Right on cue and as advertised at exactly 1pm et Tuesday afternoon, the Montreal Impact officially began their 2013 season post-mortem in front of what was a very sizeable and highly-engaged media throng. In the lead up - which seemed to begin the moment Mike Geiger blew the whistle in Houston last Thursday night - the Impact rumour mill went into overdrive. The speculation went into meltdown mode, of the golden nugget variety. Gems included; did a member of Impact management and not head coach Marco Schallibaum pick the team for the Impacts first-ever MLS playoff match? Others placed Alessandro Nesta in the role of the Impacts third head coach since it began play in MLS in March 2012. From last weekend and right through Monday and Tuesday morning, the intrigue over these two specific rumours continued to add layers as it increased to fever pitch. Was Schallibaum already home in Switzerland contemplating a 2014 without the Impact? Surely not, as an option is his contract for an additional year would automatically strike for making the playoffs. MLS Playoffs were the only requirement. Not that singular play-in round the now fully-qualified legal boffins proffered. Mauro Biello was certainly keeping his assistant coaching role under Nesta. What, though, would come of Philippe Eullaffroy? The Frenchman in his role as Impact Academy Director is very much the reason the likes of Karl Ouimette, Maxim Tissot and Wandrille Lefèvre have already seen decent MLS playing time. Ouimettes qualities and promise were reconfirmed Friday afternoon when it was announced he had gotten his first National Team call-up. Eullaffroy, and his work are very much admired by the two people in the organization who appeared from behind the curtain at 12:59pm Tuesday. Even before a word had been uttered by club president, Joey Saputo most of the 50-plus individuals, which had now packed out the media conference room, were of the strong belief Schallibaum was no longer the head coach of his team. A team that for the largest part of the season was a legitimate contender for not just making the playoffs but to contend for the holiest of North American soccer grails, the MLS Cup itself. Those from the Schallibaum hanging jury had a massive piece of evidence. Well, sort of, on the circumstantial evidence front. There were only two microphones at the IMFC Post Mortem rostrum with neither containing the name of the head coach. By 1:05pm Tuesday afternoon Schallibaums hanging-out-to-dry trial was dismissed. The Impact President confirmed a meeting had indeed taking place with his head coach just some 24-hours previously and that he was still the head coach. It didnt take long either for Saputo to kick into touch any thought (rational or otherwise) that one of the modern eras greatest central defenders was currently getting measured up and suited and booted for his head coach threads. Licenses and Badges not included. We were further advised that only following what most certainly will be the most thorough of Impact investigations in their 20 year history - into reasons why things went so terribly wrong and downhill late in the season - would any decision be announced on who the clubs head coach will be in 2014. Not down with the darkening mood in the room, likely due to the repetitive nature of the questions the Impacts Sporting Director cleverly spotted opportunity to bring up the woeful Toronto FC. Hales of laughter ensued. Job almost done, Saputo and De Santis left the media to fight amongst themselves shortly afterwards. Heres another nugget to chew on, thrown out earlier by the clubs Communications Director, the very affable Pat Vallee, who himself came through the Impacts ranks from back in the Claude Robillard days. Vallee announced a sequel to the IMFC Post Mortem 24-hours later would now not only include the announcement of the 2013 MVP, but additionally head coach Marco Schallibaum would play a leading role in Wednesdays matinee. Di Vaio was not so much voted in as MVP but confirmed by proclamation. Not only one of the very few players in MLS history to breach the 20-goal regular season plateau but the ex-Bologna hit man exceled exceedingly so off the pitch as well right through 2013. This began the moment Di Vaio stepped foot back in Montreal in early January. The elder statesman the very first Impact player to show up in La Belle Ville and well ahead of that date marked physicals. Early to arrive, early to get on the score sheet as well. In all my years of been around the club there has not been another player that captures and captivates the imagination as this native son of Rome does. In less than 18 months since Di Vaio and his family - which included a brother-in-law with remarkably similar physical features and profile - stepped off the plane and onto Impact terra firma, the striker has led the Impact to a strong MLS start. Not only supremely gifted as the most natural of goal scorers ever to have set foot on an MLS pitch, Di Vaio is also a charismatically gifted individual. Disarming, charming by nature in abundance, last Thursday nights 60 seconds of madness was completely and utterly out of character. Joey Saputo is not kidding when he states the Impact hit the jackpot when signing Di Vaio. Well, the Impact just recently won the 6/49 once again with the recent announcement