JohnFMurray.com

“When me and my friends watch the game we always must do a Jager bomb after every score, and if we do n’t do one immediately following points then it’s very bad luck,” says life-long ¬Giants fan Jonathan Hays, 23, of New Jersey. “Also, a shot of Jameson after a win to continue the good vibes. We go to the same bar during every streak, sit in the same seats and order the same food.”

“I watch the game at my buddy’s place, and sit on the left side of the couch,” writes another G-men fan on the Daily News’ Giants-dedicated blog “The Blue Screen.” “I wear my oldest pair of jeans and my new Brandon Jacobs jersey with my Giants T-shirt underneath, unwashed, and my signed Giants hat.”

According to an Associated Press/Ipsos poll conducted in October, one in five sports fans say or do things that they think will bring their favorite team good luck.

“The fan feels that he is part of something bigger than himself and that’s what drives that kind of behavior,” according to John F. Murray, a clinical and sport psychologist based in Palm Beach, Fla.

“It’s a human affiliation response. They’re going to wear their jersey, cut their hair or paint their face in an effort to feel like they’re having some small part of the effort toward victory.”

Here are some other examples of what local fans will be doing to bring their team game day “luck” on Sunday:

A VOODOO DANCE “[It] has worked more than once to push an opponent’s ‘game- winning’ field goal attempt wide. Stand in a crouch before your TV, wave your arms up and down as if you’re a sorcerer casting a spell and say: ‘Voodoo! I put the voodoo on you! Voodoo!’ a couple times.”

OBSESSIVELY-COMPUSIVELY TOUCHING ALL GIANTS-RELATED PARAPHERNALIA IN THE HOUSE “A) A poster of the two Lombardi trophies with Simms, Mara and Anderson signatures, B) a Giants nutcracker, C) a miniGiants helmet, D) a Giants golf towel, E) three Giants hats, F) a piece of Waterford crystal in the shape of a football and another piece in the shape of a shamrock, and G) finally, pictures of my deceased dad and mom who I know are watching the G-men from heaven every week.”

SACRIFICING THE CHILDHOOD OF THEIR 9-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER FOR THE W “[She] has a stuffed Giants bear who she believes is single-handedly responsible for this Super Bowl run. She makes sure it’s in the room when the game starts, then she shakes it at the TV before every play.”

CUTTING OFF ALL COMMUNICATION WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD “[One friend] won’t answer the phone or reply to a text message during the game, and he won’t even open the door, so you better show up before kickoff.”

Murray says fans’ inclination toward wearing unwashed underwear won’t really help Eli Manning throw a game-winning TD in the final 3 seconds. “It has absolutely no impact on the actual contest,” says Murray of fans’ superstitious rituals.

“It’s like touching the Queen’s hand or kissing the Pope’s ring; you do it just to have some feeling that you’re part of something that’s really big.

“However, I don’t think the fans have no effect on the game,” adds Murray. “Fans have a tremendous impact as a whole. It’s like having another player on the field when all the fans in the stands

unify with a particular color or noise.”

But if you can’t make it to Arizona on Sunday, go ahead and sit on the left side of the couch with your Jager, wearing your crusty old jersey and hat. It might not actually help the Giants, but it can help you.

“As long as it doesn’t interfere with occupational or social or other important areas of their life, it’s probably healthy in a diversion sense,” says Murray.

“It gives them some sense

Swish.

It was a great beginning to a great game for Fells, who went on to make nine of 11 shots and score a game-high 23 points.

It was the type of game that observers of college basketball have in mind when they use some version of this line: “If he hits his first shot, he’s going to have a good game. If not, he usually struggles.”

Two nights earlier, ESPN’s Sean McDonough had said virtually the same thing when Syracuse forward Donte Greene was 1-for-10 on the way to a 5-for-19 game against Georgetown. Greene had missed his first shot, and apparently that was the impetus for his poor performance.

Or was it? Is the first shot really that important? Or is it one of those basketball clichés that’s really more tired than it is true? It depends on whom you ask and which player you’re talking about.

Roy Williams doesn’t think much of the first shot. As always, North Carolina’s coach has a golf analogy handy to explain why.

