Watching last night’s Falcons/Bengals preseason game, something very profound occured to me: I really like Joey Harrington.

Watching the former Lions/Dolphins quarterback run down the field after throwing a touchdown pass in a PRESEASON game, you begin to understand what Harrington has been through. In Detroit, he had absolutely terrible teams around him.  George Blanda, Johnny Unitas, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, John Elway, Tom Brady or Peyton Manning couldn’t have won with those Detroit teams. Frankly, Lions GM Matt Millen is a clown and that he still has that job today is mystifying.

Now that Harrington is going to be the Falcons starter, you really want the guy to succeed and do well. He badly wants to be embraced by his teammates, by the fans and by the city and I hope all of that happens for him this season. He wasn’t embraced by any of the above in Detroit, which many sportswriters claim in the worst sports city in the America. I figure there must be some truth to it because everytime someone says something negative about Detroit, people from Detroit get all tight. My guess is that they know their town’s a hellhole and the way they treated Harrington is disgraceful. Good luck, Joey.

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No, seriously… 

Man, roller skating must be getting really competitive.

Vodka, a hot headed wife and a naked husband make a really bad (and painful) combination.

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SI’s Stewart Mandel with five players that redefine their positions.

The demise of Sam Keller at Arizona State.

The AJC’s Mark Bradley sums up yesterday’s Michael Vick plea as nicely as anyone.

Kirk Herbstreit’s “Herbies.”

The Vikings feel really good about Tarvaris Jackson.  I’m not impressed. Yet. 

Lovie Smith doesn’t believe Lance Briggs abandoning his $300k car on the highway at 3 in the morning had anything to do with booze.  Come on, coach.

Vick an afterthought on Virginia Tech campus.

DeAngelo Hall should think twice before using his hair to trash talk.

Jeremy Bloom is a better skier than a football player. Who knew?

Can the ACC show its a power conference again?

Which Brady Quinn haircut do you prefer?

The Bills will start rookie linebacker Paul Posluszny.

Vick should be an example to young stars, says Milwaukee columnist.

Nike is done with Mike Vick.

Big 12 will be ruled by parity, Omaha paper says.

No starting spot for Cards corner Antrel Rolle.

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Well-rounded news… 

Tom Welling as Superman in Justice League flick.

New ‘Lost’ cast members.

More Scott Baio on VH1.

Fall movies to look forward to.

The 10 best foods you’re not eating.

Last night’s Top Chef was pretty fantastic, as usual. What you tend to notice with these shows is that after the first three weeks it begins to become very apparent who has it and who doesn’t and for the five or so weeks proceeding, it is just chipping away at the weaker chefs week-by-week.

I plan on watching some NFL exhibition football for as long as I can stand it tonight (which could end up being the first quarter or so) but hey.. football’s back! Can’t feel too bad about that!

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No, seriously…

Beavers attacking the elderly.

Cops shouldn’t wear cowboys boots.. no one should really.

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ESPN’s Mark Schlabach looks at which college football coaches are on the hottest seats in 2007.

Arizona Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt takes his team to see The Bourne Ultimatum.

ESPN Ombudsman: ‘Who’s Now?’ draws venomous response from ESPN faithful.

Another story on the Virginia Tech football team, this time by SI’s Stewart Mandel.

More of Fanhouse’s Big 12 Preview:

• Toughest schedules
• Coaches on the hot seat
• Underdogs

ESPN’s Pat Forde on the war of words between Michigan and former player and current Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh. The Detroit Free Press’ Mark Snyder.

ESPN/ABC has released its schedule for the 2007 college football season.

Notable opinions: Mike Lupica, Michael Wilbon on Barry Bonds.

Racism in European soccer targeted at American DaMarcus Beasley.

Introducing, Steely McBeam, the new Pittsburgh Steelers mascot.

It’s never too early for an Indiana basketball story.

Brady Quinn expects to earn his lumps at Browns camp after holdout.

Steven Jackson shrugs off hard hits at Rams camp.

Another story from a paper outside Indiana about the start of Hoosiers football practice.

Joey Harrington says he was handcuffed by Lions.

Frank Beamer says he wasn’t accusing Georgia of spying on his practices.

Oklahoma defensive back Reggie Smith might be the best player you’ve never heard of.

Things get testy at USC camp.

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Well-rounded news…

30 percent of X-Box 360 owners don’t know the system performs in hi-def. I’m not one of them. It’s amazing.

What makes sweet tea so special in the South?

Kevin Smith on losing Rosario Dawson and his birthday.

Blockbuster acquires movie download service MovieLink.

Kevin Smith is not directing SuperMax.

Wild Oats profits fall through the floor.

Last night’s Top Chef

• Gail Simmons
  
• Ted Allen
• Anthony Bourdain

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.