Favre: Tampa is too hot

by | Jul 16, 2008 | NFL News

Brett Favre doesn’t feel welcome in Green Bay. But now he apparently doesn’t embrace the idea of playing in Tampa Bay either.

Apparently Florida is too hot for Favre, who grew up in and spends his offseasons in Mississippi. He prefers to practice and play where it is cooler, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

Is this real? Is the story satire? This Favre thing is getting almost too bizarre for words. Tampa would seem to be one of the few teams where Favre’s presence makes sense. The team isn’t in the NFC North and they don’t have a dominant quarterback.

Does anyone get the sense that Favre really doesn’t want to play but just can’t let go? It’s starting to feel that way.

In other news it seems as though the Packers might be considering tampering charges against the Minnesota Vikings for having inappropriate discussions over Favre. And yes, Jay Glazer from Fox Sports agrees in this piece that the situation is bizarre. The soap opera continues.

Citizens of Green Bay want Favre back

by | Jul 14, 2008 | NFL ... something

Seventy-four percent of Green Bay residents responding to perhaps the most pointless telephone survey in the history of mankind want the Packers to retain Brett Favre and not trade him, though only 33 percent said he should start.

Just under 20 percent said they want him to return as a backup while another 15 percent support making him a player/coach, a position not seen in the NFL since cavemen were still seeking spouses while grunting and wielding clubs. The Packers have said Favre is welcome to rejoin the team, though it appears as though the Packers plan to stick with Aaron Rodgers as their starter, at least heading into camp. That has prompted Favre to ask the team to release him – a move the Packers are declining to make.

(more…)

Assault charge dropped againt idiot, err, Henry

by | Jul 14, 2008 | NFL News

Since Zoneblitz has mocked Chris Henry for the ease with which he gets himself arrested, it’s only fair to also do a post when he gets off. Prosecutors dropped an assault charged against former Bengal wideout, which paves the way for him to apply for reinstatement to the league.

Greg Aiello, spokesman for the NFL, told the Associated Press Henry’s appeal would be considered “at the appropriate time.”

Henry had been accused of basically beating the tar out of an 18-year-old Cincinnati student and damaging his car with a beer bottle.

A previous trial on these charges ended in mistrial. A Hamilton County Municipal Court judge ruled against the prosecutors on Monday in several motions, weakening the case, according to the Associated Press. According to his attorney, Henry was thankful and humble when the case was thrown out, according to the story.

The shame of all of these arrests is that Henry is incredibly talented. If he could stay out of jail, he probably wouldn’t be on the verge of bankruptcy – he reportedly had a car repossessed and had a $360,000 house auctioned in May. He missed the first half of the season last year after the league suspended him for other bad behavior. He returned the second half of the season to catch 21 passes for 343 yards and two touchdowns.

Let the bidding for his services this upcoming season begin. The Bears? The Cowboys? The Eagles? The Raiders? Anyone?

Sikahema kicks Canseco’s a$$

by | Jul 13, 2008 | NFL ... something

Jose Canseco might be the most self-serving douchebag in sports. But apparently he can’t box for squat.

The 6-foot-4 former steroid pumping major league power hitter took to the ring last night against Vai Sikahema, the 5-9 former punt returner for Philadelphia and Arizona in Atlantic City. And the former football player buried Canseco, knocking him down twice in the first round before the referee mercifully stopped the fight.

“He’s a very impressive-looking figure,” Sikahema told … some news outlet after the fight (can’t tell if the Post Chronicle writer of the attached clip did the interview or if he was crediting the quote to the Press of Atlantic City, so I’ll mention both to make sure proper credit is given somewhere). “But the guy is a walking corpse because he’s rotted inside out. He’s a pathetic figure.”

I always admired Sikahema, now a sports director and anchor for NBC 10 in greater Philadelphia, for making a solid career in the NFL despite a small stature. I think I like him even more now, not only because he knocked the crap out of one of my least favorite athletes ever but because he was classy enough to give a portion of his $25,000 payday to the family of a fallen police sergeant, Stephen Liczbinski.

Hartman to Vikings: Get Favre in purple

by | Jul 13, 2008 | NFL News

As if the ridiculous media barrage of Brett Favre stories wasn’t already playing to the aging quarterback’s ego now a Minneapolis “columnist” has pinned the Minnesota Vikings’ hopes for getting a new stadium squarely on the shoulders of team ownership somehow acquiring Favre.

“Memo to owner Zygi Wilf,” Sid Hartman writes: “You want a new stadium, put Favre in a Vikings uniform.”

Not only does this ignore the Vikings lack of a community partner or the project hundreds of millions if not a billion dollar shortfall the state is projected to face next year – it ignores the fact that the Packers have already said they won’t release Favre so he can go wherever he wants.

But whatever. It’s interesting, if not amusing reading. And Sid is 87 or 88 years old, so apparently whatever he chooses to write these days gets into the paper.

What a great gig.