Patriots crush Colts, reach sixth Super Bowl with Belichick and Brady - Seahawks stun Packers in OT after late comeback

Jan. 18, 2015: New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) celebrates LeGarrette Blount’s touchdown during the second half of the NFL football AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. –  Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are headed to a special place where no coach or player has gone more — the Super Bowl.

They earned their trip with the second most lopsided AFC championship victory ever.

The New England Patriots dominant duo earned a sixth trip to the Super Bowl with a 45-7 wipeout of the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC championship game before a raucous, rain-soaked crowd Sunday night.

The Patriots tied Dallas and Pittsburgh for most appearances in the big game with eight.

Scoring touchdowns on their first four second-half possessions, the Patriots (14-4) moved on to face defending champion Seattle (14-4) for the NFL title on Feb. 1 in Glendale, Arizona. Belichick will face Pete Carroll, whom he replaced as Patriots coach 2000. The Seahawks beat the Green Bay Packers 28-22 in overtime in the NFC title game.

In his first year as a starter, Brady led the Patriots to a Super Bowl win in the 2001 season, starting a run of three championships in four years. Now he and Belichick have a chance for their first in 10 years.

Brady threw three touchdown passes, LeGarrette Blount ran 30 times for 148 yards and three scores and the Patriots charged away after leading just 17-7 at halftime.

With his sixth Super Bowl berth, Brady surpassed John Elway for the most by a quarterback and tied defensive lineman Mike Lodish for most by any player. Belichick’s sixth visit tied him with Don Shula’s for most by a coach.

Brady completed 23 of 35 passes for 226 yards before being replaced by Jimmy Garoppolo with 3:20 left. Brady went to the sideline where he was embraced by Belichick. Moments earlier, while sitting on the bench, Brady was shown on the video board with soaked hair. He pumped his fist in the air 12 times then slapped hands with teammates.

The biggest blowout in AFC title history was Buffalo’s 51-3 win over the Los Angeles Raiders in the 1990 season.

For Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, it was the worst game of his three-year career and the fourth rout in his four career games against the Patriots, all by at least three touchdowns. He completed 12 of 33 passes for 126 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions.

He lost 43-22 in last season’s divisional playoff with Blount rushing for 166 yards and four touchdowns. And on Nov. 16, he lost 43-22 as Jonas Gray rushed for 201 yards and four touchdowns.

The Indianapolis defense was porous against the run again Sunday night. They weren’t much better against the pass.

And when Luck threw an interception that Darrelle Revis late in the third quarter, Blount ran 13 yards for the touchdown that made it 38-7.

One fan held up a sign: “No Luck In Our House”

But there was plenty of skill — and a touch of surprise — from the Patriots.

Eight days after baffling  Baltimore with a four-man offensive linemen formation that drew a loud protest from Ravens coach John Harbaugh in the Patriots 35-31 divisional win, Belichick called a pass to left tackle Nate Solder, who was eligible, that resulted in a 16-yard touchdown that made it 24-7 with just under five minutes gone in the third quarter.

The Patriots kept rolling with touchdowns on each of their next three series — a 5-yard pass from Brady to Rob Gronkowski, and Blount’s runs of 13 and 2 yards.

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Patriots crush Colts, reach sixth Super Bowl with Belichick and Brady - Seahawks stun Packers in OT after late comeback

Ronaldo ponders comeback with NASL team

Brazilian football legend Ronaldo has hinted he might come out of retirement at age 38 and play some games with the second division North American Soccer League’s Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

Ronaldo, who hasn’t played professionally since 2011, recently became part-owner of the side which competes in the 11-team league which is part of the feeder system for Major League Soccer (MLS).

The former Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Barcelona star told Sports Illustrated that he plans to get in better shape and might suit up as a reserve player.

“I will try to play some games,” he said. “This year I want to train a lot. The last three years I didn’t because I was too busy in other stuff.

“Maybe if we get to the final and I’m feeling good, why not? I will put my name in the NASL as an option.”

Ronaldo was speaking in his first interview since joining the Strikers’ ownership group.

“I can’t be a manager, because I think it’s too tough managing 30 players thinking in different ways,” he said.

“I think being an owner is a good way to teach our players the way I won.

“It’s a new challenge for me. I’ve been working a lot in different things. Last year I was involved in the World Cup as a member of the organizing board, and I was also commentating matches during the World Cup for TV Globo. And now it’s a great opportunity to manage as an owner of a great team.

“The Fort Lauderdale Strikers is a team with history, tradition. Soccer in America is growing, so I think it’s a great opportunity.”

The Strikers reached the NASL final last season where they lost to San Antonio.

The NASL, which has no connection to the original North American Soccer League, is in between the MLS and the third division USL Pro league. There is no promotion and relegation between the three American leagues.

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Ronaldo ponders comeback with NASL team

Viewpoint: Al-Qaeda"s comeback bid

8 August 2013 Last updated at 17:36 Bin Laden’s successor Ayman al-Zawahiri seems less concerned about being overheard than the dead al-Qaeda founder President Barack Obama said in May that al-Qaeda was “on the path to defeat”, but now it seems the terrorist threat has grown, with the US temporarily shutting diplomatic outposts across the Middle East. Former US state department spokesman PJ Crowley looks at why.