their original DP would indeed continue his Montreal adventure. Shortly after Saputo and Di Vaio left the stage following the official awarding of the Giuseppe Saputo Trophy a very quietly confident Marco Schallibaum appeared. His tone beginning seriously and assertively, fully understanding of the want, need and desire to properly understand what went wrong. At the exact time when things were meant to be so right. Saputo and De Santis have all the right in the world to demand answers. Their head coach will want them himself. Slowly, likely knowing he had won over the trust of the room, Schallibaum let the veneer down and turned into his jovial self. The one which had humoured so often in his media briefings and gatherings all season long continued to do so. "Any questions in German?" was one of his last offerings. With Schallibaum back behind what had quickly turned into the most famous curtain in Montreal the players were given their turn at the mic. Davy Arnaud displayed much fortitude disclosing hed let the Swiss volcano in him off when giving his head coach a piece of his mind over not been selected to play in Houston. The club captain was very candid and brutally honest when asked if perhaps his time in an Impact shirt was done and how would he view his tenure, Arnauds Texan pride and loyalty to the cause bubbled over. The effervescence award though goes to the man upon which much of the weekend rumour mongering and speculation centred: Alessandro Nesta. This was Nestas final press conference as a footballer. Montreal and the Impact got the utmost privilege to host this rather historical moment, not only in MLS terms, but by the broadest of football measures. It was rather fitting that his teammate from the Rome suburbs who was with Nesta as an eight-year old was some 30 years later still there, four-square cheek by jowl. Nesta and Di Vaio. We will never see them again together, as teammates., which is both Milan and Montreals loss. Is it Miamis gain? When I departed Saputo Stadium vey late Wednesday afternoon it wasnt what had been said which rung round me, it was actually something that wasnt said. When we mark down how far football and the culture of the sport has come in La Belle Ville in recent years we can now add this. The media are finally taking it seriously, giving the beautiful game the respect it has merited and deserved for years. I did not hear anyone utter the words "Montreal Canadiens" nor take a Habs players name in vain on Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon as I always have in the past. Rather ironically, and with perfect timing, it was Alessandro Nesta and Marco Di Vaio who were introduced to the sold out Bell Centre crowd this past Tuesday night. Rising Performances, Growing Attendances and Crashing Heartache: A review of the Impacts 2013 season is coming next week. You can reach and follow Noel Butler at: Noel.Butler@BellMedia.ca @TheSoccerNoel on Twitter . -- Leave it to Bo Ryan to find fault with No. [url=http://www.authenticseahawksshoponline.com/seahawks-russell-wilson-super-bo... Wilson Jersey . Coach Jason Garrett said the team was trying to get as much medical information as possible to make a decision for "the best way to handle it for now and the future." Bryant broke his left index finger in Sundays 20-19 win at Cincinnati, though he returned to the game after the injury and caught a touchdown pass. . Aiken, last years Open de Espana winner, is one shot clear at the par-73 East London Golf Club. Two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, who had the honor of hitting the first tee shot in the 2012 Race to Dubai, and fellow South African Jaco Ahlers are tied for second at eight-under 65. [url=http://www.authenticseahawksshoponline.com/seahawks-cassius-marsh-super-bow... Marsh Jersey . After an off-season of hard work, Lowry led the Swift Current Broncos this past season with 45 goals and 43 assists in 72 games to go with a plus-18 rating.NEW YORK -- The image on the television screen is still vividly etched in Vinny Testaverdes mind. The former New York Jets quarterback was in the trainers room on Sept. 11, 2001, and had trouble making sense of the gaping, smoke-spewing hole in one of the Twin Towers. As a guy who grew up on Long Island, Testaverde had seen the mighty and massive towers of the World Trade Center punctuate the New York City skyline all his life. "We all thought it was a terrible accident, maybe a plane got out of control," Testaverde recalled Tuesday. But then punter Tom Tupa yelled over to him: "Theres another plane coming at the building!" They were words Testaverde will never forget. "Thats when you kind of started to realize," he said, "that it was something more serious that was taking place." Herman Edwards, the Jets coach at the time, was in his office at the teams facility at Hofstra University. He had gotten there early in the morning, as he always did, and was watching film when he realized something wasnt right. Even though it was his first season with the Jets, he had already noticed that he could see the flight patterns from nearby airports outside his office window. The skies had been silent for at least an hour that morning. "It was puzzling to me, so I turned the television on," Edwards said. "I saw the Trade Center and all of the sudden you see