title: NBA on ABC

text: Starting with "Saturday Primetime" in 2017, live NBA game action no longer shows the ESPN identification on screen. Previously under ESPN on ABC (since 2006–07), the ESPN logo was part of the score banner, while the ABC logo was separately floating on the right side of the screen, remaining on screen during replays. The version of the new 2016–17 graphics package used on ABC replaces the ESPN logo in the score banner with several stars, while the ABC logo (still constantly on screen) anchors the right side of the banner; however for the 2017–18 season, the ESPN logo was reintroduced onto a revised version of the score banner with the ABC logo still located to the right. In addition, commercial transitions for ABC games now contain the ABC logo. It is the first time NBA games on ABC don't have ESPN identification during live action since the 2006 NBA Finals.


title: NBA on ABC

text: For the 2017–18 season, the stat bar is only shown at the beginning of the game and after commercial breaks.


title: NBA on ABC

text: One common complaint about NBA coverage on ABC is the use of unconventional camera angles, including the Floorcam and Skycam angles, used by the network throughout its coverage. Other complaints are of camera angles that appear too far away, colors that seem faded and dull, and the quieting of crowd noise so that announcers can be heard clearly (by contrast to NBC, which allowed crowd noise to sometimes drown out their announcers).


title: NBA on ABC

text: Some complaints have concerned the promotion, or perceived lack thereof, of NBA telecasts. The 2003 NBA Finals received very little fanfare on ABC or corporate partner ESPN; while subsequent Finals were promoted more on both networks, NBA-related advertisements on ABC were still down significantly from promotions on NBC. NBA promos took up 3 minutes and 55 seconds of airtime on ABC during the week of May 23, 2004 according to the "Sports Business Daily", comparable to 2 minutes and 45 seconds for the Indianapolis 500. Promotions for the Indianapolis 500 outnumbered promotions for the NBA Finals fourteen-to-nine between the hours of 9:00 and 11:00 p.m. during that week.


title: NBA on ABC

text: The network was also criticized for focusing its coverage on a select number of teams, particularly the decision to broadcast a Lakers-Heat game on its Christmas Day schedule for three consecutive years. However, for 2007, ABC decided to break this tradition by instead having the Heat, for the fourth straight time, appear on Christmas Day facing the 2007 Eastern Conference Champions, the Cleveland Cavaliers. In 2008, the Boston Celtics replaced the Heat on the Christmas Day schedule, and faced the Los Angeles Lakers; and in 2009, the Cavaliers played the Lakers on Christmas Day. However, the Heat-Lakers Christmas Day special would make its return in the 2010–11 NBA season, as a result of LeBron James' recent move from the Cleveland franchise to Miami. For the 2011–12 NBA season, the Lakers and Heat played again on Christmas Day, but against separate opponents. The Lakers played the Chicago Bulls, while the Heat played the Dallas Mavericks in a rematch of the 2011 NBA Finals; both the Bulls and Mavericks made their ABC Christmas Day debuts, which also acted as the league's opening day that season due to the 2011 NBA lockout delaying the start of the season. In the case of the latter, ABC aired the pre-game championship ring and banner ceremony for the Mavericks, which marked the first time in NBA history a national broadcast network televised the ceremony.


title: NBA on ABC

text: After the 1990s (when the NBA arguably reached its highest point in terms of popularity) many hardcore and casual fans began to associate the league with NBC, and more accurately, the network's theme music, "Roundball Rock". After ABC took over the NBA coverage from NBC, "Roundball Rock" composer John Tesh offered his iconic theme song to the new rightsholder, but ABC turned it down and told Tesh that they wanted a completely different song. Whereas NBC used "Roundball Rock" for all twelve years of its coverage, ABC ended up using at least nine themes in its first four years. Three of the themes were traditional sports themes, while six of them ("'We Got Hoops" by Robert Randolph and the Family Band, "Can't Get Enough" by Justin Timberlake, "Let's Get It Started" by The Black Eyed Peas, "Lose My Breath" by Destiny's Child, "This Is How A Heart Breaks" by Rob Thomas and "Runnin' Down a Dream" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) were contemporary pieces by known artists.


title: NBA on ABC

text: For the 2006–07 NBA season, ESPN began using "Fast Break", the theme music used for ABC's NBA broadcasts since 2004, as the theme for its own NBA games. Because of the reorganization of ABC Sports under the oversight of ESPN, and its 2006 rebranding as ESPN on ABC (which calls for all sporting events aired on ABC to utilize the same production elements as ESPN's sports telecasts), this means that games broadcast on ABC will use the same theme music from previous years. In addition, ABC selected pop group The Pussycat Dolls to perform "Right Now" as the new introduction for NBA games.


title: NBA on ABC

text: For the 2008 season, "Nine Lives" by Def Leppard and Tim McGraw was used as the new intro song for ABC's game broadcasts, and was also used by ESPN during the playoffs prior to the start of each game. For the 2012 NBA Playoffs, the revised version of the 1972–73 theme was introduced, incorporating features of the current NBA players from going back from the previous year to years past during the network's tenure with the NBA.


title: NBA on ABC

text: For the 2011 NBA postseason, ESPN used an updated composition of the "Fast Break" theme music for the postseason, yet the original composition was still used for the regular season through the 2015-16 NBA season.


title: NBA on ABC

text: For the 2016-17 NBA season, ESPN used another updated composition of the "Fast Break" theme music. This time, for the regular season, replacing the original composition that was first used by ABC since the 2004–05 season and by ESPN two seasons later. Adding Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly's " Before I Let Go" to start the court side play by play commentary.


title: NBA on ABC

text: In its first three years of coverage, ABC televised 40 playoff games, whereas NBC aired 35 in 2002 alone. The San Antonio Spurs have appeared on ABC 36 times as of 2013, the most of any other team. The second iteration of the Charlotte Hornets are the only team to have not appeared on ABC for a regular-season game (their 2016 Game 7 loss to Miami was broadcast on ABC) during the length of the current contract, whereas the San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks have appeared on the network every year since 2002. The Atlanta Hawks did appear on ABC during the network's coverage in the 1960s and 1970s, including a Christmas Day game against the Phoenix Suns in 1970. The network did not air a game involving that team until Game 7 of the 2008 1st Round Playoffs, against the Boston Celtics. The Utah Jazz's appearances have all occurred during the playoffs, with the exception of a doubleheader game that occurred on April 2, 2017, against the Spurs.


title: NBA on ABC

text: The Los Angeles Lakers had appeared in ABC's featured Christmas Day game every season from 2002 to 2016 (against the Sacramento Kings in 2002, the Houston Rockets in 2003, the Miami Heat in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2010, the Phoenix Suns in 2007, the Boston Celtics in 2008, Cleveland Cavaliers in 2009, the Chicago Bulls in 2011 and 2014, and the Los Angeles Clippers in 2015 and 2016). After the Miami Heat, which have four Christmas Day appearances on ABC, the Sacramento Kings and the Boston Celtics are the only other teams to have had repeat appearances on the holiday.


title: NBA on ABC

text: In the early years, two women's-oriented networks, Lifetime and Oxygen, also broadcast games including the first game of the WNBA. NBC showed games from 1997 to 2002 as part of their "NBA on NBC" coverage before the league transferred the rights to ABC/ESPN.


title: NBA on ABC

text: In June 2007, the WNBA signed a contract extension with ESPN. The new television deal ran from 2009 to 2016. A minimum of 18 games would be broadcast on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 each season; the rights to broadcast the first regular-season game and the All-Star Game were held by ABC. Additionally, a minimum of 11 postseason games would be broadcast on any of the three stations. Along with this deal, came the first-ever rights fees to be paid to a women's professional sports league. Over the eight years of the contract, "millions and millions of dollars" would be "dispersed to the league's teams".


title: NBA on ABC

text: After obtaining the NBA broadcast rights, ABC courted two main announcers from the "NBA on NBC", Bob Costas and Marv Albert. After Costas (who was reportedly offered a generous deal which also included offers to do play-by-play for ESPN's Major League Baseball telecasts and feature reports for ABC News) elected to remain with NBC, and Albert signed a six-year deal with TNT, the network went with veteran broadcaster Brad Nessler to be the lead play-by-play announcer for its NBA broadcasts. Nessler, who prior to that point had not been the main voice for any professional sport on television, received a call from Marv Albert's agent, soon after getting the job. On the call, Nessler said in an interview with the Internet Movie Database:


title: NBA on ABC

text: Nessler was initially joined on the broadcasts by color commentator Bill Walton and lead sideline reporter Michele Tafoya. The team of Nessler and Walton did two broadcasts together before ABC decided that Walton needed a partner (much like he had at NBC with Steve Jones) and assigned pre-game analyst Tom Tolbert to join the team. Nessler, Walton and Tolbert called most regular season games, and every network playoff game. Other games were called by the team of Brent Musburger and Sean Elliott. After suffering the worst ratings in NBA Finals history for the 2003 series, low ratings overall, and harsh criticism, ABC decided to retool the team. More to the point, during this particular period, Brad Nessler was accused by media analysts (among them, "New York Times" columnist Richard Sandomir) of not knowing game strategy well, lacking rhythm and enthusiasm in his game call, not bringing out the best in his partners, too often ignoring the score and his tendency to stammer.


title: NBA on ABC

text: This was also the only year that ABC broadcast both the NBA and the Stanley Cup Finals involving teams from one market in the same year, as both the New Jersey Nets and the New Jersey Devils were in their respective league's finals. During ABC's broadcast of Game 3 between the San Antonio Spurs and the Nets in New Jersey on June 8, Nessler, Tolbert and Walton said that ABC was in a unique situation getting ready for both that game and Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Devils and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim the following night. Gary Thorne, Bill Clement and John Davidson mentioned this the following night, and thanked Nessler, Tolbert and Walton for promoting ABC's broadcast of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.


