Latest news with #Tait
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Bears All-Quarter Century Team: Offensive line
Twenty-five years of Chicago Bears football are in the books since the turn of the century. Since the calendar turned over to 2000, the Bears have seen some success, but also plenty of woeful stretches. Early on, Chicago became a defensive force, claiming four division titles and reaching only their second Super Bowl in franchise history from 2000 to 2010. Since then, however, a 14-year playoff victory drought that is still ongoing and a one-sided fight with their rival Green Bay Packers have taken the spotlight. For all the ups and downs the Bears have seen, however, they had plenty of talent over the years across offense and defense. Multiple former Bears players are already in the Hall of Fame, while many more provided years of incredible play in the navy and orange. Advertisement Here at Bears Wire, we're celebrating the best Bears players at each position over the last 25 years. We're going position by position to name the Bears' All-Quarter Century Team for those who played from 2000 through 2024. Rounding out the offense is the offensive line, a group led by one of the best centers in NFL history. Offensive tackle James "Big Cat" Williams 1991-2002 John Tait 2004-2008 Charles Leno 2014-2020 5 Nov 2000: James Williams #71 of the Chicago Bears looks on during the game against the Indianapolis Colts at the Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. The Bears defeated the Colts Credit: Jonathan Daniel /Allsport Offensive tackle hasn't exactly been a position of strength for the Bears over the last 25 years, but they have had some studs put together stellar seasons, beginning with James "Big Cat" Williams, a player who didn't even begin his NFL career as an offensive tackle. Though the majority of his career took place in the 1990s, Williams ended his Bears tenure strong at the turn of the century. He helped pave the way for running back Anthony Thomas in 2001, earning Pro Bowl and Second-Team All-Pro honors as the Bears captured a division title. Advertisement A few years following Williams' retirement, the Bears had big holes to fill at both tackle spots. They took a big swing to fill one of them with John Tait, and the move paid off. Chicago signed Tait to a six-year deal in 2004 away from the Kansas City Chiefs, and he immediately provided stability up front. Tait played both sides on the line but primarily lined up at left tackle. He played in 73 games across five seasons and was a critical piece of the 2006 Super Bowl team that featured a powerful rushing attack. Though he never received any Pro Bowl accolades, Tait was one of the best and most important signings of the Jerry Angelo era. In the 2010s, the Bears found a gem in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL Draft when they selected Charles Leno Jr. out of Boise State. What seemed to be a borderline practice squad player turned into a reliable starting left tackle within just one season. Leno took hold of the left tackle job in Week 4 of the 2015 season and never missed a start for the rest of his Bears career. While Leno earned a Pro Bowl nod in 2018, he was never a star protector in the league. Still, the Bears had a revolving door at left tackle for a long time, and Leno was the solution. Honorable mention: Fred Miller Offensive guard Kyle Long 2013-2019 Roberto Garza 2005-2014 Ruben Brown 2004-2007 Nov 9, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; Chicago Bears tackle Kyle Long (75) reacts during a 22-19 victory against the San Diego Chargers in a NFL football game at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports In 2013, then-general manager Phil Emery shocked Bears fans by selecting a 25-year-old guard with their first-round pick. It turned out to be a great decision. Kyle Long became the Bears' best lineman in the 2010s as he settled into the right guard position, starting as a rookie. Long quickly became one of the league's best young offensive linemen, earning Pro Bowl nods in each of his first three seasons. He was a stud on the interior, and while he and the Bears experimented with him playing right tackle, guard was his best spot. Unfortunately, injuries took their toll, and Long's career didn't last as long as expected, but his prime was the best we have seen from a Bears guard this century. Advertisement While Long was a successful draft pick, these next two players were successful veteran signings. The Bears took a flyer on Roberto Garza, who signed a one-year deal in 2005 as a backup offensive lineman and potential stopgap. His stint wound up being a decade, as Garza's solid play and versatility were a welcome addition in Chicago. Garza primarily played right guard in the 2000s but filled in on the left side as well. He was a key member of three playoff squads and wound up taking over at center following Olin Kreutz's departure after the Bears couldn't find a suitable outside replacement. Garza was a consummate pro and a team leader, something they needed during that time. Prior to finding Garza, the Bears made a bigger splash with Ruben Brown, one of the best guards from the 1990s and someone who still