NY Jets receiver Laveranues Coles has a close relationship with former Jets qb Chad Pennington, and he wasn’t happy when Chad was let go to make room for Brett Favre. Coles was so pissed that he went on a media strike that ended in time for Laveranues to take a slight jab at Brett Favre.

From Newsday:

“I don’t have a feel for him and he doesn’t have a feel for me,” Coles said Thursday of his on-field relationship with Favre. “That is one of the things I am going to have to deal with. In the past I’ve always known when the ball was coming. Now you don’t really know.”

Coles still is fiercely protective of Pennington, with whom he still talks often.

“Again, our relationship goes deeper than just football,” Coles said. “He’s happy, I’ll tell you that much. Any time you’re somewhere where you’re really wanted and people are excited about having you there … He’s happy to be there and I’m happy for him.”

The quote “In the past I’ve always known when the ball was coming. Now you don’t really know,” says it all. Are Favre and Coles really not on the same page or is Brett just looking for other receivers?

Maybe Brett Favre would look for Coles more if he’d quit pouting about Pennington. LC isn’t BS’n about his friendship with Chad. He takes any chance he can to blow the Pennington trumpet.

Brett Favre took the field for the first time as quarterback for the New York Jets and went 5-6 for 48 yards and had a 4-yard touchdown pass to Dustin Keller. Favre looked good all things considered and will have two more warm-up games before opening the season September 7 against Chad Pennington and the Miami Dolphins. Hopefully Brett just shows up and plays football without any talk of retiring. He wouldn’t want to piss of Troy Aikman or Hitler again.

Brett Favre, New York Jets, highlights, video, youtube

Brett Favre practiced with his New York Jets teammates for the first time and easily won over the New York fans. Not that it was hard to win them over considering the quarterback situation for the J-E-T-S before Favre got to town. Brett Favre going to the Jets and the team’s offseason moves will probably add five wins to the Jets’ total from last year. A 9-7 record is decent but it won’t get you to the playoffs in the AFC. Brett might feel he’s in a better situation right now, but lets see how he feels when he’s watching the playoffs instead of playing in them.

Brett and Coach Eric Mangini give their opinions of Brett’s first day in this video:

Brett Favre, New York Jets, first practice, video, youtube

Brett Favre is done with the Packers and likely headed to Tampa Bay, but it didn’t happen fast enough for former Dallas Cowboy Troy Aikman. Years of beating Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers on the field apparently weren’t enough for Aikman who sacked Favre during an appearance with the 2 Live Stews radio program.

First Troy gave his opinion on Favre retiring and unretiring:

Then he sounded off on the job belonging to Aaron Rodgers:

In the second clip Troy says you might win the Super Bowl (if Brett Favre plays in Green Bay), but you might go 4-12 as if that’s a strike against Brett Favre. The Packers might go to the Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers, but they’ve got a better chance of going 4-12 with him at the helm.

The Packers and Favre reached the point where working together is impossible so the only option is for Brett to move on. The Minnesota Vikings were Favre’s first choice and they could still come out pretty good in this mess. If Brett goes to Tampa Jeff Garcia is not gonna be his backup. So then Garcia can move on to Minnesota and that way the Green Bay Packers are happy, Aaron Rodgers is happy, Brett Favre is kinda happy, Jeff Garcia’s happy for a new opportunity, and Tarvaris Jackson is ass out.

Troy Aikman, Brett Favre, interview, NFL

Here’s an inebriated New Yorker supporting the Jets:

Contains some NSFW language
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mchjKZfffQ[/youtube]

Jeezus.. Why didn’t her man get a handle on her? He’s just sitting there lettin’ her get loaded and go Courtney Love on the stadium… He’s a better dude than me. I once quit seeing a chick because she got tipsy and was really, really, really into the football game.. It was embarrassing, but I was more pissed that I was supposed to be drinking, and she was gonna drive home… Anyways.. On to the NASCAR fans:

NSFW Language
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb-m1PPB-AA[/youtube]

There are plenty of stereotypes to draw from the video but the most obvious is that they’re Tony Stewart fans… I feel sorry for that kid. I hope that apple falls as far away from the tree as possible.

Tags: NFL, NASCAR, Drinking, You Tube

If gambling was abolished, do you know who would suffer the most? The NFL and the NBA referees. Regardless of the NFL’s official stance on wagering, the reason the league is so popular is because of the violence, gambling, and video games. But I’m not here to call the NFL a bunch of hypocrites, I’m here to salute the gridiron gladiators. I am entertained and hopefully my picks do likewise.

I’m superstitious, so I never pick for or against my favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles. The home team is in bold type.

Houston -3 over Kansas City: I didn’t see a lot of the Texans in preseason but I saw all of Hard Knocks.

Buffalo +3 over Denver: The Broncos are gonna have a nice season but it’ll get off to a slow start in upstate New York. Under 37 is tempting.

Pittsburgh -4.5 over Cleveland: The Browns aren’t gonna put it together over 1 summer.

