McNabb puts himself in the Hall of Fame

Since he's been a man without a team Donovan McNabb has come off as cocky and bitter in recent interviews. He still thinks he should be on an NFL roster and thinks it's Mike Shanahan's fault that he failed in Washington. Furthermore he thinks if the Redskins draft Robert Griffin III that Griffin also will fail in Washington. He went on to say that Shanahan hasn't won jack since John Elway hung up his cleats. While the latter is true, he keeps being smug and cocky when he shouldn't be.

In an online interview, McNabb once again stuck his neck out for himself by saying he deserves inclusion into the NFL Hall of Fame.

“Absolutely,” McNabb said. “See, one thing that people don’t realize — I never played the game to make it to the Hall of Fame. I played the game because I love it. I played the game to win. I’m a competitor. When I step out on the field, I feel like I’m the best player on the field. Even these last two years, when people may look at it and say, ‘Oh, he’s done, or whatever.’ I’m 34, 35 years old but still, I played at the pinnacle, I played at the highest level of my career. I played there. And I would vote for myself for the Hall of Fame.” 


When I look at McNabb's career, it started kind of shaky, he kicked it up a notch in the middle of his career and if this is the end it'll go out with a whimper. But the worse part of the interview is that he compared himself  to some of the great quarterbacks who never won a Super Bowl.

“Peyton never won the big game until he won the Super Bowl finally. Dan Marino never won the big game. But does that mean his career is a failure? No. Not at all,” McNabb said. “When you sit and look at the numbers — and that’s what it is when it comes to the Hall of Fame — my numbers are better than Jim Kelly, better than Troy Aikman, better than a lot of guys in the Hall of Fame, but the one thing they do have is a Super Bowl.”


Why don't you throw Dan Fouts, Fran Tarkenton, and Danny White under the bus while your at it. Here's the difference between McNabb and the quarterbacks he mentioned. They performed at a high level throughout their careers. The only reason why Marino looked like he didn't go out swinging was because Jimmy Johnson came in and changed the offense. McNabb is going out being a shell of himself, more like Jim Everett.

Here's the kicker from a personal standpoint. I used to think he could still help an NFL team as a backup until he started shooting his mouth off. But that's strictly personal.

Miles Austin admits to being out of shape

There wasn't much of an offseason in the NFL last season due to the lockout. The lockout affected some players but not all as there wasn't too much of a dropoff in play.

Dallas Cowboys receiver Miles Austin was one of the players the lockout hurt. After coming out of nowhere and piling up back to back 1,000 yard seasons, Austin experienced a decline in production because he battled a nagging hamstring injury. After a disappointing showing Austin admitted that he was out of shape.  

“Right now I’m working with the trainers at our facility,” Austin said during a promotional appearance at a Neiman Marcus store in San Antonio. “I feel like last year I wasn’t prepared for the season the way I should’ve been condition-wise, even though I looked and felt it at the time. That’s one thing that I have to keep an eye on. To make sure I’m in the best physical shape I can be.”


Austin said the injuries are behind him and the hamstrings aren't an issue. The Cowboys will need him to be at full strength for them to put together a good season.

Todd Bertuzzi enforces ping pong laws

It’s been an extremely physical NHL playoffs thus far as bitter rivalries continue like what we’ve seen between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and develop like what we’ve seen with the New York Rangers and Ottawa.

Red Wings fans also need to look no further than their own series with the Nashville Predators which got pretty ugly when Shea Weber decided to introduce Zetterberg’s face to the glass. This continued the following game when Todd Bertuzzi decided to get Zetterberg and himself some retribution when he dropped the gloves with the big Nashville defenseman.

But Bertuzzi doesn’t limit his enforcement skills to the ice, he’s also taking it to the locker rooms and under belly of The Joe Louis Arena.

In between the locker rooms at The Joe, the Wings have set up a ping-pong table to enjoy during off days as well as before and after practices (last I hear Darren Helm is the team’s ping-pong champion). However according to the Detroit Free Press, this is a ping-pong table that is strictly off-limits to the likes of the Nashville Predators and Bertuzzi is going to make sure it stays that way.


“I came out of our room, saw some of their guys wanting to play on our Ping Pong tables and told security,” Bertuzzi told the Free Press. “I didn’t do anything else. I didn’t move the table myself.”

Rumors that Bertuzzi had personally packed up the table and wheeled it away swirled around the morning skates today. The Wings host the Predators in Game 4 looking to even the first-round series. No one among the Wings had heard of Ping Pong Gate, but greeted it with delight.

The Free Press report further more states that Predators forward Brandon Yip confirmed that Bertuzzi was not around when he and Roman Josi were denied the opportunity to play Ping Pong by arena security at Joe Louis Arena on Monday.


“I don’t know where that came from,” Yip said of Bertuzzi being involved. “He wasn’t out there.”