“Tiger Woods doesn’t always birdie the first hole,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of guys that can really get it going at one point during the game and some guys that start out shooting like crazy and then it falters at the end.”

Williams’ top shooter, Wayne Ellington, seems to back up that assertion. After making his first attempt of the game, Ellington has hit 43.1 percent of his shots this season. But if Ellington misses his initial shot, he shoots at a 49.5 percent clip the rest of the game.

Duke’s Jon Scheyer is an even more extreme case. For some reason — perhaps because he comes off the bench instead of starting — Scheyer has been woefully inaccurate on his initial shot this season, making just three of 17 (17.6 percent). But after those 14 first misses, he has gone on to shoot 55.4 percent. In the three games when Scheyer actually sank his first attempt, he made only seven of the 20 other shots he took (35 percent).

“It’s just a shot,” Scheyer said. “If you make it or miss it, it doesn’t affect me. You’ve got to keep shooting it.”

Then there are Fells and Brandon Costner, an N.C. State forward. Costner has struggled with his shooting touch all season, but it’s clearly more of a problem when he misses his initial attempt. In those games he has made just 21.8 percent of his other shots. When Costner’s first shot goes down, his percentage on the other attempts jumps to 37 percent, a considerable improvement.

Fells’ shooting percentage improves when he makes his first shot — from 45.8 percent to 53.1 on his other attempts — but it seems as if he thinks his start is even more important than those statistics would suggest.

When Fells makes his first shot, he hunts for more, averaging nine more attempts in those games. An initial miss makes him more conservative. He hoists up only 5.5 more shots in those games.

Why such a wide range of results? Because we’re dealing with that most fickle of basketball qualities — confidence.

“There’s an efficiency that’s apparent in somebody who is extremely confident,” said Dr. John Murray, a sports performance psychologist in Palm Beach, Fla.

That confidence springs from results. Just about any player will say he feels good about his next shot if the previous one went down. If the shot before was a miss, the numbers start to vary.

“It’s the difficulty with coping and refocusing after a miss,” explained Dr. Renee Newcomer Appaneal, an assistant professor in sport and exercise psychology at UNCG. “That’s a very common challenge that athletes, particularly at a high level, face. More often than not, they’re going to miss. They’re going to fail.”

That’s why the players who develop reputations as top shooters often are described as having no conscience. They just aren’t bothered by misses the way other, more erratic shooters are.

“A lot of times a player might think if he misses a shot, it’s a mistake,” said Duke assistant coach Chris Collins. “I know we go through that with certain guys on our team. We want our guys to … we call it: ‘Shoot our bullets with confidence.’ ”

Building that confidence or keeping it sometimes means dancing around the first-shot question. Coaches frequently say it’s a problem … with players they’ve seen on other teams. Players will either deny it’s an issue or, like Ellington, say it’s a thing of the past.

“That was one of my problems last year,” the North Carolina sophomore said. “If I missed my first one or two shots, I kind of got down on myself and lost some confidence, and I missed some more.”

In Ellington’s case, and in the case of others, experience is the best way around over-reliance on first-shot success. Hit enough shots in enough games and you have something to fall back on if attempt No. 1 clangs off the rim.

Get to that point, as Duke sharpshooter Taylor King has, and you can take the good of the first shot and throw out the bad.

“It’s not important to me,” King said when asked about his first shot.

Unimportant only if it’s a miss. If it’s a make, well, that just bolsters the confidence already there.

“Once you see the ball go through the basket,” King said, “your eyes light up.”

Walberg resigned last week in the middle of his second season as men’s basketball coach at Pepperdine. He issued a statement saying he was stepping away for personal reasons, said he would have no further comment and vanished into the night without addressing allegations of player abuse and rumors of a mutiny in Malibu.

Walberg became the fourth West Coast Conference coach to lose his job in 315 days. Santa Clara ran Pacific alum Dick Davey out after 15 seasons, San Diego bought out the final year of Brad Holland’s contract and USF coach Jessie Evans stepped down under bizarre circumstances. Evans “requested” a leave of absence on Dec. 26, setting off a highly scrutinized sequence of events in which athletic director Debra Gore-Mann hired Eddie Sutton over the phone the same day.

