NFL Nfl Gossip

On Thursday, ProFootballTalk.com posted word that Brett Favre's agent, Bus Cook, was floating the idea that his client would love to play for the Panthers. The Rock Hill Herald's Darin Gantt had to take time out from his Fourth of July preparations to shoot down the rumor, because, no matter where Favre may or may not want to play in 2008, Carolina is very happy with their current quarterback, Jake Delhomme.

And yesterday, we heard from pithy Panthers general manager Marty Hurney: "I don't know where these things come from." This motivated PFT's Mike Florio to give an impromptu lesson in child development:

Well, Marty, here's how it works. Human beings have vocal cords. At a point roughly between 18 and 30 months of age, human beings begin using their vocal cords to articulate words. By the time we reach adulthood, we use them all the freakin' time.

In this case, "these things" came from Cook using those vocal cords to talk to other people about Favre's desire to play for the Panthers.

So there you have it.

I'm pretty sure Hurney understands how these things work. That he chose not to comment on them hardly seems surprising since, you know, honesty is the best policy except when you're an NFL general manager. Either way, whatever Hurney knows doesn't change the fact that Delhomme's still the Panthers' starting quarterback.

It only makes sense; word on the street is that Brett Favre is mulling a re-comeback, and even though he sorta denies it, speculation runs rampant. Not so much among the 32 NFL franchises and Aaron Rodgers, but the newspapers that cover each of these teams (and, of course, the blogs that follow the newspapers that cover these teams).

Earlier today, I mentioned that the Dolphins should Just Say No to Favre, even though, to my knowledge, there has never been any discussion about the future Hall of Famer heading to South Beach. But, then again, I thought Randy Moss would catch 10 passes last season in New England.

In addition to the Dolphins, writers from papers that cover two of Green Bay's NFC North division rivals have also gotten in on the mix. Yep, the Bears and Vikings are both teams in need of a 38-year-old wily veteran who just doesn't know what it means to quit. Ever.

First, Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune:

NFL players are constantly and increasingly warned to beware the all-seeing eye of the Internet and its resourceful inhabitants. The league itself might want to heed that lesson a little bit, as well.

The league has taken a sorta progressive stance compared to other leagues on offering online video (although a package to watch games online might, you know, be a good idea), but they recently got caught with their guard down. NFL.com streamed the live NFL Network feed of Michael Strahan's retirement press conference on June 9th and then ... forgot to close the feed.

The result: some tubes nerd discovered that by visiting the URL for the Strahan conference, he/she could watch the NFL Network, for free, in glorious real time. Rampant message-boarding ensued. The stream remained for almost an entire month, until it was shut down yesterday. The error is significant, given the vigilance the league usually maintains over its content online, the NFL Network's treatment by the league as a precious commodity, and its struggles with cable over distribution. It also came at a bad time as each side continues to fight for leverage, with the NFL already losing more and more everyday.

I was tipped off to this a couple of weeks ago but kept quiet here because my market is sans-NFLN and I was enjoying the taste while it lasted I wanted to see how long before the league caught on on its own. With it no longer, I contacted the league for a response and it seemed they were still a little confused by it all. They did tell me, however, that they didn't think that the bootlegging was widespread (Google disagrees) and that they hope we "enjoyed the NFL Network freeview." Thank you, we did. I love stickin' it to the man.

We're still waiting for "Adam" Jones, upstanding citizen, to give way to the strip-club lovin' rain maker formerly known as Pacman. A rose by any other name and all that. So far, it hasn't happened, and as part of the new-and-improved him, "Adam" has decided to take another nickname. A symbol of his rebirth and whatnot.

He told the media last week that "Pacman" was out because "It's really just a lot of negativity behind it. It's time for a change." Which, obviously, is why, from this day forth, he will be known as Dig Dug. No, really:

"Pacman is a straight up p---- game compared to Dig Dug," said Jones. "Pacman just eats stuff. In Dig Dug you could blow people up or crush them with a rock. That's totally how I roll." ...

"People are doubting me, so I have to come stronger and harder than ever," said Jones. "I don't need people saying I'm some small, little yellow guy or cracking on me calling me 'Ms. Pacman.' No way. I mean, notice there was never any 'Ms. Dig Dug.' That's because Dig Dug would drop a rock on a b----."

Dig Dug makes a good point. And he seemingly gets the message that this could be his last stop before prison unless he changes. If part of that makeover includes a new nickname, I'm all for it. And Cowboys owner Jerry Jones agrees, apparently.

The Belgian brewer InBev is attempting to complete a $46 billion purchase of Anheuser-Busch, and if the deal goes through, you can bet that American sports leagues and the networks that televise their games will not be happy about it.

The Business of Sports Illuminated has a great post about the ramifications of such a deal to the sports world, and suffice to say that Anheuser-Busch, which spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year on advertising related to sports, is unlikely to keep spending that kind of money if InBev buys it. From the post:

InBev has a very different philosophy about marketing, one which should make owners of professional sports franchises and athletic directors of U.S. colleges and universities quickly start campaigns to keep A-B an independent company. InBev's philosophy is to use those dollars to market based on price. It does not believe in spending ad dollars in a way that drowns out your competitor. As a result, it is not a major sports sponsor nor is its advertising budget more than a fraction of that spent by A-B.

Although none of the sports leagues have said anything publicly about this deal, you can bet that behind the scenes, they're nervous about losing one of their biggest cash cows.

