Big Ten Bowl Predictions

With all but one Big Ten game played, now seems as good a time as any to predict which Big Ten team goes where for December/January.

(A quick note, the SEC is hard to predict. If Auburn beats the GameCocks next week, they will play for the BCS National Championship. If they lose? All hell breaks loose with the Cocks going to the Sugar Bowl, and Auburn taking up an at large birth. So these will most likely be totally wrong in regards to SEC opponents. I also added this preface to work "Cocks" in the post to help with google hits.....and to make me giggle. Heh heh, cocks. I am also using Wikipedia for bowl tie-ins, so shoot them if the projection order is wrong)

Wisconsin- Rose Bowl. Your 2010 Big Ten Champion. They started the week with the highest BCS average, and did nothing to lose ground to Ohio State or Michigan State. They still have an outside shot at the BCS National Championship game, but it would take some absolute craziness to happen.

Ohio State- At large BCS bid. They are a team that travels well, and has one loss. They remain in second place in the Big Ten after beating Michigan 37-7. Which game will depend on factors I won't pretend to understand. I do know that it won't be the Fiesta since they are stuck with the Big East winner this year. So the Orange Bowl against Virginia Tech/Florida State, or the Sugar Bowl against Auburn/Lsu/Arkansas/South Carolina.

Michigan State- Capitol One Bowl. A great season for the Spartans ends with them playing in Orlando on New Years Day. Their opponent will be chosen from Alabama/Arkansas/LSU.

Here, again, things get muddled as Iowa, Illinois, and Penn State all 4-4 in conference, and assuming an Illini win at Fresno, 7-5 overall records. I will just base it on my perceived power rankings

Iowa-Outback Bowl. Yeah, they just lost to Minnesota. They were a top 25 team most of the season, and has a better recent track record than PSU and Illinois. They will be matching up against another SEC team, so who ever trickles down this far. I would guess Arkansas or South Carolina.

Penn State-Gator Bowl. This seems logical. I can't see a committee selecting Ron Zook over Joe Paterno. Paterno says he will return, but the dude is 83. The SEC opponent this time will be Florida or Mississippi State.

Illinois-Insight Bowl. They are the first Big Ten team not in a BCS bowl to not face an SEC team. They will take on the fourth pick from the Big 12, so Missouri/Texas A&M/Oklahoma State are possible foes.

Michigan-Texas Bowl. I am picking Michigan over Northwestern for a plethora of reasons.

1. This is Michigan's first bowl game since 2007.
2. Northwestern is without their starting QB.
3. The RichRod saga will bring extra attention. For this reason, I could see a bowl passing over Illinois/Iowa to take Michigan.

The Texas Bowl opponent for the Big Ten is the 6th pick from the Big 12. Think Baylor.

Northwestern-TicketCity Bowl. The what? Yep, it exists. Any who, they will face another team from the Big 12. Texas Tech or Kansas State are all that's left.

So there you have it. Depending on your travel agent's refund/cancellation policy, order your tickets now.

This Week in Great College Basketball Names

Bak Bak

Bak Bak is a 6'9'' 225lb sophomore forward for the Cal Bears. He had a trying freshman campaign averaging only 1.3 points and 2 rebounds in 5.4 minutes per game through 8 games. He was forced to sit out the second semester of the season due to poor academics. If I had to guess, his papers were disregarded when the professors saw the name Bak Bak, and disregarded them since chickens are not permitted on campus in Berkeley.

I knew of this young man, and had been planning on featuring him in the first basketball segment of This Week in Great College ________ Names, but I caught a few minutes of the Notre Dame/Cal game on Friday, the game where Cal scored 5 points in the first half, and his name was brought to the forefront.  So, coach Montgomery, I implore you to give Bak some playing time. Your team scored 5 points in the first half of a game. What's the worst that can happen? You could be this guy...

Tigers sign Victor Martinez (Updated 11-24)

The Tigers signed catcher/1B/DH Victor Martinez to a 4 year deal today. Martinez is a switch hitting catcher who has widely been considered one of the best offensive catchers in baseball over the last few years. I covered him briefly in my offseason wish list, and while I wasn't technically pulling for him, I am certainly not against the signing. He provides a left-handed bat (against righties) and is capable of making teams pitch to Cabrera. I will withhold total judgement until I see what other moves the Tigers make. 4 years/50 million is a fairly good deal, so long as there are no repeats of 2008.

