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No, seriously…

Squirrels burned down the home of an Illinois man… twice.

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Good article today in the Washington Post by Les Carpenter on the fight over the NFLPA’s pension and disability plan. The way I feel about this is that the union and the NFL should make sure that, medically, players are taken care of after they leave the game because of how brutal a sport football is. Former players, however, are not entitled to dig into the pockets of current formers, despite their claims that they are. I’m working at a newspaper today and I certainly respect and admire those that came before me in this business but those people have no right to what I’m making today. And neither do the former players, many of whom resent what the kind of money today’s players are making.

Kevin Durant will be on the cover of EA Sports’ March Madness ‘08.

Penn State took action against 10 football players that took part in an off-campus fight that put one man in the hospital last year. Conveniently, none of them will be ineligible for the fall. Two of the players still face felony criminal charges.

Jay Mariotti says the Bears should have parted ways with Tank Johnson long ago.

Whoever is checking Andy Katz’s home for radon leaks may also want to fly to Detroit to inspect Jon Kitna’s crib. The quarterback told a Detroit radio station that the Lions are going to get at least 10 wins this year. I think that can happen.. oh wait.. 10 or more wins? Nevermind.

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the Magic are interested in acquiring free agent Rashard Lewis, the 6-10 forward averaged a career high 22.4 points last season. With a frontcourt of Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard, the Magic become a very serious threat in the Eastern Conference. Think Billy Donovan is having second thoughts?

The SEC is cracking down on class attendance. Following a policy set forth by the University of Georgia where the athletic department fined and suspended its athletes for missing classes and academic appointments, the conference is requiring all of its member schools to have some sort of attendance policy in place.

The Denver Post’s Woody Paige is suggesting John Elway help mentor Jay Cutler.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Chicago Bears are parting ways with trouble defensive tackle Tank Johnson.

Bears GM Jerry Angelo issued a statement on the team’s website saying:

“We are upset and embarrassed by Tank’s actions last week,”  Angelo said . “He compromised the credibility of our organization. We made it clear to him that he had no room for error. Our goal was to help someone through a difficult period in his life, but the effort needs to come from both sides. It didn’t, and we have decided to move on.”

Friday night, Johnson was pulled over in Arizona and cited for “being impaired to the slightest degree.” Evidently having a virtual arsenal of guns and ammunition in a home full of children is ok with the Bears but driving with a buzz is simply unacceptable.

Normally, I would support this kind of thing. I think guys like Tank Johnson and Pacman Jones have no place in the NFL but this seems off to me. A blood sample was taken from Johnson, which could determine whether or not he was impaired. I applaud the Bears for taking a stand but this seems too little, too late. They didn’t seem to be too embarrassed by Johnson’s behavior when he was trying to get a judge to let him travel to the Super Bowl. The Bears are taking a stand of convenience. This move by Bears management is transparent and gutless.