Sportsfrog.com

(I know that I can’t replace TB, but I can only hope to be exponentially better. Here’s what I hope is a comparable replacement for the normal NFL wrapup)

– The onside kick call is named “Ambush.” Who’s going to be the first person to say “don’t feel sorry for Hank Baskett, he’s married to a Playboy Playmate.”?

–I was kind of surprised that the Super Bowl record for completions was only 32. And of course, I thought for sure that Brees was going to break it, not tie it.

–We are on one hell of a run of Super Bowls lately, and of course, all good things must come to an end. Hopefully not, but it’s there.

–Oh, Tracy Porter was a ZERO star recruit coming out of high school.

–Peyton Manning now has a 9-9 record in the playoffs. I would have given someone 6-1 odds that we would have seen the Manning face last night.

–Even if Sean Payton really is as much of a dick as Mike Freeman of CBS Sports says he is, you have to love his willingness to not always make the traditional football decision when he thinks the odds are in his favor.

–Alright McLovin, I love you on Dan Patrick, but I gotta rip this one apart:

1. No, the Super Bowl did not need a certain quarterback not participating in the game. If the eight yard pass is too easy, then defenses need to commit to stopping the eight yard pass. Guess what? The long passes would be back with a vengeance when that happened. NFL defenses are conditioned to not give up the big play. That’s the whole basis of the Cover 2 scheme that Indy runs.

2. I really don’t know what the onside kick has to do with the Saints having the NFL’s best offense. It impacts the defense much much more, because you’re giving the one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history only 40 yards to score.

3. I can agree with this post much more than the previous two, but that Saints line isn’t shabby. Plus, as you mentioned earlier, Dwight Freeney was hurt.

4. The Saints need Reggie Bush and Reggie Bush needs the Saints. Pierre Thomas is a very good running back for New Orleans’ system, but Bush can break it every time he touches the football. He’s not going to make as much as he did with his rookie contract, so the Saints should re-sign him.

6. Mike Leach.

–Tom Morestead was “terrified.”

Tebow.

Focus on the Family.

Need I say more?

While some will applaud Tebow for standing up for what he believes in, others will find it awful.

Myself? Well, I won’t get into that on the front page, but I will say that I really don’t want to see Tebow during the Super Bowl unless he’s fortunate enough to ever get to one as a player.

By implication, anyway.

Recall last weekend, when a report initially surfaced that the NFL was considering awarding an upcoming Super Bowl to London? Roger Goodell, as a part of his media tour, was asked point blank about that report on several occasions by several outlets, and denied each time that to be a possibility. Enter today’s Telegraph (London, don’t you know) with this:

Representatives from the Mayor of London’s office and Visit London, the city’s official visitor organisation, has received assurances from the NFL that, after two sell-out regular-season games at Wembley Stadium and a third scheduled for Oct 25, there is a commitment to bring the championship game to the capital in 2014.

The NFL’s special events team, headed by Frank Sopowitz, has looked at Canada, Mexico, Germany and the UK as potential destinations outside the United States but identified London as the outstanding candidate. It is expected to announce officially within the next 12 months that a Super Bowl will be staged across the Atlantic, with London standing to gain up to £350 million from hosting the event.

In stressing its resolve to internationalise American football, the NFL is also understood to be prepared to change their standard bidding procedures to London’s advantage, guaranteeing the Super Bowl to Wembley for a particular year. Normally contestant host cities fight at least a three-way battle before a final decision is made. London is likely to formalise its Super Bowl interest by November, when bid packages for hosting the 2014 event have to be released. “We are looking at 2014, 2015 or 2017,” confirmed David Hornby, commercial director of Visit London, who has been central to conversations with Sopowitz.

Gee, that sounds like rather sound reporting, complete with sources and facts. Each of which yields this conclusion: Roger Goodell, in addition to having a world class suspension fetish, is a liar. And what I don’t get is this: why lie? Simply tell people this is afoot. It’s not like anyone is going to boycott the NFL over it. Weird.