ESPN

Each goes by the name Mr. Irrelevant, but no two are alike.

So when Irrelevant Week is held annually in Newport Beach, Calif., to honor the last player taken in the NFL draft, many of the activities are tailored to fit the guest of honor.

While all participate in the Arrival Party and Lowsman Banquet -- where each receives the opposite-of-the-Heisman Lowsman Trophy (depicting a player in mid-fumble) -- players can decide what else they want to do.

One asked to go clubbing in Los Angeles with Paris Hilton. Another chose to spend time with his family and sleep extra hours in his soft hotel bed. Others, who’d never been to California, wanted to go Jet Skiing or sailing, play golf on a course overlooking the Pacific or meet their sports heroes.

In 2008, David Vobora, a linebacker from Idaho chosen by the Rams, wanted to see the Playboy Mansion and meet the women from “The Girls Next Door” reality TV series. After an evening that included dinner with Hugh Hefner, hanging with “The Girls,” getting a tour of the mansion and sharing Hef’s movie night, Vobora told one reporter it was “a slice of heaven.”

And that’s pretty much been the goal of Irrelevant Week since it began in 1976: to treat the last as if he were first.

Each April, when Mr. Irrelevant is drafted in New York, Irrelevant Week CEO Melanie Salata Fitch is right there to get his requests for Irrelevant Week (usually is held in June).

“I say, ‘Hey, congratulations’ and 'What do you like?' and 'What do you eat?' and 'What have you always dreamed about?' and I start designing events,” she says.

After 37 Irrelevant Weeks, she’s confident the players have had a great time. How could they not? Her mission is to treat each “like a king.”

(Read full post)

The Vikings look like the Vikings again -- mostly -- and the Dolphins don't look quite as much like the Dolphins as they used to.

That's the takeaway from Thursday's two NFL uniform unveilings. The Minnesota and Miami uniforms both had been leaked earlier this week, but now we have a much better look at the teams' new uni sets.

Let's start with the Vikings (all images courtesy of Nike).



Almost any change would have been an improvement here, given the awful uniforms the team had been saddled with in recent seasons. For the most part, the Vikings are going back to a no-nonsense NFL look but with a few odd details, as follows:

(Read full post)

If the Los Angeles Lakers do the improbable -- the very, very improbable -- they would join quite the exclusive club.

Ditto the Boston Celtics (or the Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks or Milwaukee Bucks).

And over in hockey, there's still a host of teams -- the Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers among them -- capable of pulling off this feat: winning a championship with a regular-season winning percentage of .550 or worse.

In the history of the four major pro sports, only 14 teams have done so -- most of them in the NHL (the only two sub-.500 champs also came from hockey). Thrice have MLB teams taken titles despite mediocre seasons. And then there's a lone NBA team, the 1977-78 Washington Bullets, meaning no one from the NFL has pulled the big turnaround; after all, a 9-7 record makes for .563.

So, who are these surprising champions, the ones who bucked the percentages to lift their respective trophies? Let's take a look -- by percentage.

1937-38 Chicago Blackhawks
.385 (14-25-9, 37 points out of possible 96)
• The "worst"-ever champion, these Hawks had the sixth-best record of the NHL's eight teams and boasted a winning percentage .125 points lower than No. 5. They beat the Toronto Maple Leafs (.594) 3-1 in the Stanley Cup finals.

(Read full post)

Hard to believe, but it's true: 20 years have passed since Chris Webber made his most infamous play, calling for a timeout with none left in the 1993 national championship game between Michigan and North Carolina.

So, to "celebrate" the 20th anniversary of this play by Webber -- who, it must be said, went on to make multiple NBA All-Star teams -- we bring you the 10 biggest in-game gaffes in sports history:

NFL – Replacement Hail Mary (Sept. 24, 2012)
On the final play of the Week 3 game between the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers, Seattle's Russell Wilson threw the ball 24 yards to the end zone. It was complete, but to whom? The Packers' M.D. Jennings and Seahawks' Golden Tate both appeared to have claims to the ball. After much deliberation, the replacement refs called for a touchdown, and the Seahawks controversially won 14-12.

NHL – Patrick Stefan blows it (Jan. 4, 2007)
Patrick Stefan of the Dallas Stars blew a sure-fire empty-net goal with Dallas leading by one over the Edmonton Oilers with less than 15 seconds left. His gaffe led to an Oilers break and Ales Hemsky scored with two seconds to go in regulation.

Soccer – A swing and a miss (Oct. 11, 2006)
Down 1-0 to Croatia, England was desperately trying to get back into its Euro 2008 qualifier in Zagreb. But that took a turn for the worst, when Gary Neville back-passed to goalkeeper Paul Robinson, who took a swing and a miss and the ball rolled in.

MLB – Home run off Jose Canseco’s head (May 23, 1993)
It happened like this: Cleveland's Carlos Martinez hit a long fly ball. Texas Rangers outfielder Jose Canseco lost sight of the ball in the sun. As Canseco looked away, the ball came down, bounced off Canseco's head and over the wall for a Cleveland homer.