UPDATE-The deal is now "official" per ESPN. I forget these things are always "pending him passing a physical" when they are initially announced. (How the hell did Carlos Guillen get paid with this system?)

Thank God for the Carolina Panthers

Without them, the Lions would be the unquestioned laughing stock of the NFL (again). The Lions once again decided that winning is for losers, and lost to the Cowboys 35-19. After taking a 12-7 lead following Ndamukong Suh getting molested by Leonard Davis in the endzone, the Lions gave up scores on the following plays

A 97 yard punt return after John Swendling tried to down it inside the 5 yard line.


They also gave up a 29 yard TD run to Jon Kitna. Yep, Jon "Vick-lite" Kitna...
(Stupid NFL.com won't let me embed the video, but c'mon, its Jon Kitna running)

There was also this penalty for a horse collar. I will let you be the judge...


What a......Dreadful........call.

I just don't get it.  Two weeks ago, they had their cleats to the throats of the 8-2 Jets. They go on to lose to the 2-8 Bills (winless at the time) and the 3-7 Cowboys who are being coached by an interim Jason Garret. If the Lions are nothing else, they are consistent. Consistent in pissing me off. Consistent in picking in the top 5 of the draft every April. There comes a point when the comedy of errors is no longer funny (I'm looking at you Two and a half Men). It just gets depressing. Not depressing as in "Oh, I'm a Lions fan. I have only seen one playoff victory in my life. Even the Raiders are 5-5 this year" type of way. That's been fine for the last few decades years. This year is approaching epic proportions. We weathered the Millen regime, to move into the future with the promise of the Schwartz. So far, he and Mayhew have proven to be able to bring in talent, but the on the field results just aren't there.

In selfish news, my dream of Patrick Peterson is alive and well. The only other player I would be happy with at this point would be Da'Quan Bowers. It must be fall, I'm already looking forward to the draft. Thanks, Lions!

Proof that Millen in fact HAS had some sort of NFL success.

MyOffseason Wish List

Signing Benoit and Alburquerque was a nice start to the offseason, but the team still has a few glaring needs. While I would personally commit to eating 2 Hot N Readys if they went out and signed Carl Crawford, Cliff Lee, Jason Werth, Victor Martinez, Adam Dunn, and Jorge De La Rosa, I'm fairly certain we won't get them all, so here is my wish list weighted towards reality...

1. Sign Adam Dunn. I quickly covered this before, but a big left handed hitter to protect Cabrera is a dream signing. I realize that he is a Type A Free Agent, meaning that the Tigers will lose a draft pick to Washington if they sign him, but all the big names are.
2. Acquire an offensive minded catcher. Avila and Laird were great behind the plate, and Max St. Pierre had a Disney movie storyline, but the offensive production was lacking to put it politely. Victor Martinez is the most obvious option, but his horrendous 2008 is worrisome. The options aren't very exciting, so maybe a trade for someone like Miguel Montero or Ryan Doumit might be a better option.
3. Some sort of corner outfielder. There are names out there like Crawford, Werth, and even Justin Upton. I would love to get Upton, but I don't think the Tigers have the prospets to get a deal done. I wouldn't mind seeing Maggs come back at a lower salary, and wouldn't sign Manny Ramirez for all the camels in Antarctica. I'm thinking it's Werth ahead of the pack in regards to Dave Dombrowski's wish list. Jeff Francouer and Brad Hawpe are a couple personal favorites or mine that won't cost anything close to Werth.
4. The bullpen is pretty much set. I would like to see Zumaya come back with an incentive laden deal (and a bubblewrap coating) if only for sentiments sake. I will never forget the excitement he brought when he hit 103 on the radar. Another option is J.J. Putz who is from Trenton.
5. Get 1-2 more starters. Verlander, Scherzer, and Porcello are set. We have nice prospects in Jacob Turner, Casey Crosby, and Andy Oliver. Not much in between. Cliff Lee is great, and that means he will be a Yankee. I am a big fan of De La Rosa, but am not sold on him. There are high risk-high reward options like Rich Harden, Erik Bedard, and Justin Duchscherer. I am hoping for De La Rosa and Aaron Harang.

That's about it. Inge and Peralta will be the 3B/SS for a while, and the kids at second deserve another shot.  I would venture to guess that Dombrowski is working on a blockbuster trade that makes this whole excercise irrelevant.  It should be announced about 10 minutes after I hit publish.

