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Braylon Edwards Bears Rumors: Despite Obvious Need, Bears Won’t Sign Edwards

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Braylon Edwards is far and away the best receiver still available on the free agent market. The Chicago Bears, who have had a need at wide receiver since World War II, would be wise to go after the former pro bowl receiver. But despite that gaping hole, the Bears will not sign him to be their No. 1 receiver.

There are reports that suggest they are one of the four teams still involved in negotiations with Edwards, but I am not buying that they are serious players for him.

The Bears are the most conservative team in the NFL. They have a quarterback in Jay Cutler who has a cannon for an arm. Say what you will about his personality, but you can’t deny that he can sling it with the best of them. They have an offensive coordinator in Mike Martz who implores a wide open style.

But when you look at the current crop of receivers on the roster, it leaves a LOT to be desired. Earl Bennett, Johnny Knox, Devin Hester (who might be the best return man in NFL history, but is not much of a receiver) and Roy Williams, who up to this point is the biggest offensive “addition” that this team has made.

This team needs a receiver who can stretch the field and actually understands how to play the position. Hester can stretch the field as well as anyone, but he still has no idea how to play the position. His route running is terrible, his hands are mediocre and his size is a problem for the position.

Edwards doesn’t have the greatest hands in the world, but he can run routes and is very big and physical. His speed is underrated, though he isn’t a burner by any stretch of the imagination.

This seems like a match made in Heaven, but the Bears will not end up pulling the trigger on a deal because they never do. They have had a need at receiver forever but never do anything to address it.

The Bears will be content to go into the regular season with the team they have, and when Cutler isn’t able to hit any receivers, he will get blamed for it. He’s not the most accurate quarterback in the world, but did anyone ever stop to think that the receivers could be a part of the problem, too?

If Lovie Smith wants Cutler to be the guy he was in Denver, get him some help so that all of the burden doesn’t fall on him.

Most recent updates:

  • Braylon Edwards Cardinals: Kevin Kolb Needs Cardinals To Sign Edwards
  • Braylon Edwards Redskins Rumors: Edwards Has To Run Away From Washington
  • Braylon Edwards Vikings Rumors: Why Minnesota is A Perfect Fit For Edwards
  • View all updates

NFL Free Agents 2011: Braylon Edwards Will Be Major Addition for Rams or Vikings

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All Braylon Edwards wanted this offseason was to return to the New York Jets, but even with Nnamdi Asomugha choosing Philadelphia over New York, the Jets still don’t have the necessary finances to bring back their former receiver.

According to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News:

I’ve been told #Jets aren’t bringing back Braylon Edwards. #NYJ likes him, but they don’t have $$ to re-sign him. Source: “It won’t happen”

This isn’t necessarily surprising if we consider the amount of money Santonio Holmes received, and the Jets still want to address the cornerback position, but Braylon truly wanted to be a Jet.

That said, there are two teams in particular that are in desperate need for a true No. 1 receiver with size.

The Minnesota Vikings lost out in an expensive race for Sidney Rice and now have a gaping hole out wide. The 6’4″ Rice was their top target when healthy and paired up with Percy Harvin – when healthy – made for one of the better wide receiver duos in the league.

As for St. Louis, they desperately wanted to land a top-flight receiver in the 2011 NFL Draft, but the opportunity never presented itself after Atlanta traded up from the late-20′s into the the top six to select Julio Jones.

The Rams found a few a legitimate No. 2′s and 3′s, but they still lack a true No. 1.

The signing of Mike Sims-Walker shouldn’t dissuade the team from talking to Edwards either. A one-year deal for Sims-Walker shows the Rams aren’t sure what they have in him, but Edwards, although prone to drops at times, can be a legitimate No. 1 for quarterback Sam Bradford.

The receiver is still only 28-years old, has the potential to take over games if he can get his mind right and would thrive as the go-to receiver in either system.

Sam Bradford is the real deal in St. Louis while Donovan McNabb/Christian Ponder can both make good use of a player like Edwards – McNabb more so with this deep ball.

Edwards may have wanted to be a Jet again, but he’ll fit right in with the Rams or Vikings.

