The Taking Back Sports 5-Minute Break Column, it’ll get you away from that TPS report.

Each week, Take Back columnists Kevin O’Connor (Dr. Sports Fan), Adio Royster (The Phoenix), and newcomer Brittany Page (Black Lung) debate a sports topic to keep from losing their minds at work.

After our first 5-Minute Break column, 33% of our comments (OK, so one of our three comments) blasted us for debating who the best team was in the National League.

Snowball:

How about we debate a real league here? not AAAA baseball.

Your wish is my command, Snowball!

This week’s 5-Minute Break topic: Who Is the Best Team in the American League?

Adio:

First of all, I rebut (Snowball’s comment) by saying that the NL has won two of the last three World Series Championships.

*silence* … moving on.

I find myself wondering why we’re even discussing this. The best team in the AL is so obvious… The New York Yankees.

A few months ago, I would’ve said Boston because NY was 0-8 against the Red Sox. Then NY swept a four-game series in the Bronx followed by taking two of three at Fenway.

While watching the last series, I felt bad for Boston. Kinda in the same way I felt bad for Andy Dufresne after the Sisters got a hold of him in his first years at Shawshank.

The Yankees are finally getting what they paid for with CC Sabathia’s strong second half and A.J. Burnett’s dominance since June. Mark Teixeira started slow, but he has been well worth his contract. He might just be my pick for the AL Most Valuable Player Award.

Unfortunately for the AL, the Yankees are back. Reverse money-ball has done it again. Hank Steinbrenner should take a cue from the warden in Shawshank and say the following:

“Trust in the Lord, but the AL belongs to me.”

Kevin:

Yeah, this topic is pretty boring.  With Phil Hughes shining in the 8th inning setup role, the Yanks have a lot going right for them as we enter September.

My simple answer to this question: the Yankees are the top team in the AL.

My complex answer: someone else will represent the Junior Circuit in the Fall Classic.

What happens in October, where Alex Rodriguez and CC (the team’s best position player and starting pitcher) have struggled in the past? Since they have baseball’s best record, the playoffs are all but guaranteed in the Bronx. Now it’s a question of just how far this team can go. If we go by recent history, it’s not very far.

Since 2002, the Yankees are 3-6 overall in postseason series. Since A-Rod joined the Evil Empire (or Yankeeland to my North Jersey/New York/Connecticut readers), the Yankees are an embarrassing 1-4.

Last year in the NL Division Series, CC got lit up like a Christmas tree in the second inning of his only start for the Brewers. He walked Brett Myers (who was a terrible hitter) with a runner on after a lengthy battle and followed that up with a quick walk to Jimmy Rollins. Then Shane Victorino smoked an 0-2 pitch just inside the left field foul pole for a back-breaking grand slam. Even worse, Sabathia lost pretty big to the Red Sox in the ‘07 AL Championship Series.

Right now, there is no one better than New York in the AL. But that hasn’t meant a World Series trip is necessarily in the cards.

Brittany:

I hate to admit it, but those assholes in New York are the best team in the AL. All the money in the world may not buy you happiness, but it can buy you a good baseball team and a new stadium.

I hope A-Rod chokes like he has before. No team he has ever been on has won a World Series, and teams have actually gotten better without him.

My prediction is that Kate Hudson will wear an A-Rod jersey and he will choke.  After that, Bronx Bomber fans will call for her head much a la Jessica Simpson/Tony Romo.

Adio, your AL MVP is Mark Teixeira? I remember stating that about a week ago — when we talked about why the Phils won’t win the World Series — and you laughed at the mention of it. Change of heart?

A:

K, I can easily see your point about the Yankees’ postseason futility. It definitely has een as feeble as Obi-Wan in the lightsaber duel against Darth Vadar in A New Hope.

