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I should have bet on the Super Bowl. After all, I did predict the New Orleans Saints would win, 24-20. I also wrote the Saints had a chance if they could protect Drew Brees. That’s pretty much what happened.

Brees has replaced Archie Manning as the city’s most popular sports figure. “Who Dat?” has just taken on a whole new meaning.

The Saints overcame a 10-point first-half deficit to defeat the favored Indianapolis Colts, 31 – 17. In so doing, the Saints won the Super Bowl for the first time in the team’s 43 year history and unleashed a celebration in New Orleans that’s going to last long beyond Mardi Gras… ... Read Full Story

Tim Tebow, who won the Heisman Trophy in 2007 and led the University of Florida to two BCS championships, will attend the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, his agent reports.

Tim Tebow is known for writing biblical passages in his eye paint before games.

Politico reports that when asked if he would be speaking at the breakfast, Tim Tebow’s agent, Susan Vanderlinde, said, “Yes, I believe he is.”… ... Read Full Story

Quarterback Kurt Warner, 38, officially announced his retirement today from the NFL.

Kurt Warner announces his retirement from the NFL on January 29, 2010

“It’s been an amazing ride,” Warner told reporters. “I don’t think I could have dreamt it would have played out like it has, but I’ve been humbled every day that I woke up the last 12 years and amazed that God would choose to use me to do what he’s given me the opportunity to do.”

“I’m excited about what’s next,” Warner said. “Before I was always excited about next season.”

Warner is a popular Christian speaker and religion will continue to play a huge part in Kurt’s life.

Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian organization that places emphasis on marriage and parenthood, has purchased an ad spot featuring Tim Tebow that will air on Super Bowl Sunday on Feb. 7th and some say the ad’s message is bound to spark controversy.

The Associated Press reported this week that the ad’s theme will be “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life,” with Pam Tebow sharing the story of her difficult 1987 pregnancy — instead of getting an abortion she decided to give birth to Tebow, the now-famous quarterback who went on to become a Heisman Trophy winner, leading the Gators to two BCS wins.

Gary Schneeberger, Focus on the Family spokesman, told ABC News he couldn’t comment on the content of the ad. However, he said his organization has always viewed the Tebows as “strong, committed Christians” who have inspirational family stories to tell.

“It seemed like a natural partnership, and we were fortunate enough that they agreed,” Schneeberger said.

“Once we explained what we were hoping to accomplish, a strong handful of committed friends provided funding for the airtime,” Schneeberger said. He said he has seen the ad, and he would not label it as political or controversial.

“Our goal is to create awareness for who we are as a family-help ministry and help folks who are watching come to us if they’re struggling in their marriage or struggling raising their children,” he said.

“It’s a big coming-out party for Tim Tebow in terms of moving from athletic superstar to the political realm,” said Daniel Smith, UF associate professor of political science and faculty adviser to Gators for Choice.

Once the ad airs on national television, it might cause some interesting discussions on college campuses while also rallying the pro-choice community, Smith added. The commercial’s content might also have an effect on Tebow’s fan base.

“When you are an athlete and you put yourself out in the public sphere when it comes to politics, you have a good chance of alienating half your fan support,” Smith said.

Camille Jacobs, a UF junior and member of Campus Crusade for Christ, said she was excited to hear that Tebow has this opportunity.

“He’s just standing up for what he believes in,” Jacobs said, “and no matter what you believe in, it’s going to be controversial.”

ABC News contributed to this story

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GLENDALE, AZ — After the Arizona Cardinals unprecedented 51-45 victory over the Green Bay Packers yesterday, rumors started circulating that Kurt Warner may retire next season.

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner celebrates after overtime of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP)

Usually after winning every home game, Warner would celebrate with his family in the stands. However, last night he went back on the field and waved to the fans first. This gesture sparked rumors that Warner, who was already considering retirement, was saying goodbye to the fans.

Warner told the media, “Relax. “It’s my way of saying thanks to the fans because I know we’re not coming back this year. I appreciate their impact and what they’ve done for us.”

The Arizona Republic and other media outlets have also reported that he may be planning on retiring after this season’s playoff run is over.

He certainly didn’t want to think about it after last night’s 51-45 overtime win against the Green Bay Packers, according to USA Today. “Right now I’m just playing football this year as long as I can,” Warner said. “When that’s done, we’ll step away and figure out what’s the best thing moving forward.”

The longer Warner plays, the greater his Hall of Fame chances become. In a modest 12 playoff games, Warner already has more postseason touchdown passes (31) than every other quarterback except Joe Montana, Brett Favre and Dan Marino.

“I think he would miss the competitive part of football, but Kurt has so many things going on outside the field,” Larry Fitzgerald said. “He’s got a lovely family with seven kids. He does a great job in ministry and public speaking. There’s so many things he can do after football, but we want to keep him here as long as possible.”

Kurt Warner, a devout Christian and popular Christian speaker, makes no bones about attributing his success to his faith.

