FanHouse Jerry Rice

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

Jerry Rice needs no introduction, but I'll give him one anyway: the guy was a decent NFL wide receiver over his 21-year career, winning multiple Super Bowls and setting a few records en route to becoming the G.O.A.T.

So, when the kind folks at Gillette offered FanHouse the chance to speak with Rice, we jumped at the opportunity. We got his thoughts on the state of the 49ers and Raiders, and specifically their new rookie wideouts, Michael Crabtree and Darius Heyward-Bey.

Talking after the jump.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced the nominees for induction into its Class of 2010 on Saturday.

Wide receiver Jerry Rice and running back Emmitt Smith headline a group of 131 players, coaches and contributors that make up the list of modern-era nominees for election. Former Lions cornerback and current Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau and former Broncos running back Floyd Little are the two senior nominees that were picked in August by the Hall of Fame's Senior Selection Committee.

The semifinalists will be announced on Nov. 27, and the modern-era finalists will be chosen on Jan. 7. The entire 2010 class will be revealed the day before the Super Bowl on Feb. 6 in Miami.

I used to get letters. Now I get e-mails in the hundreds. And DVDs. And even tweets (@deegle84).

All imploring me to vote for a prospective Hall of Fame candidate. Or non-candidate. Or even, in a case or two, someone I've never heard of.

To all those folks who write me: Anybody who hasn't been a voter can't understand how the voting works or why certain people get in and others don't. I'm in my 17th year as a voter and I'm often not sure I understand it either. But I also feel that 98 percent of the people in the Hall deserve to be there, and that 98 percent of those who aren't in shouldn't be, or will get in at some point.

I bring this up because next Tuesday, I will vote with four other members of the Hall's seniors committee on a list of 17 candidates. The list will be narrowed to two, who will be recommended to the full panel of 44 voters and be voted up or down on the Saturday before the Super Bowl in Miami in February.

There's a feeling of inevitability that Brett Favre will be coming to Minnesota anytime now. But it's not hard to find people who are wondering why he's doing it. Add Jerry Rice to the list of naysayers, as the future Hall of Famer thinks that the Vikings would be better off sticking with the status quo.

"If they feel like bringing him in is going to get them to the next level, I think they should. But to be honest with you, I think the two guys with the team right now should be the two guys that they should be focusing on."

Marvin Harrison has been out of work for six weeks now, and there's no reason to think that'll change anytime soon.

Teams have shown no interest in the 36-year-old, 13-year veteran and Hall of Fame lock. He barely cracked the top-10 in FanHouse's list of top available free agents, which is remarkable when you see such luminaries as Byron Leftwich, Cato June and Dre Bly ahead of him.

Former general manager and teevee talking head Charley Casserly seems unfazed by Harrison's unemployment.

Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, The FanHouse Walk will put last week's stories to bed and deliver the essentials to bridge that agonizing space between now and September.

Maybe They'll Twitter er Tweet Their Decision -- USC has begun spring practice, headlined by a four-man race for the starting quarterback job. They're doing this with SarKiffian 2.0, newly hired offensive coordinator John Morton and quarterbacks coach/playcaller Jeremy Bates. Bates departed Denver just in time to avoid the mess that is Cutler vs. McDaniels while keeping a low, low profile.

There's a lot going on, which leaves Pete Carroll skeptical if he can settle on the next American Idol quarterback by the end of spring. Our hunch is it'll be the slightly scrawny Aaron Corp, kid can move.

Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison has passed former Eagle/Vikings/Dolphin Cris Carter on the NFL's all-time receptions list, catching his 1,102nd career pass today against the Titans.

Harrison is now the NFL's No. 2 all-time receiver, but he has approximately zero chance of catching the all-time leader, former 49er/Raider/Seahawk Jerry Rice. With 1,549 career catches, Rice is still more than 400 catches ahead of the 36-year-old Harrison.

Harrison isn't a good player anymore, and it's possible that this is his last NFL season. The Colts are keeping a lot of their veteran players on the sideline today, and the fact that they left Harrison in the game long after Jim Sorgi had replaced Peyton Manning suggests that they wanted Harrison to pass Carter today because he might not have any more regular-season games in a Colts uniform.

But even if you're extremely optimistic about Harrison's future, and you think he has, say, three more seasons at 60 catches a season left in him, that still leaves him more than 250 short of Rice. That's just how great Jerry Rice was.

Last night I pointed out that Terrell Owens, according to sources, had concerns with how Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was utilizing his awesomeness during games. No specifics, but some vague mention of being frustrated with his lack of touches (wait, what?), especially in the deep passing game.

Turns out, T.O. isn't upset with Dallas' offensive game plan, he's bummed that ESPN studio analyst Keyshawn Johnson, who Owens has affectionately taken to calling "Sheshawn", was critical of his play following the Redskins game.

No worries, though; T.O. WILL NOT BE SILENCED ON THIS VERY IMPORTANT MATTER:

Regarding Keyshawn Johnson, whom Owens' referred to as Sheshawn at least three times, he said: "[As the No. 1 overall pick in the 1996 draft] he is the ultimate underachiever on that panel. I am the reason he is in the booth. Everybody is aware when I was brought to Dallas he was the one they let go to get me here."

He said there was one thing he agreed with that [Cris] Carter had to say and that was that Jerry Rice is the best receiver of all time. "But I am second all time behind Jerry Rice," Owens said in accentuating his superiority over Carter and Johnson.

Two things: first, Dwayne Jarrett is the reason Keyshawn is "in the booth"; the Panthers drafted Jarrett in the second round of the 2007 draft, which ultimately led to Johnson's release -- or, asking to be cut, depending on who's telling the story -- and a second career in television.

Here's an interesting story; one you might find a little hard to believe. Patriots safety Rodney Harrison, considered by many -- including players, fans and just about everyone who isn't involved with his team -- to be the dirtiest player in the NFL, is complaining because somebody might have played dirty against his team on Sunday. Seriously. This is so crazy, so out there, and so ridiculously unbelievable that it just has to be true. And it is. Honestly, you can't make this stuff up.

From Ethan J. Skolnick of the Sun Sentinel (via MDS at PFT):

Harrison was angry about the first play of the fourth quarter, when Ronnie Brown sprinted 62 yards with a direct snap. The officials called Williams for a dead-ball personal foul for chop-blocking Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel, an infraction offset by Vrabel's unnecessary roughness penalty. Was Williams' block dirty? "Of course it was," Harrison said. "Of course it was. There's no place in the game for that."

This is great, and it comes on the same day -- from the same game! -- where Joey Porter was complaining about somebody disrupting his pregame routine. What's next? Bill Belichick complaining about somebody cheating against him?