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Jason Whitlock is known as much for his unhealthy love of high school teammate Jeff George as he is for speaking his mind, even if it might not be in his best interest.

By those standards, his most recent FoxSports.com column is relatively benign, although Deion Sanders -- the target of Whitlock's ire -- might feel differently.

Forty-Niners first-round pick Michael Crabtree finally signed his contract this week after spending all preseason and the first month of the season pimping Subway subs. Turns out part of the hold-up wasn't with Crabtree's agent, Eugene Parker, but with his "advisor," Primetime. At least according to Whitlock, who affectionately refers to him as Deion "Master D" Sanders.

The FanHouse Podcast: Because bloggers are much sexier on the phone.

Brett Favre is beyond played out at this point. We get it: he's probably going to the Vikings. And in doing so, he's tearing apart two fan bases and dividing the entire Midwest in half. What are we gonna do?

Call FanHouse writer, lifelong Packers fan and Minnesota resident Bruce Ciskie for answers, that's what. Besides Favre, somehow the miraculous happens and we ask him about hockey matches games. Bruce is so persuasive that I get talked into watching the Pens-Caps game on Versus. Awesomeness ensues. (Also: Subscribe via iTunes. Because you love us.)

The FanHouse Podcast: Because bloggers are much sexier on the phone.

Doug Farrar has a pretty impressive football resume: he's currently the publisher for Falcons Insider, a key contributor to the Washington Post's "The League," and firing out content at Football Outsiders. And now he gets the honor of adding "FanHouse Podcast Guest" to that list, after being kind enough to spend nearly an hour on the horn with Wilson and myself.

What results is a fascinating look into several key facets of Saturday's draft -- specifically, why the Seahawks need to draft Mark Sanchez (plus a sneak-peek discussion of Doug's recent feature column on the fast-rising quarterback), Pat White's pro prospects, the best wide receiver options, and why the Lions drafting Aaron Curry is the smartest thing they can do this weekend.

Please prepare yourself for a discussion on a somewhat sexist topic (but appropriately handled by yours truly, natch.) See, Playboy magazine, well known for its brilliant articles, is holding 2009's Sexiest Sportscaster contest. You may remember 2008's event, in which Erin Andrews of ESPN and sandwich eating fame steamrolled the competition en route to winning the crown.

Not to mention bloggers' hearts everywhere. This year, though, EA has seen a little bit -- in my humble opinion -- of a downtrend in terms of popularity. She's still beloved and stalked and all that, but come on folks, aren't we a little sick of harassing her with pictures and signs at every single ESPN event? Aren't we ready for a new lady of sports sideline (or not sideline -- looking at you, Linda Kohn!) to dethrone Andrews?

But, "who!??!?" you ask, will take the queen of sexy sports media down? Excellent question. And it's precisely why Playboy.com just announced their nominees and they are ... (affiliated station in parentheses):

Erin Andrews (ESPN)
Erin Bates (Speed/OLN) Michelle Beisner (NFL Network) Bonnie Bernstein (CBS) Tina Cervasio (MSG) Melanie Collins (Big Ten Network) Stacey Dales (ESPN) Colleen Dominguez (ESPN) Alex Flanagan (NBC)

Jamie Little (ESPN/NBC) Hazel Mae (NESN) Adriana Monsalve (ESPN Deportes) Rachel Nichols (ESPN) Pam Oliver (Fox) Ashley Russell (Rivals.com) Lisa Salters (ESPN) Lauren Shehadi (CBS) Tiffany Simons (NBC) Lindsay Soto (NFL Network) Melissa Stark (ABC) Sage Steele (ESPN) Hannah Storm (ESPN) Mary Strong (NFL Network) Molly Sullivan (MTN) Krista Voda (FOX) Amber Wilson (OpenSports.com) Tracy Wolfson (CBS)

Now, I certainly don't think that anyone from Andrews' own network can beat the reigning champ -- that just seems a little too incestual and unlikely. I do, however, have a ton of faith in Charissa Thompson, Alex Flanagan and my dark horse special, Lindsay Soto, from the NFL Network. Don't believe me? Pictures after the jump.

