Embattled former Atlanta Falcon Quarterback Michael Vick has signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. I’d love to be a fly on the wall of the Philadelphia chapter of PETA.

I used to like Brett Favre. But I am getting pretty tired of his annual “I’m going to ride out of retirement again on my white horse to save a franchise” charade. Once again, he’s talking to an NFL team about coming back for another season. Last year, he led the Jets to an implosion of mammoth proportions at the end of the season. And now, the Minnesota Vikings are talking to him about coming back….again.

Granted, the Vikings QB situation is a pretty sad state of affairs but did they not see what took place last year in the swamps of New Jersey? Not to mention that the Vikings are to the Packers what the Hatfields are to the McCoys. What in the name of Vince Lombardi is happening here? I guess Favre’s 15 seasons in Green Bay doesn’t add up to a hill of beans.

Is he considering coming back to a team that has a legitimate shot at a Super Bowl? No. Will his addition to this team make them a legitimate Super Bowl contender? No. Did his arrival with the Jets make them a Super Bowl contender? No (although don’t tell that Jets fans and the NY press circa November 2008). He can’t be doing this to improve his legacy because that’s already been demolished beyond repair. His legacy in Green Bay? Forget it. Its a distant memory that moves farther away with every twist in this sordid retirement legacy. What’s happening here is driven purely by greed and the opportunity to take advantage of another desperate franchise.

For the fans of the Minnesota Vikings (of which I am not one) and for the fans of the NFL, just retire. Move on.

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So I’ve been in a state of denial since Week 1 of the NFL season. I’ve just not accepted that Tom Brady got his knee ruined 8 minutes into the 2008-09 NFL season and is out for the year. It took watching Matt Cassell QB the Pats to a victory of the Jets this past weekend to have it fully sink in. When you compound this with the painful loss to the Giants last season, you just realize that you should take full advantage of every opportunity. Maybe Rodney Harrison should have tried just that much harder to get the ball off of David Tyree’s helmet. Or maybe Asante Samuel (who probably does not care since he’s playing in Philly these days) should have tried that much harder to catch that ball that Eli threw. As has been said so many times in so many media outlets, the Pats have quite a season in front of them. It will test Coach Belichick and the rest of the team. Thankfully, we have a pretty easy schedule. I’ll consider making the playoffs a success this year. Anything else is gravy.

This is pure comedy.

A football player from the Washington Redskins, Chris Cooley, trying to be all hip and cool with his own blog, posted a photo of a quiz (NSFW) he was taking on the New Orleans Saints defense, because he wanted to try out posting to his blog on his own. He did this while he was naked. And you can see everything. And he didn’t realize it. And it was on his blog for a full day, Sunday, while he was playing the game against the Saints.

Then, he posted an apology that is funnier than the offending post itself.

Don’t mix technology and football players.

Within the past six months, the city of Buffalo has born witness to two pretty horrific sports accidents. Back in September 2007, the Bills’ Kevin Everett suffered a spinal cord injury sustained during a game against the Broncos. As was well documented in Sports Illustrated, Everett is making nothing short of a miraculous recovery due in no small part to the decisions and swift action of the medical team from Buffalo’s Millard Filmore Gates Hospital. Then, this past week, Richard Zednik of the Florida Panthers had his neck and coratid artery cut in a freak accident on the ice during the Panthers-Sabres game this past weekend. With Zednik’s injury, he was taken to Buffalo General Hospital.

Why am I bringing up these accidents? To call out the medical staffs in the city of Buffalo, NY. That’s right…Buffalo, NY. Not Seattle, not Boston, not Los Angeles…Buffalo, NY. Because in both of these cases, the medical staffs at these Buffalo hospitals performed and demonstrated their skill and professionalism at beyond the highest level. The sadness and horror of these two events were countered by the sheer brilliance of these two medical staffs. Kevin Everett may never play football again but he is walking and mobile, something no one thought could happen, because of the swift action of Dr. Andrew Cappuccino. Zednik appears to be on the road to recovery, and I can only hope that to be the case, and his recovery will be in no small measure to the work of Dr. Sonya Noor.

Buffalo, NY…a hot spot for all you burgeoning med students out there.

OK, so I’m not one who’s into curses or bad karma, but a couple of things have happened this week that have made me a little concerned for this week’s game between the undefeated Patriots and the Chargers.