Those were cases of WCC schools cutting throats in a desperate attempt to gain ground on Gonzaga, but the Walberg situation is different. This was a rising figure in the coaching profession going down in flames, and it’s amazing how fast he fell.

It was just a little more than six weeks ago that Walberg stood victoriously inside Spanos Center, beaming under the bright lights above the court following an 83-65 win over Pacific. Walberg said it was “by far” his team’s best game of the year. It was probably his most triumphant moment at the Division I level.

“I’m very, very proud of the players,” Walberg said that night. “I’m really excited to get a big-time win like this on the road. … We really needed a performance like this.”

With a big win and promising young players, it looked like Walberg was on his way.

If you had searched for him on the Internet then, you would have found stories about his heralded dribble-drive motion offense. You would have learned that he was 133-11 in four seasons at Fresno City College with two California Commission on Athletics coach of the year awards and one perfect season. You would have discovered that SI.com named him one of the most innovative coaches in college basketball.

You would have read that, after meeting Walberg while he was still at Fresno City, Memphis coach John Calipari scrapped his half-court system, adopted the Walberg way and took his team to No. 1 in the nation.

You would have found a blog called “The Vance Walberg Nation,” with diagrams of his offense and a schedule of clinics created after Walberg was besieged by requests for more information from coaches at all levels across the country.

Now?

Now, you’ll find new references to an old story about Walberg forfeiting 70 games, two section championships and a California Interscholastic Federation state title for using a player who was 19 years old when he enrolled as a freshman at Clovis West High School. You’ll read about a failed experiment at Pepperdine that produced a 14-39 record. You’ll read about self-imposed sanctions for recruiting violations and a despicable story about Walberg ordering a player who acted like “a baby” to sit on the bench and suck his thumb during practice.

Pepperdine athletic director John Watson told The Los Angeles Times that Walberg’s actions did not constitute abuse, but many will feel differently based on the thumb-sucking story alone.

“(The) intent is solely to publicly embarrass and demean, and to create a lasting memory for everyone at the player’s expense,” said Dr. John F. Murray, a Palm Beach, Fla.-based sports psychologist who said the move “grossly crosses the line of inappropriate and abusive (behavior) when done by a coach entrusted with the well-being of his troops.”

Walberg will get another chance. He’ll go back to the community college ranks or join a Division I staff as an assistant. Maybe one day his star will rise again, but only if he learns from the mistakes he made in Malibu.

| 22 Jan 08FOOTBALL SHRINK: THE PATRIOTS WILL DESTROY GIANTS, BUT THE GIANTS HAVE HOPE IF THEY CAN COPE BETTER WITH PRESSURE

PHOENIX, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ Dr. John F. Murray (www.JohnFMurray.com), a lic…[ Full Story ]

| 22 Jan 08FOOTBALL SHRINK: THE PATRIOTS WILL DESTROY GIANTS, BUT THE GIANTS HAVE HOPE IF THEY CAN COPE BETTER WITH PRESSURE

PHOENIX, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ Dr. John F. Murray (www.JohnFMurray.com), a licensed clinical and sport performance psychologist (aka the “Football Shrink,” and the “Freud of Football” by the Washington Post) provides MPI statistics to show that the New England Patriots will easily roll over the New York Giants on Super Bowl Sunday, but you may be surprised why.

The MPI analysis of performance under pressure during the Playoffs shows much better clutch performance as the reason why the Patriots will win by at least two touchdowns and become the best team in NFL history.

The Patriots annihilated the Giants in pressure offense (.590 to .467), pressure defense (.602 to .479) and total pressure (.589 to .463). This represents a huge contrast in how much better the Patriots manage critical situations in a game.

Simply put, the Patriots performed better under pressure than the Giants.

The Giants have hope only if they perform much better under pressure and the Patriots perform worse.

Since the Super Bowl stage presents the most pressure of the year, this is unlikely.

The complimentary Super Bowl numerology by “The Football Shrink,” is posted on his website: www.JohnFMurray.com. New England (.550) scored better than New York (.532) on the total MPI score throughout the playoffs, and higher than the Giants in five of seven categories.

