Are We Now Going To Compete To See Who's Running Scared The Fastest?

• So, after last night's debacle at 12th Man Temple, Richard Sherman decided to talk some more smack at Aaron Rodgers after the Seahags ended any real chance the Green Bay Packers were going to win the Super Bowl (not that they ever did, just a function of that many of the pundits felt they were before the season).  Sherman thought Rodgers was avoiding him during the game, to which Jake Milliman Aaron Rodgers said yes.  That's basically saying "We know we're not going to be allowed to win the game, so I'm really going to look like the pussy you just turned us in to.  We are, officially, your bitch.", right, Aaron?  (Source:  Yahoo!/CBS Sports)
• Speaking of pussies...  I don't know if this is the NFL covering ass and trying to discredit Jerry Jones and Dallas, trying to send heat to the Rams, or the whole Michael Sam thing is a continuing fucking sham, but Michael Sam was signed to the practice squad of the Cowboys this week.  The reason I say the former is that Peter King (who, two weeks before, tweeted that Sam would, by all accounts, make the 53-man roster for the Rams) said on the pre-game of Hags/Packers that the NFL was pushing for Sam to be put on a practice squad.  (Jones denies being pushed to do so, and, given the utterly pathetic state of his team's defense, I'd ALMOST give him the benefit of the doubt!)  (Source, among others:  Pro Football Talk, NBC Sports)
• Why am I not so sure the NFL wanted Sam on a practice squad?  Because of a Deadspin interview this week with Steve Almond, and the book he wrote, which almost-directly mirrors the experience of other former football fans, including some who I correspond with personally, some of whom read this blog and contribute.

His book is Against Football, One Man's Reluctant Manifesto, and was released last week into bookstores.

It is basically everything that I have been told by former football fans, and far more.  I really should let the man speak for himself, but I can't find the damn Deadspin interview again. 

An excerpt to the book can be found at WPUR's (NPR) website story on Almond and the book.  It really speaks volumes, and, as a person who's had extensive contact with an ex-NFL fan who basically goes up and down the checklist (and often will keep me in check from time to time about content on this blog!) of Almond's grievances, this book will strike home to anyone still with a brain.

But, especially in the era of "EMBRACE DEBATE!!", that brain is becoming harder and harder to come by.  Hence, places like this blog and books like Against Football.