Men's college basketball - Chris Webber’s timeout (April 5, 1993)
Down 73-71 to UNC, Webber dribbled across halfcourt where he was met by defenders, calling a timeout with 11 seconds left. But, as mentioned before, Michigan was out of timeouts. A technical was issued and the Tar Heels made four straight free throws to win the NCAA title.

NFL – Don Beebe chases down Leon Lett (Jan. 31, 1993)
In Super Bowl XXVII against the Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Leon Lett picked up a fumble at the 35-yard line. He ran 64 yards -- showboating the last few -- before he was stripped of the ball by Don Beebe at the 1. The ball rolled through the end zone for a touchback.

MLB – Bill Buckner’s error (Oct. 25, 1986)
You know this one: In Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner committed an error against the New York Mets -- albeit one that merely contributed to, rather than caused, the cursed team from New England's fall from World Series-winning position to heartbreak.

College football – the Stanford band (Nov. 20, 1982)
After John Elway drove Stanford for the go-ahead field goal with four seconds left, Stanford kicked off to Cal, just hoping to kill the clock. But Cal used five laterals on the return to reach the end zone -- with the Stanford band on the field, preparing to celebrate a victory.

NFL – Miracle at the Meadowlands (Nov. 19, 1978)
The New York Giants led 17-12 and just needed a kneel-down to win the game. But a running play was called, a fumble ensued and Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Herman Edwards took the ball 26 yards for a touchdown to give the Eagles a 19-17 win.

NFL – Jim Marshall runs the wrong way (Oct. 25, 1964)
The San Francisco 49ers completed a pass to Billy Kilmer, who was stripped of the ball. Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall picked it up and ran 66 yards to the end zone, throwing the ball into the air in joy. Unfortunately, he had ran to the wrong end zone, resulting in a 49ers safety.

Missing The Cut

• Leon Lett (hello again) touches ball after blocked field goal

• Bill Gramatica celebrates field goal by jumping in air (tears his ACL)

• Joe Niekro caught with emery board on mound

After seeing the Los Angeles Lakers’ winning streak come to an end at 33 games in 1972, forward Jim McMillian said NBA fans had seen something special.

“We just finished a streak that I don’t believe any other team is going to break,” he told the Los Angeles Times.

Now more than 40 years later, McMillian’s prediction looks solid after the Miami Heat’s bid to catch the Lakers was stopped by Chicago on Wednesday night after 27 straight wins.

Many more seemingly unbreakable streaks also remain on the books. In honor of those 1971-72 Lakers, Playbook offers the best and most unbreakable streaks in sports, ranked from No. 33 to No. 1:

33 -- Basketball: Harlem Globetrotters, 2,495 straight wins over Washington Generals
Though the Generals were built to lose -- which they did flawlessly to the ’Trotters from 1962 to 1971 -- they took a 100-99 victory over Harlem while playing as the New Jersey Reds, finally ruining the script. Generals owner Red Klotz said the win “felt like killing Santa Claus.”

32 -- College football: Mount Union (Ohio), 55 consecutive victories
The most dominant program in NCAA Div. III history, Mount Union has 11 national championships and this record winning streak from 2000-2003. The Purple Raiders also won 54 straight from 1996-99.

31 -- College squash: Trinity (Conn.) College men, 252 consecutive wins
The longest winning streak in varsity collegiate sports stretched from 1998-2012, when it was finally snapped by Yale. The run included 13 national championships.

30 -- College soccer: North Carolina women, 103 consecutive wins
Not only did the Tar Heels put this streak together from 1986-1990, but after a loss to Connecticut on Sept. 22, 1990, North Carolina then won 101 straight games -- that's an astounding 204 wins in 205 games.

(Read full post)

“Problem player."

That's how Ray Edwards was branded after being released less than two years into his five-year, $30 million deal with the Atlanta Falcons in November. With the "locker-room cancer" label attached, Edwards knew it wouldn’t be easy to find more work in the NFL, even though his belief in his talents never faltered. So he turned to the only other thing he knew -- boxing.

“I’m 100 percent into boxing,” Edwards told ESPN Playbook. “Nobody’s called me; nobody’s called my agent. I’m moving on with my life because the NFL doesn’t stop for me. They will keep going.”

The Purdue product and former Minnesota Viking gave pro boxing a try during the NFL lockout in May 2011 with a decision victory over Tyrone Gibson and fought twice in 2013, with wins over Cory Briggs and Nick Capes.

It was the latter bout that garnered Edwards attention, though certainly not the kind he was looking for. The fight was suspicious, with Capes dropping like a sack of bricks from a punch that seemingly missed just 13 seconds into the bout. North Dakota fight commissioner Al Jaeger concluded it was a dive and suspended Capes, whose real name is Greg Scott.

The 6-foot-5, 258-pound Edwards swears he had no knowledge of the arrangement and “respects the game of boxing too much to do that.” With the incident behind him, Edwards (3-0, 2 KOs) continues his boxing career with a heavyweight bout Friday against journeyman Van Goodman in Hinckley, Minn.