The Patriots posted an amazing .621 to .537 advantage over the Giants on offense, but the Giants were clearly better on defense (.523 to .468) and slighter better on special teams (.605 to .598). While this normally indicates a closer game, the MPI analysis of performance under pressure tells why it won’t be.

That the Giants scored higher on defense and special teams gives them some hope for an upset.

Dr. Murray’s MPI assigns points on each play throughout the playoffs for “focused execution,” “pressure management,” and “reduction of mental errors,” and scores range from .000 to 1.000 (perfection).

The MPI’s five year record in the Super Bowl is remarkable, beating the spread 4 out of 5 years and accurately estimating relative performance each year. A summary chart of this record can be seen at: www.smartproinsight.com/mpitrackrecord.htm

Dr. Murray is available for interviews.
John F. Murray, PhD
Licensed Sport Psychologist
340 Royal Poinciana Way Suite 339J
Palm Beach, FL 33480
Telephone: 561-596-9898
Web: www.JohnFMurray.com

When Randy Moss was traded from the Oakland Raiders to the New England Patriots for a fourth round draft pick before the start of the current NFL season, he must have believed after contentious stops with the Minnesota Vikings and the Oakland Raiders that he had found his own football version of Shangri-La.

A troubled soul both on and off the football field, Moss has thrived in New England where the Patriots are set for the AFC Championship Game Sunday. Moss set a single season NFL record teaming with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady catching 23 touchdown passes. In the locker room Moss has proven whatever issues he faced in Minnesota and Oakland havent been a problem with the Patriots.

Selected as an NFL All-Pro for the fist time in his career, the wednesday after allegations surfaced that a Fort Lauderdale woman who Moss acknowledged he has known for 11 years, obtained a temporary restraining order in the Broward County Court (Fort Lauderdale) against the Patriots wide receiver on Monday. In her petition, Washington alleged Moss caused her serious injury in the Jan. 6 incident (the teams bye-week) and denied her medical attention.

“It’s unfair to athletes if a person makes a false claim,” said Moss, standing in front of his locker at Gillette Stadium. “You know, there is nothing we can do. The only thing we can do is either pay up or sit back and listen to what’s been said or what’s being written. I can honestly say . . . for someone to make a false claim about me, I’m kind of furious.

“My situation is where I felt that I did nothing wrong. It was an accident. Whatever happened, it was an accident. I wish I could sit here and tell you all what happened. But there is a lawsuit or whatever coming against me; I can’t really explain or tell you all what is going on.”

As is so often the case with those who live their lives in the public light “ whatever sins theyve committed come back to haunt them whenever allegations arise, whether those allegations have any basis in truth whatsoever. However, in all fairness, Randy Moss has been anything but a choirboy before his arrival in Shangri-La.

Moss’s dream was to play for Notre Dame, but he also considered going to Ohio State, where his half-brother, Eric, had played offensive tackle. According to former Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz, Moss was “the greatest high school athlete I had ever seen — a bigger Deion Sanders.”

After originally signing a letter of intent to play college football with Notre Dame in 1995, Moss took part in a racially-charged fight at his high school that left one person hospitalized. He entered a plea of guilty to battery, and received probation along with a 30-day suspended jail sentence. Notre Dame subsequently revoked his scholarship, but this did not stop another high-profile college football program from giving him a chance. Notre Dame officials suggested he attend Florida State due to the reputation of its coach, Bobby Bowden, for handling troubled players. However, because of his signed letter of intent at Notre Dame, the NCAA considered him a transfer student, which made him ineligible to play for the Seminoles in the 1995 football season. He was red-shirted in his freshman season.[4] While at Florida State, Moss ran a 4.25 40-yard dash, with only Deion Sanders being faster (4.23).

In 1996, while serving his 30-day jail sentence in a work-release program from 1995, Moss tested positive for smoking marijuana, thus violating his probation, and was let go by Florida State. He served an additional 60 days in jail for the probation violation.

