The goofy NFL news of the day Saturday was the renaming of the home of the Miami Dolphins after Jimmy Buffett's beer company. "Land Shark Stadium" will be the fifth different name this building has had since it opened in 1987.
The stadium has an interesting history. Its $115 million construction cost was completely privately funded (imagine that!) with the help of season ticket holders who made long-term commitments in exchange for the promise of a state-of-the-art football facility. Joe Robbie, the owner of the Dolphins at the time, envisioned it as a stadium that could host baseball as well as football, and for that reason, the front-row seats are set back further from the sidelines than at traditional NFL venues.
Next February, Super Bowl XLIV will be the fifth Super Bowl this stadium has hosted -- under four of its five different names:
In "Rough Draft," lawyer-turned-writer-turned-football-player Clay Travis recounts his experience training for the 2008 NFL draft alongside some future pros. The following is Part 9 of 10 (read Chapter 8 here) installments that FanHouse will roll out every weekday leading up to the 2009 NFL Draft on April 25.
The corner of Craig Stevens' left eye is twitching. He can't stop it. We're sitting across the table from one another and again and again the eye twitches, a metronome of ocular discomfort.
"Can you see it?" he asks.
"Yeah," I say.
He nods, flexes his arms on the table, "I can't get it to stop. I was really worried about it, but then my girlfriend told me that sometimes your eye can start twitching when you get really stressed."
"Has your eye ever done this? Before a big game or anything like that?" I ask.
"No," Stevens says, "I think it's going to stop as soon as I finish the combine."
Everyone makes mistakes. But when those mistakes are magnified by intense scrutiny of the NFL draft, well, they become much more embarrassing than, say, my typical Friday morning, mustard-stain-on-khakis incident.
Which is why the NFL FanHouse braintrust got together to determine who is the biggest bust for each NFL team. They're not listed in terms of stupidity -- they're all stupid relative to a team's total draft performance. Meaning, of course, some teams "bust" is much different than another organization's; we did it this way to avoid just linking you to DetroitLions.com.
Instead, we're putting it in current draft order, sans trades, and allowing this list to serve as a reminder of each's team's ability to properly execute a fail. The "bust factor" was based primarily on three things: statistical production (or lack thereof), position in the draft and other available options during that year's draft.
Free agency starts in a few weeks, and here's what we know: the Cowboys may or may not cut ties with Terrell Owens, and the Ravens may or may not try to re-sign Ray Lewis.
In the meantime, T.O. has decided to lobby owner Jerry Jones on Ray-Ray's behalf. Presumably because the team, as it's currently constituted, seems to be devoid of leadership. (And, yes, the fact that Owens is spearheading this effort caused the irony meter to blow up.)
At one point during the NFL Network's 55 hours of Super Bowl week coverage, Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson made his way on set. The conversation, inevitably, focused on Mr. Ocho Cinco's ploy to change his name, as well as his sometimes rocky relationship with head coach Marvin Lewis.
But Johnson was also asked about teammate T.J. Houshmandzadeh -- who is scheduled to be a free agent next month -- and whether his future is in Cincy. Chad adamantly assured co-host Deion Sanders that Housh would indeed be back because (and I'm paraphrasing here), "he loves playing for the Bengals and he loves playing with me."
Time heals all wounds and whatnot, but if Boldin does decide that his Cardinals career is over, he'll surely have plenty of suitors. Like, say, the Ravens.
Super Bowl week is just as much about the carnival atmosphere as it is about the actual game. Tuesday is Media Day, which historically means plenty of inane questions, some ridiculous publicity stunts, and a lot of stuff you'd never see during a typical NFL week. Like, say, NFL Network's Deion Sanders getting called out by a smiling Ryan Clark. (Click the photo above for the video, or just go here.)
Super Bowl week is just as much about the carnival atmosphere as it is about the actual game. Tuesday is Media Day, which historically means plenty of inane questions, some ridiculous publicity stunts, and a lot of stuff you'd never see during a typical NFL week. Like, say, NFL Network's Deion Sanders getting called out by a smiling Ryan Clark. (Click the photo above for the video, or just go here.)
In news that should surprise no one, it's currently snowing in Pittsburgh. By the 6:30 PM ET kickoff, it'll still be snowing, and temperatures are expected to drop into the upper teens. On the upside: wind shouldn't be a factor, although this could be one of those "let's see who can score first and then let the defense take over" get-togethers.
It makes sense that the league's two most dominating defenses could play a huge role in deciding which team will represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. And right now, seven hours from game time, it looks like the Steelers have the slight advantage. We've been talkingall weekabout injured Ravens, and two of their key defenders -- Terrell Suggs and Samari Rolle -- teetered between doubtful and out in recent days.
Finally, some good news for "Adam" Pacman Jones: nobody accused him of anything today. As MDS pointed out on Wednesday, the Cowboys cut Jones based on an ESPN report connected to another 2007 Pacman-related nightclub shooting.
J.J. Cooper actually wrote about thisat the time, although it's hard to keep up with all of Jones' illegalities without writing them down. Interestingly, the Cowboys released Mr. Pacman after learning of the ESPN report, despite the Atlanta Journal-Constitution originally reporting the news in June, '07. Peculiar.
Whatever, Jones says he'll sue ESPN for getting him fired, and here's to hoping he pulls a "Kaczynski" and asks to represent himself in court. The WWL says it will reveal all the details on Sunday's Outside the Lines, but they did offer this preview yesterday:
The goofy NFL news of the day Saturday was the renaming of the home of the Miami Dolphins after Jimmy Buffett's beer company. "Land Shark Stadium" will be the fifth different name this building has had since it opened in 1987.
In "
Free agency starts in a few weeks, and here's what we know: the Cowboys may or may not cut ties with 
At one point during the NFL Network's 55 hours of Super Bowl week coverage, Bengals wide receiver 
Larry Fitzgerald
In news that should surprise no one, it's currently snowing in Pittsburgh. By the 6:30 PM ET kickoff, it'll still be snowing, and temperatures are expected to drop into the upper teens. On the upside: wind shouldn't be a factor, although this could be one of those "let's see who can score first and then let the defense take over" get-togethers. 