title: NBA on ABC

text: After disastrous ratings for the 2003 Finals, ABC decided to completely revamp its lead NBA broadcast team. Brad Nessler was demoted to the secondary broadcast team, where he was joined by Sean Elliott and Dan Majerle. Tom Tolbert was relegated to pre-game show duties only, and Bill Walton was removed from the network's NBA coverage altogether (however, he would remain with ESPN). Meanwhile, longtime "Monday Night Football" commentator Al Michaels was hired to replace Nessler as the network's lead NBA play-by-play announcer; Michele Tafoya remained as its lead sideline reporter.


title: NBA on ABC

text: Doc Rivers, a critically acclaimed analyst when he worked with Turner Sports for TNT's NBA broadcasts, became available after a 1–10 start by his Orlando Magic led to his firing as the team's coach. Rivers was hired weeks before ABC's Christmas Day season opener. He and Michaels worked that game together, one of only six they did together during the regular season (all other games Rivers worked were with Brad Nessler). During the playoffs, Michaels and Rivers worked every single telecast, including the 2004 NBA Finals, which saw significant ratings improvement.


title: NBA on ABC

text: During the 2004 NBA Playoffs, Doc Rivers was hired as head coach of the Boston Celtics. Though Rivers continued to work games with Al Michaels throughout the rest of the playoffs, ABC was forced to search for a new lead analyst for the 2004–05 season. In addition, the network dropped Brad Nessler from all NBA coverage, and did not retain Sean Elliott or Dan Majerle.


title: NBA on ABC

text: Early in the 2004–2005 season, Memphis Grizzlies coach Hubie Brown, a broadcasting legend with CBS, TBS and TNT, was forced into retirement due to health issues and was soon after hired to replace Doc Rivers as Al Michaels' broadcast booth partner. Brown called his first ABC game with Michaels on Christmas Day 2004, working the highly anticipated a Heat-Lakers game pitting those team's respective star players Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. After that game, the two did not do a game together again until March 2005. Michaels began covering NBA games sporadically, doing two games in early March and three additional games in April. Meanwhile, Brown worked every week of ABC's coverage, broadcasting some games with veteran broadcaster Mike Breen. Michele Tafoya served as lead sideline reporter for all of the network's game broadcasts.


title: NBA on ABC

text: In addition to Hubie Brown, ABC added other known analysts to its NBA coverage. Jim Durham and Dr. Jack Ramsay both worked several games during the regular season, while Brent Musburger, John Saunders, Len Elmore and Mark Jackson were involved with others. Breen and Ramsay were the first secondary broadcast team to work a playoff game for ABC. Breen called three playoff games for the network in 2005, the most notable being Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals with Hubie Brown.


title: NBA on ABC

text: Al Michaels was criticized by the "New York Post" for not broadcasting the game and seeming uninterested in the NBA in general. Barry Horn of "The Dallas Morning News" said that Michaels was simply "not a basketball guy". Meanwhile, Bill Simmons said during the 2005 Finals that Michaels "shows up for these games, does his job, then drives home thinking, 'Only five weeks to the [NFL] Hall of Fame Game, I'm almost there!'" Another criticism that Michaels received was that he too often found himself making tediously long-winded explanations. In return, he would tend to talk over two or three possessions in a row (which Michaels seemed to be better suited for football and baseball broadcasts, for which he's better known for). The end result was that he would hardly have time to comment on the action viewers were seeing because he was so hung up on a prior subplot or storyline that he felt the audience just had to know about. Michaels was also accused of apparently lacking the kind of enthusiasm and confidence (for instance, Michaels initially reacted to Amar'e Stoudemire's block of Tim Duncan's shot during the 2005 playoffs by calling it a "great, great contested shot") expected of a main play-by-play voice.


title: NBA on ABC

text: Michaels, who by the end of his tenure on the "NBA on ABC" only called a total of 37 NBA games overall with ABC (a combined thirteen regular season games), did return for the NBA Finals, which scored its second-lowest rating of all time (despite the fact that it was the first Finals in eleven years to go to a seventh game). From March 7, 2004 to April 17, 2005 – including playoff games – each game Michaels called involved either the Los Angeles Lakers (whose home city Michaels resides when not broadcasting sports events) or Sacramento Kings, a total of 21 consecutive games. Game 7 of the 2005 NBA Finals would end up being Michaels' last with the "NBA on ABC".


title: NBA on ABC

text: For the 2005–06 season, Al Michaels and Hubie Brown were slated to remain as ABC's main broadcast team. The duo worked that year's Christmas Day game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat and were expected to work the NBA Finals together as well. However, that plan did not come to fruition. In 2005, the National Football League (NFL) signed a contract with NBC for the rights to the Sunday night football (a package previously held by ESPN), which in turn resulted in "Monday Night Football", which Al Michaels had been broadcasting for nearly 20 years, ending its run on ABC after the league's 2005 season.


title: NBA on ABC

text: Speculation arose that Michaels would leave ABC for NBC; however, he subsequently signed a deal to remain on "Monday Night Football", when it moved to ESPN in 2006. However, in the weeks leading up to Super Bowl XL, it was widely speculated that Michaels was attempting to get out of his contract with ESPN to join John Madden (who worked alongside Michaels for the previous four years on "Monday Night Football" as an analyst) at NBC. Michaels added fuel to the fire by refusing to state his future plans, and he could not "respond to rumors... because that would become a distraction." On February 8, 2006, ESPN announced that its "Monday Night Football" team would consist of Mike Tirico on play-by-play, with football analyst Joe Theismann and Tony Kornheiser as analysts. ESPN explicitly stated that Michaels would not return to either "Monday Night Football" broadcasts or ABC's NBA broadcasts, all but assuring Michaels' departure from ABC after 30 years, and joining Madden at NBC.


title: NBA on ABC

text: Michaels was replaced by Mike Breen, who became the lead broadcaster for an over-the-air NBA package for the first time in his career. Breen worked the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals and 2006 NBA Finals with Hubie Brown for both ESPN and ABC, as well as all the main games ABC broadcast that year. The promotion of Breen gave ABC its first consistent lead broadcaster since Brad Nessler, as Breen worked games every week. Breen previously had worked the Eastern Conference Finals for NBC in 2001 and 2002, as well as the Western Conference Finals for ESPN in 2005.


title: NBA on ABC

text: Many sportswriters and sports media analysts praised Breen, some for his explosive voice and excited calls on game-deciding and game-winning shots and others for the fact that, unlike his predecessor Al Michaels, he was already very familiar with broadcasting basketball games (prior to NBC and ABC, he is also working New York Knicks games on MSG Network) and was essentially a basketball lifer. Despite that, he faced some criticism from those who complained that they would prefer a more established voice, such as Marv Albert or Kevin Harlan. Hubie Brown faced criticism from writers (most notably Richard Sandomir of "The New York Times") as well as bloggers and viewers.


title: NBA on ABC

text: Lisa Salters also served as the lead sideline reporter for ABC's regular-season game coverage and the NBA Finals that season, filling in for Michele Tafoya while she was on maternity leave. Salters returned to her role as its secondary sideline reporter when Tafoya returned the following year. For the secondary broadcast team, ABC reunited Bill Walton and Steve Jones for game coverage. Walton and Jones worked the Christmas Day 2005 broadcast between the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons for ABC, the first game they called together since Game 4 of the 2002 NBA Finals for NBC (NBC's last NBA telecast to date). The pair worked their first broadcast with Mike Breen, and worked the remainder of the season with Brent Musburger, Jim Durham and Mike Tirico. That team, along with the Breen-Brown duo, now often does ESPN's Wednesday or Friday game coverage, which the previous ABC announce teams rarely did.


title: NBA on ABC

text: ABC also used several "SportsCenter" reporters, including Tom Rinaldi, Rachel Nichols and Jeremy Schaap, for pregame and halftime features during 2006.


title: NBA on ABC

text: For the 2006–07 NBA season, ABC's sports operations were fully integrated into ESPN (rebranding the sports division as ESPN on ABC). As a result, Mark Jackson replaced Hubie Brown as ABC's lead analyst (Brown would still pair with Mike Breen on ESPN's primary broadcast team and Mike Tirico on ABC's secondary team). ABC's pre-game show, which Jackson was a part of, also began to be broadcast from the site of the main game each week (much as was the case during first season of the network's current NBA deal in 2003).


title: NBA on ABC

text: Additionally, Michele Tafoya returned as a sideline reporter, after sitting out the 2005–06 season on maternity leave. Lisa Salters returned to her role as its secondary sideline reporter the following year as Tafoya returned to her old role.


title: NBA on ABC

text: On July 9, 2007, it was announced by Dan Patrick that he would be leaving ESPN after 18 years with the network. Stuart Scott hosted ABC's pregame show for the 2007–08 season along with analysts Bill Walton and Michael Wilbon. Jeff Van Gundy also joined Mike Breen and Mark Jackson full-time, starting Christmas Day. After Walton had back problems in February, Jon Barry replaced him for the rest of the season.


title: NBA on ABC

text: Michele Tafoya left her role as NBA sideline reporter for ABC after the 2007–08 season to spend more time with her family; however, she continued to work for ESPN, primarily serving as a sideline reporter for "Monday Night Football" (before leaving for NBC in 2011 to serve that same position for "Sunday Night Football"). Doris Burke, who already served as an analyst for ESPN's NBA telecasts, replaced Tafoya as lead sideline reporter on the ABC broadcasts.


title: NBA on ABC

text: Lisa Salters serves as a substitute for Burke in the event she is on assignment or is slated to handle analyst duties for the "NBA on ESPN", with Heather Cox filling in as part of the secondary announcing team for Salters, when she is working within the primary broadcast team. Cox took over the secondary role in 2012 after Salters became a full-time sideline reporter for "Monday Night Football", with either Chris Broussard, J. A. Adande or Holly Rowe serving as the secondary reporter whenever Cox was assigned as the lead reporter.


title: NBA on ABC

text: , the main broadcast team currently consists of Mike Breen, Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy, while the secondary broadcast team consists of Mike Tirico and Hubie Brown, with either Mark Jones, Ryan Ruocco or Dave Pasch filling in when Tirico has other commitments. The "NBA Countdown" studio team consists of host Sage Steele, and analysts Jalen Rose and Doug Collins. ABC's second team of Tirico and Brown also comprise the lead team for NBA Finals coverage on ESPN Radio, with Kevin Calabro subbing in for Tirico on some occasions.