-You can follow Wes O’Donnell on Twitter

Most recent updates:

  • NFL Free Agent Rumors: Vikings Leaning Toward Malcom Floyd over Braylon Edwards?
  • Ubaldo Jimenez Trade: Stunning Move Will Shape AL Central Race
  • Ahmad Bradshaw: How Dolphins’ Trade for Reggie Bush Impacts Bradshaw’s Future
  • View all updates

Princess Anne: why Scots love her

Princess Anne at the wedding of her daughter Zara Phillips in Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh. Photograph: Chris Jackson Pt/Getty Images Standing on the battlefield at Culloden some years ago, my companion considered the dreich, dreary moor and said: "Thank

EDINBURGH, Scotland, July 30 (UPI) — Zara Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne, married Mike Tindall, captain of England's rugby team, in a private ceremony Saturday in the Scottish capital. The afternoon ceremony was held at Canongate Kirk,

Tim McGraw Appears in New ‘Dirty Girl’ Movie Trailer

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Tim McGraw has a role in a new movie in theaters next week, albeit what appears to be a brief one. McGraw plays “Danny” in the Harvey Weinstein produced ‘Dirty Girl,’ in theaters August 5. The country singer appears in this just-released trailer; pay attention beginning at the 1:55 mark.

The preview doesn’t give fans much of an idea how McGraw’s character plays into the film, which also stars Milla Jovovich, William H. Macy and Dwight Yoakam. He tells Billboard Magazine that his part is small but pivotal. “I can’t really say [what it is] because it’ll give away too much of the story,” he says. “But it’s a really, really good movie.”

The comedy debuted at the Toronto Film Festival last year and was quickly picked up by Weinstein. Juno Temple plays “Danielle,” the bad girl at a high school in Norman, Okla. who teams up with a closeted, overweight, outcast classmate for a cross-country road trip to discover themselves. From the looks of the preview, McGraw shows up late in the film. He tells Billboard that while he’s looking for new roles, music remains his top priority.

“The tough part for me is I have tons of scripts and tons of offers, but I only have a short window to work in, so I have to find something I like, first, and then I have to find out if it’s going to be shot in the time I have — and if they even want me for the part,” he says. “It’s not like I can just pick a part and it’s mine. I still have to go out and win it, so things have to line up in order for me to do a movie.”

Watch the Trailer for ‘Dirty Girl’

Darren Sproles Saints: Sproles Shouldn’t Fear New Orleans’ Crowded Backfield

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With most (not all) of the best free agents on the market already spoken for at this point, teams across the NFL seem to have shifted their focus to the little guys.

Case in point: running back Darren Sproles. As many NFL fans are already well aware, Sproles is quite literally a little guy, as he goes just 5’6″ and 190 pounds.

Luckily for Sproles, he is also quite talented. He may not be big, but he’s plenty fast and plenty agile, and he can produce in a number of different roles. That’s probably why he has a handful of suitors to choose from.

According to Pro Football Talk, those teams are the New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia Eagles, and San Diego Chargers, who Sproles spent the first five years of his career with.

No matter which team Sproles chooses, he’s not likely to see a significant increase in playing time. He should know full well that the Chargers have Ryan Mathews and Mike Tolbert, the Eagles have LeSean McCoy, and the Saints have rookie Mark Ingram, Pierre Thomas, and Chris Ivory.

Of the three teams, the Saints would thus seem like the most puzzling choice for Sproles, as surely there just aren’t many touches to go around in a backfield as crowded as theirs.

This is true. But with Reggie Bush’s talents gone to South Beach, the Saints are in the market for a shifty running back that can make things happen in the return game and as a receiver out of the backfield. It is a very specific need, no doubt about that, but it served them pretty well in their run to the Super Bowl in 2009.

That there’s the appeal of going to New Orleans. While Ingram is likely to see the bulk of the team’s carries, Sproles would essentially step in as the new Bush. And given what we saw in the last couple years, Sproles can rest assured that head coach Sean Payton will find a way to get him the ball as often as he can.

Just as important, of course, is that the Saints offer Sproles a legit chance to win. The Saints may have crashed and burned in the playoffs last season, but they look poised to take control of the NFC once again. Right now, it’s just a simple matter of putting the right pieces in the right places.

With a bit of luck, Sproles will fit right into that plan.