Getting busted for DUI by a cop on a bicycle sounds like the perfect end to a perfect evening. As MDS noted yesterday, New Mexico was arrested and charged with driving drunk after leaving a club with his girlfriend/model Delicia Cordon. The Daily Press has the moving pictures to prove it.

Perhaps the most amazing thing in all this is that when Mr. Investigative Reporter went to Marcus Vick's house the day after the arrest (shockingly, Vick didn't answer), we learn that he lives in a mansion (roughly 2:00 into the video).

I remember hearing rumors that Ron Mexico gave his younger brother $1 million as a birthday gift a few years ago, but I figured it was just the internets run amok. Maybe not. Unless, of course, guys recently out of college with no job prospects can afford such luxurious living as a former NFL practice-squad player.


Whatever, the Palm Beach Post's Tim Graham has a detailed takedown of Vick's ladyfriend.

The video report includes a look at the wannabe beauty queen (but heretofore half-clothed eye candy) Vick was with. She claims to be an actress, but that would be like Vick claiming he's a football player.

Delicia Cordon is a deadbeat, according to court records KTKA says have been filed in Virginia and Florida.

But she reportedly has six racy MySpace pages in her name, and this arrest might actually turn out to be good for Cordon's career as a celebutant, what with all the page views she must be getting.

Glad to see somebody still has an outside shot at a celebrity career.

Kevin Jones isn't afraid to let people know how much he'd like another shot at a job in the NFL. With Cedric Benson's release in Chicago earlier this week, he's putting a full court press on the Bears to try and move to the front of the line of potential free agent replacements.

Jones's agent called the Bears before Benson was released but after his second arrest and Jones himself picked up the phone and called his old chum Tommie Harris yesterday. Harris agreed to pass his interest along to the coaching staff and Jones turned his PR work to the Chicago Tribune.

"Chicago would be the perfect situation. I'm familiar with the division. The Bears, they know what I have. I've made plays against them. I made plays against other teams in the league. Chicago would just be perfect. And I hope they know it would be perfect too."

Jones should be one of the first players the Bears consider. Despite a checkered history with the Lions, he's young enough and talented enough to add something to the team's offense. His receiving skills, in particular, would make him a good complement for Matt Forte. The rookie could concentrate on simpler tasks while working his way into the league and Jones could be a useful pair of hands for a team that's lacking at receiver.

Cedric Benson has been unemployed for 48 hours or so, and has certainly had some time to reflect on where it all went wrong. And with none of the other 31 NFL teams immediately showing interest in his services, he could be doing a lot of mulling in the coming weeks and months.

Not to worry, though; Bodog.com is taking bets on whether Benson returns to the league, and not only that, which teams are are most likely to sign him (via Hashmarks):

Will Benson play in the NFL this season?
Yes -300
No +225

What team will Benson play for?
New England 2/1
Arizona 5/1
Denver 4/1
New Orleans 10/1
New York Jets 16/1
Cleveland 12/1
San Diego 18/1

Well, I suppose the Patriots make sense if for no other reason than they routinely take fliers on players who have seemingly lost their way. The most obvious example is Corey Dillon; the difference, of course, is that Dillon was still very good when the Bengals sent him to New England in a trade. I'm not sure Benson will ever be confused for a "very good" running back, at least in the NFL.

Whatever happens, no one can wrest the Biggest Draft Bust, Class of '05 title away from him. So there's that.

Houston Texans defensive end, Mario Williams reveals in a recent Alex Marvez article that when he came into the league, he was overly obsessed with cars: The article suggests that, along with his foot injury, it affected his preparation for going on the field his rookie season:

"I know this is off the subject. But seriously, that's probably the biggest thing I had to overcome - my satisfaction of just having cars."

Famously, in April 2007, an internet video surfaced showing Williams driving his orange Lamborghini at a high rate of speed with a screeching female friend filming part of it. Williams apologized for his lack of judgment, making no excuses or blaming the internet.

The Mario Williams racing video was pulled off the interwebs (though you can still see video of Williams slowing driving his orange Lambo here). Instead of the racing video, above is a YouTube posted at the end of last season that the narrator says is one of Williams' cars. As I am not car obsessed, I have no idea what it is but am curious. A YouTube commenter says it is worth $500,000.

Can anyone tell me what kind of car that is, or how a 6'7" guy can fit into that?

Last year, Michael Strahan skipped out on Albany in August and still played at a very high level during the regular season. Which probably suggest that training camp is overrated for veterans, particularly those destined for the Hall of Fame.

Now that the Giants are Super Bowl champs, Strahan, the NFL player, has pretty much accomplished everything. And given the lucrative off-the-field offers, he could decide to retire. Last month, Strahan admitted that he "pretty much knows" what he's going to do, but isn't in any hurry to spill the beans.

Luckily, we have ESPN's John Clayton for that:

Though no decision is expected soon, most people believe Giants defensive end Michael Strahan will retire before the start of training camp. He has numerous broadcasting opportunities. Unless the Giants take his salary to $8 million -- and they won't go that high -- Strahan will probably hang it up. He's scheduled to make $4 million this season.

The Giants certainly know the situation, which has everything to do with signing Renaldo Wynn earlier this week. Wynn's just a backup, and nobody's suggesting he'll replace Strahan; that's what Mathias Kiwanuka is for.

The team's 2006 first-round pick missed parts of last season with a broken leg, but he's now healthy. He moved from defense end to linebacker last season, and if Strahan does in fact seek fame and fortune on the teevees, Kiwanuka will be back at defensive end in '08. There are worse ways to replace a guy headed for Canton.