title: NBA on ABC

text: Jackson briefly left the broadcast booth to serve as head coach of the Golden State Warriors from 2011 to 2014. Prior to the 2011–12 season, ABC reassigned Stuart Scott to another role while the studio team worked without a main host in a more free-flowing approach. This experiment ended prior to the 2013–14 season, when Sage Steele became the lead host of "Countdown". Magic Johnson, Jon Barry, Michael Wilbon, Bill Simmons, and Chris Broussard have previously served as analysts for "NBA Countdown".


title: NBA on ABC

text: For the 2016–17 season, Mark Jones replaced Mike Tirico as part of the secondary broadcast team with Hubie Brown as Tirico left for NBC. Also, Doug Collins left "NBA Countdown" and joined ESPN's roster of game analysts, returning to a position he previously held while working with NBC and TNT. Steele was replaced as host by Michelle Beadle during the season.


title: NBA on ABC

text: For the 2019–20 season, ABC's pregame show was completely revamped. ESPN decided to drop Beadle, who had been granted a buyout at the company, and Chauncey Billups, though he would remain with ESPN as a regular game analyst until he left the company to take a coaching job with the Los Angeles Clippers. Beadle's role would end up being split between Maria Taylor, who works ABC's college football game of the week, and Rachel Nichols, host of the popular ESPN show "The Jump". Richard Jefferson and Jay Williams were brought in to replace Billups, with the network retaining Jalen Rose and Paul Pierce. Nichols will also be ABC's pregame host for the NBA Finals. ESPN also decided to replace "NBA Countdown" with "The Jump" for their "NBA Saturday Primetime" pregame show. "NBA Countdown" will remain the main pregame show for "NBA Sunday Showcase".


title: NBA on ABC

text: Those plans did not continue as planned after March 8, as the NBA suspended play due to the coronavirus pandemic. Because of that, Nichols resorted to the NBA Bubble at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL, where the NBA restarted their season and held the Playoffs, where she eventually took Doris Burke's spot as sideline reporter for the Finals, meaning Taylor was elevated to host the NBA Finals on ABC, and "Countdown" being restored as ABC's pregame show.


title: NBA on ABC

text: For the 2020–21 season, Nichols was tapped to serve as sideline reporter for "NBA Saturday Primetime", meaning Taylor was promoted to Nichols' spot as host, with "Countdown" being restored as pregame show. After he was part of an inappropriate Instagram video, ESPN quietly dropped Pierce on April 6, without replacement for the remainder of the season. Prior to the 2021 NBA Finals, Nichols was removed in favor of Malika Andrews after a video revealed of Nichols uttering racially insensitive comments towards black colleague Taylor. Soon after, Taylor departed to join NBC Sports, and Nichols was removed from all ESPN programming.


title: NBA on ABC

text: For the 2021–22 season, Lisa Salters replaced Nichols as the primary sideline reporter, and Mike Greenberg replaced Taylor on "NBA Countdown" along with returning analysts Michael Wilbon, Stephen A. Smith, Jalen Rose and Magic Johnson.


title: NBA on ABC

text: Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy missed Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals due to COVID-19 protocols, and Mark Jones filled in for Breen. Jones, Mark Jackson and Lisa Salters made history in Game 1 as the first all-African American broadcast team to cover an NBA Finals game.


title: NBA on ABC

text: Between 2012 and 2019, the NBA lost 40 to 45 percent of its viewership. While some of it can be attributed to "cable-cutting", other professional leagues, like the NFL and MLB have retained stable viewership demographics. The opening game of the 2020 Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat brought in only 7.41 million viewers to ABC, according to "The Hollywood Reporter". That is reportedly the lowest viewership seen for the Finals since at least 1994, when total viewers began to be regularly recorded and is a 45 percent decline from Game 1 between the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors, which had 13.51 million viewers a year earlier. Some attribute this decline to the political stances the league and its players are taking, while others consider load management, the uneven talent distribution between the conferences and the cord-cutting of younger viewers as the main reason for the decline.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: Brandon Christopher Jacobs (born July 6, 1982) is a former American football running back, who spent the majority of his career with the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Coffeyville, Auburn, and Southern Illinois. He was drafted by the Giants in the fourth round of the 2005 NFL Draft, and won two Super Bowl rings with the team, both against the New England Patriots. He also played one season for the San Francisco 49ers before returning to New York for his final season.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: Jacobs was taller and heavier than the average NFL running back, standing at and weighing . He also ran the 100 meters in 10.82 seconds and the 200 meters in 21.59 seconds. He won two Super Bowls in seven seasons with the New York Giants, and holds the franchise record for most career rushing touchdowns, as well as ranking fourth-most in career rushing yards.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: Brandon Jacobs grew up in Napoleonville, Louisiana. He was raised by his mother and her sisters. His aunt and uncle later became his legal guardians. He never had a relationship with his father. Brandon played basketball and football at Assumption High School. In his senior year, he received accolades such as "USA Today" All-America, "Orlando Sentinel" All-Southern, Prep Star All-Region and Louisiana Class 4A Most Valuable Offensive Player. He ran for more than 3,000 yards and scored 38 touchdowns in that senior campaign.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: Jacobs's college career started at Coffeyville Community College in Coffeyville, Kansas, under the direction of head coach Jeff Leiker and running backs coach Dickie Rolls. Coffeyville is a member school of the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference. In 2001, his freshman year at Coffeyville, he ran for 1,349 yards and 17 touchdowns and gained Kansas Jayhawk Conference All-Conference honorable mention. He was also named the team MVP for CCC. In his sophomore season for the Red Ravens he racked up 1,896 yards and 20 touchdowns on 267 carries for a 7.1 yard-per-carry average. In light of these efforts Jacobs was named a JUCO All-American and to the KJCCC All-Conference First-team. He once again garnered the Team MVP trophy and was also named the recipient of the Reb Russell Memorial Football Scholarship Award. The statistic of 1,896 yards rushing ranks second all-time on the Ravens individual season rushing yardage record.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: Jacobs continued his college career at Auburn University, along with first-round draft picks Carnell Williams, Ronnie Brown, and Jason Campbell. Jacobs was the third-string running back behind Williams and Brown. Jacobs gained 446 yards on 72 carries and 2 touchdowns in 2003 for the Tigers.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: After the completion of the 2003 college football season, Jacobs transferred to then Division I-AA Southern Illinois. Jacobs' one year at Southern Illinois was another solid one. He led the team with 150 carries for 992 yards (6.6 avg) and 19 touchdowns, one less than the school's all-time leader, Muhammad Abdulqaadir, who, like Jacobs, also played at Coffeyville Community College. Jacobs was an All-American first-team selection by The NFL Draft Report and All-Gateway Conference first-team choice and was also named Gateway Conference Newcomer of the Year. He led the conference and ranked tenth in the nation in scoring, averaging 9.5 points per game. Jacobs had eight receptions for 83 yards (10.4 avg), returned six kickoffs for 140 yards (23.3 avg) and had five 100-yard rushing games including the playoffs.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: Jacobs was graded the 11th best running back available in the 2005 NFL Draft by "Sports Illustrated". He was projected an early fourth round pick, and was indeed selected early in the fourth round (110th overall).


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: Going into the 2006 season, Jacobs stated that he studied film of famed power running back Eddie George in an effort to refine his running style. George, like Jacobs, was a large, powerful running back. In the 2006 season, Jacobs carried the ball 96 times for 423 yards and nine touchdowns, averaging 4.4 yards per carry. He added 11 receptions for 149 yards.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: With the retirement of Tiki Barber, Jacobs took over the starting running back spot for the Giants in the 2007 season. He injured his knee in the first game of the season against the Dallas Cowboys, but returned four weeks later against the New York Jets to rush for 100 yards and a touchdown. Jacobs would miss two more games later in the season with a hamstring injury, but finish the regular season with rushing totals of 1,009 yards and four touchdowns on 201 carries. He also added 23 receptions for 174 yards and two touchdowns. Jacobs scored the winning touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Divisional Playoffs. Jacobs started every game in the playoffs as the Giants won Super Bowl XLII.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: Jacobs underwent wrist surgery during the 2008 offseason. He returned to play all of the preseason, but missed two games in the regular season due to recurring difficulty with his knee. He finished the 2008 regular season with 219 carries for 1089 yards and 15 touchdowns, similar yardage to 2007, but many more touchdowns. In 2008, he and Derrick Ward became the fifth pair of teammates to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: He was the "Earth" in the running back corps of the Giants nicknamed "Earth, Wind, & Fire" with Derrick Ward (Wind) and Ahmad Bradshaw (Fire). He is also nicknamed Juggernaut because of his ability to break multiple tackles and the difficulty in bringing him down due to his impressive size for a running back. Similarly, he has been dubbed "The Creator" by the satirical sports website Ramon Hernandez Put Down The Gun, and is considered complementary to Justin Tuck, who is known as "The Destroyer."


