With so many subplots funnelling into tomorrow night’s Super Bowl, the expectations are that it will be one of the most watched NFL title games of all time.

For those who follow his exploits closely, Jim Irsay admitting Sunday’s Super Bowl is the end of an era for the team he owns will come as no surprise.

The spark was lit during the summer of 2002, the weekend of Stephen Quigley’s wedding in Indianapolis.

I WON’T dwell on Simon Zebo here.

AS the Manchester United first team filed in from training at the Cliff, a young Kevin Grogan stood hopefully with his autograph book at the bottom of the stairs.

As Muhammad Ali turns 70 today, a nation honours a sporting hero that has come to define what it means to be American, writes John Riordan

IT WAS a low point for Matthew “Mack the Knife” Macklin.

WITH Robbie Keane on the verge of lending his body to Aston Villa for medical research and Thierry Henry having made that memorable return to Arsenal, you would be forgiven for thinking that European clubs are stockpiling for the winter with US-based players.

I’M so late that the ticket seller at St Peter’s College in Jersey City offers to leave me in for free.

IT’S time to bury the memory of the 2011 villains. The Sepp Blatters and the Joe Paternos who use and abuse sport to massage their own medieval egos.