Tennessee +6.5 over Jacksonville: The rule of thumb is to decide which team you think is going to win outright, and then bet on that team. I’m breaking the rule. The Jaguars win a close game.

St. Louis -1 over Carolina: If the Rams are gonna be who I think they are, they have to win this game.

Minnesota -3 over Atlanta: Joey Harrington is 1-4 lifetime vs. Minnesota. 0-4 at the Dome. The lone win came last year at home in Miami.

Miami +3 over Washington: I’m not expecting a lot from either of these teams this season but I like Miami a little more.

NYJ +6.5 over New England. I can make an argument for both teams in this game. That makes me think the game will be close.

Seattle -6 over Tampa Bay: Holmgren vs. Gruden. Hasselbeck vs. Garcia. I like the Seahawks in those matchups and the game.

San Diego -6 over Chicago: One of these teams will be almost as good as last year and the other’s qb is gonna end up costing them.

Detroit +1.5 over Oakland: It wouldn’t be Oakland if they didn’t start the season with a quarterback controversy.. Which should start about midway through the 2nd quarter.

Dallas -5.5 over NYG: The Cowboys offense gets all of the attention but that defense is gonna be really tough up front.

Cincinnati -2.5 over Baltimore: If the game was in Baltimore, I would pick the Ravens.

San Francisco -3 over Arizona: Every year is the year that the Cardinals are gonna turn it around. This might really be their time, but not this week.

Bud Selig wants Jason Giambi to talk to the MLB steroid busters “or else”. Or else what Bud? You’re gonna suspend Jason Giambi for talking about something that happened in the past, that he already kinda admitted to, for what? I’m not even sure where this steroid scandal investigation is going. If every player that ever used steroids came forward today and admitted it, then what? Nobody is gonna shutdown MLB.. And MLB officials might not have been doing the roids, but they were well aware of what was going on. The new rules are in place, so it’s time to focus on current steroid users, the dummies that slip up now. Threatening punishment for Giambi is lip service that really serves no purpose. Let’s look forward instead of living in the past.

Selig may reportedly suspend Yank’s slugger Giambi. Courtesy of ESPN.com 

NBA

Baseball is known as the ”numbers” sport but Jason over at Ball Hype has picked up where Bill Simmons and John Hollinger left off for basketball statistical analysis. Breaking down who was the best player for every ten year period of the league from ‘51-’61 to ‘97-’07 was a great idea and produced some interesting results. The rankings are based on Hollinger’s PER formula and most of the names you would expect to see there are there. If you take a look at the total number of ten year spans dominated by MJ, only centers Chamberlain, Jabbar, and O’neal are in his class. Guys like Olajuwon, Malone, and Garnett have the misfortune of playing in eras dominated by bigger stars.

Passing the torch: From Dolph to Duncan. Courtesy of Ball Hype 

NFL

Pacman Jones’ ill-fated trip and “rain making” at a strip club during the NBA All-Star weekend was one of the reasons he ended up being suspended for the season by new NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Yesterday the news broke that Jones’ DNA tested negative, twice, when compared to DNA obtained from a stripper that was bitten during the February fracas. So the DNA doesn’t match and you have Lt. George Castro saying that the police still have not connected what happened inside the club to the shooting that took place outside of the club. If Adam Jones is cleared of everything except for being a 81k idiot, will/should the NFL reduce his suspension?

Agent: Pacman samples come back negative. Courtesy of ABC 7

2ND THOUGHTS

The Wild Wild Central. Courtesy of The Houston Chronicle

Robert Horry says 2007 Spurs better than 80s Lakers, Celtics. Courtesy of Larry Brown Sports

Jet: Dog fights equal horse races. Courtesy of the NY Daily News

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6K-Sz9c2NM]

They’ve got 99 problems and knowing how to rap is about 98 of ‘em.

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Justin Miller issued the following statement:

“I want to apologize to everyone for this situation, including my family, my teammates, the Jets organization, our fans and the entire NFL. I understand that serving in the NFL is an honor and that I have an obligation to behave in a manner that reflects the privilege I have been given.”

The Jets are currently “evaluating the situation” and plan to take the matter to the commissioner’s office. The NYJ’s statement:

“We expect our players to adhere to the highest standards of conduct off the field and take any allegation of personal misconduct very seriously. We are in the process of gathering information, and have notified the commissioner — in light of the NFL’s new conduct policy. Until we’ve had an opportunity to review all the facts we will refrain from further comment.”

It sounds like the Jets are trying to land on the good side of the Commish by taking the matter to him… It sucks for Miller, but it sucks even more for the lady that got punched on accident. If you’re unfamiliar with Justin Miller, check out this video of some of his college highlights:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4N7nPq8N3o]

I couple of things I thought of while watching the video: dude can lay some hat, thank goodness the woman only suffered a laceration on her face and pain and swelling in her knee, AND… How in the hell did the police catch him?

Cops: Jets player arrested for brawl. Courtesy of AMNY.com

Jets’ Miller arrested for allegedly hitting woman at club. Courtesy of ESPN.com

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