Some people think getting a black flag is a bad thing. Let's be real. A black flag is street cred. Besides, chicks don't dig the long ball, they dig the bad boys (and in your case, Sarah, the bad girls).

So I'm giving my favorite sports posts this week a black flag.

Odell v. Goodell
Sarah at Strike Zones and End Zones writes a piece for The Naughty American about Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Odell Thurman's suit against the NFL under the Americans with Disabilities Act, challenging his suspension by citing his alcoholism as a disability (tsk, tsk, Sarah -- writing for The Naughty American -- and I thought you were a good girl).

Jared Allen's Mullet Wins and Award
Someone who did NOT sue the NFL for his suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy is Jared Allen. Allen was named AFC Defensive Player of the month and Arrowhead Addict reports Allen is now giving his mullet credit for the award. His mullet did it. Roger Goodell needs to get the piss man out to Arrowhead and check Allen's progress in recovery.

Baby Bull vs. Midget
I did not find this post from Chris over at Blog of Hilarity in any way shape or form funny or enjoyable. In fact, I'm really offended on behalf of the midget. And the poor baby bull. That's exactly why I'm linking it here.

The Chief's Power Rankings
The Chief provides his absolutely hilarious NFL power rankings for Hugging Harold Reynolds. MEMO TO SPORTS ILLUSTRATED AND THE NFL HALL OF FAME: Fire that fat pig Peter King and hire The Chief. Today.

KLValus is off to Texas Motor Speedway for Miller Lite and FoxSports.com
Winner of Miller Lite and FoxSports.com's version of a Florida election (somehow FoxSports.com completely screwed up and the right person won) and judge of The Black Flag-DirecTV NASCAR Hotpass Moment Contest at Epic Carnival has over drugged her patients for the weekend so she can head off to Texas Motor Speedway and hang with NASCAR bad boy Kurt Busch.

Two Words Redskins Fans Never Want to Hear Again: Heath Shuler
At First and Ten Inches, the Ghost of Heath Shuler Stirs a QB Controversy in Miami during their quest for their second and greatest perfect season. Not sure which is scarier this Halloween week. Thoughts of Shuler and his room temperature IQ in the NFL or in Congress. A biopic of his life could be called dumb and dumber. The NFL is a thinking man's sport, but Shuler is right in his element in Congress.

The Saga of the 250 F-Bomb Entry.

The contest entries for The Black Flag-DirectTV NASCAR Hotpass Moment Contest are now in the hands of the judges.

Some of my favorites were one liners. We got some other solid entries that went a bit longer.

The one I thought was most clear and to the point sadly came in with bad contact information.

The writer simply f-bombed 250 times.

That all being said, what I liked doesn't matter, it is all up to the judges now.

Click here for the contest update at Epic Carnival.

Does the current coverage have you steamed.

Here's a great opportunity to get it off your chest.

First off....

As of today I'm back as a fully functioning member of the NASCAR blogosphere.

The Black Flag is back and we're bringing it harder than ever with a great contest with great prizes (and of course having fun at the expense of some of NASCAR's rich and powerful sacred cows Black Flag style):

The Black Flag NASCAR Hotpass Moment Contest sponsored by DirecTV.

Here is how it works....

Submit your entry of 250 words or less on the following topic:

"The moment when ESPN/ABC made me wish I had DirecTV's NASCAR HotPass was when..."

An obvious example was when Rusty Wallace started talking about "Draft Lock". But there are so many more (you can reference the mythical "Draft Lock", but if you want to win, you need to bring so much more -- hey, you've go so much material to work with).

The judging criteria is humor, writing and creativity.

Speaking of judging....

The Black Flag has put together a great panel of five judges for this contest. Here they are:

• Queen of the NASCAR Blogosphere TallGlassOfMilk.
• Former New York Times NASCAR reporter and Author of the new novel "Yellow Flag" Robert Lipsyte.
• NASCAR Media Critic John Daly of the Daly Planet.
  