smoke coming out of them and I saw the second plane run into it." That was the beginning of a series of life-changing events for members of the Jets -- and the entire country. "It was one of those moments where you know exactly what you were doing and at exactly what time," former centre Kevin Mawae said. "It was a pretty surreal moment." As the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks approaches, several Jets players, coaches and executives have found themselves reflecting on what happened that day and during the weeks that followed. "I cant believe it happened," former wide receiver Wayne Chrebet said. "We went through that time together and we kind of helped each other through it." Chrebet grew up in nearby Garfield, N.J., and later found out that the husband of one of his wifes best friends was killed that day when one of the towers collapsed. "To see what she went through was tough," Chrebet said. "I know a lot of people went through that, but to have someone so close made it harder." Testaverde is from Elmont, N.Y., and he knew friends of friends and people from his familys church who died. Later that week, he found out that a former high school teammate was among the victims. "Being a New York guy and growing up on Long Island and having what I would say is just maybe a little bit closer connection than most of my teammates that were there at the time with me," Testaverde said, "it just hit home a little bit more with me." When the team gathered for work again the day after the attacks, Edwards recognized that his players minds werent on football. "Within 45 minutes of the practice, you knew it wasnt going the right way, so we basically cancelled practice and brought the players back in and told them that we had some options," Edwards said. "There was really no way that this team, emotionally, was going to be able to play. And, I felt that way as a coach, too. I just felt it was ttoo fast, too soon and we needed to reflect.dddddddddddd" Thats why Testaverde got in front of his teammates and told them that if the NFL decided that the games would go on that Sunday, he would not be joining the Jets on their flight to Oakland to play the Raiders. "I think I recall the NFL commissioner saying that we should just go about our lives in a normal process," Testaverde said. "For me, the normal process when you lose loved ones is you take time to grieve and take time away from some of the things you do on a daily basis and you pay tribute to those people that lost their lives. To me, that meant not playing football that week." Testaverde had discussed his decision with Edwards and then-general manager Terry Bradway, and Edwards gave the team the option of voting to play or not. So they took a secret ballot vote that morning. "It was unanimous that we wouldnt play," Mawae said. "It was a decision that we felt was right. A lot of guys lived in the Garden City and Long Island area and a lot of those guys had neighbours that were affected or were killed." Bradway told owner Woody Johnson of the players decision and that they would forfeit the game if it was still going to be played. He then contacted then-Commissioner Paul Tagliabues office and let them know where the team stood. The NFL later postponed every game scheduled for that week. About four days after the attacks, Testaverde went to the World Trade Center site and slowly made it past the armed guards and blockades, a grim setting he compared to "a war zone." "I just walked around and talked with the rescue workers and to see the sadness in their hearts and their voices -- Im getting chills just talking about it -- it was a sad time," Testaverde said. "Its still obviously a very sad, very emotional thing that a lot of people have gone through." The rest of the team went to the site a week after the attacks and visited the firehouses, went to the World Trade Center site, spoke to police officers and went into Salvation Army tents to speak to some of the widows and children of people who lost loved ones. Later that week -- 12 days after the attacks -- the Jets turned their minds back to football and beat the New England Patriots 10-3 in Foxborough, Mass. "I know that Herm was the right guy dealing with that football team, in terms of their mental approach because it was very difficult for us to have any focus early on, especially the first week after and even the second week after," Bradway said. "It was an unbelievable time and I was very proud of how our players responded from the beginning and all the way through. ... We did feel a responsibility and a loyalty to the people of New York." That echoes what current coach Rex Ryan said Monday about feeling pressure to beat the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, the 10th anniversary of the attacks. It will be a moment of reflection for both the players and coaches who were with the team at the time, and those who represent the organization now. "This tragic event never leaves me," Edwards said. "For the rest of my life, Ill always remember it. Its the 10th year and were going to have a celebration of where weve come from and the things weve learned from it, but there are some people that never came back. I think thats important. We need to always be solemn on that day." cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '