…in 1985 all 28 NFL teams decided they would participate in future National Invitational Camps with the goal of sharing costs for the medical examinations of draft eligible players.  [...]

As football and the art of evaluating players has evolved, so has the NFL Scouting Combine. While medical examinations remain the number one priority of the event, athletes will also participate in a variety of psychological and physical tests, as well as, formal and informal interviews with top executives, coaches and scouts from all 32 NFL teams. NIC is the ultimate four day job interview for the top college football players eligible for the upcoming NFL Draft.

via History | NFL Scouting Combine.

The problem with this job fair is that the interviewers don’t seem to follow any type of guidelines for their lines of questioning and they also can’t seem to keep confidential information to themselves. Take the questions and comments from various NFL teams thrown at Toby Gerhart.  Gerhart is now a Minnesota Vikings RB who starred at Stanford University but at the combine he was asked if he thought he was a “poster child for white running backs?” and was even told “If you were black you would have gone in the first round”.

Former Oklahoma state WR Dez Bryant now a Dallas Cowboy was asked if his mother was a prostitute.

Another player was asked about his sexuality.

Bengals fourth-round pick Geno Atkins said one club, he couldn’t recall which, asked him about his sexual orientation.

“The only unusual question I got was if I was straight or gay,” said Atkins, a defensive tackle from Georgia whose father, Gene, played 10 seasons in the league. “And that was about it.

via Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Texas/Southwest.

In addition three top NFL prospects had information from their alledgedly confidential answers regarding marijuana usage leaked in 2007. Not only was this information leaked, these prospects were asked about drug use.

Three of the most highly regarded prospects in the upcoming NFL draft—Calvin Johnson, Amobi Okoye, and Gaines Adams—admitted in interviews at the combine that they have used marijuana. Nevertheless, all three are considered to be free of the kind of dramatic character problems that have plagued the NFL recently.

via Draft Prospects Admit To Smoking Pot – NFL GMs hope to encourage candor, won’t punish drug use.

Chris Mortenson, NFL insider for ESPN has the best solution for all of these awful interview questions.

Bottom line: The question never should have been asked.

…

The truth is, every personnel director and coach in the league suspects that more than 50 percent of the players smoke or have smoked marijuana during high school or college. It’s why the NFL does not randomly test players for street drugs such as marijuana because, as one league official says, “We don’t want to be the police. That’s the job of law enforcement.”

The league tests players once each year during a three-month window before training camp. A player is only tested randomly for street drugs if he has given reasonable cause, such as providing a positive sample during precamp testing, or having a run-in with law enforcement. Then he enters the substance-abuse program. (Don’t confuse this with performance-enhancing drugs that are randomly tested for year-round without cause).

[...]

It was preventable. Don’t ask the question. Now, three honest young men have their reputations stained in some form during a time that should be a great celebration for them and their families.

via NFL should be embarrassed – NFL – ESPN.

But Mortenson’s guideline doesn’t address the issue of confidentiality. All this information was leaked from confidential interviews and even Wonderlic intelligence test scores have been leaked. The most notable leak was Vince Young’s information in 2006.

Vince Young’s horribly low score on the Wonderlic intelligence test — reportedly 6 of a possible 50 — has given teams at the top of the NFL Draft plenty of extra work to do. It also might end up changing how the picks fall at the top of the first round.

[...]

Going into the NFL Scouting Combine, the junior quarterback from Texas looked certain to be one of the top four picks. But after scoring so poorly on the Wonderlic, Young’s status as a top-5 or even top-10 pick could be in jeopardy.

ProFootballTalk.com broke the story of Young’s score Sunday, and several NFL scouts confirmed it. Any score less than 15 is extremely low for a quarterback, and most teams want players at that position to score at least a 20.

“It raises a huge red flag,” said Jeep Chryst, a former NFL assistant attending the combine as an at-large scout.

The NFL did its best to silence talk about Young’s test. Combine officials said the score of 6 was inaccurate. Titans GM Floyd Reese said he’d heard the first test had been administered or graded incorrectly. Texans GM Charley Casserly also disputed Young’s score Sunday, saying it was inaccurate.

Young took the test again — on Sunday — and made a 16.

via USATODAY.com – Will Wonderlic cause teams to wonder about Young?.

Each of these incidents is a “last straw” moment and yet, every year brings yet another major violation of a player’s privacy and rights to a fair interview. New NFL Union boss DeMaurice Smith needs to jump on this in the upcoming CBA. NFL teams should be equally responsible for each on of these violations being that they contract NFS Inc to run the Combine.

