We have Super Bowl XLIV t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, shorts and more. This year the Super Bowl colors are a dark blue and orange – similar to the Auburn Tigers. They look great together and represent the host city well. This is your chance to show up at MIA decked out from head to toe in new gear.

Here’s a small selection of what we have for sale. Order today and get 3-Day shipping on any size order for only $4.99.

The NFL Streetwear collection is probably my favorite. Check out this New York Giants Black NFL Warrior T-Shirt. This super soft NFL Warrior tee by Reebok is a great new look to watch your Giants battle it out in and is still stylish enough to hit the town in while showing some pride!

And Streetwear isn’t just for the men. We have a great selection of  Streetwear for women. Here are a few of our most popular Ladies Streetwear products.

Tattoo-inspired graphics are hot right now. If you want to rock some Streetwear to your team’s next home game or tailgate, check out the following links for a full list of our Streetwear products.
NFL Streetwear
MLB Streetwear
NBA Streetwear
NHL Streetwear

Looking for the perfect gift for that special someone in your life? The holidays are quickly approaching, so you need to shop now before it’s too late. Football Fanatics has a large selection of stockings, ornaments, Santa hats, wreaths and more – for all your favorite teams in all college and professional sports leagues. There’s no excuse not to deck your house out this season with new figurines and holiday collectibles.

Shopping for men? Consider the following gifts:
T-shirts
Hats
Jerseys
Grill Covers
Hitch Covers
License plates
Flags
Bottle openers

Shopping for women? Consider the following gifts:
Earrings
Watches
Tank tops
Pajama pants
Flip flops
Throw blankets
Wine glasses
Socks

Football Fanatics also has a huge selection of kid’s apparel and even team logo pet supplies.

We’ll start off with college:
No. 25 WVU vs. No. 5 Cincinnati
Cincinnati is undefeated and one of the best teams in college football this year. They have a great quarterback and a speedy offense. However, I think they’ve benefited from an easy schedule. There’s no way they would be undefeated in a conference like the SEC or Big 12. I like West Virginia to come in and win this game by 3 points.

No. 16 Utah vs. No 4. TCU
This game is similar to the one above. You have a very good school playing against a Top 5 team. TCU has only played one ranked opponent so far this season. Utah probably won’t win, but I’m a fan of upsets so I’m picking them.

Now onto the NFL:
New England Patriots vs. Indianapolis Colts
This game has become the premier non-divisional rivalry game in the NFL. It seems like they are playing each other every season… and why not? The two best quarterbacks and the two winningest  teams in the last decade pitted against each other in a game that could have home-field advantage implications for the playoffs. I like the Colts to move to 9-0.

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
This is a great NFC North rivalry game. Cincinnati has had Pittsburgh number in recent years. Both teams come into this game 6-2 and atop the AFC North. The winner will have sole possession of first place. Can the Steelers stop Palmer, Ochocinco, and Benson? I think they can. I like the Steelers to come out on top.

What games are you looking forward to this weekend? Post a comment and let me know.

Here are my top 3 breakout players for this week.

Steve Slaton
As a rookie, Steve Slaton was an absolute beast in 2008. He rushed the ball for nearly 1,300 yards (4.8 ypc) and had 377 yards receiving with 10 total touchdowns. His performance through the first two weeks of the 2009 NFL season has been anything but spectacular. He has only 26 attempts for 51 yards (2.0 ypc), 3 fumbles and no touchdowns. He’s been horrible. Lucky for Slaton the Texans are hosting the Jaguars this weekend. The Jags defense is mediocre at best. Look for Slaton to explode for big gains and multiple touchdowns in front of the Battle Red Texan crowd.

Brandon Jacobs
Despite missing time over that past two years, Brandon Jacobs is coming off back-to-back 1,000 rushing yard seasons. Things have started off slow for Brandon in 2009, quite the opposite of his hot start in 2008 where he had 209 yards on 36 carries in the first two games. This year he has the same number of carries through the first two games but has only rushed for 104 yards (3.2 ypc) and zero touchdowns. The Giants travel to Tampa for a game with the Bucs this weekend. The Buccaneers have a young defense that can’t stop the run. Jacobs will have a huge day. I’m thinking 19 carries, 145 yards and two touchdowns.

Anquan Boldin
Boldin has been plagued with injury most of his career. He’s missed 8 games in the last two seasons and almost missed week 1 of 2009. Boldin has started off slow, but caught on last week late against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Through the first two games Boldin has 10 receptions for 88 yards and zero touchdowns. The 10 receptions isn’t bad, but only 88 yards is. Boldin is a strong receiver and knows how to get those yards after catch (YAC). This weekend the Cardinals host the Indianapolis Colts. Two pass happy offenses clashing in the desert. This could be a shootout. I predict Boldin gets back on track with 7 receptions, 120 yards and a touchdown.

Do you agree with my assessments? Comment below.

Prior to the Cincinnati vs. Green Bay game, Ochocinco hyped up the Lambeau Leap and ultimately purchased several tickets along the north end zone wall to give out to a few lucky Twitter followers. In order for his touchdown celebration to work, Chad actually had to score a touchdown in the appropriate end zone and find the Bengal fans. If he were to do a Lambeau Leap in a section of Packer fans they would probably toss him right back down.

