FanHouse Nfl

So we gather again collectively, crammed into kitchens and living rooms, ready to feast on food and football. We consume the turkey, the ham, the stuffing and potatoes, the corn and green beans, the rolls and pie, the wine, the beer and anything else we can stuff into our screaming bellies. It satisfies us. It fattens us. Life is swell.

And then we look over to the television, where the most powerful and popular sport in the history of this country, if not the world, gives us the entertainment equivalent of take-out sliders and Spam.

Vince Young continues to revive a career once thought dead. The third-overall pick in the 2006 draft had a fantastic rookie season, suffered through injuries and inconsistent play the next two years, and finally got a second chance after head coach Jeff Fisher begrudgingly benched 36-year-old Kerry Collins last month.

This seems like a bad idea at every stage of the process: some enterprising soul sent threatening letters to Giants head coach Tom Coughlin in an effort to make a few bucks.

Via the Associated Press:

Browns quarterback Brady Quinn has a thing for athletes. First it was soccer players and now it's gymnast Alicia Sacramone.

During the 2007 NFL Draft, as Quinn waited for nearly six hours in the Aaron Rodgers Memorial Green Room to hear his name called, then-girlfriend and former Miami of Ohio soccer player Lindy Singler loyally sat by his side as one team after another passed on the Notre Dame quarterback.

During a recent chat on the USA Gymnastics' official Web site, Sacramone openly talked about her relationship with Quinn. (Via SportsbyBrooks and Larry Brown Sports):

Word on the street is that the Steelers will be holding open tryouts for Charlie Batch's job now that he's on the shelf for six weeks. And much like last year's Byron Leftwich-Daunte Culpepper Face Off for Chaz's gig, Pittsburgh has assembled an all-star cast to assume the role of Big Ben's backup. In all likliehood, come Tuesday afternoon, the Steelers will have signed either Jeff Garcia or Cleo Lemon.

(And this, folks, will be the exact moment when we can say, without hesitation, that Pittsburgh's hopes of returning to the Super Bowl went right down the Thomas Crapper.)

Other possible (and not-so-possible) candidates after the jump.

CHICAGO -- Well, that confirms it. When Devin Hester's pants were inadvertently yanked down Sunday night by a Philadelphia tackler, it proved that a full moon hangs over this bedeviled city. Just what has happened to the parochial mojo here, anyway?

Chicago was skunked in the race for the 2016 Olympics, out-Chicagoed by the backroom politics of smirky Eurocrats apparently unimpressed by President Obama's four-hour campaign stop and Oprah Winfrey's cheerleading charm. As for Winfrey, she is halting production of her TV show after next season, another setback for a town that feeds off her global starpower and cash-cow machinery. Two major trade shows have opted for smaller Orlando and Las Vegas, saying Chicago is much too expensive. Meanwhile, the once-invulnerable mayor, Richard M. Daley, is losing his power amid the ongoing sleaze of Chicago politics. Obama is struggling in the big chair in Washington, just 54 weeks after his starry, surreal speech on Election Night in Grant Park. The city's two newspapers, which used to brawl like bloodthirsty MMA toughs, are irrelevant, soft and straining to stay in business.

UPDATE: Apparently, David Clowney's Twitter account has been hacked.



The hacker's response to Clowney's apology (via Clowney's Twitter feed, no less), as well as the original post, after the jump.

It was two years ago that then-Jets head coach Eric Mangini ratted out the Patriots for what would become Spygate. The NFL slapped Bill Belichick with a $500,000 fine, took away one of their first-round picks, and kindly asked us to move on.

Eventually we did, but not before accusing the Patriots of cheating their way to three Super Bowl titles this decade before karma intervened by way of David Tyree.

New England became an afterthought when Tom Brady went down 15 minutes into the 2008 season, football gods and Pats-hating fans finally mollified. But it was only a matter of time before the Dark Lord found new ways to gain an advantage over opponents. And now, after some time off to regroup, Belichick is back, this time with psychological warfare. Or as the liberals would call it: subtle forms of torture.

Read on in mock incredulity:

In addition to being one of the league's best wide receivers, Chad Ochocinco is also an entrepreneur. The latest proof: during HBO's "Hard Knocks" this summer, he made reference to developing prophylactics. And on Friday he revealed the prototypes via Twitter.

Or, at the very least, the prototype of the box they will be shipped in. Probably goes without saying but just in case: not safe for work image after the jump.