• Lugnuts Radio Madman and FoxSports.com blogger ChuxStory is on the panel.
• We also have KLValus, winner of the FoxSports/Miller Lite NASCAR Next Great Sportswriter Contest.

The judges will not know who the entrants are during the judging process.

This contest is going to be fair and balanced. No hanging chads. No ballot box stuffing. No conflicts of interest. No Sanjaya.

Details

The contest HQ is over at Epic Carnival. Just click this link to get all the details, including rules, dates and how to enter.

Prizes

1. First Prize
One first prize of a DirecTV NASCAR Hotpass subscription and a 1:24 Scale Clint Bowyer die cast will be awarded.
2. Runner Up Prizes
There will be FOUR runner up prizes awarded. The runner up will receive their choice of either a DirecTV Pay-Per-View certificate ($40 value) or a 1:24 Scale Clint Bowyer die cast.

Once again, hit Epic Carnival to get all the details and enter.

I'm hoping to see the bloggers over here at FoxSports.com bring it strong.

UPDATE:  Canadian residents are now eligible.

Recently I wrote about my four year old son CJ being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called retinoblastoma.

The disease is so rare -- 350 cases a year -- that only eight medical practices in the entire country have any real experience with it.

A bunch of things came together perfectly that made it so we could get CJ to one of those specialists: Dr. Carol Shields at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia.

First, our ophthalmologist here in Richmond, Dr. Ed Wortham told us that this was the person CJ needed to see and we needed to do it right away. Initially, we didn't grasp why we couldn't take care of this here and had to go all the way to Philadelphia.

As we learned about retinoblastoma and what we were dealing with, we came to understand.

Sending us to the right place rather than trying to take care of it himself is something we'll be forever greatful to Dr. Wortham for.

Then family, co-workers and friends pulled together and helped make the finances and logistics possible for this to happen.

Having great insurance wasn't enough. Getting treatment like this at a drop of the hat meant a big upfront cost that we simply weren't prepared for. I'm pretty sure that very few people are.

The next very important thing that happened is that we were able to arrange to stay at the Ronald McDonald House in Camden, New Jersey.

There were literately thousands of people who were praying for CJ. Most of those people had never met CJ, my wife or me. My view is that we got a miracle by having those things that I just mentioned all happen and come together.

We went to Philadelphia with a really clear diagnosis. CJ had cancer of the retina.

It wasn't a maybe. There was reason to fear we hadn't gotten it in time to save his life. The best I was hoping for was that he was going to come out of this and begin chemotherapy. Losing one or both of his eyes was not out of the question.

When Dr. Shields examined him, we got a piece of news we didn't expect: CJ doesn't have cancer.

What he does have is another, equally rare "orphan disease" called Coats' Disease.

It is not life threatening. It does not spread and does not impact anything other than the one eye. It is a problem with the leaking of the blood vessels of the eye -- something that creates all kinds of deposits that damage the eye and vision.

CJ's loss of the central vision of his right eye is something we've been told is permanent. His right eye will give him depth perception and peripheral vision. We'll gratefully take that. We get to keep the kid.

When Dr. Shields gave us the news, I felt the same way I did the day he was born.

He had surgery (the first of three over the next year) to repair the blood vessels and stop further damage.

One of the things I can tell you is that CJ has been absolutely amazing in how he handled this whole thing. He did everything that was asked of him. Except for a bit of squawking about the stinging of the eye drops, he didn't complain about a bit of it. The kid showed a big heart and some real strength.

Here's the problem with Coats' Disease: it is frequently misdiagnosed as retinoblastoma. That leads to children losing their eyes and unnecessarily enduring chemotherapy.

Both RB and Coats look almost exactly the same. If we aren't able to get CJ to Dr. Shields, that is probably how things end up for him as well. The two diseases present almost exactly the same. So few doctors have any experience dealing with either.

