I haven't blogged in a long while, primarily because I haven't had a lot of time. But, recent developments in the NFL are so worth noting that there's no way I can continue my silence, so I'll take a moment out of my day at work to examine the state of Hipocrisy in America's Game: Football. Specifically the NFL. I'll start most recent and work backwards, because that's just how I roll. 

MAYBE TIKI ISN'T THE GIANT WHO SHOULD RETIRE?

Yes, I am talking about Michael Strahan, who could fill that gap in his teeth with the b.s. he spewed at the media yesterday.

Now, with all due respect to the NFL Czar, who actually gets paid to offer his opinions on this site, this one's for free. The Czar is somewhat missing the point of this incident between Strahan and the ESPN reporter reporter: This isn't about Strahan wanting to be a "leader". He just wanted to feel powerful. He doesn't feel powerful in the locker room, partly because he's injured and partly because nobody in the locker room seems to be willing to listen to anyone else. So, he took out his frustrations on a reporter who was just doing her job.

Moreover, she wasn't really asking a "divisive" question. It's a valid question; what's potentially divisive is the answer, and that all rests on Strahan's shoulders. First of all, the reporter didn't criticize her teammates in the press, Strahan did. If you open your mouth, you better be ready to accept the consequences.

As to the question itself: if he did talk to Plaxico about it, then it's a done deal, a dead issue. If he hasn't, then that might be divisive, as it would show Strahan as a man willing to say stuff about his teammates in the media, but not eye-to-eye. He didn't want to be seen that way, so he turned it around on the reporter.

I'm not sure what's more gutless: calling out a teammate on the radio and not speaking to him directly about it, or belittling a reporter who is only doing her job in order to make you feel better about yourself. Maybe if this guy can't take the heat of being a professional football player in New York, dealing with the NY media, he should follow Tiki out the door and never look back. I'm sure some network will be waiting with a chair for him, and then you'll hear a different tune about the media coming out from between those two front teeth.

YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE STINKS? GETTING YOUR #### KICKED FOR USING A LAPTOP.

Speaking of gutless, how about Ricky Manning and his buddies getting into a fight with a guy in a restaurant over the summer simply because the guy was working on a laptop. You remember being a kid, and the kid with the funny glasses got beat up on all the time? Well, some of them become Bill Gates, and some of them still have to take #### from the jocks.

Now, you didn't hear a lot about it this weekend, but Brian Urlacher aparrently seems to think a big game against the New England Patriots is more important than, oh, I don't know...an assault conviction.

Here's the story, in case you missed it: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15854288/from/ET/

I don't know much about the law, but "tangentially involved" doesn't seem to mean a whole lot to the U.S. Legal System when it comes to assault. It didn't seem to mean enough for Manning to stick to his original "not guilty" plea, either.

But, if you ask Brian Urlacher,  none of this matters. All that matters is the NFL should have picked a game against the Raiders or Cardinals for the one Manning should have sat out as punishment for his involvement in an assault.

Hey, maybe he shouldn't have been punished at all! I mean, what's the big deal? Just a fight in a restaurant with a guy whose only offense is the fact that he's intelligent enough to use a laptop, something clearly beneath Manning and his friends and obviously worth not only ridicule but assault, to boot.

Urlacher is often looked to as one of the NFL's greatest players, a role model for what a linebacker should be. If only his perspective on the importance of the game matched the esteem many hold him in on the field.

WILL THE REAL MARVIN HARRISON PLEASE STAND UP?

But maybe the most surprising showing of an NFL player's true colors came from the Colts' All-World Wide Receiver Marvin Harrison. If you happened to miss what he did on Sunday, you're not the only one. NBC, with all their coverage and all their cameras and Pink dancing on top of buildings somehow conveniently missed Marvin Harrison acting more like a wide receiver than he ever has before.

In case you missed it, here's the scoop from the Indianapolis Star: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID
=2006611270405

That was MARVIN HARRISON walking to the locker room before the end of the half with his offense about to put another 3 points on the board.

You probably did see the same MARVIN HARRISON pulling much the same kind of no-effort  to make a tackle on an interception junk Plaxico Burress is getting burned for in New York. Yet, you hear nothing about it. In fact, after the game, his coach seemed inclined to just write it off and move on.

Why didn't anyone get a better answer from Tony Dungy about Harrison's actions? It almost sounded like he didn't care that Harrison quit on a play and ducked out before halftime while the rest of the team stayed to watch that field goal.

If this had been done by "T.O." or "Ocho Cinco", I guarantee you, we'd be hearing more about it. Maybe it's easier for those in the press conference room, or those covering the NFL at NBC FOX, ESPN or ABC to let it slide because the Colts won big and Harrison doesn't have the nickname and reputation the other guys do, because they need at least one star Wide Receiver who isn't seen as a prima donna.

In any case, it's hypocrisy at its highest for the media to let this slide while skewering another guy somewhere else in the league for doing basically the same thing. Maybe Michael Strahan should be a member of the media, he'd have no problem calling Harrison out for this, right?