Off the Field

The NFL's offseason, or non-playing season, has become an industry. There are dozens of sites devoted to the NFL draft, and any site that covers the league does not slow down, even in the tortoise-paced weeks after the initial free agent spending spree.

Interesting news from the past week:

Donte Stallworth killed a pedestrian yesterday morning in Miami. I thought it was funny that ESPN referred to him as a star player, although he is paid like one. Nothing else about the story is funny. No charges have been filed, so it probably just was a horrible accident.

Albert Haynesworth was indicted for a traffic incident from last December. I doubt that much will come to this, except a small percentage of his signing bonus going to the guy he hit. Don't expect a suspension. In the NFL, misdemeanor means "no big deal".

The Titans were on the verge of trading for Torry Holt. Holt didn't want his deal restructured, so the Rams cut him. Holt in a Titans uniform would be nice. Even with a crappy (by his standards) 64-catch season, Holt would be a huge addition to the Titans. I would even forgive him by leaving my z34 team without one decent receiver last year.

Matt Jones drank a beer. It might have been the most expensive beer in his life, as he ended up in jail and probably will be released from the Jaguars soon. Will the Jags ever draft a receiver in the first round again?

Team USA lost in the World Baseball Classic. The World Cup is a big deal and you almost never see players skipping because of pressure from their professional team. No other sport is like that. This classic is a made up event that isn't going to further interest in the sport at all. If you care more about players from "your" team getting hurt in the event, it's not an event.

I will finish with a shout out to Cheeseburger Gothic, John Birmingham's blog. Birmingham posted a comment about the blog I wrote on his latest book. I'm guessing that if I listed the last 50 books I read that none of the authors would respond like this. Those Australians aren't as bad as they are portrayed in Flight of the Conchords.

So kudos to Mr. Birmingham. Buy his book so he can take his son out to the chocolate fountain again.