NEWS » I thought all three of our bigs

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Pete Carroll swore he was not thinking about Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday night, you know, the one he handed to the New England Patriots as sure as Roger Goodell handed them the Vince Lombardi Trophy. He said he was not rewinding the past, only living for the moment, all that blah, blah, blah.And then the 65-year-old coach of the Seattle Seahawks left his postgame microphone inside Gillette Stadium and skipped toward his locker room hollering and whooping in a liberating way, betraying the words spoken to a roomful of reporters. Sometimes Carroll acts this way as the NFLs answer to the late, great Dick Clark -- the worlds oldest teenager. But this was different. Carroll wanted this one badly, even if its part of his job description to never, ever admit it.The NBC cameras caught him acting out on the sidelines, and these regular-season scenes in November reminded me of a regular-season NBA night in January in 1995, when Pat Riley, coach of the Knicks, downplayed his first game in Houston since his team blew a 3-2 Finals lead there the previous June. To punctuate a crucial made basket in that Knicks victory in January, Riley let out a primal scream the likes I hadnt heard from him before or since. This was the sound of a coach who had allowed his guard, John Starks, to shoot 2 for 18 in Game 7 the previous June and had been having a hard time forgiving himself for it.Two years ago in the Arizona desert, Carroll made a much bigger mistake on the goal line. He needed to give the ball to Marshawn Lynch in the closing seconds to win his second straight Super Bowl title, and instead he ordered his quarterback, Russell Wilson, to throw a slant pass to Ricardo Lockette. Lynch had run for 1,306 yards and 13 touchdowns that season, and Wilson had run for 849 yards and six touchdowns. Pressured by Belichicks stunning decision to let the clock bleed away precious seconds, Carroll decided he wanted to get the ball to Lockette, who managed 11 catches all year. An undrafted New England rookie out of West Alabama named Malcolm Butler beat the receiver to it.Theres really nobody to blame but me, Carroll said that night.He has had to live with it ever since, just like Riley had to live with leaving in Starks in 94, and Grady Little had to live with leaving in Pedro Martinez in 2003. Carroll has done a good job of it, at least publicly. It sure seems he has taken the hit like a man.Only this return match with the Patriots was a wonderful opportunity to vent, to flex his considerable coaching muscles, and to let loose a scream or three from his toes. Pete Carroll wasnt just the coach who made the worst call in Super Bowl history to gift wrap Bill Belichick his fourth championship ring. He was also the coach fired by Robert Kraft after the 1999 season so Kraft could steal Belichick from the Jets.In the leadup to this game, you could hear the hurt in Carrolls voice. He said hed planned on having control in New England but that it didnt really work out that way, the way I hoped, until I went back to USC and when I got a chance to be in charge again. He pointed out that he was a smash hit at USC -- except with NCAA investigators -- when he had the power over his program that Kraft didnt give him in Foxborough. He pointed out that Kraft did give Belichick the chance to take that thing over and run it and do it exactly the way a football guy sees it, and the rest has been a great history and a great success story.So Carroll had so much invested in his first game back since Kraft fired him all those years ago. It was a wonderful back-and-forth football game, too, not unlike the epic Super Bowl encounter between these two teams. Tom Brady opened with a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that culminated in the first LeGarrette Blounts three scores, and the Seahawks started to work the problem from there.Wilson ended up outplaying his legendary counterpart, throwing three touchdown passes to Bradys none, but the night came down to -- what else? -- a questionable decision by Carroll and a goal-line stand. First, the questionable call. After his team took a 31-24 lead on a beautiful Wilson throw to Doug Baldwin with four minutes and change to play, Carroll decided to attempt a two-point conversion rather than the safer kick that wouldve forced the Patriots to score eight points to tie.Why would they go for two here? Belichick was caught asking into his headset.We wanted to see if we could put it out of reach, Carroll explained, and make it a two-score deal. It was an unnecessary gamble, and one that predictably failed. New England drove the ball down the field and to the Seattle 1 with only seconds to play. Everyone in the building had a flashback. Some 2,700 miles from University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, the Patriots and the Seahawks and Belichick and Carroll would battle again over a very small piece of real estate.The most recognizable Pats fan in the house Sunday night, Mark Wahlberg, recalled before the game that he was in Krafts suite for the Super Bowl. He described the chaotic endgame scene of security officials entering the suite and preparing to escort the winning owner and family and friends down to the field for the coronation before Jermaine Kearse made his absurd catch in the same building where David Tyree made his to beat New England in Super Bowl XLII.It was sheer devastation, Wahlberg told ESPN.com as he was promoting Tuesdays debut of his USA Network show, Shooter, for which he serves as executive producer. We saw [Kearse] bobble it and we thought he dropped it and we were all cheering, and then we saw the replay on the Jumbotron. ... But we went from crying tears of sadness to tears of joy after the Butler interception. It was one of the craziest rides Ive ever been on.Wahlberg says he keeps a picture on his phone of Carroll working a drive-thru window and reaching out to deliver an order to a customer. Should I just hand this to you, the mocking Internet caption reads, or step back five yards and throw it for no reason.The Patriots didnt throw it until fourth down, after