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: On February 13, 2009 the Giants placed the Franchise Tag on Jacobs. He signed a four-year, $25 million contract with the Giants a week later and had most of the carries that season.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: On September 19, 2010, Jacobs threw his helmet into the stands at Lucas Oil Stadium and was fined $10,000.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: On November 24, 2010, Jacobs was announced back as the number one running back for the Giants against the Jacksonville Jaguars.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: At the end of the 2011 season, Jacobs and the Giants appeared in Super Bowl XLVI. He had 9 carries for 37 yards as the Giants defeated the New England Patriots by a score of 21–17.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: Jacobs signed with the San Francisco 49ers on March 28, 2012. He missed the first two months of the season after suffering a knee injury during training camp, and saw limited playing time once he returned. He was active for two games and had five carries for seven yards as essentially the third- or fourth-string tailback.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: The 49ers suspended him for the final three games of the same season following a series of posts by Jacobs on social media sites addressing his lack of playing time, including one which said he was "on this team rotting away." Jacobs was waived by the 49ers on December 31, 2012.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: Jacobs signed a one-year contract with the New York Giants on September 10, 2013. In which he played in 7 games, rushing for 238 yards on 58 carries for a 4.1 yard average and 4 touchdowns. On January 2, 2014, Jacobs announced his retirement after nine seasons.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: On May 27, 2021, Jacobs announced on Twitter that he would be attempting a return to the NFL as a defensive end, stating “Just give me one chance thats all!!”.


title: Brandon Jacobs

text: In June 2011, Jacobs acted in the series finale episode of "". On October 19, 2012, Jacobs appeared, with Pro NRG founder Tania Patruno, to pitch the fledgling company's protein supplement/energy drink and hopefully score the venture some investment capital on episode #406 of ABC's "Shark Tank". Jacobs also appeared on an episode of "Impact Wrestling" which aired on February 16, 2012. Jacobs put wrestler Bully Ray through a table on the episode.


title: Katonah, New York

text: Katonah is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the town of Bedford, Westchester County, in the U.S. state of New York. The Katonah CDP had a population of 1,679 at the 2010 census.


title: Katonah, New York

text: Katonah is named for Chief Katonah, an American Indian from whom the land of Bedford was purchased by a group of English colonists.


title: Katonah, New York

text: During the American Revolution military battles or skirmishes did not take place in the area that is now the Village of Katonah. However, most local men joined the Continental side, with some joining the New York 4th Regiment of the Line and most joining the local Militia. Though Bedford Township lay in what was called "Neutral Ground", supposedly unmolested by military forces of either side, its inhabitants were preyed on by the lawless of both sides. This area suffered less from such depredations than other areas in the Neutral Ground, because of the proximity of the Croton River and the "Westchester Lines", a sparse string of outposts defended by units of the Continental Army.


title: Katonah, New York

text: Founded with the name Whitlockville, the town changed its name, and later was moved south to its present site in 1897, when its former site ("Old Katonah") was flooded by the construction of the New Croton Dam, which raised the water level behind it enough to submerge the existing Muscoot Dam, and the town, under the resultantly expanded Muscoot Reservoir. More than 50 buildings were moved from the old site to "New Katonah", rolled on logs pulled by horses. The move was originally ordered to start in 1894, but litigation delayed the process by almost three years. Evidently, not all of the moved houses were within the affected area, leaving empty foundations where new houses would eventually be built upon.


title: Katonah, New York

text: An eleven-year-old child named B. Robertson wrote the following to a children's magazine on March 2, 1897:


title: Katonah, New York

text: Katonah was not the only village affected by New York City's growing demand for water. The villages of Kirbyville and New Castle Corners were also condemned by the city but were never moved.


title: Katonah, New York

text: In early 2007, groups representing the hamlet came out in opposition to a trademark filed by homemaking mogul Martha Stewart for a new furniture line called the "Katonah Collection". Stewart purchased a estate in Katonah in 2000, and it is there that she spent her five months of house arrest following her prison term resulting from charges of "lying to investigators". Representatives stated that Stewart was seeking to "honor the town" and the new furniture line was "...paying homage to this beautiful region." The pending trademark was contested by the Katonah Village Improvement Society and Katonah Architectural Hardware, along with support from the Ramapough Mountain Indians who foresaw legal conflict should Stewart succeed in trademarking the name for her furniture line. (View current appeals at the U.S. Trademark Office.)


title: Katonah, New York

text: Katonah is classified as a hamlet, with no legal status as an administrative jurisdiction. The Katonah post office serves portions of the towns of Bedford, Lewisboro and Somers. Katonah was identified as a census-designated place (CDP) for the first time in 2010.


title: Katonah, New York

text: According to the 2010 United States Census, the CDP of Katonah had a total population of 1,679 people, compared to 10,739 residents of the Katonah ZIP code, 10536. In 2010, half (5,391, or 50.2%) of the Katonah ZIP code's population resided in the town of Bedford, 36.9% in Somers and 12.9% in Lewisboro.


title: Katonah, New York

text: Within the Katonah CDP, there were 589 households, and 445 families residing at the 2010 census. The population density was 2,398.6 per square mile (883.7/km). There were 619 housing units at an average density of 884.3/sq mi (325.8/km). The racial makeup of the CDP was 87.1% White, 2.5% African American, 0.2% Native American, 2.6% Asian, 5.4% some other race, and 2.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11.9% of the population.


title: Katonah, New York

text: There were 589 households, out of which 46.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.4% were headed by married couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.4% were non-families. 17.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.1% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.83, and the average family size was 3.24.


title: Katonah, New York

text: In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 29.5% under the age of 18, 5.1% from 18 to 24, 24.1% from 25 to 44, 31.7% from 45 to 64, and 9.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.5 males.


title: Katonah, New York

text: For the period 2007–11, the estimated median annual income for a household in the CDP was $166,296, and the median income for a family was $146,923. Male full-time workers had a median income of $104,250 versus $94,674 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $60,408. About 4.7% of families and 6.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.0% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.


title: Katonah, New York

text: The hamlet of Katonah includes two National Historic Landmarks: Stepping Stones - Historic Home of Bill & Lois Wilson, where the respective cofounders of Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon Family Groups lived from 1941 until their deaths in 1971 and 1988, and the John Jay Homestead, the former home of John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Nearby is The Harvey School, a private day school founded in the 19th century which offers five-day boarding, and which counts among its alumni "Doonesbury" cartoonist Garry Trudeau. Bruce Willis, Ralph Lauren, and a number of other notables live in Katonah. Stanley Tucci, Blake Lively, and Ryan Reynolds live near Katonah as well.


title: Katonah, New York

text: By its residents, Katonah is often styled as a "village". The Katonah Village Improvement Society is a group that promotes community engagement, the arts, and business activity in the hamlet. The local library is called the Katonah Village Library and some other commercial functions and public works incorporate similar "village" terminology. Katonah generally has a concentration of population and businesses which may include portions of several towns. Katonah has its own Metro-North station. As a result of the hamlet's close proximity to New York City and its immediate connection to the aforementioned railroad station and the interstate, a sizable portion of the town consists of commuters. The area is part of the Katonah-Lewisboro school district.


title: Katonah, New York

text: From 1921 to 1937, Katonah was home to the Brookwood Labor College, the nation's first residential labor college.


title: Katonah, New York

text: The Katonah Village Historic District, and St. Luke's Episcopal Church are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The John Jay Homestead, the former home of US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay, is a New York State Historic Site and National Historic Landmark. Stepping Stones, home of Alcoholics Anonymous founders Bill and Lois Wilson, is also a National Historic Landmark.


title: Katonah, New York

text: The Katonah Museum of Art is located in Katonah. The Caramoor International Music Festival, which hosts the Orchestra of St. Luke's, is held annually at Caramoor, east of the hamlet. John Jay High School holds its annual commencement ceremony at Caramoor as well. The Katonah Poetry Series led by former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins holds readings at Katonah Village Library. Katonah Historical Museum opened in 1984 and is in the lower level of the library. Another attraction is Muscoot Farm. During the 1920s-1930s farming activity there was peaking, the farmland coming from the Hopkin's family has been taken care of by Westchester County thus far since 1967 due to high labor costs. The farm has many animals, camps, workshops for youth and adults, hayrides, opportunities for field trips, and even birthday events. Another attraction is the Katonah Art Center, which has two large painting studios, a children's studio, a pottery studio, a multi-arts studio, a darkroom, and a Mac computer lab. They also offer pottery, photography, painting and drawing classes, and summer camps.


title: Katonah, New York

text: Katonah was home to the Brookwood Labor College, the first labor college in the United States, providing adult education and training in social justice and activism. It was located on Cedar Road from 1919 until its closure in 1937.


title: Katonah, New York

text: Katonah is a part of the Katonah-Lewisboro School District. It contains Katonah Elementary School, although some students attend Increase Miller Elementary School in neighboring Goldens Bridge. Some students in Katonah also attended Lewisboro Elementary School until its closure in 2014, which was highly controversial. All middle and high school students in the Katonah-Lewisboro School District attend John Jay Middle School and John Jay High School. Katonah is also home to the private co-educational, college preparatory school The Harvey School, and formerly The Montfort Academy, a private, Roman Catholic high school that recently moved to Mount Vernon, New York.


title: Katonah, New York

text: The hamlet is served by the Katonah Volunteer Fire Department, which also hosts the annual Katonah carnival, parade, and "chili night." Emergency medical services are provided by the Katonah-Bedford Hills Volunteer Ambulance Corps. The Bedford police department provides police and traffic enforcement to the town of Bedford, including Katonah, Bedford Hills and Bedford Village.


title: Jan Mølby

text: Jan Mølby (; born 4 July 1963) is a Danish former professional footballer and manager. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1982 to 1998. After starting his career with Kolding, he moved on to Ajax before spending twelve years playing in England with Liverpool. He was capped 33 times by Denmark, scoring twice.


title: Jan Mølby

text: After leaving Liverpool he became player-manager of Swansea City, where he spent two years, and then managed Kidderminster Harriers, guiding them to promotion to the Football League in 2000. He later had a brief spell as manager of Hull City and then a brief spell back in charge of Kidderminster Harriers.


title: Jan Mølby

text: Born in Kolding, Mølby started his senior playing career at Kolding IF, the biggest football club of his hometown, where he became team captain at the age of 18, before joining AFC Ajax on 1 July 1982, where he won the Dutch Championship and the Dutch Cup (the double) in the 1982–83 season.


title: Jan Mølby

text: Liverpool manager Joe Fagan invited Mølby to have a ten-day trial and finally signed him on 22 August 1984. He made his debut three days later on 26 August in the 3–3 league draw with Norwich City at Carrow Road. His first goal for Liverpool came on 1 December 1984 in the 3–1 league defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. He failed to shine for Liverpool in his first season as the team endured a comparatively poor season, failing to win a major trophy for the first time since 1975.


title: Jan Mølby

text: In 1985–86, new player-manager Kenny Dalglish put faith in Mølby, installing him as a regular in the first team. On a number of occasions, Mølby began matches as a third central defender or deep-lying sweeper, before moving into midfield alongside Steve McMahon, often with devastating effect, as the match wore on. He scored 21 goals in 1985–86 from midfield in what was undoubtedly his best season. The season culminated in a man of the match performance in the first-ever all Merseyside FA Cup final playing a part in all three Liverpool goals.


