COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

Looks like the weather is going to hold up on Sunday, when the Broncos and Seahawks take the field, with reported temperatures climbing over 45 degrees. That is perfect weather for this time of the year, especially in New Jersey. So with the weather becoming less and less of a factor, the attention goes right back to the game itself. But before we preview Super Bowl XLVIII, let's take a trip down memory lane. With Super Bowl XLVIII just days away it is time to take a look back at Super Bowl's past and reflect on some of the greatest games in the history of this championship game. 1) Super Bowl XLII: GIANTS 17, PATRIOTS 14 No Super Bowl has ever had as much on the line and contained as much drama as Super Bowl XLII. The Patriots came into the game undefeated (18-0), and with a win in the Super Bowl, they would have punched their ticket to immortality. As for the Giants, nobody expected them to be there. A team, that earlier in the year was playing for their coach's job, t...

Ever since he came to the Giants, Eli Manning has had a very squeaky-clean image. A do-gooder, who was both humble and a two-time Super Bowl champion is now involved in a hairy memorabilia lawsuit, that claims Manning was "in on" a scam to sell fake game-worn memorabilia.  According to a report by the New York Post, a lawsuit was field by Eric Inselberg, who is claiming that the Giants locker room manager, Ed Wagner Jr. and equipment managers Joe and Ed Skiba were informed by team officials to lie about the memorabilia being real.  While the story is still kind of sketchy, Manning's apparent involvement dates back to 2005, when he  "instructed" Skiba to hand him a football helmet, which he signed and claimed was used during his rookie year. The suit then alleges that Skiba took a unused helmet, doctored it as if it were worn by Manning during Super Bowl XLII and sold it initially to Inselberg.  "Two bogus helmets that Manning claimed to...

About a month ago a report came out that the NFL was thinking about a contingency plan for the Super Bowl, if the game were snowed out. Now stories are starting to circulate that a storm could hit Super Sunday, which would send the entire event spiraling toward meltdown. According to the Star Ledger, there is a weather pattern that is starting to develop for next weekend here in New Jersey. Temperatures in Jersey have been Artctic-like for the last week, and those frigid temps are expected to continue throughout next week. If it does snow on Super Sunday, it could affect when the game is played. NFL officials have said they need 48 hours to move the entire package: events, shows, pre-game festivities, halftime, and the game to another day if Sunday gets clocked with a snow storm. That means the Super Bowl could be played between Friday, January 31 and Monday, February 3. The reason for such concern stems from a storm that hit this area on Tuesday, dumping 13 inches of sno...

So much for that $189 million threshold. The Yankees who have been unapologetic about spending big money this off-season have once again come out winners of the off-season, this time coming to terms with Japanese flame-thrower Masahiro Tanaka. The Yankees agreed to pay Tanaka $155 million over seven years, with an opt-out clause after four seasons. The Yankees will also pay Tanaka's former team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles, $20 million just for the right to talk to him. What began as an off-season where the Yankees were planning to pinch pennies in order to stay below $189 million in the salary cap has instead seen the Yankees do what they do best: spend. The Yankees have spend $491 million in contracts this winter. Not including in all of this is the $25 million New York saves after Alex Rodriguez was suspended for the season by Major League Baseball. The Yankees felt the need to acquire Tanaka because the club's rotation has been thin at best. Outside of CC Sabathia and...

SEAHAWKS 23 - 49ERS 17  The events that took place in the fourth quarter of Sunday's NFC title game will be one that will go down as some of the most bizarre moments in NFL history. Not only did the Seahawks complete an improbable comeback to win the game, but the moments that led up to the Seattle victory, and the moments that came shortly thereafter will be talked about for days, weeks, and months to come. The craziness started as soon as the fourth quarter began with San Francisco holding onto a 17-13 lead. After dominating the first half, there was a sense through the third that it could slip away from San Francisco at any given moment. The 49ers appeared to have the Seahawks right where they wanted them. Russell Wilson was called for another intentional grounding penalty that cost the Seahawks 16 yards, pushing them back to a third and 22 at midfield. Wilson was not great. He was erratic with his throws for much of the day, overthrowing receivers, and when he scrambl...

BRONCOS 26 - PATRIOTS 16 There will be a Manning at MetLife Stadium in two weeks, and his name is not Eli. Peyton Manning is the name, and Peyton earned his third trip to the Super Bowl leading the Broncos to a dominating 26-16 victory over his arch rival Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship. For Denver, it is their first trip to the big game since the 1998-99 season, when they won Super Bowl XXXIII. While New England may have closed the game to respectable ten points by the end of the fourth quarter, this game was never really close. The Broncos dominated every facet of the ball game, particularly on the offensive end, where Manning tore up a battered Patriots secondary. Perhaps helped out by the fact that the Patriots didn't have Aquib Talib for most of the ball game, it didn't seem to matter what the Patriots threw at Manning, he was not going to be denied. He completed 32 of 43 passes for 400 yards and two touchdowns. He zipped the bal...

