It seems like one of the biggest concerns nowadays with each of the four major sports in America is the globalization of sport.  Despite the NFL’s failed attempts at globalizing the game with crap such as NFL Europe and the annual slopfest at Wembley Stadium, Goodell and crew continue to force the issue of expansion outside of America.  The Buffalo Bills, for one reason or another, locked themselves into a deal with Rogers Communications (the same yokels that own the Rogers Centre and pretty much all cable in the Toronto area of Canada)  in Toronto to play at least one regular season game and three preseason games a year in Toronto through 2012.  And while Rogers is pushing for an expansion of the contract, old fart Ralph Wilson is in no hurry to push T.O. and the boys out of Orchard Park….and why should they?

As a Bills fan, it’s completely reasonable to be chapped at talk of the Bills playing more games outside of Buffalo.  Just because Terrell Owens dubbed the Bills “North America’s team” doesn’t mean they need to start playing half their games outside of the United States.  The Bills have no obligation to appease the Canadians, and despite their close proximity to Toronto, it’s far from their duty to give Canada a part-time football team.  Don’t they have the Argonauts?  Didn’t Ricky Williams play for them?  Why do they need the Bills?  Toronto needs to stick to the Leafs, making Maple Syrup, and conceding the AL East to the Yankees and Red Sox in June.

If the NFL wants to continue it’s expansion outside U.S. borders, it should remain at an exhibition level.  It’s unreasonable to make a team play two or three “home” games at some neutral spot thousands of miles away from home for the benefit of the greater good because, at this point, the greater good isn’t much of anything.  Knock it off with this global expansion of the game and keep NFL teams playing meaningful games where they should be, within the confines of their own stadiums.

Hosts: Sonny, Rich and Ryan

In this inaugural episode, Ryan and I take a look back at the NBA Finals and the legacy that Kobe has created.  We also take time to head into the NFL to clown on the Broncos and make fun of Rex Grossman.  Finally, a brief look at the upcoming Major League Baseball All Star Game and the surprises that have gone unnoticed so far in the 2009 baseball season.

We all know that Josh McDaniels’ tenure as head coach of the Denver Broncos got off to a well-publicized rocky start, no pun intended. The stability under Mike Shanahan was quickly dismantled, eventually culminating in Jay Cutler’s departure to Chicago. Just weeks after the Broncos traded away their franchise quarterback, it appears more baggage is about to be unloaded in the form of All-Pro wide receiver Brandon Marshall. 

Just like Cutler, it sounds as if the Broncos are more than wiling to satisfy Marshall’s request for a trade. While Cutler handled the McDaniels situation about as poorly as possible, there was still lots of anger over trading a very promising quarterback. Marshall doesn’t have that same goodwill around the league. Consecutive 100+ catch seasons have been overshadowed by 13 arrests or questionings by police since 2004. 13!

However, finding a new home for Marshall will be a bit tougher than other malcontent wide receivers like Terrell Owens and Randy Moss. Sure, the ability is there. But Marshall has pending court dates in August that should keep him out of action. Marshall was initially suspended for three games to start last season, but only had to serve on game after appeal. There’s a good chance this punishment will be much more severe, as it should be.

It’s hilarious that Marshall thinks he’s in the position to storm out of mandatory team activities and make these demands. But he’s such a destructive presence in the locker room and in society, the Broncos should ship his ass out as soon as possible. These demands now open up the discussion about where he’ll end up. Philadelphia? Baltimore? Oakland? If those don’t work out, I’m sure he’d be unstoppable on the gridiron at Atlanta Penitentiary.

I can’t say that this has reached a boiling point.  That happened last year.  I can’t even say that this is the most selfish act I’ve ever seen from an athlete.  That also happened last year.  The line was crossed last year; now it’s blatantly obvious that it didn’t matter if there was a line to begin with.  Brett Favre is an asshole.  He lives in this horribly construed world where he actually thinks that, because of the hype he’s received over the good years of his career, there’s some sort of exemption he gets.  Brett still thinks he’ll never have to buy a beer or a steak in Green Bay ever again.  Brett thinks the fans of Green Bay love him and will continue to love him no matter what.  See how wrong he is?

The fall out between the Packers and Favre last year was ugly.  He wanted to go to the Vikings; we all knew that.  The Packers did everything in their power to not let that happen.  Silly Packers, Brett is clinically crazy, he’ll do all he can to make you feel like an asshole.  Just like in February when he told Ed Werder there was absolutely no scenario that would make him want to come back to football.  Hey Brett, you know what htat makes you?  A liar.  A habitual liar.  An unprofessional and clearly indecisive piece of shit.  Here’s why.

Brett isn’t coming back because he thinks he can play a 16 game season.  He proved that last year when he took the Jets to an 8-3 start before throwing 2 touchdowns and 8 interceptions down the stretch and derailed the Jets playoff hopes, effectively ending Eric Mangini’s stint as head coach in New York.  He can’t play a 16 game season.  Brett’s coming back because he wants to play the Packers twice this season, an incredibly selfish and uncommitted reason to return to football.  Brett couldn’t give half a shit about the other 14 games on the schedule, I guarantee you that.  He’s not playing because he wants the Ravens and Steelers in back to back weeks in October.  He’s playing because his childish mind wants to have the last laugh with the Green Bay Packers.  Go to hell, Brett.