Here’s my counter:

1. The 2009 Yankees lineup is nothing like the 2008 Brewers lineup. Jeter, Damon, Teixeira, and A-Rod area far more potent than Braun, Fielder, Hart, and Hall. CC shouldn’t have a problem getting offense behind him, and he’s much better when he pitchers with a lead.
2. Technically it doesn’t matter if A-Rod chokes because he isn’t even their best hitter anymore — Teixeira is. If A-Rod does enough to back up Teixeira’s bat, the Yanks’ll make the Fall Classic. However, if Teixeira swings a cold bat in the postseason, the Yanks don’t have a shot.

K:

I still can’t think of anyone better than the Yankees in the AL, but I will wait patiently for another team to knock them off in the AL playoffs.

Final word:

My money is on the field to take the AL title.

B:

A. I never said A-Rod was carrying the Yankees.

B. I hate the Yankees.

C. Lets move on to a new topic.

D. All of the above.

(Editors note: We wanted to do another topic, but I’m pretty sure I got called into a 90-minute meeting with the boss afterward. Oh well, see you next week for a new topic!)

By Michael Licisyn
MR. DUDE AND STUFF

No matter how we slice it, hating on the Mets is like beating a dead horse. This has been discussed time and time again, whether it be through scathing articles from the national to the New York media (who most times think they’re national) to television broadcasts. I mean, it’s so comical that Sportscenter and First Take on multiple occasions have aired the Top 5 (now up to 10 and I’m sure soon to be 15) boneheaded plays the Mets have committed this year. Usually at the top is Luis Castillo dropping a routine popup for a Yankees walk off win.

As a Phillies fan, I should be smiling with the biggest grin in the world looking at this. (Don’t get me wrong, I am, but it has gotten to the point where it is just sad now.) Part of the fun of picking on the Mets and having a rivalry is that both teams need to be good at the same time. That’s why it’s taken so long as it is for our geographically close cities to even develop a baseball rivalry.

I also have to admit, it was quite nice after hating on Ted Turner and those Braves all those years.

But dang, the flippin’ Pirates and Nationals are trotting out more Major League talent than the Mets are now. The injury bug didn’t spread through that clubhouse, it was fired at them with a blasted mini-gun. It’s hard to show sympathy, but really, what the Mets are putting out on the field right now is ridiculous. If I were a Mets fan, boy, would I feel ripped off. I don’t know if it was poor management (probably), poor trainers (possibly), or poor ownership and brass (most likely), but I think more people would’ve survived biting down on an electrified fence while doused in gasoline then sitting in the Mets dugout.

I recall back in the beginning of the season when everyone was on the Mets bandwagon, thinking that they’d reclaim the NL East crown. My how things have changed since then. Even sadder, much of their injured roster is under contract for a few more years. We’ll be seeing this injury bitten club for years to come.

I don’t wish the Mets much luck, so here’s the best I can muster up:

Keep doing what you’re doing, Omar Minaya!

By Jason Branch
JACK “BAUER” OF ALL SPORTS

At this point, August 2009, it has been no mystery for a long time to many sports fans what the NCAA’s purpose really is. Puff Daddy said it best: “It’s All About the Benjamins.”

After a rather long hiatus through much of baseball season, Jack Bauer is back in wake of the NCAA’s announcement yesterday that the Memphis Tigers basketball team will be vacating its 38 wins and National Championship Game appearance from the 2007-08 season, and he is fuming.

(For the record, I am very much a fan of baseball, but watching one of the several fourth-rate reality shows is far more entertaining than watching the Padres, and I only get to see a handful of Dodgers games on TV, so that basically leaves everything else going in baseball to write about. But Dr. Sportsfan and the other fine writers of Taking Back Sports do such a good job of covering baseball that I kind of got lazy this summer.)

Nothing in sports gets me involved more in intelligent and heated conversations than the NCAA, a regime more corrupt and incompetent than Kim Jong Il’s North Korea. Jack will never miss a chance to strike blows at the NCAA, and the latest news out of  its fortress gives me the perfect opportunity to air it all out right here, right now!