Going from one of the worst days of your life to one of the best in less than five days is the wildest roller coaster ride I've ever been on. Make no mistake, it is a ride that took more than just a little out of me (my apologies for taking so long to get this post up).

It is also a ride that has changed me in so many ways.

When I wrote about this earlier, I talked about my commitment to helping parents be aware of what to look for. That commitment stronger than ever. So I'm going to say it again:


See the white glow in the left eye? That is the symptom. That's what to look for. Sure, it could be something else. But that is the number one way it is detected -- flash photography.

So if you see it in a child's photo, say something.

If you know someone who is a professional children's photographer, ask them to be on the lookout for this. People you know who work with children, tell them about this.

But most of all, if you have kids, look at their pictures.

If the child has RB, time matters. Time is everything.

Beyond that, if a child is diagnosed with RB, do whatever you have to do to get that kid to the right doctor. There are only a few of them. Make sure it is RB and not Coats. Dr. Shields is a great choice for both RB and Coats'.

Make no mistake, watching CJ go through this hasn't been easy. But since he has, good can come of this. My wife and I are going to do what we can to help get the information we've learned into the hands of other people where it can make a difference for some child and some family.

That's not the only impact it has had on me.

Going into this, staying at the Camden Ronald McDonald House was something I dreaded doing. Boy was I wrong.

The last thing I thought I wanted to do was deal with the tough times other people were having. What I ended up getting at RMH was strength. The staff there was amazing. The strength and attitudes I saw from some of the kids there blew me away.

The part that really stuck though was getting to talk to other Dads. Not only did that help me get through some of this, it turns out I was able to give back to some of them.

Many people have asked us what they can do.

Once again and most importantly, please do help make more people aware that white glow is something that needs checked out.

Next, if you want to do something more, do something for a Ronald McDonald House. The one in Camden is a great one and it is obviously pretty close to my heart. If there is one in your area, get some other people together, contact the house director and arrange to bring dinner in for the families one night.

It may seem like a pretty small thing to do, but I can tell you it will make a big difference in some lives at a tough time -- and it'll probably do something for you.

Finally, I think I'm pretty good at expressing my feelings (some would say a bit too good sometimes). But I simply don't have the words to express how much the outpouring of support from readers of this blog has meant to me and my family. Thank you so much.

One of the things in the future I'm really looking forward to is talking to CJ (when he is old enough to get it) about everything that has gone on. The prayers, concern, encouragement, hope and strength some of you gave us are going to be a big part of that story.

Not the Usual Black Flag-- This One is Serious, Personal and Potentially Life Saving.

UPDATE (3:47P.M. Eastern - 9/24):  CJ does NOT have retinoblastoma or any other form of cancer.  He is having surgery on Wednesday, but his condition is not in any way life threatening.  There is so much more to this, but I wanted to get this much out as soon as I could.  I'm going to try for a new post later tonight with more.

The outpouring of support we have gotten from this community is something we will never forget. 

On May 7th, point guard Derek Fisher missed the first game of the Utah Jazz's playoffs against the Golden State Warriors. He rejoined his team three days later in the middle of the third quarter during the second game in Salt Lake City.

Fisher provided a key fourth quarter turnover in that game and hit a three pointer in overtime to help the Jazz take a 2-0 lead over the Warriors.

Fisher had left a hospital in New York City that afternoon where his 10 month old daughter Tatum had just been diagnosed with and was being treated for a disease called retinoblastoma -- cancer of the retina. It is a rare, life threatening disease that only 350 children a year are diagnosed with in the United States.

On Wednesday this week, my four year old son CJ joined Tatum Fisher in being one of those 350 kids who will get that diagnosis this year.

Without a doubt, Wednesday was a day of shock. Thursday and Friday have been about reality.

To give you an idea of how rare this is, there are only eight medical practices in the entire country who deal with retinoblastoma.

The odds on having this disease are pretty close to what they were during a poker tournament when I flopped four 8's and had runners on the turn and river to lose to four jacks.