had enough gas left in the tank during the 2000s when he signed a three-year deal. Brown made eight straight Pro Bowls with the Buffalo Bills and signed in Chicago in 2004. Though injuries limited him to just 45 games over four years, Brown was dominant when healthy and made the Pro Bowl in 2006 during his healthiest season in Chicago. Honorable mention: Chris Villarrial Center Olin Kreutz 1998 - 2010 Cody Whitehair 2016 - 2023 Advertisement There is no debate as to who the Bears' best center of the last 25 years has been. Olin Kreutz was the heart and soul of the team for the vast majority of his career. His leadership and stellar play were a key reason why Chicago became a winning franchise in the mid-2000s. Kreutz anchored the interior of the line for all four of the Bears' playoff appearances in the 2000s, earning First-Team All-Pro honors twice in 2005 and 2006, and making the Pro Bowl six years in a row from 2001 through 2006. He was also named to the NFL's 2000s All-Decade Team. Kreutz was arguably the best and most important player on offense since the turn of the century. Though there's a sizeable gap between Kreutz and the next-best center, the Bears found a good one when they drafted Cody Whitehair in 2016. Whitehair wound up filling it at center due to injuries and became a fixture at the position. While he also played guard in the back half of his career, Whitehair started at center in every game for his first three years, earning Pro Bowl honors in 2018. Whitehair did everything that was asked of him and did it well. He, like Leno, wasn't a star player on the line, but he brought consistency and reliability. Honorable mention: Roberto Garza Bears All-Quarter Century Team Follow Bears Wire on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears All-Quarter Century Team: Offensive line
Edinburgh Reporter
20 hours ago
- Sport
- Edinburgh Reporter
Tait and Bartley in The Lions den
Livingston have confirmed that Macaulay Tait has rejoined the club on a season-long loan from Heart of Midlothian. Tait, who played every game for The Lions from January this year, was a key figure in the midfield as the club secure promotion to the William Hill Premiership via the play-offs. The 19-year-old has been capped by Scotland at under-19 level and made 14 appearances with Hearts before making the switch to West Lothian. Tait's performances at the Home of the Set Fare Arena earned him the players, fans and coaches Young Player of the Year awards. He quickly became a fans favourite and has joined the first team squad as they continue to prepare for the new season. Their first pre-season game is at Alloa on Saturday, June 28. Meanwhile, Marvin Bartley joins the club's backroom staff as men's first-team coach. He first came to the West Lothian club in May 2019, from Hibernian, and he made 77 appearances across two seasons. The man nicknamed Marv was appointed club captain and was in the squad which made the Betfred Cup Final and a secured place in the Premiership's top six. Bartley retired In the summer of 2021 and was named as assistant manager to David Martindale before joining League One outfit Queen of the South. They narrowly missed out on a play-off spot before securing a mid-table finish in the following campaign. Martindale said that the elevation of Brian Rice left a void in the coaching team and it was a no-brainer to speak to Bartley. He added: 'My relationship with Marv over the years has only grown ever since the day we signed him from Hibs. I have huge respect for him as both a person, and as a coach. 'Bringing Marv back really softens the blow of losing Chipper (Brian Rice) in the dugout, but having both of these guys at the club really is fantastic for everyone at Livingston FC.' FLASHBACK: Marvin Bartley battles for the ball as a Livingston player at Hibs. Like this: Like Related
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Scotsman
a day ago
- Sport
- Scotsman
Livingston deal for Hearts midfielder Macaulay Tait - including a key clause
David Martindale adds Tynecastle youngster to his Premiership squad for season 2025/26 Sign up to our Hearts newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Livingston have agreed a deal to sign Hearts midfielder Macaulay Tait on loan again for the new season. In a move certain to please supporters in West Lothian, 19-year-old Tait is to rejoin the club he helped gain Premiership promotion last term. He will not travel to Spain for Hearts' pre-season training camp on Saturday after signing the loan agreement. Instead, he is due to board Livingston's flight to the Netherlands on Sunday. The Edinburgh News revealed David Martindale's interest in re-signing Tait two days ago. The Livingston manager would like to sign Tait permanently if possible but Hearts do not want to lose him and would only permit a loan at this stage. The season-long agreement includes a break clause in January, allowing the Edinburgh club to recall the player if they wish. Tait signed a new four-year contract at Tynecastle Park last year and is committed to his parent club until 2028. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Martindale is a huge admirer having initially taken the teenager on loan in January. Tait, a Riccarton youth academy graduate, featured 23 times for Livi last season and became a key member of their team in the Scottish Championship. His influence helped them successfully negotiate the play-offs to earn promotion back to the Premiership at the first attempt. Derek McInnes, the new Hearts head coach, is still assessing the first-team squad after his appointment last month. There is strong competition for Tait's favoured midfield role in the shape of senior players Beni Baningime, Cammy Devlin, Calem Nieuwenhof, Aidan Denholm and new signing Oisin McEntee. The youngster has taken the opportunity to make a move which should see him play regular Premiership football in the months ahead. A statement issued by Hearts read: 'Macaulay Tait has completed a season-long loan move to Livingston. The midfielder returns to West Lothian, subject to Scottish FA approval, following a successful spell there during the second half of last season. 'He featured 23 times for the Lions, helping them to a second-placed Championship finish. Livingston would go on to play-off success, with Macaulay playing in both the semi-final and final victories, which saw Livi secure promotion to this season's Premiership. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Macaulay will now continue his development at the Home of the Set Fare Arena and everyone at Hearts wishes him the best of luck for the season ahead.' READ MORE: McInnes pinpoints Hearts advantage over five rival clubs
The Star
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Star
Roblox's Grow A Garden explodes online video game numbers
More than 21 million players connected to Grow A Garden at the same time on June 21, buying seeds to cultivate a little patch of virtual land, harvesting crops, selling their produce and nicking stuff from other players' plots. — Roblox PARIS: A gardening game created by a teenager on online platform Roblox has attracted a record 21 million simultaneous players, a figure rarely seen in the industry. "You could quite easily never have heard of Grow A Garden ... and yet it is by some measures the biggest video game at the moment," Dom Tait, an analyst with UK firm Omdia, told AFP. More than 21 million players connected to Grow A Garden at the same time on June 21, buying seeds to cultivate a little patch of virtual land, harvesting crops, selling their produce and nicking stuff from other players' plots. That shattered the record held by the adrenalin-packed Fortnite , which attracted 15 million concurrent users (CCUs) during an event in late 2020 featuring characters from the Marvel universe. "It's enormous," Tait said of Grow A Garden 's success. He said it was difficult to say categorically if the sedate farming-themed game had broken all CCU records because other platforms do not necessarily publish numbers for other hugely popular games, such as Honor Of Kings . "(But) I think we can be confident it's a record for Roblox because Roblox has given us these these figures," he said. Roblox, which is popular with children and teenagers, was released in 2005 and is now available on almost all consoles and on mobile phones. It has morphed into an online gaming platform – one of the world's largest – where players can programme their own games and try out other users' creations. Games on the platform are free to play. Roblox makes its money through a range of revenue streams, including in-game purchases, advertising and royalty fees. Created in three days Grow a Garden appeared in late March, developed by a teenager about whom little is known. Game development group Splitting Point Studios soon snapped up a share. The original creator "literally made the game in, like, three days", Splitting Point CEO Janzen Madsen told specialist website Game File. Tait says the success of Grow A Garden , with its simple graphics and basic mechanics, can be explained by its comforting nature. "There's not much danger. There's not much threat. You just sort of go on and do things and just sort of have a gentle experience," he said. He pointed to the satisfaction players derived from seeing their garden evolve, even when they are not connected. A bit like a real garden, only quicker. The concept is reminiscent of Animal Crossing , a simulation of life in a village populated by cute animals that became a soothing refuge for many players during the first Covid lockdowns in 2020. For specialist site Gamediscover, another attraction of Grow A Garden is the ease with which players can get to grips with the game – a bonus for Roblox, which said 40% of the platform's users last year were under 13. Massive audience It is difficult to know exactly how much Grow A Garden has earned for its developers. But Tait said those who created the best paid experiences received "about 70%" of the money spent by gamers "with Roblox taking the rest". Roblox says on its website it paid out US$923 million to developers in 2024. "It is big money. So there's a little bit of nervousness in the industry about, 'Is Roblox taking away the audience that would otherwise have spent hundreds of pounds on a console and bought my console games?'" These sums demonstrate the weight in the video game industry of behemoths like Roblox