If you build it, they will come.

Lego fan and Colt fan Brian Alano ponied up some of his hard earned money to help create a LEGO replica of Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts and Super Bowl XVLI.  Over 30,000 of the little plastic toys were gathered to create the five-foot square tribute that is currently being showcased in honor of the Super Bowl.

[via INDYSTAR.com] When he heard Lucas Oil Stadium was on the drawing board to be built in Downtown Indianapolis, Brian Alano posed the idea of constructing a LEGO replica of the Colts’ new home to his wife, Becky.“I didn’t have any clue about the scope of how big it would be,” said Becky, 46.

“I asked her if I could build it,” said Brian, a 44-year-old engineer from Bloomington, Ind. “Lucky for me, she didn’t ask me very many questions.”

Like how much it would cost to order more than 30,000 LEGOs to construct his five-foot-square masterpiece. Brian won’t say how much he spent, just that it was costly. And it took him a long time. He started in April of 2006 and finished it in July 2009.

The LEGO Lucas Oil Stadium replica is on display this week on the third floor of the JW Marriott, media headquarters for Super Bowl XLVI. And it’s positioned in a perfect spot, with the real stadium visible in the background. The structure was on display at last summer’s Indiana State Fair. Fans will have to pay to see it at the JW Marriott — access today through Friday to the media floor where Radio Row is situated requires buying a $25 ticket.

Alano dedicated three years to the project and no detail was left out. There’s even a working TV screen and a crowd of Colts fans as well football players on the field. Crazy!

For the first time in over 15 years, the Carolina Panthers have updated their look and feel. Fresh off the exciting rookie season of QB Cam Newton, the Panthers will be more exciting than in past years and should see more playoff time and winning seasons.

That means more exposure on TV and potential playoff games and hopefully more fans. So it’s a perfect time to update the team’s look.  You’ll notice offhand the eyes, whiskers and teeth are stylized as well as some shading added.  Overall, it’s a good update to a decent logo.

The logo is not changed dramatically but rather small tweeks to keep the look and feel of the primary logo. The team name font, however, gets a much needed update from the 90′s graffiti style script to a more modern, bolder font.

Original Carolina Panthers script and logo

[via Carolina Panthers.com] The updated identity reflects a modernized version of the previous logo and logotype and visually connects the two together. It has been designed to provide a more aggressive, contemporary look to the logo while making it more three-dimensional for ever-increasing digital use.

“We have one of the finest and most recognizable logos in the NFL and wanted to make it as modern as possible without losing the dramatic essence of the mark,” said Carolina Panthers President Danny Morrison.

The Panthers will transition to the refined logo throughout 2012. The primary tweaks made by the National Football League’s creative department are primarily in the features in the eye and mouth. The logo will also be accompanied by a change in the primary logotype.

It’s Super Bowl time again and with the New England Patriots heading to the Super Bowl for their fifth time under head coach Bill Belichick.

And that means it’s time to pull out Bill’s best video clip ever. No, it’s not him cheating or yelling at reporters or dancing at a local nightclub, even though the last one would be funny. Instead it’s an embarrassing clip of Belichick from his Cleveland days where he was unsuccessful at coaching the Browns but very successful at making his signature BBPB&J sandwich.

That stands for Bill Belichick’s Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches and it’s time to dust off this classic again to celebrate Belichick’s return to the Super Bowl.

One young lady took the Packers playoff loss extremely hard and spent the night crying.

No, we’re not talking about Aaron Rodgers here (zing) but rather a Packer fan named Casey who spent the trip home from the bar, where they watched the Giants thump Green Bay, in an emotional fit.

It’s going to be a tough offseason in cheeseland as the mighty Packers now have to figure out if they need to fix that defense that can’t keep up with their offense or if they just need to spend the offseason teaching their receivers to learn how to catch a ball.

Either way, anything will help.

Well, I’m interested to see NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s view on this. I’m not sure if large-caliber sniper guns violate NFL conduct rules but we’re about to find out.

I mean, it’s not a crime to blow shit up, is it?

Arizona Cardinals defensive lineman Darnell Dockett really needs something to do in the offseason because when his team isn’t in the playoffs apparently Dockett is off getting ready to stage a coup or something.

