Ok, so I’m kinda new here.
Name’s Jessie. I’m 25. Originally from Houston/ Tyler, Tx, but moved just outside of Albany, NY. I’ve been a fan of Anne Rice since middle school really and am excited about meeting other fans It’ll be a nice change to meet people who are hopefully even more obsessed with these wonderful books than I am! I hope to go to the ball this year. I was so upset when my plans to go last year where so rudely interrupted. Hope to meet some of you there!!!

NEW YORK -- Maybe the award should be renamed Most Valuable Peyton.

Peyton Manning became the first player to win The Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player honor four times. The Indianapolis Colts' sensational quarterback romped to the award Saturday in balloting by 50 sports writers and broadcasters who cover the league.

[+] EnlargePeyton Manning
Brian Spurlock/US PresswirePeyton Manning got 39? votes compared to Drew Brees' 7? Philip Rivers' two, and Brett Favre's one.

"I'm very humbled and grateful to be honored with this award and I really feel like it is a reflection of our team," said Manning, who guided the Colts to a 14-0 record before they rested starters in the second half of two games and finished 14-2.

"I have to believe that starting 14-0 and having seven comeback wins has a lot to do with this award coming our way, and I'm very grateful to all the players and the coaches and our fans, who were a big part of it. There were a number of other extremely deserving candidates."

The Colts play in the divisional round next week and have home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. The Super Bowl is Feb. 7 in Miami, the same place they won it three years ago.

Manning threw for 4,500 yards and 33 touchdowns this season. Perhaps most impressive, he led the Colts to all those comeback victories. The 33-year-old quarterback has started every game in his career, 192 in the regular season and 15 in the playoffs.

He is durable and dynamic, dependable and decisive. In other words, most valuable.

"He's been such a highly accomplished performer year in and year out. Just when you think you've seen his best, he improves upon it," said Jim Caldwell, who succeeded Tony Dungy as coach and benefited from the same kind of performances Manning gave Dungy. "This year is one of those in terms of when you look at his numbers and how he's been able to play consistently well over a long period of time. It's been remarkable.

"I think a lot of it has to do with his drive. He just has an innate sort of will to excel. He never gets bored with it. That, I think, is highly unusual."

Manning can be considered part of the truly elite of team sports, along with Wayne Gretzky (9), Barry Bonds (7) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6), the leaders for MVP awards in their sports.


Kuharsky ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky writes about all things AFC South in his division blog.

Manning, the 2007 Super Bowl MVP when he won his only league championship, noted the support and stability he's enjoyed in his career.


Manning simply turned to his latest fave, Reggie Wayne, who had 100 catches for 1,264 yards and 10 touchdowns. And to Dallas Clark, who joined Tony Gonzalez as the only tight ends with 100 receptions in a season when he grabbed exactly that many for 1,106 yards and 10 scores.

Plus, Austin Collie tied for the rookie lead in receptions with 60 and scored seven times. Pierre Garcon, nurtured in dozens of passing sessions with Manning, developed into a prime deep threat and averaged 16.3 yards on 47 catches, with four TDs.

"What he's been able to do this year with Pierre and Austin -- and obviously Dallas had a year that will go down in the record books," linebacker and defensive captain Gary Brackett said. "And I think it really says something when you can work young guys like that."

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LOS ANGELES — Even when Lamar Odom was a kid with limitless imagination growing up on New York's playground courts, he thinks he might have dismissed Thursday's season finale as a bit too extravagant.

When the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, Odom realizes it's a fantasy come true for any basketball player with the audacity to dream this big.

Another memorable chapter in the NBA's best rivalry will end with a coronation at Staples Center, where the defending champion Lakers will try to earn their 16th banner while denying Boston its unprecedented 18th title in the clubs' second Finals meeting in three years.

For the fifth time in their 12 Finals meetings, Boston and Los Angeles need all seven games to decide it. Each previous time it went to Game 7, the Celtics won — but when the current Lakers and Celtics take the court for the NBA Finals' first Game 7 since 2005 and just its second in the past 16 years, most will try awfully hard not to think about the history and pressure heaped on their shoulders.

It's fine for kids and historians to savor this scenario, but Kobe Bryant knows it's not a good idea for players to get caught up in it.

Although Boston has the rivalry's Game 7 history on its side, the Celtics have plenty stacked against them after an embarrassing 89-67 loss in Game 6 Tuesday night. Most glaringly, Boston won't have starting center Kendrick Perkins, who sprained multiple ligaments in his right knee in the first quarter.
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<p>But the challenge looks formidable against Diego Maradona&#8217;s attack-minded
team, which everyone wants to avoid this time around.</p>
<p>And it&#8217;s not just the prolific strikeforce of Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain
and Carlos Tevez that the Mexicans will need to contain in Pretoria.</p>
<p>Playing in midfield will be that man Maxi, who&#8217;d settle for any winner on
Sunday rather than a repeat of his 2006 wonder goal.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll be happy if I can just tap it in,&#8221; he said Friday. &#8220;What happened
in that game is history now. The important thing is that the team wins and
progresses.&#8221;</p>
<p>The two teams have played each other 25 times, of which the Mexicans have
only won four.</p>
<p>But Mexico, so shaky in qualifying, turned it on when it counted in South
Africa, beating 2006 runner-up France 2-0 on the way to finishing second in
Group A.</p>
<p>Argentina, unbeaten in its group and capable of scoring goals from all over
the field, is expecting Javier Aguirre&#8217;s team to be solid at the back and not
take too many risks.</p>
<p>&#8220;Aguirre is a very intelligent coach,&#8221; Maxi said Friday. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think
they&#8217;ll come out attacking us right away. They&#8217;ll almost certainly wait to hit
us on the counter.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Liverpool winger is expected to start the evening game at Soccer City
after lining up alongside Maradona&#8217;s first-choice players in training Friday.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll have to wait until Diego names the team, but if he chooses me I hope
I perform well,&#8221; said Maxi.</p>
<p>Also expected to make a welcome return is center back Walter Samuel who was
injured in the 4-1 win over South Korea. In his absence against Greece, the
Argentines looked vulnerable at the back.</p>
<p>Marquez said the Mexicans are not daunted by the prospect of Barcelona
forward Messi, who has lit up the tournament but has yet to score himself.</p>
<p>Arsenal forward Carlos Vela could make a comeback after injury for Mexico to
play alongside Giovanni Dos Santos who has stood out at this World Cup with his
pace and guile.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are better than that (2006) Mexico team, which didn&#8217;t have so many
players in European teams,&#8221; Marquez said. &#8220;(Argentina) has the best player in
the world, Leo Messi, and that makes them more complete. But we will try to
change all that.&#8221;</p>
<p>Such is Argentina&#8217;s strength in depth that Diego Milito, who scored twice in
the European Champions League final, will again have to settle for a place on
the bench.</p>
<p>The winner of Sunday&#8217;s match will play either England or Germany in the
quarterfinals.</p>
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