“I want to be heavyweight champion,” said Edwards, who recorded 8.5 sacks in 2009, his best season. “Anything less than that, I failed myself, my trainers and all those who believed in me. I know it’s kind of early to say this, but I know how to think the game.”

Edwards isn’t the first accomplished athlete to give the Sweet Science a whirl. The following pro athletes have tried to cross over into boxing over the years, albeit with little success:

(Read full post)

Author: Tom Coughlin, with David Fisher

Title: "Earn the Right to Win: How Success in Any Field Starts with Superior Preparation"

In a sentence: Coughlin teaches readers how to be a successful, hard-nosed son of a gun -- whether for a meeting, a job interview or a home-improvement project -- through intense planning and sweating the small stuff.

Sample chapter: "Success Is in the Details." (Well, duh.)

Interesting quote: A notorious stickler for rules, Coughlin tends to rub people the wrong way at first -- in the foreword, Michael Strahan writes that he hated the coach soon after he took over the Giants -- but there is an underlying reason for Coughlin's methods. “The purpose of setting rules isn’t to catch people and punish them," he writes, "but rather to find those people who are willing to make a commitment to their team and their teammates.”

Bar fodder: During a tough road loss on the West Coast, Coughlin noticed his players looked worn down throughout the game. So, he changed his thinking to find an edge. The Giants stopped flying cross-country on Friday and now travel the day before the game. "Scientifically this doesn't hold water, but it has worked for us," he writes.

(Read full post)

Take a shot at writing a cartoon caption. Playbook cartoonist Kurt Snibbe will offer up a blank cartoon each weekday morning, and he will fill in the blank with our favorite reader submission at the end of the business day.

So please, by all means, share your humorous stylings in the comments section.

Some have hosted special speeches. Others? Major milestones. All of them: great games.

And they’re no longer with us.

So, as we celebrate the biggest noncompetition moments in North American stadium history with the Playbook Stadium 50, and as we count down the best venues that still exist, we also must take an in memoriam moment, and list some of the most iconic venues that exist now only in photos, on film and in our minds.


Boston Garden (1925-98)
Famed (and derided?) for its lack of air conditioning and, during Celtics games, the dead spots on its parquet floor, this place -- belovedly mispronounced by locals -- exists as a memory of winning: Five of the Bruins' six titles were won here and 16 of the Celtics' 17.


Chicago Stadium (1929-95)
Before becoming the United Center's parking lot, the original "Madhouse on Madison" played host to an array of big events, including Democratic and Republican conventions, the first NFL playoff game (thanks to a snowstorm), three Blackhawks championship teams, and the first three titles for the Michael Jordan-led Bulls. It also was a pretty cool place -- as in, it was the first major arena with an air-conditioning system.

(Read full post)

Earlier Thursday, we posted a blank cartoon, and readers offered their captions. Our favorite was by Left Coast Packman. Check your ESPN.com profile message center for an email.

Thanks for participating. Check back Friday for another cartoon.

Take a shot at writing a cartoon caption. Playbook cartoonist Kurt Snibbe will offer up a blank cartoon each weekday morning, and he will fill in the blank with our favorite reader submission at the end of the business day.

So please, by all means, share your humorous stylings in the comments section.

Here’s what stinks about lists with endpoints: They end.

Thus was our problem with Playbook’s Stadium 50, which highlighted a huge selection -- 50, to be exact -- of North America’s greatest non-competition stadium moments ... but still had to leave some on the cutting-room floor.

That’s where honorable mentions help. We've got 10. What are yours?


Candlestick Park, San Francisco: The Beatles play their final ticketed concert, 1966.
The Fab Four drew just 25,000 fans for their final scheduled concert on a typically cold, foggy night at Candlestick Park. The day before, the Giants’ Fab Nine drew 41,000. Evidently, While Lennon and McCartney were big, Mays and McCovey were bigger.


Caesars Palace, Las Vegas: Evel Knievel jumps the fountains, 1967.
Evel's much-hyped leap over the Caesars Palace fountains ended in a crash-landing that shattered bones and sent him to the hospital. But the made-for-fans spectacle also vaulted him to such national fame, he eventually had his own action figure. And if you’re thinking it didn’t take much to entertain us in those days, defend the “Twilight" movies or the Kardashians.

(Read full post)

Earlier Tuesday, we posted a blank cartoon, and readers offered their captions. Our favorite was by baseballyeshockeyno. Check your ESPN.com profile message center for an email.

Thanks for participating. Check back Wednesday for another cartoon.

Playbook is the home of discerning readers. It's a big responsibility, so we take the Playbook Book Club seriously.

Today, we offer a wonderfully wise selection for the aspiring NFL football player.

Take a shot at writing a cartoon caption. Playbook cartoonist Kurt Snibbe will offer up a blank cartoon each weekday morning, and he will fill in the blank with our favorite reader submission at the end of the business day.

So please, by all means, share your humorous stylings in the comments section.