Most recent updates:

  • Darren Sproles Saints: New Orleans Emerges as Top Destination for Sproles
  • Jonathan Joseph Lions: Has Detroit Pulled Ahead of Bengals in Race for Joseph?
  • NFL Free Agent Signings 2011: Vince Young Would Be a Classic Raiders Pickup
  • View all updates

Funds Betting on New Dot-Com Boom

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With LinkedIn valued at nearly $10 billion, and Facebook said to be worth more than Walt Disney Co., it’s no wonder some market watchers see a second dot-com bubble ahead. But that hasn’t stopped fund managers from joining in the buying frenzy for these new tech darlings.

Quick price pops for newly public companies — and heightened demand for a piece of hot firms that have remained private — have made many Internet firms overvalued by most traditional measures, say analysts. Many are even more expensive than old-school tech stocks like Google and Apple. “These companies, in almost every dimension you can imagine, seem pretty pricey compared to other internet and technology companies,” says Scott Kessler, the head of technology-sector equity research for Standard & Poor’s. “That doesn’t mean they’re not good companies. But the valuations are much higher.”

And yet managers from Fidelity, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and other fund shops have taken positions in these pricey, newly public Internet firms. According to data provided to SmartMoney.com by fund tracker Morningstar, 42 mutual funds now own shares of social networking site LinkedIn (LNKD), which is selling for more than double its May IPO price of $45. Other funds have also added positions in Internet radio service Pandora Media (P) and HomeAway (AWAY), an online market for vacation rentals. Pandora is trading for 19% more than its June IPO price, while HomeAway is up 52%.

It’s not just newly public companies that are garnering the managers’ attention. Several fund companies are also buying shares of still-private social media companies on the secondary markets. For example, more than 30 Fidelity mutual funds own shares of Facebook, according to a Fidelity spokeswoman. Several T. Rowe Price mutual funds have stakes in social media companies like Zynga, Twitter, Groupon, Angie’s List and Facebook. A T. Rowe Price spokeswoman declined to comment on specific positions, but pointed out that the company has said that while some of these companies may look overvalued, they’re also more established and stable than companies from the late 1990s dot-com boom.

Meanwhile, funds affiliated with Morgan Stanley Investment Management, including the $422 million Morgan Stanley Mid Cap Growth fund (DGRAX), hold a total of 5 million shares of preferred stock Zynga, which will convert to common stock when the company goes public, according to the social-gaming company’s most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Individual investors can’t buy shares of private companies on their own unless they’re “accredited,” meaning they have a net worth of at least $1 million or an annual income of at least $200,000.

So why all the fervor for dot-com firms? With global growth slow and likely to remain so “this kind of hyper-growth is a scarce commodity,” Kessler says. “There really just aren’t as many pure growth stocks as there used to be.” Thanks to investor demand for such growth, the IPO market is likely to stay hot through the rest of the year. In the second quarter, 46 companies went public, a 24% jump from a year earlier, but the total money raised soared 151%. Another 93 companies filed for IPOs during the quarter, up 21% from last year, and a total of 172 firms are now “in the pipeline” to go public.

To be sure, these mutual funds are all taking small stakes in these fledgling tech companies. For example, no mutual fund has more than 1% of its assets in LinkedIn. Fund managers instead tend to balance these bets on young firms with high-growth potential with more stable earners. “A manager that wants to have a balance of established companies and growth companies will sometimes need to fish in more uncertain waters,” says Todd Rosenbluth, a mutual fund analyst at Standard & Poor’s. “Investing in a mutual fund where there’s 50 or 100 stocks or more limits the risk of an upstart company damaging the returns of your portfolio.”

Still, investing in IPOs is risky business — no matter the stake. Studies have shown that a majority of newly public companies underperform the broader market in their first few years of trading. By the end of the second quarter this year, 43% of newly public companies had slipped below their listing prices. “New, young companies tend to be more volatile, tend to have more inconsistent earnings records, and add risk to a portfolio,” says Rosenbluth.

MediaWatch: A ‘smoking, drinking counterblast’: Local Knowledge: Golf Digest

Summer stepped aside for a few hours on Saturday to let winter play through at Royal St. George’s. Finally.

“If I’m at home on the couch watching this right now,” ESPN’s Terry Gannon said, “I’m loving it.”

Our thoughts exactly. Even Rickie Fowler concurred. Asked about fans on hand to watch the third round of the British Open on Saturday, he said, “I would have been home watching on TV.”