Ultimately, Moss transferred to Marshall University, about an hour’s drive from his home. Because Marshall was then a Division I-AA school, NCAA rules allowed him to transfer there without losing any further eligibility. In 1996, he set the NCAA Division I-AA records for most games with a touchdown catch in a season (14), most consecutive games with a touchdown catch (13), most touchdown passes caught by a freshman in a season (29), and most receiving yards gained by a freshman in a season (1709 on 78 catches), a record which still stands. Moss was also the leading kickoff returner in Division I-AA on the season, with 484 total yards and a 34.6 yard average. Marshall went undefeated and won the Division I-AA title in its last season before moving to Division I-A.

In the 1997 season, Marshall’s first in Division I-A, Moss and current New York Jets quarterback Chad Pennington were the centerpiece of an explosive offense that led the Thundering Herd to the Mid-American Conference title. Moss caught 25 touchdown passes that season, at the time a Division I-A record, and was a first-team All-American. For the season, he had 96 receptions for 1820 yards, and 26 touchdowns. He won the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s leading wide receiver, and was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy (finishing fourth in the balloting, behind Ryan Leaf, Peyton Manning, and Charles Woodson, who won the award).

Moss left Marshall with 168 receptions for 3,467 yards and a school record 53 touchdowns.

During the 1998 NFL Draft, Moss, who was projected as a high first-round pick, was taken by the Minnesota Vikings with the 21st overall pick after a number of NFL clubs– even those in need of a WR– were concerned with Moss’ well-documented legal problems.

In 1998, Moss helped the Vikings to become the number one ranked offense that season while they set a record for total points by a team. They finished with a 15-1 winning record and were poised to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. However, the Atlanta Falcons stunned the Vikings by winning the NFC Championship Game 30-27 in overtime. At the end of the 1998 regular season, Moss was named a Pro Bowl starter and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year for his rookie record 17 touchdown receptions and the third highest receiving yardage (1,313) total of 1998.

In 1999, Moss had another impressive season, catching 80 passes for 1,413 yards and 11 touchdowns. He went on to record 5 receptions for 127 yards and a touchdown in the Vikings 27-10 NFC wildcard playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys. Minnesota lost in the divisional round to the St. Louis Rams 49-37, despite Moss catching 9 passes for 188 yards and 2 touchdowns. Moss was fined $40,000, which was later reduced to $25,000, during that game due to squirting an NFL referee with a water bottle. There was a stipulation that he would have to pay the difference in addition to any other fine if he had another run-in with the league.

Moss’s fortunes took a better turn on the football field during the 2003 regular season, where he became the second wide receiver in history (behind Jerry Rice in 1995) to play more than 12 games (he played 16) while averaging over 100 yards and one touchdown per contest. He finished with 111 receptions for 1,632 yards and 17 touchdowns. All three of the numbers either tied or became a new personal best.

Randy Moss made the Pro Bowl 5 times in his 7-year career with the Minnesota Vikings (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2003).

Two years with the Raiders and a 2007 draft day trade from the Raiders to the Patriots one of the most gifted receivers in NFL history had arrived not only on the doorstep of footballs premier franchise but at his last chance for football and personal redemption. As great as Moss had been on the field – his off field antics painted the picture of a troubled soul.

In 1997, Randy Moss was quoted, in a Sports Illustrated article as saying the 1970 Marshall plane crash “was a tragedy, but it really wasn’t nothing big.” Moss claimed that the quote was taken out of context.

On September 24, 2002 in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, Moss was driving and was preparing to make an illegal turn. A traffic control officer, noticing what he was about to do, stood in front of his car, ordering him to stop. Eyewitness accounts of the event differ at this point, but Moss didn’t comply with the officer’s order, and she was bumped by his vehicle and fell to the ground. Moss was arrested, and a search of his vehicle revealed a small amount of marijuana. Initially charged with Suspicion of Assault with a Deadly Weapon which is a felony and a misdemeanor marijuana possession, Moss pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor traffic violation, and was ordered to pay a $1,200 fine and perform 40 hours of community service.

During the last game of the 2004 regular season against the Washington Redskins and with two seconds remaining on the game clock, Moss walked off the field and into the locker room; critics criticized Moss for quitting on his team. Moss stated afterward that he didnt think Minnesota, who ended up losing 18-21 to Washington, would recover the onside kick.