Tiger sign Al Alburquerque(!!!) to a major league deal

The Detroit Tigers made the headline move off the offseason so far, signing relief pitcher Alberto Alburquerque. Details on contract length and cost are not yet announced, but his name alone warrants somewhere in the 5 year/145 million dollar range.  The opportunity for "left turn at Alburquerque" jokes alone make Dunn/Crawford/Werth/VMart talk seem secondary. Here's his baseball reference page, as if it matters....
Al Alburquerque.

If you are wondering, and I know you are, by the fifth spelling, I got his name right without looking.

Congrats, and welcome to Detroit, Al.

Tigers sign Benoit, in "serious talks" with Dunn (Updated)

The Detroit Tigers have reached a 3 year deal with relief pitcher Joaquin Benoit, formerly of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He pitched very well last year "as he posted a 1.34 ERA, 11.2 K/9, 1.6 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9, and 38.9% groundball rate in 60 1/3 innings." I like it, but was hoping to hear news on a bat to protect Miggy Cabrera. I was intrigued by Dan Uggla, but he was traded to Atlanta for a package including former Tiger, Omar Infante. 


As for bats, according to MLB Trade Rumors, they are in "serious talks" with Adam Dunn. Does he fit what Detroit needs? Let's see...

1. Left handed? check
2. Power hitter? check
3. Has a pulse? check

I don't want to get ahead of myself, since these rumors pop up all the time, but he has been linked to the Tigers for a while now. More on this as/if it develops.


UPDATE- Just ran across this list of the Top 50 Free Agents from MLB Trade Rumors, and they have Benoit rated 37th and Dunn rated 5th, ahead of guys like Victor Martinez and Derek Jeter.  

3 God Damned Points? or Half-time reactions (updated)

Where to even begin? A list seems helpful...

1. Why are you paying Drew Stanton? Seriously. You keep him on the roster for 4 years. You acquire Shaun Hill, Matt Stafford, Daunte Culpepper, Patrick Ramsey, J. T. O'Sullivan, Zac Robinson, and others whose name escapes me at the moment since you draft him in the second round. You obviously have zero faith in his abilities, so why keep him around? Shaun Hill has a broken arm. I'm sorry, let me rephrase that.....ahem.....HE HAS A BROKEN ARM. And you start him over Stanton?!?!? Awesome.
2. 8 penalties for 45 yards. Against the Bills. The Buffalo Bills. Do you really feel the need to cheat to beat these guys? They have yet to win a game this season. You should have beat the Jets last week, and as I type this the Bills score again, and you are getting Kobe'd by the Bills.
3. And finally, 3 GOD DAMNED POINTS?(see how I bring it around full circle?) The Bills came into the game giving up an average of 178.3 ypg rushing, and first round pick Jahvid Best has 11 carries for 27 yards. This is a team that has given up 29.1 ppg. A team that will 99% be picking first in April, and you manage 3 points. You were shut out for 29:57.
4. There is no clear cut positional need for the draft anymore. I looooooove Patrick Peterson, and you gotta take him if he's there, but after him where do you look? The weakest OT draft in forever means Cherilous and Backus are safe for now.  You can't go after a QB no matter how many times Stafford gets hurt. WR is deep this year, but Calvin and Burleson aren't the problem. Just go back to the eeny meeny miney mo method, I guess.
5. Play Tim Toone, plz. I have no idea if he knows the playbook, or if he could block worth a damn. Those aren't the important aspects when considering a 4th or 5th WR/PR....He's a white guy with dreadlocks. That is worth at least 10 points in intimidation alone. What has Derrick Williams done that Toone can't? Exact, wait for it, ly.

In closing, I would like to take a moment to recognize My Lions for a long overdue award. I would like to present you with this...

I hate love hate love hate love hate love you guys!

A special shout out to Shaun Hill....

Recapping a strange weekend in the Big Ten

I didn't have high hopes for the slate of games on the Big Ten schedule this weekend. The only game I thought might be interesting was the Iowa-Northwestern game, and at least that didn't disappoint. Let's take a look at the games, shall we?

Indiana at Wisconsin-The Badgers put up 83 points against Indiana. 83. Quick sidenote-Wisconsin is the third Big Ten school this season whose football team may score more points than their basketball team. The list:

1. Wisconsin- They make the list twice with outbursts of 83 and 70 points. The Badgers are always a good basketball team, but are not known for their offense.In fact, they ony scored 83 or more 3 times last season, and lost their starting guards from last year.
2. Michigan-It could be a long year at Crisler this year, and may need triple overtime to reach 67 points just like their gridiron counterparts. Without Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims, they are going to rely heavily on Tim Hardaway Jr.
3. Iowa-On September 25, Iowa scored 45 points against Ball State. It may be a calendar year until a scoreboard in Iowa City has to reach that high again. If there is a team that is searching for offense harder than Michigan, it will be Iowa. I am only half joking on this one.

