There was an article in USA Today’s Sports Weekly about what a solid rookie class this has been, and it’s so true.
Offensive rookie of the year power rankings
1. Sam Bradford, St. Louis Rams—He’s thrown for 3065 yards on a team that won one game last season, and might possibly lead them to a playoff berth.
2. Aaron Hernandez/Rob Gronkowski, New England Patriots—Between them, 953 yards and 13 TDs through 14 games. Those are Antonio Gates-esque numbers.
3. Colt McCoy, Cleveland Browns—Did you need more proof that this kid is the future at QB? Yeah, the Browns lost to the Bengals, but McCoy put up 243 yards with 2 TDs and no picks, and completed 19 of 25 for a ridiculous 76% completion percentage.
4. Mike Williams, Tampa Bay Bucs—Through 14 games—58/880/8, and a big reason for the Bucs’ resurgence this year.
5. Dez Bryant, Dallas Cowboys—As electrifying a young player the NFL has seen in a long time.
Defensive rookie of the year power rankings
1. Ndamukong Suh, Detroit Lions—Becoming a defensive leader on his team as a rookie, and helping the young Lions become respectable again.
2. Devin McCourty, New England Patriots—Not only does this young stud have 6 interceptions, but he has 77 total tackles to rank near the top for NFL corners.
3. Eric Berry, Kansas City Chiefs—This is a guy you just don’t throw the ball near, and even if you don’t , he has ridiculous closing speed.
4. Joe Haden, Cleveland Browns—McCoy is the offensive bright spot, Haden the defensive one on a team showing promise in the Holmgren regime.
5. Earl Thomas, Seattle Seahawks—Hasn’t had a pick in a while, but his 5 still ranks near the top in the NFL.




You may have hated his brash attitude, the way he ran his team or the way he conducted his business. You may even feel that he ruined baseball. But regardless of how you may have felt about him, there’s little denying that George Steinbrenner will forever be one of Major League Baseball’s icons. Steinbrenner passed away in July of this year. He will forever be a man known for helping revolutionize the business side of baseball by being the first owner to sell TV cable rights to the MSG Network. When things eventually went south with MSG, he created the YES Network, which is currently the Yankees’ very own TV station that generates millions in revenue. During his tenure, he took the Yankees from a $10 million franchise to a $1.2 billion juggernaut. In 2005, the Yankees became the first professional sports franchise to be worth an estimated one billion dollars. While many baseball fans came to despise the way he ran his team (mainly because he purchased high priced free agents with reckless abandon due to the fact that he could and others couldn’t), don’t miss the message he often made year in and year out: The Yankees are here to win. He didn’t line his pockets with extra revenue (albeit he generated a lot of extra revenue for his club) – he dumped his money back into the on-field product. Losing wasn’t acceptable and if the Bombers came up short one year, you could bet that Steinbrenner would go after the best talent in the offseason, regardless of what others thought of the approach. How many Pirates and Royals fans wish they had an owner with the same appetite for victory?