Chad Ochocinco only scored 4 touchdowns in 2008, so finding the end zone in Green Bay wasn’t a given. He managed to connect on a 13 yard touchdown pass from Carson Palmer in the 3rd quarter. Chad looked around and soon found the fans he flew in for the game. The leap worked perfectly and now everyone in the sports world is talking about it.

What is your take on Chad Ochocinco’s Lambeau Leap? Do you think it was all in good fun, or perhaps disrespectful to the Packers?

Quarterbacks taken in the first round of the NFL Draft are paid millions in guaranteed money and expected to become a team’s franchise quarterback. In 2009, we saw three quarterbacks go in the first round: Matt Stafford, Mark Sanchez and Josh Freeman. Today I want to talk about whether or not rookie quarterbacks should be thrown into a starting role immediately, or if they should be eased into the position over the course of a few years.

Decades ago, it was common for teams to groom quarterbacks into the position over the course of a few years. It was very rare to see a rookie quarterback start on opening day. However, over the last 15-20 years, teams have been paying 1st round quarterbacks so much money that they are pressured to start the players immediately. Why pay someone $40 million in guaranteed money only to watch them ride the bench for a few years?

Generally, teams that select quarterbacks in the first round are hurting at that position and may not have other options. Recently, we’ve seen players like Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Ryan start for their teams on day one with great results. But we’ve also seen other first rounders like David Carr, Joey Harrington and Alex Smith start right away and completely fall a part.

So what should teams do? Go the route of Peyton Manning or ease a QB into the position like the Bengals did with Carson Palmer? I think a lot of it has to do with the team’s current quarterback situation and the player’s mental strength. Some players can go in there, take a beating and still walk away with confidence.

The New York Jets have already named Mark Sanchez the starter for opening day. The Detroit Lions haven’t made up their mind on Matt Stafford and the Tampa Bay Bucs decided not to start Josh Freeman. Do you think these teams have made the right decision? Would you do anything different?

Andre Smith was selected as the 6th overall pick in the first round of the NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. Smith was regarded as the most talent offensive lineman coming into the NFL, but he definitely had some character issues causing him to drop a few slots. The same can be said about San Francisco’s first round (10th overall) pick Michael Crabtree. Most scouts pegged Crabtree as the top wide receiver prospect, but he also had character issues coming out of college.

Is it a surprise to anyone that these two guys haven’t signed yet? I don’t know all the details of the contracts offered to each player, but generally teams are pretty good about offering a player a contract that fits their slot in the draft. A player will receive more money than the player selected below him and less money than the player selected above him in the draft. If there is a huge gap between those two numbers that’s where the issues come in.

Holdouts are the worst thing about football. On one hand, the players look greedy to the fans when they will hold out because $20 million isn’t enough money. On the other hand, the team can look cheap to the fans when they aren’t willing just to pay a guy an extra $1 million to bring him in camp. It’s a lose-lose situation. The rookies who hold out never have good seasons. Their growth is stunted and they have a great chance of getting injured on the field.

Do you think we will ever see these two guys sign? Crabtree has threatened to sit out the entire 2009 season if he doesn’t get the contract he wants. My guess is we’ll see both of them sign two days prior to the final preseason game. It will be too hard for them to watch their friends cashing NFL paychecks while they’re sitting in a hotel room waiting.

The response was overwhelmingly in favor of NFL football. @polo12player said “the NFL is the greatest sport of all time! The NEW America’s favorite pastime!” and @tcms12 said “NFL…College gets uninteresting as soon as one team starts blowing out the other…Not many blowouts in NFL.”

I am of the opinion that NFL football is a better television product. I can sit down and watch the Colts vs. Patriots play on a Sunday afternoon even though I have no rooting interest. This may or may not have to do with the Fantasy Football revolution. With college football, I tend to only watch games that are important to me: like Florida Gator games. There aren’t many Saturday afternoons that I will sit and watch a Oregon State vs. Arizona State game, but I am always willing to watch any NFL game… even the 0-16 Lions.

There were a few Twitter replies though that supported college football, but overall the consensus agreed that they prefer to watch NFL football on TV. Tomorrow, I might ask which do they prefer to watch live in a stadium? The results could be flipped.

So we’ll have four games Thursday night, four more on Friday night, six on Saturday and two Monday Night Football games. What I like about the preseason is that the NFL tries to schedule regional games. It’s very rare for you to see a team like Seattle play Miami in the preseason. They try to keep the travel time down.

Another thing I like about the preseason is you get to scout rookies and second team guys that wouldn’t normally get a chance to play. This comes in handy for Fantasy Football, especially in keeper leagues. We know what guys like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady can do in the regular season, so if they don’t play much in the preseason it’s no big deal. But we’ll find out how guys like Beanie Wells and Josh Freeman might perform.

What do you think of the NFL Preseason? Do you like it at 4 games or should it be cut down to 3 or 2? Do you plan on going to any of the games?