 Anyway, most points since 1915, running up the score, yada yada yada. The defense has the responsibility to stop the other team, and cheers, Indiana,

Minnesota at Illinois-The Gophers won. Told you it was a strange weekend.

Michigan at Purdue- The only thing that happened more frequently than turnovers in this game were Ro-Tel/Buffalo Wild Wings commercials on the Big Ten Network, and the announcers fellating Cam Newton in the Auburn/Georgia game. Ten turnovers. How many?

Ten costly turnovers, ah ah ah

Stranger yet, the Michigan defense didn't allow a TD. Granted Purdue:Offense::Ke$ha:Talented, but still, they only gave up 3 FGs and a Pick 6. I take nothing away from that, but it is nice to type.

Penn State at Ohio State- It was a tale of two halves in Columbus as The Nittany Lions took a 14-3 lead into halftime. The second half, not so much. 35 unanswered points sealed the deal, and will remain in the top ten. After the game, I caught up with Joe Paterno and asked about his teams performance. His response was 

"I really like banana pudding, but they only had tapioca. I can't digest tapioca, so I changed sweaters. When the cat meows, I go for a walk to clear my garage. I only wish Bruce Willis would make another Die Hard movie. I really liked My Two Sons, but the Cadillac Eldorado had a large backseat. We are going to the zoo, but are bringing our own garbage bags."

Iowa at Northwestern-The biggest "upset" of the weekend as Iowa was ranked 13th, and 64% of the country realized that Northwestern had a football team. This game had it all,including  Ricky Stanzi, American, but the story was NW QB Dan Persa. He led a comeback drive, and ruptures his Achilles Tendon on the game winning TD pass. Tough break for arguably the best QB in the Big Ten this season. Just when Northwestern was, Oh, Wisconsin just scored again, looking like a threat to play spoiler at Wisconsin, their season essentially ends.

Michigan State had a bye week, and will host Purdue next Saturday. Expect the Boilermakers to score -13 points against the Spartans. As far as I know, no MSU players were arrested either, a situation Mark Dantonio calls "Encouraging."

So that's it. Michigan got some good news Friday as  Dallas Crawford, a CB from Florida, committed to the Wolverines. This is great news on its own since I am currently third on the Michigan depth chart at the SS position, but he is also teammates and friends with WR Sammy Watkins who is pretty much down to Clemson and Michigan.

The early question heading into next weekend is how many points will Wisconsin and Michigan score? I tried downloading a Math program to calculate the final score and got this...

There's the Lions I know and love

About the only thing that could have gone worse is if Schwartz would have won the toss and taken the wind......in Ford Field. But we learned a few things today:

1. Stafford is as fragile as a 13 year old girl's ego.
2. The Lions remain the most undisciplined football team this side of the Mean Machine.
3. Alphonso Smith is in full on Beast Mode.
4. My Patrick Peterson drive is not completely dead.
5. Ndamukong Suh is the back up kicker.

A win is a win, is a win

I have held off writing game recaps for a few weeks since I didn't have the mental strength to come up with ways to describe the Wolverine defense. I had a few ideas, mostly involving Nathan Scheelhaase voodoo dolls and incriminating pictures of Joe Paterno. The subsequent retinal bleaching would have made that post seem counter productive, so I just let it all slide. Being ranked 106th in the NCAA in total defense? Hey check out these monkeys riding bikes! Another starter in the secondary is out for the year? Randy Moss, Randy Moss, Randy Moss! It was like my refusal to acknowledge it in words made it nonexistent. For better or worse, I simply watched the games, shook my head, wished I could just hold Greg Robinson close while we assured one another that it will get better, and moved on.

Moving on. Its an interesting concept when it comes to sports. The celebratory dance that I would have unleashed on the world if the final score yesterday would have been 67-13 would have rivaled Ms. Benes....