So in case you missed it, the Memphis basketball team’s 2007-08 season doesn’t count because Derrick Rose (just come out with it, NCAA — everyone knows it’s him thanks to the swarming sports media) decided he didn’t feel like taking the SAT, so Rose had a stand-in take the SAT for him. This meant Rose was ineligible for NCAA sports and Memphis played the entire season with an ineligible player.

Note to Memphis athletic department: I know you have a ton of athletes you are responsible for, but it might not be a bad idea to make sure your prize recruits do all the necessary things to make sure they are eligible to play, including taking the SAT, a longtime staple of college admissions. Come on Memphis, even USC isn’t stupid enough to let that happen! (More on USC later.)

Besides Memphis fans, this news sickens no one more than myself, who watched in person my beloved UCLA team fall to Memphis in San Antonio at the Final Four, primarily due to the flawless play of Rose. But, Memphis did not win the national title, otherwise, based on the NCAA’s history of disciplinary action, this would be a non-story.

Historically the NCAA, especially in basketball but also football, avoids stripping universities of National Championships in major sports, but will  force teams to vacate wins in non-championship seasons. Let’s review:

Jerry Tarkanian’s battles with the NCAA are well known to many sports fans. Although he won money in settlements after he retired, it was not due to wrongful termination, but rather a violation of due process. UNLV broke several NCAA rules under Tark’s tenure, that is not disputed, but through the 1980s and 1990s UNLV was one of the NCAA’s flagship hoops programs and won a national title in 1990. Thus no punishment. Meanwhile, Tark’s previous school, Long Beach State, was sanctioned after he left and Fresno State, where Tark went after UNLV, was sanctioned following his retirement in 2002.

Tark hit the bull’s-eye when he alleged that the “NCAA was more willing to punish less-prominent schools than big-name schools.”

The story of Michigan basketball’s “Fab Five” is well documented (images of Chris Webber spring to everyone’s mind). Both of their Final Four seasons were vacated due to major NCAA infractions and the banners are locked away on the University of Michigan campus, forbidden to be displayed to the world.

Ohio State was forced to vacate its 1999  Final Four run due to the actions of former coach Jim O’Brien, although recently the NCAA reversed itself and Ohio State once again has that Final Four banner hanging in the rafters.

The O.J. Mayo saga at USC is still under investigation. USC has been caught up in multiple NCAA investigations recently, but expect Troy to suffer some sort of punishment for this incident at some point in the near future. (After all, it involves only USC basketball, not football.) Tim Floyd was forced to be the fall man and resign in hopes that the NCAA would back down from this. He couldn’t escape Los Angeles for Tucson fast enough. Too bad for him the University of Arizona suspected foul.

For those who are ambitious, feel free to research deeper into NCAA basketball and football, violations, and the pattern will hold-up: actual punishment for teams that did not win national titles, a bind eye turned towards teams that won national titles.

Now for football. (Being a UCLA grad I cannot resist, but everything that I say about USC is true and is intended to demonstrate two things: (1) the hypocrisy of the NCAA and (2) that its first priority is money and not the integrity of all college sports. Only small-time programs have to follow every rule to the letter.)

Currently, the NCAA is “investigating” the Reggie Bush issue of illegal benefits while at USC, along with violations at Florida State under Bobby Bowden.

First, Bowden. The NCAA is contemplating stripping FSU of all of its wins during the 2006 and 2007 seasons, which would affect Bowden’s chase — along with with Penn State’s Joe Paterno — for the most all-time wins by a Division I head coach. The latest report from ESPN on Thursday afternoon was that the NCAA is considering allowing a compromise that would strip the university of the wins, but not Bowden, keeping him one win shy of Paterno.

What the $@!&??????

Allow Jack to clear this up for you. Florida State went 7-6 in 2006 and in 2007 and was hardly a factor in the national championship picture. Florida State football has been on a steady decline this decade and right now is not a major player for the NCAA, other than the national interest in the battle between Bowden and Paterno. Simply stripping FSU football of 14 wins in a non-title season is not a big deal for the NCAA, but to knock Bowden back to 15 games behind Paterno is bad for business and hurts TV ratings and advertisers’ interest in games involving both schools.