We live in Richmond, VA. On Monday we travel to Philadelphia to spend the day with one of those specialists.

As a longtime Redskins fan, I have a firm policy of not exposing my son to large numbers of Eagles fans.

But we've done our research, and we're very confident that this doctor is highly skilled and a real pioneer when it comes to dealing with this disease (even though it means dealing with this in the town that booed and threw snow balls at Santa Clause).

So, why am I writing about this?

Regular readers of The Black Flag come here expecting to read me goofing on somebody in NASCAR. This is a humor blog about NASCAR. In fact, right now I have the Kasey Kahne PR machine in meltdown over my Budman post, using paid shills to make comments on it.

Obviously, this piece isn't what you are used to getting here (although even in this post I couldn't stop myself taking a few shots).

The key to surviving retinoblastoma is early detection. That's the entire ballgame.

There is only one reason why we even had him checked out: my wife's cousin, Cheri saw something in a photograph. Then she said something about it.

Cheri can't even remember where she heard about this, but she just knew she had.

See the white glow in the left eye? That is the symptom. That's what to look for. Sure, it could be something else. But that is the number one way it is detected -- flash photography.

So if you see it in a child's photo, say something.

If you know someone who is a professional children's photographer, ask them to be on the lookout for this. People you know who work with children, tell them about this.

But most of all, if you have kids, look at their pictures.

Right now, we don't know for certain that we have caught CJ's in time. We think we have. We have a number of reasons to be optimistic we have. We'll probably know on Monday.

But the only reason we even know there is a problem is that somebody did him a life saving favor. So I need to do what I can to try and repay that favor to somebody else.

There are enough people who read TBF (by people I do mean in addition to the sports spy agency over at Sports Media Challenge that according to my log files monitors The Black Flag with the enthusiasm of the NSA keeping tabs on Al-Qaeda) to get the word out to make a life changing difference for somebody.

Sure, Derek Fisher has been able to reach far more people than I can, but I know I can get to a bunch he didn't. What I'd like to do is just get to the right one.

It's easy to do. It's just that very few people even know what to look for. I sure didn't. In CJ's case, nobody had even noticed any problems. He's an otherwise healthy kid and he's not in any pain.

As it stands now, CJ is coming into this as someone who has a fantastic attitude.

I've written before that about how his favorite NASCAR driver is somebody who handles himself at the track with a great attitude -- Jeff Burton.

CJ has some tough days coming down the road and they are coming real fast.

His attitude and that of everyone around him will are going to make a difference in how he comes out of this thing.

There are quite a few things we don't know right now, but one of the things we have been told is that he will be legally blind in his right eye for life.

As strange as it sounds, that's an outcome we'll happily accept. What matters is that he pulls through this. There are plenty of kids who have to face far, far worse.

As tough as this has been, we've been touched and amazingly blessed by so many people who have already reached out to help and have done so in ways we couldn't expect or didn't even know to ask for.

For those you who want to know what you can do to help....

First off, prayer helps, prayer matters. By my last count, the only deity who isn't getting an earful from a whole bunch of people about CJ is Mohammad. He can always use more.

If you are involved in an organization that helps with cancer, sick children, blindness, or something else that makes this a good fit and you want to get in touch with me, contact me through this link here (if you want to push some alternative medical therapy, please don't -- I promise you that my reaction to that will be something you won't enjoy).

At this point, we still don't know which way is up and what all he is going to need. So we don't know what to ask for. I might not have a clue about what all is going to happen next, but I already know we can't do this on our own.

We wouldn't even to be getting him what he needs on Monday without the help we've already gotten.

But more than anything else you can do, next time you see a picture of a kid, just take a look at the eyes. You might just save their life.

As you might gather, over the next week or two you probably won't be seeing as much from me as you normally would.

However, much to the chagrin of the NSA types at Sports Media Challenge (KGB types if they have any IRL clients), I will be back soon and bringing the smack and the funny down harder than ever.