The New York Jets and the New York Giants both wanted to be the first to play in their new home, Meadowlands Stadium. Unfortunately, their fate was decided for them by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell via a coin flip. The almighty coin decided that the Giants would play the first game in the new stadium on Sunday Sept. 12, and the Jets would play the next night for Monday Night Football. Naturally, this led to some pretty ticked off Jets.

Neither of the team’s owners were present for the “coin flip,” leading Jets owner Woody Johnson to release the following angry statement:

“An NFL coin toss has a few fundamental elements that are missing here, most notably the presence of the teams involved,” Johnson said. “That’s how it’s always done in the league, whether it’s determining the order of the draft or deciding who’s going to kick off the game.”

Call me crazy, but couldn’t this have been worked out in way that would make both teams happy? How about doing a little inter-conference play? It’s not unheard of to make the first game of the season an inter-conference match-up. The Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts played against each other for the first game of the 2008 season. The Cowboys and Patriots did it too in 1971. (I know that is an old reference but I have a point…)

Guess what else? The Bears vs. Colts and the Cowboys vs. Patriots were both played as the first regular season game in a NEW stadium.  It’s just boggles my mind as to why the NFL didn’t even seem to consider that as an option.

Sources:
Giants, Jets both christen Meadowlands [ESPN]

What used to be a simple form of Super Bowl halftime entertainment has now evolved into a flourishing business. As surprising as it may be, the Lingerie Football League is making sure more fantasies come true by adding franchises.

The Lingerie Football League, or the LFL, debuted last year and enjoyed much success across the nation. Teams are already established in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York amongst others large cities. The newest additions to the LFL are the Orlando Fantasy and soon-to-be-named team in Baltimore, not to mention the Nashville squad which was looking for a coach.

While the Lingerie Football League has enjoyed initial success, I have to wonder about the message it sends to women. I think it’s empowering. It’s showing that women play with as much heart as the athletes we see in the NFL, or maybe more. These women are playing to prove that talent and beauty can go hand-in-hand. If they have to play in boy shorts and bikini tops then so be it — at least it’s a form of positive attention. If you got it flaunt it, and these girls definitely have it.

Sources:
Baltimore’s Newest Football Franchise [ABC 2 News]
Orlando Fantasy: Lingerie Football [Click Orlando]

Even though Jake Delhomme said he was “blindsided” when the Panthers decided to release him, it wasn’t surprising that Carolina decided they needed a new starting quarterback for the upcoming season. What surprised me was that they didn’t keep Delhomme around as a backup considering he was still owed $12.65 million guaranteed from an extension he signed the prior offseason. Instead, the Panthers cut Delhomme loose, and Jake started looking around for a new gig — one where he could still start. Enter the Cleveland Browns.

The Browns decided to beef up their impressive haul of Seneca Wallace by agreeing to a two-year deal with Jake Delhomme on Saturday. Clearly Wallace and Delhomme will combine to form the most intimidating tag team of quarterbacks since Dan Orlovsky and Drew Stanton. The merits of debating Cleveland’s past quarterbacks (Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn) versus this year’s quarterbacks (Seneca Wallace, Jake Delhomme) is humorous but not intriguing. What catches my attention is that Delhomme reportedly will make $7 million — starter’s money — in his first year with the Browns. Add that to the $12.65 million price tag he’s scoring from Carolina, and Delhomme ends up pulling in $19.65 million this upcoming season, good enough to make him the highest-paid quarterback in the league. Attention Eli Manning: you’ve now been trumped.

Sources:
QB Jake Delhomme agrees to 2-year deal with Cleveland Browns [Cleveland Plain Dealer]

What’s worse: an on-duty police officer posing in pictures with Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger hours before investigating him for sexual assault, or his superior not seeing anything wrong with it? I’m still trying to figure that one out because it’s pretty egregious that sergeant Jerry Blash’s police report didn’t even include Ben Roethlisberger’s name. Yes, the same Ben Roethlisberger who’s being investigated for sexual assault didn’t even appear in the initial report. Perhaps even more disturbing is the following comment: “The photographs did not and have not affected the investigation at all,” said Police Chief Woodrow Blue.

No surprise people have wondered about a cover-up in the media when it’s evident there was an initial attempted cover-up with the police. Clearly the legal system doesn’t at all play favorites towards athletes. Not at all.

Sources:
Officers posed for photos with QB hours before complaint [The Union-Recorder]
Cop posed for photos with Roethlisberger before investigating complaint [Pro Football Talk]

Even though I’ve commented on the sexual assault investigation of Ben Roethlisberger on my weekend shows at Sporting News Radio, I elected to wait for more details before writing a post on the matter here at LBS. Before too many details emerged, I said that Big Ben was stupid for putting himself in a bad situation (drinking with college students), and even dumber for not realizing how carefully he needs to watch himself given his pending rape case (that seemed bogus to me because a criminal suit was never filed). Regardless of the facts of the current case, both of the aforementioned statements still hold true, especially considering this is Ben’s third offseason event of concern (don’t forget his motorcycle crash). Now that more reported details are emerging, it appears as if the prosecutors will have a reason to press charges. Per a report by KDKA:

Read The Full Story…

There was no doubt that the Browns would cut Derek Anderson before paying him the $2.5 million roster bonus they owed him for the upcoming season. The only question was when. Tuesday was that day and the one-time Browns Pro Bowler wasted no time sharing his thoughts on the Browns and more specifically, their fanbase:

“The fans are ruthless and don’t deserve a winner,” Anderson wrote Tuesday in a terse e-mail when asked for a reaction to being released. “I will never forget getting cheered when I was injured.

“I know at times I wasn’t great. I hope and pray I’m playing when my team comes to town and (we) roll them.”

Those are some darn strong words from D.A. and I hope and pray he never finds himself out and about in the Cleveland-area without bodyguards. Browns fans are entitled to boo Anderson for his numerous interceptions the past two seasons every bit as much as they cheered for his numerous touchdowns three years ago. The difference is what he pointed out: cheering when a player gets hurt is downright mean-spirited. The interesting part about Anderson’s comments is that they would apply to many other NFL cities so I’m sure several other quarterbacks feel the same way. For good or for bad, most other quarterbacks probably would have kept that to themselves. And as a Bengals fans, I’m not so sure I can disagree with his comments!

Sources:
D.A. blasts Browns fans [The News-Herald]