The scene seems familiar:  Manning didn’t have his $98 million contract finalized in 2004 until the season was well underway; but that was coming off his rookie contract .  This time it’s different, now all of the NFL is waiting for and expecting a record breaking new contract from the Colts .

Sam Bradford’s new contract with the Rams guarantees $50 million, a record for a rookie, who has yet to even prove he can deliver on the field.  Now Manning ‘s agent, who also represents Bradford, has to convince the Colts  that their star quarterback is worth more than double that; because lets face it: he is.

Manning is the league’s only four-time MVP, he has taken the Colts to two Super-Bowls, and he is breaking every record in the books.  On top of his greatness on the field, Manning shows he is just as committed off-field.  He attends every team function, , pre-season work-out, meeting, and practice–whether it’s mandatory or not.  And unlike his peers–Ben Roethlisberger and Michael Vick– Manning stays out of trouble.

Manning is constantly referred to as the guy who will be know as the “Greatest of All Time,” and Jim Irsay needs to make sure he’s paid like the greatest.

Even though most players don’t–and probably never will– match Manning‘s credentials, his salary will set the bar for every other player out there, and you can bet every one of them is praying that Manning gets a ridiculous amount so they can negotiate higher when their contracts are up for review.

But in the worst-case scenario that Manning doesn’t get his contract finalized in the next couple weeks, every fan and player will fear it means only one thing: lock-out.  And with that we can all kiss the 2011 season good-bye since the NFL labor negotiations between owners and players is still uncertain.

The bottom-line is that everything football is riding on Manning ‘s contract: the season, the salaries, the players, and the fans.

However, there is just one problem. Is Manny Ramirez going to show up to play, or show up to be paid?

Last year Ramirez sat out for 50 games because of violations to the leagues anti-doping policy. When he returned, his numbers weren’t quite as high as everyone had hoped. His time sitting out of baseball definitely took it’s toll on him, physically and mentally.

Ramirez hit .290 in 2009, a good .023 lower than his career average. He also has been questioned about his effort, and how much he cares about his team and winning. At the beginning of 2009, Ramirez held off signing a contract for quite some time. He didn’t even play in Spring training because his agent, Scott Boras, was adamant about holding out until the Dodgers offered him a $45 million deal, for only two years.

Will this be the year that the Dodgers are saved by Manny Ramirez? Or will it be the year that Manny Ramirez clocks out, calls it good, and announces his retirement in the off-season?

Only time will tell. Either way, he will go down in the record books, the hall of fame, and the minds of baseball fans everywhere as one of the greatest hitters of all time.

The throwing of major sports games for personal gain troubles fans who, watching for entertainment, expect fair play. People don’t follow sports for the scandal, they watch for the talent. Donaghy violated the trust of NBA fans when, as an official, he bet on NBA games.

In his new book, “Personal Foul,” however, Donaghy claims the infamy for more than himself.

Donaghy claims that he didn’t fix any games because he didn’t have to. His argument is that he simply used his knowledge of NBA politics to guess at the outcomes of games. The insider knowledge of the relationships between and tendencies of the different coaches, players, and referees lead Donaghy to an unheard of 70-80 percent success rate.

Donaghy got in deep. He almost had his kneecaps broken at one point by a prisoner that may have been associated with the mob. By the time it was spiraling out of control, the mob, the FBI, the NBA, and federal prosecutors were involved.

The implications for the NBA are the biggest issue at hand though. If Donaghy’s claims are true, the NBA has a few problems to work out. This book reveals a serious fault in their credibility as a fair and straight forward organization. The assertion that NBA games do not unfold on a level playing field, is enough to make any fan indignant, if not angry.

Clearly, Donaghy shouldn’t have bet on anything associated with the NBA. But he did. The point he makes in his book is that the inner workings of the NBA made it easy. The assertion that NBA referees are not honest brokers has profound resonance and may lead to some changes in NBA policy and politics.

