a few things...

I love how people are saying Jamarcus Russell is a bust and he was paid $100,000 per completion. Like that's all he did. Showed up for games, completed a few passes, got $100K for each one. No training camps, no mini-camps, no practices, no work-outs, no meetings, etc. Just a few completions and a few million bucks.

Imagine if we did this for other jobs. Let's just pick a random career and choose one of their many tasks and then make it look like they get paid some stupid amount of money for doing a small amount of work.

If a teacher's salary is $50,000 then they are being paid $25,000 for every semester exam they make! I can make a semester exam for $25,000. Give ME that job!

Did Russell's performance match his expectations? No. Did Tom Brady and most other starting quarterbacks get paid less per completion? Yes. We get it. It's still a stupid thing for sports media to concentrate on.

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Have you seen ESPN's 30-for-30 series? Maybe I'm just really behind here (what's new?) but I really like the show and topics they're covering. I've seen two so far: the one about Len Bias and the one about Reggie Miller's rivalry with the Knicks.

This was like re-living the mid-90s for me. I graduated in 1995 and was really into the NBA at this time. Just before graduation I wrote a research paper on Len Bias. And we were always playing Live 95 and Live 96, hitting three-pointers from half court with Reggie Miller. I can remember watching the game when he scored 8 points in the final seconds against the Knicks. This was a great topic for ESPN to cover. If you were an NBA fan around this time, I highly recommend checking this out.

I want to see Ice Cube's show about the Raiders now.

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How about I close with a fairy tale?

Once upon a time, there was a manager named Wakamatsu who lived in the magical town of Seattle. One day he needed a left-hander to hit against the evil right-handed relief pitcher.

"Bradley!" he called out, looking for outfielder Milton Bradley. Only Bradley was nowhere to be found after temporarily abandoning his team to deal with emotional stress by attending counseling.

The manager had no fear. "Where's The Kid?" he barked, referring to town hero Ken Griffey Jr. No one could find Griffey.

Wakamatsu was running out of options and the right-hander on the mound was smiling, tasting victory. The manager asked three of his trusted men to go to his lair, the locker room, and search for Griffey. He sent Ichiro Suzuki, Chone Figgins, and Jack Wilson.

The men walked into the room and immediately came upon their chairs.

"Someone's been sleeping in MY chair!" said Ichiro. "And it's broken!" The handle which allowed the chair to recline was lying on the floor.

"Someone's been sleeping in MY chair!" cried Chone. "And eating too! There are cookie crumbs all over and I'm gonna have to vacuum!"

But Jack wasn't listening to either of them. Instead, he stared, frightened, at his own chair until finally whimpering, "Someone's been sleeping in MY chair. And he's STILL HERE!"

The men looked and there was Ken Griffey, sleeping in the middle of his team's baseball game.

Meanwhile, the game proceeded, without Griffey. Wakamatsu, out of left-handed options as two of his stars sat in counseling and recliners, sent a right-hander to bat instead. His team lost, remains in last place and we doubt seriously that any of these people will live happily ever after as long as they play for Seattle and are teammates with Milton Bradley.

The End