With Brady Quinn already out for the season, the Browns lost Derek Anderson as well. No they are starting Ken Dorsey in a real-life NFL game. Yeah, that Ken Dorsey. Good luck against Tennessee this week.

Graham Harrell is not only a fine college quarterback, he’s a legitimate badass, having played the second half of the Baylor game with two shattered fingers.

Oh, Plaxico. You’re so smart.

Somebeachsomewhere went out a champion, winning the Breeders Crown championship in a wicked fast 1:48.3, in what was supposed to be the last race of his career. Then, while in the winner’s circle, the Beach was unretired, to race again this month at Dover Downs. With any luck, they’ll keep rethinking things and bring him back as a four year old.

ESPN.com looks back at Nintendo’s Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. Where were you when you first beat Iron Mike?

–News and Links Archive–

Happy Thanksgiving…

Today, I’m thankful that Vic Darchinyan vs. Jorge Arce is a done deal for Feb. 7.

Chuck Weis is thankful that he signed that ridiculous contract with the “stupefying” buyout.

After a bit of a scare, and still not really 100 percent, Deweycheatumnhowe is going to give it a go in this weekend’s Breeders Crown.

Chad Ocho Cinco didn’t play last week, and surprisingly, he didn’t learn any lesson in his benching.

Jim Haslett is 20K poorer, thanks to his going onto the field and giving the referees what-for last weekend.

–News and Links Archive–

Michael Vick could be released from federal prison and into a halfway house early, allowing him to possibly return to the NFL next season. In a related story, the USDA released a report with more details of Vick’s scumbaggery. Don’t read it if you like dogs.

Michigan’s 3-9 season was already bad, now Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio has to rub it in?

Brady Quinn is done for the year with a busted finger. Do you think Brett Favre will call him up and try to convince him to play, or does he only call other gunslingers?

Winky Wright got hurt and his Dec. 4 fight is off.

–News and Links Archive–

The NFL averaged over 52 points per game this weekend, the highest average total in over 20 years. This season, the NFL is on pace to set an all-time mark for points per game, edging out last season and 1983.

From ESPN.com:

“An average of 45 points have been scored in NFL games this season. If that holds, it will top last season’s average of 43.4 and the record average in the 31 seasons of a 16-game schedule: 43.7 points in 1983.”

While the high scoring games are all fun to watch, nobody is asking why there are so many points. Well, as we’ve pointed out many times this season, the officiating of NFL football games has reached an all-time low in quality. Penalties are called at far too high of a rate, and they are far more impactful now then they were in the past.

The reason penalties are the cause of this surge in points the last few years is that every point of emphasis and new rule is put in to help the offense and hold back the defense.

If you recall, the points of emphasis in the past few seasons have been defensive holding, illegal contact and roughing the passer. All of these are huge penalties that get called far too frequently.

The illegal contact rules in the NFL are the main reason there are so many points. When you are not allowed to touch a receiver, you can’t cover him. When the receiver initiates contact and a penalty is called on the defense for illegal contact, you are just encouraging receivers to push off, and that’s exactly what they do. It is impossible for a cornerback in the NFL to cover a receiver well with today’s rules and penalties.

The other penalty that has a direct impact is the increased roughing the passer calls. You’re simply just not allowed to hit a quarterback anymore. There is no oversight, and the referees are just flagging anytime the quarterback is hit and not sacked. It’s downright pathetic, and if it’s not changed, will be the downfall of the NFL. People won’t stand for fixed games and they won’t stand for over-the-top penalty calling. That’s what the NFL is now — over-the-top penalties, leading people to believe that every game is fixed.

Both of those penalties are automatic first downs, and both are called whenever the refs want to call them. It no longer matters if there was actually a penalty, since even hinting that there was a bad call in a game gets you an immediate $25,000 fine. There is no chance for coaches and players to speak up about the terrible calls, and god forbid someone hints that the fix was in.

There may not be a fix per se in each game, but make no mistake about it, the fix is in. Roger Goodell and friends are fixing games each week. They are encouraging offense and penalties on the defense, while fining defensive players for perfectly clean hits. They are fixing games to make them higher scoring and to protect the image of their shiny, marquee offensive stars.

Remember when baseball tried to bring more offense to the game? The results were smaller fields, watered down pitching, juiced baseballs, and juiced players. How is baseball’s image after going to “offense rules” style of play?

Does the NFL want to be baseball, or do they want to suck it up and bring back football? One way or the other, Roger Goodell is well on his way to being the Bud Selig of the NFL.