So who wouldn’t think that there would be a few good fights/brawls when you get a bunch of them together with million dollar contracts on the line? But not even that, these guys have more pride than Oprah when she found out about fen-phen. These guys do not want to be humiliated in front of thousands of screaming fans. And when they are, it can lead into some of the most entertaining scenes ever. Who knows, they might even go after a fan or two…

Take a look at the top 5 NBA fights of all time:

5- Shawn Bradley getting body slammed- This one was a bench clearing brawl, but the best part about it, is watching a 7’6″ man being picked up and tossed to the ground.

4- WNBA Shock vs Galaxy- We know, we know. How can you include a WNBA fight in this list? Well, the list is most memorable brawls and this certainly fits that description. It featured the league’s top player, Candace Parker.

3- Kermit Washington and Rudy Tomjonavich- An absolute accident of a brawl. Who will ever forget the punch, that damaged facial structure, from Kermit Washington to Rudy Tomjonavich, who was only trying to break up the fight. To this day Kermit Washington still feels bad for the blow he gave to Tomjonavich.

2- Larry Bird and Bill Laimbeer- This fight started all thanks to that dork of a player, Bill Laimbeer. Larry Bird faked his man and was going up for a layup when Laimbeer completely tackled Bird to the floor. Bird wasn’t about to put up with that as he got up and started throwing punches while he was straddling Laimbeer. After being separated, you would think they were finished, but Larry bird picks up the basketball and decides to throw it at Laimbeer’s head. Truly a fight to remember.

1- Ron Artest and the Detroit Pistons, and Fans- This one goes down in the books as the all-time greatest. After a hard foul to big man Ben Wallace, Artest is attacked by Wallace, and tries to stay out of it. After both teams clear their benches and a brawl starts, Artest decides to lay down on the scorers table to act like he is relaxing and implying that not even big Ben Wallace can intimidate him. While laying on the bench, a fan tossed a beer at him. That was the icing on the cake for artest. He jumped to his feet, rushed into the crowd and took out the beer tosser. Honestly, have you ever seen a player try to take on a whole arena? Don’t put anything past Ron Artest. The day he entered the league he was a thug and the day he leaves will be the same.

Following the game, a triumphant Max Hall, quarterback for BYU, stated that he “hate[d]. . . everything about [the University of] Utah.” Saying that Ute fans are “classless,” Hall referenced an incident from last year’s rivalry game when Utah fans verbally assaulted, spit on, and dumped beer on his family.

According to Hall, the fans in question were escorted to their vehicle by the local police. Ending an embarrassing game for Hall and an unpleasant experience for his family, this experience embittered Hall.

Hall has since apologized to the university, fans, and team from Utah and to his own  team and coaching staff.In an interview this morning, BYU head coach, Bronco Mendenhall, says he ‘absolutely’ respects Hall for the way he handled the situation, calling him a ‘great leader’ and a ‘great kid’ who ‘has [Mendenhall's] support.’

According to  Mendenhall, “The apology [Max] issued (came) from him and no one else. . . . If anyone thinks they’ve influenced his apology, that’s a mistake; he woke up, did all of that on his own. . . . I haven’t talked to Max yet, nor has anyone else from our coaching staff. Max has done this completely on his own.”

It was the third MVP award for the St. Louis Cardinals star, who also won in 2005. He became the first unanimous MVP since Bonds in 2002.

Pujols led the majors in home runs (47), runs (124), slugging percentage (.658) and intentional walks (44), and topped the NL in on-base percentage (.443). He was second in the league in doubles (45) and third in batting average (.327) and RBIs (135).

He was especially dangerous with the bases loaded, going 10 for 17 with five grand slams, three doubles and 35 RBIs.

Florida’s Hanley Ramirez, the NL batting champion, was second with 233 points, followed by Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard (217) and Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder (203), who tied Howard for the big league lead in RBIs.

Pujols, who turns 30 in January, joined Hall of Famer Al Simmons (11) as the only players with 100 or more RBIs in each of their first nine seasons. He also set a big league record for assists by a first baseman with 185.

