Nfl

So it is a weekend in March with "March Madness" having the equivalent of their semifinals for the NCAA men's basketball championships. Countless millions of folks across the country, some of whom never watch a college game, have filled out brackets with their predictions. The amount of money changing hands in the next eight days is enough to finance a small country for a year. Spring training is drawing to a close with Opening Day not far away. The NBA is running it's accelerated schedule, with games being played more frequently than ever before.

Richard Dunn NEWPORT BEACH - Football fans will be glued to ESPN and ESPN2 this weekend for the NFL draft, which means none other than Irrelevant Week founder Paul Salata will make his traditional television appearance and announce Mr. Irrelevant XXVI to the world. Salata, who understands the inner workings of the mind of a lower draft choice, is the madman guilty of creating the zany Irrelevant Week in Newport Beach, which celebrates the absolute dead-last pick in the NFL draft every June.

Richard Dunn NEWPORT BEACH - Some might think Newport Beach-based sports agent Leigh Steinberg has cornered the market on NFL quarterbacks, but this weekend in the NFL draft he'll focus on the receiving end. Steinberg, whose client list includes quarterbacks Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Drew Bledsoe and Jeff George, will represent some of college football's top pass catchers this year. Wide receivers R. Jay Soward from USC, Danny Farmer from UCLA and Plaxico Burress from Michigan State, along with Miami's Bubba Franks, the draft's top-rated tight end, will be in Steinberg's camp today and Sunday as 31 NFL teams select an estimated 253 players at Madison Square Garden in New York (shown live on ESPN)

When one of the most controversial calls in NFL history took place, Laird Hayes wasn't watching it during the Monday Night Football telecast. Hayes, a Newport Beach resident and an NFL side judge entering his 18th season, said he was watching the movie, "Midnight in Paris. " "I absolutely refused to watch those scabs work," said Hayes, who made the big call on Mario Manningham's catch along the sideline during the Giants' game-winning drive against the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI in February.

More than 36 NFL stars rallied for the Orangewood Children's Foundation, participating in a golf tournament and charity dinner that raised more than $225,000 for an auxiliary of Orangewood known as Orangewood PALS (Providing Assistance Love and Support). It was called the Athletes First Classic, with a gala dinner event held at the St. Regis Hotel and Resort in Dana Point in mid-March, followed by the golf tournament the next day. The gala honored football quarterback Steve Young, along with Orange County business leader and philanthropist Peter Ueberroth . The retired San Francisco 49ers quarterback, who won a Super Bowl during his career, founded a charitable organization that he named the Forever Young Foundation.

Richard Dunn NEWPORT BEACH - The great fraternity of football coaching has led Mike Giddings to the podium Saturday at the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. No, Giddings himself won't be accepting accolades into the NFL pantheon. He will, however, present Hall of Fame inductee Dave Wilcox of the San Francisco 49ers. Giddings, a former 49ers assistant coach in charge of the defense, campaigned hard to the Hall of Fame's Board of Directors the last few years for Wilcox to enter the hallowed doors at Canton, Ohio.

Richard Dunn NEWPORT BEACH - Super Bowl MVP Kurt Warner, who was presented with an honorary Lowsman Trophy, and Mike White, the former Cal football coach who helped launch super agent Leigh Steinberg's career, honored Mr. Irrelevant XXV from the head table Wednesday night as representatives of the Rams. And, of course, Steinberg was part of the program, giving a contract worth the price of the paper it was printed on to Mike Green, selected 254th by the Chicago Bears, earning Green the title as the ultimate underdog and the lucky last pick in the 2000 NFL draft.

NEWPORT BEACH — Mr. Irrelevant met the Nigerian Nightmare for the first time. Cheta Ozougwu was just happy to hear his name pronounced correctly by someone other than his Nigerian parents. Christian Okoye said "oh-ZOO-goo" just once. To the former running back for the Kansas City Chiefs, Ozougwu was still Mr. Irrelevant, the last player picked in the NFL Draft. As for any advice for Ozougwu, who will try to make the Houston Texans, Okoye chuckled at first. The laughs started well before a roast of Ozougwu at the All-Star Lowsman Banquet at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa on Wednesday.

Jesse Mahelona, a former Orange Coast College standout who played in the NFL, has died after being involved in a car accident. According to the Associated Press, agent Chad Speck said Mahelona, who was 26, died Friday night after being involved in an accident about a mile from his home in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Speck said Saturday he didn’t know any more circumstances of the accident. After OCC, Mahelona played at the University of Tennessee. He was drafted in the fifth round of the 2006 NFL draft by the Titans, where he played in 10 games as a rookie.

