Report: EURO Planning To Expand Number Of Qualifiers

UEFA is deeply considering expanding the number of teams that can qualify for the European Championships. Reports indicate that the number of qualifying countries would expand from 16 teams to 24 teams. This would allow teams that barely missed the cut this time such as England, Ireland, Scotland, Denmark and Serbia for examples, to be able to participate in the tournament. Final meetings on whether the expansion should take place will happen in September, but it is most likely to be approved.


Note: When expansion takes place, it will be at the 2016 EURO, not the 2012 EURO.

Underdogs Prevail in Arena Football League Playoffs

Seems like home-field advantage doesn't seem like much of an advantage when it comes to Arena Football League games.

In a National Conference wild-card playoff game between the 3-seeded Dallas Desperados and the 6-seeded New York Dragons, QB Aaron Garcia completed 28 of 39 passes for 330 yards, including 9 touchdown passes, to lift his 8-8 Dragons past the 12-4 Desperados 77 to 63. QB Clint Dolezel had an equally impressive performance completing 35 of 47 passes for 325 yards.

In an American Conference wild-card playoff game between the 4-seeded Utah Blaze and the 5-seeded Colorado Crush, QB John Dutton, after falling behind 14-0 in the first quarter, leads his team on a comeback trail to sneak by the Blaze 49 to 44. Dutton completed 30 of 47 passes for 268 yards while Blaze QB Joe Germaine went 17-for-27 for only 158 yards.

The Wild Card games end on Monday when the (4) Cleveland Gladiators take on the (5) Orlando Predators in the National Conference at 7 PM EST, and the (6) Grand Rapids Rampage play against the (3) Arizona Rattlers at 9:30 PM EST.

The (6) New York Dragons will play the (1) Philadelphia Soul next Saturday at 7 PM EST while the winner of the Gladiators/Predators game will play the (2) Georgia Force the following Monday at 8 PM EST.

NBA Rumor: Vince Carter to the Cavs?

There is a huge report coming out of New Jersey that the Nets are ready to send SG Vince Carter off to Cleveland in deal that would bring Wally Szerzbiak to the Nets. This would be a continuation of the Nets rebuilding process, which is in fact in preparation for them to bring Carter's would be teammate to Brooklyn: LeBron James. Though nothing is for certain, it would surprise me if the deal went through.

MLB Trade Deadline Rumor: Fuentes Will Most Likely Go

Colorado Rockies P Brian Fuentes is most likely to be on the move, and the Denver Post is reporting it could be to a contender. Teams looking for his services include the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, New York Mets, and Oakland Athletics. It is likely the trade will require a B-Prospect as well as major league talent. Stay tuned, and check out www.sportsfullcircle.com for similar stories involving sports.

Tampa Bay Looking to Add More Bolts to their Team

More good news for the Tampa Bay Lightning as they have acquired rights to Gary Roberts and Ryan Malone of the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a conditional draft pick in 2009. Both were key players in Pittsburgh's run to the Stanley Cup Finals.

The 27-year old Malone has played a total of 97 games this past NHL season: 77 from the regular season, and 20 from the playoffs. Malone scored 27 goals and 24 assists in the regular season to go along with his 6 goals and 10 assists in the playoffs.

The 42-year old Roberts scored 3 goals and 12 assists in 38 regular season games with the Penguins. He also had 2 goals and 2 assists in 11 playoff games to boot.

Doc's Take On The EURO Cup Final

Well the time is finally here, the EURO Cup Final. This match-up involves Germany and Spain, which really is no surprise. Both teams were favourites to win the tournament and here they are standing here today. Spain will be going for their 2nd EURO Championship while Germany will be going for its 4th. With less than 24hrs until kick-off, I take a look at both teams.

Germany came out of the group stage being 2nd place in Group B behind surprising group winner, Croatia. With a record of 2-1-0, Germany played the Portuguese squad showing the exact same record. Many people thought this match would have been a semifinal game and not a quarterfinal. Despite efforts from the Portuguese squad to tie the game late, the Germans would hold on to win the game 3-2 in regulation and move on to the semis. Germany would play Turkey in the semifinal, which just came off a huge penalty shootout win against Croatia. The Turkish would make it interesting dominating the German squad most of the game, but a goal by Philip Lahm in the 90th minute propelled Germany to a 3-2 win and a berth in the finals.

Spain came out of the group stage 1st place in Group D with a record of 3-0-0. They played Italy who surprisingly stole the 2nd spot in Group C and Spain outplayed Italy for the entire game. The game would need a penalty shootout to decide the outcome with Spain prevailing 4-2 on penalties. Spain then went up against Russia, the only team in Group D that might have caused Spain some trouble. There was no trouble for the Spaniards though as they cruised to victory with a score of 3-0 and put themselves into the finals as well.

Spain come into the final with leading scorer David Villa but Villa is considered doubtful for the final with an injured hamstring. This does not give Germany an easier job though as team captain Michael Ballack is also doubtful for the game with an injured calf muscle. These players were crucial for their teams in the tournament and will be missed by their teammates.

Spain comes in as the stronger team defensively, allowing only 3 goals, but their competition was arguably not as hard as what the Germans faced. Spain and Germany come into the final leading the tournament in goals with 11 and 10 goals respectively so both teams do not have trouble finding the net.

The goalie position for both teams is really strong as well. Jens Lehmann will get the start for Germany while Iker Casillas will be the starting goalie for Spain. I would give the advantage here to Casillas because he has less goals allowed and has a stronger defence in front of him than Lehmann does.