“It’s All About the Benjamins.”

Now for USC, NCAA National Champions in 2004 and AP National Champions in 2003. The Bush controversy has dragged on for years. Simply put, by the NCAA’s own rules, if they formally rule Bush received illegal benefits in 2004, then he is an ineligible player and USC played with an ineligible player the entire 2004 season. That would mean the NCAA would at least have to strip USC of its national championship.

Bush received the benefits, everyone knows it. USC no longer associates with Bush and has continued to deny him sideline tickets, while O.J. Simpson was invited into the locker room for a pregame speech. I’m not passing judgment on Simpson, but the fact that USC welcomes Simpson with open arms while running from Bush is very telling.

The NCAA doesn’t want USC to lose its national championship for obvious reasons. There is no NFL team in Los Angeles and there hasn’t been since the 1994 season. Over the past 15 seasons, USC has become synonymous with football in Los Angeles. USC has had all the star power with Carson Palmer, Matt Leinhart, Bush, Rey Maualugua, etc. and has consistently been a factor on the national stage.

There is no major college football program in New York, which leaves Los Angeles as the largest market for NCAA football in the country. UCLA is not even close to USC’s rear-view mirror in terms of college football influence in Los Angeles, which leaves USC football as the only program that matters for the NCAA in its largest market, and in turn possibly the biggest revenue generator for the entire NCAA.

It would be sheer stupidity on the level of NHL Commish Gary Bettman for the NCAA to drop the hammer on USC football for an obvious violation and risk losing millions of dollars. USC basketball, well that’s a different story, and provides the NCAA with the means to punish USC athletics without hurting its revenue darling, the USC football program.

While I personally feel it would be ridiculous for the NCAA to strip USC of a national title over the issue of Bush accepting illegal gifts, as opposed to much more serious issues like academics or substance abuse, rules are rules. Just ask any school in the NCAA that ever broke a rule and wasn’t fortunate enough to win a national championship that same season.

Before I depart, a special thanks to Mario Chalmers for giving us a moment sports fan will never forget, making that three pointer at the buzzer to send the 2008 National Championship into overtime. Without you, Memphis would have won it all and they would be “investigating” Memphis and Derrick Rose’s failure to take the SAT for decades, just like they are still “investigating” USC and Reggie Bush.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the NCAA! The same organization that claims to have a championship for football. Booya! (I couldn’t help myself, I can’t write an entire article about the NCAA without taking a jab at the BCS.)

The Taking Back Sports 5-Minute Break Column, it’ll get you away from that TPS report.

Each week, Take Back columnists Kevin O’Connor (Dr. Sports Fan), Adio Royster (The Phoenix), and newcomer Brittany Page (Black Lung) debate a sports topic to keep from losing their minds at work.

This week’s 5-Minute Break topic: Who Is the Best Team in the National League?

Kevin:

Since I have the honors, I’ve gotta start with the defending champs. The Fightin’s got a little better on paper, and they’re currently nipping on the Dodgers’ heels for home-field throughout the playoffs. True, the team’s best pitchers from from last year (Cole Hamels & Brad Lidge) are scuttling, but the addition of Cliff Lee & his 2008 Cy Young are putting my mind at ease. (I’ll give honorable mention to the Colorado Rockies.)

Brittany:

Since I’m surrounded by idiotic Phillies fans, I will dare to be different and say the Cardinals. While Kevin states they got better on paper, that doesn’t mean anything in the real game. In the playoffs, I would love to see a Pujols/Lidge rematch and put my money on Pujols, by the way. Sure, Philly has beaten St. Louis in their season series, but I’m predicting Lidge choke in the playoffs similar to the one he had with Houston in 2005. The Cards bats will win over Philly’s pitching. Sure, Lee won the Cy Young last year, but before then, what did he do? Everyone can have a fluke year, and the Cards are getting hot as of late.

