It's always great when graphics completely fail on live television, but this one cracked me up more than that sort of thing normally does. Jay Harris was double boxing with John Clayton, and talking about the Bears, when Clayton just....POOF!....vanished into thin air.

WHOA! He even has his own theme music when he disappears. That's just awesome.

(Thanks to reader JT for the clip)

I've always been the first person to defend the boisterous Gus Johnson, but yesterdays call of the Bengals epic fail, was by far the most over-the-top reaction I've ever heard. As Brandon Stokley was running down the sidelines with under :20 left on the clock, Johnson almost had a coronary....

Wow. I guess Football is officially back, and apparently Dan Fouts was born in nineteen dickity two. Super Bowl V? Really, Dan???

(HT D4L)

Mascot news has been wild as of late, but this might be the craziest thing I've seen. During the mascot H-O-R-S-E competition during All-Star Weekend, mascots were trying hit halfcourt shots, when Rufus from the Bobcats decided to make one off of the Bucks' mascot's junk. Now that would be amazing own its own, but of course Bango had to take it one step forward by falling through the basket and tearing an ACL. Via BDL....

Man, I can't stop laughing at that one. That was almost like a carnival game....good times!

Video: Bucks mascot tears ACL in knee from groin shot (Ball Don't Lie)

You never wish bad things on people, even the ones you can't stand, and especially when it comes to financial endeavors. Two of Joe Buck's aptly named J Buck's restaurants are reportedly closing their doors in Missouri and the original in downtown St. Louis could be next. Via Sports by Brooks....

The J. Buck’s restaurants at West County Center in Des Peres, Mo., and in Springfield, Mo., closed last week, and the O’Fallon, Mo., location might soon be taking on another name. The downtown and Clayton locations of J. Buck’s continue to operate under new ownership. In October, Bodley Buck LLC, a new company formed by investors including broadcasters and siblings Joe and Julie Buck, announced it would take over two J. Buck’s locations, in Clayton and downtown St. Louis.

The Bucks had not previously invested in the restaurants.

Now if this was his broadcasting career and/or talk show, I might be a little more giddy, but when it comes to matters of the wallet....I feel for the guy. Hopefully the others can survive, and one day when this is all said and done, I can have a beer with the man. I've heard he's fun to hang out with!

Joe Buck’s Restaurant Doesn’t Care About Profits (Sports by Brooks)

I don't have any clue why ESPN sat down with Tom Cruise this past weekend. Wait, I take that back. Of course I know why, but that doesn't make it any less random. Stu Scott talked with the Actor/Scientologist about his new movie, his love of Sports and Brett Favre, for over SIXTEEN! minutes, and here it is in its entirety. I do encourage you to do what I did, and just randomly click around once the video has loaded, and try to figure out what Tom Cruise is talking about. Every answer is in the exact same tone an

"Valkyrie, your new movie. Uh, it's about the plan to assassinate Hitler. It's one of those edge of your seat, intense movies, especially the last 45 minutes. In what ways does that kind of intensity, match or maybe even supersede, the intensity of great Sports.....event."- Stuart Scott

Are you kidding me?!?! I can't even come up with words to describe how asinine that question is. Pointlessness of the interview aside, good lord that is pathetic! I'm sorry for having subjected you to that.

Tom Cruise finds Brett Favre to be an inspiration (Watchdog)

(P.S.- How creepy is that still shot of Cruise before you hit play? He's watching you with one eye people, and if you don't go see "Valkyrie", he will use his superpowers to destroy you!)

With the NFC Championship officially spiraling out of control, let's throw a bone to AA and ask the following question: What would you rather hear about endlessly for the next two weeks, Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy finally overcoming their histories and reputations as proficiently awkward choke artists, or Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the Patriots being constantly lauded as the BEST EVAH!!111one!! by every single sports media personality in the nation?





My friends, this is your choice. I freely admit that it is not an easy decision, and will thus make no attempt to hide my disdain for either of these teams. I'm an Eagles fan, born in Philadelphia, and therefore done with all things Boston. They won a World Series under ridiculous circumstances after a near-century of failure, then proceeded to act like they had won the previous twelve World Series. Their wildly successful football team is the absolute embodiment of the NFL as a league: Bland By Design. And really, their fans have had enough. No group of people has ever squandered a seemingly endless supply of goodwill as quickly or spectacularly as Boston fans. You know, outside of the people who started the Freedom Fries movement.

On the other side, Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy. To a large extent, they've become humanized by their failures and tragedies. Manning, consistently regarded as an immensely dopey and talented quarterback with a penchant for crapping the bed, filmed a bunch of goofy commercials that made me giggle in my weaker moments. Tony Dungy, well, he's a Nice Guy. Or a Classy Guy. And given the way he handled himself in the wake of his son's suicide, you have to believe those things. Indianapolis, as a city? Hell if I know. Never been there. They don't have MLB or NHL teams, and their basketball franchise is best known for beating up Turtle from Entourage. So I have no real beef with the possibility of Indianapolis winning a Super Bowl. It's not like their fans have been spoiled. I mean, the freaking Marlins won two World Series, right? We can throw Indy a bone here, can't we?

Still, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun to root against Peyton Manning. There's something so satisfying about it. Like I said, I'm a Philadelphia guy. I can appreciate the art of failure.

What are you hoping for this evening? What's the most fitting way for this game to end? Personally, I'm going with Peyton leading the Colts down the field in the final two minutes, and Adam Vinatieri shanking a 19-yard field goal.

Sweet revenge, thy name is Vanderjunk.

I'm Run Up The Score, and this is your AFC Championship live blog. Word.

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Former Texans GM Charley Casserly (yes, the guy who passed over Reggie Bush) dropped an interesting tidbit on the CBS pregame show. Tonight's officiating crew is led by Bill Carollo, and his crew has only called five defensive pass interference penalties this season. Casserly added that this isn't necessarily Carollo's entire regular season crew, but the lack of pass interference calls could be an interesting thing to watch for if New England starts getting overly physical with Indy's receivers.

Also, Casserly mentioned that Atlanta can't cut Ron Mexico because it would be a $21,000,000 salary cap hit.