ESPN's Michael Irvin Take High Road On Tiki Barber's Comments

Last week, New York Giants Running Back Tiki Barber responded to Michael Irvin's assertion that Tiki Barber's a quitter by calling him an "idiot" on his radio show.

Given the chance to talk back on national television, the energetic Irvin took the high road, stating that his views were just that.

I say, good for Michael Irvin for, in one swoop of his tongue, effectively ending an unfortunate and immature feud.

Jerry Porter To Play For Oakland Raiders Today - Finally - ESPN

If this is true, it's about time, and too bad that The Raiders let the whole matter with Jerry Porter grow to such immature proportions.

Report: Reinstated Raiders WR Porter to play
Associated Press

Jerry Porter reportedly will see his first on-field action Sunday for the Oakland Raiders.

An unnamed person close to the wide receiver told The Contra-Costa Times that Porter would play against the Steelers. The person told the newspaper that Porter worked with the first-team offense upon his reinstatement from suspension.

Porter was reinstated by the Raiders on Wednesday after the NFL and the players association agreed to cut his four-game suspension in half.

Porter was suspended Oct. 15 for insubordination a day after being kicked out of practice by coach Art Shell. The NFL Players Association appealed the suspension the following week, calling it "excessive."

Under the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement, union executive director Gene Upshaw and Harold Henderson, the NFL's executive vice president for labor relations, can agree to settle the grievance without a hearing.

Porter, Oakland's leading receiver a year ago, had been inactive the first four games before the suspension. Shell said he planned to talk to the receiver when he returned to the team but would not commit to using him in a game for the first time this season.

Shell and Porter clashed almost immediately after the coach was hired in February over Porter's offseason workout plans. Porter made public a trade demand at the start of training camp and was inactive for the four games before the suspension.

Porter had been working with the scout team in practice before being kicked out after an argument with the coach Oct. 14.

The Porter situation had led to some grumbling by players unhappy that one of the team's best players wasn't being used. Oakland struggled offensively without Porter, losing its first five games before finally breaking through with a 22-9 victory last week against Arizona.

Porter, in the second year of a five-year contract worth $20 million, was docked about $115,000 in pay for the two-game suspension.

Porter led the Raiders with 76 catches last season and had 942 yards receiving and five touchdown receptions in 2005.

Porter, a second-round pick out of West Virginia in 2000, has 239 catches for 3,215 yards and 24 touchdowns in six seasons with the Raiders. He has never reached 1,000 yards receiving in a season, missing the mark narrowly last season and with 998 yards in 2004.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press

Michael J. Fox Talks To CBS' Katie Couric

I saw this and was both moved and discomforted at the same time. I pray that Michael J. Fox gets over this terrible problem if it's possible to do so. I thought Katie Couric did a fine job with this.

NFL 2006 - Year Of The Ticket Broker

The National Football League has proudly issued press releases annoucing the number of weeks where each team has sold out its home game, including some organizations that have been habitually non-sellout examples, like the Oakland Raiders.

In the case of the Raiders, this is the second year since their return that they've had more sellout games than non-sellout games, and they've had the worst record in the NFL until last Sunday. Why so many sellouts? It's not because people want to see the NFL's supposedly worst team, it's the secondary ticket market.

The rise of online ticket sales has changed the landscape of sellouts in the NFL. When this season started, RazorGator, an online ticket brokerage, came through and purchased the majority of Eagles seats, leaving none for public sale. Well, that's not quite fair, they were available publically, just through RazorGator. Some of the best seats went for over a grand. And the Eagles weren't the only NFL team bitten by the secondary ticket market.

While RazorGator's a brokerage, with StubHub.com, an online ticket market, everyone can be a ticket broker, charging whatever price, high or low. For example, one can get tickets to Sunday's Raiders / Steelers game for just $28. Yes, it's a nose-bleed seat, but it's below face value. But the simple fact that I can get such a ticket for cheap is a new development. It means that ticket prices are actually coming down.

Why?

Well, my theory on this is two fold-- at least for StubHub users -- that sellers are not all professional scalpers and really want to get rid of tickets, but for those who are pros, they may have an inventory they just want to dump. The result in either case is cheap tickets.

In fact, the tickets on Stubhub.com are generally lower than those sold on Craiglist, and safer, too. People using Craiglist have to meet the seller in person -- unless your lucky enough to find a post that links to a Stubhub-related website -- and risk being robbed by the seller or buyer. A problem that has worsened this year.

Still, one can get tickets to any NFL game. But when you go to a sold out game, and see sets of seats empty, you can both thank and blame the ticket broker who could not sell out his or her inventory. But their purchase of the tickets guarantees the rest of us will see NFL games on TV.

Hardball's Chris Matthews: Republican Ad On Harold Ford Is Racist

If you've not seen the recent political ad where some blond woman says "Harold Ford, call me," you've missed seeing a totally racist ad ran by Republicans at a time when the party is supposedly concerned about bring more Blacks into its tent.

Ha.

It's not funny. In my view, such an approach is animalistic, moronic, and down right idotic. Why would anyone African American join the Republican Party now? Leave it to Hardball's Chris Matthews to tell it like it is, and expose this as racist.

Here's the Hardball video:

New York Jets West Side Stadium Video Documentary - www.antdogs.com

This is a video documentary of the politics behind the proposed and now defunct New York Jets West Side Stadium. It was produced by Anthony Thornton of www.antdogs.com, a 22-year old Fim major at City College, New York.

This video's a great example of how a proposed stadium can stir passions positively, or in this case, negatively. It features the Rev. Al Sharpton, and several New Yorkers and elected officials.

Dallas Cowboys On The Decline

Seems that the Dallas Cowbows are heading for a downslide. The drubbing by the Giants Monday night was only the tip of the Iceberg. Coach Bill Parcells has many holes to fill and little time to do it in the always tough NFC East. The Cowboys run defense is weak at best. T.O. is a Quality WR when he can shut his mouth long enough to catch a few passes. But the Big Question is....Will Parcells stay after this year if the 'boyz post a less then .500 record? or will he pack it in to avoid more Heart trouble. QB Tony Romo is only a stopgap measure. I believe Dallas will have to deal in the Next draft for a Pick high enough to draft a quality QB, unless they drop several games the rest of the season and play themselvs into the Brady Quinn Sweepsteaks.