Would I have considered the defensive struggles to be over? Not at all, but I would have enjoyed entertaining the thought. There are some people who like to romanticize the game of football and liken it to a game a=of chess. Two masterminds staring each other down, each move by each piece being able to win or lose the game. I am not one of those people. I still call the Knights "horsies". The Bishops are "The pointy guys", and my true freshman defensive back, who was all but guaranteed to redshirt this season but is now forced into playing 85% of the snaps is "Go Courtney Avery/Terrance Talbott/Cullen Christian/Ray Vinopal/Carvin Johnson". 67-65 does not lend itself to chess comparisons. It's a frightening cocktail of 

One part 

Two parts

Floated with a little 

So where do I go from here? Let me beat you to it, Spartan fans, "The Little Caesars Bowl."  I am in the camp that Rodriguez gets one more year. Greg Robinson should be staging his home as we speak. Coming into the season, I had modest goals that I let get out of hand after the first few games, but at least I wasn't the only one...

Its just that after the last two seasons, Michigan fans had to grasp onto something, and we collectively made that something the dreadlocks of a true sophomore quarterback. That decision may have been a bit hasty, because he had no way of living up to the ridiculously high standards he set for himself. I'm hoping I learn my lesson before next season, but am already prepping myself for a long ride on the "Roy Roundtree for Biletnikoff Award" bandwagon next September.

Sparky Anderson placed in hospice care

Former Tiger manager Sparky Anderson has been placed in hospice care due to complications from his battle with dementia. I'm sure every Detroit baseball fan has a favorite Sparky moment, as he was instrumental in bringing the Tigers a World Series championship in 1984. Thoughts and best wishes to his family!

The ten best Lion’s draft picks since Barry Sanders

 

About a week ago, a friend brought up an interesting question, who is the best Detroit Lions' draft pick since Barry Sanders in 1989? I decided to delve into it a little deeper and attempt to answer the question myself. I started by looking at every draft pick since Barry Sanders that the Lions have made. I skimmed through and made a preliminary list of the players who would make the initial list. Then I determined the criteria to establish a pick's value. I used the following:

1. Contributions to the Lions
2. Contributions to other NFL teams
3. Relative value in regards to spot selected
4. Other players available within ten picks at the player's position (The Charles Rogers exclusionary rule)
5. I mostly left out a player’s off the field issues (unless it suited me)

My initial list consisted of 24 players...

Year	Name	Round	Overall	College	Position
1989	Ray Crockett	4	86	Baylor	DB
1989	Rodney Peete	6	141	USC	QB
1991	Herman Moore	1	10	Virginia	WR
1992	Robert Porcher	1	26	South Carolina St	DE
1992	Jason Hanson	2	56	Washington St	K
1994	Johnnie Morton	1	21	USC	WR
1995	David Sloan	3	70	New Mexico	TE
1995	Steven Boyd	5	141	Boston College	LB
1995	Cory Schlesinger	6	192	Nebraska	FB
1998	Charlie Batch	2	60	EMU	QB
1999	Jared DeVries	3	70	Iowa	DE
2001	Jeff Backus	1	18	Michigan	OT
2001	Dom Raiola	2	50	Nebraska	C
2001	Shaun Rogers	2	61	Texas	DT
2002	Andre Goodman	3	68	South Carolina	CB
2003	Cory Redding	3	66	Texas	DE
2004	Roy Williams	1	7	Texas	WR
2007	Calvin Johnson	1	2	Georgia Tech	WR
2008	Cliff Avril	3	92	Purdue	DE
2009	Matthew Stafford	1	1	Georgia	QB
2009	Brandon Pettigrew	2	20	Oklahoma State	TE
2009	Louis Delmas	2	33	Western Michigan	S
2010	Ndamukong Suh	1	2	Nebraska	DT
2010	Jahvid Best	1	30	Cal	RB

 

Among the first to be cut were Johnnie Morton, Jared DeVries, Cory Redding, Matt Stafford, Louis Delmas, Brandon Pettigrew, and Jahvid Best. In the cases of DeVries, Pettigrew, and Best, it was a case of injuries/lack of playing time. Stafford, Delmas, Pettigrew and Best have the ability to be something special, but they are fairly young. DeVries was marginal at best to get this far anyways, and his recent injury history was the final nail in his coffin.

Redding is interesting because of his inconsistency. He was a best for a few years after he moved to DT,  but seems to be a contract year fluke based on his performance since 2006.

Morton’s exclusion is two-fold: His MMA career, and the fact that Isaac Bruce went 12 picks later.

The next round of cuts was the elimination of the guys that were solid/unspectacular contributors or sentimental favorites that are probably remembered more fondly than they should be.