title: Jan Mølby

text: Having lost the league title to Liverpool a week earlier, derby rivals Everton were looking for revenge and took a 1–0 lead into the half-time break, courtesy of a Gary Lineker strike. After the break Liverpool, led by Mølby, began to make inroads into the Blues' defence. In the 57th minute he set up the equaliser for Ian Rush and followed that up six minutes later by setting up Craig Johnston to take the lead. Mølby was also involved in the third goal, when Rush latched on to a chipped pass from Ronnie Whelan to put the final out of Everton's reach and complete the double.


title: Jan Mølby

text: Mølby also began to establish himself as a regular and successful penalty taker around this time, starting with two penalties converted at home to Tottenham Hotspur in the league on 28 September 1985. Other fine performances included a brace in open play in a 3–0 home win over Aston Villa in the league on 7 December, and two goals (one a penalty) as they eliminated Manchester United from the Football League Cup in a 2–1 win at Anfield in late November.


title: Jan Mølby

text: He remained a regular in the team in 1986–87, in which Liverpool finished second in the League. During their League Cup run, which ended with a 2–1 defeat at Wembley against Arsenal, he scored a hat-trick of penalties in a fourth round replay at Anfield against Coventry City. Mølby scored another penalty against Coventry in a league match at Anfield the following Saturday.


title: Jan Mølby

text: During pre-season training in the summer of 1987, Mølby suffered a foot injury, which turned out to be a crucial turning point in his career. He missed the first three months of the 1987–88 season, and with the arrival of John Barnes to play on the left wing, Mølby's place in central midfield was taken by Ronnie Whelan (who had hitherto played left midfield). Whelan's partnership with McMahon proved a great success and, although Whelan was himself injured later in the season, Mølby's return to fitness came too late to resume his place in midfield, which went to Nigel Spackman for the rest of the season. He was never again an automatic choice in midfield under Dalglish as Whelan and McMahon became the first choice partnership.


title: Jan Mølby

text: In 1988–89, Mølby returned to regular first team football, playing in central defence in the absence of the injured Alan Hansen, and scoring the winning goal against Manchester United at Anfield in the second league game of the season. However, in October 1988 he was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for reckless driving following an incident earlier in the year. The club decided to stand by him, and he returned to the first team in January 1989 in Hansen's continued absence, but suffered another injury in March which kept him out for the rest of the season. In April 1989, Mølby, along with his teammates, rallied round the bereaved families of the Hillsborough disaster attending a number of the funerals.


title: Jan Mølby

text: In the following season, 1989–90 (Liverpool's last title-winning season before winning again in the 2020 season), Mølby was a frustrated figure, unable to command a first team place despite often impressing during his occasional appearances. He started only 12 of 38 league games, although he enjoyed a successful return to the team in the championship run-in, deputising for the injured Whelan.


title: Jan Mølby

text: The following season threatened more of the same for Mølby, as he was again a regular substitute. In September 1990, before an away league match against Everton, Radio 5 Live commentator Mike Ingham remarked that "Mølby's still only a substitute even though he'd probably walk into any other first division team". Later that season, after Liverpool had knocked Brighton out of the FA Cup, Brighton manager Barry Lloyd expressed bemusement in a BBC post-match interview that Mølby was not being selected regularly. Mølby was very close to signing for Johan Cruyff's F.C. Barcelona in November 1990, after a fee had been agreed of £1.6 million and he had agreed a four-year contract. When he scored a penalty in a 4–0 home win over Luton Town it was expected to be his farewell to the Liverpool fans. However, this was followed by a breakdown in negotiations and he remained at Anfield. It would be more than five years before he finally did leave the club.


title: Jan Mølby

text: Another injury to Whelan in a home league game against Everton in February 1991 gave Mølby another chance to re-establish himself, and he enjoyed his longest run of matches for four years. He once again became the club's regular penalty taker that season, scoring from all eight of his spot-kicks. However, after injury to McMahon and the surprise resignation of Dalglish, Liverpool could only finish runners-up in the league, despite having won their first nine matches of the campaign.


title: Jan Mølby

text: After initially extolling Mølby's virtues, new manager Graeme Souness changed his mind early in the 1991–92 season, leaving Mølby out as Whelan and McMahon again started in midfield. However, after Whelan suffered another injury, he turned to Mølby, who went on to feature heavily in the Liverpool side that season, starring in the UEFA Cup and playing an important part in their FA Cup winning season.


title: Jan Mølby

text: After suffering an injury in a 2–2 Premier League draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford on 18 October 1992, Mølby's career began to decline. He had suffered from fluctuating weight for most of his career, routinely gaining weight when injured and unable to train. This led to longer recovery periods being required, so his injuries generally led to an absence of at least 3 months. Over the first three Premier League seasons (Mølby's last), he started just over 30 games in total and all his goals came from penalties, including one in Liverpool's first game of the 1994–95 season when Mølby opened the scoring with a penalty in a 6–1 away win against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.


title: Jan Mølby

text: Early in the 1995–96 season, manager Roy Evans loaned him out to Barnsley and Norwich (where he scored once in the League Cup against Birmingham City), and in February 1996, he finally called time on more than a decade at Liverpool to take over as player-manager of Swansea City. Just before taking the job at the Vetch Field, Ron Atkinson unsuccessfully tried to sign him for Coventry City. At that stage, still only 32, he was the youngest manager of any Football League or Premier League club.


title: Jan Mølby

text: While at Liverpool, he scored a total of 62 goals, 42 of which were from penalties. During Mølby's time with Liverpool, he only failed to score three times from the penalty spot (penalties against Sheffield Wednesday and QPR in 1985–86 and Chelsea in 1989–90 were saved). His record as a penalty-taker in the top flight is thought to be second only to Matthew Le Tissier. He held the club record of most penalties scored by a Liverpool player until Steven Gerrard surpassed his record in August 2014.


title: Jan Mølby

text: Mølby made his debut in the Danish international side at the age of 18, against Norway on 15 June 1982. He won 33 caps for Denmark from 1982 to 1990, scoring two goals. He was a squad player (appearing generally as a substitute) with the Danish international side which competed in the 1984 European Championship and 1986 World Cup. Competition for places in the Danish midfield often saw Mølby overlooked in favour of Frank Arnesen and Jens-Jørn Bertelsen.


title: Jan Mølby

text: Jan Mølby's international career came to an end when Richard Møller Nielsen took over as Denmark manager in 1990. The new national manager only used Mølby in two games – both in 1990. Once as a substitute in a friendly against Wales and later in the starting line-up in the 2–0 home defeat against Yugoslavia in the qualification for the Euro 1992.


title: Jan Mølby

text: Mølby became manager of Swansea City in February 1996 but was sacked in October 1997 along with his assistant, Billy Ayre. He had taken Swansea to the Division Three playoff final five months earlier, but they lost to a last-minute goal by Northampton's John Frain. A dismal start to the 1997–98 season had seen Swansea struggling near the foot of the Football League, and the board decided that it was time for a new manager to be appointed, asserting that the team's good performances the previous season were more down to Mølby's qualities as a top class player, rather than as a manager.


title: Jan Mølby

text: No offers of managerial jobs were forthcoming for some time. Pursuing a career as a TV pundit, Mølby was finally offered the manager's job at Kidderminster Harriers, then in the Football Conference. He took over in April 1999. Utilising the existing squad of players, but adding his own in a few key positions (ex-Liverpool teammate Mike Marsh was drafted in to great success) Harriers won the Conference title (and promotion to the Football League) in Mølby's first season in charge.


title: Jan Mølby

text: Two seasons of decent Division Three form followed, before overtures from Hull City prompted Mølby's departure for East Yorkshire. His tenure was brief however, as internal strife cast a shadow over his brief term in charge. A return to Kidderminster in October 2003 was unsuccessful, ending with his resignation a year later. Kidderminister were relegated back to the Conference that season and have yet to reclaim their Football League place.


title: Jan Mølby

text: Following Kenny Jackett's resignation as Swansea manager in early 2007, Mølby was linked with a return to the club. However, Mølby has responded by saying that he is unlikely to ever return to football management.


title: Jan Mølby

text: Mølby appears on a podcast called "Mølby on the Spot" presented by Trevor Downey from a field in rural Ireland.


title: Crossfade (band)

text: Crossfade is an American rock band formed in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, in 1993. Before settling on the Crossfade name in 2002, the band had previously existed under the names The Nothing and Sugardaddy Superstar. As of 2019, their current lineup includes Ed Sloan on lead vocals and guitar, Les Hall on lead guitar, keyboard, and backing vocals, Mitch James on backing vocals and bass and Ryan Yerdon on drums. Since their formation, Crossfade has released three studio albums – their self-titled debut album in 2004, "Falling Away" in 2006, and "We All Bleed" in 2011.


title: Crossfade (band)

text: Crossfade was formed in 1993, originally under the name The Nothing. The band consisted of Ed Sloan on lead guitar and vocals, Mitch James on bass guitar and backing vocals, and Brian Geiger on drums. They released two records, "The Nothing" (1994) and "Numb" (1998). The song "Breathing Slowly", originally from "Numb", was re-recorded eight years later on "Falling Away". By 2000, The Nothing had changed their name to Sugardaddy Superstar, after vocalist and DJ Tony Byroads joined the band. The band recorded songs in the "Sugardaddy Studio," a studio that lead singer Ed Sloan had built in his garage. The songs eventually attracted the interest of the Los Angeles, California A&R company Taxi (Independent A&R), and HitPredictor co-founder and FG Records/Earshot head Doug Ford which ultimately led to the signing of a record deal with the FG Records/Earshot division of Columbia Records.


