And this work week is OVA!

My second attempt at a regular weekly feature since the short-lived but spirited "I Hate Everybody" (guess I didn't have as much hate in me as I thought)... It's mostly just leftover thoughts mixed with superlatives

Three Week Ending Thoughts
1) Re: Last night's Pats-Jets game ... I'm about two incidents away from crossing the line of passionate-sports-fan hate to legitimate-hate on Brett Favre. When Favre left the NFC North (hooray!) for the Big Apple, I envisioned Tom Brady and the Pats pile-driving his Mississippi ass all over the field. It was going to be great. It was going to be perfect. It was going to be redemption for all the times he burned the Bears during my childhood.

Instead? Last night provided a hybrid of the Patriots' first Super Bowl loss and second Super Bowl loss. The first one had the element of Favre running down the field holding his helmet in the air with that stupid, idiotic, MVP grin on his face. While it wasn't so extreme this time around, the game did feature the patended Brett Favre arm flare where he keeps his elbows tucked to his side in this odd gesture of bewilderment and happiness. Like, "We're winning?! We're winning! Hot damn! Yipeeeeee!"

Fuck him.

The second Super Bowl loss (you may remember it...Plaxico? 18-1? Eli Manning?) had the whole late-Randy Moss-TD-we're-gonna-win-this-shit turned to uh-oh-we-gave-them-too-much-time that the Giants game had.

Brett Favre is a lot like the Metrodome. Our lives would have been considerably better without either's existence.

(Note: All of that was written before I even read this ... what a great Friday here at TUP)

2) Re: Last Night's Bulls Game ... When the Bulls went down 21-3 in the first quarter, I asked my buddy if and when they would hit double digits in the first quarter.

Suffice to say, coming back and making the game respectable -- even winning it outright -- was incredible. Can we just name Derrick Rose the Rookie of the Year right now? Can Michael Beasely apologize for ever being put in the conversation? I say yes.

3) Re: Blowing up Peter King's digits ... I know it's been about five days, but I can't get over the fact that Brandon Marshall would call Peter King to ask him a question about a touchdown celebration. No offense to King or anything, but why stop there? Marshall could have called him about picking up chicks, music recommendations, finding the new night spots, geez, anything! Peter King: sage.

CLEVELAND -- Gameday. Thursday afternoon, just before 3 p.m., five hours before Browns-Broncos. I was sitting in a Panera Bread place here, having lunch. My phone vibrated.

The screen read: Brandon Marshall. I answered.

"Don't you have a game in a little while?'' I said to the Denver wide receiver.

"Yeah,'' he said. "But I need some advice.''

"Joey Porter?'' I said. "The popcorn-muscle thing?''

"Nah,'' he said. "Forget that thing. I'm thinking of doing something tonight if I score, and I wanted to run something by you.''

Uh-oh. I could just see it now -- Marshall scores, does something lame-brained, gets penalized 15 yards, fined $20,000 and says, "Well, I ran it by Peter King and he thought it was a great idea!''

"Go ahead,'' I said, with a little trepidation.

"I really want to make a statement, a positive statement, about our country because of what's happened this week with Barack Obama getting elected,'' he said. "So I was thinking -- remember back in the Olympics when those two athletes did that black power thing? What was that?''

"The '68 Olympics,'' I said. "Two black Americans got on the medal stand. John Carlos and Tommie Smith. They put on black gloves. They put their fists in the air and looked down when the National Anthem was played. It was their protest over the conditions of blacks in America.''

"Yeah,'' he said. "I don't want to do that. This is nothing political. This is about unifying the country. I want to color my gloves -- half black, half white -- and when I score, hold up my hands to the camera. You know, kind of a gesture of how far we've come as a country that we could elect an African-American as president. Forget Democrat-Republican. Forget black-white. It's about the progress of our country.''

"Great idea,'' I said. "Brilliant idea. I'm trying to think about whether you'd get penalized or fined. I don't think the league would do anything to you.''

"I think I'm going to do it,'' he said.

I also like when King quotes himself. It's just funny, you know?

Story of the Week
Fire Joe Morgan ... He Gone -- Rickhouse's boys (or is it brethren?) call it quits after a rather prolific influence throughout the blogosphere. I'll always respect them for their passion, simplistic layout, and, in general, sticking to their convictions.

Post/Column of the Week
AJ Daulerio and Will Leitch both post separate accounts of their Cardinals MNF night at Rick's Cabaret

Close Seconds
- It's not just because I dislike Notre Dame, it's because Whitlock called Charlie Weis "Pear Bryant"
- Whitlock also ranks his 10 best and 10 worst NFL coaches
- And Simmons' two-part mailbag was pretty good, too

Weekend Motivation
Welcoming A-Rod to the Bears/Packers rivalry. We play for keeps!