Oh My God, I Just Took A Huge Link Dump (Today's Links)

• Lions fans really REALLY hate Matt Millen. Holding up "Fire Matt Millen" signs is one thing, but this is entirely different.
• Bears sign ex-Northwestern QB Basanez to 2-year deal. Really? What exactly does this do?
• The Bulls didn't look terrible, but they did lose to the Rockets to snap their road-winning streak at 3 games.
  
• Some crazy statistics for Bulls players during January. It gave me a headache, but maybe someone out there can explain them to me.
• Bud Selig makes a lot of money. Not that he shouldn't, but more than 99% of Major League players? That seems like a bit much. (Thanks to Gavin for the tip)
  
• Some sort of crazy wrestling video with AJ Pierzynski (sp?).
• Apparently the Cubs just have way too many short white guys to be a championship-caliber team.
• Big Ten basketball is physical? Get out of here! That many flagrant fouls in that short a time is a little much, though.
• The Peavy rumors live!
• The late Bob Hayes was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame. His "sister" gave a speech at the press conference, but here's the catch: She is faking that she's his sister. Wow. (Thanks to Gavin for this link too; maybe he should just do the freaking links)
  

Easy Schedule in 2009 Answer to Bears Woes?

The Bears schedule for the upcoming 2009 season was released a while ago, but with the end of the playoffs, ESPN has done some research on the NFL schedule. Although the Bears play 9 playoff teams, they have the easiest schedule in the league according to 2008 winning percentages. Their schedule is at .414.

The only problem with this is that playing the Lions twice really drags down that opponents' winning percentage. 9 playoff teams? That seems tough. While this analysis of the schedule is intriguing, it seems very deceptive to me. Either way our schedule won't matter too much if Angelo and Lovie don't do something meaningful to shake things up at Halas Hall this offseason.

Today's Links

• Simeon Rice is contemplating a comeback. Could the Bears be his destination? Would that be a good thing?
• The Cubs trade Wuertz and Rich Hill; Hendry says they are ready to go to camp, but will keep options open. Neat.
• Detroit is still a little sore over Matt Millen, and it showed on Sunday.
• So did your Super Bowl party suck? At least you didn't get peed on like Matt Cassel.
• Some Super Bowl viewers in Arizona were subjected to a little porn during the Super Bowl. After some of those commercials, it was the least they could do.
• Michael Phelps is sorry for smoking pot. Well, he is really sorry for getting caught, but whatever. Who cares.
• Kobe drops 61 points on the Knicks. However, if you adjust for Knicks inflation, it's only like 33.

Makes You Wonder What he Said to the Team

Rod Marinelli said his goodbyes to the Detroit media today at Senior Bowl practice in Mobile, Alabama. According to Tom Kowalski on Mlive.com, as three reporters from Detroit approached Rod at the practice, Marinelli waved them off, pointing his thumb over his shoulder and saying "goodbye ladies."

Oh Rod Marinelli, we hardly knew ye. Kowalski also points out that he had been told that Marinelli did not like the media in Detroit and would often bad-mouth them behind closed doors (I bet Ed Werder would let us know what Rod said). As a battered Lions fan, I saw Rod's weekly spewing of the same sound bytes over and over.

This kind of disdain for the media Marinelli showed recently is not the best way to make friends or win over public opinion, but it certainly would have been more exciting. Especially after he was 0-14 or so and had nothing to lose it would have been nice to see him go off on the press once in a while, or throw a punch at Rob Parker.

Another thing this story made me think of was Rod's farewell to his team. I'm sure he liked them a lot more than he liked reporters and may have been beaten badly if he called them ladies, but you have to think he had some ammo for the players if he felt so inclined.

Personally, I would love to learn that he went off on Kitna, berated Orlovsky for running out of the endzone, or told the offensive linemen and defensive backs that they could trade positions and the team wouldn't be any worse for it.

All in all, Marinelli is a respected position coach with a reputation for discipline and he should be a good fit for the Bears. It is scary to hire a coach that just went 0-16, but the Bears made a nice hire.

Today's Links-Bears Break My Heart Edition

• Bears lose in a nailbiter. Just kidding everyone, it wasn't a nailbiter. Bears just flat out lost, and it sucks.
• Akinori Otsuka a Cub? If he has recovered from that surgery it would be perfect. Sorry if I'm not totally sold on Bob Howry 2.0 (Kevin Gregg)
• Ben Gordon passes Scottie Pippen on the all-time Bulls 3 pointers made list.
  
• The Hawks are playing dominant hockey right now, extending their win streak to 9. Maybe they earned this Karma from the famous "Funeral Burger" incident?
  