and Fortnite , which have recently peaked at 350 and 100 million monthly players respectively. "Both places provide a massive audience – as large as any single console platform audience – and they provide awesome opportunities for creators," Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Fortnite publisher Epic Games, told The Game Business website. Beyond its success, Roblox has also come in for criticism. US investment research firm Hindenburg Research published a report in 2024 accusing the platform of inflating its monthly active player count and not sufficiently protecting users from sexual predators. In response, Roblox rejected Hindenburg's "financial claims" as "misleading" and said on its investor relations website it had "a robust set of proactive and preventative safety measures designed to catch and prevent malicious or harmful activity". – AFP
Int'l Business Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Int'l Business Times
Roblox's Grow A Garden Explodes Online Video Game Numbers
A gardening game created by a teenager on online platform Roblox has attracted a record 21 million simultaneous players, a figure rarely seen in the industry. "You could quite easily never have heard of Grow a Garden... and yet it is by some measures the biggest video game at the moment," Dom Tait, an analyst with UK firm Omdia, told AFP. More than 21 million players connected to Grow a Garden at the same time on June 21, buying seeds to cultivate a little patch of virtual land, harvesting crops, selling their produce and nicking stuff from other players' plots. That shattered the record held by the adrenalin-packed Fortnite, which attracted 15 million concurrent users (CCUs) during an event in late 2020 featuring characters from the Marvel universe. "It's enormous," Tait said of Grow a Garden's success. He said it was difficult to say categorically if the sedate farming-themed game had broken all CCU records because other platforms do not necessarily publish numbers for other hugely popular games, such as Honor of Kings. "(But) I think we can be confident it's a record for Roblox because Roblox has given us these these figures," he said. Roblox, which is popular with children and teenagers, was released in 2005 and is now available on almost all consoles and on mobile phones. It has morphed into an online gaming platform -- one of the world's largest -- where players can programme their own games and try out other users' creations. Games on the platform are free to play. Roblox makes its money through a range of revenue streams, including in-game purchases, advertising and royalty fees. Grow a Garden appeared in late March, developed by a teenager about whom little is known. Game development group Splitting Point Studios soon snapped up a share. The original creator "literally made the game in, like, three days", Splitting Point CEO Janzen Madsen told specialist website Game File. Tait says the success of Grow a Garden, with its simple graphics and basic mechanics, can be explained by its comforting nature. "There's not much danger. There's not much threat. You just sort of go on and do things and just sort of have a gentle experience," he said. He pointed to the satisfaction players derived from seeing their garden evolve, even when they are not connected. A bit like a real garden, only quicker. The concept is reminiscent of Animal Crossing, a simulation of life in a village populated by cute animals that became a soothing refuge for many players during the first Covid lockdowns in 2020. For specialist site Gamediscover, another attraction of Grow a Garden is the ease with which players can get to grips with the game -- a bonus for Roblox, which said 40 percent of the platform's users last year were under 13. It is difficult to know exactly how much Grow a Garden has earned for its developers. But Tait said those who created the best paid experiences received "about 70 percent" of the money spent by gamers "with Roblox taking the rest". Roblox says on its website it paid out $923 million to developers in 2024. "It is big money. So there's a little bit of nervousness in the industry about, 'Is Roblox taking away the audience that would otherwise have spent hundreds of pounds on a console and bought my console games?'" These sums demonstrate the weight in the video game industry of behemoths like Roblox and Fortnite, which have recently peaked at 350 and 100 million monthly players respectively. "Both places provide a massive audience -- as large as any single console platform audience -- and they provide awesome opportunities for creators," Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Fortnite publisher Epic Games, told The Game Business website. Beyond its success, Roblox has also come in for criticism. US investment research firm Hindenburg Research published a report in 2024 accusing the platform of inflating its monthly active player count and not sufficiently protecting users from sexual predators. In response, Roblox rejected Hindenburg's "financial claims" as "misleading" and said on its investor relations website it had "a robust set of proactive and preventative safety measures designed to catch and prevent malicious or harmful activity".
