The Associated Press is reporting that the NFL has fined Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher a whopping $100,000 for wearing a hat of a sponsor not endorsed by the league during Super Bowl Media Day in February.

How ridiculous is this? I understand the intent of this rule. You want to dissuade players from becoming walking billboards during league functions (all the while being walking billboards themselves — notice the Reebok logo on his shoulder) but 100 grand? Yikes.

From the Virginia Tech website:

April 16, 2007, will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the Virginia Tech community and the world beyond.

To remember and honor the victims of those tragic events, the university has established the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to aid in the healing process and generate financial support.

According to an article today in the Akron Beacon-Journal, things have gotten so bad in Cleveland that Browns GM Phil Savage has begun polling sportswriters of all people on who the Browns should take with the third pick.

A snippet from the article:

”

As he stood to go back to work, he stopped and said: `OK, (quarterback JaMarcus) Russell and (receiver Calvin) Johnson are gone. Who do you take?’

The poll of 10 or so writers was almost evenly split between Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson and Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, with Wisconsin tackle Joe Thomas getting one vote.

Savage’s choice?

He wasn’t saying. He kept his straight face Tuesday as he discussed the Browns’ plans for the April 28 and 29 NFL Draft.”

He wasn’t saying or he doesn’t know.

I think it’s much more likely the latter.

Let us not forget that this was the guy who drafted Motorcycle Expert Kellen “The Soldier” Winslow, Jr. with the 6th overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. He picked a guy who has exactly three career touchdowns going into his fourth year in the  league in a top ten draft class that included Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Larry Fitzgerald, Sean Taylor, Roy Williams and DeAngelo Hall.

So who will the Browns take with the third overall pick on April 28? In fairness, a lot of it depends on what the Raiders and Lions do with the first two picks. You can imagine that if the Browns are sitting there and Russell and Johnson are off the board then they’re looking at Brady Quinn, Joe Thomas or Adrian Peterson. The problem with the Browns is that they’re so horrendous that they could use all three of those players.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them take Brady Quinn with this pick. It’s a pick that the fans in Cleveland would get behind because Quinn’s an Ohio kid and the prospect of seeing Quinn throw to Braylon Edwards is probably very enticing.

The smart pick but not the sexy pick would be Joe Thomas. Charlie Frye may not be the quarterback of the future in Cleveland but you’ll need someone to protect that guy whoever that guy is down the road for the Browns.

MORE ON VIRGINIA TECH

Pretty poignant cartoon yesterday by Jim McCloskey of the News Leader in Staunton, Va.

There was an article today in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that I thought I would see more of in newspapers across the country. The reporter asked University of Wisconsin football players what they thought about what happened at VaTech, given that they also go to a large public university.

A pretty good article today in the Washington Post about how the university and its athletes are trying to balance athletics and tragedy in the aftermath of the massacre.

The Washington Post is reporting that Virginia Tech has elected to call off its spring football practice and annual spring game in the wake of yesterday’s massacre at the university.

The game was scheduled for Saturday.

For my blog on yesterday’s tragedy, visit loserwithsocks.wordpress.com

Quinn or Russell likely No. 1 QB in draft

Jim Thomas

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

.. wow, Jim. You really beat the world on that story.  Was the sports editor sleeping at his desk?

A very interesting AP article in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Greg Oden’s dad told the Indianapolis Star that Oden was leaving Ohio State to enter the NBA draft (duh!) but today, the man who hopes to be Oden’s agent, Mike Conley, Sr. (father of Mike Conley, Jr — Oden’s teammate and best friends) said not so.

Here’s a quote from Conley that, to me, gives a little insight into what these kids go through and how poorly the adults around them behave.

“‘No. Definitely not. Not to say he’s not going to decide that – but, 100 percent, as of this moment, he hasn’t decided,’ Conley, father of Oden’s teammate Mike Conley Jr., told The Associated Press.“

It gets worse.

“‘The process for Greg Oden is, he’s going to talk to his mom today, he’s going to talk to me tomorrow and he’s going to talk to (Ohio State coach) Thad Matta on Monday,’ Conley Sr. said. ‘And after that, he’s going to decide what he’s going to do and when he’s going to report it.’”

I don’t care if Oden leaves, I think he had the game of his life against Florida and the market for him is higher than ever. You certainly can’t begrudge someone that amount of money, regardless of how old they are (or look). My problem is with the adults, I have no reason to believe that Greg Oden is sincere when he says that he loves college life and would like to stay at Ohio State. But we all know that’s not going to happen. The adults in his life, including the press, will tell him that he’d be stupid not to go and to get while the gettin’s good. If anyone cared about this kid’s well-being, and not their own, this decision would be Oden’s and his alone. But it’s not. And that’s a shame.

Michael Schennum/The Arizona Republic

He must be working realllllly hard. No, seriously. Go to a gym today and try to do tricep exercises like that with a towel on your head and do some substantial weight and see how long that towel stays on your head.

Notice how no one in the picture is looking at Leinart. Maybe Anquan Boldin is doing bicep curls with Neil Rackers out of frame.

Put the entire Northside of Chicago on Suicide Watch.. The comeback trail for once-dominated pitchers Kerry Wood and Mark Prior may have hit a dead end.

The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that Mark Prior left a rehab start with shoulder discomfort and is expected to see an L.A.-based specialist today.

Meanwhile, Kerry Wood, once thought to be the redneck heir apparent to Roger Clemens is having shoulder pain again. The Sun-Times is reporting that Wood is expected to have his right shoulder re-examined by a Cincinnati surgeon. The article said Wood has not progressed the way some thought he would and even failed to earn a bullpen job this spring after shoulder pain limited him to just 5 one-inning appearances.

Cub fans have to be heartbroken by this news. I think everyone knew that these guys, who were once the best one-two combination in all of baseball, probably would never be as dominant as they once were but many were hoping against hope that they would be able to come on and be a part of a championship team.

I love NFL football as much as the next guy. I’m a die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fan and I’m pretty sure I’m going to die an Eagles fan. I’ve told friends that if I loved any girl half as much as I loved the green and black, then I’d marry her on the spot. But I REFUSE TO GET EXCITED ABOUT SCHEDULES!

If we’ve learned nothing from the NFL in recent years, it’s that anything can happen. The Saints went from one of the most pitiful franchises in the NFL post-Katrina and was one game away from the Super Bowl last year. Anything can happen. Any year could be the year for your team. And that’s what makes the NFL great. So how do you expect me to be able to look at a team’s schedule in APRIL and get excited about, let alone consume hours worth of meaningless speculation about said schedule? Enough is enough.

And then there’s this today in the Philadelphia Daily News, where Hall of Fame coach Don Shula is flabbergasted by “how fans eat up NFL news.” But Don, I don’t need a two-hour special with pyrotechnics and juggling gophers to announce the schedule.  In fact, I’m perfectly with happy to go to the team’s website say in AUGUST and check out who my teams playing in ‘07. I don’t need that information in April. I just don’t.

We love the NFL, don’t make us start hating it.