• At least we aren't the Lions, 0-16 is epic in it's own way though.
• Illini get a win against Eastern Michigan. I'm just wondering what the deal is with Alex Legion? He's barely getting minutes and when he does he isn't exactly producing.
• Lovie thinks the Bears are "close". Close to what? He is living in a fantasy world.
• Bulls are struggling with Deng AND Gooden out, especially on defense.

Great Day to be Studying

Sorry about the lack of content today, it gets a little busy for us this time of the year. But honestly, I look to see what's going on today for five minutes and find out:

That G-Rod got arrested. I haven't lived in Illinois long, but somehow this isn't a surprise. I know Chicago and Detroit like to upstage each other, but did Blagojevic really need to play the "governor arrested is cooler than mayor arrested" game? And this involves the Cubs somehow? Oh, boy, can't wait for the trial.

Also, the Cubs aren't remotely close to a closing deal for Peavy. Or, they are very close to a deal for Peavy. Man, these blogs are so irresponsible with their reporting...errr, that's ESPN and the Tribune. Peavy or no Peavy? The only way I see this ending is the Bears hiring Marv Levy.

As if that wasn't enough, all kinds of lame jokes about Derrick Rose cutting his arm are flying around and we don't get to partake. So the Trib and Sun-Times get to write headlines about Rose being a "slashing guard" and a "cut above" while I have to bottle up comments about Rose being the "apple of Stormin' Norman's eye" for another time.

Okay, this was the point where I had to make sure I wasn't in some sort of studying-induced hallucination. A couple of NFL sources have indicated that Matt Millen may still be calling the shots for the Detroit Lions. Yep, read that sentence again. Done? There is speculation he was fired to appease fans and is still making decisions behind the scenes. There is no way I even consider this being true if it's any team but the Lions.

That's all I have for today. Back to the books.

Your Turkey Day Viewing Guide

Naturally, this will be all about the football extravaganza taking place today. Let's not waste any time.

Tennessee @ Detroit, 11:30 CT

The Titans are coming off their only loss of the season heading into Detroit on Thanksgiving. The Lions are coming off 11 straight losses and have one huge advantage on Tennessee. The Lions have ample experience when it comes to losing. Who knows how the Titans will bounce back from their first loss of the year? We know how the Lions will respond to their 11th loss: with loss number 12, obviously. As a Lions fan, the fun isn't in the destination, because we know how these things end; it's all about the journey. Hopefully it's not just your typical blowout, rather a gut-wrenching late comeback fueled by something really exciting, like Culpepper lining up behind the right tackle and the center snapping the ball through the endzone. The Lions know drama.

Seattle @ Dallas, 3:30

You can taste the anticipation of Julius Jones' return to Dallas! Well, maybe it's just that crazy casserole that doesn't look like it belongs at the table. You know what I'm talking about. There is always one spoonful gone because the husband of whatever crazy relative made it is scared into trying some. Anyway, this shouldn't be much of a game either, with Romo returning to form against a suspect pass defense. If that GHB in the turkey doesn't knock you out, this one should have you snoozing by mid-third quarter.

Arizona @ Philadelphia, 7:15

Finally a good game to watch on Thanksgiving...errr, for 10% of the country to watch. If by some chance you get to take this game in, consider yourself lucky, it's a great match-up. A lot of the talk leading up to the game is about McNabb and his benching last week. Lost among this babble of things no one really cares about is the issue of whether Warner can bounce back after a tough game against the Giants Sunday in which he took some hits. The Cards can clinch the division with a win. If McNabb can perform well and the Eagles get Westbrook going, this could turn into a real shootout, which again, no one gets to see. Dear NFL Network, drop dead.

Bears-Lions Preview

This Bears-Lions Preview was written by NQTC reader Ethan. Thanks go out to Ethan for allowing me to be lazy and not write this.

You know how teams have “bulletin board material” to psyche them up before games? Well, I wonder if this week, Lovie can put “1-15” on the board to instill fear in the hearts of the Bears players that they may give the Lions their one win on the season. When you look at the Lions’ remaining schedule, consider the fact that they suck more than usual with one of their top players just having been shipped to Dallas, and look at their pretend “NFL QBs” they have on their roster, an 0-16 season is not out of the realm of possibility. The Bears do not want to be the team to destroy that dream.

Things to note this week against the Lions:

• I don’t know Orton’s career highs, but you have to imagine that he set them in Week 5 at Detroit. He was 24 for 34 in completions (70.6%), threw for 334 yards, and had a QB rating of 121.4. I would not be surprised if all of those are career highs for KO, and I would not be surprised to see him surpass some of these this week.


• Nathan Vasher may be returning this week from his wrist injury. Although many rumors have swirled about him losing his starting job to Corey Graham, Vasher insists in today’s Tribune that his “track record” should be enough for him to take back the starting job on returning to 100% health. All I know is that the Bears secondary will not be hurt by Vasher’s return.
  


