bonus on March 2, 2007 with the Michael Bennett Womens Jersey Falcons. The contract was the largest given to a fullback in NFL history at the time.

Remilekun Ayodele (born April 22, 1983 in Grand Prairie, Texas) is an American football defensive tackle for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League. He was signed by the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2006. He played college football at Oklahoma.

Ayodele has also been a member of the Baltimore Ravens, Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons. He is the younger brother of NFL linebacker Akin Ayodele.

Akinola James Ayodele (born September 17, 1979 in Irving, Texas) is an American football linebacker for the Buffalo Bills in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the third round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football at Purdue.

Ayodele has also been a member of the Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, and the Denver http://www.nflseahawksofficialstore.com/72+Michael+Bennett+Jersey+Cheap.html Broncos.

Ikechukwu Nelson Ndukwe (born July 17, 1982 in Powell, Ohio) is an American football offensive tackle for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He was signed by the New Orleans Saints in 2005. He played college football at Northwestern.

Ndukwe has also played for the Washington Redskins, Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins, and Kansas City Chiefs. He is the older brother of NFL safety ChinedumNdukwe.

Busari Raji, Jr. (born July 11, 1986), nicknamed Freezer is an American football nose tackle for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft (9th overall). He played college football at Boston College.

Franklin NonyeluOkam, Jr. (born October Womens Michael Bennett Jersey 16, 1985 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas) is an American football defensive tackle who is currently a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was drafted by the Houston Texans in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at Texas.