“If you ever really want to do a story about who I am, God’s got to be at the center of it. Every time I hear a piece or read a story that doesn’t have that, they’re missing the whole lesson of who I am.” – Kurt Warner

Kurt Warner

People often ask me who my favorite athletes are to deal with. I always give them the same answer…there are a lot of great guys, far too many to mention. But definitely high on the list is Kurt Warner, the quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals.

A lot of athletes change over the years due to their success and wealth. Not Warner. He’s the same guy today as he was 10 years ago. He’s a devout Christian, a big family guy and very philanthropic. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, he traveled to his hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to assist Habitat For Humanity in rebuilding more than 20 homes for families that had been affected by the devastating floods of 2008. He wasn’t there for just a photo-op – he got his hands dirty and worked hard like everyone else.

Warner has enjoyed a rags-to-riches career that couldn’t have been scripted any better by a Hollywood director.

After finishing his college career at Northern Iowa, Warner attended the Green Bay Packers training camp in 1994 but was released before the regular season began. It was at this point that he famously stocked shelves at a Hy-Vee grocery store in Cedar Falls, Iowa for $5.50 an hour. With no NFL teams calling, Warner played for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League beginning in 1995. He was named to the AFL’s All-Arena first team in both 1996 and 1997 as he led the Barnstormers to Arena Bowl appearances in both seasons.

In 1998, Kurt Warner was signed by the St. Louis Rams and was allocated to the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe, where he led the league in touchdowns and passing yards. Going into the 1999 season, Warner was the Rams backup quarterback but took over the starting job when Trent Green was sidelined with an injury. The rest, as they say, is history. Warner put together one of the greatest seasons by a quarterback in NFL history, throwing for 4,353 yards with 41 touchdown passes and a completion rate of 65.1%. He went onto lead the Rams to a Super Bowl victory over the Tennessee Titans and was named both the Super Bowl MVP and NFL MVP. He became the sixth player to win both awards in the same year, joining Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, Emmitt Smith and Steve Young.

In 2001, Kurt Warner enjoyed another career year when he led the Rams to the Super Bowl and won his second NFL MVP award. For the next several years, his career was up and down. However, last year, he returned to old form when he led the Cardinals to their first division title since 1975 and first-ever Super Bowl appearance. He recently re-signed with the Cardinals for two more years and will likely be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame after he retires.

Away from the gridiron, he’s a much sought-after Christian speaker and sports motivational speaker.

PFP Sports and Celebrity Booking Agency is a speakers bureau and top booking agent for sports stars, football speakers, celebrity speakers, athlete appearances, endorsements and corporate entertainment. For more information call 800.966.1380

The Olive Garden tells the Christian Science Monitor that they have not pulled their ads from the David Letterman show.

“Information reported today by Andy Barr of Politico regarding Olive Garden’s advertising on the Late Show with David Letterman was erroneous. No authorized spokesperson for the company confirmed the information in his report,” said Olive Garden spokesman Rich Jeffers in an email to The Vote.

“The Olive Garden media schedule is planned months in advance. The schedule for the Late Show with David Letterman was completed earlier this month. We take all guest concerns seriously. And, as always, we will factor those concerns in as we plan our advertising schedule in the future,” he continued

In an email obtained by Politico, a spokeswoman for the chain told a Letterman-criticizing pasta fan that “there will be no more Olive Garden ads scheduled for ‘The Late Show’ with David Letterman in this year’s broadcast schedule.”

“We apologize that Mr. Letterman’s mistake, which was not consistent with our standards and values, left you with a bad impression of Olive Garden,” wrote Sherri Bruen, the company’s guest relations manager.

An official statement is coming soon, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

PFP Sports and Celebrity Talent Agency is a top celebrity booking agent for Christian speakers, celebrity speakers, sports stars and entertainers.

Deion Sanders

Professional athletes all have a special talent that very few people possess. Still others have a talent that can just be described as a freak of nature. A few athletes come to mind – two-sport stars Bo Jackson and Brian Jordan and baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield, who was drafted by all three major sports out of college. But one of the best was without a doubt Deion Sanders.

Nicknamed “Prime Time” during his All-America football days at Florida State, Deion  is the only athlete to have ever played in both a Super Bowl and World Series. He is considered one of the greatest cover cornerbacks ever. He played for the Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins and Baltimore Ravens, winning the Super Bowl with the 49ers and Cowboys. He was a nine-time All-Pro and was named to the 1990’s NFL All-Decade Team.

In Major League Baseball, he played a nine-year, part-time career, participating in 641 games with four teams – the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants. During the 1989 season, he became the first player in history to hit a home run and score a touchdown in the same week.

Deion was considered a better football player than baseball player. His reputation was so great that opposing offensive coordinators almost always specifically accounted for him in their game plan.[He was widely known to shut down “his” half of the field, causing most quarterbacks to essentially ignore the receiver he was covering. He allegedly ran a 4.16 in the 40-yard dash, making him the second fastest in the NFL to Darrell Green.

Deion also occasionally played offense. He and Bill Dudley are the only players in NFL history to score a touchdown six different ways – interception return, punt return, kickoff return, receiving, rushing and a fumble recovery.