title: Crossfade (band)

text: In 2002, they changed their name once again, this time to Crossfade. That year the band entered the studio to record two more songs to add to the eight they had recorded in the "Sugardaddy Studio" for their debut album. They released their first album, "Crossfade," on April 13, 2004. The first single off the album, "Cold," gave the band significant mainstream exposure. Two singles followed afterward in 2005: "So Far Away" and "Colors." In February 2005, their "Crossfade" album was certified Gold by the RIAA and was later certified Platinum in August 2005. Crossfade had with "So Far Away" their debut radio broadcast on 94.5 the Buzz (Houston, Texas) Cage Match at 10 o'clock p.m. where it competed with a new song every night and won out over the competition for over three weeks. At the time, Crossfade's single had been the longest lasting song on the Cage Match since its founding. That year, Tony Byroads left the band to start a family and was not replaced.


title: Crossfade (band)

text: After coming off the success of their first album, the band began to write a follow-up. In 2006, James Branham replaced drummer Brian Geiger, who left the group to dedicate himself to his auto detailing business. Crossfade's second album, "Falling Away," was released on August 29, 2006. The album spawned three singles: "Invincible," "Drown You Out," and "Already Gone." After releasing the album, they needed another guitarist for their upcoming tour. Les Hall, an old friend of Ed Sloan, filled the position. After touring, Hall wanted to become an official member of the band and he asked if he could take part in the songwriting. Sloan accepted and Les Hall became Crossfade's lead guitarist and keyboardist. Though their debut album sold over one million copies, "Falling Away" only sold 200,000.


title: Crossfade (band)

text: In 2008, the band was dropped from Columbia Records. The band signed with Eleven Seven Music. After drummer James Branham left and formed a new band, A Fall From Down, he was replaced by temporary member Will Hunt for the recording of the album.


title: Crossfade (band)

text: On January 2, 2009, Crossfade released a demo track entitled "We All Bleed." It was announced that they would be releasing a new album later that year. According to the band, the new album would have a darker, and possibly different, sound than their previous releases.


title: Crossfade (band)

text: In June 2010, the track listing for "We All Bleed" was revealed, and the first single, "Killing Me Inside," was released along with a music video. The release date for "We All Bleed" was originally October 26, 2010, but was pushed back first to January 2011, then April 12, 2011, before being pushed back a third time to June 21, 2011. The album closer track "Make Me A Believer" was made available for download for free in the meantime, which is the longest song the band has ever recorded. Around that time after the album was finished recording, studio drummer Will Hunt became the drummer of American rock band, Evanescence, with whom he toured in 2007.


title: Crossfade (band)

text: On November 24, 2010, Crossfade announced on their YouTube channel, CrossfadeMusicTV, that Mark Castillo from the metalcore band Bury Your Dead would be the band's new drummer.


title: Crossfade (band)

text: The same day that the first single "Killing Me Inside" was officially released to digital retailers, the band announced on their Twitter that the album would finally be released on June 21, 2011. In November, the band also released the second single, "Prove You Wrong," and released the music video for the song in December.


title: Crossfade (band)

text: Crossfade supported Papa Roach and Buckcherry on the Rock Allegiance Tour in 2011 with Puddle of Mudd, P.O.D., Red, and Drive A.


title: Crossfade (band)

text: In January 2012, drummer Mark Castillo announced on his Facebook that he had left Crossfade to pursue a career in the metalcore band Emmure.


title: Crossfade (band)

text: Despite a lengthy period of inactivity, the band had not broken up as of August 2016. Sloan took to Facebook to address rumors of the band's demise in the meantime.


title: Crossfade (band)

text: In October 2017, Ed Sloan said on Facebook that an upcoming solo album was underway and that its debut single "Surrender", would be released on November 10. An acoustic version of "Surrender" was later released. On January 1, 2018, former drummer from Puddle of Mudd Ryan Yerdon joined Crossfade as a new drummer. On February 2, 2018, Ed released his second solo single titled "Alive." An official music video was released a month later. On March 30, 2018, Ed released his third solo single titled "Without You."


title: Giorgio by Moroder

text: "Giorgio by Moroder" is a song written and recorded by French electronic music duo Daft Punk for their fourth studio album, "Random Access Memories" (2013). It is the third track on the album. The song features a monologue by Italian musician Giorgio Moroder, who speaks about his early life and musical career. "Giorgio by Moroder" charted in France and Sweden due to downloads of the album.


title: Giorgio by Moroder

text: Giorgio Moroder first publicly mentioned his collaboration with Daft Punk in May 2012; he revealed that he had recorded a monologue about his life for a track on the album. Daft Punk's pitch to Moroder was to conduct an extensive interview with him, and to edit excerpts of the resulting monologue into a documentary song. "Giorgio by Moroder" was created to serve as a metaphor about musical freedom, as Daft Punk believed that a monologue by Moroder about his career would serve as an analogy for music's history regarding exploration of genres and tastes. The duo had been in contact with Moroder in relation to a possible contribution for the "" film score, but this never occurred.


title: Giorgio by Moroder

text: Moroder clarified that he was not involved in the composition of the track: "They did not let me get involved at all. Thomas asked me if I wanted to tell the story of my life. Then they would know what to do with it." Moroder further explained that he was unaware of how the duo would incorporate his monologue, at one point thinking the duo "might cut it up into a rap". Daft Punk based the composition on a demo the duo had made years earlier, specifically because they felt that the piece resembled Moroder's style. Among the topics Moroder spoke of in his monologue was his creative process behind Donna Summer's album "I Remember Yesterday" and its closing track "I Feel Love". Upon hearing "Giorgio by Moroder" in complete form, he felt that it had been inspired by his own recordings, particularly "I Feel Love".


title: Giorgio by Moroder

text: Peter Franco, who served as an audio engineer on the album, recalled that Daft Punk had wanted to conduct some tests at Henson Recording Studios early in the production process. The arpeggio heard throughout "Giorgio by Moroder" was captured in these initial sessions, "with layers of that arpeggio played via MIDI through different synths to create that great sound." Franco described the tests as "very fun and loose sessions", and was pleasantly surprised that some of the parts ended up in the final product.


title: Giorgio by Moroder

text: When Moroder arrived in the studio to record his monologue, he was initially perplexed that the booth contained multiple microphones; he wondered if the extra equipment was a precaution in case one of the microphones broke. The recording engineer explained that the microphones varied with origin dates that ranged from the 1960s to the 21st century, and that each microphone would be used to represent the different decades in Moroder's life. The engineer added that although most listeners would not be able to distinguish between each microphone, Bangalter would know the difference. Nile Rodgers was also present during the voice recording sessions, which took place over the course of two days.


title: Giorgio by Moroder

text: Moroder did not receive an update on the progress of the song until six months prior to the release of the album; Moroder happened to be in the same studio in Paris where Daft Punk had been working at that point. He was told by the engineer there that "Giorgio by Moroder" was coming along well, but that the engineer was not at liberty to discuss the track further. Moroder later expressed that he could have been more precise when the duo had interviewed him, as he felt his recording had faltering grammar in a few places. He also noted that if he ever decided to write an autobiography, he would ask Daft Punk for the complete session tapes of "Giorgio by Moroder" to use as a basis. A 10" vinyl disc containing an extended interview from the sessions is included in a deluxe box set release of "Random Access Memories".


title: Giorgio by Moroder

text: Much like the rest of the album, "Giorgio by Moroder" makes use of studio musicians for most of the instrumentation. Daft Punk conveyed their ideas to the musicians via sheet music and in some instances by humming melodies. Bangalter recalled an example in which he hummed a complex drum and bass line to Omar Hakim, who replicated and improved upon it for "Giorgio by Moroder". As the duo sought to avoid using stock audio samples, Daft Punk recorded new sound effects with the help of professional foley artists from Warner Bros. They produced the sounds of a busy restaurant by placing microphones in front of a group of people using forks.


title: Giorgio by Moroder

text: The song is played in the key of A minor, in common time and at a tempo of 113 beats per minute. Zach Baron of "GQ" referred to the piece as "Moroder haltingly talk[ing] about his early days as a German club warrior over a click track." "Mixmag" analyses elaborated that the narration is complemented with changes in instrumentation for dramatic effect: As one review pointed out, "Moroder explains how he 'knew he needed a click' and a click track duly starts a basic percussion line". Another noted that, "he informs us that his 'friends call him Giorgio' before the track explodes into an arpeggiated synth dream". "Q Magazine" detailed that the composition transitions from "electro [...] into pure disco into vast orchestral beauty into a blizzard of syndrums" and builds until it reaches a conventional house music beat. Matthew Horton of "NME" remarked that the song concludes with "the bass bounc[ing] down comically to nothing." Critics have also noted the similarities between the structure of "Giorgio by Moroder" and that of Cerrone's song "Supernature".