On January 9, 2005, the Minnesota Vikings traveled to Green Bay to take on the heavily favored division rival Green Bay Packers, in an NFC wildcard playoff game. Moss was effective, finishing the game with 4 catches for 70 yards and 2 touchdowns in the 31-17 win. After the second score, Moss trotted to the end zone goalpost. Facing away from the crowd, he feigned pulling down his pants, and pretended to moon the Green Bay fans. TV announcer Joe Buck, who was calling the game, was incensed at the mooning, calling it “a disgusting act” on-air. Days later, the NFL fined him $10,000, finding it unsportsmanlike and offensive during the playoffs. However, Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy, the former Vikings defensive coordinator, explained Moss’ action by pointing out that Green Bay Packers fans are infamous for actually mooning the buses of departing opponents, unlike Moss’ fully-clothed imitation. However, he was fined for the incident.

In August 2005, during an interview with Bryant Gumbel on HBOs Real Sports, Moss admitted that he has smoked marijuana during his NFL career “every blue moon

Moss’s idealistic Shangri-La like life in New England was shattered Wednesday when reports initially surfacing in Orlando created a media fire-storm in New England. Happening just days before the Patriots are set to meet the San Diego Chargers at Boston’s Gillette Stadium in the AFC title game – Moss held an impromptu news conference in the Patriots locker room following the teams practice. The unproven allegations Moss is facing led EVERY, that’s EVERY New England televised newscast Wednesday evening. The regular Patriots report from Gillette Stadium led off the regular scheduled sportscast, but Randy Moss was the flavor of the day in New England.

“It’s something I’ve been battling for the last couple days, threats of going public if I didn’t pay X amount of dollars. Before people rush quick to judgment, I think you need to find out the facts about really what is really going on. This young lady, by no means, is hurt. I didn’t hurt her.

“I think that, what I heard, I really don’t know the whole story, of what is being said. All I know is supposedly I — battery — whatever it may be, that I physically hurt a woman. Well, I want to make something clear. In my whole entire life of living, 30 years, I have never put my hand on one woman, physically or in an angry manner. This battery they’re talking about, I guess from a legal standpoint, there has to be something said. Like I said, I don’t really know all the facts. I don’t know what’s going on as far as everything that has been alleged.

“All I know is that it’s a friend of mine, a young lady, it was an accident where she hurt herself, to where they called me, called my attorneys, trying to get X amount of dollars out of me, and if ‘we don’t get X amount of dollars’ they were going to go to the press before this game.

“Basically what I’m saying, I’m actually going to hold off for questions. I just really wanted to get out there to the people that I am aware of what is going on. I don’t really want people to rush quick to judgment [without] knowing the facts. My teammates don’t have anything to do with this. They don’t know anything. I think it was just brought to their attention. If you could all just leave them out of it, because they don’t know anything that’s going on. I don’t really know the whole situation of what’s going on, just bits and pieces. It definitely was not my intentions of doing anything like this, with this battery with the woman. That’s really not my makeup, that’s not me, I’ve never been in that situation where I’ve had to put my hands on any woman, any lady.

“Like I said, man, before you rush quick to judgment, find out all the facts before you start criticizing me or judging me.”

While it would be unfair to even consider comparing Adam Pacman Jones to Randy Moss, earlier Wednesday, Jones who was suspended for the entire 2007 NFL season for his deviant off-field behavior saw a woman who earlier this week reportedly filed chargers against Jones for hitting her had those allegations against Jones withdrawn. As is the case all too often with a professional athlete with a troubled past the allegations against Jones were front and center. Wednesday’s news that the chargers had no basis whatsoever was reported as an afterthought by the media.

Whenever a member of the Patriots is linked to off-field issues the media loves to recall how longtime Patriots owner Robert Kraft handled the Patriots selection of Christen Peter in the fifth round of the 1996 NFL draft.

Kraft took a stand against employing players with criminal records. In the fifth round of the 1996 NFL draft, the Patriots picked Nebraska defensive lineman Christian Peter, who had been arrested eight times (and convicted four times) during college for a variety of offenses, including the assault of a former Miss Nebraska and the rape of another woman. When Peter’s past came to light (it was Kraft’s wife who alerted her husband), Kraft cut the player before he was even offered a contract. “We concluded this behavior is incompatible with our organization’s standards of acceptable conduct” said Kraft. While he received numerous letters of support from high school and college coaches, he was not praised by the NFL. Peter’s had a seven-year NFL career.

