Their epic Wimbledon final from last summer seems like a long time ago but Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will renew their rivalry once again this evening as they vie for the men’s title at the Australian Open. This will be their seventh showdown in a Grand Slam final and it’s quickly becoming a must-see rivalry not unlike the Red Sox-Yankees or Lakers-Celtics for all sports fans.

Losing his #1 ranking in the world after Nadal’s thrilling victory in England has been a major catalyst in the revitalization of Federer’s career. He has added intensity and motivation to his smooth, effortless return volley game and hasn’t lost a match at a Grand Slam tournament (including a U.S. Open title last September) since Wimbledon.

Federer will be making his 18th appearance in a Grand Slam final and a victory Sunday evening in Melbourne will put him even with Pete Sampras at 14 Grand Slam tournament victories. His hard-court surface record is also very impressive, as Federer has won seven of the last eight Grand Slam tournaments played on that surface, including winning five straight U.S. Open titles.

The tennis world anointed Nadal as the new king of the sport last summer. The young Spaniard emerged at a time when tennis needed someone to challenge Federer’s dominance. Nadal will never emulate Roger’s play on the court, his sweating and grunting and his fist-pumping, emotional style are all big parts of his game. His top spin forehand shot will be taught to future generations for years to come.

The key to Nadal’s long-term success will be his play on hard-court surfaces. On clay, he has no equal, but Nadal’s improved play on the hard court and grass last year helped him take over tennis’ #1 ranking. Winning Wimbledon was a memorable moment in Nadal’s career, but winning on the hard-court in Melbourne tonight would be just as impressive.

The tennis world was bracing for an unknown to knock off Nadal or Federer, but for the past two weeks they reminded everyone just how good they are. The match is on in the wee hours of Sunday morning (3:30 AM ET) on ESPN2 here in the U.S., but the network is replaying the match later in the morning.

According to Buster Olney’s latest column, the Giants might still be interested in free agent Manny Ramirez. (If they were even interested in the first place, that is.)

Lo and behold, the Giants have emerged as a player in this bidding. But it remains to be seen whether they are going to be shoving big chips at Ramirez, or if they’re just hanging in the thing to position themselves in the event Ramirez gets so frustrated with the Dodgers that he’ll walk away from L.A., at any price. It’s possible the Giants are not really bidding up Ramirez, but just hoping that a Hall of Fame bargain with a chip on his shoulder drops in their lap.

Executives with other teams do not believe the Giants are serious players in the Manny bidding. They think San Francisco’s real intent is to keep the Dodgers honest, to force them to give Ramirez at least a two-year deal. And if somehow Ramirez gets angered by the Dodgers’ level of interest and decides to deliver himself to their division rival, well, all the better for the Giants.

So basically, we know now what we knew three weeks ago about the Giants: they might be interested…but they might not be interested. Sweet.

According to Michael Vick’s lawyer, the suspended NFL quarterback could move to a halfway house ‘any day’ now.

“He’s in the process of being released to the halfway house,” attorney Paul Campsen told Judge Frank Santoro. “We expect it to occur any day.”

But the U.S. Bureau of Prisons has not given Vick’s attorneys a specific date for the move, which Campsen said could occur with only “a day or so” notice.

Vick is serving a 23-month sentence at the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kan., for his role in a dogfighting conspiracy. He is scheduled for release July 20 but could serve the last few months of his term at a halfway house in Newport News, his hometown.

“We believe he is ultimately going to be reinstated by the NFL,” said another Vick bankruptcy attorney, Michael Blumenthal.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has not said whether he will lift Vick’s suspension after his release. Vick once was the league’s highest-paid player before his indictment and guilty plea left both his finances and his reputation in tatters. He filed for bankruptcy protection in July, claiming assets of $16 million and liabilities of $20.4 million.

Papers filed in his bankruptcy case show exceptionally poor management of Vick’s fortune, including lavish and often unexplained spending and an array of questionable investments. The case has been complicated by poor record keeping and Vick’s sketchy knowledge of where his money was going.