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf (; born 26 December 1950) is a Pakistani politician, businessman and agriculturist who is the current Speaker of the National Assembly and a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from NA-58 (Rawalpindi-II). He served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from 22 June 2012 until completing his designated term on 16 March 2013. He has also served as the Senior Vice President of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an anti-establishment coalition of political parties in Pakistan.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: Prior to being elevated as prime minister, he served as the Minister for Water and Power in the Yousaf Raza Gillani-led government from March 2008 to February 2011. A senior-ranking leader in the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) from Rawalpindi District, Ashraf assumed premiership on 22 June 2012 after Yousaf Raza Gillani was disqualified over contempt of court charges. Shortlisted by the PPP as a candidate for the post, he was eventually elected based on a 211–89 vote in the National Assembly.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: Tackling the corruption scandals, one of the major achievements during his premiership was his interest to develop and implement hydro projects in particular the 970-MW Neelum-Jhelum project. The project had received a big jolt when the Chinese Exim Bank refused to release a $448 million loan linking it to the restoration of the Safe City Project in Islamabad which was stopped by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. During his tenure Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) launched a number of mega and medium-sized projects in Gilgit–Baltistan.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was born on 26 December 1950 in Sanghar, Sindh. He graduated from the University of Sindh in 1970 and was involved in agriculture before entering politics. He is married to Nusrat Pervaiz Ashraf and has four children, which include two sons and two daughters. Ashraf belongs to the Minhas clan of Pakhral and is originally from Gujar Khan, an industrial town in the Rawalpindi District of the Potohar region in northern Punjab. The Potohar region is home to numerous prominent political and military personalities. Ashraf comes from a middle class Potohari-speaking family of landowners who have had a traditional background in politics. An uncle of his served as a minister in the cabinet of Ayub Khan during the 1960s. His parents owned agricultural land in the town of Sanghar in Sindh, where he was born and brought up. Ashraf is multilingual and can fluently speak English, Urdu, Punjabi and Potwari and Sindhi.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: He is regarded as an important PPP loyalist and leader in the Rawalpindi region. He contested parliamentary elections in 1990, 1993 and 1997. He won in elections held in 2002 and then in 2008, following which he was appointed as federal minister for water, and as power minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: Ashraf has been twice elected Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan (MNA) from his constituency of Gujar Khan, Rawalpindi District. He won re-election in the February 2008 elections. During his time as an MNA, he served as a member of the Standing Committee on Kashmir and the Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights. Before his ascendance to the post of prime minister, he was also the secretary general of the PPP.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: He became the head of the Water and Power Ministry in the coalition government of PPP, PML-N, ANP, JUI-F and MQM formed after the 2008 elections. During his tenure as power minister, there was a chronic shortage of electricity generation throughout the country and power cuts (load shedding) remained frequent. In the position, he faced heavy criticism for repeatedly promising the country's power crisis would be over "by 2008" as the country suffered regular blackouts. He became one of the most sought after ministers in the National Assembly, by legislators who demanded answers for the power crisis.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: According to a report on his parliamentary performance, the water and power ministry while Ashraf was in-charge received as many as 1,147 official questions and queries, of which only 60% were responded to.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: The report opined that Ashraf's performance as minister was "tainted by failures to overcome the power shortfall that continued to aggravate even after he was replaced" and that his actions and responses both inside and outside the National Assembly had "not been translated into actions" Nevertheless, about 3,570 megawatts of power was added to the national grid during the PPP government, a major portion of which came during Ashraf's term in office. His term is said to have overseen relatively more megawatts being added to the national grid when compared to other ministers of power and energy since Benazir Bhutto's last government. He was accused of receiving kickbacks in the rental power projects, and of using illegal money to buy foreign property. Ashraf denied the charges, and as of June 2012, was defending himself before the Supreme Court. No official charges have been framed against him as no evidence could be presented so far.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: One of the main reasons for power crisis, which have never received due attention and focus is the circular debt and which continued to increase over the years. The government has time and again tried to clear the circular debt, however it comes again. This is because of the structural issues including power theft, poor recovery from other government departments, difference between cost of generation and actual cost charged to customer. During Ashraf's government prioritised hydro power projects in particular Neelum Jhelum 970 MW. During his term, WAPDA initiated several hydro projects in Gilgit Baltistan (GB) including the Satpara Dam having 17 MW power generation capacity and 0.093 million acre feetwater storage capacity and Diamer-Bhasha Dam having 4,500 MW power generation capacity and 8.1 million acre feet water storage capacity, along with hydropower projects of 7,100 MW Bunji, 34 MW Harpo, 80 MW Phandar and 40 MW Basho.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: Hydro power is the cheapest energy source and as Minister and PM he gave special attention, however hydro power projects take long time to complete and the electricity from the projects will be available after 10 years. To resolve short term energy crisis, Ashraf implemented power project on rental basis, following the rental policy approved in Mushrrafs tenure. However the projects became controversial.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: On 26 April 2012, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani was convicted of being in contempt of court for refusing to bring charges against President Asif Ali Zardari. On 19 June 2012, Gillani was retroactively ruled ineligible to hold the office by the Supreme Court. The ruling Pakistan People's Party nominated textile minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin to replace Gillani, but the nomination failed when the Anti-Narcotics Force issued a warrant for Shahabuddin's arrest on drug charges. Ashraf was then selected as the party's next option.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: On 22 June 2012, Raja Pervez Ashraf was elected Prime Minister of Pakistan Ashraf and his cabinet were sworn in on the same day. His selection as Prime Minister restored the country's government after several days of turmoil where officially the country was without a government. The Associated Press said Ashraf's election was "unlikely to calm the tensions roiling the country" and noted that many observers expected him to eventually be ousted like his predecessor. Political analyst Raza Rumi said Ashraf was likely chosen by the PPP because they knew he would not last long. On 24 July 2012, the government informed the Supreme Court, one day before expiry of the court's deadline, that it had not taken a decision on reopening of the graft cases against President Zardari.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: Immediately after his election, Ashraf said that the economy, inflation, and the country's power crisis would be his top concerns. "Our country cannot afford politics of confrontation at this time," he said. Within 24 hours of being elected, Ashraf held a meeting to resolve the energy crisis in the country and directed the Ministry of Petroleum to ensure the supply of 28,000 tonnes of fuel daily to power plants, so as to add 1200 mega watts to the national grid system. There were power protests erupting throughout the country for continual load shedding. The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) was critical of this renewed focus on energy, calling it a "useless effort" with the president of PEW, Murtaza Mughal, remarking that load shedding had only "increased in the harrowing summer", making life difficult for the ordinary citizen; Mughal further noted that the announcement of adding more fuel into independent power producers had been portrayed positively, despite the fact that the actual problem did not lie in scarcity of fuel but rather in non-payment of dues. Businesspeople and economists in Pakistan had a mixed response to Ashraf's appointment; while some appreciated the prime minister's focus on the energy crisis and hoped for greater cooperation between key institutions and political parties as being good for economic stability, others questioned his reputation related to rental power and expressed anxiety over the government's ongoing clash with the judiciary which could cause uncertainty and scare businesses away. A government official praised the smooth transition of power and said that the country's economic policy would stay the same, adding that the government's economic team will carry on with implementing the budget and other economic functions as present before Gillani's disqualification.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: As an initiative to overcome the energy crises, Ashraf announced his intention to build several small dams across the country. He said that these projects would start from his native Potohar plateau, as part of a development programme for the Potohar region. Apart from energy, he identified the deteriorating law and order situation of Karachi, especially with regards to target killings, as a second major challenge.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: In September 2012, during his maiden trip to Gilgit-Baltistan, Ashraf announced a Rs. 2 billion development package for the region.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: On 12 July 2012, The Supreme Court in its NRO implementation case order has ruled that Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf must write the letter to Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: On 25 July 2012, The Supreme Court gave Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to 8 August 2012 to implement its order by writing a letter to Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zradari.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: Three days after his election, Ashraf visited Nine Zero and met with leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in Karachi. He also visited the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (F). The visits were seen as part of a fresh move to reaffirm ties with coalition political parties.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: The first significant milestone Ashraf performed after taking charge of his office was an approval for the creation of a post of Deputy Prime Minister of Pakistan to fulfill a demand of the coalition party Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML-Q). The post was inaugurated on 25 June and Chaudhry Pervez Elahi of PML-Q was appointed as the first deputy prime minister of the country. However, the position is largely symbolic and has no legal constitutional duties.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: On 27 June 2012, the Supreme Court of Pakistan gave prime minister Ashraf two weeks to indicate whether he would ask Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases against president Zardari. However, Ashraf stated that his position on the issue was no different from that of previous prime minister Gillani. In the first week of July, he directed attention on the Balochistan conflict and called for a high-level meeting to discuss the issue of missing persons in the province. In the first week of July, Ashraf announced the government's plans to establish legislation which would remove the bar on dual nationality holders from contesting in elections. If passed, the legislation would enable Overseas Pakistanis holding dual nationalities eligible to participate in elections and hold public office. The enforcement of such a legislation remains a controversial issue. He made a visit to Peshawar a few days later, where he met local politicians, during which he expressed his views on the parliament being "the mother of all institutions". He has praised the role of democracy in creating an "independent media, judiciary and parliament." He further paid tribute to the Pakistan Army in its role in the War on Terror and military operations in the troubled northwestern areas.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: In the fraud case against Asif Ali Zardari, he indicated in September 2012 that he would be willing to open the pending fraud cases.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: When commenting on foreign policy after assuming premiership, Ashraf said that he wanted to deal with the United States on "an equal footing". However, he will likely have to deal with the court's demands to charge Zardari before doing much else. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India congratulated Ashraf shortly after his election, and anticipated greater progress in bilateral relations between the two countries during Ashraf's term. The Chinese government greeted Ashraf and pledged closer ties with Pakistan to strengthen their "all-weather friendship". Other notable messages of congratulation came from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Afghan president Hamid Karzai.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: On 24 June 2012, several Tehrik-i-Taliban militants from Afghanistan entered Pakistan's bordering tribal areas killing 13 Pakistani troops, of which seven were beheaded. During the conflict, Pakistani troops killed fourteen of the raiding militants. The attack, one of several such cross-border skirmishes, was strongly condemned with Raja Pervaiz Ashraf stating that the matter would be directly taken to Afghan president Hamid Karzai.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: Regarding his stand on the Kashmir conflict with India, Ashraf has categorically stated that Pakistan would continue providing moral, political, and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people of Jammu and Kashmir until a solution was to be reached for the issue in accordance with UN resolutions and Kashmiri aspirations.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: Ashraf is expected to visit Kabul, Afghanistan, to hold talks with the Afghan leadership on the peace process in Afghanistan amidst the ongoing Afghan war and to discuss the status of Afghan-led reconciliation with the Afghan Taliban. The visit comes at a time when Pakistan's relations with the United States have improved in the aftermath of the 2011 NATO attack. On 15 July, he performed a two-day state visit to Saudi Arabia, his first official tour since becoming prime minister. During the visit, he would perform Umrah, meet with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, discuss the status of relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and also meet members of the Pakistani community in Saudi Arabia.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: On his visit to Kabul, Afghanistan, in late July 2012, Ashraf met with Karzai government officials and engaged in talks with the two main opposition leaders Abdullah Abdullah from the National Coalition of Afghanistan and Ahmad Zia Massoud from the National Front of Afghanistan. Among other things they discussed the need for increased and regular dialogue between leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: On 30 March, the apex court had directed the National Accountability Bureau to proceed against those who were in the post of minister for water and power from 2006 till the next general elections. As a result, on 20 April, NAB issued arrest warrants for 33 persons, including Ashraf.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: On 15 January 2013, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered the arrest of Raja Pervaiz Ashraf for alleged corruption as Ashraf was accused of kickbacks from rental power plants that were part of a project intended to serve as part of the solution to Pakistan's power problems. The media derided Raja Pervaiz Ashraf as "Rental Raja". The arrest order came at the same time as the Long March culminated in the national capital of Islamabad. None of the accused in the rental case has been convicted so far. The rental power case is pending with independent Supreme court for nearly four years and no conviction has been made. Ashraf has time and again demanded clearance of his name and denies all the charges. Ashraf in his appearance in the Supreme Court categorically denied such charges and offered his complete cooperation with all authorities and courts. A member of the ruling Pakistan People's Party referred to the arrest order as "a conspiracy" while Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik, claimed that "Even after this order, (Ashraf) is the prime minister and, God willing, he will continue as prime minister." The accountability court in Islamabad indicted former Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and six others in the rental power case on 16 January 2014.


