It’s only a matter of time, but you can’t almost certainly bank on the fact that the St. Louis Rams will be parting ways with head coach Steve Spagnuolo shortly after the regular season comes to a close – and rightfully so. 

The Rams have gone backwards faster this season than ‘Mater’ ever did in Cars. Young quarterback Sam Bradford has regressed in a big way and jettisoning Spagnuolo now is an absolute must. I wouldn’t worry though, because the former New York Giants defensive coordinator will likely have his choice of jobs to choose from this coming offseason.

Cam Newton may be garnering the lion’s share of the national attention when it comes to awe-inspiring rookie quarterbacks – but I’ve got to say that the Cincinnati Bengals have found a real gem in their own rookie quarterback Andy Dalton.

The former TCU gunslinger has thrown foor 3,166 yards with 20 touchdowns.

However, no one in their right mind could have expected Dalton, to, not only start all season long, but turn out to be one of the best young quarterbacks in the entire league right off the bat.n and 13 interceptions, while completing just 58.9 percent of his passes, so clearly there’s room for improvement moving forward.

Sure, Dalton’s no Cam Newton – and not many quarterbacks are, but again, I love this kid’s moxie and the Cincinnati Bengals should be patting themselves on the back for drafting him despite his off-field concerns prior to the 2011 NFL Draft.

Of course, it helps when you can just throw the ball up for an extremely gifted wide receiver in fellow rookie A.J. Green.

Okay  NFL fans and Tim Tebow lovers everywhere … after seeing the most polarizing player in the NFL struggle like never before in throwing four interceptions in Denver’s 40-14 blowout loss to the mediocre Buffalo Bills in Week 16, it’s probably safe to say that his hard core supporters (like me) were maybe just a bit premature in announcing that Tebow’s unique quarterbacking style had as much of a legitimate chance of succeeding as it has been refreshing to watch.

The fact of the matter is that it’s crystal clear (and always has been) that Tebow still has more than his fair share of work cut out for him when it comes to learning how to throw the ball from the pocket in the NFL.

To go a little more in depth NFL fanatics, it seems as though defensive coordinators are starting to adjust to Tebow’s distinctive skill set and have made life a lot tougher for the league’s most well-known Christian mostly by not allowing hi to get outside the tackles.

Now, the ball’s in Tebow’s court as he will need to ‘readjust’ to the league’s adjustments against him. One thing’s for sure, John Elway and the Broncos faithful are sure in for an eventful offseason.

With the Rugby World Cup just this weekend, exploring some of the history of the game. Today, the haka.

So, the Haka. Why? Why do the All Blacks do the Haka at the beginning of rugby matches? What's it's purpose?

The Haka is simply a traditional dance native to New Zealand's Māori people, and there are many different kinds of haka. But for all intents & purposes, we'll be looking at the ones performed by the New Zealand national rugby team: The All Blacks.

The All Blacks perform two haka - the 'Ka Mate' and the 'Kapa O Pango'. The Ka Mate is the traditional haka, and it was first performed as part of the pre-match ritual for the All Blacks in 1906, and is basically a celebration of 'life over death'.

Here are the words to the Ka Mate, with translation...

Ka mate! Ka mate! Ka ora! Ka ora! I die! I die! I live! I live!
Ka mate! Ka mate! Ka ora! Ka ora! I die! I die! I live! I live!
Tenei te tangata puhuru huru This is the hairy man
Nana nei i tiki mai Who fetched the Sun
Whakawhiti te ra And caused it to shine again
A upa ... ne! ka upa ... ne! One upward step! Another upward step!
A upane kaupane whiti te ra! An upward step, another.. the Sun shines!!
Hii...

And as performed by the All Blacks...

Often, it's used in advertising - Adidas, the All Black sponsor, have used it in advertising campaigns... the New Zealand Bakery of the Year... but my favourite ad with the haka is the Adidas one where some of the All Blacks describe what the haka means to them.

Now... as to why. Watching the Haka is a pretty amazing experience. It is an aggressive display, regardless of the meanings of the actual words - and it really fires the players up, readying them for the clash ahead. However, the All Blacks haka is backed up by their amazing on-field success, the sheer brutal force of will that the All Blacks assert upon the game. Samoa has the Manu Siva Tau, Fiji has the Cibi and Tonga has the Kailao - an awesome clip here of the Tongans performing the Kailao right back at the All Blacks - and all three of these are actually war dances: all far more warlike in origins & motions than the haka... but it's the Haka that has the impact. I think that's largely because not one of these island nations enjoys the success that the All Blacks do.

As such, the haka is intimidating. Every performance is a reminder of just how good this team is. Without a doubt, one of the most dominating presences in any sport.

Still, one last clip: a whisky add asserting that the Scots, are just not... intimidated:

The Rugby World Cup kicks off on Friday, 9th of Sept (local time), where the NZ All Blacks will take on Tonga.