Santoro said Vick’s finances could be “charitably described as in freefall” when he filed his bankruptcy petition.

Vick’s freefall must be one of the biggest in celebrity history. Not only did this guy get locked up for running a dog fighting scandal in his backyard, but he also blew all of his money and now is bankrupt. Did he just think that money was going to fall out of the sky whenever he needed it? What a disaster.

The guys from The Love of Sports compiled a top 10 list of reasons to watch Super Bowl XLIII.

4. The Commercials
The Super Bowl’s legendary for some of the funniest and lamest commercials of the New Year. Who could forget Super Bowl XLI’s Pepsi Cola – Sierra Mist: Bearded Comb Over or Chad Johnson’s Super Bowl Party? If the $3 million price tag companies pay for a 30-second spot isn’t enough to watch a commercial or two in these hard economic times, then the anticipation of a potential sequel to the Bearded Comb Over should do the trick.

3. Pick a Side
If your team of choice didn’t make it to the Super Bowl, don’t feel bad when you become a temporary Steelers or Cardinals fan for the day. The game’s more interesting when you can get behind a team and watch them hoist up the Vince Lombardi Trophy at the end of the game. Both the Steelers and Cardinals will be more than happy to have one extra fan on the bandwagon.

2. Athletic Performance
Super Bowl XLIII boasts some serious NFL superstars who should have no problem hamming it up on the big stage. Warner, Edge, Troy Polamalu and Willie Parker are just some of the exciting playmakers to grace the television screen this Super Bowl Sunday.

1. It’s Football, People!
The ability to tackle a 220-pound man is something I won’t be able to experience in my lifetime, but I bet it feels pretty amazing to accomplish. The exciting plays, the unbelievable catches and the amazing story lines all contribute to one of America’s favorite sports and one heck of a Sunday afternoon. The only thing you have to do this weekend is ask yourself one question … Are you ready for some football?!?!?

The Super Bowl should be a holiday. Football, Super Bowl squares, food, adult-type beverages, friends – what more could you ask for on one day?

This is freaking hilarious:

Rejected Super Bowl Ads: Sexy Toyota

I don’t know why, but when they show the two guys yelling, “Yeah! Yeah!” in the parking lot, I was dying.

Check out more funny videos at Atom.com.

The Super Bowl has been played since the 1966 season, so while NFL championships before that are not irrelevant, many records are based on the “Super Bowl era.” And while some teams have a great track record in Super Bowls (49ers), there are others that have awful records (Vikings, Bills). Here is a list of the Top 10 teams record-wise (based primarily on wins) in the Super Bowl era…..

1. San Francisco 49ers (5-0)—The 49ers are undefeated in Super Bowl history, and when you have guys like Joe Montana and Jerry Rice and Steve Young leading the way, it’s easy to see how that happens. But these teams were deep on both offense and defense, and were coached by Bill Walsh and George Seifert. What might be even more remarkable is that the Niners have scored 188 points while giving up 89 in those five games, a 99-point differential. Truly, ahem, super.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers (5-1)—The Steelers are looking to become the first team to win six Super Bowls this Sunday in Tampa against the Cardinals and the second one in the Ben Roethlisberger era. They are already one of the NFL’s premier franchises, but more is always better when it comes to championships.

3. Dallas Cowboys (5-3)—The Cowboys have a rich history of winning, but in today’s what-have-you-done-for-me-lately NFL, all anyone remembers is that they haven’t won a playoff game since 1996, and that dysfunction follows them around like tabloids following QB Tony Romo.

4. Green Bay Packers (3-1)—You might immediately think of Brett Favre, but he is only 1-1 in Super Bowls. The other two were Super Bowls I and II, when Bart Starr was the Packers’ QB and the coach was the legendary Vince Lombardi.