If Robert Kraft’s stand against Peter meant nothing after Peter ‘enjoyed’ the benefits (financial and personal) of being an NFL players, is there any explanation for why NFL owners allow players whose off-field behavior is out of the boundaries of the law? SportsBusinessNews.com spoke with John F. Murray, Ph.D., Licensed Clinical and Sport Performance Psychologist in Palm Beach, Florida early in 2007 regarding professional athletes and their sense of entitlement.

“I think all owners would like to have a totally clean image and completely law abiding players. It only helps their franchise in their own community, helps the image of the NFL which they have an obvious stake in and ultimately helps their team perform better with fewer distractions. The problem is that there is also a great temptation to take a player who might not have the halo over his head if he can bring immediate improvement to the team, and there is competition for these on-field talents. Another problem I believe is that owners could invest more wisely in player evaluations. I have seen some of the evaluations conducted in the NFL, and while they are thorough in many areas, one area that appears to be still lacking is the solid evaluation of mental skills and psychological factors, and this is an area that presents a huge upside in talent evaluation in the future. There are so few legitimate sport psychologists, but they need to be more involved in assessment, Murray told SBN.

Late Thursday afternoon the attorney representing Rachelle Washington, who filed a temporary restraining order against Randy Moss, released a statement:

“For the past 11 years, Ms. Washington has cared deeply for Mr. Moss and has been there for him throughout all of his trials and tribulations. However, she refuses to be further disrespected by him. It has never been her intention to hurt Mr. Moss in any way. However, she has suffered mental and physical harm as a result of his actions. She simply wants him to take responsibility for what he has done. As a battery victim, she has shown great strength throughout this entire ordeal.

“Ms. Washington has been unfairly characterized as someone simply seeking financial gain. In fact, it was Mr. Moss’ representatives who first contacted our office to offer a “six figure” settlement with hopes of not having this incident become public record.

“We have heard Mr. Moss’ statement regarding the incident. He has acknowledged that he was at Ms. Washington’s Florida residence and that he was “guilty” of an “accident” which occurred. However, Mr. Moss fails to mention how his reckless and degrading conduct rendered Ms. Washington unable to drive her vehicle to seek medical attention. As the evidence will show, there is serious doubt that Mr. Moss is capable of recalling with clarity the exact details of what transpired that evening. As Mr. Moss has previously stated, “Do your homework and check his resume.

“We look forward to presenting all of the evidence at the court hearing on January 28, 2008.”

Minneapolis attorney Joe Friedberg, who has provided legal counsel to Moss in the past, told The Boston Globe Wednesday the player’s agent, Tim DiPiero, told Friedberg that the lawyer representing Washington asked Moss for $500,000, or her allegations would be made public.

“The whole thing is outrageous,” said Friedberg, who is obtaining legal representation in Florida for Moss.

Friedberg also made it clear to The Boston Globe; Moss does not have to appear at the hearing. “A lawyer will appear for Randy and agree that he doesn’t want to come within 500 feet of her and probably get a reciprocal order that she can’t contact him,” he said. “If she sues him later, then so be it. But there certainly is never going to be any criminal charges arising out of this.”

As is so often the case in the media’s eyes, Randy Moss is guilty – until he proves himself innocent. Despite the fact that he has proven to be nothing but an exemplary man on the field for the Patriots, in the teams locker room and off the field, the sins of his past came back to haunt Randy Moss Wednesday just as he is poised to reach footballs holy shrine “ Super Bowl XLII, and unless the Patriots team bus gets lost on their way to Gillette Stadium Sunday or University of Phoenix Stadium on February 3, Moss is destined to be a part of the second team in National Football League history to go undefeated during an entire NFL season. The 2007 Patriots are the ˜stuff that football dreams are made of, and unproven allegations against a key member of that team should in no way take away from the team or Randy Moss accomplishments.

“We went out there and looked at them as human beings like we are,” he said.

