The Blackhawks Ice Crew

Shovel the shavings, and re-melt the ice with their hotness! Who needs a zamboni?

We've Got A New Witch To Burn

Poor Gregg Williams looks like he gets to play the "fall guy" for Roger Goodell's lawyers.

Reminds me of this classic Monty Python skit.



My favorite line in there was "She turned me into a NEWT!"

Followed by awkward silence.

"Well... I got better..."

I think P. King Duck perfectly fell into this trap himself with the following paragraph...

The most alarming finding by the league, according to one club source who was briefed on the investigation late Friday afternoon, was this: Before the 2009 NFC Championship Game, Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma offered any defensive teammate $10,000 in cash to knock then-Vikings quarterback Brett Favre out of the game. Favre was hit viciously several times in the game. Favre told SI.com Friday evening: "I'm not pissed. It's football. I don't think anything less of those guys."

So in other words... the MOST ALARMING finding by the league, was that a SIZEABLE bounty (10K) was put on a MAJOR STAR (Favre) in a game in which he was BATTERED and BRUISED (NFC Championship) and his team lost.

ZOMG!

Aaaaaannnndd.... the same guy just shrugged his shoulders and said "It's football."

Right.

In the end, this will be a "win-win" for Goodell and his minions.

1. Some NFL media drones will actually report/opine that this shows the league is "taking this matter VERY seriously." Say somebody with the approximate intellectual horsepower as, oh, John Clayton. Which of course, must be true, since they took three YEARS to sniff it out, and take action. Whereas the TV show Playmakers got murdered in just one.

2. It will enable Goodell to seek, and to receive - if not, he'll just seize it - even MORE power to fine and suspend what he and his owner/bosses consider to be inconvenient savages costing the league so much money in payroll.

And as an upshot, I'll bet anyone who is willing, that the already overhyped "concussion lawsuits" being filed right now, won't even use this bounty evidence at trial because it's easily the WEAKEST part of their already weak case.

But hey, back to Gregg for a second.

He's a witch! BURN HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mickey Loomis Is Running His **** Mouth

The NFL Players Association is starting to realize how crappy a deal they actually took this past summer to end the lockout.

Salary cap is flat, performance incentives have been slashed, and the dreaded "Franchise Tag" lives on.

But hey, they have fewer OTA's, and the league promises not to ask for an 18 game schedule for a few years. So there's that.

Meanwhile, Drew Brees - himself a key member of the Union's side in the lockout, so he really has none of my pity - is feeling the bitter sting of the franchise tag.

With it in hand, GM's like Mickey Loomis can "run his **** mouth" as Bill Hickock would say famously in Deadwood, and call Brees a merely "very good" quarterback, not a "great" one.


From Jason Cole's excellent piece in Yahoo Sports...

That was the word coming out of the NFL scouting combine this past week, when Saints general manager Mickey Loomis tried to define Brees as “very good” when the quarterback was called “great,” according to three league sources. All three sources were asking Loomis why it was taking so long to sign Brees to a contract extension. Loomis’ answer spoke volumes.

Whatever, tough guy.

Brees has been lighting the league on fire the last 6 seasons on the Bayou. His WORST completion % and WORST TD total have been 64% and 28, which was back in year one under Coach Sean Peyton.

Since then, his numbers look like XBox numbers when you are playing your 6 year old nephew on the "easy" setting.

So this is the "reward" a player of unquestioned leadership, loyalty, and community service gets by the "League Machine" when it comes time for a cranky old car dealer to find his wallet?

Nice. What's that saying about "no good deed...?"

Pro Football Talk has an excellent summary of just how the Saints are squeezing Brees, and using his pristine image against him when it comes to bottom line dollars they are willing to pay....

The Saints can get away with playing hardball because they fundamentally believe Brees won’t say or do anything that will paint him as anything less than an all-around good guy. A guy who puts others before himself. A guy who organized workouts during the lockout in order to ensure that the team will be ready for the 2011 season. 

Brees has crafted an image that now prevents him from taking the kind of action necessary to get the team’s attention. He can’t hold out. He can’t demand a trade. He can’t try to make the case to the media that he deserves at least one-sixth of the entire salary cap allotment per year.
Brees has leverage. But the Saints are guessing that Brees won’t use it. And the Saints probably are guessing right.

Sad, but true. Brees deserves better, but like Clint Eastwood once said: "Deserve's got nothing to do with it."

And much like "Wild Bill" Hickock had to endure Jack McCall running his **** mouth at him just to play some cards, Brees will have to endure Mickey Loomis doing the same.



"I ain't gonna get in no gunfight with you Hickock."
"But you WILL run your **** mouth at me...... and I will take it... to play poker."