5. New York Giants (3-1)—The Giants climbed up a few notches with that improbable upset of the Patriots last season. Bill Parcells has two of the wins, one with Phil Simms at the helm and the other with Jeff Hostetler—and both with one of the greatest defensive players in history, Lawrence Taylor, terrorizing the other teams’ quarterbacks.

6. Oakland/LA Raiders (3-2)—It’s been about a quarter century since the Raiders won a Super Bowl, or around the same time Al Davis started to lose his marbles.

7. Washington Redskins (3-2)—The Redskins lost to Miami in Super Bowl 7, 14-7, to cap Miami’s (and the NFL’s only) perfect season, and have had mixed results since then, last appearing in 1991 when they beat Buffalo. Hard to believe it’s been almost 20 years since their last Super Bowl, but Dan Snyder makes Al Davis type decisions at times, so the drought could be long.

8. New England Patriots (3-3)—Have the Patriots have lost as many Super Bowls as they’ve won? Yes, when you realize the first two losses were to the mighty ’85 Bears, and to the unstoppable Favre/Holmgren Packers in ’96.

9. Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts (2-1)—You would think Peyton Manning should have more than one Super Bowl appearance, but that very fact was the big knock on him until he got his ring two years ago.

10. Miami Dolphins (2-3)—It’s been 25 years since the D-men have been in the big game, but mark my words…with Bill Parcells at the helm, this team will get back there within a few years, maybe even next year.

Source: Pro Football Reference

Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

- Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” event featured an unbelievable knockout and possibly the worst color-commentary in sports history.

- After taking his third-consecutive loss last Sunday, MMA pioneer Jens Pulver may be considering retirement.

- Cancel your Curves membership: The UFC is launching its own chain of gyms.

- WEC welterweight champ Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit has been poached by the UFC, and will be making his Octagon debut on April 1st against Martin Kampmann.

- Brazilian jiu-jitsu co-founder Helio Gracie died at the age of 95. According to his granddaughter, he once choked out a shark.

- Swing by CagePotato.com tomorrow night starting at 10 p.m. ET as we liveblog UFC 94, which will feature the historic superfight between lightweight champion BJ Penn and welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre. For a preview of the action, check out this in-depth analysis of the main events and this on-the-scene report. And please sign our petition to get MMA legalized in New York State!

Commissioner Roger Goodell is suggesting that London could have its own NFL team in the next decade or so.

London is expected to have its own NFL team within the next 10 to 12 years, according to a senior league official.

NFL boss Roger Goodell suggested the possibility of a team during the annual game at Wembley last October.

And Mark Waller, NFL head of sales and marketing, said: “The commissioner and I have talked about 10 years so that’s mentally how we’re framing it.

“Would we be hugely disappointed if it’s not 10 and it’s 12? No, but that’s the goal,” he told BBC 5 Live.

“We plan rigorously. There is a view for the future. We’ve taken a west coast team [to London] this year in San Diego and we’ve proved the logistics of that work,” he explained.

“This year we’re going to have games going on in London and Toronto at the same time so we definitely have a way forward.”

Come on, seriously? I think it’s great that NFL is reaching out to other countries and having one game played overseas is fine. But giving London their own team? Then what, eight teams will have to travel to London every year as part of their road games? And the London Fill in Team Name Here will have to travel to the States for eight games?

I don’t like it. There are more than enough teams in the league now – stop expanding.

- INGAMENOW has photos of all of the members of the Miami Caliente team that will play in the Lingerie Bowl.

- MIDWEST SPORTS FANS has the transcript of the radio show where Aaron Rodgers tells Michael Irvin that he hasn’t spoken to Brett Favre in a year.

- DEADSPIN has video of the coaches going at it after the Tulane/Rice game. Also, Sammy the Owl gets ejected for head-butting an official.

- SPORTSBYBROOKS has the story of a Troy Polamalu look-a-like that will “bang your wife” for a ticket to the Super Bowl.

- YARDBARKER has a video interview of a body paint girl at a Super Bowl party. Make sure you watch the whole thing.