Defensive tackle Paul Rochester and the rest of the New York Jets embraced their role as huge underdogs to the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III and played as if they had nothing to lose.

“I’d rather be an underdog than a favorite,” Rochester said. “If we lost, everybody would have said, ‘See, we told you.’ If we won, we’d upset the world.”

Their attitudes are reasons why Appalachian State and the Jets were able to pull off two of the biggest upsets in sports history. Humanizing a heavily-favored and perceived invincible opponent and playing without pressure are the main ingredients for an upset, according to Palm Beach sports psychologist John Murray, and the Jaguars will need to use them if they are to beat the 13?-point favorite New England Patriots in an AFC divisional playoff game tonight in Foxborough, Mass.

“Realize these are not the immortals of Xerxes’ army fighting the Greeks,” Murray said in a telephone interview. “These are human beings that can go down.

“The Patriots have everything to lose, nothing to gain. The Jaguars have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

Just like Appalachian State and the Jets, New York was an 19-point underdog to the Colts, who were regarded as one of the greatest teams in NFL history. Three days before the Jan. 12, 1969, game in Miami, Jets quarterback Joe Namath guaranteed a victory.

Despite the audaciousness of that statement, Rochester said it didn’t place any pressure on the players. They weren’t intimidated by the aura surrounding the supposedly superior Colts. The Jets won the game 16-7.

“We weren’t too worried about them,” said Rochester, who lives in Jacksonville. “They kept talking about how the Colts were the greatest team in history in the NFL. Numbers-wise we were as good if not better than they were.”

Richardson said the Mountaineers respected Michigan’s top players, but weren’t intimidated. That showed in their 34-32 upset of the fifth-ranked Wolverines in Ann Arbor, which made them the only FCS (formerly NCAA Division I-AA) school to beat a ranked FBS (formerly Division I) school.

“They have 11 players on the field and at the same time we have 11 players on the field,” Richardson said. “Nobody on their bench or their crowd can help them when the ball is snapped.”

Appalachian State fell behind in the fourth quarter but kicked a field goal with less than two minutes remaining to take a 34-32 lead. Michigan attempted a potential game-winning 37-yard field goal with six seconds to play, but the Mountaineers blocked the kick to secure one of the biggest upsets in college football history.

For the Jaguars to reach next week’s AFC championship game, Murray said they’ll have to mimic the Jets, Mountaineers or any of the other players and teams who have pulled off some of the greatest upsets in sports history. Mentally knock the 16-0 Patriots off their pedestal and play free.

“They’re not gods. They’re just football players,” Murray said. “Tear down that statue. Forget about who you’re playing. Don’t forget your assignments. If the Jaguars play great football they stand a decent chance of winning the game. Focus on playing great football.

“It’s David and Goliath. It’s a fun opportunity. But don’t get intimidated by Goliath. Goliath can go down.”

HERE ARE THE TOP 10

IN THE WORLD OF SPORTS

N.Y. JETS WIN SUPER BOWL III

The Colts were 19-point favorites, but Jets QB Joe Namath stole the show.

U.S. OLYMPIC HOCKEY TEAM

Do you believe in miracles? The 1980 U.S. team beat the Soviets 4-3.

DOUGLAS OVER MIKE TYSON

Iron Mike was a 40-1 favorite, but didnt make it out of the 10th round.

UPSET UPSETS MAN O WAR

100-1 long shot hands legendary horse lone loss of career at Saratoga in 1919.

BOISE STATE OVER OKLAHOMA

After the winning TD, Ian Johnson proposed to his cheerleader girlfriend.

MILAN H.S. OVER MUNCIE CENTRAL

Tiny Indiana school beat state powerhouse and inspired Hoosiers.

APPALACHIAN ST. VS. MICHIGAN

A gimme for the No. 5 Wolverines turned into a stunning 34-32 home defeat.

VILLANOVA OVER GEORGETOWN

1984-85 Wildcats made 79 percent of their shots to stun Hoyas in title game.

CHAMINADE OVER VIRGINIA

Cavs had 7-foot-4 Ralph Sampson. Chaminade had 800 students and no gym.

OLYMPIAN RULON GARDENER

Won gold in 2000 by beating Russian foe who hadnt lost a match in 13 years.