Dominic Raiola says that football is worth the memory loss

The NFL has a class action lawsuit filed against them regarding concussion related issues after they left the game. Two former Detroit Lions Alex Karras and Lomas Brown have joined the suit and Lem Barney says he wish he never played the game.

Lions center Dominic Raiola has a different mindset about playing in the NFL. Raiola knows that it's a brutal game and doesn't have any regrets. He knows what he signed up for and says he wouldn't think of ever suing the league.

 "When you sign up for this job you know what you are getting into," Raiola said on Tuesday. "Granted, the money is a lot more now, but at the same time, you know you are going to get dinged up. You are hitting almost every play.


"But that's their prerogative. That's how they are handling it. I know I'm going to have my day when something is going to happen, whether it be short-term memory loss or whatever. That's the rigors of this job. That's why this isn't for everybody. It takes a unique individual to play this sport."

The fiery Raiola is a different breed of cat. He's not worried about his long term health when he's done playing. This is a person that once invited fans to come over his house and fight him and told Miami Dolphins fans they're number one and that they can suck on a certain part of his anatomy.


 "Those things are going to come," he said. "It's common knowledge people are going to suffer. Memory loss is going to come. I am ready for it. It's worth it; totally worth it. This is the best job in the world and I wouldn't trade it for anything.


"I don't know how I could justify suing the league when I am done playing. It's given me 11 years of fun. I have fun every time I step on the field. That's what it's about. I don't think when I am home in my rocking chair when I am 40 years old that I'll be thinking about suing the NFL. I am going to be thinking about all the guys I've played with and how much I loved playing this game."


I can understand why he said what he said. But it is the NFL's responsibility to keep the players safe on the field.

When you watch a Lions game you can see the emotion that Raiola plays with. He's seen a lot of bad in his time with the Lions and now he's starting to see a turn around. For his sake hopefully he remembers the good times.

Kentucky's Eloy Vargas takes a fan to her prom

Seldom used Kentucky center Eloy Vargas made one fan queen for a night. During an autograph signing session Saturday Vargas was approached by Natascha Richardson, a 17-year-old student at Gatton Academy. She then asked Vargas to accompany her to her prom.


“It was my turn to get an autograph and I was just like, what are you doing tonight, and he was like ‘what are you doing tonight’ and I was like, you should go to prom with me and it just kind of happened and I was like ahh, cool.” 


Vargas accepted and hurried to get ready for his date. He was happy to be doing something tho make someone else happy.

"She didn’t have a date so I thought, I should do something for her,” Vargas said.


"It's a lot of blessings to be a part of this thing right now and be over here, part of this girl's life and making her dream come true," says Vargas.


Vargas did a nice thing for someone on their special night.

No word on who was voted prom queen.

Von Miller predicts that Tebow will start in New York

Von Miller of the Denver Broncos is now in the prediction business. And he's speaking up for former teammate and current New York Jet, Tim Tebow.

Miller was one of Tebow's biggest supporters last season and thinks that he'll eventually take the starting quarterback job from the incumbent starter, Mark Sanchez.

Miller said: ''I think everybody's mistaken if you think he's just going to go over there and be a wildcat quarterback or a situational quarterback. The Tebow that I know is going ... to be able to compete for that starting job.''   


If Sanchez gets off to a slow start, he should definitely be looking over his shoulder because the fans will be calling for Tebow should he falter.

The Jazz name will stay in Utah

King David has laid down the law once again. NBA commissioner David Stern says that the Jazz nickname will remain in Utah. The team nickname was inherited when the New Orleans Jazz moved to Salt Lake City back in 1979.

New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson is set to take over ownership of the New Orleans Hornets, a nickname that came with the team when it moved from Charlotte and said that he would like to pursue getting the Jazz name back in New Orleans.

“We need to find a name like (Jazz),” Benson said, referring to New Orleans first NBA team that relocated to Salt Lake City in 1979. “Whether we can get that or let us use that, you’ve got to know we’re working on it. We’d like to change it tomorrow. We have not gotten that approved, but we’re not letting up on it, either. Because we’ve got a good relationship with the commissioner and his people and we’re going to be on them daily to do something.”

"I'm going to ask all of you to help me with this, too," Benson said. "We want to change the name from Hornets . . . . to something that means New Orleans and Louisiana. The 'Hornets' doesn't mean anything.' "

Stern squashed the whole idea today at a press conference for the 2014 NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans.

“It belongs to Utah,” Stern said. “I wouldn’t make it such an important point. There are many things that are indigenous to the area. I’m sure there will be some wonderful nicknames (suggestions).”


The ideal thing would be for the two teams to swap nicknames, since Utah is the Beehive State and New Orleans is closely associated with jazz music. It sounds logical but it won't happen so be prepared to hear about the nickname contest after Benson gets approved as owner.