Then there was Phil Mickelson, contrarian or liar. “I heard him say earlier today that he’s going to enjoy himself today,” Peter Allis said during his stint in the ESPN booth. “I think he’s telling fibs.”

The media roundup from Saturday:

– Why do we love Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke? Brian Viner of the Independent summed it up nicely:

“He is a walking, smoking, Guinness-drinking counterblast to the notion that the modern professional golfer has to be a finely-tuned athlete with a six-pack. Clarke keeps his six-packs in the fridge.”

(Photo by Getty Images)

– Alliss on the bunkers: “They really are hazards. You don’t just hit a full wood out of them.”

How often on the PGA Tour do we hear players rooting for a wayward shot to find the bunker? At the British Open, they’re heard rooting for the ball to stay out.

– For all the talk of the older guys — Tom Watson and Tom Lehman — how about some love for Andy Martinez, Lehman’s caddie? He’s 61 and has been on the bag of two British Open champions: Johnny Miller in 1976 and Lehman in 1996.

– This was an odd observation from Azinger: “I never understood the no practice stroke philosophy, actually. It seems like you need to make a practice stroke or two. You don’t see a lot of major champions just walking up and hitting it.”

No, haven’t seen a major champion do that since the U.S. Open. Rory McIlroy does not take practice strokes, a result of his work with Dave Stockton, who, incidentally won two majors (both PGA Championships), was renowned for his putting prowess, and did not take practice strokes.

A half hour later, Azinger acknowledged that McIlroy won the U.S. Open without taking practice strokes, then noted that ESPN colleague Andy North, twice a U.S. Open winner, often putted sans practice strokes.

“Why?” Azinger asked.

“I thought if I could mentally go through the process beforehand, why waste the physical part,” North said. “It was more important to me to understand the putt mentally and the stroke mentally than to go up there and make a half-hearted practice stroke.”

– Nice piece from ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski on McIlroy and his hometown of Holywood, including this from McIlroy on his childhood hero: “I used to call myself Rory Nick Faldo McIlroy.”

– Still don’t get ESPN’s Putt Zone. On the fourth hole, Pablo Larrazabal hit it straight down the line that ESPN had on the screen, and did so with pace. The ball nonetheless veered right of the hole.

– Gannon, quoting a London tabloid on Bubba Watson: “The French don’t like him so we love him.”

– Peter Kostis on Twitter: “If T Watson shoots anywhere near par or better today, it cements his place as world’s greatest ever bad weather player. In fact he wins 9&8″

T. Watson indeed shot near par, a two-over 72 in the worst of the weather.

– Mike Tirico noted that six Americans were in the top 10 and their ages were in the 20s (Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler), the 30s (Lucas Glover, Chad Campbell), the 40s (Davis Love III) and even the 50s (Tom Lehman). Too bad that Tom Watson couldn’t have added the 60s.

– Azinger on the bearded one, Glover: “Just waiting to see him pull some of that beard hair out and throw it up to test the wind. But he went for the grass, the less painful rout there.”

– Dan Jenkins on Twitter: “Somebody must have told Anthony Kim that mullets look good. Somebody was wrong.”

Who Looked the Hottest Last Night?

Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images; Gary Gershoff/WireImage.com; Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images; Gary Gershoff/WireImage.comUs Magazine

Salvatore Ferragamo’s Women’s Resort 2012 Collection show turned out to be a star-studded event, with leading ladies like Eva Mendes, Ashley Greene, Emma Roberts, and Minka Kelly sitting front row.

The four fashionistas showed up at the James B. Duke Mansion in NYC Tuesday night, all wearing sexy, but very different dresses. Vote for who you think looked the best in our poll below.

Looking very resort-ready herself, Mendes, 37, wore a camel and white colorblock knee-grazing dress with shiny tan pumps and carried a nude clutch.

PHOTOS: Hollywood’s hot-weather style

Greene, 24, was the perfect example of how to wear summer white. The Twilight actress donned a breezy Ferragamo cocktail dress with bright red pumps and a houndstooth clutch.

PHOTOS: More celebs in sexy white dresses

Despite the 80-degree temps, Roberts wore a long-sleeve eggplant-colored frock. The 20-year-old Scream 4 starlet carried a box clutch and sported black heels with silver accents on the toes.