The Dodgers are great, but their inexperience will be their downfall. Now I am not an avid baseball fan — as the Padres make me want to gauge my eyes out much like Macbeth — but F*** the Phils! Except Utley because he’s hot.

P.S. Myers will choke too.

Adio:

Wow … How do I follow that paragraph of jealous hatred?  See, folks. This is what happens when you live in a city the fields the corpse of a major league ball-club.

But, I digress …

The NL comes down to two teams: Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Yes, Matt Holliday has been knocking the cover off the ball since he decided to remember how to hit a baseball (OAK stats/STL stats), and yes, the Cards have Mister Pujols — I use “Mister” out of respect — but I have two main concerns: Cardinals pitching and defense. The Cardinals rotation is NOT EVEN CLOSE to championship caliber, and the Cards have one of the worst fielding percentages of any team in the NL (STL fielding stats). Pretty sure if you’re missing two out of three needed components (offense, defense & pitching), you can’t be the best.

*POINT OF ORDER #1: “Everyone can have a fluke year.” Funny you say that, B, because Chris Carpenter’s 8-0 record after the All-Star break and Julio Lugo’s resurrected bat (LUGO B.A.) has me wondering if A-Rod’s cousin is a Cardinals nutritionist.

The other two teams are way too close to call. If the Phillies are #1, then the Dodgers are 1 ‘L’-A (get it?). Wouldn’t surprise me at all if either of these teams won. Both teams have offensive firepower from 1-8, and both teams are solid defensively — although Rafa Furcal could cough up an error at any time. The Phillies have the smallest edge (Kate Moss’s body small) because their rotation is the best in the NL. I repeat: BEST IN THE NL! Hamels, Lee and Blanton can all win playoff games in a short series with J.A. Happ or “Jamie Martinez” having more than enough ability to get one if either of the first three trip up.

The Dodgers rotation comes with one simple question: other than Chad Billingsly, who else can win a playoff game? Randy Wolf? The zombified body of Jason Schmidt? The better closer is Jonathan Broxton, who I refer to as “Johnny Bravo”, but if the starters leave games with the score 7-1 or 8-3, will Broxton even be a factor?

*POINT OF ORDER #2:  Hey, B, You think Lidge would be spooked by Pujols? That’d be nothing compared to Johnny Bravo sweating like a hooker at a Kennedy convention if he has to face Matt Stairs again. The last time these two met, Stairs destroyed a pitch that landed in Oregon somewhere … YESTERDAY! Look for Phils v. Dodgers II this year. This time … it’s for money!

K:

Sorry, B. I’ve gotta side with Adio & the rest of the Phillies fans on this one. True, Lidge looks like Rick Vaughn did for most of “Major League 2”, but he was the second coming of Mariano Rivera last year. Something tells me there’s a happy medium somewhere in between.

St. Louis doesn’t have the lineup to play with the Phils or the Dodgers (any leadoff hitter in the Gateway City?), and who can handle the Philies starting rotation? Hamels tied a post-season record with four wins. Cliff Lee has flirted with TWO no-hitters in his four nearly flawless starts in the NL, Joe Blanton has been solid — if not their best starter all year — and J.A. Happ has been a revelation. With Jamie Martinez and Pedro Moyer handling the fifth spot, Brett Myers can slide into a late-inning role for the stretch run. Remember, he was a good closer during the ’07 division championship season.

The verdict?  The Phillies have too many bullets in the chamber to not be considered the top team.

P.S. They are the DEFENDING CHAMPIONS!

B:

In the last ten games, the Cards are 9-1 while the Phillies are 6-4.

You both make arguments about pitching, but the numbers don’t lie:

PHI Pitching

Blanton  7-6  3.88 ERA
Myers  4-3  4.66 ERA
*Lee  11-9  2.72 ERA
Hamels  7-7  4.69 ERA
*Happ  9-2  2.66 ERA
Lidge  0-5  7.21 ERA, 23 saves

*Asterisks mean that I agree they have had solid years.