Player	Reasons for exclusion
Rodney Peete	Never that good. Facilitated Andre Ware pick. Annoying Wife.
Robert Porcher	Within 13 picks were Levon Kirkland and Darren Woodson.
David Sloan	Only had one dominant season.
Stephen Boyd	Injuries cut his career short. Very tough to eliminate.
Charlie Batch	Brian Griese was selected 31 picks later. Never made Pro Bowl.
Domonic Raiola	No Pro Bowls. Flipped off fans in 2008.
Cliff Avril	Good, not great. Situational pass-rusher at best.

That leaves my top ten. The order is fairly interchangeable and cases could be made for the inclusion of many others over the last few I included. With my bets sufficiently hedged, my top ten…

10) Andre Goodman. I mostly forgot about his time as a Lion until this project. He has become one of the best corners in the NFL since his departure following the 2005 season. This is largely due to him being a 3rd rounder, and the huge hole the Lions have had in the secondary for years.

9) Ray Crockett. The guy was a beast. He won two Super Bowl rings. Very underrated, having never been to the Pro Bowl. He was a 4th round pick in the same draft as Barry.

8) Roy Williams. Ultra-talented. Having a great year with Dallas. His trade brought Brandon Pettigrew. He is this low because he seemed to give up at times, and for that stupid first down signal he made in games the Lions were losing by 28 points.

7) Ndamukong Suh. Can easily be number one on this list in the future. I am tempering my expectations by starting him here, but he is clearly one of the best young players in the NFL already. The alternative to Suh was trading for Haynesworth, so bonus points.

6) Herman Moore. Just look over the 1991 NFL Draft. Wow it could have been bad. Herman Moore owns nearly every Lion receiving record (until Megatron breaks them all anyway). Not bad for a guy drafted after Stanley Richard.

5) Shaun Rogers. I know, I know. But Rogers was the only bright spot on the defense for a long time. His dominance can never be measured because he has played for Detroit and Cleveland. As a late second round pick, many teams have probably kicked themselves over whiffing on Big Baby.

4) Cory Schlesinger. A fullback? Yep. How many 6th rounders solidify a position on a team for 12 years, earning All-Pro, All-Madden, and Pro Bowl honors? Exactly.

3) Calvin Johnson. Megatron is simply the most physically gifted player I have ever seen. He’s tall, thick, fast, quick, has great hands, hasn’t gotten into trouble. You really can’t name a weakness in his game.

2) Jeff Backus. Here’s my controversial pick. For all the grief he gets, he has been an above average LT for almost a decade, and has played well enough to allow Detroit to take guys like Suh and CJ. If he was a top 5 pick, he wouldn’t be here, but at number 18 overall. I could easily see him off this list in 3 years however.

1) Jason Hanson. Ladies and Gentlemen, your Detroit Lions. A kicker has been the best draft choice in 22 years. But look at the facts. Second round pick in 1992. Longest tenured Lion. Still a weapon in 2010. One of the greatest kickers in NFL history. I easily see Suh and CJ ahead of him soon, and Best and Stafford wouldn’t shock me.

Thoughts? Blatant omissions? Wanna know where I get the crack I have been smoking? Feel free to comment.

Randy Moss, Detroit Lion?

Good gravy I hope not. I think he could really make this offense unbeatable. Imagine CJ and Moss on the outsides with Burleson in the slot and Pettigrew/Scheffler at TE. Yikes. You almost don't need an OL with options like those.

But Moss is a very talented WR a headcase. I know it. You know it. NFL executives know it. Why else would Minnesota release him this soon after giving up a 3rd rounder for him a few weeks back? I know Minnesota is disappointed with their performance thus far, but I thought the plan was to wait until Sidney Rice was healthy to team with Harvin and Moss. There are only a few possibilities I can think of...

1. Favre accidentally sent Moss a picture of his....
2. He really is that bad in the locker room
3. Rice/Harvin/Shiancoe didn't like playing second dog considering how well they performed last year
4. I'm pretty sure it's the Favre thing

Moss' response was rather tame by comparison

I am fairly sure this is the lowest waiver priority since the Truman administration for Detroit, but if the six teams before Detroit pass on Moss, follow suit and Just Say No. Why isn't this message funded by some special interest group and played ad nauseum like some circuit court judge from Emmet County? This actually affects people.

Let Moss go back to New England. Hell, let him play for the Yankees, just keep him out of Allen Park.

This message is paid for by the committee to keep our streets free of Moss