And that’s not a good thing.

Donovan McNabb will be the starting quarterback for the Eagles against the Cardinals on Thursday night. Who would have thought that without an injury, this would be news today?

LenDale White is a true team player. Said White about Tennessee’s first loss, “I have been over it. It is a game, so what? You would like to win it, but it is one game, so what? … I only played three plays so I really couldn’t tell you what happened, I don’t really know, I wasn’t paying attention, I didn’t care really.” LenDale White and Vince Young — the foundation of any good NFL team.

ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt called baseball writers “miserable fat curmudgeons. You know the kind. The kind who think blogs are evil and don’t leave the press tent and are angry and bitter men.” Having spent many a day in an MLB press box, I have to say he is completely right. Other than Pedro Gomez and Nick Piecoro (both quality, non-fat people), he’s pretty much nailed every MLB beat guy I worked with in my years in the press box. Having said that — NHL, NBA, NFL and college beat writers were all normal people. It’s just something about covering baseball for a living I suppose.

If this were the NFL, Deweycheatumnhowe would be listed as doubtful for the Breeders Crown final this Saturday at the Meadowlands, as he recovers from some type of throat abscess. Dewey was doing better after the weekend, but will be run on Wednesday to determine if he’s good enough to run one more time in his career. A scratch would be such a terrible way for his career to end. As it stands now, he’s the 6-5 morning line favorite for the 3-year old colt trot. For the record, Somebeachsomewhere, Dewey’s pacing counterpart, is a 3-5 favorite in his career finale.

–News and Links Archive–

Margarito called Mosley out last month, saying Mosley would never fight him, to which Mosley promptly had the contract sent over and signed it. After that, Margarito went AWOL, refusing to sign the contract because it was now a ridiculous 50/50 split, rather than Margarito getting a majority of the money.

Margarito was then rightfully chastised by media and fans alike for avoiding Mosley, since Margarito himself had referred to himself in the past as the most avoided fighter in boxing. Now, the tables turned and the champ wouldn’t sign on to fight the challenger, just as had been the case when Margarito was the challenger.

Now, after slight edits to the contract, and probably a realization that the fans didn’t support him this time, Margarito returned to the negotiating table and sources say that the fight may be back on for Jan. 24 on HBO.

According to BoxingScene.com:

“According to Francisco Espinoza, co-manager of WBA welterweight champion Antonio Margarito, a deal has been reached for a title defense against Shane Mosley on January 24 in Las Vegas. There were ongoing negotiations for the last few weeks that broke down last Tuesday when Margarito, angry that Mosley wanted a 50-50 split, turned down the fight.”

After Margarito turned down the fight, Mosley and his people went to Andre Berto to try to land a fight, but that was held up by issues regarding Berto’s mandatory defense of his WBC belt. So now, Mosley is back to dealing with Margarito.

BoxingScene.com also said:

“Espinoza told the usually reliable Notifight, that HBO, who put up a previous license fee of $4 million dollars, came to the table with a new offer late Friday night. Team Margarito went over the offer and approved it over the weekend…Espinoza told Notifight that Margarito accepted the deal and is making plans for his Los Angeles training camp. More details to come.”

At least now Margarito knows what it’s like to negotiate as the champion. He should come out right now and apologize to Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya for saying that they were ducking him and afraid to fight him. Now that he understands percentages and how boxing negotiations work, he should understand that Floyd and Oscar didn’t fight him for business reasons, not boxing reasons. Margarito doesn’t make money and the others do.

Boxing is no longer a sport of champions, and eliminations to challenge that champion. It’s a sport of money, where business decisions often trump actual ring accomplishments. It’s a shitty reality, but it’s reality nonetheless.

In an obvious attempt to simply end the discussion, Lennox Lewis said he’d come out of retirement to fight Vitali Klitschko if Vitali defeats his brother Wladimir first. Knowing that the brothers will never fight, Lewis was making the point that he’s not coming back, and Vitali needs to give it up and move on.

While it’s surprising enough that a Florida State student would be up for the Rhodes Scholarship, it’s twenty times more surprising that it is a football player up for the scholarship. And he got it.

The Big Lead directs us to an interview with CBS’s Jim Nantz, who hopes that somewhere in their hearts, ESPN is kind enough to leave enough programming for networks to still show sports.

SPORTSbyBROOKS points us to a female jockey riding at Aquaduct. She’s quite the looker, and apparently rides very well. They even link to her own personal blog, with photos.