With the absence of striker David Villa from the Spanish line-up, I believe Germany is the stronger team offensively. Even without Ballack, Germany will still get the edge for having their leading scorer, Lukas Podolski, in the line-up while having Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philip Lahm coming up huge in the last week. Just because I said the Spanish are weaker offensively without Villa, they still have threats from Fernando Torres and David Silva.

This game is going to be really close and will be an exciting game to watch. Will the Spaniards be able to take the title "underacheivers" off their backs after time and time again choking in the elimination round in the past few tournaments? Will the Germans be able to penetrate a tough Spanish defence and if they do, get it past keeper Iker Casillas?

In the end, I believe Spain will come out of this one with the victory but do not expect it to come easy. A penalty shootout is a huge possibility.

Jagr To Play In Russia?

First they tried for Evgeni Malkin, but now the Russian Super League is trying to lure New York Rangers superstar, Jaromir Jagr, to play in Omsk of the Russian Super League. Jagr would receive a 3-year deal receiving $35 million which is way more than he could make in the NHL. Jagr's agent Pat Brisson assures that Jagr rather would look for a opportunity in the NHL first, most notably a return to the New York Rangers.

Jagr is going into free agency after his worst statistical year of his career only scoring 25 goals and collecting 71 points.

Jagr has played a total of 16 seasons in the NHL playing with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals and the New York Rangers. He has 646 goals and 953 assists in his career giving him 1599 career points. Jagr has also won 2 Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 91' and 92'.

CFL Week 1: Calvillo's Army Strikes Gold in Ti-Cats Nation

While his former team would like to forget about what happened on June 26, 2008, Anthony Calvillo will remember that day for a long time to come. On this day, the Montreal Alouettes defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33 to 10 in a game that featured Alouettes QB Calvillo passing Danny McManus for second on the list of all-time leading passers in CFL history, behind, of course, Damon Allen.

The 35-year-old from Los Angeles, California threw for 293 yards, including two touchdowns, both to Kerry Watkins.

In other games, the Calgary Stampeders defeated the British Columbia Lions 28 to 18 behind 274 yards worth of receptions from Stamps QB Henry Burris. The Toronto Argonauts survived a 321-yard passing performance by Blue Bombers QB Kevin Glenn as they defeated Winnipeg 23 to 16 in a rematch of last year's Eastern Division final.

The Edmonton Eskimos play the Saskatchewan Roughriders today at 7:30 PM EST.

Flames Lock Up Key Players

Yesterday, the Calgary Flames had re-signed 4 of their potential unrestricted free agents. The club re-signed forwards Daymond Langkow, Craig Conroy, Eric Nystrom and goalie Curtis McElhinney. All of the financial terms for these deals are still undisclosed.

"Conroy and Langkow are two of our top centremen who are strong role models for our team both on and off the ice, especially with more young wingers in our line-up next season, their experience and leadership will be important. We are happy to be able to make it work by fitting them into our salary structure," said Flames GM Darryl Sutter regarding the signings of Langkow and Conroy.

Conroy will be entering his 13th season in the NHL, his 6th with the Flames. He collected 34 points in 79 games last season with 12 goals and 22 assists.

Langkow had a very productive year last year having 30 goals and 35 assists giving him 65 points in 80 games, his 2nd highest scoring total in his career.

Nystrom returns for his 2nd season with the Flames after getting 3 goals and 7 assists in 44 games last year.

McElhinney played 5 games for the Flames last season registering a 2.00 GAA and a .902 save%. With McElhinney appearing to be the Flames choice to back up G Miika Kiprusoff next season, this spells the end of G Curtis Joseph's time in Calgary.

Gii's Take on The Tampa Bay Rays

Ah, Tampa...need I say more?

2007

A manager takes a peek at his schedule and saw @ Tampa; its safe to say that he was more at ease, since playing the Devil Rays was almost considered an automatic win. Are these assumptions fair? Consider the fact that their home has been primarily in the cellar in the American League East for a good part of their existence (with the notable exception of 2004, in which they made a significant leap to fourth place).

Last year, they ended up with a record of 66-96, gaining the title as the armpit of baseball. Their bullpen was abysmall, many times blemishing the quality starts of their many capable starters. So even if James Shields put up a 2BB, 7K, 6IP effort, there was still the bullpen to be trusted with a 5-3 lead and knowing that the outs werent automatic. Or even remotely good.

Yup, the AL East was spoiled; feasting on the Rays.

2008

After winning a franchise high 18 games in Spring Training, the Rays came strutting into the regular season, their successful Spring Training a good start to what has been truly a great season thus far. With a new look, a higher payroll [$43 million] and a new mentality, they have become a force to be reckoned with. A pesky, fiesty team to be reckoned with.

Coming into June, the newly reformed Tampa Bay RAYS [notice they removed the Devil part], are 48-31, just half a game back from the first place Red Sox. They became the first team in the Modern Era [since 1900] to be in first place through the quarter mark of the season [Memorial Day] when they were in last place the previous year. They have more than five walk off wins already. They swept the Sox at home. They have one of the best records at home. That is what you call a rebound year.

Their defense and bullpen which was one of the worst last year is now among the best.

The Tampa Bay Rays were a surprise this year, bringing a newfound determination to win and the confidence and mentality that they lacked before. The AL East became a new monster and the Rays aren't the easy win they once were.

They might be here to stay.

Sports Sector Forms Partnership With Sports Full Circle

I am proud to announce that Sports Sector has begun a Internet-Based Partnership with http://www.sportsfullcircle.com/. Sportsfullcircle, aka SFC, has very similar reports to this, and should be an interesting read for all sports fans. I will also be writing for them on the side, but don't worry, this comes first. Make sure to check both sites every day for extensive updates on all your sports!