FanHouse Mikevick

Unless you prominently work for one of the major oil companies, chances are that -- especially in this economy -- you might look at Matt Cassel's 2008 salary of $520k and consider him rich as it is. To which I say: Yes, but, with Obama's tax plan, the wealthy will actually have to pay more, if you can believe that. Ahhhh, the plight of the physically gifted and financially secure.

So it wouldn't surprise me if, upon completing the game-tying, last-second touchdown pass to Randy Moss last night, Cassel thought not of the impressive comeback he'd just led, but of the thirsty teams who will line up in 2009 to make him something he's not accustomed to being -- a legitimate starter.

Oh, and let's not forget obscenely rich.

Because Cassel made himself a name last night, even in a loss. And it couldn't have come at a better time, as his rookie contract with the Pats expires this year. But he's not the first to recently parlay a limited starting sample size into a big-money deal. The success rate? A little spotty. Where might Cassel go, and for how much? And how will we look back on the deal years from now?

Good news, folks: the mystery's been solved. Vince Young wasn't suspended for the Titans first preseason game for strangling a stripper, or brandishing a firearm while wearing his jersey, but because of something much more sinister: He slept in his own bed instead of at the hotel with the rest of the team.

Young broke curfew by spending Friday night at home instead of at the hotel where the team stays during camp. Players with less than four years experience are required to stay at the hotel.

I expect the Justice Department to seek an indictment, which means Young could be in the same situation as Ron Mexico.

In truth, this is pretty small potatoes, and it sounds like head coach Jeff Fisher was more interested in sending his second-year quarterback a message than actually meting out a stiff punishment: "I made a decision to not allow Vince to play in the ball game for violating a team rule, period. End of story ... He will be back practicing Monday with his teammates. He is our starting quarterback and we like him. He is going to be a good quarterback. ... I am done talking about it.''

The Tennessean's Jim Wyatt makes the point that it wasn't the Titans who were the big losers Saturday: "As Young suffered the consequences of breaking a rule, so did the LP Field crowd that watched four quarters of dull football." I watched the first half and I can't disagree.

Let's just hope Young never does something like this again. If not for himself, for the fans.

The Joey Harrington era in Atlanta gets off to a better start than the one he left behind in Detroit a few years ago. Of course, in order for his first start as the Falcons quarterback to be deemed an unmitigated disaster, he'd have to do something worse than murder puppies, so with that perspective, it's probably a little early to declare this team Super Bowl bound.

Despite losing to the Jets, Harrington had a nice showing -- he was 6 of 9 for 88 yards, including passes off 22 and 37 yards -- and more importantly, he seems like he's a willing team leader:

You would have thought the Falcons had just a clinched a playoff spot by Harrington's reaction. He ran around, high-fiving teammates. He ran toward the end zone to greet [Jerious] Norwood [after a touchdown run]. He ran back to the sideline and embraced offensive coordinator Hue Jackson.

The question is if Harrington's teammates are willing to be led ... by him, anyway. You'd like to think so, if for no other reason than because Ron Mexico did such an awful job with the task. But as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Jeff Schultz writes: "This is the franchise now - faceless and possibly buzzless. But they have 16 games to play, and the same can't be said for Vick."

And that's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, if Harrington and the Falcons have some early regular-season success, nobody will be talking about Vick except to discuss his likely prison sentence (I've got 18 months in the office pool).

As a White Sox fan, the last two and a half weeks or so have really sucked. Not like, "Oh man. That's too bad." sucked. I mean soul sucking sucked. Even back before the White Sox won a World Series in 2005, if they were having a bad year, I could still watch them. I might not have enjoyed it very much, but I could watch.

I can't watch this team anymore. They're horrible right now. They're 2-12 in their last 14 games! They've only scored 43 runs in those fourteen games. Meanwhile they've allowed 86 during the same span.

I just can't take it anymore, if I keep watching this team I may end up hating baseball. Considering I have eight other teams to cover, that's not a good thing. So I'm taking a break from the White Sox, and I've compiled a list of things I'd rather do than watch another White Sox game at this point.

• Smash my hand with a hammer
• Fight one of Mike Vick's pit bulls
• Spend the next month locked in a prison cell with Paris Hilton
• Re-enact the roles of every single guy in this commercial
• Watch a non-stop 24 hour marathon of Grey's Anatomy
• Watch a Cubs game
• Have a steak dinner with John Daly's wife

That's just a start. There are about 100 other things I can add to this list, but I just don't have the energy. The Sox have sucked it all out of me.

I'm the last one to be an apologist for lawbreaking NFL players, but I've been wondering lately if the NFL's new personal conduct policy actually INCREASES the amount of attention given to NFL player badness. The policy allows the commissioner a great deal of latitude to decide punishments for players: "Conduct that undermines or puts at risk the integrity and reputation of the NFL will be subject to discipline, even if not criminal in nature."

Nobody knows what the penalties for different offenses will be, even apparently NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Reportedly, Goodell was prepared to give Pacman Jones a six month suspension but increased it to an entire year when he heard that Jones had visited a strip club in New York the night before he was set to meet the commish. So basically, Jones' offenses were worth six months, except when they are worth a year long suspension because Jones was an idiot and went to what turned out to be the most expensive strip club ever.

Before the new NFL personal conduct policy, usually if players got sideways with the law, discipline was tabled until after the legal process finished with it. And the problem most people had with that is that usually legal stuff goes pretty slowly, and this meant that a player that did something pretty bad could still be wearing a uniform with nothing happening to him. The news coverage and commissioner actions relating to those events was usually tabled a bit too.

The Washington Redskins just completed a three-team trade sending a 3rd round pick to the Denver Broncos, who then sent WR Ashlie Lelie to the Atlanta Falcons, who then sent RB T.J. Duckett to the Redskins!

With Clinton Portis' shoulder injury (which we're still wondering just how serious it is) and Ladell Betts constantly fighting off a nagging injury and Rock Cartwright being the same size as Gary Coleman and Mike Sellers having three other jobs on the team (if not four or even five) and Jesse Lumsden also recovery from an injury (if he even makes the team) – well, I guess how could we resist?

Duckett was being used less and less in Atlanta with Warrick Dunn proving he's more than just a scatback. And when the quarterback outruns you in yardage, just how good could you be? I know, unfair question since that QB is Mike Vick. But Atlanta was desperate for a WR, especially after the failed experiment called Peerless Price a while back and the current injury to Brian Finneran. And Ashley Lelie has been pouting ever since the Broncos acquired Javon Walker from the Green Bay Packers. Everything just all fell in place. Right?

Then again, maybe it's a sign that Portis' injury is worse than we thought.

Also see Lelie to Falcons, Broncos Trying to Break Lelie's Pockets, Who Needs Him Anyway? and Making Some Sense of the Trade-A-Troi.