You both say the Phils rotation is sooo superior, but what about the Cards pitching?

STL Pitching

Carpenter  13-3  2.27 ERA
Pineiro  11-9  3.25 ERA
Wainright  14-7  2.61 ERA
Franklin  2-1  1.13 ERA

Sure Wellemeyer has 31 saves and is 7-9 with a 5.67 ERA, but he can win a few games, too.

Furthermore, Philly bats have struggled this year. Victorino is the only player batting over .300, so your Holliday argument is BS. Lugo may not be good on the field, but he is batting .298 to go along with Yadier Molina’s .296.

I still stand by the Cards.

Usually in the playoffs, you only get four pitchers anyway, right?

A:

*sigh* … I’ll defer to Kevin. I’ve already destroyed one argument today. There are only so many waves of mutilation I can inflict on someone.

K:

B, I can’t help you here, so I’ll let Lil’ Jon do the talking.

Blanton isn’t having a solid year with an ERA under four in one of the most notorious “hitter’s parks” in all of baseball!?!

WHAT!?!

The Cards do have solid pitching, but Ryan Franklin has played in Philly, too, and he was el terrible when he did play there. I’d be willing to concede the Cards pitching is not sub-standard.

OKAY!!!

Please don’t compare the two lineups. The Phillies have four, YES four guys with 25 or more home runs. That stat will soon change to four guys with 30 or more home runs. Jimmy Rollins is tearing the cover off the ball in the second half, so don’t act like he’s a hole in the lineup.

The Phillies don’t hit for average, THEY SLUG THE BALL!

With Myers set to join the set-up crew (and to spell Lidge), the best bullpen in the majors last year gets a major upgrade. Factor in that the Phillies had the best record in the NL in September in both ’07 & ’08, and I’d say the best is yet to come…

YEAH !!!

B:

The Cards have a better team average overall. Sure, you can hit the crap out of the ball and still strikeout a lot (see Sammy Sosa, Jim Thome and Ryan Howard — not once, but twice).

Arguing with you two about this topic is like arguing with former President George W. Bush on why the current war was not a good idea. You can’t tell him what’s going on in reality, but in the end, he will still live in a comfortable state of delusion.

K:

Great. I love being compared to George W. Bush.

By Adio Royster
THE PHOENIX

He may be here.

He may even make fans in Minnesota cheer.

But I’m telling Vikings fans to get over it.

In a (not so shocking) turn of events, Brett Favre came out of retirement for the — I don’t know; I lost track — time.  Last year, Favre sobbingly retired from the NFL only to come back to the New York Jets: gray beard and all.

The Mangini/Favre marriage seemed to be working.  We saw it all pan out like Cliff and Claire Huxtable as the Jets started 8-3.  Next thing you know, the Jets lost four of their last five games, and the Mangini/Favre wedding appeared to be more like Al and Peggy Bundy.

Favre retired again … thankfully.  He wasn’t the three-time MVP I grew to enjoy in the mid and late 90s.  Like a beautiful butterfly maturing from a cocoon — but in reverse.

Naturally, when reports of Favre coming out of retirement (again) to play for the Vikings, my immediate reaction was: Why?

Why won’t he just walk away?

Why do teams think Favre still has it? (after rotator cuff surgery, by the way).

I just couldn’t wrap my head around a logical explanation.  Here I am hours later, and at this point, the Eagles signing of Michael Vick makes more sense to me.

The Vikings and their fans need to accept they aren’t getting the mid 90s Favre.  They aren’t even getting the early 2000s Favre, which would have been better than the 2008 Favre: a quarterback that’s like an operating system with more bugs than (pick any Windows operating system).