The Michael Irvin Show: 1/12

HOF QB Troy Aikman joins the show to talk about Dallas ending the post season drought. Mike, Nate and Kevin simulcast with 97.9 (In Philadelphia) The Fanatic in Philadelphia to rub g…
via The Michael Irvin Show as heard on ESPN Radio 103.3 FM.

Great Soundbite (and I hate to give Michael Irvin props but this was “The U” quality smack right here):

• Michael Irvin to Eagles fan in Dallas named Tyrone: “Tyrone, what they need…is a fan like you! We gonna send you home by yo’ crib, Pack up and GET OUT!, that’s what you do! You pack up and get out and go to Philly wit those losers!”

What kills me is the brazen ignorance of my fellow Philly fan, Tyrone. Tyrone said we need a “Reggie White type of lineman”. They need the reincarnation of the best interior lineman ever to win the championship? WTF. Hold your breath and wait for that clone to be football ready Tyrone. I would rather have the guys we have now be healthier toward the end of the season (namely 3/5 of our offensive line). Because the Eagles o-line couldn’t block, the offense couldn’t run plays, and by extension sustain drives, and our defense played the bulk of the game against one of the best offenses in the league.

Another off season and another long wait for training camp and new hope. Another winter and spring filled with “dump McNabb”. The truth of the matter: McNabb probably stays. Without an extension, heading into an uncapped year, it doesn’t make sense to trade McNabb. He pretty much has all the leverage right now. There are many teams who would take him as he is when he becomes a free agent. He is still a much better than average QB. I think the Eagles front office will try and move Vick, keep Kolb and McNabb as the starter.

Either way, here’s hoping the Cowboys lose.

I tried to explain to the guy that the Cowboys didn’t come up with the name. It was the creation of Bob Ryan, an NFL Films senior producer, who used it as the title for one of the Dallas highlight films. Of course, Tex Schramm, the team president, was quick to embrace it, and like everything else about the Cowboys, it raised the ire of Philadelphia.

Most Eagles fans just accept the Dallas rivalry as part of their Philadelphia birthright. They assume the Cowboys have always been Public Enemy No. 1 around here, but that isn’t so. Older fans remember that in the ‘50s, the Eagles’ rival was the New York Giants and that was true for most of the ‘60s as well.

The Cowboys didn’t join the NFL until 1960 and they were such a pitiful bunch for the first six years, it was hard to take them seriously. The Eagles won eight of the first 10 games in the series and no one thought much about it.

But in 1966, the Cowboys got good, and they started strutting right away. They routed the Eagles 56-7 in the Cotton Bowl, and they were still throwing the ball to run up the score late in the fourth quarter. The Eagles were angry and they got a measure of revenge with a bizarre 24-23 win at Franklin Field three weeks later.

via Eagles and Cowboys Meet for 100th Time Sunday.

For me its Giants, Skins and then Cowboys. Why? Most Cowboys fans I know, (all except one) have never gone to a Cowboys’ game in Dallas and grew up in the north east. They are fakers in my view. They are ripe for ridicule. I grew up around more Giants and ‘Skins fans more than anything so I always had an object for my ire.

But I will hate the Cowboys enough this weekend.

To me, the two kinds of sports commercials that work best either highlight the art of the near impossible in athleticism so its damn near mythical or let the athletes make fun of themselves. The Adidas 2009 ad campaign showcases its stable of spokesmen demonstrating every move under the sun. Real sharp. (h/t RxFresh).

Nike mesmerized every football fan I knew in 2007 with the Michael Mann directed, “Leave Nothing” campaign featuring Shawne Merriman and Steven Jackson running through their NFL schedules and earth, wind, rain and fire.

Update: How could I forget..David Fincher’s commercial for Nike’s Leave Nothing 2008 campaign “Fate” featuring LaDainian Tomlinson and Troy Polamalu. It built on the 2007 campaign, but established a destiny of sorts for the its two main characters.

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback David Garrard thought hosting a weekly radio show would be a good idea. He was meeting fans, answering questions, giving away tickets and previewing the team’s upcoming game.

[...]
When Del Rio learned about Garrard’s Friday show, which aired the last three weeks, it was canceled faster than a network television dud.

He chose to do the show on Friday because it’s rarely an NFL travel day, didn’t interfere with his family time and wouldn’t conflict with team meetings, film study, workouts or practice. But his mistake may have been not keeping Del Rio in the loop.

