Author: Vin

White Castle has a petition currently signed by about 16,000 people to make the Monday after the Super Bowl a national holiday.

We, the undersigned, do hereby request the establishment of Monday, the Day After the “Big Game” (DA DAY) as a national holiday.

Notice how they don’t use the term Super Bowl because that would involve paying a fee to the NFL. I don’t know, all things being considered, I’d rather have the the Thursday and Friday of the opening round of March Madness as holidays. I’m sick of sneaking out of work to hit the local bar two days in a row.

Among the top stories I listed everyone would be sick of, I was definitely right about one and I’m starting to change my mind about the other. If I have to hear another story or mention about “the Bus going home”, I’m going to have to kill someone. But I’m starting to believe all the stories about Detroit really not being that bad of a place. Man, I tell you, these writers, they can sell snow to an eskimo. Or maybe they’re just right.

[Detroit Free Press]: Mitch Albom: Welcome, world: XL-sized smiles will greet skeptical visitors
[Seattle PI]: Culturally speaking, Detroit is hoppin’
[Jepreport]: A Little About The Host of Super Bowl XL
[Denver Post]: Motown’s features battered, bruised

I need to fire my agent

You know you have that one friend who doesn’t get the whole online thing. The guy who will forward you every single hoax email and add the message “hey, why not? It could happen!” We hate that guy. But this promotion is legit and has us saying “hey why not?”

Papa John’s is giving everyone who registers on their site a free large pan pepperoni pizza if anyone catches a pass for 86 yards or more. The longest pass play in Super Bowl history? 85 yards from Jake Delhomme to Muhsin Muhammed. So yeah, it’s not a gimme but it can be done. And we’re suckers for free pizza. It beats blowing your money on that stupid grid the person in your office with the least football knowledge is putting together. Registration ends before kickoff.

[PapaJohns]: Registration Form

Mostly I hate talking sports with people who don’t know sports. But I absolutely hate talking sports with people who think that athletes are overpaid and whiny. Now, there certainly are athletes stealing paychecks (certain NBA players come to mind) but NFL players certainly earn their paycheck. Anytime you can be paralyzed while playing for the entertainment of millions of people, I say you deserve every penny you get.

According to a report in the Detroit Free Press, 78% of all NFL players are divorced, bankrupt or unemployed two years after leaving the game, and the average career of a pro player is less than 4 years. Afterward, they don’t know how to adjust back to normal lives and blow most of their money on maintaining their lifestyle and trying to get back into shape for another shot in the NFL. It certainly doesn’t suck to be a pro athlete, but it isn’t all money, hos, and Bentleys, either.

[Speaking Sports]: Most athletes living post-NFL aren’t successful
[Detroit Free Press]: Tackling life after the game

Sorry, I couldn’t resist that as a headline. It’s actually my favorite one from the Cracked.com spoof on ESPN’s coverage of the Super Bowl. They nail ESPN’s ridiculously overhyped recycled coverage. The headline above is “Why is Ben Roethlisberger starting for the Steelers instead of Charlie Batch? Scoop Jackson exposes Bill Cowher’s history of unabashed racism.” You gotta love this. I guess we’re not the only ones who think Scoop Jackson never saw a topic where he couldn’t play the race card.

Sadly, it’s just a front door and none of the links work but here are some of the best:

BILL SIMMONS
An ape could have picked the playoffs with more accuracy than me

Detroit Native Jerome “From Detroit” Bettis to Play Super Bowl in Detroit (His Hometown)

Seahawk Punter dedicates game to the late Kurt Cobain

Jagger takes wardrobe precautions to ensure scrotum doesn’t slip out of bottom of pants during halftime performance