Dockett Tweeted:

This is a Barret! 6shots will knock a house down! T.I couldn’t even get this!

Dockett Tweeted some pics he made of himself and his new toy, a 50-cal Barrett rifle. If you’re not a fan of FPS shooter games like Battlefield 3 or Call of Duty, or a member of the Armed Forces, you might need some background.

This just isn’t a gun. This just isn’t a rifle.  This is one of the tools a military uses to blow people’s head off from like a mile away.  Wicked stuff.

The only thing more epic than watching Texans defender J.J. Watt destroy the Bengals playoff hopes is the constant images of Houston running back Arian Foster and his new haircut.

Before the game, Foster Tweeted his new do to his fans which featured a buzzcut with the Texans logo cut into his scalp.

And it worked! The Texans won their first playoff game as a franchise and easily thumped the Bengals 31-10. Foster, despite some first half butter fingers, held on to power the Texans into the post-season with 153 yards rushing and 2 TDs.

I now can wait to see what he does next week or if he gets superstitious and keeps his current cut. Here’s a clip of some of Foster’s spectacular running with a 42-yard TD scamper complete with dominating stiff-arm. This guy’s a beast!

Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!

Ankles are not supposed to bend that way! And they’re not supposed to stay bent that way!

Chiefs/Broncos highlights include this video of Denver lineman Chris Kuper getting his ankle broken in a painful way. Even running back Willis McGahee, who once suffered a horrible knee injury, ran off the field in shock at the injury. If anyone knows about parts of the leg bending the wrong way, it’s McGahee.

If you dare watch the video, check out McGahee flip out and run off the field. You’ll also notice that Tim Tebow has a ‘Oh, God!’ thing going on and we’re not talking Tebowing.

Playing football is a dangerous game and it’s an honor to get your team to a Bowl game. During the Insight Bowl, the Iowa Hawkeyes trailed the Oklahoma Sooners 24-14 late in the fourth quarter when ESPN, running an overhead Skycam, had a bit of an issue.

ESPN’s Skycam snapped a support line and dropped onto the field close to Iowa receiver Marvin McNutt who had to get out of the way fast. Crazy

The Niners and Patriots led the NFL Pro Bowl ballots with each team getting 8 players elected to the annual event. While the headlines centered around Tom Brady and many of his Pats going back to the Pro Bowl, it should be noted that four of the NFL’s biggest headline makers this season did not get voted in: Lions DT Ndamukong Suh, Steelers LB James Harrison, Panthers rookie QB Cam Newton, and Denver QB Tim Tebow.

How Tebow missed the ballot is odd since his devoted fanbase is more than a bit nutty. But that’s what happens when you start voting late in the season and Tebow didn’t become a starter until around that point. Fans didn’t get get to ride his 6 game winning streak in time.

The lack of Suh and Harrison is a shame but being players who have a habit of making headlines for being bad boys more than anything it’s not a huge surprise.

But the biggest letdown is Cam Newton. No other player has really carried his team as much through the year as Newton and because his lowly Panthers didn’t make headlines or primetime, it was hard to see some of the outstanding work he did.

Also nixed is Lions QB Matthew Stafford. Despite leading the Lions to the playoffs for the first time in 150 years, Stafford will have to watch the game on TV. Shame, too. Stafford has had a great year and stayed healthy. Despite the Lions slumping in the middle, he definitely should have gotten voted in.

Even though Tebow missed the team the outstanding work of rookie linebacker Von Miller did not go unnoticed. Miller, Cincinnati receiver A.J. Green, and Arizona cornerback Patrick Peterson, selected as a kick return specialist, were three of the rookies chosen this year.

This is not the first time I’ve been in awe of a clip showing the skills of Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Jerome Simpson. The first one was more of a clip that should be sent to the Academy Awards for best flop in a game. Or at least he could have been a professional soccer player.

But today’s weekend game of the Bengals and Cardinals saw a clip on the other end of the spectrum. Instead of making a clip great by acting funny, Simpson showed off his acrobatic skills as he jumped and flipped over a player to get into the endzone and score.

Epic!