The other day an HGH test was found to have worked on a rugby athlete and since then the talks have been with all professional sports leagues about possible HGH testing. We all really want this for all sports but the one under the immediate spotlight was baseball. Baseball had their steroid era and a hidden hgh era we all assume and they will be using the hgh test on their minor leagues starting this season.

However, we’ve all suspected the NFL has had their issues as these players are bigger, stronger and faster than ever before. It doesn’t take a genius to watch old nfl films and see the old players compared to todays and know that something is up besides lifting weights. The NFL union has come out and said that they are against HGH testing already and it is sure to get some attention. I understand why they do this but eventually the people will call for it. The NFL has watched MLB and knows how to correctly handle this now so I don’t expect there to be 100 players who are busted in the next 6 months but we will start hearing names when the testing comes out. All it takes is one NFL version of Canseco to blow the lid off what we all suspect has been going on. Who’s it going to be? It will be a player who feels that they got forced out of the league. It will be a player who needs the pub and the money. The NFL Canseco is coming…

I admit that I am confused as I have ever been regarding the NFL and their collective bargaining agreement. I keep reading that next season will be a cap free year and how terrible that will be for the league. I keep reading that it won’t turn the Cowboys into the Yankees but I don’t understand it at all.

I’d love for someone to take a few minutes and please explain to me what is going to happen in a non cap year in a way that I can understand.

I’m a Chicago sports fan and I love being a Chicago sports fan. I cheer for all of them except the white sox whom I despise only slightly less than the Yankees and byu football. Anyway…part of the magic of the Cubs is the fact that they haven’t won in so long that it builds each and every year to a fever pitch right before the season starts. I love it and I don’t know how life would be without that feeling.

When the Bears won the Super Bowl with Walter Payton and the best defense ever I felt amazing but I thought they’d make it back and win very soon after and that never happened. That is building also and I enjoy that about the Bears.

My point is that i’ve talked to several Saints fans who don’t know what to do. They had that stigma of being the worst team in the history of the NFL and now that is long gone. The Saints have a Super Bowl title and a Super Bowl quarterback and the fans are a little lost and left saying ‘now what’? The next step is a little something I call fan evolution where the fan evolves from once being good enough to when they don’t win it again the season is a failure but every fan evolves until the team shows they can’t live up to that promise. If the Saints make the Super Bowl next year and lose the fans will be upset but if the Bears make it that far I’ll be happy. Fans are different and evolve on their own. Look at Yankees fans. If they don’t win the world series the season was a waste of time but a cub fan doesn’t feel that way and maybe that is what separates the teams. Maybe evaluating the fan is the way to evaluate the team.

Saints fans, now is your time to step up or step back.

I keep up on ESPN but i was wondering if anyone has any good references for draft sites for the NFL? I’m interested in gathering other opinions and views on players and putting something together.

What a great super bowl game that was. I can’t imagine anyone in the country not watching that game and being excited all the way into the 4th quarter. By the way, Roger Daltrey was horrible and needs to hang em up. Halftime since Janet Jackson has really gone downhill but that’s for another day.

With the Colts driving and a 3rd and 5 the Saints sent every linebacker they had and the Colts picked up the blitz really well. Manning had a short route to Reggie Wayne jumped by the db and the game was over. What fan of football didn’t leap off the couch right then and start saying “the Saints are actually going to win the game”. Up until then I didn’t buy into it just yet. I assumed Manning would score and tie the game like most of you did also. That interception changed everything and made that player NEVER have to buy a drink in New Orleans again. I wonder if he knew he made history as he was running for the end zone.

I lost my pool. Sure I picked the Saints to win because of the point spread at 5.5 for the Colts but I ended up in 3rd place and very sad about it. I guessed the point totals would be closer to 65 because I thought the Colts would actuallly be able to score points. Oh well, I’ll take a Saints win and a pool loss anyday. What a great day for the city of New Orleans and for the NFL in general.

I watch a lot of college football and love the game. I love the passion associated and how intense each player is because the pro game is different and it should be. As they say, the college game is about the name on the front while the pro game is about the name on the back.

When players come from high school to college they are evaluated and then from college to pro. Many times players are offered scholarships based on tools alone meaning they are fast, quick, strong armed, big…just the tools. Other players are offered because they are simply good players that dont’ grade out so well if you were to see how high they could jump or how fast they could run.

In the pro game it is the same. Each year we have a combine where players go and run and jump and throw and it is a tools showcase where athletes really shine and really help their draft status or hurt it by not performing well.

I’m still undecided what I want more tools or players. The hope with the tools players is that they will get it and some do. The NFL and collegiate ranks are loaded with players who are both. Where my issue is players who have only tools and it takes away from the fact that they aren’t great football players or they be afraid of contact or can’t figure out offense or defense. These things bother me. I want football players who understand the game and aren’t afraid. I will take those kids all day long and I’d rather risk a scholarship or a draft pick on a kid like that over a questionable 5 star recruit or anyone the Detroit Lions have taken for the past 10 years.

What a great day for so many kids around the country as they put their signatures on a letter of intent and celebrate school being paid for. I love it. When I signed with Utah out of high school we had a number of other athletes at our school signing at the same time. Russ Millard signed with Iowa basketball and another player signed with Air Force. We were all so excited at the time about what was ahead of us but only one of us went to the school we signed with.

My point is that these kids have plenty of time and opportunity to make good solid choices but like in life, things change. A great number of players that committed today will never play a down for the school they signed with. A number of players that signed today will never play a down of college football even. Life brings about uncertainty and that is the only thing certain about life.

I don’t hide that I’m an Illinois fan and they had a marginal recruiting class this year by most standards but I’m still just as excited for those kids coming in. I’m looking forward to a new crop of players starting up in the spring and following their every move. Fans are fans and though we’d all like each kid to be a 5 star talent we still love our programs unconditionally.

Good luck to all the players who signed today and I hope college football and college in general gets you everything you want.

I actually really liked the Pro Bowl taking place a week before the super bowl and I think I’m not alone. I have always hated the fact that it was 2 weeks before the big game and we had to suffer through no football for a week until the Super Bowl hit. Not anymore and it was a success. I’m not saying that I watch every play but it does give you something to do on a sunday night and it honestly scratched the football itch that i felt all day. I hope it sticks.

Some argue that we missed out on Peyton Manning and Drew Brees but we didn’t really. The game ended 41-34 with no major injuries being sustained which is great news. I couldn’t care less if Peyton or Drew are playing in reality because the game means nothing. It is like the NBA all star game where there is a lack of typical passion and aggression so not having those guys didn’t lessen my experience at all because I just wanted to watch football. I even missed when NFL europe left because it was football.

I hope it sticks because it was a great success and a great lead in to the Super Bowl.