We all knew that Rex Ryan was coming back to the Jets when Woody Johnson and John Idzik gushed over an 8-8 finish as if the franchise had won the Super Bowl a few weeks ago. Now Ryan has put his signature on a new contract that will keep him a Jet through 2016 . However, Ryan should not get too comfortable. The contract is heavily incentive laden demanding that Ryan produce more than just mediocre results. He has to win playoff games, or else he could be fired without the franchise eating too much money. While technically Ryan isn't on the hot seat in 2014, because he has a new contract; he is on the hot seat in 2014 if the team fails to make the playoffs. To this day I still don't know why the Jets decided to keep Ryan. The clearly do not trust him, why else would they make the contract extension incentive laden so they could fire him at the drop of a hat. If the Jets front office was so dubious about Ryan's future, then why not fire him after the 2013 season. Cons...

In the words of Giants owner and CEO John Mara the Giants offense was "broken" in 2013. The blame for New York's sputtering offense fell at the feet of Kevin Gillbride who was forced to retire at the end of the season, sending the Giants into a search for a more competent offensive coordinator.  They may have found one in former Packers quarterback coach Ben McAdoo.  McAdoo, a virtual unknown until he interviewed for the head coaching job for the Cleveland Browns a couple weeks back, is both youthful and a new voice for a unit that badly needs a new voice. At 36, he has already spent the past eight years in the Packers organization, six of those years as a tight end coach, and two as quarterback coach.  While offensive coordinators and quarterback's coaches get too much of the blame when things go wrong, and too much of the credit when things go right, many credit McAdoo with doing a suburb job of juggling different three quarterbacks while Aaron Rodgers wa...

Alex Rodriguez wants to come to Yankees Spring Training. The question is will the Yankees let him? According to the suspension levied by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz, Rodriguez could attend Spring Training, even though he is to be suspended for the entire 2014 season. Now the Yankees have to act. They could relegate him to the club's minor league facility , and, according to a report on ESPN, the Yankees could instruct their coaches to "ignore him" while he is "training" in the Yankees minor league complex. The Yankees would in essence be telling Rodriguez that they are not interested in him anymore. The Yankees could also cut Rodriguez and end this circus entirely, even though they will have to pay Rodriguez $61 million just to go away. For the interest of the ball club, the best decision for the Yankees is to find a way to prevent Rodriguez from coming to camp all together. Even if he is in the minor league facility, he is still present at camp, and...

Today should not be a day that lives in infamy in the world of the New York Yankees. Instead, today should be a day that is celebrated among not only Yankees fans, but baseball fans in general. Alex Rodriguez, one of the game's biggest stars and even bigger liars had the hammer drop on him, his ego, and his case that MLB is trying to sabotage his career, when arbitrator Fredrick Horowitz suspended A-Rod for the entire 2014 season . Rodriguez cannot appear for Spring Training, unless he gets an invite from the Yankees (which is not likely now), and will have no part in any postseason activities for the Yankees. The only thing Rodriguez can do is send this case to federal court with the hope he can receive an injunction so he can attend Spring Training and play baseball this year. The chances of that happening are extremely thin. Rodriguez may have played his last game in pinstripes. Initially a 211 game ban, Rodriguez's pending suspension became a front page drama for...

Perhaps if Mike Piazza wants to make it to the Hall of Fame, he has to pull a page out of Frank Thomas' playbook to get in. As has been the case, and will be the case for years to come, the issue regarding steroids in baseball will come to forefront for every Hall of Fame election. The players who dominated baseball primarily in the 1990s are all retired, and are all up for consideration into the hallowed halls of Cooperstown. Yet thanks to the likes of Bonds, Sosa, McGuire, Clemens, and Palmiero -- any and all players from this era are subject to witch hunts, speculation and questions about whether they too took steroids. It seems that the court of public opinion has ruled these men guilty without any proof. So how is that Frank Thomas, a former designated hitter with the Chicago White Sox, who hit .301 in his career with 521 home runs and 1704 RBI gets into the Hall, while Piazza, who owns a lifetime .308 average, 427 homers and 1335 RBI does not get in? Both of them pl...

Instead of getting fired by the Giants, Kevin Gilbride decided to retire. The news comes off the heals of owner John Mara saying that the offense was broken, and demanded changes to the unit, specifically with offensive coordinator. "Kevin Gibride is an excellent football coach and communicator, head coach Tom Coughlin said on WFAN on Friday, who reiterated that Gibride was not forced out. "He's a much better coach in terms of preparing his pass protection unit than people give him credit. He has made his mark on this organization. Kevin talked about this a bit in the past. He and his wife have a place up in Rhode Island. He made the decision to have this as his last year." Whatever the real reason behind this move, the Giants offense was putrid this year. They were 28th in total offense, and Eli Manning had arguably the worst year of his career, leading the league in interceptions with 27. While Gilbride can't throw the passes, and can't them either...