[...]
Del Rio was less than impressed, mostly because Garrard was talking about things unrelated to the next opponent two days before the game. So the coach went directly to Garrard and squashed the weekly segment.

“He said, ‘As a father figure, I’m just trying to tell you this isn’t good late in the week like this,’” Garrard said. “‘You can field things early in the week and … rehash the past game. But late in the week, you want to be studying your film, you want to be with your family and you want to be off your feet, relaxing.’ I totally understand where he’s coming from.”

via Del Rio cancels Garrard’s weekly radio show – NFL – Yahoo! Sports.

Del Rio’s story is that he had no idea that Garrard was doing a local radio show so late in the week?

Even without the ridiculous “father figure” angle Del Rio apparently took with Garrard (Garrard is 31, Del Rio 46), this seems like a heavy handed move that says more about sloppy Jaguars marketing than it does about David Garrard. These types of local radio shows are marketing tools where a franchise QB can put losses in perspective, talk up big wins, and sell the team’s “character” to fans. I would think a pro sports franchise would have marketing resource dedicated to keeping abreast of all of its players regularly scheduled appearances and helping players not run afoul of their professional duties. In addition, instead of telling Garrard to ditch the show, couldn’t they just help him reschedule the weekly appearance?

The Jaguars franchise has not been doing too well in the ticket sales department. They are in danger of having many of their home games blacked out due to low ticket sales. This would mean a huge loss in revenue for the organization. The Jaguars probably explain away their financial woes as direct byproducts of the recession and a city who is apathetic about pro football, but poor integration of marketing can also have a negative effect on the bottom line.

The fantasy about Brett Favre, the one perpetuated by many pigskin “pundits” and football fans, is that he’s still one of the best quarterbacks in the game. In fact, some do believe that he’s the “missing link” between another disappointing season for the otherwise talented Vikings and a Super Bowl championship.

The Minnesota organization certainly believes that he’s the missing link, or they wouldn’t have courted the aging quarterback — he’s older than Leif Erikson in football years — for the past several months, finally signing him in an act of desperation three weeks into training camp.

But the fantasies that surround Favre and his legions of media apologists conflict with reality.

via Cold, Hard Football Facts.com: A complete guide to Favre’s 21st century disasters.

The folks at Cold, Hard Football Facts go on to empirically and anecdotally affirm employee #4 is an interception machine. Not just any old interception machine: he is a mind boggling, team killing, soul crushing interception machine. A turnover can hurt a football team. Favre is very hurtful.

Despite reality of a  1-4 Jets finish, largely due to #4′s 9 interceptions vs. two touchdowns during those games, another coach has convinced himself that employee #4 can click his cleats and go back to being HOF QB Brett Favre. Brad Childress, the Vikings Head Coach and executive VP of Favre wooing believes in HOF QB Brett Favre so much, he was willing to personally pick up employee #4 from the airport so that he could hand him the starting QB position with a salary of $25 million over two years.

All this after Favre conveniently agreed to comeback after missing all of those grueling two a day practices during training camp where now backup QBs Tavaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels competed for a starting spot they now know they were never really competing for.

This is the same Vikings Head Coach Brad Childress who infamously fined Troy Williamson for missing a game to bury his maternal grandmother. This grandmother was the main parent for Williamson and his Siblings, two of whom were in the military and one of whom was hospitalized for months prior to their grandmother’s death.

When John Madden, the patron saint of the video game industry, tellustrating, football color analysts and extolling the legend of HOF QB Favre thinks this latest comeback is a bad idea, maybe a coach and GM who can’t look at the evidence in front of their eyes shouldn’t be coach and GM anymore.

He was a quarterback. The one quality any football fan remembers about McNair was that he played hurt, all the time. Bruised sternum, fracture in his hands, and sprains: if McNair could stand up, he would suit up. His 2003 Co-MVP season was a prime example as was his 13-3 playoff season in 2006.

Today, McNair was found, shot to death ,in a condo in downtown Nashville along with a currently unidentified woman in what police believe is a double homicide.

Steve leaves behind his wife Mechelle, four sons, the eldest, Steve Jr, who is a wide receiver and is scheduled to graduate from high school in spring of 2010 and attend college to play this fall. It will most likely be bittersweet without his father.

Update: As initially feared, the woman found with McNair was his 20 year old girlfriend Sahel Kamezi. Sure to get more ridiculous “Why do athletes cheat?” stories