Nineteen US embassies were closed after hints of a terrorist plot were revealed during an intercepted conversation between al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the leader of al-Qaeda’s franchise in Yemen.

In May, Mr Obama described the “future of terrorism” as one of recurrent plots by a dangerous but less capable al-Qaeda and its affiliates and sympathisers against US interests and diplomatic facilities around the world. That future is happening now across the Middle East.

Political concerns On Thursday the Netherlands became the latest Western country to close its embassy in Yemen

The extraordinary US security response, which in essence took most of the nation’s regional diplomatic capability off line, may be warranted. But it comes at a cost.

This strategy concedes the initiative to al-Qaeda and is not a sustainable course every time there is “chatter” within extremist networks. But given the political furore following last September’s attack in Benghazi, the White House and state department have little choice but to respond decisively.

The interception of the conversation is significant. It shows that unlike his predecessor, Bin Laden, Mr Zawahiri is apparently not as concerned about being overheard.

Mr Zawahiri understands the risks of communicating in real time. But he is also aware that in today’s world, the smaller a terrorist leader’s digital footprint, the lower his global influence.

Osama Bin Laden communicated through intermediaries, and while he retained strategic importance he was largely irrelevant as the dramatic transitions began in the Arab world. A short time later, he was dead. Mr Zawahiri undoubtedly recognises that al-Qaeda has lost ground in recent years.

Al-Qaeda double duty

Assuming there is real capability behind the plot and not just aspiration, Mr Zawahiri can look at the regional landscape – a civil war in Syria, sectarian violence in Iraq, political turmoil in Egypt, a leadership vacuum in Libya, government officials worried about staying in power – and see the potential for a comeback.

However, seeing opportunity and taking advantage of it are two different things. The core al-Qaeda members are under relentless pressure. Officials in Yemen have suggested they have already disrupted a potential maritime plot. It is unclear if this was the primary effort, or one among many options.

Nonetheless, public acknowledgement of the plot by itself raises the costs of the US presence in the Middle East, an al-Qaeda objective.

The Zawahiri phone call shows the new al-Qaeda: the core leadership still in play but no longer at the centre of the action, with the strongest operational capacity found in al-Qaeda’s affiliate, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Mr al-Wuhayshi wears two hats, according to the Long War Journal. He is AQAP’s leader and also al-Qaeda’s general manager.

There is no indication the intelligence behind this plot has been made to sound dramatic for political reasons. The administration’s response has received bipartisan support in Washington, with little of the political acrimony that followed the Benghazi attack last September.

Stuck on Middle East The political fallout from the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi was bitter and partisan

A real-world reminder of the on-going threat may quiet widespread concern regarding global surveillance programmes under the National Security Agency (NSA).

Contentious programmes such as this one played no role in discovering this plot. Yet critics surely will point to the conversation between two known terrorist leaders as precisely the targets that the NSA should be focusing on, rather than on communications between innocent civilians.

For all of the Obama administration’s talk about pivots and resets away from the Middle East, the region keeps occupying the bulk of its foreign policy attention. One way or another, the most significant chapter in the Obama foreign policy legacy will be written here.

The plot certainly complicates the president’s narrative that the terrorist threat, while still potent, can be managed at a level of vigilance below the threshold of war.

Mr Obama’s strategy is to become more selective regarding the use of American military force; help allies like Yemen deal with threats within their own borders (a tall order given Yemen’s limited governance capability); and rely on good intelligence and improved defences to disrupt major plots before they mature.

The next few weeks will be a stern test of this approach. No further news will be a significant achievement.

Mr Obama hinted in May that this war against al-Qaeda, like all wars, will end at some point. But Mr Zawahiri’s call suggests Mr Obama will not be in a position to declare “mission accomplished” any time soon.

PJ Crowley is a former US assistant secretary of state and now a professor of practice and fellow at the George Washington University’s Institute of Public Diplomacy and Global Communication.

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Viewpoint: Al-Qaeda"s comeback bid

VIDEO: Weiner v Spitzer: NY"s comeback bids

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VIDEO: Weiner v Spitzer: NY"s comeback bids

Anthony Malvo on comeback trail

Entertainment

Cecelia Campbell-LivingstonFriday, July 26, 2013

BACK in the 1980s, Anthony Malvo jammed the dancehall with songs like Come Back to Me and Greatest Gal Lover.The singer is attempting a comeback with Stronger, his latest album, which was released on June 4.“I named it Stronger because besides my hit songs back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, this album represents how strong I’ve become over the years,” he told Splash.Malvo produced most of the album for his Real Music Productions Company, which released the set on June 4.Malvo, who is in his mid-40s, lives in Atlanta, Georgia. He does not feel being away from Jamaica has hurt his career.“The fans been waiting for new material for a long time now, and I will do a lot of promotion to get the word out,” he said.The Kingston-born Malvo made his name by teaming with top deejays like Tiger on Come Back To Me and Greatest Gal Lover (featuring Daddy Lizard), which made local charts in the late 1980s. He had solo success with Can You Stop The Rain and Bad Mind People.Malvo also made a name as a producer alongside singer Anthony Red Rose. They produced hits including Quarter to Twelve (Simpleton), Bag Juice on Base (Fabby Dolly), Dun Wife (Cobra) and Antichrist (Captain Barkey).MALVO… this album represents how strong I’ve become over the years

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Anthony Malvo on comeback trail