Los That Links: T'was the Night Before Super Bowl

How do you come up with something creative, original, and though-provoking for a sports website during Super Bowl season? The NFL season finale is upon us, and the one sport that can legitimately claim to be ruler over all things sport in America, has been impossibly dissected, scrutinized, examined, and any other word you would use to express those sentiments.

So what do you do if you're in our shoes, and are looking to provide our own proverbial log to accelerate the Super Bowl fire? Links, baby. Interesting, made-to-order, mother-lovin' links.

Los That Super Bowl Links (Super Bowl story lines)

- EA Sports has already decided the winner to Super Bowl XLV. That should free up your Sunday to do those chores your wife/mom has for you.




- When stat geeks put their powers to good use, stuff like this happens. The Pac-10 is well represented in Super Bowl history.

- PORN! So, remember the last time the Steelers made the Super Bowl, and folks in Arizona had their game interrupted with 37-seconds of porn? Well...

- A two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback, an accused rapist, and an image-rehabbing NFL star go to a bar. Stop me if you've heard this one before.

- Personally, I love Buzz Bissenger because he's such a chap-ass. Here he is with his curmudgeonly hype on the Super Bowl hype.

- Jason Whitlock with his take on the 2011 NFL Hall of Fame class, and why denying entry to a fellow fat man will make him cry.

- Bill Romanowski picks the Packers to win. More importantly, now is a good time to appreciate that Romanowski is the only linebacker to start in five Super Bowls, winning four times. See what steroids can do for you?

- Get your Super Bowl XLV gamble on (where it's legal).

- Lil Wayne versus Wiz Khalifa. Loser has to get a face-tattoo. (Wait a minute...)

Non-Super Bowl, but still NFL-related links

- Mark Sanchez may have a Long Island Lolita.

- Michael Vick never wanted to go to that party that bore his name (and Roger Goodell asked him not to attend) in the first place. (Yeah baby, I really don't want to go to the strip club with the homies. I just wanna stay here with you tonight and watch "Real Housewives of Atlanta".)

- It's fun to play like Chad Ochocinco-Johnson is unintelligent, but really, we know he's not.

- Google "Goodell, Labor issues", and you get about 5,832,964,897,692 articles. Some positive, mostly not. Here's a negative piece worth reading.

- Dave McKenna of the Washington City Paper listened to "Hit Em Up", "Takeover" and "Ether" for 72-consecutive hours, then wrote this piece on Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder back in November. Now Snyder wants to sue for libel.

Lil Wayne Green And Yellow Remix

With the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers set to meet Sunday in the Super Bowl, rapper Lil Wayne released a remixed version to the popular Pittsburgh street anthem, Wiz Khalifa's "Black andYellow". Check it out after the jump:



Lil Wayne - Green And Yellow
Shouts to thefader.com and weezythanx.com for the link. Catchy, but personally I was already growing tired of the original version. Should be a good game nonetheless. The Super Bowl will air on Fox Sunday Feb. 6th and coverage is an all day event so tune in like everyone else in the world. You don't want to be the only one without something to offer to the water cooler conversations come Monday morning.

-ALR

Troy Polamalu Wins NFL Defensive Player Of The Year

The Pittsburgh Steelers just keep winning. Earlier today, the NFL announced that Steelers safety and fan favorite Troy Polamalu has won the Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year award in a close vote over his Super Bowl opponent Clay Matthews of the Green Bay Packers. Polamalu edged Matthews by only two votes, receiving 17 out of a possible 50 (Matthews got 15 votes).

While the 2010 season was not his best statistically, Polamalu's impact on defense was huge for the Steelers. He made a number of big plays to spark victories while racking up 63 tackles and 7 interceptions. He also make a key tackle causing a fumble against the Ravens that helped the Steelers win their division. Polamalu also had the NFL's highest selling jersey this season, which is another testament to his popularity around the NFL.

An argument can be made that Matthews also deserved to win the award as he had a monster season in his own right (60 tackles and 13.5 sacks) but that is a debate for another day. For now we will give Troy Polamalu his shine until the two teams face off on Super Bowl Sunday.

Troy also has an edge on Matthews in the endorsement game as his locks are insured for a reported one million bucks while Clay just recently secured a hair endorsement of his own. Is this what sports has come to? I digress.