Blount and Brady failed to barrel it in. Brady threw a fade pass to Rob Gronkowski, who was tangled up with Kam Chancellor, and the presiding official made a good no-call. When it was over, Carroll said the Patriots had worked on that very play with Chancellor and a tall practice squad receiver, Marcus Lucas, in the weeks final practice. Just as Butler had worked on jumping the slant before the Super Bowl.It was a big moment in practice, Carroll said of Chancellors victory over Lucas.It was a much bigger moment in the game. Belichick gave a warm hug to Carroll on the field, and then raved about Seattles program the way he has done in the past. Carroll called Brady and Belichick the best of all time, and spoke of how much the Patriots had going for them entering this game: their relatively good health, the fact that they were coming off a bye week, the fact that they werent traveling across the country, the fact that they werent coming off a short week (Seattle played Monday night), and the fact that they never, ever lose at home.It cant get any better than that, Carroll said.In the winners locker room, Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman fielded a question about the Super Bowl and decided the similar finish in Gillette Stadium was more ironic than anything. He said he thought the Seahawks might see the Patriots again this season, in February. He said that potential rematch would do far more for his coachs legacy than Sunday nights.Its not going to eliminate the criticism [of Carroll], Sherman said of the victory. This game is not even close to the significance of the Super Bowl. I think he gets that its a different year and hes kind of moved past it as much as you can.As far as making good on his worst night as an NFL coach, Pete Carroll still as a long way to go. But he did gain ground Sunday night.?He did pick up a good 10 or 15 yards on the ghost that will haunt him from here to his next championship parade. Phil Jones Manchester United Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. Henrikh Mkhitaryan Jersey . Burke is expected to miss two to three months after breaking a finger in the teams third preseason game. Tinsley, a 10-year veteran, spent the last two seasons in Utah, where the point guard averaged 3. http://www.jerseymanchesterunitedsoccer.com/womens-juan-mata-manchester-united-jersey/ . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. Timothy Fosu-Mensah Jersey . But the quarterback hopes to stay involved in football after officially calling it quits Tuesday. "Id love to look at those opportunities as they arise," Pierce said in an interview from his Winnipeg eatery. David de Gea Manchester United Jersey . The Barrie Colts defenceman, who impressed many with his play for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship, is the top-ranked skater in the February rankings. He has 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points in 45 games with the Colts this season. Long Beach States murderers row type of schedule on the road to start the season continues Sunday at No. 16 UCLA.After winning the season-opener at home against Cal State Los Angeles, Long Beach State embarked on an arduous road trip that has included blowout losses to Wichita State (92-55), North Carolina (93-67) and Louisville (88-56). The average margin of defeat in those three games is 28.3 points.In the last game at Louisville on Thursday, Long Beach States confidence was subdued from the start allowing an 18-0 run in a four-minute span early in the first half.We just werent able to withstand that first blow to stay in the game, said Long Beach State head coach Dan Monson. Once we got comfortable, it was too late, and the game was over. You come on these road trips to give the team some adversity, to help make them better, and I dont think we handled it any better than we did on Tuesday (against North Carolina).While Long Beach State has taken its lumps on the road, UCLA has won its first three games at Pauley Pavilion by lopsided scores. The Bruins improved to 3-0 Thursday night after defeating San Diego 88-68, which followed a 119-80 win over Pacific and 102-82 victory over Cal State Northridge.The Bruins are scoring 103 points a game with five players with at least 14 points a game, led by freshman forward T.J Leaf and senior guard Bryce Alford, both of whom are averaging 20 points. Freshman point guard Lonzo Ball is averaging close to a triple-double at 15 points, 7.7 assists and 8.3 rebounds a game.Leaf had 22 points and 15 rebounds in the opener against Pacific and tallied 26 points and 10 rebounds against San Diego. Junior center Thomas Welsh allso had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.ddddddddddddI thought TJ was really good, said UCLA coach Steve Alford, who has lauded his teams versatility to shoot from the perimeter and score in the paint. We wanted to attack inside. I thought we really started executing on offense that was geared towards getting the ball inside.It was a season-low for us in threes (5 of 22 performance against San Diego) but it was a game where our emphasis was really getting -- I thought all three of our bigs (including reserve center Gyorgy Goloman) did a really good job.Long Beach State is averaging 68.2 points a game while shooting 36.8 percent from the field and 23.8 percent from 3-point range. Only two players are averaging scoring in double figures, forward Gabe Levin (13.3 points a game) and guard Evan Payne (10.8), both of whom are Loyola Marymount transfers.Levin also leads the 49ers win rebounds with 7.5 a despite being a wing player at 6-foot-7 and 215 pounds.After the game against Long Beach State, UCLA leaves Pauley Pavilion but stays in southern California to play in the Wooden Legacy in Anaheim, Calif., on Thursday, Friday and Nov. 27. The field includes Dayton, Virginia Tech, New Mexico and Texas A&M.The 49ers difficult road trip continues with a game at Washington on Tuesday.Well get better from this, watching it, and our guys will grow, Monson said of the early-season schedule. We have to get into our league and be the best team in our league, and thats why we challenge ourselves as best as we can with this schedule. ' ' '