Sport and Cinema.com

A new season of America’s iconic game soon gets underway, so it is time to see what changes have been made to each of the league’s teams in their drive to secure their spot

in Dallas on February 6th for their opportunity to hoist the Lombardi Trophy as winner of Super Bowl XLV.

As you get ready for the Sunday Ritual, here is a roundup of each of the NFL squad by division.

This past Thursday the Big Unit joined an exclusive small unit by earning his 300th win as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Washington Nationals 5-1.

The 45-year-old Johnson is the sixth left-hander to win 300 games and the second-oldest pitcher to reach the milestone. Knuckleballer Phil Niekro was 46 when he won his 300th with the New York Yankees in 1985.

While he is busy tutoring current Lakers center Andrew Bynum in the ways of life inside the paint and dealing with the pressures of playoff basketball, Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s book is on its way to becoming a motion picture.

“Brothers in Arms,” a nonfiction tome by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anthony Walton, tells the story of how the unit overcame prejudice and sought to prove themselves on the battlefield by spearheading the Allied Forces’ drive eastward toward Germany during the Battle of the Bulge.

First look is at the forward slot. Sidney Crosby’s 2-goal performance in a game 7 win over Washington is a sign of things to come against Carolina. Hurricanes’ Eric Staal is the club’s career playoff scoring leader with 41 points. This will undoubtedly draw the attention of his brother, Jordan, Pittsburgh’s checking center.

With only Chicago through to the next round after their exciting six game series against Vancouver, all three remaining matchups come down to a seventh game.

Anaheim vs. Detroit

The Red Wings had clinched their last eight playoff series wins with victories on the road and looked to do the dame here, but Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry each had a goal and an assist and Jonas Hiller made 38 saves as the Ducks beat the Red Wings 2-1 last night to force a decisive Game 7 in the Western Conference semifinal series.

Scott Niedermayer and Bobby Ryan added assists for the Ducks, who built a two-goal lead in the second period and managed to shut down the Red Wings until Johan Franzen brought Detroit within a goal with 2:25 to play.

Facing elimination, the Ducks returned to the form that carried the team to a league-best 10-2-1 mark in the final weeks of the season, then through a first-round upset of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning San Jose Sharks.