-ALR

Chicago Car Salesman Canned For Wearing Packer Tie

Heard about this yesterday, but I was waiting for the video to pop up... John Stone, who worked as a car salesman for Webb Chevrolet in Suburban Chicago, was fired after working there a little over a month and sold 14 cars for wearing a Green Bay Packers tie. Here's some of the owner Jerry Roberts' reasoning for cutting Stone loose:

"If he loves the tie more than his job, he's welcome to keep wearing it -- elsewhere," Roberts said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Roberts says the dealership has done promotions involving the Bears and he was afraid the tie could alienate the team's fans and make it harder to sell cars.

"We spend $20,000 a month on advertising with the Bears on WBBM during the season, and we have Bears players including Corey Wootton driving loaner vehicles, and here was a salesman openly undoing that work," Roberts said, according to the Sun-Times.

I have to call BS on that excuse, especially since Roberts offered Stone his job back according to the report...

Stone is a father of two who had worked at the dealership for a month and a half, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. He said that he has been a Packers fan since he saw running back Ahman Green play.

"I liked the way he played, and I liked Brett Favre before he left, and I love Aaron Rodgers, the coaching staff -- the whole organization," he said, according to the newspaper.

Roberts told the newspaper that Stone was a good salesman who sold 14 cars last month and that no customers had complained about the tie. Stone agreed.

"I was just showing my love for my team and it was a nice, smart tie that matched my clothes -- none of the customers minded: They had a sense of humor about it," he said.

According to the Tribune, Roberts said later Tuesday he would hire Stone back if he returns to work. Stone said that would not happen.

"I'm not going," said Stone, according to the Tribune.

Sounds like a bitter Bears fan to me. As his boss, Roberts has the right to hire & fire whomever he chooses but to fire a good salesman for wearing a tie representing the team your squad lost to is petty and childish. If thinking that Stone wearing a Packers tie would damage your relationship with the Bears & the community imagine how much worse damage Roberts has caused his business with all the negative publicity they're getting because of it. Not a very bright move.

-ALR

Tomlinson Motivates Shutout (Hustling Backwards)

LaDanian Tomlinson has been a revelation this season with the New York Jets. After his last two sub-par seasons with the San Diego Chargers which had many people questioning if this was the end of his run, he's found the fountain of youth (or a darn good HGH supplier) in Jersey, rushing for 490 yards and 5 TDs this season.

Greg Garber did an in-depth piece for ESPN titled "Lombardi Strikes ex-Bolt with Inspiration", examining Tomlinson's impact on the youthful NY Jets, and the platform they have put him on to reach his ultimate goal: a Super Bowl win. Much was made of his use of Vince Lombardi quotes to inspire the team, and motivate himself.

I read the piece, then watched the pre-game for the Green Bay Packers and NY Jets, where they showed Tomlinson giving a riveting pep talk to his team. The speech was passionate, riveting, right up there with the one Al Pacino gave his team during halftime of "Any Given Sunday". I was ready for some football!

And the, the Jets go out and lay their biggest egg of the season, getting shutout 9-0 at home coming off a bye week. They allowed the NFL's 23rd ranked rushing defense to 119 yards, and forced Mark Sanchez to remind folks of his rookie season performances with 2 INTs and a QB rating of 43.

Not going to place the blame of the poor performance of the offense entirely on LT's shoulders, given that he did run for 55 yards on 16 carries, and became just the sixth player to rush for over 13,000 yards in his first ten seasons. Still, with all the hype surrounding LT, it would have been nice for at least someone on the offensive side of the ball not to look so offensive.

Sanchez threw bad INTs. Tight end Dustin Keller allowed Charles Woodson to snatch the ball out of his hands for one of the picks. Wide receiver Santonio Holmes dropped some very catchable passes. Braylon Edwards was cutting patterns short and not coming back to the ball much like he did regularly with the Cleveland Browns. And Shonn Greene, the actual starter at running back continued to underwhelm, carrying 6 times for only 22 yards.

Not exactly what I expected after all the Lombardi talk.

"Mama said there will always be days like this," Tomlinson said after the game.

I'm sure Mama said a few other things that he relayed to his offensive mates behind closed doors.

("You betta not neva embarrass me like that in public again! Go get a switch!")

What Would Jimmy Do?

Jimmy Johnson has very few regrets from his NFL coaching career. One thing he says he would have done differently: sitting Dan Marino.