Remember when Brad Childress said that he could groom Tavaris Jackson to be like Donovan McNabb?  What happened with that?  Towards the end of 2008, it looked like Jackson was putting it together while Favre was falling apart.  Compare the last four games of both QBs:

Week 14

Tarvaris Jackson
8-10, 105 yds, TD (one half)

Brett Favre
20-31, 137 yds, INT

Week 15

Tarvaris Jackson
11-17, 163 yds, 4 TD

Brett Favre
17-30, 207 yds, TD, 2 INT

Week 16

Tarvaris Jackson
22-36, 233 yds, 2 TD

Brett Favre
18-31, 187 yds, 2 INT

Week 17

Tarvaris Jackson
16-26, 239 yds, TD, INT

Brett Favre
20-40, 233 yds, 1 TD, 3 INT

Jackson may have lost some of Childress’s confidence after the playoff loss, to Philadelphia, but at least Jackson’s performance (115.4 QB rating) kept Minnesota in the playoff race.  Favre’s play down the stretch (53.3 QB rating) reminded me of the Alex Murphy killing in “Robocop”: gruesome to watch and traumatizing to children.

If Vikings fans think Favre’s return will transform their passing attack into something more powerful (like Megatron’s transformation to Galvatron in the ‘86 Transformers movie), they’re sadly mistaken.

Weren’t there any other feasible QB options in free agency or the draft for the Vikings?  You know, options that aren’t coming off of rotator cuff surgery and 22 INT season, which was tops in the NFL last year by the way.

Where were the Vikings when Jay Cutler was being shopped around?  Maybe they didn’t have the pieces the Broncos wanted, and I accept that, but there were plenty of serviceable quarterbacks if Jackson wasn’t going to be the guy.

If the Vikings were looking for a 39-year-old quarterback to inject some life into the passing game, wouldn’t Jeff Garcia would have been a wonderful start.  Garcia may not be the flash in the pan he used to be (refer to the 49ers stats from the 2000 season), but in 11 games last year, he did have a 65% completion percentage, 2,700 yards and 12 TDs.

Not good enough, Brad?

How about a 29-year-old quarterback was putting on the ‘Stella hat’ and getting his groove back?  Before injuries, Byron Leftwich was a steady quarterback who could throw for about 3,000 yards a season.  He had a one-year stint in Atlanta, and then went to Pittsburgh where he kept the Steelers afloat when Big Ben started to get nicked up.

Don’t even get me started about the fact that the Vikings were one of the teams in need of a QB that passed on Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell.  If you think you need a quarterback, how exactly do you pass up the NCAA’s all-time leader in touchdown passes and the only NCAA player to post consecutive 5,000 yard seasons?  How?

Another question, Brad.  If you are trying to get a winner at quarterback, wouldn’t it be nice if the QB you seek at least has a winning record on your home field?

Favre is 6-10 lifetime at the Triple-H Metrodome.  Favre supporters use the excuse he was the opposing QB, but in 38 career indoor games, Favre’s QB rating is only five points better than his rating outdoors.

There are only so many ways I can destroy the argument of bringing in Favre, but I guess the most important argument centers around the following question:

Didn’t the Vikings win the NFC North without a real passing attack, anyway?

The Vikings averaged 184.9 yards per game through the air with the tandem of Gus Frerotte and Tarvaris Jackson, but the Vikings still went 10-6 and won the NFC North by a game.  Want more proof of what drives the offense?  The Vikings had a 200+ yard passer in seven games last year and won only three of those games.  Six times last year, Adrian Peterson had games of less than 100 yards, and the Vikings lost HALF of those games.

Its no secret Peterson drives the offense, and even when teams were stacking up to stop him, Peterson still produced.

Sometimes, I wonder what owners, general managers, coaches and teammates are thinking when they make moves.  When the Bills signed a one-year flyer for Terrell Owens, I said, “Ok.  I’m cool with that.”

When the Eagles signed Michael Vick, I said, “Sure, why not?”

The Vikings signed Brett Favre (for two years, by the way), and now that I’ve written against the signing for the last two hours, I gotta ask myself:

Why?