The Raiders in a not so surprising move have inked cornerback DeAngelo Hall Nnamdi Asomugha to a record contract.  Just one off season after doing the exact same thing to current Redskin DeAngelo Hall.  The current deal for Asomugha is for 3 years, $45.3 million, with $28.5 million of that guaranteed.  Based off the way Asomugha has played the last few years it’s hard to aruge with this deal, except for the fact that it’s the Raiders, and according to espn.com Al Davis had “significant involvement in brokering the agreements.”  Which seems to be the kiss of death as of late.

This signing comes on the heels of the much less heralded news that punter Shane Lechler just signed a 4 year, $16 million contract, making him the highest paid punter in the league.  Why it is necessary to spend $4 million on a punter is beyond me, then again so is most of what Al Davis does.  I guess when you’re punting as much as the Raiders do it’s worth spending that much to show that you do in fact, have one aspect of your game which is NFL quality.

I also wonder how the hell the Raiders manage to stay under the salary cap.  While the Asomugha signing makes sense to me, it seems that it might constrain them from making any other moves, although that could actually be a good thing.  All Raiders fans are hoping that this ends up better than the DeAngelo Hall fiasco, and no doubt many are rooting for Davis to finally kick the bucket.  And from his stance, that might not be such a bad thing, at least then his last move may actually save his tarnished reputation a little.

In case you were sleeping under a rock for the past 24 hours, you probably missed out on Brett Favre’s latest announcement of his retirement.  Make this twice in the last two years he’s retired and roughly four or five years in a row we’ve had to deal with this shit.   I turned on ESPN this morning hoping to catch some highlights of last nights overtime thriller between the Los Angeles Kings and New York Islanders but instead was treated to forty five minutes of the hour long broadcast revolving around Brett Favre.  How silly of me; of course the “Worldwide Leader in Sports they want to cover” wasn’t paying attention to worthless hockey.  But, as the day has gone on, it seems like the network has been overcome by the news of this retirement.  A few things I noticed today…

• The damn ticker on the bottom line had its own “Favre” catergory. Okay, not only did it have an announcement of his retirement (which was done via email to the Jets, come on you classless piece of shit, at least make a phone call) but it also had speculation about Favre’s future.  “He never asked for a release, so he could go to another team!!11″  Tony Kornheiser is on the phone right now trying to get a deal done with Favre and one of Kornheisers fellow bald domers, Vikings coach Brad Childress.
• College Football Live spent a segment talking about how Brett Favre changed college football. What?  Are you kidding me?  You must have meant how Favre was brought in to play defensive back at Southern Miss and then made a change to quarterback.  Sure, he holds school records at Southern Miss…..but it’s Southern Miss.  They must have been referring to the game against Tulane where Favre was so hungover he was puking before the game but still lead Southern Miss to victory.  Dock Ellis thinks Favre is a pussy.  And in case you were wondering, he was drafted in the second round by the Falcons and didn’t play with them because head coach Jerry Glanville said it would take a plane crash to put him into the game.  WHAT A COLLEGE LEGEND.
• World class asshole Gene Wojciechowski somehow publishes filth on ESPN.com saying the NFL will never be the same without Brett Favre. Yeah, I guess Gene is right…the NFL is going to miss Favre in a few ways.  Lets list them, shall we?  1.  Flip flopping on retirement.  Nothing screams attention whore like this annual garbage and, while the MLB has Roger Clemens to handle this, Favre shouldered the load for the NFL.  We’ll definitely miss that.  2.  Timely interceptions.  Nobody does it like Brett does.  How have his last two seasons ended?  With passes being thrown right into double coverage and a defensive backs hands of course!  For every game Favre led an epic comeback and single handedly won, he had at least another a few weeks down the road where he’d unleash the dragon and throw three or four blatant interceptions and cost his team the game.  He lead the NFL in interceptions last season for a reason, bros, and it wasn’t because of deflections and lucky grabs.  3.  Last but certainly not least, the circle jerk about grit.  Nobody has as much fun playing the game and is as gritty a player as Brett Favre.  The way he steps into throws and has an all around great time from games in September to Wrangler Jeans commercials in April, nobody really slings the football and plays with as much childlike nature as Brett Favre.  Who throws snowballs at teammates during a playoff rout?  Brett.  Who makes uncanny pitches to check down backs that awe defenders?  Favre.  Who never misses a game because of an injury and will likely end up in a wheel chair in ten years because of it?  #4.

In case you couldn’t tell…I’m real bitter about this subject.  Media whores bother me, and nobody dishes out the two dollar bj’s media bait like Brett does.  Hall of Famer?  Absolutely.  One of the greatest of our generation?  No question.  One of the most overhyped and overplayed people on the planet?  Without a doubt.  Drive safe on your way back to Alabama, or Missouri, or Mississippi, or wherever the hell you live, Brett.  This time, stay there for more than just a few weeks.