Matt Birk Pens Monday Morning QB

by | Jul 7, 2009 | NFL Media

Peter King is currently on his annual four-week vacation–because apparently penning a 4,000 word essay each week about coffee and travel annoyances [along with a few football tidbits], tweeting up a storm, and appearing on NBC sports means you need four weeks off–and is having some NFL players guest write his regular columns while he’s out.

First up was Matt Birk, who posted his Monday Morning QB column yesterday.  Our advice to Birk?  Don’t quit your day job…although not because it’s bad writing, it’s just that making millions to drive people into the ground is probably a lot more glamourous (and financially rewarding) than penning a regular football column (or penning a football blog, for that matter).

While not nearly as long winded as King, Birk provides a couple of solid pages, including a full on ’10 Things I Think I Think.’  He touches briefly on the Brett Favre/Vikings saga, leading that into a topic near to Birk’s heart–current players needing to take care of former players financially and medically.  While it’s a bit deeper than your average King column, and maybe a bit more of using the column as a forum to further his own agenda on the matter than a regular columnist would be ok with, it’s something we actually agree with Birk on.  He also touches on the Steve McNair situation, without going into too much detail.

In fact, the only area that we think Birk really missed the mark on is with his #1 on his list of 10 Things He Thinks He Thinks, where he says:

“I think Favre will play for the Vikings this year. This will start a civil war between Minnesota and Wisconsin. A truce will be reached in this epic border battle after it is discovered at a tailgate party that Johnsonville Brats (Wisconsin) and Grain Belt Beer (Minnesota) are perfect complements for each other.”

As a true native of Minnesota, Birk should know better–there is no way that Wisconsinites would give up their paint thinner and Miller Lite for the goodness of Grain Belt Premium, and while I acknowledge that Johnsonville makes a decent brat, if it really came down to it, I’m sure that Minnesota’s own Hormel must make a line of brats that is as good (or better) than anything Wisconsin could provide.

ESPN Copies Zoneblitz.com-Releases All-Decade Team

by | Jun 24, 2009 | NFL ... something, NFL Random Thoughts

OK, we don’t honestly believe that Zoneblitz.com inspired ESPN to release their All-Decade teams (offense) (defense) (special teams) for the ’00 decade–but we did have our Zoneblitz All-Decade Team up almost a full five months before their’s.

Of course, Bill Williamson and the ESPN crew probably had a lot more time and resources to devote to their team than Andy and I did–assuming they spent more than the morning before the Super Bowl hashing their lists out.

And frankly, that makes the comparison that more interesting…

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Which NFL Fandom is Most Twitter Active?

by | Jun 21, 2009 | NFL Fans

While playing on Twitter the other day, we noticed that there is a company that has set up profiles for each of the NFL teams, which I thought might provide some insight into which NFL franchise has the biggest fan base on Twitter.

We’ve seen numerous team related profiles in the past–a couple official, many more unofficial–but this appears to be the first time I’ve come across a single entity that has set up a matching account for each team.

So how did the teams stack up?

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Eli Manning Following in Peyton’s Footsteps Again

by | Jun 19, 2009 | Contract Squabbles, NFL News, NFL Random Thoughts

It seems like Eli Manning is always following in big brother Peyton’s footsteps.  He chose to play quarterback, he chose to play in the SEC (following Peyton’s offensive coordinator at Tennessee to Ole Miss), and he was drafted into the NFL with the first overall pick in his class.

In 2008, just one year after Peyton led his Colts to a Super Bowl victory, nabbing the MVP trophy for his efforts, Eli led the Giants to Super Bowl glory–and nabbed an MVP trophy for his trophy case as well, making them the first (and so far only) brothers to play quarterback in the Super Bowl and win Super Bowl MVP awards.

Along the way, like brother Peyton, Eli has managed to whore himself for numerous products, even working with Peyton on spots for Oreo and ESPN–although at $5 million in endorsements, he still has a way to go to catch Peyton’s $13 million.

And now, as the 2009 season approaches, Eli looks to be following in Peyton’s footsteps again, as his rookie contract is set to close out–by requesting a potentially team crippling contract from the team that has turned him into a star.

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Al Davis Doesn’t Hold a Grudge

by | Jun 15, 2009 | NFL ... something, NFL Random Thoughts

It’s good to know that Al Davis has moved on, and is focused on re-building his team into something that is at least somewhat relevant in the world of the NFL.

Recently, an episode of ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” recapping the first six months of Lane Kiffin’s tenure at the University of Tennessee, showed former Raiders head coach possibly committing a recruiting violation–which would be in addition to the at least four minor violations that Tennessee has reported since Kiffin came aboard (which the University athletic director says ‘isn’t any more than the school usually reports’–which in itself seems problematic).

Davis, who fired Kiffin last September for what he described as acts of insubordination and lying, was contacted for a comment.  This statement was issued:

“Lane Kiffin is a flat-out liar. He lied to the team, he lied to the fans, and he lied to the media. He will try to destroy that university like he tried to destroy the Raiders, and will eventually clash with (women’s basketball coach Pat) Summitt and (men’s basketball coach Bruce) Pearl.”

It will be interesting to see what happens when Kiffin actually gets to coach a game.  And, if Tennessee actually has anyone worth drafting next year–I wouldn’t count on them ending up in the silver and black, even if they are the best player on the board (which, based on recent drafts, would make them even less likely to be taken by Davis).