PHOTOS: Emma Roberts’s best red-carpet moments

Kelly, 31, kept things basic in a swingy black frock and added subtle pops of color with maroon peep-toe shoes and a teal clutch.

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No escape from Brett Favre comeback talk

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The labor talks continue to ping-pong, with optimism alternatively replaced by pessimism, then optimism.  And so with signs pointing to a possible resolution by the weekend, Sal Paolantonio of ESPN reports that progress is slow, and that the first week of the preseason could now be in jeopardy.

Per Paolantonio, lawyers haggled Tuesday regarding the terms of a rookie wage scale and a revised drug program.  Citing two unnamed sources with direct knowledge of the talks, disagreement still exists on the key issues of dividing revenues and defining “all revenue.”

The news should come as no huge surprise, given that only the lawyers are present.  Without Commissioner Roger Goodell, NFLPA* executive director DeMaurice Smith, mediator Arthur Boylan, the owners, or the key players, the lawyers are unlikely to make much progress.

That’s why Goodell, Smith, Boylan, the owners, and the key players need to get to Manhattan, sooner rather than later.  If the parties merely had decided to suck it up and meet through the weekend, I’m convinced a deal would have been struck.  Instead, the parties will be trying to recapture on Thursday, July 7 the vibe that existed on Thursday, June 30.

Much can change in a week, and the stakes are increasingly higher.

Hopefully, the parties will quit talking about hard work and start engaging in it.  At $200 million per week in potentially lost preseason revenues, the two sides have every reason to get this thing done.

Fellow convicted murderer accuses American co-ed Amanda Knox of killing her college roommate in Italy – NYPOST.com

PERUGIA, Italy — The first man convicted in the murder of Amanda Knox’s roommate testified yesterday that he believes she and her ex-boyfriend are guilty, an accusation that prompted the American college student to say she was “shocked and anguished.”

“He knows we weren’t there,” Knox said emotionally moments after her accuser, Rudy Hermann Guede, had left the courthouse.

The testimony by Guede, a 24-year-old immigrant from the Ivory Coast, was closely watched in the packed courtroom in Perugia. He had been called as a witness for the prosecution in the appeals trial of Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, her Italian ex-boyfriend and co-defendant.

Getty Images NEW DAY IN COURT: Amanda Knox, convicted of killing her college roommate, arrives yesterday for her appeal in Perugia, Italy.

Knox, a native of West Seattle, Wash., and Sollecito were convicted of the Nov. 1, 2007, slaying of British exchange student Meredith Kercher, whose body was found in a pool of blood in the apartment she and Knox shared in Perugia.

Prosecutors claimed in Knox’s first trial that Guede, Knox — who dubbed herself Foxy Knoxy — and Sollecito killed Kercher in what had begun as a sexual game.

Taking the stand, Guede confirmed the contents of a letter he wrote to his lawyers last year, which ends with a direct accusation of Knox and Sollecito. In the March 2010 letter, which was read out loud in court, Guede wrote that he had nothing to do with the “horrible murder of the splendid and wonderful Meredith Kercher by Knox and Sollecito.”

“This is a thought I’ve always had in my mind,” Guede told the court yesterday at his appeals trial.

“It’s not up to me to decide who killed Meredith Kercher,” he added. “I’ve always said who was there that damned night in that house.”

Guede is serving a 16-year prison sentence for the murder. He was escorted in court by police in handcuffs.

Knox and Sollecito were convicted of sexual assault and murder in separate proceedings. She was sentenced to 26 years in prison, he to 25.

“Raffaele Sollecito, Guede and I have only been in the same place in a court,” Knox said. “I’m shocked and anguished by these statements.”

“I don’t know what happened that night,” Knox added, saying she wished she could have said that to Guede’s face. She was allowed to speak only after Guede was escorted out.

Guede was called by the prosecution to counter testimony by a fellow inmate and convicted child killer who claimed Guede told him during recreation time that Knox and Sollecito had nothing to do with the killing.

On the stand, Guede denied talking to Mario Alessi about the case. The letter that was read in court had been written by Guede in order to deny Alessi’s claims.

Like Knox and Sollecito, Guede has denied killing Kercher, but unlike them, he has admitted being at the scene the night of the murder.