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.

And now for the geekiest thing you'll read on FanHouse all day.

The NFL and ESPN have told FCC that they would like to test "white space" devices during live NFL games. The goal is to see if and how the wireless internet devices might interfere with wireless microphones and local TV signals in a real-world environment.

If you're not familiar with white space devices, here's some background for you. When the FCC handed broadcasters free analog TV spectrum back in the day, they required that there be "buffers," or white spaces, in between spectrum allocations, so as to avoid interference between channels. Now that analog TV signals are set to be switched off and replaced with all-digital TV signals next February, a few tech companies see an opportunity to use those white spaces to deliver wireless internet on the cheap -- the theory being that digital signal is much less susceptible to interference.

The hitch is that broadcasters are terrified that white space internet signals will interfere with TV signals. The National Association of Broadcasters wants to ban the devices, while White Spaces Coalition members are accusing the NAB of engaging in empty rhetoric. Unfortunately, NAB has the upper hand right now, as several white space devices tested by the FCC haven't worked very well.

Neil Best of Newday is reporting that NFL Network has hired Bob Papa to handle play-by-play on its slate of eight regular-season games, replacing Bryant Gumbel as the top in-game broadcaster on the league-operated cable channel.

By hiring Papa, NFL Network has basically gone the exact opposite route it went when it hired Gumbel: Papa is an old pro who has a firm understanding of the job but isn't well known outside New York; Gumbel is a big name who had no experience calling play-by-play.

Tom Hammond was thought to be the front-runner for the gig but was apparently passed over. NFL Network wanted Al Michaels but couldn't afford him.

On NFL Network Papa will work with analyst Cris Collinsworth. Papa's primary job is as the Giants' radio play-by-play man. He is also the lead announcer for HBO's Boxing After Dark.

ESPN and NFL Network may be heading for a merger.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Worldwide Leader and the National Football League's house network are engaging in high-level talks about developing a partnership. The discussions go all the way up to Disney CEO Robert Iger and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

At first glance, it looks like a win-win: For the NFL, the deal would help get NFL Network into tens of millions of cable TV households that currently don't carry it. For ESPN, it would strengthen ties with America's most popular sports league, and it would ensure that the NFL won't develop a similar partnership with a cable TV competitor.

But the deal could be a loser for NFL fans. Competition between ESPN and NFL Network -- especially at NFL Draft time -- has made both networks improve their coverage. If they start working together, what little competition currently exists in cable TV coverage of the NFL disappears.

NFL Network will not be hiring Al Michaels as the play-by-play voice of its live regular-season game coverage, Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports.

All indications are that NFL Network would have loved to hire Michaels, but that Michaels declined:

"NBC was open to it, but it didn't work out from Al's point of view," said Steve Bornstein, the president of the NFL Network. "We never got to the specifics."

Michaels has, in the past, indicated that he much prefers being on network television to cable. He has derided ESPN as a "four-letter network," and if ESPN is too small-time for Michaels, NFL Network obviously would be, too.

With Michaels out of the picture and Bryant Gumbel long gone, next up for NFL Network could be Tom Hammond, an old pro who would be a solid if not spectacular addition.

Former New England Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh has a meeting today with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, and another one with U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter. If the Patriots and the league get their wish, both Goodell and Specter will announce after their meetings with Wals that they're convinced that the Patriots didn't tape the Rams' final walk-through practice before the 2002 Super Bowl, and the Patriots Spygate story will come to an end.

More realistically, however, it's going to be more complex than that. Goodell will, I'm sure, announce at his press conference this morning that he's satisfied that the punishments he's already doled out to the Patriots and coach Bill Belichick fit all the crimes that Walsh told him the Patriots and Belichick committed.