On Fox NFL Sunday, Johnson explained that toward the end of Marino's career with the Miami Dolphins, the Hall of Fame quarterback was injured, struggling, and in Johnson's eyes more of a detriment to the team than an asset. Johnson says he toyed with the idea of benching Marino in 1999, but ultimately decided against it, citing Marino's status, even though he felt the backup (Damon Huard) gave the team a better chance to win..

He used this analogy to explain why he feels Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress should bench his future Hall of Fame quarterback, Brett Favre.

In six games this season, Favre is 2-4, has thrown 10 interceptions to only seven touchdowns, and has a QB rating of 68.6. Adding injury to insult, he has two broken bones in his left foot, and possibly a broken marriage after a "sexting" scandal involving former NY Jets employee Jenn Sterger. He's 41 years old, immobile, and being paid $20 million this season.

The Vikings have no leverage to bench the ailing Favre, after bending over backwards this summer to woo him into returning. Favre currently has his consecutive games started streak that sits at an NFL record of 291games. Speculation is that Favre wants to get that up to 300.

After the Vikings most recent loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football, Childress attempted throwing Favre under the bus. In the press conference, he had this to say about a Favre interception that led to points for the Packers:

“Yeah, the (interception) to Desmond Bishop, I’d have to look at that because I’d like to know where we’re going with the football, because I believe the play was designed to go to the other side and I think Percy’s standing there in big air, so not sure why we’re looking at the left-hand side...”

The interception was only one of three for Favre that game. The Vikings lost 28-24.

In Johnson's eyes, the Vikings are sacrificing team success for the appeasement of one player. He said he openly treated star players on his teams differently than others, but never at the expense of compromising the idea of team unity.

Johnson won two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys, a National Championship with the University of Miami, (FL), and is a spokesman for ExtenZe, a male-enhancement medicine. Childress has won a playoff game. He may want to listen up.

2010 Green Bay Packers Preview

The Green Bay Packers shocked a lot of football fans last season with their unexpected success so soon after the highly publicized divorce with that old guy that's now in Minnesota. The Packers ended 2009 with a playoff berth (although they lost in a shootout with the Saints), the best defense in the NFC and a rising star at quarterback. Not too bad of a season, no?

Offense
Give almost any NFL starting QB time, and he can pick apart a defense, except maybe Matt Leinart (sorry, but that was too easy). Thanks to one of the top offensive lines in the league, QB Aaron Rodgers has responded with two excellent seasons as the Packers franchise signal caller. Rodgers is extremely accurate, nimble and athletic enough to gain yards via the scramble and also has a very strong arm to get the ball down the field. He has all the tools to take advantage of Green Bay's nice stock of receivers, led by veteran Donald Driver. Driver has been nothing short of consistent throughout his career and at 35 doesn't appear to be slowing down. Explosive WR Greg Jennings is the perfect complement to Driver and is capable to put up big numbers weekly. Green Bay tecnically has two #1 recievers. Throw in backup wideouts Jordy Nelson and James Jones and the Packers have in my opinion the deepest receiving corps in the NFL. Don't sleep on Nelson. Snatch him and stash himon your fantasy football roster. Trust me.

One particular player to watch is Jermichael Finley. The third year tight end has a ton of talent and is poised for a breakout year. Finley has a matchup advantage no matter who opposing defenses line up to cover him. He reminds me of a bigger version of Marques Colston. The running game has been consistent the last couple of years with Ryan Grant and third down back Brandon Jackson. Grant is one of those solid running backs that just gets the job done and should be able to again surpass 1,200 yards on the ground.

Defense
Green Bay fields a defensive 3-4 scheme that is riddled with first rounders and play makers. They were excellent against the run with B.J. Raji and Cullen Jenkins up front. Former USC linebacker Clay Matthews had a nice rookie season with 10 sacks and he should produce much of the same in 2010. A.J. Hawk & Nick Barnett are athletic middle linebackers that are good in both pass coverage and against the run. Former Heisman and Defensive POY winner Charles Woodson is a ball hawk in the secondary and is said to be in the best shape of his career. CB Tramon Williams and S Nick Collins are emerging as bonafide interception threats against the pass and shouldn't be underestimated.

Prediction
11-5
Green Bay can score light up the scoreboard with the best of them, and their defense is good on paper. One thing to be weary of is that they did give up 51 points to the Saints in the playoffs last season, so their gambling to make big plays on defense is capable of being exposed by a top notch QB. Still, the Packers are a solid contender for a Super Bowl berth in the NFC. Brett who??

-ALR