Pujols became just the fourth player to win the NL MVP three times. Bonds won seven in the 1990s and 2000s. Stan Musial (1940s), Roy Campanella (1950s) and Mike Schmidt (1980s) each won three.

Five players have won three AL MVPs: Jimmie Foxx, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and Alex Rodriguez.

In addition to Pujols and Bonds, the only unanimous NL winners were Orlando Cepeda (1967), Schmidt (1980), Jeff Bagwell (1994) and Ken Caminiti (1996). Unanimous AL winners have been Hank Greenberg (1935), Al Rosen (1953), Mantle (1956), Frank Robinson (1966), Denny McLain (1968), Reggie Jackson (1973), Jose Canseco (1988), Frank Thomas (1993) and Ken Griffey Jr. (1997).

St. Louis players have won 17 MVPs, second in the majors behind 20 for the Yankees. Pujols has been voted among the top 10 in nine consecutive years, finishing second in 2002, 2003 and 2006; third in 2004; fourth in 2001; and ninth in 2007.

Pujols receives a $200,000 bonus for winning the award. He is signed for next season at $16 million, and the Cardinals hold a $16 million option for 2011, so the sides may soon turn their attention to a contract extension.

Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins was voted the AL MVP on Monday, receiving 27 of 28 first-place votes.

The Ireland players protested immediately but Swedish referee Martin Hansson allowed the goal to stand, meaning France won the two-legged qualification play-off 2-1 on aggregate.

After watching television pictures of the goal, Henry could not deny that the goal should have been disallowed but he dismissed suggestions that he could have owned up to handling the ball.

He said: “Yes, there is a handball but I am not the referee.

“I’m in the box, there are two defenders in front of me. The ball bounced off my hand, the referee did not see it and I played on.

“It doesn’t change anything to the fact that I’m happy we have qualified.”

Henry’s goal was the second major controversy to upset Ireland’s qualification campaign.

They had finished second in their qualification group behind the reigning world champions Italy and they expected the ties for the eight-team play-off competition to be drawn at random.

But with the play-offs imminent, the competition’s organisers announced they would introduce a seeding system for the draw which would guarantee that the four teams with the best recent tournament records would be drawn against the four least successful teams in the play-offs.

That decision was criticised as being motivated by finance and politics and it was suggested the World Cup organisers wanted to make sure teams such as France, who draw large crowds and big television audiences, would qualify next summer’s tournament in South Africa.

Ireland captain Robbie Keane claimed Fifa president Sepp Blatter and Uefa president Michel Platini were hoping France would go through.

He said: “They’re all probably clapping hands, Platini sitting up there on the phone to Sepp Blatter, probably texting each other, delighted with the result.”

“Germany had a chance of being in the play-offs as well. With two massive countries there’s no way in a million years there is going to be fair draw.”

Keane insisted every Ireland player knew Henry had handled the ball instantly and said referees should have access to television replays.

He added: “Henry nearly caught it, so it’s a bit of a killer. When you see the reaction of the players, Shay Given especially, he’s two yards away from it.

“You don’t get a reaction like that if he’s not sure it’s a handball. He almost caught it and ran into the net with it.”

A disapointing  loss to the U.S. was a huge disappointment for Honduran soccer fans and left many hopeless.  But in the end the team did not disappoint. Honduras’ World Cup dreams came true when Honduras defeated El Salvador in a dramatic way last month.

This is the first time in twenty seven years that they have qualified for the World Cup. The last time they played in World Cup was in the year 1982.

While this may not be the biggest game of the year the Hondurans are out to prove to the world that they can compete in an international arena.

In other places in the world: Slovenia beat Russia 1-0 to qualify for the World Cup finals. Also Portugal beat Bosnia by the same score as France to go through 2-0 on aggregate. Earlier Greece beat Ukraine 1-0 to qualify as well.

Well that’s it for today, just thought I’d get the score up quick since it just happened.