Did you hear the one about the NFL execs patting Brett Favre and the Jets on the back after their OT win against the Pats? No, the NFL doesn’t want the Jets in the Super Bowl…

–News and Links Archive–

After three years away from the team, former super-coach Bill Snyder will return to coach the team next season.

Snyder was the captain and architect of one of the most impressive turnarounds of a program in college football history.

In his 17 seasons at K-State, Snyder won 136 games. That’s as many as all of the coaches from 1935 to 1988 won combined.

Snyder will return to coach at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, replacing Ron Prince who was recently let go.

Snyder is fondly remembered in the gambling world as the king of the “run it up” offense, often openly playing to the point spread, seeing the spread as a measuring stick of what is expected of his team.

He is also the coach of record for my own personal favorite football gambling story. Opening week, 1999, Snyder and the Wildcats are 39 1/2 point favorites against the awful Temple Owls. Up 40-0 late in the fourth quarter, the K-State defensive backups allow Temple to get a first-and-goal from the one-yard line with a minute to play.

Some say it was to preserve the shutout, but I prefer to think it was to preserve the cover, Snyder called timeout to put the starting defense back in the game. The starters promptly stopped Temple on four straight plays to preserve the 40-0 shutout.

Some covers you just never forget.

Beware K-State football in the new Bill Snyder era. Bring back the cupcakes and wake up the scoreboard operator — it’s gonna get fun.

Hal Steinbrenner has officially taken control of the New York Yankees, at the request of George and with the blessing of MLB. Now he gets to say stupid things under a new title.

How bad is Virginia Tech’s offense? Even their own players admit that the offense is entirely predictable and that everyone knows what’s coming.

Deweycheatumnhowe may have to be scratched from next week’s Breeders Crown final with an abscess in his throat. The start is expected to be the final race of his career.

Felix Jones is out for the season.

Rumors of Lennox Lewis returning to the ring are growing louder. Lennox, if you’re reading this, don’t do it. You have nothing to gain (except for money) and everything to lose. Don’t be the guy that’s helping to ruin boxing.

News broken by a blog, big enough for ESPN? And they gave them credit? Well done, Deadspin.

–News and Links Archive–

Just as we’ve seen in years past, the MLBPA is butting their heads into things that they should stay out of. Yes, Sabathia accepting this contract, no matter how ridiculous it is compared to other offers, will raise market values around the league. But should a player have to take the most money every time? What’s the point of free agent negotiations if the only thing that matters is bottom line dollar figures.

What happens when a player wants to play for a team, but that team cannot afford his market value? What if you want to stay with the team you are with, but they can’t offer you as much as a New York team?

According to the MLBPA, you should follow the money, winning or personal preference be damned.

Remember when A-Rod was traded to the Red Sox? You don’t because it didn’t happen. Well, it did, but the MLBPA wouldn’t allow A-Rod to renegotiate his contract to take less money, so the deal didn’t end up working out.

The game’s highest paid player wanted to play for a discount for a particular team. The union does not allow this, and A-Rod was instead dealt to the Yankees. Against the wishes of the player, the union intervened and disallowed a voluntary pay cut.

The Major League Baseball Player’s Association is one of the strongest unions in the world. They are the only professional sports union that has no salary cap. They resisted drug testing for a long time. They basically do whatever they want to do.

Now, they want to tell free agents where to sign.

CC Sabathia is arguably the best pitcher in baseball in the prime of his career. He will be a rich man no matter where he signs. If he wants to stay in Milwuakee because he enjoyed his time there last season, no one should be pressuring him to do something else. If he does not want to live in New York, or work for Hank Steinbrenner, or deal with the New York media, he shouldn’t be pressured to do so because they offered him the most money.

By this logic, all of baseball’s top free agents should end up in New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. This seems to be what the MLBPA wants. They are actively fighting parity and success of small market teams.

Their idea is that if Sabathia takes less than the top offer, it is setting a precedent that will mean lower prices will be paid to other free agents this year, as well as the top pitching free agent next year. They are basically treating this situation like the NFL draft. Johan Santana was the top free agent pitcher in 2008 and got X amount of money. Sabathia is the top guy in 2009 and should get slightly more than X amount of money. Then next year’s top free agent pitcher could expect to make a small percentage more than Sabathia.

But that’s not how things work. If the teams can’t afford it, they can’t afford it. Sabathia has earned the right to pick whatever team he wants to sign with.

The player’s union should keep their mouths shut and stay out of this. It’s none of their business. Every year, I respect Barry Bonds more and more for opting out of the union. I just wish more players would follow him.