First, the news that broke yesterday that some desperate female “friend” of Randy Moss’s is accusing him of assault and issued a restraining order to boot. Then, today, I open up my Gmail Inbox and what do I find but an email from NFL.com with an offer to “pre-order” Patriots AFC Champions attire and gear (see image). Who is the idiot who sent this out?!? Who is the fool?!? Don’t they know better?!? Must be a Chargers (or a Colts) fan working at NFL.com.

People are thinking that getting the Chargers in the AFC Championship equates to a free pass for the Patriots to the Super Bowl. I agree with Bill Simmons who said that not having the Colts in the AFC Championship denies the Patriots and us fans the opportunity to go through their biggest rival on their way to history. (as the Red Sox did in 2004). The Chargers are playing a very good brand of football right now and while I’m anticipating a Patriots win, I’m starting to get a little concerned.

In a strange twist of the playoff football schedule, this coming Sunday, the 4 professional football teams from the Northeastern U.S. will be playing each other in the first round of the NFL playoffs. The Patriots will be playing the NY Jets, while the Philadelphia Eagles will be taking on the NY Giants.

Some random thoughts while watching the Super Bowl:

• Weren’t you just waiting for Joe Namath to “stop by” to pay Suzy Kolber a visit on the sideline and just plant one smak on her lips?
• The kicker from Seattle should be fired. He cost me winning the halftime score.
• Could the Rolling Stones have looked any older?
• I don’t understand why the Motown artists were not the Halftime feature. Poor decision by the NFL and the organizers.
• What’s the deal with people boo-ing Tom Brady? Just a bunch of bitter Pittsburgh fans.
• Congrats to the Steelers. You’re just lucky the Patriots lost in Denver and you didn’t have to go through Foxborough.

I’ve been trying not to post too much about sports this year, just to try to diversify the content on the site a bit. However, with it being NFL Playoff time, I’m can’t help myself. Yes, its that time of year again. My New England Patriots just polished off a first round playoff game victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. This has been an interesting and challenging year for the Patriots because they have had to manage through a great deal of injuries and adversity, including losing two of the best coaches around in Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel. But over the past month or so, they have had some key players return and have started to play effectively.

Will the Patriots win an unprecidented 3rd Super Bowl in a row and 4th in the past 5 years? My instinct says its going to be very, very hard. But time will tell. Bring on Denver or Indy (I think I’d prefer Denver).

It looks as though my Patriots are headed back to the SuperBowl for the second time in three years. They put up a convincing win this evening against the Indianapolis Colts for their fourteenth win in a row (second longest winning streak in NFL history next to the 1972 Miami Dolphins who ran the table that year). While today’s win was good, I thought there were a few areas of concern, with the most glaring to me being the Patriots’ ineffectiveness in the red zone. They had numerous opportunities for touchdowns with the ball at the 20 yard line, or closer, and they could not capitalize and put the game away. They definitely need to improve that for the Super Bowl.

Of the two NFC teams, I guess I am alright playing the Carolina Panthers. I think I prefer them to the Eagles, although the Patriots beat the Eagles earlier this year. I think the obvious advantage is the fact that the Patriots have been there before and know the drill and hype that comes with the SuperBowl. Here’s to a great two weeks leading up to what I hope will be another Patriots World Championship!!!

Well, it seems as though Syracuse’s Coach Pasqualoni is going to stay around. That is just pathetic and shows how spineless that AD Jake Crouthamel really is. The SU Football program needs a change and that starts at the top. Pasqualoni is just not going to take the program to the level of the elete national programs like Miami, Oklahoma, Michigan and others. As I have said previously, at least its basketball season.

You know things are bad when you lose to Rutgers. But my alma mater Syracuse did not just lose to Rutgers, they got beaten pretty badly by them. Syracuse plays Notre Dame next week which should be an interesting game but probably, and hopefully, the last in the tenure of Coach Pasqualoni. Coach P has never, and will never, get the program to the elite level of college football that it was well on its way to achieving in the early and mid 1990’s. With relatively few true major programs in the northeast, Syracuse has an opportunity to do what their basketball program has done, but they need a new coach to get moving back in the direction they were headed.

Don’t look now, but my New England Patriots have “quietly” reeled off seven wins in a row. Next weekend’s game vs. the Indianapolis Colts is going to be a huge game. Both have 9-2 records and any chance of home field throughout the playoffs, should the Chiefs stumble, means the Pats have to win this game.

This is a very useful page for fantasy football players: Fantasy Football 2003: Correspondent Directory. It has local correspondents from each team’s city providing insider info on players, rumors, injuries, etc.