Deion will mostly be remembered by his “Prime Time” persona and for “high-stepping” it into the end zone followed by his touchdown dance celebrations. The interesting thing about “Prime Time” was that it was just a marketing ploy. He used it to become not only a fan favorite but also one of the highest-paid athletes of his time.

 Deion had some difficult times in the late 1990’s that led to him becoming born-again and an ordained minister. He also wrote an interesting book published in 1998  entitled “Power, Money & Sex: How Success Almost Ruined My Life.”

 Today, Deion is a analyst for the NFL Network. He’s also an a highly-acclaimed Christian Speaker and motivational sports speaker. I recently hired him to speak at a client’s sales meeting and he received higher ratings for his speech than any other speaker.

If you would like to find out how to hire Deion Sanders for a speaking engagement, appearance, endorsement, autograph signing or special event, request Deion Sanders booking agent information from PFP Sports and Celebrity Talent Agency. PFP is a top sports and celebrity booking agent for athletes, entertainers, sports stars and celebrities.

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Danny Gokey

There appears to be a scam brewing with FramesDirect.com, the company claiming to be affiliated with Danny Gokey Eyeglasses. In a previous post I made on June 12, 2009, FramesDirect.com uses Danny’s picture to promote a Danny Gokey eyewear line stating that 10% of their proceeds go to Sophia’s Heart, Danny’s foundation for his late wife.  This is false!

Here is the proof:

June 16, 2009 UPDATE: Danny just tweeted this:
Many companies r claiming 2 partner w/ Sophia’s Heart (clothes, eyewear, ect).They r all SCAMS. We have not seen 1 penny nor been contacted

According to Danny’s tweet, proceeds DO NOT go to Sophia’s Heart Foundation.

More proof came when fans contacted FramesDirect.com for more information and the company replied that they were partnered with a Danny Gokey FANSITE, NOT Danny Gokey himself. As of to date no proceeds or donations have been made to Danny or his foundation.

‘We’ve never contacted Danny about our site, but we feel that he would really want this,’ Joe Monaghan of DannyGokeyGear.com says.

DannyGokeyGear.com — and the accompanying DannyGokeyBlog.com — are actually the property of Colorado Web Builders, a company run by a Denver Web designer named Joe Monaghan, and are in no way affiliated with Gokey himself, or his charity, though you probably wouldn’t know it by glancing at the main page of either site and that has, rather understandably, led to some confusion.

“But at that point, we were having problems with some of the glasses places in Denver, because they didn’t carry a brand that Danny wore on the show — Luxotica,” Monaghan continued. “So I called FramesDirect, and they were interested in helping us out. So we came up with a game plan — TV Guide would direct the viewers to our site, and we would refer traffic to FramesDirect’s site, where they would sell the glasses and donate a portion of the proceeds to charity.”

It all sounds well and good, until the confusion started. That led many to notice that the Gokey Gear site was not endorsed by the singer in any way, which, in turn, led FramesDirect to pull any mention of the Gokey glasses from the main page of their Web site. And that’s when alarm bells started going off across the “Idol”-sphere. Was this all some gigantic scam?

“To be honest, there’s been a lot of misinformation out there. So to clear it up, we’re not affiliated with the foundation or Gokey. They didn’t ask us to sell the frames for them,” Jennifer Cameron, a spokesperson for FramesDirect, told MTV News. “We were contacted by Danny Gokey Gear, and we decided to help out the Sophia’s Heart Foundation. It’s as if we’re doing a fundraiser for them. We’re not doing this to make money, and we still intend to donate a part of the proceeds to the charity.”

If there is no contract signed with Gokey or Gokey’s management to promote the eyewear line in his name, then this would be trademark infringement.

If you would like to find out how to hire Danny Gokey for a speaking engagement, appearance, endorsement, autograph signing or special event, request Danny Gokey booking agent information from PFP Sports and Celebrity Talent Agency. PFP is a top celebrity booking agent for American Idols, Christian speakers, entertainers, sports stars and celebrities.

Danny Gokey is back in his native town of Milwaukee for a few days at the Merrill Hills Country Club, home of The Greg Jennings Celebrity Golf Tournament, before preparing for The American Idol Summer Tour. Danny is still a big hit – so big that Greg Jennings, wide receiver of the Green Bay Packers, chose to give a 200K grant to Sophia’s Heart, Danny’s organization for his late wife. Milwaukee’s Habitat for Humanity will also benefit from the outing. The organization will receive 50% of the proceeds including money from auctioned items.

Danny confirmed that he is meeting with the 19 Record’s president to sit down soon with Sony National. Kris Allen, Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta all have signed contracts. I am sure Danny will have no trouble getting a contract as well.

If you would like to find out how to hire Danny Gokey for a speaking engagement, appearance, endorsement, autograph signing or special event, request Danny Gokey booking agent information from PFP Sports and Celebrity Talent Agency. PFP is a top celebrity booking agent for American Idols, entertainers, sports stars and celebrities.