• In Week 5, the Bears held the Lions to 131 total yards on their home turf. This week, the Bears get Vasher back (mentioned above), and are with Tommie Harris, who was suspended during the prior matchup. If the Bears D is returning to the vicious unit that we know they can be, the lions may be looking at only two digits in their total yardage. Did I mention that either Dan Orlovsky or Drew Stanton is playing QB for the Lions?
  


• Soon-to-be mega-superstar first round pick Chris Williams may be making his NFL debut, not that the O-Line seems to need him this season. Are they playing better than expected or what?
  


• The lighting is way different outdoors – how will Orlovsky know where the out-of-bounds lines are?
  

To sum it up, the Lions suck. My prediction: Bears 34 – Lions 13.

Oh ESPN and Their "Sources"

I'm sure some of you have caught wind of this business about Brett Favre sharing info on the Packer offense with the Detroit Lions. A couple of issues have festered to the point where I couldn't hold back a post anymore.

First, Brett Favre sharing information with the Lions about the Packers. What the hell? Why the Lions? Now there have been reports that it was Matt Millen who called Favre and requested the information (Millen's best move as GM for the Lions), but seriously Brett? When Favre finally left the Packers, only to dominate headlines for what seemed like years when talk of a return started up, I complained plenty about him hogging the spotlight, but it was mainly because I just don't like Favre through my years as a disgruntled Lions fan.

I complained that he was childish and attention-deprived. If this "liongate" business is true, which I tend to believe it is based on Jay Glazer's reputation for always being right, these will be two of the main traits I remember Mr. Favre by forever. Plus, former teammate LeRoy Butler has said that the business with the Lions is only the "tip of the iceberg" when it comes to Brett's torching of bridges on his way out of Green Bay.

Second, how is ESPN ignoring this story? I heard there was a blurb on their ticker this morning, but it has been almost entirely ignored. The network even went as far as to send out a memo warning employees not to report on the story because they have it from "reliable sources" that the story is not true. What are the odds that Favre is the source? Or someone Favre told it wasn't true?

I would like to know how often these memos go out. If Chris Mortenson doesn't get one of these memos every other day, they are underused. Of all the times ESPN has been dead wrong in recent years, it's going to be hilarious when their moment of caution turns out to be on a story that is actually true.

Lions Not Comfortable with the End Zone

I don't know how many of you saw Lions quarterback Dan Orlovsky run out of the back of the end zone Sunday, but it shows you how painful it is to be a Lions fan. I'll look for a better video, but the best part is how he looks for a receiver while running out of bounds for about 5 seconds.



**Update** Better Video!

The Seven Millionth Sign does the Trick: Lions Fire Matt Millen

After presiding over one of the most embarrassing and futile eras in professional sports, Fox Sports is reporting that Detroit Lions President/GM Matt Millen is out in Motown.

Since Millen was hired in 2001, the Lions limped to a 31-84 record and I don't think more than one or two of those wins were on the road. Millen was a model of suck and did a good job ruining the organization through a myriad of bad picks in the draft, in free agency, and in coaching. Did you know the Lions are one of the four oldest teams in the NFL in terms of their players' ages?

For a generation of Lions fans that have seen one playoff win, this is probably their greatest day as Lions fans since, well, ever.

What does it mean for the rest of the division? Nothing, as far as the near future is concerned. But Millen's contract wasn't due to expire until 2010 and most just assumed he wouldn't be fired until then, because I mean, if he wasn't fired already...

So there is hope for a Lions resurgence, but come on, it's the Detroit Lions.

That'll Show Him!

The Detroit Lions came to terms with discarded running back Rudi Johnson Monday. And what better way to start your time in the Motor City than to have your shit stolen?

While Johnson was meeting with Matt Millen, working out the deal, he left his bags out in the hallway. When Millen and Johnson walked out of the office, the bags were gone. So what happened? There are plenty of plausible scenarios: extremely efficient hazing by teammates, a couple of equipment managers on top of their games took them to the locker room already, just to name a couple. In reality, it was more of a third grade stunt. Tatum Bell, the Lions former second string running back, stole them.

Of course he did. Bell claimed he thought the bags were someone else's, then threw a fit kicking his feet on the floor and went home. I know there was a story a couple years ago about a third string punter stabbing the backup in the leg, but this is the NFL folks. This could only happen in Detroit. When Rudi was asked about the incident he said, "hey, at least I didn't get shot." He didn't really say that, but you know he was thinking it. Also thinking, "even Chris Henry wouldn't pull this shit."

Tatum Bell was released and Rudi should see time in the Lions backfield this season.