title: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

text: Raja Pervez Ashraf appointed his son-in-law Raja Azeem in World Bank (Executive Director-Pakistan and others) in violation of rules and an example of Nepotism prevalent in Pakistani political elite.


title: Brilliant Pebbles

text: Brilliant Pebbles was a ballistic missile defense (BMD) system proposed by Lowell Wood and Edward Teller of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in 1987, near the end of the Cold War. The system would consist of thousands of small missiles, similar to conventional heat seeking missiles, which would be placed in low Earth orbit constellations so that hundreds would be above the Soviet Union at all times. If the Soviets launched its ICBM fleet, the pebbles would detect their rocket motors using infrared seekers and collide with them. Because the pebble strikes the ICBM before the latter could release its warheads, each pebble could destroy several warheads with one shot.


title: Brilliant Pebbles

text: The name is a play on the idea of Smart Rocks, a concept promoted by Daniel O. Graham as part of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). This used large battle stations with powerful sensors, carrying dozens of small missiles, the rocks. To keep enough missiles above the Soviet Union at any given time, a minimum of 423 stations would be needed. The United States Air Force pointed out that this would require an enormous space lift capability, well beyond what was available. In meetings with Graham, Teller dismissed the concept as "outlandish" and vulnerable to attack by anti-satellite weapons. The SDI Office (SDIO) was similarly dismissive of the concept.


title: Brilliant Pebbles

text: Teller and Wood initially proposed their own BMD system, Project Excalibur. This used an X-ray laser driven by a nuclear warhead that could attack dozens of ICBMs at once. In 1986, Excalibur failed several critical tests. Soon after, the American Physical Society published a report stating that none of the directed-energy weapons being studied by SDI were remotely ready for use. Abandoning these approaches for the short term, SDIO then promoted a new concept that was essentially a renamed Smart Rocks. It was at this point that Wood introduced Pebbles, suggesting that advances in sensors and microprocessors meant there was no need for a central station—the missiles could host all the equipment they needed to act alone. To attack this system, anti-satellite weapons would have to be launched against every pebble, not every station.


title: Brilliant Pebbles

text: After considerable study, in 1990 Pebbles replaced Rocks as the baseline SDI design and in 1991 it was ordered into production and became the "crowning achievement of the Strategic Defense Initiative". By this time the Soviet Union was collapsing and the perceived threat changed to shorter-range theatre ballistic missiles. Pebbles was modified, but doing so raised its weight and cost; the original design called for around 10,000 missiles and would cost $10 to $20 billion, but by 1990 the cost for 4,600 had ballooned to $55 billion. Fighting in Congress through the early 1990s led to Pebbles' cancellation in 1993.


title: Brilliant Pebbles

text: There are a wide variety of stories about the origins of Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. According to one often repeated tale, it was Reagan's viewing of Alfred Hitchcock's "Torn Curtain" that did it. Edward Teller instead pointed to a talk he gave on the topic of BMD in 1967 that Reagan attended. Others point to Reagan's visit to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in 1979; there he saw the systems that could detect a Soviet launch and then track their warheads. When he asked what they could do in that situation, the answer was "launch our own missiles." Whatever the source, Reagan was convinced that Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) was ridiculous, dismissing it as the international equivalent of a suicide pact.


title: Brilliant Pebbles

text: Reagan asked Daniel O. Graham, his military advisor during the 1980 presidential campaign and former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, to look for possible solutions. At first, Graham proposed a system of manned space fighters, but the idea was quickly dismissed. Next, he revived the 1960s Project BAMBI to be the basis of a new system he referred to as Smart Rocks. This concept used "battle stations" in low Earth orbit, each carrying several dozen small missiles similar to a conventional air-to-air missile. The platforms would carry advanced sensors to detect and track Soviet ICBMs as they launched, and then launch its missiles and guide them until the missile's own infrared sensors picked up the ICBM. As the ICBM rocket engine was extremely bright in infrared, even a very simple interceptor missile could successfully track them.


title: Brilliant Pebbles

text: As the interceptors were relatively small and carried a limited amount of rocket fuel, they could only attack ICBMs within a limited range of the stations. This meant the stations had to be in low orbit, to keep them close to their targets. At these altitudes, the stations moved at speeds around compared to the surface of the Earth. At that rate, any given station would spend only a few minutes over the Soviet Union. To ensure there were enough stations in the right locations at any given time, hundreds of stations were needed. The Air Force noted that there was nowhere near enough launch capacity to build such a system, and even if it could be launched, maintaining it would cost at least $30 billion a year in 1963 dollars (). Additionally, it was noted that there was no effective way to protect the stations against attacks by anti-satellite weapons (ASATs), and the Soviets could easily afford to launch one for each platform.


title: Brilliant Pebbles

text: Although twenty years had elapsed since BAMBI had first been studied and the concept had been re-examined several times, no obvious solution to these problems had presented itself. The Smart Rocks proposal, now known officially as Global Ballistic Missile Defense, ignored all of these problems, presenting a bare minimum of information. One observer derided the concept as being "one view-graph deep" and "unencumbered by practical engineering considerations or the laws of physics." In spite of this, Graham soon found a group of like-minded Republicans who formed a group known as the High Frontier Panel to help develop and support his idea. The group was led by Karl Bendetsen and began meeting in a room provided by The Heritage Foundation.


title: Brilliant Pebbles

text: Around the same time that Graham was formulating his Smart Rocks concept, studies into X-ray lasers at Livermore made an apparent breakthrough. Nuclear explosions give off massive amounts of X-ray energy, and it appeared possible these could be focussed down into narrow beams as the basis for a long-range laser weapon. Previous systems had used carbon-based lasing materials, but calculations showed that the energy could be greatly increased by using a metal rod instead. The idea had been largely theoretical until a key test of the new concept in November 1980.


title: Brilliant Pebbles

text: By surrounding a nuclear warhead with dozens of rods, each could be independently aimed to shoot down an enemy missile. A single such warhead might be able to destroy 50 missiles in a radius of a around it. A small fleet of such warheads could seriously disrupt any Soviet attack. In February 1981, Teller and Wood traveled to Washington to pitch the idea of a Manhattan Project-level development effort to produce these weapons in what they called Project Excalibur.


title: Brilliant Pebbles

text: Teller was also a member of the High Frontier group and began attacking Graham's Smart Rocks as "outlandish", and suggested his own Excalibur be used in its place. Graham countered by pointing out a serious flaw in Excalibur; he noted that it worked by blowing itself up, so in the event a Soviet anti-satellite weapon approached, it could either blow itself up to attack the ASAT, or allow itself to be blown up by the ASAT. In either case, the Excalibur would be destroyed. Teller soon returned with a solution. In this concept, the Excalibur weapons would be placed on missiles on submarines and launched when needed.


title: Brilliant Pebbles

text: Seeing himself increasingly sidelined, Graham left the group in December 1981 to form High Frontier Inc. In March 1982, they published a glossy book on the topic. It claimed that the system could be "fully deployed within five or six years at a minimum cost of some $10–$15 billion." A pre-publication copy was sent to the Air Force, who dismissed it, saying that it "had no technical merit and should be rejected."


title: Brilliant Pebbles

text: On 23 March 1983, Reagan gave his famous "Star Wars" speech that called on the scientists of the United States to build defenses that would render nuclear weapons obsolete. Over the next year this was formalized as the Strategic Defense Initiative Office (SDIO), and soon, many of the United States weapons laboratories and major defense contractors were exploring a variety of systems to meet this goal. Along with Excalibur and the space-based laser, new proposals included ground-based lasers, various particle-beam weapons and nuclear shaped charges.


title: Brilliant Pebbles

text: Through the early phases of SDI, the Smart Rocks concept was ignored by the SDIO. A study by research scientist Ashton Carter (to become Secretary of Defense much later) concluded that the system had "extremely limited capability for boost phase intercept of present Soviet ICBMs and no capability against future MX-like Soviet boosters, even with no Soviet effort to overcome the defense." Graham's connections in Washington's political circles meant the concept was well known in spite of any official indifference. This led to a constant stream of questions by politicians to the SDIO about the system and why they were not working on it. In 1985, Sam Nunn asked James A. Abrahamson, director of the SDIO, about it once again. Abrahamson stated that "he would not recommend that the United States proceed to deploy it."


title: Brilliant Pebbles

text: By 1986, many of the systems being studied had run into difficulties. Among these was Teller's Excalibur, which failed several critical tests in 1986. A similar test carried out by skeptical physicists at Los Alamos National Laboratory suggested there was no lasing going on at all. Other concepts, like the neutral beam weapon, demonstrated performance that was so poor it was unlikely it could ever work. The best among them all was the Space Based Laser, but it needed to improve its beam quality by at least 100 times before it would be able to disable an ICBM.


title: Brilliant Pebbles

text: That same year, the American Physical Society (APS) published their review of the directed-energy weapon efforts. After a lengthy declassification procedure, it was released to the public in March 1987. Compiled by a veritable Who's Who in the laser and physics community, including a Nobel laureate, the lengthy report stated in no uncertain terms that none of the concepts were remotely ready for use. In every case, performance had to be improved at least a hundred times, and for some of the concepts, as much as a million times. It concluded that at least another decade of work was required before they would even know if any of the systems could ever reach the necessary performance.