The Super Bowl is still more than a week away, and this Sunday’s Pro Bowl is too much of a yawn fest to merit attention.
At least there are quarterbacks to drive the news cycle.
The NFL’s glamour boys need only utter a curious comment about premature retirement, be mentioned as trade bait or simply demonstrate an interest in self improvement to generate a juicy round of reporting, analysis and speculation.
Take Ben Roethlisberger. The long-time Pittsburgh Steelers field leader followed a disappointing loss in the AFC Championship Game, and a generally lacklustre offensive showing in the post season, by hinting he may not come back.
The 34-year-old quarterback has three years and US$64 million (Dh235m) remaining on his contract, so it seemed extreme when he told a Pittsburgh radio station he was going to “take some time to evaluate next season, if there is going to be a next season”.
Fortunately, there were media voices to explain what he really meant. The general takeaway: Big Ben was expressing his frustration at the coaches, in particular offensive coordinator Todd Haley.
Haley’s once-explosive offence has lost its big-play identity, relying less on Roethlisberger’s arm and more on talented running back Le’Veon Bell’s legs.
In any case, the consensus was that Roethlisberger will return, but the same cannot be said for all the coaches.
Kirk Cousins of the Washington Redskins was not as dark, even though he surfaced as a possible trade candidate. The emerging star was given the franchise tag at $20m last year. If the organisation tag him again this season at $24m, instead of signing him to a long-term deal, he would be a free agent in 2018.
In that case, the speculation went, Washington might want to trade him to make sure they got something before he left.
“Ultimately, it’s not in my hands,” Cousins told NFL.com, adding that he loves Washington, but would not mind finding a happy home elsewhere.
You would be smiling, too, at his kind of valuation. In any case, Washington president Bruce Allen tried to end the speculation by promising on a scale of 1-to-10 that “it’s a 10” that Cousins stays put.
Not that the story will go away. After all, Cousins is a quarterback.
Meanwhile, the saga of Tony Romo bubbles on, even though loquacious Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he finally was finished discussing his $24m backup quarterback.
Ever since the increasingly fragile Romo was injured last summer, then lost his job to impressive rookie Dak Prescott, Romo’s next chapter has been a meaty media guessing game.
Silence from the Dallas camp has not stopped the conjecture. This week pundits named the Houston Texans and the Denver Broncos as the best “fits” for Romo, assuming he would be willing to scale his contract down.
Even happy quarterback news works. Cities on both coasts recently heard from their young hopefuls, last year’s No 1 overall pick Jared Goff and No 2 man Carson Wentz, who struggled as rookies.
Goff said he was eager to play in Los Angeles Rams new head coach Sean McVay’s stretch-the-field offence. Wentz offered always-grumpy Philadelphia Eagles fans a dollop of optimism when he announced he had hired a private tutor to doctor up his throwing mechanics. Not earth-shattering news, but when quarterbacks speak, headlines appear.
Then there was Deshaun Watson of Clemson, one of the few college quarterbacks considered a potential first rounder in the April draft. When he announced he would not play in this week’s Senior Bowl, a key stop in the pre-draft evaluation process, pundits roared, pro and con.
Even a future NFL quarterback doing nothing is news.
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Conservative MPs who have publicly revealed sending letters of no confidence
- Steve Baker
- Peter Bone
- Ben Bradley
- Andrew Bridgen
- Maria Caulfield
- Simon Clarke
- Philip Davies
- Nadine Dorries
- James Duddridge
- Mark Francois
- Chris Green
- Adam Holloway
- Andrea Jenkyns
- Anne-Marie Morris
- Sheryll Murray
- Jacob Rees-Mogg
- Laurence Robertson
- Lee Rowley
- Henry Smith
- Martin Vickers
- John Whittingdale
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Result
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 – Group 1 (PA) $65,000 (Dirt) 2,000m; Winner: Brraq, Ryan Curatolo (jockey), Jean-Claude Pecout (trainer)
7.05pm: Handicap (TB) $65,000 (Turf) 1,800m; Winner: Bright Melody, James Doyle, Charlie Appleby
7.40pm: Meydan Classic – Listed (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Naval Crown, Mickael Barzalona, Charlie Appleby
8.15pm: Nad Al Sheba Trophy – Group 3 (TB) $195,000 (T) 2,810m; Winner: Volcanic Sky, Frankie Dettori, Saeed bin Suroor
8.50pm: Dubai Millennium Stakes – Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (T) 2,000m; Winner: Star Safari, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
9.25pm: Meydan Challenge – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Zainhom, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi
Ipaf in numbers
Established: 2008
Prize money: $50,000 (Dh183,650) for winners and $10,000 for those on the shortlist.
Winning novels: 13
Shortlisted novels: 66
Longlisted novels: 111
Total number of novels submitted: 1,780
Novels translated internationally: 66
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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs: 2019 Jeep Wrangler
Price, base: Dh132,000
Engine: 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 285hp @ 6,400rpm
Torque: 347Nm @ 4,100rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.6L to 10.3L / 100km
