How dare Little Nicky!

Gotta love the SEC.

This has some mildly amusing "slogans" for each team this season. I liked every shirt except the Chiefs', mostly because I'm an avowed homer.

Via SI.com's Hot Clicks... sure to crack a smile

I am shocked... SHOCKED... that no other club wanted Ryan Freel. What is the world coming to? And by that, I mean "To what is the world coming?"

Don't worry, though, I'm sure the Cubs will still make out OK. I'm waiting for the announcement on that PTBNL; Vegas odds show Mike Montgomery and Dan Duffy as the front runners. Teahen is the dark horse candidate (if, of course, the Royals agree to pick up the rest of his salary).

A small ray of light amidst the gloom

I hate to quote Peter King again, but as you'll read, this item actually comes from The Football Outsiders, whom I deeply respect as football analysts. King's item 5.b. of "Ten Things I Think I Think" clearly focuses on my biggest worry about Pendergast running our defense: susceptibility to shotgun/spread offenses.

This topic has been addressed before on AP, but I believe a refresher is in order. It is more likely than not that we will continue to see the proliferation of spread-style offenses in the NFL in the immediate future. Pendergast left one bottom-15 pass defense to run bottom-5 pass defense that set the record for the fewest total sacks in a season. Further compounding the problems: there is no Adrian Wilson in the Chiefs' defensive backfield.

I'm as happy as anyone about this offseason, but I'm going to have a microscope on Pendergast. His track record leaves much to be desired.

Naturally, the title is "Back in Time".

Yucky

"Who?"
"Yawn!"
"Do I Even Care?"

Yes, you do, whether you realize it or not. The new head of the players' union was a dark horse candidate to say the least: a lawyer who was not a former player and relatively unknown in NFL circles.

I'm sure Roger Goodell was licking his chops at the prospect of hornswoggling Troy Vincent or Trace Armstrong, arguably the favorites going into this weekend's voting, during the next round of Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations. Now, it looks as though he has a formidable foil. The implications to the NFL are huge.

As we learn more about this man in the coming months, it will be interesting to see whether he will establish the kind of relationship with Goodell that the late Gene Upshaw had or whether things devolve into something that reminds us of Bud Selig and Donald Fehr (God forbid!).