Richard Dunn It was a big deal for his local friends watching on television when color commentator John Madden circled him with the magic marker on the air in the NFC Championship Game for the 1996 NFL season. Playing tight end for the Green Bay Packers, former Corona del Mar High standout Jeff Thomason sprang Dorsey Levens with a key block as Levens caught a 29-yard touchdown pass from Brett Favre and the Packers went on to capture the Super Bowl.

When Matt Barkley agreed to a four-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday, much of the talk shifted to the money the quarterback lost for staying another year at USC. Whatever the amount (terms of the contract weren't disclosed), he gained something that could be more valuable than the dollars he could've earned. Because Barkley, a Newport Beach native, wasn't selected until the fourth round, he acquired a much-needed chip on his shoulder. He's out to prove to everyone he can achieve success in the NFL and be a productive pro quarterback.

Former record-setting tailback inks free-agent deal with Baltimore after stint at Louisiana Tech. Former Orange Coast College tailback Ray Holley has signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Ravens, Pirates football coach Mike Taylor said in an announcement made by the school. Holley who playd at OCC in 2008 and 2009, completed his college career at Louisiana Tech. As a sophomore at OCC, Holley rushed for 1,457 yards, which was then a school single-season record, on 311 carries.

The most anxiety-fueled, suspenseful, nerve-wracking, emotional and ultimately explosively joyful day of the year is coming this week for anyone who represents prospects for this year's National Football League Draft. The long "second season" of All-Star games, the scouting combine, pro scouting days on campus, and individualized interactions which constitute postseason scouting are done. NFL teams have compiled a draft board which lists their assessment of every potentially draftable player by an overall rating number and then by position.

Traditional agentry has too often been lampoonish, cartoonish, greedy and destructive to clients and sports itself. Some of the basic concepts, which are slavishly adhered to, are just wrong. The battle in sports ought not be labor versus management. The critical challenge for the NFL is Major League Baseball, the NBA, HBO TV, Walt Disney World and every other form of discretionary entertainment spending. Sports are not like the need for food on the table or transportation to work.

Darren Fells, a former UC Irvine men's basketball standout who has not played football since high school, was signed to a three-year contract as a tight end by the Seattle Seahawks, according to NFL.com. The 6-foot-7, 230-pound Fells, the story said, worked out for the team on Tuesday. Fells played professional basketball the last year for Libertad Sunchales in Argentina. His pro basketball career also included stops in Mexico,, France, Finland and Belgium. A four-year starter at UCI, he earned second-team All-Big West honors as a senior in 2006-07, when he averaged 14.2 points and 6.8 rebounds in the regular season and led the Big West in field-goal percentage (.566)

The Super Bowl of NFL Draft scouting — the NFL Draft combine that takes place this week — can dramatically alter the draft status of aspiring players. Several hundred college seniors and juniors who have declared for the draft are invited to Indianapolis for days of testing. Every NFL scout, director of player personnel, assistant and head coach, team executives, and many owners have assembled from across the nation to assess the potential for a potential draftee to help their team.

The National Football League is America's passion. Dominating the top 10 of Nielsen television ratings, estimates are that 180 million people watched part of a game last week. There are packed stadiums, fantasy football fanatics and bettors. The NFL is our collective obsession. This was the marriage made in heaven for contemporary appetites for quick bursts of action in tightly contained segments, made for television and every platform of content supply. But the pace and immediacy are being severely impacted by endless instant replays and late calls.

Former NFL stars Andre Reed, Chris McCalister and Anthony Miller are among a handful of celebrity guests who are helping to lead the inaugural Dave & Buster's Charity Golf Classic to benefit Talk About Curing Autism. The event also features a charity dinner Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Dave & Buster's in Irvine. The dinner is $50 and includes a $15 game card along with five raffle tickets and unlimited video play that night. The Golf Classic is on Monday, with registration at 9 a.m. and tee time at 11 a.m. at Aliso Viejo Country Club.

Southern California caught NHL fever earlier this year. It was the first time that I've seen car flags, viewing parties, television news focus and large-scale excitement for hockey. Had the Stanley Cup drive been a movie, it would have faded to black and been followed by a flowering of interest in hockey. Instead, the players are locked out and the amount of publicity and interest around the NHL has been allowed to wane. The National Hockey League has a unique penchant for self-destructiveness in the way it conducts negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement.

When one of the most controversial calls in NFL history took place, Laird Hayes wasn't watching it during the Monday Night Football telecast. Hayes, a Newport Beach resident and an NFL side judge entering his 18th season, said he was watching the movie, "Midnight in Paris. " "I absolutely refused to watch those scabs work," said Hayes, who made the big call on Mario Manningham's catch along the sideline during the Giants' game-winning drive against the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI in February.